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Croton - Watch for men & Women

2011-01-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Croton Watches
Switzerland, an iconic country famous for a people of an impeccable nature, from whom the most precise instruments of time measurement are generated, located in a region that is married to the greatest producer of high fashion the world over, Italy. Within the Italian landscape lies a city, historically known for the intelligence, strength and physical beauty of its inhabitants; CROTON.

The global position of a land possessing people who excelled at precision, strength and beauty led to the natural selection of Croton as the namesake for a timepiece company who sought to establish its very essence on quality, precision and style back in 1878, more than 130 years ago.

From the start, the Mermelsteins' goal for Croton was clear; to embellish Croton’s already stellar image by producing the highest quality timepieces at the best value possible, supported by a rare lifetime warranty on every watch movement. Within this very demanding framework, Croton assembled an impressive team of experts who continually challenged themselves to produce wonderous time tracking devices, built from concept to production, by the very best designers and craftsmen utilizing the very finest materials available.

This year Croton reached a milestone with its 130th anniversary and reinvented itself as the “Croton Group.” Based on the company’s winning philosophy of creating high quality, value based products, the “Croton Group” segmented its portfolio of brands, which include Nicolet, Andre Girroud, Manhattan and Paul DuPree each targeting specific demographics and price points, as well as its first foray into the prestigious exotic leather goods market, with the introduction of its Nina Raye handbag and accessories collection.

Guess

2010-09-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

GUESS? is a luxury American name-brand clothing line, The GUESS also owns the line Marciano. Guess also markets other fashion accessories besides clothes, such as watches and jewelry.
Guess was founded by Georges, Armand, Paul, and Maurice Marciano, four brothers born in Debdou village, Morocco. They moved to California from France in 1977 and founded the company in 1981. Seed money to start the business came from the Nakash family, owners of the Jordache denim empire. Their first product was a three-zipper style of jeans they named "Marilyn" (Style # 1015). Department stores and fashion critics were initially reluctant to carry the new 'stone washed denim' jeans, but in December when Bloomingdale's finally agreed with Georges to stock two dozen pairs of the new jeans as a favor to the brothers.
They began advertising in 1982 and introduced their iconic black-and-white ads in 1985. The ads have won numerous Clio Awards. Their fashion models have included a number of widely-recognized supermodels, many of whom first achieved prominence via the ad campaigns.
During the 1980s Guess was one of the most popular brands of jeans. The company was one of the first companies to create designer jeans. While the first jeans were for women, in 1983 a men's line debuted. In 1984 Guess introduced its new line of watches known as "Guess", "Guess Steel", and the "Guess Collection" The watch line is still in existence today, and has been joined by a number of other accessory sidelines.

Glycine

2009-08-18T00:43:00.000-07:00

Glycine Watch SA ::: Bienne 1914 ::: Swiss Made :: watch military and commercial pilots Glycine collection : Airman, Altus, Combat Eugène Meylan, F 104, Incursore, KMU 48, Lagunare, Ningaloo Reef, Observer, Rettangolo, Rettangolino, Stratoforte.
Glycine is a Swiss wristwatch manufacturer. Glycine became a noteworthy watch maker in the early 1950s for the introduction of their Airman model, a 24 hour watch favored by both military and commercial pilots. Since its founding by Eugène Meylan in 1914, Glycine has been producing watches at its factory in Bienne, Switzerland.
Meylan was an uncompromising watch engineer who strove for perfection and nothing less. He had a profound understanding of both the market demands and the possibilities offered by the technological advances of the time. Very soon, he succeeded in producing extremely precise, small movements for ladies watches, enabling Glycine to put on the market the finest miniature movements, clad in precious gold and platinum cases, often studded with diamonds.

Glycine became a supplier to the wealthy people who valued highly these works of fine craftsmanship. However, Meylan did not stop there. Around 1931, he presented to the world market a well-functioning self-winding watch, entirely of his own invention, a sensational performance that, for lack of capital, could not be exploited commercially. Some of these GLYCINE Eugène Meylan SA self-winding watches can still be found in the collectors' market.

The year 1934 saw the launch of a chronometer range, a line of watches passing the exacting tests of the Official Swiss Quality Control. The depression years of the 30s and the approaching world war took a heavy toll on the company as Switzerland was cut off from nearly all its traditional export markets.
Yet Glycine survived and even managed to be one of only 29 exhibitors at the Basel Fair in 1938, an annual event the firm has not missed since.

1945, with the war over and access to world markets again possible, the industry took a deep breath.
Immediately, Glycine geared up production and rapidly presented a complete range of automatic (self-winding) watches, making use of the most advanced technologies.
1952 saw the birth of the famous VACUUM chronometers, watches known for their incredible resistance to water and shocks, designed for long-term use under hostile conditions. They performed well beyond expectations.
In 1953, the AIRMAN line was presented to the world market and immediately received an enthusiastic welcome. Now, in addition to regular local time, world time was available at a glance.

The steadily growing class of jet-setters and frequent travellers readily took to the convenience of having two time zones on their wrist.
The AIRMAN line has never been absent from the Glycine selection, and is, today more than ever, the spearhead of the range.

In the 70s, the Swiss watch industry – late in introducing quartz movements - was hit by the proliferation of quartz watches from the Far East.
The technological revolution brought about by the quartz movement, together with the world-wide recession and a massive increase in value of the Swiss franc, pushed many manufacturers to the brink of disaster.
The products that had earned Glycine such an excellent reputation, namely high-quality mechanical watches and above all automatic watches, were suddenly no longer in general demand. Customers everywhere were buying Japanese quartz watches or American digital LED watches. The lucrative business with highly-regarded automatic watches was over, and these were now being sold off at give-away prices.

The market went through a turnaround in its values, a tendency which further intensified as the price for the initially exorbitantly expensive quartz watches consistently dropped to a level where it finally drove even the cheap pin-pallet (Roskopf) mechanical movements out of the market. Many market shares were lost, the industry entered into a crisis that lasted six years and cost roughly 60,000 jobs.

Glycine too suffered heavily but managed to survive. In 1984, soldering on with a reduced staff, Glycine was sold to Hans Brechbühler, who had been working for years with Glycine in a loose cooperation based on the joint development and exchange of watch models.

The Come-Back
Following the purchase of Glycine in 1984, Brechbühler, who had been a specialist in private label business, switched over to the brand watch business, an entirely new experience for him. Progressively, new products were developed that enabled Glycine to work successfully in countries such as Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Germany.
A quartz collection was created and an international network of agencies sprang to life again. Extremely resistant watches, such as the TJALK and HEAVY DUTY models, were launched and added to the prestige of the brand.

The market accepted with pleasure the GOLDSHIELD line, featuring a standard of goldplating much higher than anything the competitors could present. The sophisticated super-thin AMARANTH watches received an enthusiastic welcome in Italy and the USA.

The new strategies began to pay off in the early 1990s when Brechbühler's daughter Katherina, born in 1962, joined the company and successfully implemented her own brand concept, resulting in mechanical products being increasingly integrated into the company’s collections. This strategy proved effective in positioning Glycine as a specialist, with a long tradition in the field of mechanical watches.
After an initial success in Germany, the first to really accept the mechanical watches on a large scale, the new range of Glycine products spread to other countries.

Fortis

2009-08-14T07:51:00.001-07:00

FORTIS Swiss Watches: aviation and PILOT PROFESSIONAL, OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS TITANIUM
Fortis Uhren AG - Walter Vogt founded Fortis in 1912, and then 12 years later set up production with John Harwood, the inventor of the automatic wristwatch. In 1926, Fortis released the first self-winding wristwatch, the patented Harwood Automatic. In 1937, Fortis commemorated their 25th anniversary by manufacturing their first chronographs and in 1954 they took over the world-wide distribution of alarm watches.

Time line
2007 Further construction of the ISS - International Space Station and preparations for the launch of the research modules Columbus and Kibo.
2007 Limited Edition FORTIS FLIEGER CHRONOGRAPH ALARM PLATINUM, 2nd place in “The Golden Balance Wheel” award category up to 25.000 Euro.
2006 The high altitude research rocket MAXUS 7 was launched in May for a 13-minutes flight in zero gravity. On board, the FORTIS B-42 OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH.
2005 Exactly 10 years after the first official flight FORTIS remains as the exclusive supplier of manned space missions authorized by the Russian Federal Space Agency. The FORTIS B-42 OFFICIAL COSMONAUT CHRONOGRAPH floating in space on board the ISS, International Space Station.
2004 “Four years, more than 700 days walking through 11,000 km of Arctic Tundra, 10 million footsteps in the snow of four winters…” Gilles Elkaim approached his final 28 km stretch of this unique expedition with excitement. On this wild and unforgiving trek
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, the Frenchman wore the FORTIS OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH.
2004 Winner of the “1st European Aviation Watch Award”: FORTIS FLIEGER CHRONOGRAPH AUTOMATIC.
2003 Presentation of the new FORTIS OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH in the striking B-42 design.
2002 World height record for helicopters of 12,954 meters, set by French pilot Fred North with his AS 350B helicopter ”ECUREUIL”. Along for the ride: the FORTIS B-42 PILOT PROFESSIONAL CHRONOGRAPH.
2001 No. 1 International Watch Award in Japan. The FORTIS OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH won the watch magazine “BEGIN” grand prix in the category for space watches.
2001 “Star of the Blue Planet”
FORTIS was presented with this medal of honour from the Russian Space Agency Rosaviakosmos for commitment to the development of mechanical chronographs for space travel.
2001 ”GTS” Global Transmission Services.
The first experiment on board the International Space Station - ISS was to test the global synchronization of wristwatches from space. Deeply involved in the world of aviation and space, FORTIS takes part in the development of a new radiocontrolled signal in cooperation with the European Space Agency ESA, the German Aerospace Center DLR and DaimlerChrysler Research.
2000 FORTIS SPACEMATIC - The Next Generation. With this collection, FORTIS takes a giant step into the new millennium.
2000 Millennium Expedition to the South Pole.
New Year's Eve 1999-2000: Austrian Ernst Zinnhobler became the first European to make an extreme jump over the South Pole.
He jumped from the icy height of 5,000 m, his speed of fall reaching 250 km/h, accompanied by a FORTIS CHRONOGRAPH.
1998 The world's first Automatic Chronograph with integrated mechanical Alarm. Patent EP 0806712.
1997 The FORTIS OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH was chosen to be the official watch of the German-Russian space mission MIR 97.
1995 The world height record - 30,000 meter the FORTIS chronographs were on the pilot's wrist as they set the world height record flight on a non-experimental MiG-25 PU double seater aircraft, flown by Alexander Garnaev & Alexandre Paringaux.
1994 After endurance tests on the margins of physics, the Star City Training Center chose the FORTIS OFFICIAL COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH as part of their official cosmonauts equipment.
The space mission ”EUROMIR 1” crew was the first to be presented with the FORTIS COSMONAUTS SET and became the world's first automatic chrongraph in open space outside the space station.
1992 Fortis steps into space with its first SPACE ART EDITION on board of the first art painted spacecraft, a Russian Proton rocket. Limited Andora Edition FORTIS STRATOLINER AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH.
1987 The company's 75th anniversary FORTIS set a trend with their new edition of the FLIEGER AUTOMATIC collection, known as the world's first factory of automatic wristwatches.
1956 FORTIS wins the leading Chronometer award conferred by the Swiss institute for official time keeping tests, for the first water-resistant mechanical alarm chronometer.
1954 FORTIS begins the manufacturing and the world wide distribution of mechanical alarm watches.
1943 FORTIS was among the range of Swiss brands with high technical expertise. Alongside the production of most precise mechanical chronographs FORTIS shows its excellence in presenting the first water-resistant wristwatches.
1937 On the occasion of the company's 25th anniversary, FORTIS manufactures their first chronographs.
1912 The watch factory is founded in Grenchen, Switzerland by Walter Vogt.

