The flyback chronograph P’6920 Rattrapante Limited Edition from the luxury brand Porsche Design has just received a sought-after award at the international Red Dot Award Product Design 2010 competition. The P´6920 has been honoured in the category “watches and jewellery” with the “red dot” seal, recognized around the world for high design quality. The awards are handed out each year by an international jury of well-known design experts. This year more than 1,600 companies from 57 countries entered the competition. The award ceremony will take place on July 5th, 2010 in Essen (Germany).

“Porsche Design focuses on technically inspired products with a timeless, functional and purist design”, said Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO of the Porsche Design Group. “We do not follow fashionable trends, instead we offer our customers long-lasting products which are created to be lifelong companions. Trends come and go – design endures. Our products do without bells and whistles. They are always credible and genuine. Since the foundation of the brand, we have already won more than 130 national and international awards and we regard this as our duty.”

The Porsche Design P´6920 Rattrapante Limited Edition is a mechanical flyback chronograph, which is available in a limited edition of 200 watches in the titanium version. The chronometer allows the user to precisely measure and display intermediate times as often as required. The Rattrapante has a striking 45 millimetre casing which is made of titanium, a metal known for its light weight and resistance to corrosion. The casing gets its black surface thanks to PVD technology: this vacuum-based process causes a matt black layer of metal nitrides to condense, protecting the watch from external influences. The sapphire glass back provides a view of the Valjoux 7750 automatic mechanism with Porsche Design rotor system.

Additionally the flyback chronograph comes with a certificate of precision issued by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC) and offers a power reserve of 48 hours. “The P´6920 Rattrapante Limited Edition combines venerable Swiss watchmaking with the purist Porsche design in an exceptional way”, says Patrick Schwarz, CEO the Swiss watchmaking company Eterna SA, the licensee for the production and sale of Porsche Design watches. “The split-second mechanism is a complicated function which is not easy to realise.”

Designed by French master craftsman Fred Pinel, this celebratory gift box will be unveiled at the Baselworld 2010 in Switzerland. Priced at $20,000, the coffer will be limited to just 150 units, each for the number of years the company has existed.

From the very beginning, the Franc Vila brand positioned itself as the haute de gamme sector player with entry-level models starting at a respectable CHF 20,000 mark and going through the roof to eye-popping CHF 500,000 for the highly-exclusive models with tourbillons, minute repeaters and such.

Although the company openly refuses to become a Manufacture, they have a number of models powered by extremely complicated calibers developed in-house but produced by third-party independent manufacturers. These are designated from non-original movements by a FVN index, while the former bear a normal FV in their model number indices. The model in question is powered by the FV Cuatro movement featuring three complications. Namely, a single push-button chronograph with column wheel, a power reserve indicator and a tourbillon.

Built on 32 jewels and beating at a frequency of 21,600 vph, the hand-decorated FVN Cuatro caliber consists of 262 parts and features an impressive power reserve of 120 hours.

The watch is coming in FVs trademark Esprit Unique case featuring a figure-eight dial with a chronograph seconds indicator visible at 2 o’clock, tourbillon escapement at 6 o’clock, power reserve dial at 9 o’clock, and a chronograph minutes indicator at 10 o’clock.

Unlike most skeletonized watches, this one is quite legible thanks to the use of contrasting materials for the hands (gold) and the movement (steel).

Like all Franc Vila watches featuring a tourbillon complication, the Tourbillon Dial-Side Column Wheel Monopusher Chronograph watch will be limited to just eight units.

Always a force for technical innovation in traditional luxury watchmaking, Swiss manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre proves a point at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva with the automatic Master Compressor Extreme LAB 2.

Like its predecessor the Extreme LAB three years ago, this watch pushes horological boundaries in service to extreme environments and tribute to the Le Sentier-based manufacture’s 1958 Chronomètre Geophysic.

Take a moment to study the dial-side picture and take in the universe of timekeeping on display, all in the limited space afforded by a 46.8mm diameter wristwatch dial (specifications on the actual display area are not available).

Briefly, the functions are as follows, according to the press release: hours, minutes, small seconds, date, second-time zone hand and counter, chronograph with large minute counter, manual stop second, functions selector (three-position indicator: winding, date and dual time zone adjustment, time-setting), amagnetic silicon escapement. The silicon escapement applies to Calibre 781 only. This model also features Calibre 780, which is identical in almost every other way.

