watches

Venerable German watch manufacture A. Lange & Sohne debuted three new watches for 2012 at the SIHH show in Geneva last week.  I showed you the new Lange Datograph Ab/Auf (Power Reserve) piece already, so now let’s look at the new Grande Lange 1.  The Lange 1 has long been the lynchpin of the A. Lange lineup, therefore making any change was going to be a risk.  For 2012 A. Lange has retained the key elements of the Grand Lange 1 while at the same time freshening up the overall look.  Starting with a a new movement – the Lane Calibre L095.1 — the thickness of the Grande Lange 1 has been reduced to 8mm, vs. 11mm previously; as well, a single, thinner mainspring has replaced a twin barrel configuration.   What I like most is that the new dial has a larger date window and no overlap of sub-dials — this gives the watch a superbly clean look.  The A. Lange & Sohne Grande Lange 1 will be available in yellow (Ref. 117.021) and pink gold (Ref. 117.032) at 31,000 euros (approx. US$39,600) and platinum (Ref. 117.025) for 47,000 euros (approx US$60,000).  I am partial to the beautiful pink-gold case.

A. Lange & Sohne Grande Lange 1

40.9mm case (8.8mm thick), hand-wound Lange Calibre L095.1 (72 hrs power reserve), “big date”, fitted on croc strap

A. Lange’s even bigger “big date” window:

There is tropical, and then there is just downright ridiculous. As we've told you before, serious vintage Rolex collectors love it when the black part of a dial turns brown - they call it "chocolate" or "tropical."  In many cases, people will pay a large premium for tropical dials.

The watch we spotted today over on VRF goes beyond chocolate and beyond tropical - in fact the damn dial is so faded it's illegible to the naked eye.

What it is is a vintage Tudor Submariner Ref 7298 with pointed crown guards - a pretty cool and valuable piece.  But, the dial on this one is, well, really, really ridiculously faded.

Besides the incredibly faded dial (seller claims you can read it with a loupe), the watch looks OK.  What's funny is, we bet there are some guys out there that are salivating at the chance to own a vintage Sub this tropical. 

This vintage 7298 Tudor Sub is listed over at VRF for $13,500 here.

Editor's Note: This post should read neither as an endorsement or criticism of this seller's listing.  It is up to any individual buyer to do all reasonable due diligence when making a purchase.

Hi all y'all, as my friends down south say --above is a quick video shot at GTE 2012 in Geneva of the Tensus watch in action. You can see the double escape wheel --the lower and upper are only out of synch by one beat of the balance, as the constant force spring is re-armed every time the balance is impulsed. Easily one of the two or three most interesting pieces of watchmaking in the last few years, especially if you are a chronometry buff and interested in watchmaking solutions to chronometric problems which use traditional watchmaking methods, not exotic materials. Jack

The Santos-Dumont is a classic on the Cartier line-up, and the skeleton is something of cult favorite among collectors.  The deco numerals cut right into the structure of the watch are artfully done - in fact, the roman numerals are actually formed by the skeletonized bridges of the movement - and to see the Cartier calibre 9614 MC fully exposed in all its glory is really an impressive sight.  This year, the Santos-Dumont Skeleton is introduced in pink gold for the first time and the result is just stunning. 

Each pink gold Santos-Dumont Skeleton will be individually numbered and retail for $47,000.

Click through for live photographs of the Cartier Santos-Dumont Skeleton in pink gold from SIHH this year.

In watchmaking tradition, “regulator” watches were special pendulum clocks, used by watchmakers in their workshops to set the exact time and therefore to test the precision of smaller watches.  They were also used in science whenever extremely precise time indicators were needed, like in the field of astronomy or nautical navigation.  In addition to sitting on the watchmakers bench, regulator pendulum clocks of this sort also stood in the offices of harbormasters in all of the world’s major ports.