Festina

2009-08-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Luxury watches for men and Ladies by Festina
Festina is a watch manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The manufacture's motto was Festina Lente. In 1984, Spanish industrialist Miguel Rodriguez, already owner of Lotus watches bought Festina and created the group Festina Lotus S.A.. Since this takeover, the company headquarters have been located in Barcelona, Spain, but the company still has close ties with Switzerland, as it is now being directed from Bienne.
From the period of its establishment, Festina watches have carved out a niche brand by way of an inimitable persona. Shaped in the midst of the altering generations, these watches are elegant, vibrant as well as highly efficient. Theses are genuinely meant for people who breathe their lives strongly and love to cherish every single moment through the thick and thin of life.
These watches are composed of Japanese quartz movements and other matchless, inherent features. The Mecaquartz movement, a no-battery mechanical quartz movement, is another distinguishing feature of the brand. In addition to all theses exceptional attributes, a major chunk of Festina’s watches take account of sports chronographs comprising the globally advertised Road Warrior string of chronographs.
Festina also hogged media limelight in the year 1998 through a dubious reason. The team sponsored by the Festina in the Tour de France, was trapped in a doping scandal.
Festina offers a broad product range - digital, analog, chronograph, leather, stainless steel and titanium. It truly doesn’t matter, whichever model you pick, it will have a long, lasting effect on your personality. Some particular models have pitched Festina on the top of the market and almost turned it into a monopolistic brand in the watch market. Some models are extremely adored by sports enthusiasts and from time to time, the company has come up with innovative features to give them further boost

Eterna

2009-08-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

Eterna (watches) is a company with 150 years of watchmaking tradition. At Swiss headquarters in Grenchen (Solothurn), Eterna develop und manufacture the Eterna and Porsche Design Timepieces brands.
Eterna is a Swiss watch company founded in Grenchen, Canton Solothurn on the 7th of November 1856 by Dr Josef Girard and Urs Schild. They initially specialised in producing pocket watches with alarms. In 1906 the company name changed from U. Schild to Eterna. In 1908 they became the first company to produce an alarm wristwatch. The movement production part of the company eventually became ETA SA.
Since 1856 Eterna has been making luxury watches. Even though the family ran business was taken over by the Porsche family in 1995, they have stuck the heritage and history keeping products in line with the original philosophy and mission.
basis of the Eterna Watch Company was founded in 1851. By the 1900’s wristwatches were just starting to become fashionable. Schild Fréres, as the company was then known, started to produce Lady’s wristwatches from adapted small pocket watches. In 1905 the company changed their name to Eterna. The company continued to be at the leading edge of watch developments and in 1908 they patented the first alarm wristwatch. The watch went into production in 1914 and was launched at the Swiss National Exhibition at Berne in that year.
By 1932 Eterna had set up a subsidiary company, ETA, to make movements for itself and other Swiss watch companies. This same year Theodore retired and handed over the control of the company to his nephew Rudolf Schild. Although retired, Theodore remained on the board of directors until his death in 1950.
Eterna produced many innovations in their history, the smallest production wristwatch with a Baguette movement in 1930, an 8 day alarm watch in the 1930’s and their first automatic watch in 1938. Probably the most famous Eterna watch was their Eterna-matic. This watch was launched in 1948. The design of the automatic winding was one of Eterna’s greatest designs. The weight ran on small ball bearings making it very efficient, hence the trademark of 5 ball bearings. The Eterna-matic continued in various styles and was still available in 1998, and has indeed been relaunched.
After 1982 the Eterna company was sold several times. By 1995 it ended up being owned by F.A.P. Beteiligungs GmbH. In 1999 Eterna produced a range of watches that were marketed under the ‘Porsche Design’ label. The company is still at the forefront of modern wristwatch design.

Daniel Roth

2009-08-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Daniel Roth Watches for men and women
The Daniel Roth company was established in 1989 in Le Sentier, a little village on the shore of the Lac de Joux. Daniel Roth is known for its complicated watches, including a tourbillon with an 8-day power reserve, the instantaneous perpetual calendar and the Westminster Grande Sonnerie Carillon, which is the only automatic four-gong chiming wristwatch in production.
Daniel roth company inthe very special atmosphre of tradition which inspires the whole manufacturing process at daniel Roth have contributed greatly to the creation of genuine masterpieces of watchmaking art.
Daniel Roth Company was acruired by Bulgari Group with took action designed to reinforce a strategy that had already proves succesful in recent year. Today the brand benefits from strong identity associated with exclusive develoment of mechanisms often regarded as world firsts. They include: The double0side tourbillon (1989), The successive inditication of 24 time zones in digital from (1999) and the tourbillon with 200 hour power reserve (2002).

DOXA

2009-08-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

Doxa watches : Professional and military, dive, sport watches , titanium watches
DOXA was founded in 1889 in the heart of one of Switzerland's major and most inventive watch making areas, the canton (district) of Neuchatel's Jura Mountains.
Today DOXA brings to the industry a perspective forged over a century of often pioneering watch design.
Georges Ducommun (1868-1936), the founder of DOXA, was born in Le Locle among the Jura hills of canton Neuchatel in Switzerland. He was one of 13 children of a poor family. At the age of 12, he became an apprentice in a manufacture specialised in casing-up watch movements.
He started his own watch repair business when he was 20. He worked hard to set up his business, walking the 10 kilometers to La Chaux-de Fonds to deliver his products personally, even in the depth of winter.
The success of his watches enabled him to live in Chateau des Monts, today home of the world-renowned Le Locle horological museum. From there he made the daily journey to his factory by carriage.
DOXA & Sportscars...
When the first horseless carriages appeared, George Ducommun became one of the region's first owners of an automobile. He had a garage built on his property and his own petrol pump...

At the beginning of the 30's, the fast evolution of aircraft and automobile industry put pressure on the watch-making industry, it was one of the greatest challenges ever for the watch manufacturers.

As an astute industrialist and passionable automobile owner, Georges Ducommun reacted to the evolving car racing market and started to develop instrument-panel clocks for cars (and aircraft). For those, he used a high-grade 8-day watch movement, which he had patented in 1908.

DOXA SUB 300T was born introducing two revolutionary innovations. The first feature was the unidirectional rotating bezel which integrated a no-decompression limit table to the watch. The official US Navy Air dive table for no-decompression dives was engraved on the bezel to assist divers in taking care of time and water depth during underwater excursions. Years later, other brands were inspired by this feature and decided to print extracts of the no-decompression limit table on the strap of their diver watches.

Corum

2009-08-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

Corum watches collection : Romulus Admiral’s Cup Corum Golden Bridge Corum Artisans tourbillion and classical coin watch.
Corum is a Swiss watchmaker based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Canton of Neuchâtel. Corum was founded in 1955 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Gaston Ries and his nephew, Renee Bannwart, and just one year later the first Corum watches were being produced.
In 1956 the first CORUM watches appeared on the market and the brand launched a veritable cascade of new ideas with great success. It was even recognized by its peers as one of the most creative in the industry.
Corum's claim to fame came early on when the company introduced a watch made out of a $20 dollar gold piece which was an instant best-seller. Even though this had been done before on pocket watches, Corum was the first and only one ever to do a wristwatch.

In January 2000, Corum was purchased by it's current owner, Severin Wunderman, and was soon under the guidance of his son Michael, the President of the company to this date.
The team was completed in 2007 with the arrival of a man with a rich professional background, Antoine Calce, to the CEO position, who oversees overall operations.
timeline
• In 1958, the “Chinese Hat” watch sparked public curiosity with its bezel evoking the famous pyramid-shaped head covering worn by the people of China.
• In 1960, the first interpretation of the “Admiral’s Cup” model with a square case was developed. This was the first ever water-resistant square watch!
• In 1964, the “Coin Watch” was created around an authentic $20 Double Eagle Coin, a symbol evoking the spirit of free enterprise and a model worn by numerous U.S. Presidents and prominent civilians alike.
• In 1965 came the first appearance of large-sized watches with the “Buckingham” model, which asserted itself through its oversized proportions that were extremely innovative at the time.
• In 1966, the “Romvlvs” watch was unveiled, featuring the hour numerals engraved not on the dial, but on the bezel.
• In 1970, CORUM introduced the “Feather” watch composed of genuine bird feathers. This artistic and technical feat called for great expertise and paved the way for the brand’s use of extremely delicate materials for its dials.
• In 1976, the “Rolls-Royce” watch once again underscored the avant-garde nature of the brand, since it represented the first ever partnership of this kind with a prestigious automobile manufacturer.
• In 1980, the “Golden Bridge” with its delicately hand-engraved baguette movement revealed behind the perfectly transparent sapphire case, embodied the pinnacle of technical and horological mastery.
• In 1983, the famous Admiral’s Cup design was reinterpreted in a version with nautical pennants corresponding to the international maritime code and serving as hour-markers on a twelve-sided bezel.
• In 1986, the “Meteorite” model featured a dial cut from an authentic meteorite.
• In 1991, the “Admiral’s Cup” adventure continued with the victory of the CORUM team in the legendary sailing race after which the line is named.
• In 1992, the Admiral’s Cup “Tides” watch was launched. Fitted with an exclusive CORUM movement CO-277, it indicates vital information such as the lunar cycle and the strength of the tide, the time of the tides as well as an estimation of water levels and the strength of the currents.
• In 1997, CORUM filed a patent for a new invention showcased in the “Tabogan” watch, equipped with an ingenious mechanism allowing the watch case to be positioned upright, and thus transforming the wristwatch into a table clock.
• In 2000 the “Bubble” watch was introduced. Fitted with an 11mm thick sapphire crystal, it creates a magnifying-glass effect which becomes the model’s signature feature.
• With the “Trapèze” watch in 2001, Corum created a new style evoking subtle grace. Its shape reflected in its name and its large size lend it a truly timeless design.
• In 2005, the “Classical Vanitas” marked the world premiere of marquetry-work as applied to watch dials. The stone and marble parts were meticulously cut to fit together like a mosaic.
• In 2005, in celebration of Corum's 50th Anniversary, the “Golden Bridge” was reinterpreted in a contemporary vein, imbuing the original 1980s model with the spirit of the 21st century.
• 2006 heralded the renewal of the “Admiral’s Cup” model. While offering a more contemporary, boldly designed collection, CORUM nonetheless maintained its essential aesthetic characteristics: the famous twelve-sided case and the nautical pennants.
• In 2007, the legendary “Romvlvs” was reborn in an elegant and contemporary spirit, interpreting the classical codes of the brand. Its new design perpetuates the distinctive nature of its Roman numerals engraved on the bezel and is distinguished both by its
double-curving case creating an elliptical effect on the bezel, and by its domed sapphire crystal. The “wave-profile” of the bezel is engraved around the entire circumference with a perfectly polished longitudinal stripe.
• In 2008, thanks to a repositioning driven by a determination to achieve consistency, along with the launch of several emblematic models, all confirming its remarkable expertise in the field of Haute Horlogerie – most notably the Admiral’s Cup Tourbillon 48 and the Romvlvs Perpetual Calendar – CORUM experienced a remarkable year.
• The year 2009 once again reveals CORUM’s apparently inexhaustible creativity. CORUM is writing a major new chapter in its history by presenting its second in-house movement. Designed, developed and assembled within its workshops, caliber CO 007. The Ti-Bridge is the first model to house this new caliber.

VOLMAX | Aviator , Sturmanskie and Buran

2009-08-14T04:24:00.000-07:00

Men wacthes : Aviator watch, Sturmanskie and Buran watches - russian watches by Volmax
VOLMAX Watch Company appeared against a background of soviet watch "empire" collapse. Headed by young ambitious watch business professionals it has achieved impressive success in this field. Company Volmax, based in Moscow, Russia, internationally markets Russian-made watches. The Volmax brands are Aviator, Buran, Sturmanskie, and Russian Watch Factory (РЧЗ).
VOLMAX Watch : The style and trend of watch design was predetermined by the names of company's brands "Aviator", "Shturmanskie" and "Buran". The richest history of Russian and Soviet aeronautics and space exploration serves as a constituent of the watch design style. (It is enough to recall such names as pilot Nesterov , inventors Sikorsky , Tupolev and first spaceman Yuri Gagarin).
"Buran" watch design is based on classical heritage of both Russian-soviet watch industry and outstanding European watch companies.
Every watch produced by VOLMAX indicates a professional approach in case, dial and hands design. There are no fortuities, no excess in the watch produced - it embodies a delicate union of ergonomics and artistic value of jewelry.

Chung Nam

2009-08-14T03:44:00.001-07:00

Chung Nam watches : isaswiss watches, roamer, technotime and timenetwork.

Chung Nam Group is a Hong Kong based watch and clock movement manufacturer. The Chung Nam Group comprises Isa Prestige Time, Roamer, and Isa. With plants based in China, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. Isa movements are used in mid line watches.
Chung Nam Group of Companies is based in Hong Kong, tracing its origin back to over 70 years ago. The late Mr. and Mrs. CHONG Ching Um founded the group in 1935, engaging in export, manufacturing, and trading in the Southeast Asian markets.

During the 1980s, China’s open door policy enabled the group to concentrate more on manufacturing and embark on the development of precision engineering.
During the 1990’s, to maintain a leading position in manufacturing, the group began investing in technology and hardware for critical processes.
Towards 2000, in-house research and development resulted in a breakthrough with different patents being filed. The group gradually became diversified through acquisitions and establishing new joint ventures.