What’s displayed are the hours, minutes, small seconds (as movement functioning indicator), sweep chronograph hand, date, function selector (this is a one-crown operation proposition), digital chronograph minutes, chronograph hours, second time zone (24-hour scale) and power reserve (60 hours).

Chow Tai Fook enters the picture
Following the dissolution of the Peace Mark group that, in 2002, had purchased Milus from Paul Junod, a descendant of the founder (who was a true pioneer, giving Milus an uncompromising design in the Bauhaus style, but who was way before his time, and who saw his ideas pilfered by the large fashion brands), Milus passed into the fold of another Chinese group, Chow Tai Fook.
Belonging to Dr. Cheng Yu Tung and his family, the Chow Tai Fook group is huge, with assets of more than US$32 billion, and 100,000 employees. Besides the financial investment branch, Chow Tai Fook is number one in jewellery and high jewellery sales in China, where it enjoys a 29 percent market share. The group manages 750 points of sale in more than 200 cities, not only in mainland China (including the networks acquired from Peace Mark and Tourneau), but also in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Its sales in this sector are around US$2.5 billion. As a major retailer, the group also plays a central role in China and Hong Kong for many Swiss watch brands, including the most prestigious.
When Peace Mark failed, Chow Tai Fook saw the purchase of Milus as a rare opportunity to internationalize its strategy and to complete its portfolio of products by directly owning a brand in the haut de gamme sector. Milus was already well established in China, had a Swiss essence, and a palette of products that could complete or add to the group’s offer. (The group has publicly affirmed this strategy and interest in order to refute certain apparently unfounded rumours that it had only purely opportunistic motives.)

“Highly Personal” luxury
In any case, the acquisition of Milus is heatedly defended by Jan Edöcs who continues as head of the brand. Since he took over its management in 2002, Milus has undergone a profound transformation that has changed the entry-level “hard and fast” design brand into an original player in the luxury realm—a luxury under the sign of “Highly Personal”.
From a stylistic point of view, Milus’ offer is quite original and combines a mechanical refinement—the successful Tri-rétrograde line comes to mind—with a certain design boldness—as seen in the Monocera line among others—and a definite artistic refinement in the execution and decoration of the pieces. This strategy seems to have worked well for the brand. Since its actual relaunch in 2004 (the expected launch in 2003 was postponed, as you may remember, due to the SARS scare that greatly disrupted the participation of Asians at Baselworld), Milus has enjoyed a continuous rate of sales growth of around 200 percent per year, according to Edöcs.
Sales are also fairly equally divided between men’s (40 percent) and women’s timepieces (60 percent). The markets are also well balanced with Hong Kong and China accounting for 20 percent, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan for 10 to 15 percent, the Middle East for 20 percent, and the USA for 20 percent (where Milus has a subsidiary). Russia and Eastern Europe account for about 15 percent, with the remaining sales divided between Europe and various other markets.

Honours to the Tri-retrograde
The current economic situation is certainly not helping anyone but Jan Edöcs, caught up in the turmoil of the dismantling of Peace Mark, has been forced by circumstances to anticipate and to closely analyze the brand’s “sell-out”. Already a few months ago, he was able to determine that buyers were primarily interested in the most “classic” pieces in his collection and that the high jewellery pieces and the most extravagant watches were less popular.
Milus decided therefore to concentrate on the essential during 2009, focusing mainly on the Tri-retrograde in steel or gold (average price: 8,900 CHF) as well as offering some limited series of fine watches mixing skeletonising and enamel. The brand will also launch a new line called Tirion that is round and also Tri-retrograde.
Playing on the contrasts between materials, colours, and levels, the open-work dials of the Tirion are set in very clean round cases made of nine component parts. By their continuous comings and goings between the three different segments where they are displayed (from 0 to 20 seconds, from 20 to 40 seconds, and from 40 to 60 seconds), the three seconds retrograde hands provide permanent animation for the watch with their continuing metronomic ballet. This mechanism, on an ETA base, was developed by watchmaker Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, who received the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie for the best watch constructor in 2007.
In this spirit where the number “3” dominates, Milus is also launching a new campaign, centred around the product, which will be available in three themes: Body, Soul, Time. Come see it at BaselWorld 2009.