While this is new Montblanc Nautique Regulator is an interesting watch of this type, I find that there is unfortunately too much to interpret on the dial.  The Natique Regulator doesn’t have a regulator dial of the sort that’s frequently used on watches of this type, but instead there are eight different indications (home time, local time, day and night display, chronograph, 30-minute counter, small seconds, and combined power-reserve and winding-zone display).  Compared to what I would consider more traditional Regulators (e.g. Glashutte Original Regulator or the Milos Zetios Regulator), this watch seems as if it would be quite difficult to read at a glance — and thus use in the traditional sense.

This Montblanc Nautique Regulator is a limited edition set of just sixteen pieces – eight sets with red gold wristwatch chronographs and eight more with wristwatch chronographs in white gold cases.  Each set consists of a wristwatch chronograph with regulator dial and two time zones, along with a large navigational clock which, in addition to showing three time zones on its main regulator dial, also includes a world-time indicator.

If you are interested in learning more, there a full press release can be found here at HH Magazine.

Candlelight, wine, a wide open lens :) .

Hamilton invited us to breakfast this morning to see the highlights of their Basel 2012 collection.  There were some really excellent pieces, but the one that really caught our eye was the brand new intra-matic (all lower case).

The watch is clearly vintage inspired, and just as it was in the 1950s, it will be the sister watch to the Thin-O-Matic, the tribute of which we saw last year.  The intra-matic feature simple stick markers with a domed crystal and dial.  It is a thin watch at around 7mm thick.  The intra-matic is great looking, and will be available in both steel and gold pvd, in 38mm and 42mm on leather or a bracelet. 

The best part about the new intra-matic is the price: $845 for the 38mm and $945 for the 42mm - not bad for a nicely designed watch with a rock-solid ETA 2892 under the hood.  These will hit stores in March.

Click through for more live pictures of the Hamilton intra-matic.

TUTTONERO LUMINOR 1950 3 DAYS GMT AUTOMATIC CERAMICA - 44 MM Officine Panerai presents a new and unique watch: Tuttonero. With a Luminor 1950 case and the classic Panerai bracelet in ceramics, Tuttonero is made entirely of matt black ceramic: a watch with extraordinary aesthetic impact, which is faithful to the Panerai identity and constructed using the most advanced technologies in the field of materials. Matt black is evident in every detail of the Tuttonero: the Luminor 1950 case with a diameter of 44mm, the lever device protecting the winding crown which makes every Luminor unmistakable and the dial which is of sandwich construction. Like the numerals and hour markers, the hands (hour, minute, small seconds and second time zone) are covered with ecru Super-LumiNova®, thus ensuring excellent visibility and legibility even in the dark. The bracelet too is made entirely of matt black ceramic, the links being formed and finished by the same processes as the case and then attached to a PVD-coated brushed steel buckle. The design of the bracelet is the result of lengthy research aimed at achieving perfect integration with the ceramic case. Each individual link is asymmetrical and has curved surfaces which enhance the soft feel and effective performance of the bracelet. The ceramic used by Officine Panerai is a synthetic material based on zirconium oxide powder. By means of a complex series of working and finishing processes this acquires a particularly uniform and even appearance combined with a high degree of hardness (up to five times greater than that of stainless steel), as well as being resistant to scratches, corrosive agents and high temperatures. These characteristics have made ceramic one of the materials of choice in the world of haute horlogerie. The movement of the Tuttonero is the P.9001/B calibre, completely developed and made in the Officine Panerai manufacture. It is an automatic mechanical movement with a power reserve of three days, date, second time zone, zero reset seconds hand and power reserve indication on the movement, visible through the sapphire crystal on the back. The movement has undergone a blackening process to give the watch a completely black appearance, as indicated by the engraved inscription “TUTTONERO” on the back. The Tuttonero – Luminor 1950 3 Days GMT Automatic Ceramica (PAM00438) is water- resistant to 100 metres and is part of the Contemporary Collection. Pic of PAM438: Side view of PAM438 Cheers!