Chronovski

2009-08-14T03:18:00.000-07:00

Chronovski watches : Iced crystal watches for the fashion conscious women and men, Chronovski for premium crystal watches.
Chronovski Inc was founded in 1932 by lawyer Joseph Chronovski in Prague. At that time, as Czechoslovakia had a large armament industry that needed accurate time-keeping precision, Joseph realised the potential of striking out as an indigious Czech watchmaker. In the mid 1930s, Chronovski was a well-known name in the city of Prague. Alas, with the collapse of the country in the late 1930s, Joseph Chronovski had to flee the city to Switzerland where he worked together with some of the more established Swiss watchmakers, until the war was over. In the 1950s, together with his whole family, he perfected the skills of watch-making whilst travelling around France, Germany and Switzerland. However in the 1970s, due to the assault by the quartz revolution, the Chronovski family, like the rest of the European watchmakers, faced huge financial losses.
In 1975, Joseph Chronovski died, to be succeeded by his eldest son, Dennis Chronovski. The younger Chronovski wisely set up manufacturing bases in Singapore and Hong Kong, maintaining the tradition of European watch-making, and in the process, creating a reputation for sturdy fashionable watches. In 1995, Chronovski returned to its roots, when it opened its first Eastern European boutique in Prague. As in 2006, Chronovski had trademark offices in Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Germany, Japan, Italy , Hungary and Bulgaria.

Certina

2009-08-14T02:33:00.000-07:00

Watches for men and ladies : "Certina Swiss Watches offers Swiss-precision craftsmanship, design and technology of outstanding quality at a fair price".
Certina watches Certina Kuth Frères SA was founded in 1888 when Adolf and Alfred Kurth opened in Grenchen their first movement and supplies factory for the watchmaking industry, and currently an affiliate company of the Swatch Group.
FIRST WRIST WATCHES
For the first time, a brand name is used. Adolf and Alfred choose to call their watches "Grana", short form of "Granacus", the Latin name for Grenchen. The first wrist-watches appear on the market, for the larger part ladies' models as men still categorically reject the idea of wearing time on one's wrist.
For their exceptional performance, the two founders receive the Milan Fair's prestigious gold medal. Later, in 1910 in Brussels and four years later in Bern, the Grana brand name takes two further awards.
y 1971, the owning family had wisely decided to join General Watch Co, the newly created sub-holding of ASUAG, in order to concentrate their efforts with others. The onslought of the Japanese Watch Industry (under the rules of their strategic management with their own reliable and much cheaper automatic, and then Quartz watches, stopped Certina's expansion to a relative standstill. The restructuration involved the abandon of their own manufacture of Certina movement styles calibres , and by the end of the 1970s, Certina operations were moved to Biel/Bienne and the entity Edox & Technos. Under the new management, Certina managed to hold onto some of their strongholds, especially in the Scandinavian countries. Upon the merger of SSIH and ASUAG companies, Certina became a member of a new managerial entity, together with Mido and Tissot, which has now established itself in Le Locle, (the newly elected Unesco World Heritage Site in Switzerland.
Digital Watch: 1936 Certina was the first company to produce the digital watch. It was driven by a spring movement. Rotating disks bearing inscribed numbers were used to display the time, instead of hands.
DS (Double Security) Line: In 1959 Hans and Edwin Kurth had set themselves the objective of creating a brand new niche in the marketplace, based on quality through engineering and technical designs. Thus Certina created the concept of suspending the watch movement inside a highly reinforced case, which they named DS for "Double Security. The Certina DS were the first watches to raise the water resistancy and shock protection down to 6 m (previous watches were set at 2.2 meters). The Certina DS watch was taken up the Himalayas by a team who climbed the Dhaulagiri and the watch withstood all changes in pressure and altitude.
Biostar: In 1971 Certina introduced the Biostar, the world's first watch that displayed human biorhythms.
"Scratchproof" : Certina went on to produce many world firsts including the "unscratchable" DS-DiaMaster in tungsten carbide and scooped many awards.
2008 Certina is proud to be an official partner of the BMW Sauber F1 Team, and jointly celebrates its excellent 2008 season results, especially its historical one-two finish by drivers Kubica and Heidfeld in Montreal. The exciting race marked the first-ever top-podium finish for the BMW Sauber F1 Team and helped them close the FIA season with 11 podium finishes and with a brilliant 3rd place in the constructors' championship.

Carlo Ferrara

2009-08-14T01:50:00.000-07:00

Carlo Ferrara watches for men and ladies, Regolatore, Quardro, Classic, Classic gold, sport, Jockey, Carlo ferrara diamond.
Carlo Ferrara is a luxury Italian watch brand, known for its Regulatore collection, timepieces which feature hour and minute hands on independent vertical elliptical tracks. The timepieces are manufactured in Switzerland.
A Carlo Ferrara watch can be perfectly described as a real exception in its class. It created a revolution in the history of watch making as it shows the passing away of time by the dancing hands of the watch in one portion after the other. The original idea was actually conceived by an Italian watchmaker who managed to transform the movements of the hands of his regulator into an unexpected dance which after years of study yielded with this new system for viewing time. The watch has a dial which comes in different shapes out of steel or gold and is equipped with a classical date calendar and a magnifying glass.
The first innovation of the Carlo Ferrara watches began in 1990 and mainly focused on the perfection of the present regulator the watch possesses. The main principle of functioning of the regulator is a semi wheel with a cog system in the inner part. Each model is a micro mechanical master piece comprises of 12 components and creates the magic of dancing time possible.
Each timepiece from the brand displays a perfect blend of fashion, elegance, originality, sophistication and history. Their latest collection comprises of some masterpieces including Quadro, Classic and Classic Gold, Jockey, Sport and the Diamond series. The collections and their design can be uniquely described as imposing, compact, and the casings provided are firm and extremely elegant in styles.
Carlo Ferrara watch Regolatore :
First drawings were made around 1991 Following a 10:1 Sacale prototype produce by Carlo Ferrara which was necessary for studying into and subsequent detailes perfecting of the present Regolatore.
Miniaturisation made in Switzerland, lead to an exclusive craft-made production of the only wirst watch Regolatore equipped with dancing times.

Bulova

2009-08-14T01:23:00.000-07:00

Watches for men and ladies by Bulova: Accutron,Harley-Davidson watches

Bulova Founded in New York City in 1875, Bulova, still an American-operated company, meets every timekeeping need with four watch brands – Bulova, Caravelle Bulova, Accutron and Wittnauer – plus the award-winning Bulova Clocks.
The realization of a great American dream began in 1875 when Joseph Bulova, a 23-year-old immigrant from Bohemia, opened a small jewelry store on Maiden Lane in New York City. This modest enterprise was to evolve into one of today's preeminent watch and clock companies. In 1911, Bulova began manufacturing boudoir and desk clocks, along with fine pocket watches, which he made and sold in unprecedented numbers. During World War I, wristwatches were issued in the military for their greater convenience. Returning veterans brought home the new fashion--and a new market emerged. Bulova already had sufficient production facilities and a mastery of jewelry design, so his company introduced the first full line of men's jeweled wristwatches in 1919. It was followed by the industry's first full line of ladies' wristwatches and the first line of diamond wristwatches. America ran on Bulova time, beginning with radio's first commercials, broadcast nationally in 1926: "At the tone, it's 8 P.M., B-U-L-O-V-A Bulova watch time." Two years later, Bulova introduced the world's first clock radio.
In 1931, Bulova conducted the watch industry's first million-dollar advertising campaign. And through the Depression years, Bulova supported retailers by offering Bulova watches to buyers on time-payment plans. As the next decade began, Bulova aired the first TV commercial. A simple picture of a clock and a map of the United States, it preceded a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball game on July 1, 1941, and proclaimed, "America runs on Bulova time." By then, Ardé Bulova, Joseph Bulova's son, was also producing timepieces for the military. With the U.S. entry into World War II, the Bulova factories immediately put their perfected mass-production techniques and skilled craftsmen to work on precision military equipment. Bulova provided the U.S. government with military watches, specialized timepieces, aircraft instruments, critical torpedo mechanisms and fuses. At the war's end, the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking opened its doors to help disabled veterans become self-sufficient.
The school was supported entirely by the Bulova Foundation. No financial aid of any kind was received from any government agency or the students. Equipment at the school included magic-eye doors, wide two-way elevator entrances and exits, special workbenches, non-slip cork floors and other features so that disabled men could move about at no physical disadvantage. Complete medical facilities and a well-equipped recreation room provided treatment and relaxation. Graduates of the school were assured employment since over 1,500 positions were pledged by American Jewelers.

A new era in timekeeping dawned in the 1950s. Through persistent and dedicated research, Bulova developed Accutron, the first electronic watch. Keeping time to within two seconds a day, it was the first breakthrough in timekeeping technology in over 300 years.

During the 1960s, NASA asked the company to channel its Accutron efforts into making computers for the Space Program. As a result, Bulova's Accutron timing mechanism became an integral and vital part of space technology from the 1958 launch of Vanguard I to the first moon walk on July 21, 1969. A Bulova timer was placed on the moon's Sea of Tranquility to control the transmissions of vital data through the years. When Accutron precision became available to customers, Bulova was the first watch brand to offer a written guarantee of accuracy-in-use to within a minute a month. Another significant Bulova breakthrough occurred in the 1960s with the introduction of the Phototimer clock. Today, all Bulova watches contain the finest quartz-crystal movements, accurate to within three minutes a year.
In recent decades, Bulova timepieces have kept official time aboard Air Force One, and Bulova products have repeatedly been awarded to visiting dignitaries as Presidential Gifts of State. Bulova has also served as America's official watch to the U.S. Olympic Team.
In recent years, Bulova has presented a number of design innovations. Whether the customer prefers a high profile diamond watch, an heirloom quality 14-karat gold watch, a sporty elegant Marine Star watch, a day/date calendar watch or a contemporary career-style watch, Bulova offers a style for every taste and occasion. Each one is reminiscent of Joseph Bulova's demand for unique quality and beauty.
Bulova watches
Bulova brand features dress, career, casual and sport watches for men and women. Many Bulova watches offer water resistance from 30 meters to 200 meters, stainless steel cases and bracelets, scratch-resistant mineral crystals and genuine leather straps.
" Bulova Diamond watches feature hand-set diamonds, while crystal styles use only genuine Swarovski crystals. Caravelle Bulova, with men’s and ladies’ watches, including diamond watches, crystal watches, chronographs, fashion watches and strap designs" .
Bulova watches For sports excellence, Accutron offers Swiss-made special function, sport dress and sport watches for men and women, all with stainless steel cases and bracelets, sapphire crystals and water resistance to a minimum of 30 meters. Included are ceramic watches, chronographs, diamond watches, deployment buckles, leather straps, and automatic, mechanical timepieces, some with Valjoux 7750 movements. Wittnauer provides luxurious Swiss special occasion watches for men and women, all with sapphire crystals and water resistance to a minimum of 30 meters.
Bulova is also the source for officially licensed Harley-Davidson watches and clocks, developed in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motor Company, producer of the world’s most acclaimed motorcycles, and for the distinguished Frank Lloyd Wright under license from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Blancpain

2009-08-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

Blancpain Watches for men and womens
Blancpain Founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, this House boasts a famous and oft-repeated slogan: "Since 1735, there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch.
Blancpain manufactures mechanical watches for the luxury market. Blancpain watch factory is recognized as a standard-setter for excellence in the art of Swiss watchmaking, thanks to our mastery of six traditional Master pieces: the ultra-slim, chronograph, moon phase, perpetual calendar and minute repeater watches.
Blancpain started making watches in 1735 in Villeret, Switzerland. According to their commercial slogans, the company has never produced quartz watches in the past and has stated in its advertisements that it never will, nor have they ever produced watches with digital displays. In comparison to a large watch maker like Rolex, which makes about 2,000 watches a day, Blancpain produces fewer than 10,000 watches a year. Each watch is made by a single watchmaker.
Blancpain is also famous for being the creator of one of the most complicated mechanical watches ever made, the Blancpain 1735, which is a true grand complication (Tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split chrono), a limited edition of 30 pieces only, production of just one piece per year.
Blancpain is also known for its Fifty-Fathoms watch, selected by the United States Navy and worn by Jacques-Yves Cousteau in his award winning film. In 1984, Blancpain launched the world's smallest movement, followed in 1989 by the launch of the world's thinnest movement.

Binda

2009-08-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Watches Binda Group for men and women, the brand : Breil Milano, D&G, Ducati, Moschino Cheapandchic, Wyler Geneve.
The Binda Group is an Italian watch and jewelry company founded in 1906, headquartered in Milan and headed by brothers Marcello and Simone Binda, grandsons of the founder Innocente Binda.
In 1932 , sale of warches by wyler vetta begins, the brand marks a pivotal milestone in history of watches thanks to Incaflex, a revolutionary system with a double-armed balance wheel it shockproof, finally allowing watches to be worn in arelaxed and functional way.
Binda’s three main business units are watches, jewelry and leather. It produces and distributes its own brands, including Breil Milano, Breil Tribe, Wyler Genève and Details.
The company also licenses watch and jewelry brands from Dolce & Gabbana (D&G Time and Jewels), Moschino CheapAndChic, Ducati and Nike. In 1997, Binda acquired the distribution rights to Seiko and Lorus for the Italian market. It also distributes Paris Hilton watches in Italy and upscale Glam Rock watches in the United States, Canada and Italy.
On September 4 2008, the Binda Group entered an agreement with private equity firm Heritage Partners to acquire 100 percent of Advance Watch Group Ltd., the U.S. watch and clock manufacturer doing business as Geneva Watch. Geneva Watch Group began producing timepieces in 1974 and is headquartered in New York.

