The Luxury Watch Blog

Initial Impressions

When the watch first arrived from Debaufre in their usual priority mail box. The watch was very well packaged and shipped. They include the customary Debaufre Red/Black presentation box, warranty card and paperwork. The presentation box is very nice and one to hang on to.

When I took it out, the first thing I said was “WOW, This thing is BIG!”. The reason they call it the Magnum 44 is that its 44mm across the case, not including the crown.

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First of all What are Automatic Watches?

They should be called Watches with an Automatic movement. Here is some historical information.

* Perrelet

The Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet invented a self-winding mechanism in 1770 for pocket watches. It worked on the same principle as a modern pedometer, and was designed to wind as the owner walked, using an oscillating weight inside the large watch that moved up and down. The Geneva Society of Arts reported in 1776 that fifteen minutes of walking was necessary to wind the watch sufficiently for eight days, and the following year reported that it was selling well.

* Breguet

Perrelet sold some of his watches to a contemporary watch making luminary, Abraham-Louis Breguet who improved upon the mechanism in his own version of the design, calling his watches “perpetuelles” the French word for perpetual and possibly the source for Rolex’s name for its automatic movements, the “Perpetual”.

* Harwood

Self winding mechanisms were more successful in wristwatches because the rotor could operate every time that the owner moved his or her arm. However the first version did not appear until the 20th century. It was invented by a watch repairer from the Isle of Man named John Harwood in 1923, who took out a UK patent with his financial backer, Harry Cutts, on 7 July 1923, and a corresponding Swiss patent on 16 October 1923. The Harwood system used a pivoting weight which swung as the wearer moved, and which in turn wound the mainspring. The ratchet mechanism only wound the mainspring when moving in one direction. The weight didn’t rotate a full 360°; spring bumpers limited its swing to about 180°, to encourage a back and forth motion. This early type of self-winding mechanism is now referred to as a ‘bumper’.

When fully wound, the watch would run for 12 hours autonomously. It did not have a conventional stem winder, so the hands were moved manually by rotating a bezel around the face of the watch. The watches were first produced with the help of fine Swiss watch manufacturer Fortis and went on sale in 1928 and 30,000 were made until the Harwood Self-Winding Watch Company collapsed in 1931 as a result of the Great Depression. ‘Bumper’ watches were the first commercially successful automatic watches; they were made by several high grade watch manufacturers during the 1930s and 1940s.

* Rolex

The Rolex Watch Company improved Harwood’s design in 1930 and used it as the basis for the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, in which the centrally mounted semi-circular weight could rotate through a full 360° rather than the 300° of the ‘bumper’ winder. Rolex’s version also increased the amount of energy stored in the mainspring, allowing it to run autonomously for up to 35 hours.

* Omega

Most mechanical watches sold today are automatic. A notable exception is the Omega Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch”, the model first used by NASA astronauts during the Apollo Program, and which remains standard issue on all manned space flights.

* Patek Philippe

Because a manually wound wristwatch does not require the weighted rotor which is necessary for an automatic watch, some extremely fine watch companies, such as Patek Philippe, continue to design manually wound watches, which can achieve a case thickness as low as 1.77 millimeters.

Once upon a time, long before the wristwatch was invented, the best clocks in the world came from England. The trouble was that they were rather big. This did not matter if their function was to act as a ship’s chronometer but it did get slightly awkward if, like all fashionable men, you tried to keep one of these clocks in your waistcoat pocket.

And then, around two hundred years ago (give or take a century) along came the Swiss and everything changed. Among the pioneers were names such as Breguet, who invented the tourbillon, and Blancpain (of which more later). Many of the first Swiss watchmakers were originally farmers who lived in the small valleys high in the Jura Mountains near the French border. They appear to have had two rather significant characteristics: they were good with their hands and they were very bored during the long winter months. Anyway, it was here that the Swiss watch industry was born. The clocks which came out of the Vallée de Joux were both accurate and relatively small. The snag was that they still needed a decent waistcoat pocket in which to live.