Panerai introduces 3 new black models in SIHH 2012: PAM00396, PAM00438 and PAM00441. Here is the details of PAM00396: PAM00396 LUMINOR 1950 TOURBILLON GMT CERAMICA - 48 MM A great speciality of haute horlogerie, the tourbillon regulator has been reinterpreted in a sophisticated and innovative manner in the new Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Ceramica. The Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Ceramica is a watch of great character, offering not only the complex, sophisticated tourbillon regulator mechanism patented by Officine Panerai – with a balance which rotates on its own axis in a period of 30 seconds, thus correcting any possible errors due to the force of gravity – but also the indication of a second time zone and the visual display of the power reserve of six days, achieved by three spring barrels connected in series. The material of which the Luminor 1950 case (48mm in diameter) has been made also expresses the technical mastery of the Officine Panerai manufacture: it is a synthetic ceramic based on zirconium powder which, by means of a complex series of working and finishing processes, acquires a particularly uniform and even matt black appearance, as well as ensuring excellent performance in terms of hardness, resistance to scratches, corrosive agents and high temperatures. The black dial has a simple graphic appearance reduced to essentials and is of the classic sandwich structure created in the 1930s by Officine Panerai to achieve the maximum legibility even in conditions of very low light. The small dial at 3 o’clock provides am/pm indication over 24 hours. The small seconds dial, at 9 o’clock, also contains an original indicator, consisting of a series of dot markers, which is connected to the tourbillon and therefore moves at twice the speed of the seconds hand, completing one revolution in 30 seconds. The 12-sided back with 12 sides in titanium (coated with PVD) has a sapphire crystal window in the centre which enables the P.2005 manufacture movement to be seen. Here Officine Panerai is presenting it for the first time in the P.2005/B version, which has undergone a blackening treatment to create an aesthetic continuity with the matt black of the case. The sapphire crystal also enables the remaining power reserve to be seen, thanks to a golden indicator within an arc-shaped dial. The Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Ceramica (PAM00396) is supplied with strap of natural untreated leather, closed by an adjustable steel buckle, coated in PVD. Pic of PAM396: Close-up of the indicator at 9 o'clock (which completes 1 revolution in 30 sec): Back of PAM396: Closeup of movt in PAM396: Cheers!

I gave you the first look at Cartier’s new grand complication pocket watch almost a month ago.  And just because it looks so good, I’m back bringing you a few new angles and looks at this masterpiece.  In particular you can observe the fine finishing of this watch — the “V” shaped tread around the edge of the case, the solid white gold skeletonized Roman numerals, hand finished with carefully bevelled edges, the contrast of polished and brushed surfaces, and so on.  And don’t forget that the pocket watch includes an obsidian and rock crystal stand, along with a polished white gold chain and fob (also pictured below).

Cartier Pocket Watch  (Ref. 1556213)

59.2mm White Gold Case (Skeletonized), tourbillon, perpetual calendar, monopusher chronograph, 8-day power reserve

Calibre 9436 MC

obsidian and rock crystal stand

Pitti Uomo…

The mecca of menswear. Do I sound dramatic? That's kind of the point. This is where the peacocks strut. Men from all over the world come to Florence, Italy twice a year to buy and show upcoming clothing collections, drink espresso, smoke cigarettes, and try to get photographed looking cool. Here you'll see brands like Kiton, Brunello Cucinelli, Lardini, and every other cool Italian clothier whose name you say softly to avoid someone hearing you mispronounce it. While most of you have seen photos from Pitti Uomo for years on The Sartorialist and GQ's Tommy Ton, few ever pay attention to the timepieces - believe me, they're worth seeing. Rollies on Rollies, Pateks on Pateks and yes, even a few Richard Mille's. We sent Justin Chung to snap some photos for us. Enjoy.

I can't say I like it. To me this is as far from a diver watch as a pocket watch, but it did catch my attention for quite some time when I recently saw it. there is a lot to look at in this watch. highly complicated calibre, busy dial, very personal design, rare materials, incredible finish, you name it.