Alpina Watches

2009-08-13T02:52:00.000-07:00

Alpina Alpina Watches Be a Player, for men and women

Alpina Watch , Everything started in 1883 when Gottlieb Hauser, watchmaker in Winterthur, founded the Swiss Watchmakers Corporation ("Corporation d'Horlogers Suisse"). A number of watchmakers joined to purchase watch components and organized their manufacturing. Quickly, the new concept gained acceptance.
Together with qualified manufactures, the Association started to develop its own calibres and to enlarge its distribution network. Ebauches (the base of a calibre) were produced by the Alpina Ebauche Factory in Geneva, owned by Duret & Colonnaz, which played also an important role in the construction of the first Alpina calibres. Final steps in the manufacture of the calibres were performed in Bienne, the place of the head quarters of the Association as of 1890. Success was swift and representations were set up in Germany as well as in Eastern and Northern Europe.
In 1901, the name "Alpina" was registered as a trademark. At the same time it would only appear on the dials of high-end watches. From the beginning, Alpina watches were manufactured with high quality components, amongst others Brequet spirals, balance wheels with gold screws and heavy gold cases.
In order to participate in the German watch-manufacturing base as well, Alpina Union Horlogère founded the "Präcisions-Uhrenfabrik Alpina" in Glashütte in 1909. The Union's factories were now located in Geneva, Bienne, Besançon and Glashütte. In 1912, the first Alpina Chronometer Glashütte was finalized: it was equipped with an Alpina manufactured chronometer ebauche with a Glashütte escapement instead of the typical Swiss anchor escapement. The dial of these watches red "Präcisions-Uhrenfabrik Alpina Glashütte i.S.". Another model was created in 1913: it was a 21'' marine watch, which was purchased by the German navy at the time. Alpina Glashütte watches gained ground and competed directly with those of Lange & Söhne. In 1913, Lange & Söhne felt threatened and started a court case to try to stop Alpina on the ground that not all parts were manufactured in Glashütte. The court case dragged on for years but was finally proven without merit. It was dropped in favor of Alpina in 1915. Meanwhile World War I had started and had a stifling effect on the "Präcisions-Uhrenfabrik Alpina" in Glashütte. Parts could hardly be send to the factory from Switzerland due to war import restrictions. Further, there were major capital flow restrictions.
During the First World War, the Allied Forces were obviously not pleased with business relationships between Switzerland and Germany. The Alpina Glashütte factory had experienced already major problems but also the relationships between the Swiss Alpina factories and their customers in Germany were under strong pressure. Finally in 1917, towards the end of the first World War, the Association "Union Horlogère" was formally dissolved. Two separate anonymous societies were incorporated: the Union Horlogère SA in Bienne, Switzerland and the Alpina Deutsche Uhrmacher-Genossenschaft G.m.b.H. in Berlin, Germany.
The branch, which was in the charge of Swiss members, incorporated itself as yet a third separate association in the name of "Alpina Association des Horlogers Suisses". Activities of the companies surged dramatically after the First World War. Alpina watches were being sold with great success in 2000 retailers around Europe, from Lisbon to Copenhagen to Moscow.
In 2008, Alpina Genève celebrated its 125th anniversary with the inauguration of the first movement to be made entirely in its own workshops.

Adriatica

2009-08-13T01:52:00.000-07:00

Adriatica : Swiss watches gents and ladies watches such for Aviation watches, and Watches with gold and titan (Adriatica uhren).

Adriatica watch, The History of Adria & Adriatica as watch trade marks for Swiss Watches is closely associated with the Belle Epoque period through the Montilier Watch Co, established in 1852 in Montilier, close to Morat / Murten, at the foot of the Watch Valley, Switzerland.
In the specific, Adriatica watches concentrated in gold, gold-plate, PVD plated, titanium and steel watch case, steel band or flawless leather straps, sapphire, mineral or hard glass and automatic version, containing high quality of movements such Ronda, Eta, Isa.
During and after World War II the brands remained dormant until 1949. As from 1962, two associated watch companies, established in Biel/Bienne & Basel, took over the manufacturing and marketing of Adria and Adriatica watches in partnership, designing mainly classical round pink gold-plated ladies’ and some gents' models, with the adjunction of a special model called "Adriatica World Champion".
Both brands, especially Adriatica, flourished in the Scandinavian countries, especially in Finland. Adriatica watches started being increasingly imported discreetly into Poland by seafaring people and distributed there and in many of the other, then “communist” countries, building the base of today’s distribution of the brand in the Eastern part of Europe.
Hence, in 1989, foreseeing the opening of trade, today's owning family decided to take over the brands and develop them as manufacturers and distributors.
Since the beginning exclusively Swiss Made, Adriatica watches have been since 1998 manufactured in their own watch company, PR & A Watch Sagl, in Dongio, in the watch making area of Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.
The name originates from the Etruscan city of Atria or (Adria) that also gave its name at a much earlier period to the Adriatic Sea. It has not yet been clearly established as from when the company started dedicating the names of their watches to that enchanted area, but it is generally admitted that it was at some time earlier than 1931. Adriatica is a full fledged member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH.

Accurist

2009-08-13T01:28:00.000-07:00

Accurist Watches collections including watch with Gold, Diamond Set, Gift Set, Chronograph, Ladies and Gentlemen's Strap and Bracelet watches.
Accurist are a family-run British wristwatch and watch manufacturer. The company was founded in 1946 in Clerkenwell, London, by Asher and Rebecca Loftus. Today, the company has offices in West Hampstead, London and La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland.
Like much of the competition at that time, Accurist watches were made entirely from Swiss components; a positive sales point that guaranteed quality, and which coupled with competitive pricing helped establish our reputation for value.
Accurist became the first watch company to actively promote the 21 JEWEL lever-movement and Accurist 21 JEWELS became the Company Slogan setting a standard in watches that was later to be followed by many of our competitors. In an effort to increase market share and to position Accurist as a national brand in a somewhat conservative market place, Accurist broke out of the traditional watch advertising mould by producing a T.V. Campaign which was aired regularly on "Sunday Night at the London Palladium", probably the most widely viewed television program of its day.
However, a watch was still seen to be a 'once in a lifetime' purchase - Accurist set out to change this by introducing fashion into watches. Richard Loftus, fresh out of University, created a range of watches that was to revolutionise the watch market worldwide. Soon Accurist's "Old England" watches were seen on the wrists of the famous and fashionable: - Princess Anne, The Beatles and Twiggy were amongst the millions worldwide who wore the large brightly coloured watches that became synonymous with the mini skirt, Carnaby Street and London of the swinging 60's.
Since 1986, Accurist has been the sponsor of the BT speaking clock. In 1993, the company provided the Greenwich Observatory with a new atomic clock.

Bell & Ross

2009-08-13T01:01:00.000-07:00

Bell & Ross Watches for the professionals, military, aviation, Diver and the armed forces, elite security organizations.
Bell & Ross is a Swiss watch company headed by French designers Bruno Belamich and Carlos A. Rosillo. Founded in 1992 by an elite cadre of designers and aerospace engineers, Bell & Ross has consistently adhered to the principles of producing fine watches which embody four essential parameters: readability, performance, precision, and water resistance. Produced in a state of the art facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Bell & Ross watches are painstakingly engineered, mercilessly tested, and subjected to extensive evaluation by a dedicated team with intimate experience in demanding and hazardous occupational specialties.
Bell & Ross is a Swiss watch company headed by French designers Bruno Belamich and Carlos A. Rosillo. The brand was launched in 1992, and the first watches were designed by Belamich and Rosillo and made by a German watchmaker, Sinn.
Typically Bell & Ross caters for 'professionals' within the armed forces and members of elite security organizations. Watches such as the BR Instrument have been designed to replicate the shape of a cockpit instrument taken from an aircraft. The BR02 range caters for diving professionals through the use of highly legible dials and cases water resistant to withstand 1000 metres of pressure. Another offering is the Hydromax; which contains hydraulic fluid within the case to counteract the effects of external pressures. The result is a watch water resistant to 11,100 metres. A more recent addition to the collection is the 'BRS' ceramic cases & diamond bezels for women, offering a scratch resistant case, elegant formal looks whilst still retaining the classic shape of the aviation themed BR Instrument range.

Ball watch

2009-08-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

Ball watches for ladies and men
Webster Clay Ball ( Ball Watch Company) was a jeweler and watchmaker born in Fredericktown, Ohio (1847 – 1922). After a two-year apprenticeship to a jeweler, Ball settled in Cleveland, Ohio to join a jewelry store. When Standard Time was adopted in 1883, Ball was the first jeweler to use time signals from the United States Naval Observatory, bringing accurate time to Cleveland.
In 1891 there was a collision between Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railways at Kipton, Ohio which occurred because an engineer's watch had stopped. The railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their Chief Time Inspector, in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for Railroad chronometers.
Webb C. Ball established strict guidelines for the manufacturing of sturdy, reliable precision timepieces, including resistance to magnetism, reliability of time keeping in 5 positions, isochronism, power reserve and dial arrangement, accompanied with record keeping of the reliability of the watch on each regular inspection.
His original jewelry business in Cleveland grew into the Ball Watch Company (currently headquartered in Neuchatel, Switzerland), which used other watch companies' movements, perfecting them and then reselling them.
Ball Watch Company also ordered watches complete from other watch companies. Ball used movements from the top American manufacturers, Elgin, Hamilton, and Waltham, and switched to Swiss movements as early as the 1940s in their wristwatches. The Waltham Watch Company complied immediately with the requirements of Ball's guidelines, later followed by Elgin National Watch Company and most of the other American manufacturers: Aurora, Hamilton, Hamden, E. Howard & Co., Illinois, Seth Thomas, later on joined by some Swiss watch manufacturers: Audemars Piguet, Longines, Record Watch, Vacheron Constantin.
Webb C. Ball became the vice president of the Hamilton Watch Company and focused his efforts on developing watches for the railroads. On February 10, 1907, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers honored his efforts by appointing Ball as an honorary member.
They were the first wrist watch allowed to be used on the Railroads, (using a Swiss manual wind movement) followed quickly by the first American made wrist watch on "the roads", Elgin.

Tutima

2009-08-12T02:58:00.000-07:00

Tutima watches Classic , Military and Line, FX Line, Valeo Line.

Tutima Uhrenfabrik GmbH is a German watchmaker based in Ganderkesee, Lower Saxony. Tutima was established in 1927 in Glashuette/Sa. by the UROFA (Uhrenrohwerkefabrik Glashütte AG) and the UFAG (Uhrenfabrik Glashütte AG). In 1951, it was named Uhrenfabrik Kurtz.
History:
On the outbreak of World War I, the market for expensive precision watches collapsed virtually overnight. A decade of turbulence and upheaval was to follow. In 1926, the situation in Glashütte was desolate. December 1926 saw the foundation of a group of companies which, it was hoped, would put an end to the structural crisis. Uhren-Rohwerke-Fabrik Glashütte AG - UROFA - and Uhrenfabrik Glashütte AG - UFAG were set up, headed by jurist Dr. Ernst Kurtz. Apart from the initial production of superior quality pocket-watches, under the management of Dr. Ernst Kurtz and a few competent associates, the companies developed and produced their own ebauches for wristwatches. This led to a series of movements that could easily stand comparison with the competition from Switzerland.
The top quality models were entitled "Tutima", a brand name chosen not without good reason. The founders had derived the name from the Latin adjective "tutus", which translates as "safe" or "protected". The product quality and the distribution exclusively through selected stockists soon earned Tutima an excellent reputation. Some 1000 employees enjoyed a secure livelihood.
One of the undoubted highlights of the early Tutima watches was the last and arguably most sophisticated development by UROFA-UFAG, the Tutima Classic Flieger Chronograph. This wrist chronograph set new aesthetic and functional standards and is regarded as the model for many subsequent developments.