Source: Europa Star February-March 2009 Magazine Issue

This could very well be the last Big Bang of the year. We love this model and their desire to help world collectors by introducing multiple variations and limited editions of their Bang series. The Aero Bang Drive ACF Watch features  a microblasted black ceramic case measuring 44.5mm. It has an AR-coated sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 100 meters. “The rotor is tungsten carbide with black PVD treatment.” A ‘banger’ for sure. 250 units are being produced!  Get your own while you can!  Big Boy Toys!

The ultra-thin Altiplano model is a standard bearer for Piaget and this variant doesn’t get much press so it’s nice to see the watch out and about. Aside from the dial color and the 18 carat pink gold of the case, this model is the same in every way as the regular Altiplano.

TAG Heuer in History: Pioneer of Swiss watchmaking since 1860

For 150 years, TAG Heuer has challenged traditions, defied rules, and set major Swiss watchmaking milestones. The world leader in luxury sports watches and chronographs since 1860, it maintains this preeminence by ceaselessly reinventing itself, and, in the process, changing the world of watchmaking — revolutionizing what watches and chronographs can do, how they work, and the way they look.

In 2004, the company unveiled the Monaco V4 Concept Watch, the world’s first watch with belt drives, linear mass and ball bearings. In only 5 short years, the dream comes true… On the eve of its 150th anniversary, TAG Heuer has achieved the unbelievable, unveiling to the world what many industry insiders said would never see the light of day: The Monaco V4 in commercial production. Double-patented Monaco V4, 100% TAG Heuer-made, outdoes its own legacy. A bold technical masterwork unlike any watch ever seen or imagined, it both exemplifies luxury Swiss watchmaking tradition at its finest, and completely turns that heritage upside down and inside out.

Once again, with this boldest creation yet, TAG Heuer stakes claim to the leading edge of design innovation and honors its world-famous motto: “Swiss Avant-Garde since 1860.”

TAG Heuer and the MONACO V4: Revolutionizing the fundamental principles of mechanical watchmaking

Transmission

Until the V4, all modern mechanical movements, regardless of their complications, were generally based on “classic” watchmaking components, most of which date back to the 18th and 19th century. The principal components of this traditional system are: an energy reserve, by means one or several springs; a transmission, using gears; and a regulatory function, usually organized around a recoil escapement.

Gear transmission and automatic rewinding: the V4 team set these aside and started from scratch. The result is a complete paradigm-shift, 2 worldwide patents, and a completely new generation of mechanical movements.

In a world first, TAG Heuer award-winning team of watch masters and engineers replaced the pinions and wheels of the traditional mechanical movement with a belt-driven transmission: a high-yield relay of 5 notched micro drive-belts whose tension is controlled by 2 turnbuckles. The transmission belts in polyether block amide have a 0.07mm section, about the same size as a single human hair, and are 10 times smaller than any belt ever manufactured. Unlike a traditional calibre, this modular synchronous drive belt system requires no extra gears to send motion from one point to another. More efficient — less vibrations, optimizing movement — and much easier to maintain, it allows power to be transmitted wherever it is required, allowing for more complications, with no obstacles.

Energy

The TAG Heuer team then garnered a second worldwide patent by revolutionizing the oscillating mass, which traditionally is superimposed on the movement and moves in a rotational manner. The Monaco V4 is the world’s first wristwatch with a linear mass, which is mounted on the world’s smallest ball bearings (2.2 to 4 mm diameter and a thickness of 0.6 to 1 mm). The 12g tungsten ingot doesn’t move back and forth but up and down on a track between the 2 pairs of v-shaped barrels in series, set in parallel and inclined at +/- 13°. A gear system on the long side of the weight engages a cogwheel and converts the linear motion into a rotating movement. Each barrel series stores 450g of energy for a total strength of 900g.

The Monaco V4: An avant-garde design for an avant-garde movement

Winner in its concept stage of many design prizes and awards, the Monaco V4 is the revolutionary new incarnation of the iconic Monaco — the audacious, square-faced watch first seen on Steve McQueen’s wrist in the 1970 race classic film Le Mans.