I thought I was the kind of watch enthusiast who needs to see instant signs of life when looking at the dial of my watch. It turns out, Jaeger Lecoultre just tought me, that I don't need that: less is more...

Eric Abidal is a defenseman for Barcelona.  He is also a cancer survivor, and one hell of a guy.

Abidal survived liver cancer just last year, and since then has become very active in supporting the fight against all forms of the disease.  Recently, the father of a 15-year-old cancer-stricken boy named Juan Garcia wrote a letter to a Spanish newspaper describing how Abidal was his son's inspiration for the fight to get better.

Abidal actually visited the cancer ward where he met with Garcia and several other sick children.  At the end of the meeting, Abidal took the gold Rolex Daytona he wears every day and presented it to the 15-year-old Garcia.  No matter what Garcia and his father said, Abidal would not take it back.  Abidal said "It doesn’t matter what this is worth. I want your son to be happy."

Nobody knows exactly where this Daytona came from - some believe it was presented to each member of the Barcelona squad at the end of last season to commemorate their double triumph of winning Spain’s La Liga and the Champions League, while others think it was the prize for winning a Barcelona fans’ player of the year award.  No matter the origins, it undoubtedly will be something that Juan Garcia never lets go.

(Story via Yahoo / ht to Dan)

Readers of Perpetuelle know that I rarely cover the sub-$1,000 watch market, save for some interesting mechanicals or pieces that catch my eye.  This new Technomarine “Night Vision” piece from Technomarine caught my eye.   Speaking of Technomarine — wayback when, the brand was very considered fashionable and trendy, but that’s the problems with trends — they fade away.  This is more or less what happened to Technomarine.  But starting last year, the brand started to be reinvented and reinvigorated with a more sustainable product lineup (this started with Vincent Perriard and some other industry veterans — Perriard has since left the brand to start his own, more interesting venture HYT Watch).

Anyway, at Baselworld 2012 (March is right around the corner!) Technomarine will be showing off its new “Night Vision” watches.   I find the the Night Vision watch to have a cool look to it, worthy of wrists ranging from armchair watch enthusiasts to more higher-end watch buyers who want something fun to wear.  In addition to the green color set you see here, the watch will also come in white, blue, black and orange.

Technomarine “Night Vision” Watch

45mm steel case with black PVD coating, 200 meter water resistance, quartz movement, black silicone strap

VIDEO, courtesy Technomarine:

Hi all, English watchmaker Roger Smith has been awarded the British Horological Institute's Silver Medal - their highest honor. Below you'll find the press release. Congratulations Roger! Roger W. Smith Honoured with BHI Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Horology. The British Horological Institute have awarded Roger Smith the Barrett Silver Medal of the BHI at their recent annual awards and new members day at Upton Hall, Newark. The award is in recognition of Roger Smith’s “Dedication to and successfully continuing the finest traditions of English watchmaking”. First awarded in 1987, The BHI Silver Medal is only awarded to members of the British Horological Institute and, although presented at the annual event, it is not necessarily an annual award, requiring a justifiably outstanding achievement in the opinion of the panel. In fact it has only been awarded six times since 2000. Kenneth Lloyd Jones, in presenting the prize to Roger, noted his exceptional story of devotion to the pursuit of making watches by hand, and extraordinary determination during the many years it took him in doing so. Roger was commended for bringing his work into the commercial industry, and for his success therein. Ahead of the prize-giving,the event also gave Roger Smith the opportunity to address the new members as well as the recently successful exam candidates. During his speech, Roger remembered his own studies for the BHI qualification at the Manchester School of Horology almost 25 years ago, remarking that his first day on the course was ‘the most enjoyable day in education that I had ever had’ and from that day, he knew that he ‘had been gripped by this fascinating and multi faceted occupation of horology’. Roger was awarded the BHI Bronze Award on graduating in 1989, for ‘The most outstanding student of the year’. Having been recognised for his own continuation of the finest traditions of English watchmaking, Roger shared his belief with the new members that, despite the current economic downturn, there has never been a better time for the horologist; “In the past 15 or so years we have all witnessed a rapid expansion of the Swiss watch industry and its renewed interest in the modern mechanical wrist watch along with the ever increasing numbers of watches and clocks that are now becoming collectable”. In wishing the new members of the BHI well in their chosen profession, Roger reminded them that they are the future face of British horology ascribing professionalism as the key the success. In joining other ‘horological greats’ such as Jonathon Betts and Derek Pratt who have previously received the BHI Silver Medal, Roger also provides an inspiration to young horologists who might also one day find themselves accepting the award… (left) Richard Thomas – Chairman, Roger Smith, and Kenneth Lloyd Jones (Right) - President