TUTIMA Watches Milatary
The Military NATO Chronograph T
The Military NATO Chronograph TL
The Commando II Chronograph
The Tutima Pacific
The Pacific 300
The DI 300
The Yachting Chronograph
Classic Tutima
The Classic Flieger Chronograph
The Flieger Chronograph F2
The Flieger Chronograph F2 UTC
The Flieger Chronograph F2 PR
The Eurofighter Typhoon
The Flieger Chronograph F3
The Flieger GMT & UTC
The Flieger Automatic
The Grand Classic Havana
The Grand Classic Chronographs
The Grand Classic Automatic
The Grand Classic PR
The Grand Classic Alpha
Tutima Fx line
The FX Automatic
The FX Automatic UTC
The FX Chronograph
The FX Chronograph UTC
Tutima Valeo
The Valeo Reserve
The Valeo Reserve Gold

Titan

2009-08-12T02:50:00.000-07:00

Titan watches for men and women ...
Titan Industries is the world's sixth largest wrist watch manufacturer and India's leading producer of watches under the Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Nebula, Octane & Xylys brand names. It is a joint venture between one of India's most respected business organizations, the Tata Group, and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). Titan watch division was started in 1987. At launch it was the third watch company in India after HMT and Allwyn. Titan formed a joint venture with Timex, which lasted until 1998, and setup a strong distribution network across India.
Early 2001, when Indian consumers rated Titan ahead of all other brands as the Most Admired Brand in India across all product categories (the first ever such survey done by Brand Equity), it did not surprise people that a 13 year-old had managed to upstage many older and more well-known brands: it was expected of Titan to achieve such things, it was so natural.
It was also a fitting tribute to a brand, which had not only revolutionised the Indian watch industry, but also brought in world-class benchmarks in product design, quality and retailing into India.
Back in the early eighties, the Tata Group had identified the watch category as a potential consumer market for the Tatas to enter. Xerxes Desai, a Tata veteran and the then MD of Tata Press, was chosen to lead that venture.
In those days of pre-liberalisation the watch market, like most consumer markets in India, was way behind the rest of the world. The technology in vogue was the reliable, but outdated "Mechanical" technology, which used the unwinding of a mechanical spring to tell time. Not only was the accuracy of time-keeping not good enough, but the bulky mechanical movement did not permit the creation of sleek products. The industry was dominated by the public sector which had brought in watch manufacturing into India, enjoyed tremendous goodwill in the market, but had not really invested in evolving itself and its consumers: styling still remained basic, choice was limited.

The watch shops were narrow, dingy and typically located in the older, traditional markets of the city. You went there only to buy a watch, never to browse, never to simply check out. Visual merchandising was very much at the stage of "decoration" if any, and neither the brands nor the retailers saw it as important. The companies themselves did not have much contact with retailers, preferring to sell through wholesalers, doing well that way. There was hardly any need for consumer contact or research. It was a sellers' market.

All this affected the consumers. Watches remained a time-keeping device, so one watch was enough, thank you. Since the quality of the watch was quite good, it lasted quite a while, and the consumers did not change it for 10, 15, 20 years. And when they did change it, they did not pay a high price for the new piece because, what the hell, they were buying another time-keeping device.

Xerxes Desai's vision was to dramatically alter this perception of consumers, and make Titan a fashion accessory. He knew that that was the only way that this new brand would explode the market and wrest control from the dominant HMT. So he and his team went about breaking all the rules in the category:

Mechanical technology was the norm - Quartz had not really taken off in India. Titan would go against that and build its line based on quartz. Accuracy would become a selling-plank.
Styling was basic - This was a constraint imposed by the technology as well the outlook of the manufacturers. Titan decided to make style a table-stake.

Choice was limited - You had 200 models to pick from, that was it. Titan decided to inundate consumers with a wide choice in style, functions and price. The initial range was 350 models.
Shops were dark, dingy and uninteresting - There was no importance given to presentation, and therefore no attempt made at it. Titan brought in the concept of retailing into the watch market, established a network of fine showrooms which would later become the world's largest network of exclusive watch stores. These stores not only helped Titan to gain leadership substantially, but also irrevocably altered the retail landscape of the watch market through a demonstration effect on the traditional dealers.

Advertising was expenditure - Titan saw this as a vital investment. Right from Day 1, Titan invested significantly in advertising and in that process created a set of memorable and effective properties over the years.

So Titan, backed by world-class quality created at a world-class plant located just off Bangalore, backed by the Tata name, was launched into the Indian market on the back of these new rules. It created waves right in the early days, mesmerised consumers, demolished competition and rode into the sunset with panache.

Today, in early 21st century India, it is taken for granted that a watch is a fashion accessory. Titan dominates the market, with a 60% share of the organised sector market (the total market, including the unorganised sector, is estimated at around 42 million units). Titan's quality record is impressive, its sales and service network is wide and deep, and its network of exclusive showrooms, The World of Titan, is one of the most prestigious and visible retail brands in the country, offering world-class levels of shopping comfort and customer service.

What is truly amazing about Titan is the sheer scale of its offering and the consequent choice it offers to multiple segments across taste, age and economic background. Titan saw this approach as the foundation of its leadership strategy in the early days. Even the early range had distinct offerings for different requirements: formal watches (gold plated cases with fine leather straps) for the executive, dress watches (gold plated cases with ornamental gold plated bracelets) for those with a preference for jewellery, rugged watches (all steel watches with a skew to functionality) for those whose usage demanded a certain durability.

Titan has built on this principle over the last 15 years, almost year after year:
In 1989, it was Aqura, the trendy range for the youth, colourful, smart and affordable plastic watches for the youth: The other side of Titan for the other side of you.
In 1992, it was Raga, the ethnic range, with striking symbolism from ethnic India, for the sophisticated India woman who appreciated such things.
In 1993, it was Insignia, very distinctive and international-looking top-end watches, for those seeking exclusivity and status.
In 1994, it was psi 2000, rugged, sporty and very masculine watches with serious sports features (200-m mater resistance, high precision chronographs) for those with the penchant for adventure.
In 1996, it was Dash, the cute and colourful range for kids.
In 1997, it was Sonata, the affordable, good quality range for the budget-conscious.
In 1998, it was Fastrack, the cool, trendy, funky range for the young and young-at-heart.
In 1999, it was Nebula, the sold gold and diamond-studded range of luxury watches for those affluent people to whom gold is a precious acquisition.
In 2001, it was Steel, the smart and contemporary collection for the young 21st century executive.
And in 2008, the brand has collections like the Octane, Diva, WWF and Zoop - each of them unique and fascinating.

Tissot

2009-08-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

Tissot for men and ladies :
Tissot was founded by Charles-Felicien Tissot and his son Charles-Emile who established the Tissot factory in the city of Le Locle.
From 1853 to the present day, Tissot has continually surprised and delighted customers with its product innovation. A relentless pioneering spirit led the company from its foundation in the small Swiss Jura town of Le Locle, to a presence in 150 countries. From its first pocket watch with two time-zones in 1853 to its revolutionary touch-screen technology T-Touch watch, Tissot has presented a series of "firsts" in terms of technology, materials and design – even to the extent of creating watches made of rock, wood and pearl.
From day one, Tissot was also dedicated to taking its innovations to destinations well beyond the Swiss borders. In 1858, the founder's son, Charles-Emile Tissot, left Le Locle for Russia and successfully sold Tissot savonnette pocket watches across this huge and influential empire. International expansion went from strength to strength and Tissot is today the leading producer of the traditional Swiss watch industry in number of units. Being sold by 16,000 Points of Sale across five continents, Tissot products offer a wide selection of watches to suit diverse functional needs and tastes.
Latest tissot : T-Navigator, the time in 150 countries / cities, Precious Flower, turn the bezel to reveal the petals, PRS 516 Retrograde, 2008 T-Touch Expert and 2009 Tissot Sea-Touch.
Tissot watches
1853 + First production of pocket watches
1916 + Banana watches (re-edition in 2002 as Classic Prince)
1919 + Porto, Art Deco Style with its tonneau shaped watch.
1930 + The first antimagnetic watch
1944 + Self-winding Tissot watch. Banking rotor mechanism.
1953 + Navigator, 24 Time Zones
1965 + PR516, bracelet with cut-out holes, inspired by the racing driver’s steering wheel
1971 + IDEA 2001 (Astrolon), the first plastic mechanical watch
1978 + F1, official watch of the Lotus racing team.
1985 + Rock watch, the first watch in stone (granite from the Alps)
1986 + Two Timer, analog and digital watch
1987 + Pearl watch, the first watch made of mother of pearl
1988 + Wood watch, the first watch in wood
1998 + Titanium 7, 7 functions
1999 + T-Touch, the 6 functions touch screen watch
2001 + T-Collection, Temptation
2002 + Silen-T, vibrating hours tell the time through touch technology.
2003 + Heritage 150th Anniversary watch
2004 + T-Navigator, the time in 150 countries / cities
2005 + Precious Flower, turn the bezel to reveal the petals
2006 + PRS 516 Retrograde
2008 + T-Touch Expert
2009 + Sea-Touch

Baume et Mercier

2009-08-12T01:50:00.000-07:00

Baume et Mercier the luxury watches for men and women...
Baume et Mercier is a Swiss watchmaking company founded in 1830.
At the heart of a century marked by extraordinary scientific and industrial progress, brothers Louis Victor and Pierre-Joseph-Célestin Baume founded the house of the same name and registered it as an agency in the Les Bois village, in the Swiss Jura Mountains. There was only one slogan: "Accept only perfection, only manufacture watches of the highest quality".
Baume et Mercier watches : ILÉA , HAMPTON, DIAMANT, CLASSIMA EXECUTIVES, RIVIERA: CLASSIC & SPORT, WILLIAM BAUME .

1869 Gold pocket watch, four parts, hours and minutes. Mechanical movement with manual charging transmitted by spring clip, Lépine-type bridge, cylinder escapement, flat hairspring, three-armed annular monometallic balance wheel. Offered by Louis Victor Baume to his daughter Mélina.
1880 cide Eugène son of Louis Victor, managed the Swiss entity and Arthur Joseph that of London. Sensible entrepreneurs, sensitive to the policy of their elders, they took part in building the railway linking Chaux-de-fonds to Saignelégier, not hesitating to have the line diverted to optimise delivery of their production. An example of their clear-sightedness that allowed them to emerge from obscurity and quickly acquire international recognition.
1885 Baume & Co took part in the chronometry competition held at Kew Teddington near London for the first time in 1885 and won several prizes. In 1892, Baume & Co earned the highest mark ever awarded at the Kew competition during that era: 91.9 out of 100 for a "keyless chronometer watch, tourbillon movement". This record was only bettered 10 years later.
1893 Baume & Mercier chronometer pocket watch. Extremely particular movement with tourbillon at one minute and "detent" escapement.
1912 Paul Tchereditchenko who became a Swiss national and adopted the name Mercier. He was the son of a tsarist officer and an embroideress from Worth. Hired as a lift attendant at the age of 10, he spent all his leisure moments learning, and climbed all the rungs of the hierarchical ladder.
1920 Birth of Baume & Mercier Geneva 27 August 1920: Baume & Mercier Geneva was born from the alliance of two men, William Baume, talented watchmaker, grandson of the founder and Paul Mercier.
1921 March: less than a year after registering the brand, Baume & Mercier received the greatest reward attributed by the Geneva Watch making Senior Committee: the poinçon de Genève (Geneva hallmark). "Diploma attesting that the Baume & Mercier Company recorded the highest number of hallmark stamped pieces at the State Official Bureau". Baume & Mercier's reputation was now established, beyond frontiers.
1940 At a time when various different shapes were developing, both in the fields of architecture, art as well as furniture, Baume & Mercier affirmed itself as a genuine designer of elegant watches in harmony with the silhouettes of haute couture and developed an avant-garde spirit.
1946 Baume & Mercier issued its first watch catalogue intended for consumer
1948 Baume & Mercier created the watch known as "Marquise": a dial perfectly integrated into a bangle, without a clasp, just like slave bangles. Its success lasted until the 1970's.
1950 Always looking for the perfect balance between beauty and perfection, the brand was also characterized in the 50's by splendid chronographs and continued producing models with small highly useful chronographs.
1964 The 20th October, the brand registered the Greek letter PHI, symbol of the golden number and Leonard de Vinci's theory of proportion. The letter PHI is present on all Baume & Mercier designs.
1971 Creation of the Tronosonic watch, first tuning fork watch that took the brand into the electronic era.
1973 Baume & Mercier was awarded a prize for its creativity in jewellery watches by winning the Baden Baden Golden Rose in Dusseldorf with the Galaxie, Mimosa and Stardust models.

1987 Creation of the "Linea" watch that quickly became a reference in the world of Fine Watch making
1993 The Baume & Mercier brand joined the Richemont group.
1994 Halfway between tradition and modernity, the "Hampton" was proof of a deep breakaway from the brand's aesthetics and heralded a new style.
1995 Classima Executives, a range combining tradition and dynamism associated with a simple, elegant design. Models intended to satisfy busy men as well as watch-making connoisseurs.
1997 The "Catwalk" was the instigator of a renewal of cuffwatches. Often imitated, never equalled, Catwalk imposed a new style on the watch-making scene.
1998 Loyal to its tradition, Baume & Mercier launched the "CapeLand" watch that established itself very clearly in the family of automatic chronographs and drew its genesis from an imaginary world of adventure and travel.
2002 since October 2002, the Baume & Mercier watch-making house has been the owner of its own casing workshop in Brenets, a few kilometres from the village of Les Bois in the Franches Mountains, birthplace of the watch-making roots of the Baume family.
This workshop employs approximately 40 staff.
Baume & Mercier's objective is to ensure the project management of its products from A to Z and reinforce its partnerships with its suppliers.
2004 Vice-Versa, the watch that reverses time! The first luxury watch for women where the dial is no longer displayed above the wrist, but beneath it!
2005 Diamant. A luxury watch with a timeless design and a diamond-set crown. It adapts to all situations in a busy woman's day.
2006 For the launch of the "Business Class" collection, Baume & Mercier knew how to compose around its different product ranges: Hampton, Riviera, Classima Executives.
Their shared characteristics: guilloche dials, blued hands as well as windows over the balance wheel, power reserves, open sapphire crystal backs, many functions and decorations for watch-making connoisseurs and lovers of beautiful things.