The original Monaco’s big, squared-off case captured the imagination of a generation and signaled a complete break with conventional watchmaking aesthetics. It thus made sense to borrow from this iconic heritage to showcase TAG Heuer’s newest breakthrough in high-end luxury design. Like the original Monaco, the world’s first automatic chronograph with a micro-rotor (launched in 1969 by Jack Heuer, today TAG Heuer’s Honorary Chairman), the powerful new movement housed in the Monaco V4 is a tribute to the high-tech, high-performance world of motor racing.

The name derives from the V-shaped platinum main plate on which the movement’s four spring barrels are mounted. The 2-by-2 belt series on ball bearings are angled at +/- 13 degrees, and look like the cylinders in a high-end motor-racing engine.

The Monaco V4’s avant-garde look outside matches the revolutionary movement inside. Every complex surface and dihedral angle is fine polished to the highest haute-horlogerie standards. The beveled and arched sapphire crystal, manufactured in 3-D, curves down to join the sides. The case is in platinum 950, as is the caseback, which is trisected with 3 glass apertures. There is no reading dial per se — the polished beveled indexes are fixed directly to the bridges, with the small second hand distinctively off-centered at 4 o’clock. The ball bearing systems are visible on both sides, while the movement’s unique escapement and 3 transmission belts can be seen from the front, and the 2 barrel drives from the back. The stylish strap is in large-scale alligator, hand-stitched with a titanium insert. The overall design is breathtakingly new, unlike anything ever seen, yet the influence of Steve McQueen’s square-faced Monaco is apparent at a glance, as is the spirit and DNA. This is what truly drives TAG Heuer and the Monaco V4: audacity, performance, and a passionate devotion to the avant-garde.

TAG Heuer and the Monaco V4: Pioneering new forms of human and technological innovation

Above all, creating an entirely new paradigm for mechanical movement dynamics requires men and women of vision and passion, committed to pushing beyond limits.

TAG Heuer’s best engineers and watchmakers, working with the inventor Jean-François Ruchonnet, begun delving into the fundamental concepts of mechanical watch movement, under the strictest terms of confidentiality. Then the Monaco V4 story became a real human saga involving an extraordinary team of dedicated thinkers, watch masters, engineers and craftsmen working in Switzerland but also collaborating with a unique international network drawn from renowned high-tech companies, universities and research institutes.

The techniques used in the design, prototyping and production of the V4 are the same as those used to develop complex aerospace systems. Tools, techniques and expertise were drawn from an eclectic fusion of disciplines, such as the automobile and IT industries, applied mathematics, chemistry, climatology, computer engineering and micro-mechanical sciences. New TAG Heuer-designed machines and methods were specially created, including proprietary software (TAG Heuer is a pioneer in 3D modeling and digital synthesis), automated micro-couplers and rheologically controlled high-pressure injectors.

Today, the Monaco V4 are hand-assembled at TAG Heuer by “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” watch master Denis Badin, thus bringing the timepiece full circle: from the most cutting-edge techniques of the present era to the most time-honored traditions of artisanal craftsmanship.

This exclusive luxury edition of only 150 pieces in platinum 950, launched at the occasion of the 150th anniversary, will be sold at 100,000 CHF.

The long tradition linking the Officine Panerai to the Yachting world is celebrated once again this year with a special edition dedicated to the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge.

This international vintage boat event sponsored by the Florentine company sees the most incredible yachts from years gone by, restored and returned to their ancient splendour and ready to battle it out in a series of regattas on an international circuit, with stages in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

As in the past, just 500 numbered examples have been produced of this special limited edition watch, the Luminor 1950 Regatta Rattrapante 44 mm, DLC (PAM00332). It is a split-second chronograph, complete with chronometer certificate, that counts down the 5 minutes to the start of the regatta. A highly specialised model and therefore a real sailor’s instrument, not just by name but also due to its technical content.

The new Luminor 1950 Regatta Rattrapante has a leather strap with burnished buckle bearing the Panerai logo. It comes complete with a spare strap that can be fitted with the tool provided.

Source: Panerai
www.panerai.com

Luxury watchmaker Officine Panerai brings its know-how to Hong Kong in July with the Manifattura Collection exhibition at the Atrium, The Landmark, Central.

A perennial favorite amongst watch enthusiasts and collectors, Panerai has shown its commitment to innovation and raising standards in haute horlogerie with a series of magnificent mechanical movements. Headlining the current exhibition, which is the brand’s second such showing in Hong Kong, is the P.9000 range of calibres introduced this year at the trade show in Geneva.