hi all! wanted to share this pic, made last Christmas... have a great day and enjoy life! cheers, Wim

Hi everyone, hope you enjoy. The 1966 Minute Repeater is pretty much everything you want in a classically styled minute repeater and it doesn't hurt that it has the voice of an angel :) one of the most beautiful sounding repeaters I heard at the SIHH. Not the loudest but still plenty of volume, and in terms of sheer richness of tone it was really something special. Jack

You read about it last year when it was announced at the SIHH 2010(!) but the brainchild of watchmakers Johnny Girardin and Frank Orny, and Montblanc's Institut Minerva, was present and fully operation at SIHH 2012. At first glance a straightforward (if ornate) regulator dial watch with a circular date display, it transforms at the push of a button into a chronograph --hence the name. "The Watch with Two Faces" borrows from the minute repeater --a repeater-style regulator is used to control the speed of the metamorphosis. By the way, getting this video wasn't easy. Montblanc is a pretty big global company and their booth is always packed. The Metamorphosis was not shown during the press presentation and I had about a minute --literally --to shoot it, as it went from one appointment to the next. Hence the harsh overhead lights. J.

Hi everyone, As you all know SIHH 2012 is now over and we've all had a chance to catch our breath(s) a bit. The SIHH is probably one of the nicer trade shows to attend; the Richemont Group and participating brands do quite a nice job every year at making editors and other visitors (the show is not open to the public, unlike BaselWorld) feel welcome. Despite the fact that attendees are mostly retailers and members of the press, between guests and exhibitors there are a lot of people in town and the hotels are all full. A big thumbs up for the place I stayed this year: the Intercontinental is great if you're in town for SIHH as it's very comfortable indeed and also pretty close to the Palexpo center where the show takes place. The view from my room was very nice: We got in on Sunday morning after a pretty quiet flight and as the SIHH proper doesn't start until Monday, spent Sunday at the GTE: The Geneva Time Exhibition, which is an offsite gather spot for brands that aren't exhibitors at the SIHH proper but wish to catch the attention of visitors to the city. It's mostly small independent brands, and gives them an opportunity to get exposure they wouldn't otherwise get. It's a much less homogenous group than the SIHH but you can see quite a bit of interesting and unusual watchmaking (as well as some very technically unusual pieces.) Impossible to be comprehensive with so little time and so many watches so I didn't try. What follows is an amalgam of what I thought was especially interesting, what I had time to see (which was very far from everything) and what pictures were marginally presentable ;-) . (Exhibit entrance at the GTE) We had a chance to sit down and chat at length with Louis Moinet CEO Jean-Marie Schaller, who showed us some interesting new things. (Louis Moinet CEO Jean-Marie Schaller. Nice Canon camera at his elbow was accidentally left behind by an earlier visitor, who I hope remembered where they left it and got it back!) One of his specialties --indeed, something of a signature design element --is the use of unusual and precious minerals for his dials, which are often intriguing not only for their rarity but also for their expression of a certain aesthetic of time. One such watch is the Stromatolite Tourbillon: Stromatolites are some of the earliest fossil evidence for life on Earth --they are the fossilized remains of bacterial mats, which formed when primitive cyanobacteria formed colonies on rock surfaces. These built up over time into large mushroom shaped structures and the earliest ones are around three billion years old (with strong evidence for even earlier colonies.) Since the Earth formed around 4.5 billion years ago and was clobbered by the so-called Late Heavy Bombardment (of meteors) until around 3.8 bya, life apparently arose on Earth quite early on. Stromatolites start to become rare in the fossil record about the time they'd have begun to be fodder for multicellular grazing organisms and today they're only found a few places on Earth --off the coast of Australia for example. Movement side. Tourbillon by Concepto for Louis Moinet. The thing I really liked about