2006 The brand launches its new international advertising campaign "Baume & Mercier & Me" from a charity angle by supporting strong humanitarian causes. With Meg Ryan and Kiefer Sutherland it wanted to join forces with personalities that resemble it, genuine celebrities with a human side, people you feel close to.
2007 it's Kim Basinger and Gary Sinise's turn to represent the image of the house of Baume & Mercier. The "Baume & Mercier & Me" slogan, now rooted into the brand's heritage, perfectly illustrates the strong and intimate link the brand has been able to forge with its public around the world, a link made of simplicity, a liking for a certain way of life and shared values.
The house of Baume & Mercier has already shown on several occasions its attention towards others through charity sales and partnerships with charitable organisations.
2008 Teri Hatcher and Ashton Kutcher. The high luxury watch brand remains true to its approach of capitalizing on its values and particularly on the close ties it develops with the people who wear its watches. As in the two previous Baume & Mercier campaigns, the new one is based on supporting a good cause. All royalties normally due to the two ambassadors as well as the two photographers . Robert Erdmann for Teri Hatcher and Jim Wright for Ashton Kutcher , will be donated to charities jointly chosen by the Hollywood stars and the watch brand. This new campaign will thereby serve to support the fight against cancer, the promotion of child education, as well as helping underprivileged women.

Zenith

2009-08-12T01:16:00.000-07:00

ZENITH - Swiss Watch Manufacture since 1865 watches for men and ladies
Zenith SA is a Swiss watch manufacture started in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot at the age of 22, in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel.
In 1865, under the guidance of Georges Favre-Jacot, one of the most mythical manufacturers of quality watches was born. A 22-year old visionary, he was the first to create the very concept of a watchmaking Manufacture. He brought all artisan watchmakers together under one roof, providing them with heat and light, allowing them thus to dedicate themselves entirely to the design of their timepieces. From the hand of the watchmaker, “manus” in Latin, came the etymology of the word “Manufacture”.
Presently, Zenith markets five watch lines, including the Chronomaster, Class, Port-Royal, Vintage, Defy and Star.

2009 ZENITH celebrate the 40 years of the El Primero
Developed in 1969, El Primero, throbbing at 36,000 vibrations per hour, was the first automatic integrated chronograph movement, capable of measuring short time intervals to a tenth of a second. Today it still is the fastest automatic chronograph and the most precise in the world.
2008 The principal event of 2008 is the arrival of the 8800 Tourbillon Zero-G (zero gravity) movement, a major innovation in the world of watchmaking. This revolutionary system, which includes a gyroscope cage tourbillon and constant horizontal escapement, means the mechanism avoids the effects of gravity and thus gives considerably greater accuracy.
Defy Classic does justice to the Zero-G with 2 breathtakingly designed constructions, one Classic and one Xtreme, both available in a numbered edition with the 2008 millésime.
2007 «Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie» in Geneva : the ZENITH Manufacture received the award for the DEFY Xtreme Open El Primero Stealth in the Public’s Prize category.
An unusual design, avant-garde technology, unique style, extraordinary performance. A true revolution in aesthetics and technology that has confirmed ZENITH’s global success whilst opening up new horizons: the sports watch revisited by the spirit of luxury.
2006 The Zenith is now launching a collection of sport-chic watches – DEFY - and has thus reconnected with its recent past of excellence and records in chronometry. An unusual design, an avant-garde technology, a unique style, an outstanding performance… truly a revolution in both aesthetic and mechanical design. Power, virility, modernity, he who wears it has a racy lifestyle.
2005 The first Haute Couture watch is launched: the Starissime, a tourbillon embellished with over 230 diamonds, designed for an exceptional woman.
ZENITH Manufacture also endows itself with one of the most complicated watches in the world, the Grande Class Traveller Répétition Minutes El Primero: a chronograph, an alarm clock, with a vibrating mode, a date display, dual time and, of course, a minute-repeater.
One hundred and forty years after its creation, ZENITH shines at the highest point: the zenith.
2004 The first Tourbillon ZENITH: integrated to the El Primero chronograph, it is the fastest Tourbillon in the world. Thanks to this watchmaking masterpiece, the ZENITH star now shines high in the heavens of the most prestigious Watchmakers.
2003 Launch of the Chronomaster Open El Primero, a technological innovation enabling a view of the beating heart of the movement through an opening in the dial. This model rapidly becomes the icon of the ZENITH Manufacture and encounters a resounding success.
2002 During the Basel Watch Fair in 2002, ZENITH launches 4 new movements and 14 new models representing 52 new variations. History is on the move...
2001 The rebirth: ZENITH searches the depths of its past hundred years to reinvent itself. Drawing inspiration from the legacy of its young and brilliant founder, ZENITH forges a unique style, classical and yet innovative, the link between tradition and modernity.
1999 The LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) acquires ZENITH Manufacture, a rare pearl that it wants to turn into a leading star of watchmaking in the 20th century.
1994 Animated by exuberant dynamism, it creates new watches, like the extra slim Elite movement. Thanks to its outstanding know-how in traditional watchmaking, ZENITH Manufacture enters the third millennium with confidence and an even greater desire for innovation and modernity.
1980 Whilst the beautiful mechanical watches are once again riding the wave, ZENITH Manufacture has all the necessary equipment to relaunch the El Primero movement. Having become famous, it is in great demand, also by other prestigious watchmakers.
1969 throbbing at 36,000 vibrations per hour, the El Primero movement is born, the first integrated automatic chronograph, a triumph over the challenge to fit in the smallest possible space a maximum of technical functionality. Today it still is the fastest automatic chronograph and the most precise in the world.
1940 Manufacture goes back to basics and thanks to its experience and maturity, decides to concentrate on its core business. Faithful to its innovative spirit and its faith in progress, new automatic movements are developed, in a quest for the perfect movement
1930 During the 30s, also because of the progress achieved in fields such as civil aviation, the watchmaking industry is required to offer greater precision. A benchmark in the production of high quality mechanical movements, ZENITH Manufacture diversifies its production and its marine pieces were to be found on seaplanes of the French navy, on board Royal Navy vessels, as well as the Italian and British navy.
1920, the company has already produced two million timepieces. The desire to communicate this passion further afield sparks the idea of opening branches in Geneva, Moscow, Paris, Vienna, London and New York... Carried by the thrust of this magnificent effort, ZENITH starts its international history. This is ongoing: today, ZENITH has 17 subsidiaries and its business is equally shared between America, Europe and Asia.
Georges Favre-Jacot is awarded a gold medal at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva. Four years later, honours at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. These prizes and awards, acknowledging the quality and the precision of his timepieces, continued to increase over the years. The company with its thousand talented workforce sails through the 20th century in glory: 1565 awards and over 50 mythical movements.
Success comes rapidly.
1875, the company already has over one thousand employees. It creates pocket watches, pendulum clocks and counter instruments for the navy.
1865 ZENITH is born in the Swiss Jura thanks to the initiative of Georges Favre-Jacot, one of the most mythical names amongst high quality watchmakers. A 22 year old visionary, he is the first to create the real concept of a watchmaking manufacture.

Vostok watches | Boctok

2009-08-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

Rugged military Watches
Vostok (Russian: Восток) Watch Makers, Inc. produces mainly rugged military and diver mechanical watches at its factory in Chistopol, Tatarstan, Russia. It also makes clocks and watch movements for other watch brands.
Vostok Story starts back in 1942 when one of the Moscow watch-making plants was evacuated from Moscow to our little town located on The Kama River. Defense equipment was the only company output during war years, but as soon as the war was over we started making mechanical wrist watches - our main production item ever since.
Yet, Vostok never backed away completely from our military past - the company was appointed an official supplier of watches for the Defense Department of the Soviet Union in 1965. This year marks the creation of the world-famous "Komandirskie" ("Commander") watch.
Military watch grew very popular even with people who were unaware which end of the gun bullet comes off, mainly due to high precision, excessive reliability and durability. The appearance of the watch also contributes to its appeal - functional and clear-cut design invoked the feeling of belonging to the tough world of combat professional.

The experience Vostok gained through development of the army watch was the foundation of our next special watch - "Amphibian". This impressive timepiece in stainless-steel case endured the depth of 2000 meters - kind of a wrist submarine. Success of the professional watches determined the company's present philosophy - to create mechanical watches maintaining precise timekeeping at any temperature, in any environment, surviving heavy pressure and blows.
The viability of the chosen strategy is now time-proven. A vast multitude of people both in Russia and abroad boasting "Vostok" watches and various international prizes awarded for high quality and commercial success testify to this. Still, we are far from being self-content with our achievements. Vostok are always trying to look ahead, pursuing new ways to broaden our market presence.
Thus, in 1996 we started a partnership with US "Capital Trading" company aiming to create a new generation timepiece.
The synergy of traditional "Vostok" austere design and the world's latest watch-marking trends is a cornerstone of this new project launched into the oncoming century. Time goes by, bringing changes into everything - we introduce innovative technologies, new styles of watches, one generation of watchmakers follows another.
Vostok (Russian: Восток, meaning East) " Чистопольский часовой завод Восток - официальный сайт. История завода и публикация в прессе". The military watches : Titanium watches feature "diver" styling with polyurethane or stainless steel bands

Vacheron Constantin

2009-08-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

The Prestige watches by Vacheron Constantin
Vacheron Constantin, manufacturer of Swiss luxury complicated timepieces since 1755, is the oldest watch manufacturer in the world in continuous operation for over 250 years. Manufactured in Geneva, men's and women's fine watches, chronograph watches, skeleton watches, complicated watches, diamond watches, tourbillon watches, hand-crafted movements and exquisite hand-finishing.
In the middle of the 18th Century, in the city of Geneva, a young man called Jean-Marc Vacheron decided to open his own watch-making workshop. This exceptional craftsman founded a business that was to become, two and a half centuries later, one of the most renowned in the science of time.
15 years (1770) after its foundation, Vacheron Constantin creates its first 'complication' watches.
The grandson of Jean-Marc Vacheron, (1810) Jaques-Barthélemy, takes the head of the family business and initiates the brand's first exports to France and Italy, and He Creation of a collection of watches of six quarter-repeater watches. These watches strike the hours and the quarters upon request.
1819 Jaques-Barthélemy, grandson of Jean-Marc Vacheron together with François Constantin creates the company name "Vacheron et Constantin".
In this year on 5th July, François Constantin sends from Turin a letter to Jaques Barthélémy Vacheron containing the words that were to become the company motto:
"Do better if possible and that is always possible".
1839 Georges-Auguste Leschot is taken on as production engineer in 1839 and proceeds to revolutionize watch-making techniques by adapting the pantograph to the requirements of his industry.
With the use of that instrument, certain watch components can be copied repeatedly by a machine, and no longer need to be hand-made as before, thus propelling Vacheron Constantin to the forefront of the industrial age.
in 1862 Vacheron Constantin became a member of the Association for Research into non-magnetic materials. Later in 1885, the company created the first nonmagnetic timepiece which included a complete lever assortment made of materials able to withstand magnetic fields. Its construction included a balance wheel, balance spring and lever shaft that were made of palladium, the lever arms - in bronze and the escape wheel was in gold.

In 1877 "Vacheron & Constantin, Fabricants, Geneve" became the official name of the company. In 1880, Vacheron & Constantin started using its symbol, which is kept till nowadays, the Maltese cross. The latter was inspired by a component of the barrel. The part had a cross-shape and it was used for limiting the tension within the mainspring.
n 1887, was reorganized into a stock company. For the remarkable achievements of the company it was awarded with a gold medal at Swiss National Exhibition. The event took place in Geneva in 1887.

The first boutique in Geneva was opened by Vacheron Constantin in 1906. This store can be seen today on Quai de l’Ile. During the Great Depression Vacheron & Constantin found itself in a difficult situation and the only one to bring hope was Charles Constantin. He became the head of the company in 1936 and it was the first time since 1850s that a representative of the Constantin family received the position of Vacheron & Constantin's president.

When the World War II occurred the company's sales considerably decreased. However, Vacheron & Constantin was able to come back on the watch market due to Georges Ketter.
After 200 years in the watch-making industry Vacheron & Constantin proved that it is still among the leaders in creating innovations. To outline the beginning of the 3rd century of its watchmaking the company created Patrimony - the world's thinnest watch which had only 5.25mm thickness.