The exhibition will be opened for free admission to the public at the Atrium, The Landmark, Central from 26 to 29 July 2009, between 11am to 8pm daily.

The P.9000 calibres are the P.9000, P.9001 and P9002 and all three share certain technical design characteristics unique to Panerai. Of course, they are also hallmarks of the brand’s technical excellence and watchmaking prowess. Calibres P.2002, P.2003, P.2004, P.2005 and P.2006 will also be on display, along with historical pieces and other key elements of the brand’s storied past.

Since it was founded in 1963, Swiss Military – Hanowa has excelled in the production of watches that are both sporty and trendy. With its new “Revenge Dual Time”, the emblematic Swiss army brand combines these two attributes more strongly than ever before. First, there is the extremely practical second time zone that will appeal to a wider audience than just travellers, then the watch’s truly remarkable precision and robustness, and finally its large date and the fact that it is water-resistant to 100 metres.

Richard Mille sees to it that women have their own tourbillon to play with this year in a long-awaited expansion to the collection for the fairer sex. The baseplate of the ladies tourbillon RM019 Celtic Knot has been crafted out of black onyx while diamonds grace the Celtic Knot that crisscrosses the movement.

The RM019 is as technically impressive – with hours, minutes and power reserve, along with the tourbillon – as the diver’s watch but its design cues inform the mystique of feminine time. The watch will be available in 18 carat white gold and red gold.

Corum honors this breathtaking historic piece with a new version in titanium. The movement – manual-winding calibre CO113 – has its plates and lone bridge executed in 18k rose gold. Take note of the usual high degree of finishing on this bridge as well as the combination of satin and polished surfaces of the case.

Titanium watches usually feature only satin surfaces. Notice also that sapphire crystal is used on the sides of the case as well as the front and back. The 34mm X 51mm watch sports a variable inertia balance wheel and 40 hours of power reserve. It is limited to 188 pieces.

Thanks – www.corumtimepieces.com

Thanks EuropaStar

Luxury Swiss watchmaking maison Audemars Piguet revealed the fruits of its research and development labors at the recently concluded Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. The watch itself is a time-only proposition, with power reserve indication (56 hours), but it is a horological masterpiece.

This is actually visible, since the escapement assembly (at 4 o’clock in the image) is meant to function dial-side. Given that it operates at 43,200 vibrations per hour and features the double balance spring direct-impulse escapement (revealed to the world in 2006), the visible action of this escapement is a treat.

With this series-production watch, Audemars Piguet demonstrates both the stability of their balance assembly and the necessary improved shock resistance. No information is available at present on the rate of the watch.

This is a massive 17 2/3 lignes movement, with the open three-dimensional aesthetic showing off the true scale of the engine. It also confirms the brand’s commitment to producing large watches, with this model cased in platinum 250 at 46mm. Given the current real estate of this movement, calibre 2908, it will be interesting to see how the brand executes a chronograph or perpetual calendar display.

This is, in fact, the reason for the round case: to attain water resistance of 300 meters, the round shape is the best. From luminous markers to unidirectional bezel, this watch meets all the professional requirements.

Nevertheless, the 18-ct red gold or white gold and titanium case is a complex tripartite affair and holds a movement that boasts many technical breakthroughs.

At 50.7mm in diameter, this is very much a contemporary watch. Among the uniquely Richard Mille touches are the torque screws on the case that enable precise control and distribution of pressure around the case and a bezel screwed to the case that enable precise adjustment of the bezel’s tension.

The presence of all the screws makes the water resistance rating even more remarkable. Complications wise, the watch features a tourbillon and a chronograph (with column wheel in titanium) on a movement based on the RM 008 carbon nanofibre calibre.

Richard Mille -
Watch Tribune.

The brand launched its first chronograph – an automatic column wheel piece – in 1990 and today continues to refine its expertise in this ever-popular complication. The Papillon Chronograph – featuring the now-famous ellipsocurvex case – revisits the 1999 chronograph issued to celebrate the brand’s 10th anniversary.

To be precise, it references the 2005 Papillon Chronograph, minus the cover that hid the action of the pivoting minute hands. Significantly, the Girard-Perregaux movement of 2005 has been replaced with a Frederic Piguet caliber (reference 1185).

www.danielroth.com

Pictured here are some of the variants available today, including the Asia-only Santos Demoiselle, which is a quartz offering aimed at women. All the other watches feature various mechanical movements, including one chronograph.