It was only during the First World War that the Swiss started to build watches which could be strapped onto a man’s wrist and not sit in his pocket. This new idea was an immediate hit with the army officers on both sides of the battlefield. Which, in case you wondered, is why even today there is a type of wristwatch case which is invariably referred to as an Officer’s Watch?

Everything in Swiss watchmaking industry went swimmingly for the first six decades of the twentieth century. So swimmingly, in fact, that Rolex invented the oyster case which allowed the wearer to go swimming in his watch. But then, in about 1965, the slurry hit the air-conditioning. The fiendishly clever Japanese invented the quartz watch mechanism. This device had two killer characteristics. First of all it was extremely cheap to produce. Secondly it was extremely accurate. Indeed it was far more accurate than any of the expensive, complicated and delicate Swiss watches which were powered by tiny clockwork motors.

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You always here us ranting about Movado but who really are they? Here is some company history for you!

The company is most renowned for its Museum watches that feature a black clock face with a single gold point at twelve o’clock. This is the minimalist look made famous for Movado by American designer Nathan George Horwitt in 1947. Horwitt intended his design to be evocative of a sun dial, with the dot representing the sun at high noon. This most recognizable look of a Movado is a simple hour and minute hand, with a solid background and a single depressed circle on the 12:00 mark. The Museum Dial, Movado’s signature design, has no markings on for minutes or hours (although some of Movado’s other designs now do). Many refer to this design as the “boss’s watch” because the boss doesn’t have to be on time (hence the vague display of time).

In addition to its design, Movado watches tend to be regarded for being light weight. Most Movado styles include the use of sapphire crystal, which is highly scratch resistant and thus used by most watchmaking companies.

The company supported the construction of a public clock which was designed by the architect of the name Philip Johnson, located outside Lincoln Center in New York City. In 2006, Movado celebrated its 125th year of watchmaking. With its watches set in museum collections around the world, the Movado Company has made its mark of success on the world. Its frequent publicity in famous magazines and other publications furthers this success.

Currently, Movado watches utilize both quartz and automatic movements in their timepieces. The Movado Group, Inc. also markets other watch brands: Concord, Ebel, ESQ Swiss, Coach Watches, Hugo Boss Watches, Tommy Hilfiger, Juicy Couture, Lacoste Watches and RALCO.

Introduction

I like dive watches and in the very affordable department, besides a few Seikos, I recently acquired an Aristo diver. I thought it would be fun to do a side by side comparison of 2 surprisingly similar executions of the same marketing brief. Both these watches are rated at 200 mtrs, have unidirectional bezels with countdown markings and easily legible dials and hands. both lack a dive-suit extension on the bracelet. But of course, after market rubber is available everywhere so in theory you should be able to go scuba diving with either of these watches. But that is sort of like taking your Lexus SUV into the jungle. Most people don’t, but do enjoy driving it through a muddy patch on the driveway. Dive watches are like that, you’re fine in the pool, on the beach and in the shower and… you can clean your watch with shower gel and a sponge!

Comparisons like this are undeniably subjective, but I will seriously try to be fair and allocate plusses or minusses for the key attributes in each part of this review.

Contestants:

Seiko SKX009 Steel 200 Mtr Divewatch with unidirectional bezel and steel president bracelet

Aristo 4h13 Steel 200 Mtr Divewatch with unidirectional bezel and steel oyster bracelet

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The LM-3 is the third watch released by the Ocean7 Watch Company. For those unfamiliar with this new player in the watch world, Ocean7 was founded last year with the goal of designing and building world-class watches with the assistance and advice from enthusiasts worldwide. According to their website, their “mission is to provide innovative products in niche markets with the highest quality manufactured watches at prices that can be achieved only by selling direct to consumers over the Internet.” Their first watch was the LM-1 Limited Edition. Made in an edition size of 150, the LM-1 quickly found a strong following with it’s over the top styling and impressive build quality. Sadly the LM-1 L.E. has now sold out and will not be available in the future. Ocean7 offers two different lines, within it’s brand, to it’s customers. The first are watches in the LM series. The LM watches are always Swiss Made featuring custom designs. While the entry level line is the G series which offers lower priced models that still meet a high level of quality but may not be exclusive to the Ocean7 line up or Swiss made. The price of the LM-3 starts at $699.