In 1970 the "&" was dropped from Vacheron & Constantin.
Vacheron Constantin is the company that some watch enthusiasts consider to be the creator of one of the most expensive wristwatches, which was entitled Kallista. It was made in 1979 and its initial price was $5 million. Today, however, the watch is valued at about $11 million. Kallista had 118 emerald-cut diamonds. It took about 6,000 hours for the watch masters to make this watch and about 20 months for the best jewelers in the world to enrich the watch.
When Georges Ketter died in 1987, Vacheron Constantin changed hands. However its sales improved and today the company produces about 20,000 timepieces per year. In 1996 the entire share capital of the company was bought by Richemont Group.

The beginning of the 21st century market Vacheron Constantin's new sports line called Overseas, which was introduced in 2003. In 2003 a new collection from Vacheron & Constantin was launched. The name of the collection is Egérie and it is the first one to include watches for women.
The Richemont Group named, in October 2005, Juan Carlos Torres as the Chief Executive Officer of the Swiss watchmaking company. Vacheron Constantin is considered to be company that was able to create one of the most complicated wristwatches in the world entitled Tour de I'lle. It was created in 2005 to mark the anniversary of 250 years of Vacheron Constantin. The watch includes 834 parts and 16 horological complications. It was only available through the Vacheron Constantin shop in Geneva, Switzerland and sold for more than $1 million.
In 2004 Vacheron Constantin opened its new headquarters and Manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva.
In 2007 Vacheron Constantin introduced the Metiers d'Art 'Les Masques' collection of timepieces featuring the miniature reproductions of primitive art masks. The Company selected twelve masks from a private museum collection and reproduced the masks on a small scale. The miniaturized masks are featured in the dial center of every watch from the 'Les Masques' collection.
Vacheron Constantin collection :
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Roger W. Smith

2009-08-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

RWS watches Roger W. Smith men and womes watches:
Roger W. Smith, born 1970 in Bolton UK, resident The Isle of Man, is an independent watchmaker.
In 1992, at the age of twenty-two, following the classic book Watchmaking by watchmaker George Daniels, Smith made a tourbillon pocket watch. Smith then took the tourbillon to the Isle Of Man to seek Daniels' opinion on his work. Daniels was impressed with his first effort and suggested Smith make another. Smith then assisted George Daniels for three years in Daniels' workshop on the Isle of Man.
Eventually, at Daniels' suggestion, Smith moved permanently to the Isle of Man where he now has his own handmade watchmaking business, Roger W. Smith Ltd.
Handmade watches
Despite the broad scope and tremendous numbers of watches created and presented each year, only the merest fraction of these will be eligible to carry the predicate hand made. In the distant past, hand made pocket and wristwatches were the only kind available, yet the march of industrialization through the centuries means that today such creations have become the object of dreams for collectors and connoisseurs of watchmaking across the globe, cloaked in an aura of exceptional rarity.
There are many reasons for this situation. The intensive amounts of handwork involved in the creation of such timekeepers requires a great amount of devotion, time, patience and skill that finely weaves together many different disciplines and techniques into the final product. A watchmaker working in this manner will have direct control and responsibility over all the aspects of the watch; the entire design and manufacturing of the movement including the escapement, dial, hands, case, polishing, assembly, testing and a myriad number of other details too numerous to mention.
This is perhaps the greatest and clearest distinction between a hand made watch and the rest: all of these decisions will have been made by only one artisan; an artisan who has become a master of several inter-related disciplines. In the following pages we hope to be able to unveil some of the mysteries and work that lay at the center of the watchmaker's art, when handwork is able to imbue life and breath to simple pieces of metal, and the result equals more than the sum of the parts.

Roger Dubuis

2009-08-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Roger Dubuis Watches and jewelery for ladies and men:
Roger Dubuis is the brand name of luxury watches and jewellery founded by Carlos Dias and Roger Dubuis. Dubuis, a talented watchmaker, founded his own atelier in 1980 after 14 years of developing complications for Patek Philippe. He took commissions to design new complications for major brands for several years.
Roger Dubuis As a fervent devotee of horology and a collector of fine watches, Carlos Dias finally decided to dedicate himself entirely to this luxury goods sector in 1993.Building on the vast range of experience accumulated during his fruitful career, he decided to found his own company during the summer of 1995, under the name SOGEM (Société Genevoise des Montres). The title Manufacture Roger Dubuis appeared in 1999 only when Carlos Dias deemed the firm “deserved and was not usurping the status of a Manufacture”. In 2001, he designed the new corporate headquarters built in Meyrin (Geneva). In 2004, he completed the second phase of this industrial complex that greatly enhances the brand’s credibility.
Traditional and modern
Manufacturing independence was achieved in 2003 with its own production of balance-and-spring regulating organs. In 2005, the second building served to regroup the 500 employees in a single 14,500 square-metres site. The 120 machines of its micromechanical engineering workshops produce the entire range of parts for the proprietary ROGER DUBUIS movements.
This fully verticalised and state-of-the-art industrialisation brilliantly endorses the company’s status as an authentic Manufacture.
In April 2006 six new movements were presented at Geneva’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), three of them for the first time. They were fitted mainly in the latest Excalibur models, one of the brand’s flagship collections, and bring the number of movements manufactured to 28, each of which is hallmarked with the Poinçon de Genève, sometimes referred to as the Geneva Seal.
An exhibition organised at the SIHH in 2007 displayed all 28 movements, thereby demonstrating the brand’s exceptional heritage.
In April 2008, Roger Dubuis presented a new collection, called KingSquare. Bursting with the brand’s DNA, this square model features highly studied technical specifications. Its construction is unique and its overall design astonishingly innovative as it opens a new field of innumerable styling variations.
One of them is the lavish model with a skeleton movement, which has been restructured to transform the skeleton movement from a great classic to a totally contemporary work of art. Today, the Manufacture Roger Dubuis is a high-performance company which intends to be one of the big players specialised in the luxury goods secto

" Roger Dubuis est une Manufacture suisse de haute horlogerie qui propose un vaste choix de hautes complications, allant du double tourbillon à la répétition minute en passant par le chronographe à rattrapante au quantième perpétuel et autres multiples complications horlogères".

Piaget

2009-08-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

Piaget: men's watch, women's watch, fine watches and jewellery watches:
Piaget SA is Piaget: Watches, Jewelry - Official Website of the Swiss luxury brand, founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget in the village of La Côte-aux-Fées. The company belongs to the Swiss Richemont group, specialists in the luxury goods industry.
The company was founded as a manufacturer of watch movements but began marketing its own line of prestigious watches in the 20th century.
In 1874, Georges Edouard Piaget set up his first workshop on the family farm, situated in the small village of La Côte-aux-Fées in the Swiss Jura mountains. Dedicated to crafting pocket watches and high-precision clock movements for prestigious brands, the Piaget name was soon to travel beyond the borders of the Neuchâtel region. In 1911, Timothée Piaget, the son of Georges Piaget, took over the family firm. The Manufacture has been dedicated to the production of wrist watches ever since.
Registered Trademark (1943-1955)
Under the guidance of the founder’s grandsons, Gérald and Valentin Piaget, the Piaget brand became a registered trademark in 1943. Since then, the Manufacture at La Côte-aux-Fées has produced its own creations and has undergone considerable international expansion. As a result of this expansion, the family business opened a new factory in 1945, again in La Côte-aux-Fées.
The Ultra-Thin Movement and Jewellery (1956-1963)
In 1957, the manufacture at La Côte-aux-Fées brought out the Calibre 9P, the first ultra-thin (2 mm), hand-wound mechanical movement. Then, in 1960, the Piaget watchmakers developed the Calibre12P, the thinnest automatic movement in the world with a thickness of 2.3 mm (made official by an entry in the Guinness Book of Records). The Piaget collection was diversifying. In addition to coin watches, ring watches, brooch watches and cufflink watches, Piaget created their first pieces of jewellery. In 1957, the Emperador men’s watch was launched and since it's relaunch in 1999 become one of the brand’s emblematic models. The company’s expansion led to the opening of a new factory in Geneva, dedicated to jewellery and, in 1959, their first boutique.

In 2001, a new Piaget Haute Horlogerie manufacture was opened in Plan-les-Ouates, just outside Geneva. The movements continued to be produced at La Côte-aux-Fées, the family’s historic birthplace. The new building grouped together over 40 professions in the fields of watchmaking and jewellery. The same year, Piaget added a youthful touch to the Polo watch from the 1970s and launched the Magic Reflections collection. The Manufacture developed several lines of mechanical movements and in 2002 brought out the first Piaget Manufacture tourbillon movement, the Calibre 600P, the thinnest tourbillon in the world with 3.5 mm thickness. In 2004, Piaget celebrated the 130th anniversary of their creation.
Piaget continue the tradition of miniature painting thanks to a traditional technique. The enameller begins by crushing and cleaning raw enamels to obtain a very fine powder, which is then mixed with essential oils to achieve the colour palette. The enamel is applied with a brush in successive fine layers, each of which is oven-fired at temperatures exceeding 800°C. Each enamelled piece requires nearly twenty firings in the oven. The enamel and its colours are then set forever.
Setting and Gemmology
Piaget own the largest jewellery workshop in Geneva. Every stone here is cut, adjusted and set by hand. The same attention to detail characterises the selection of diamonds and precious stones. The diamonds, for example, meet the highest standards of colour (D to G) and clarity (IF to VVS.) The diamonds are tested according to stringent in-house guidelines based on their colour, size, clarity and carat.

Patek Philippe

2009-08-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

Patek Philippe watches for Ladies and men :
Patek Philippe SA Swiss Watch Manufacturer since 1839, an independent family-owned watch company based in Geneva, known worldwide for its complicated watches and for its timeless and elegant designs. Its main watch collections include : Calatrava, Ellipse, Nautilus, Gondolo, Aquanaut, Twenty 4.
Amongst manufacturers, PP has a long history. Polish watchmaker Antoni Norbert Patek started making pocket watches in 1839 in Geneva, along with his fellow Polish migrant Franciszek Czapek. They separated in 1844, and in 1845 Patek joined with the French watchmaker Adrien Philippe, inventor of the keyless winding mechanism. In 1851, Patek Philippe & Co was founded.
In 1868, Patek Philippe made their first wristwatch. They have also pioneered the perpetual calendar, split-seconds hand, chronograph, and minute repeater in watches.

The company, like other Swiss manufactures, produces mostly mechanical movements of the automatic and manual wind variety, but has produced quartz watches in the past and even a digital wrist watch, the Ref. 3414. PP is notable for manufacturing its own watch components.
Patek Philippe timepieces have recorded high closing prices in auctions worldwide. A large part of the demand for auction pieces is driven by Patek Philippe themselves, as they are often purchasing in the auction market to add to the collection of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
The company is currently owned by the Stern family, led by Philippe Stern and his son.

Patek Philippe produced an ultra-complicated (with 24 functions) pocket-watch for Henry Graves, Jr., who entered into a friendly horological competition with James Ward Packard, which resulted in the production of the watch sold to Mr. Graves in 1933. After his death, the watch was auctioned at Sotheby's in December 1999 for USD$11,000,000, at that time the most expensive timepiece ever sold. On April 10, 2008, 2003 "Ref. 5002P Sky Moon Tourbillon" platinum Patek Philippe tourbillon wristwatch made the world record as the most expensive modern wristwatch sold at Hongkong Sotheby's for HK$11.75 million ($1.49 million). The previous record was held by a Vacheron Constantin Tour de l'Ile wristwatch, which sold at Antiquorum for $1.4 million in Geneva in 2005.
In 1989, Patek created one of the most complicated mechanical watches ever made, the Calibre 89, created for the 150th anniversary of the company. It holds 33 complications, including the date of Easter, a thermometer, time of sunrise, equation of time, sidereal time, and many other indicators. 1,728 unique parts allow sidereal time a 2,800 star chart, and more. The Calibre 89 is also able to add a day to February for leap years while leaving out the extra day for every 100 year interval.

Parmigiani Fleurier

2009-08-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

Parmigiani Fleurier Watches for ladies and men " Haute Horlogerie Authentique".
Parmigiani Fleurier SA is a Swiss brand of luxury watchmakers founded in 1975 in Fleurier, Switzerland by Michel Parmigiani. He Born in Couvet (Switzerland) in 1950, Michel Parmigiani grew up in a valley of the Canton of Neuchâtel, the Val-de-Travers, a secluded region where the natural surroundings are conducive to contemplation.
From his earliest childhood, Michel Parmigiani came in close contact with craftsmen whose skilled hands guided their creativity. Fascinated by this field, he quickly chose to takeb watchmaking training, and then devoted himself to the restoration of renowned creations by creating his own company, just over thirty years ago.
Michel Parmigiani thus enjoyed the privilege of witnessing four hundred and fifty years of watchmaking history and developed an awareness of perpetuating, through his contemporary timepieces, the exceptional level of quality observed at the heart of such restored works. Ten years ago, thanks to the trust shown in him by the Sandoz Family Foundation, the Parmigiani Fleurier brand was born of their shared vision for watchmaking of great value. It has now become a reality, a style imbued with elegance, which daily reveals more and more of its wealth of ingenuity.
Parmigiani carries a men's line of watches, and a line that caters specifically to women. All Parmigiani Fleurier watches are hand-crafted, taking at least four hundred hours to create; they are created with only precious metals and precious or semi-precious stones. In order to create exclusivity, only a few thousand pieces are produced every year. Their watch lines include the Toric, Forma (renamed Kalpa) and the single watch, the Bugatti 370.