The automobile makes its presence felt along the transversal movement (a horological premiere at that time) in which the movement is laid out on its side, spread between five plates in perfect alignment, highly evocative of a car engine. The dial is effectively on the case-middle, between the lugs, to allow easy reading of time for the wearer behind the wheel.

Apart from the movement, the aesthetics of the watch are a nod to the Italian-founded French marque, with certain wheels in the watch’s “engine” cut to resemble the trademark Bugatti wheel rims.

The movement – with the motions of the gear train clearly visible – is on show behind sapphire crystals that take the place of the traditional watch face and the case back. The watch is limited to 20 pieces, with Hermes leather strap, in 18-carat rose gold (10 pieces) or brushed white gold (10 pieces).

www.parmigiani.ch

Basically, the watch allows its wearer to lock and unlock his Aston Martin DBS with a mere push of the sapphire crystal (between 8 and 9 o’clock to open and 3 and 4 o’clock to close).
As with the previous AMVOX 2, this one is a chronograph with no pushpieces. Instead, the watch uses the sapphire crystal to activate the chronograph. In a remarkable marriage between the electrical and mechanical, this very same ingenious mechanism is used to activate the transponder.

The manufacturer announced that the first working prototypes have been produced. Check back for news on the actual production watches.

It is worth noting that the timekeeping functions of the watch are totally mechanical while the transponder function is electronic (battery-powered). The transponder and the battery are housed as far as possible from the automatic mechanical movement.

In the case of the transponder, it is actually a 128mm antenna along the curve of the inner bezel. Compared with the version in the DBS key, this one weighs merely a few grams and is less than half its size, making the AMVOX 2 a triumph of miniaturization.

http://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/

As with the previous two Horological Machines, the HM3 defies expectations yet simultaneously affirms all that horology enthusiasts have come to expect from MB&F.

Busser reveals that his inspiration was twofold: he wanted to build a spaceship for the wrist and a wristwatch that was simply cool. When one looks at this eminently wearable timepiece, one might think of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.

The watch comes in two configurations, one with its cones in line with the wearer’s arm (Starcruiser) and the other with its cones perpendicular to the wearer’s arm (Sidewinder).
The story here is told by both the shape of the watch and the configuration of the movement, with balance assembly and rotor appearing dial-side.

Hours and minutes are delivered by the two cones (via the ceramic ball bearings visible through the caseback) while the date is supplied via a ring around the movement. Thus the movement appears to be framed by the display of time.

www.mbandf.com

luxury-insider dot com

With its combination of symbols and watch complications, this exceptional object houses the first “RJ One” movement, composed of two tourbillions on the foundation of a differential system – a world first! The transmission of energy symbolizes the passage from one life to another, in which the daytime activities of the Tourbillon Day are relayed after twelve hours to the private sphere of the Tourbillon Night.

(Van Cleef & Arpels “Lady Arpels Féerie”, Pièce Unique. A very fine 18k white gold diamond-set (D-E-F) lady’s wristwatch with a purple guilloché dial. The delicate white gold and diamonds fairy indicates the time thanks to an hour and minute retrograde mechanical movement. Sold: 70,000 EUR)

Estelle was the daughter of a precious stone wholesaler and the sister of expert gemologists, while Alfred was the son of a diamond merchant from Amsterdam.

In 1906, Alfred Van Cleef and his brother-in-law, Charles, register the name «Van Cleef & Arpels», and the shop settles into 22 Place Vendôme Paris.

Van Cleef & Arpels’ contemporary watch creations are the finest expression of a successful union of exceptional watch making and high fashion jewellery. Audaciously innovative and stylish, Van Cleef & Arpels watches feature classic forms enhanced with rare and original new features. By reinterpreting its own great classics, applying the jeweller’s art to watch cases and dials, and creating complications that surprise and delight, Van Cleef & Arpels confirms its talent as a master jeweller in the world of fine watches.

http://www.vancleef-arpels.com/

I am certain that many of us can identify with the 70′ish Pulsar look. That is actually what it is meant to be. I remember being obsessed in my youth with these LEDs. Plus, seeing James Bond with one did not help. Finding one of these today in good condition is a difficult task. There are Some Jaeger and even Omegas out there that I would love to put my hands on. Alas, you only see them from time to time and they are just impossible to procure.