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After 15 years loyal service from my Tag Heuer F1 and a significant birthday on the horizon, I went looking for a new watch last year. I always had it in my mind that I wanted an Omega Seamaster Professional, but after endlessly surfing the net and looking through the windows of ADs, I set my sights on the Omega Speedmaster. I am fascinated with the heritage of the Speedmaster and love the classic and timeless design. The Speedmaster never seems to go out of fashion and looks good with a t-shirt through to a suit. I settled on the 3510.50 Speedmaster Automatic (Reduced ) for a few reasons.

1/ I liked the fact that it looked very similar to the legendary Moon watch.

2/ It has an Automatic movement compared to the manual winding movement of the Moon watch.

3/ You get the Moon watch look and the Omega reputation for about $1000 (Aus) less than the Moon watch.

4/ I am no “Big watch“ fan, this felt right for me on a 7” wrist.

12 months down the track, I am very happy with my choice.

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In my opinion a fine “tool” watch, great wrist presence and some very unique features such as magnetic pushers which can be operated down to 1000 meters not that I would ever reach 1000m.

In terms of size the Breitling was a bit of a brute, 17mm case depth and 46mm including the crown. I like my watches big though so no issues their .

Weight was an impressive 150 grammes, quite a heft for a titanium watch.
Build quality was superb, functionality also great and time keeping due the thermo compansated breitling quartz movement excellent!

How do you follow a Breitling CA?

Filling the boots of the Breitling was going to take some doing and I had the following must haves on my list:

1. Must be titanium
2. Must have a bracelet available
3. Must be a chrono - quartz or mechanical
4. Something different i.e. manufacturer
5. Budget approx £1500
6. Black dial / carbon fibre dial
7. Must be 43mm diameter or bigger
8. Something that I could wear with a suit or casual clothing

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Sarcar produces limited and numbered pieces per year. The Managing Director, Maya Koenig, believes that is the right strategy for the company to continue. She explains: “That’s a perfect reason for us to stay small because that’s how we ensure our exclusivity and focus. At Sarcar, our mission is to create dreams for the most unique and most beautiful timepieces you will ever wish to possess and we then let you bring such dreams to reality.”

Guided by a keen sense of aesthetics, Carlo Sarzano, founder of Sarcar watches, started to conceive jewellery watches which, although naturally functional, were above all distinguished by their beauty and their exclusivity. Sarcar watches thus became known for ‘reflecting inner beauty’. The watch brand carries out strict quality controls at every stage of production and thus is known to offer something really different which also happens to be one of its sales arguments.

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What you read here may shock you!

Mechanical watches seemed near extinction just 25 years ago. Today, they not only dominate luxury watch making but also are profit centers for other watches. Maurice Lacroix, for example, expects 90 percent of its watches to be mechanical by 2012. Nearly 60 percent of Hamilton’s watches are now self-winding, while 25 percent of Victorinox Swiss Army’s watches are mechanicals, including its new Alpnach collection.

Others, from upscale to affordable, are adding one or more to their repertoire, such as Gucci’s first automatic (a limited edition for men) in its new Pantheon collection and Armitron’s first automatic, a skeleton watch (starting at $95).

One sign of activity in the mechanical watch segment is that more brands are unveiling their own movements. Bulgari’s Diagono Scuba watch, for example, has a specially created movement, as does Ebel’s 1911 BTR. Formex’s square 4Speed (with tilted case), aimed at young adult buyers, uses a new automatic chronograph movement. The Krieger Chronograph is the first to use the new ETA AO7 automatic movement, while luxury brand JeanRichard’s 2TimeZones GMT is the first in its new sports line with the JR1000 movement made in its workshops. Maurice Lacroix’s Masterpiece Le Chronographe uses the ML 106-2, conceived and developed in the brand’s technical department in Switzerland.

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