this particular watch was its use of stromatolite in the context of the wonderful Jules Verne, steampunk influenced design of the rest of the watch --I think you have to have a certain background in and love of certain kinds of literature to really feel the full flavor of what Louis Moinet is doing; they're not really intended to be tour-de-force exercises in watchmaking, but rather a kind of artistic meditation on nostalgia and time, and I think the idea of incorporating this particular fossil with a watch that hits these design marks makes for a very resonant piece. Speaking of tour de force watchmaking, we also spent quite a lot of time with Karsten Fraesdorf at Heritage Watches. Karsten's approach to watchmaking is both radical and traditional --he's essentially applied himself to the task of improving every functionally important part of the watch where there are still major technical problems open, and he does it using only traditional watchmaking materials --no silicon, nothing that requires exotic fabrication techniques (well, nothing more exotic than a CNC and spark erosion/EDM machine, I'd imagine.) The money shot, if you'll forgive the crude expression, is the movement in this case. The Tensus watch (shown) has an extremely unusual escapement; if you look closely you'll see what looks like two escape wheels instead of one. Your eyes aren't tricking you; the first escape wheel is connected to the rest of the going train but the second is connected to the first only by a spiral spring which is kept wound by the first. It's the tension in the second spring that delivers energy to the lever and thus to the balance. While the setup is similar in many respects to a remontoire d'egalite it is different in that the spring is armed at every oscillation of the balance, rather than once every minute or more as is the case with a typical remontoire (if there is such a thing.) The escape wheel teeth are different from those usually found in a conventional lever watch; this is to accomodate the unique (at least, I've never seen such a system anywhere else) double anchor system used to keep the constant force spring wound. It's a tremendously fascinating and deeply intellectually satisfying watch --I got so excited I forgot to take pictures of the dial side, which is a shame because it's quite nicely done (design by the well known watch designer Eric Giroud.) I'll try and do more on the Tensus watch at a later date, it's worth a whole article (or multiple articles more likely.) A note on nomenclature --I've had a back-and-forth with Karsten intermittently over the last couple of months on whether this is a constant force escapement or a remontoire d'egalite; he prefers to call it a CFE, citing the unusual configuration. Constant force escapements are extremely rare and what, exactly should be classified as one is not really clear, at least if you follow the changes in nomenclature over the years. Ultimately the classification question is a narrow one that shouldn't be allowed to distract from the wonderful and inventive watchmaking in the Tensus watch (at least that's how I feel.) It's rather like being a birdwatcher --you want to know what species you're looking at, but it shouldn't be allowed to take you away from the beauty of the bird. (Of course, for some people classification is a joy unto itself. Vladimir Nabokov was one of the world's leading authorities on the morphology of butterfly genitalia. De gustibus non disputandum est, if I may throw some probably bad Latin in there.) I found myself quite liking the new version of the Cabestan watch as well: Trade shows are also a great place to observe rare species of journalists in the wild: Hey, it's IanS, hard at work. :) Jack PS: they're not watchmakers but the music box maker, Reuge, was there as well, showing some extraordinary things. If the magic of mechanics enthralls you you need look no further (though as with fine watchmaking this stuff doesn't come cheap.) One interesting element for watch lovers is the regulating system that controls the tempo of the music box --it's a centrifugal regulator, which works by air resistance. You see such things here and there in watch and clockmaking as well --the vanes of a fan are sometimes used in clock remontoires to control the speed at which the gears move when the remontoire spring is rewound, and Seiko uses an air-brake to control the speed of chiming in the Credor Minute Repeater. JF