The Opus 8 is quite an exercise to say the least. Being able to make a mechanical version of what in our youths we only dream of having is certainly a challenge. The mechanism works by raising a template up onto the indicator pad by means of a lever. Once activated the template pushes the corresponding micro pillars upwards, as you can see in the picture. The lever is very easily mistaken by a repeater complication but instead of chiming this will make the hour appear only to recess back in its flat mode after a few seconds. Just like the Pulsar back then. The minutes are displayed in five minute increments on the right side. To be honest I would not mind a version with this design and with a real LED interior just for fun. I shouldn’t be expensive of course.

Even if (as a watch addict) I am not to hot on jewelers making watches I must admit that the “Opus” are something that I can only dream to have. Unfortunately, like for most of us, this is only to bee seen from a distance…

When he took on the distribution of Wyler watches from the 1920s onwards, Innocente Binda started an association between the Binda family and the Wyler brand that continues to this day, with Wyler Genève now a company of the Binda Group, headed up by Innocente’s grandsons Marcello and Simone. Binda built up a solid reputation for Wyler timepieces in Italy through a visionary use of publicity. In what was arguably one of the earliest forms of celebrity endorsement, Innocente Binda offered the Italian football team Wyler watches to wear for their first-ever World Cup appearance in 1934. His prescience was rewarded by Italy’s debut victory and an album of meticulously handwritten compliments from each of the players, which takes pride of place today in the company archive. He followed up this success with award-winning advertising vehicles and the first-ever watch advertising on television.

To coincide with Italy’s first qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup, Wyler Genève renews its association with the Italian team through a new licensing agreement to produce the official watch of the Italian national football team. The watch is built around the brand’s unique shock-absorbing case and bears subtle distinguishing features that are sure to appeal to Italian football fans.

Wyler Genève’s association with the four times World Cup winners and defending World Cup champions is not the only Italian flavour to imbue the brand’s Swiss Made timepieces. A schoolboy friendship between Marcello Binda and Andrea Zagato, head of the eponymous atelier, has led to a design partnership and the first-ever wristwatch to feature design by Zagato, sparking considerable interest among watch fans.

Bruno Grande, Managing Director of Wyler Genève, on the partnership: “I’m immensely proud of this renewed association with the Italian football team, which takes us back to the roots of our company. The advertising slogan for our shock-absorbing chronograph is ‘Time Suspended’ and to come back to partner with the Italian team after 75 years certainly does feel like time has been suspended.”

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

Case
Top and bottom plates: stainless steel, 4 titanium screws
Case middle: Carbon fibre resin, 2 sapphire crystals
Inner movement case: titanium, suspended on 4 independent shock-absorbing springs, water resistant to 50m
Chronograph pushers: stainless steel with stylised design motif
Crown: rubber-coated stainless steel
Crown protector: stainless steel with engraved Wyler logo
Case back: Stainless-steel case-back with screws and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal aperture with special ?FIGC engraving
Dimensions: Width: 43.4 mm; length: 52 mm; height: 14.5 mm
Special engraving etched on to the sapphire crystal case back: “OFFICIAL WATCH OF THE ITALIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM, 1934 – 2009″ together with the FIGC logo.

Movement
Swiss-made self-winding mechanical movement; 42-hour power reserve; personalized oscillating weight in drilled blackened heavy metal with rhodium-plated bevels
Functions: Chronograph: 1 second, 30 minutes, 12 hours; continuous seconds, date

Dial
Blue dial matching Italian team’s kit colours; applied counter rings and Arabic numerals, skeleton hour and minute hands with luminescent tips, 4 gold stars on the continuous seconds dial corresponding to the Italian football team’s four World Cup victories. Small seconds hand in the colours of the Italian flag (green, white and red).

Strap
Wyler personalised natural rubber in blue matching the Italian team’s kit colours, foldover clasp in stainless steel buckle and titanium

Box
Special blue leather box with white stitching and embossed FIGC logo with four gold stars. White alcantara interior with separate blue leather travel box with white stitching, also featuring the embossed FIGC logo and gold stars.

Reference
R04.C1C.00.00.BL003.RIT07.41

Thanks, professionalwatches . com