In 2006, the Bugatti 370 was awarded the "Watch of the Year" award by the Japanese Press. The watch is a driving watch based on the Bugatti Veyron supercar. It is designed to look like a transversal engine, and is mounted in 18 karat gold. In order to make it readable while driving, the face of the watch has been placed in a vertical position on the case's front. The first Bugatti watch was given to car enthusiast Ralph Lauren. Only one hundred fifty of the watches will be made each year, fifty of each of the three dial colors available.
In 2009, Parmigiani Fleurier and Pershing, the Italian Yacht Company announced that they will be offering the first ever line of Pershing Aquatic sport watches. The watch will be available in two different lines - the limited edition one-one-five, and the Pershing Chronographs collection. The watch is available with a rubber strap or steel bracelet, and is water resistent up to 200 metres.

Parmigiani Fleurier watches (watch gold, stell & diamond) :kalparisma, Pershing, Pershing Tourbillon, Tondagraph
Parmigiani Fleurier Men collection: Kalpa Grande, Kalpa XL Kalpa Tonda, Cronograph, GMT, Retrograde peretual Calendar, Tuourbollon, Bugatti, Jewellery, Grand Complication, Limeted editions, Unique Timepieces.
Parmigiani Fleurier Women : Kalpa piccola, Kalpa Donna, kalparisma, Kalpa Grande, Cronograph, Quantieme Perpetuel Retrograde,Tourbillon, Jewellery.

Orient

2009-08-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Orient watches foe men and women
The Orient Watch Company, Japan's the producer of mechanical watches. The company produces both quartz and mechanical watches, but concentrates its marketing efforts and receives 55% of its international sales from the latter.
The origin of Orient dates back to 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened a wholesale shop of watches in Ueno, one of the commercial districts in downtown Tokyo. The wristwatch manufacturing company was founded later, in the 1950s, and has been producing watches non-stop ever since. The Orient name may not be as well known as some of the other Japanese watch giants, but with some dramatic new models, the stability of over half a century of history and a reputation for offering excellent value for money, the company has everything to make itself heard in the international brand arena.
The movements are manufactured in Orient’s Technical Centre and it is thanks to the brand’s 50-year experience in micro-precision technology that the centre is able to produce such large quantities of quality mechanical movements. This technology started with the brand’s watch manufacturing business, but has also enabled Orient to expand the scope of its activities to other industry segments such as IT-related products including printer components, quartz oscillators, silicon wafers and other electronic devices.
Orient’s longstanding history has enabled it to establish a strong distribution network with points of sale in over 70 countries worldwide. The strongest markets are Latin America and Central & Eastern Europe. Orient looks after its longstanding customers as well as its new customers with a network of service centres in the countries where Orient watches are available, such as the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
The brand now aims to continue its emphasis on the mechanical watch and to increase global brand recognition, “With the image improvement of the collection focused on the mechanical watch, we aim to establish our position in the market as a well-known international brand,” states Miyagawa. In addition to this, the company hopes to increase profits by further developing its precision technology and improving its cost competitiveness - three challenges that look in easy reach for Orient in the not too distant future.
here is a uniform feel about the Orient Star Retro Future Collection, even if the watches are very different from each other. This is achieved by subtle design details. The dial of the motor-cycle model, for example, takes its cues from the gas tanks of Italian motorcycles; the balance wheel of the car model is designed like a steering wheel; the camera model has a bezel in the form of a camera lens and the airplane model includes intricate details such as lugs in the form of tail fins and a bracelet with wing flap design. Everything is coherent and cleverly executed.
The other collections that accompany Orient’s mechanical offer are the Sporty Automatic, the Classic Automatic, the Fashionable Automatic, dedicated to women who appreciate the beauty of a mechanical timepiece and the Professional Diver watch with a water-resist-ance of 300 metres. In the quartz department, the environmentally friendly Light Powered 4000 series is also of particular interest as it works with battery power charged from various sources of light. By Sophie Furleyeuropastar.com

Panerai

2009-08-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Officine Panerai watches for men and women:
Officine Panerai : Giovanni Panerai (1825-1897), founder of the family business, opens the first watchmaker's shop in Florence on the Ponte alle Grazie and establishes contact with the most prestigious and longest established Swiss watch manufacturers.
Guido Panerai (1873-1934), grandson of the founder, expands his grandfather's business and gives it new impetus, specializing in high precision mechanisms and becoming official supplier to the Royal Italian Navy.
Officine Panerai is an Italian brand of watches owned by Richemont International SA. Its watches are currently manufactured in Neuchâtel, Switzerland with some movements designed and manufactured in-house. Otherwise they use decorated ETA movements.
Panerai was founded in 1860 in Florence by Giovanni Panerai (1825–1897). It later became the official supplier to the Royal Italian Navy and expanded to building precision instruments.
The Florence-based watchmaker produced wrist worn diving instruments and about 300 watches, all for the Italian Marina Militare, between 1938 and 1993.
By that time, the company ceased to provide watches to the Marina Militare, as they were no longer cost-effective nor did they meet the naval specifications. It then moved to launch its products to the civilian market, but remained relatively obscure until the actor Sylvester Stallone spotted and bought a Panerai Luminor in a jewelry store in Rome in 1995 to wear during shooting of the film Daylight. Stallone ordered a small batch of such watches with his signature on the case back, called Slytech. He offered them as gifts to friends, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. The watch gained rapid popularity, and Officine Panerai was eventually taken over by Richemont in 1997. It should however be noted that the actual Panerai were fitted with Rolex movements as worn by the Italian command frogmen. Richemont continues to actively promote ETA-movement based hommage Panerai alongside the tale of the commando frogmen.
Panerai's success with large watches has also led other companies to introduce larger watches, including Audemars Piguet, IWC, Swatch, and even Rolex.

Panerai has four major lines of watches, Historic, Contemporary, Manifattura and Special Editions. Panerai issues Special Editions every year. In 2006 it issued the 1936 California Dial Radiomir special edition, a reissue of the first Panerai model ever presented to the Italian Marina Militare. This model was limited to a run of 1936 units. As of September 2008, the price variation within the Contemporary collection varied from $6,200 to up to $25,500 for the solid gold Marina. (All prices in USD).
When the contract between Girard-Perregaux and Ferrari expired a new partnership was signed with Panerai to develop, manufacture and distribute watches under the Ferrari trademark.
Panerai issue many watches as either limited or special editions producing fewer watches than the market demands. Retailers may only receive a few limited edition pieces each per year and long waiting lists for popular models are not uncommon.

2004 The Radiomir collection is enhanced by the 8 Days model.
This is a return to the past, with the re-presentation in a modern key of a mechanism which Officine Panerai has already experimented with, the hand-wound 8-day movement. The calibre used in the 1940s was the Angelus, while the new model has a Jaeger-LeCoultre base.
The case is 45 millimetres in diameter and is fitted with the patented slim wire loop strap attachments and a round caseband, while the screwed back and crown ensure water-resistance to 100 metres.
2005 Presented the first Panerai in-house movement: the calibre P.2002 This is a hand-wound mechanical movement of the latest technical conception with 8 days power reserve. It consists of 245 components (191 of them different) and the massive power reserve has been incorporated into a device of completely new design consisting of three spring barrels and a free balance spring oscillating at the frequency of 4 Hz, corresponding to 28,800 alternations/hour. The horizontal power reserve indicator is located at 6 o'clock. The P. 2002 calibre also features the GMT home time function with local time indicator over 12 hours and a.m. - p.m. indicator, hours, minutes, seconds and date. The system for setting the time uses the second reset device, which stops the balance and aligns the second hand automatically in the zero position when the crown is pulled out, providing an extremely accurate way of synchronising the watch with the reference time signal. The development of this movement took four years due to its technical complexity.
2006 Presented at the SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) in Geneva the new 2006 Panerai and Ferrari collections.
The manufacturing future of Panerai, inaugurated in 2005 with the Calibre P.2002 and the Radiomir 8 Days GMT is confirmed with the introduction of the Manifattura Collection, a family of watches which exclusively uses 100% made in Panerai movements. This collection respects the Panerai standards: robustness, high technical quality and a unique, distinctive aesthetic impact.
Presented as well the new watch collection engineered for Ferrari. The appearance of the Ferrari watches is strongly influenced by the aesthetic lines of the cars, in a continuous cross-reference between the watch and the details of the engine and bodywork. There are two collections: Granturismo and Scuderia
2008 The importance of the Manifattura Collection grows and new models with movements produced entirely by Panerai are introduced.
Openings of new Panerai Boutiques in Asia, Japan, USA and Europe.
2007 Exactly ten years after the successful launch of the brand, and following the P.2002 calibre of 2005, Panerai is proud to announce three more calibres (P.2003, P.2004, P.2005) completely designed, engineered and produced by the Panerai Manufacture, which are destined to power the brand’s creations of the future.
2009: Launch of the new P.9000 movements within the Manifattura Collection.

Officine Panerai: Panerai, Panerai watches, Luxury watches, Sports watches, Diving watches, Luminor, Luminor Panerai, Luminor Marina, Radiomir, Radiomir Panerai, Panerai Special Editions, Automatic watches, Mechanical watches, Haute Horlogerie, Luminor Submersible, Steel watches, Titanium watches, Military wrist watch, Panerai dealers.

Nomos Glashutte

2009-08-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Nomos glashutte watches for men and women.

Nomos Glashütte is a German watch-making company that was founded in 1991 in Glashütte, Saxony by Roland Schwertner.
The name includes Glashütte to distinguish it from a different "Nomos" watch-making company called Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft, Guido Müller & Co. (Nomos Watch Company), which imported Swiss watches and sold them under the prestigious label Glashütte / Sachsen. This firm was sued by A. Lange & Söhne, leading to the end of the company in 1910.
The new Nomos has focused on manufacturing mechanical watches with hand-wound movements. The basis for the movement was, until 2005, the Swiss-made ETA SA / Peseux 7001. These watches bear the label "Glashütte / SA" and "Made in Germany", and have gilded movements.
Since April 2005 Nomos has only used in-house movements called "Alpha" (standard manual movement), "Beta" (with date display), and "Delta" (with date and power reserve display). These new movements are labelled "Glashütte" and "Germany" and are nickel plated with Geneva stripes. In the summer of 2006 the "Tangomat" was introduced. This watch includes the movement "Epsilon" (automatic) or "Zeta" (automatic with date display).
The watches were designed in 1990 in the Bauhaus purist style by Susanne Günther and have won several design awards.
In 2007 they started manufacturing the more expensive Chronometerwerke range of watches for Wempe, a German jeweller.
The manufactory NOMOS Glashütte
Manufacturers who build their own movements can almost be counted on two hands. NOMOS is one of them. The brand’s hand-wound calibre is long since “Made in Glashütte”. In 2005, the first automatic calibre, completely designed, developed and built on site, appeared on the market. These watches are now available as Tonneaus, which NOMOS has produced for WEMPE: “NOMOS has achieved its goal without being sold to a large enterprise”, says Roland Schwertner, the company’s founder. “We have also become one of the few manufactories of fine watchmaking.”
The production of one’s own movement is what separates the wheat from the chaff in watchmaking. Firms that can do this may call themselves a manufactory. Development and construction is one thing; being able to produce parts in series and with the greatest precision is something else. A combination of high technology and craftsmanship is what gives rise to the best watches.

Maurice Lacroix

2009-08-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Watches for women and men by Maurice Lacroix:
Maurice Lacroix is a high-end brand watches located the Canton of Jura, Switzerland.
The name "Maurice Lacroix" does not refer to an actual person, but was invented for marketing purposes.
Even if Maurice Lacroix is a comparatively young watch brand, it already can look back on a remarkable series of innovative developments. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the brand has been concentrating on the development of attractive, surprising additional functions for mechanical watch models.

Today, Maurice Lacroix has demonstrated its outstanding expertise primarily in the area of retrograde displays as well as chronographs and moon phase indications. This is instantiated not least by the ML 106 manufacture movement, an exclusive chronograph calibre, but above all by the Mémoire 1: With the Memory function, which found its initial application in this strictly limited chronograph, Maurice Lacroix has, in the year 2008, officially presented an entirely new Grande Complication.
Maurice Lacroix, which has a total of 220 employees worldwide, is one of the most successful Swiss watch brands, both nationally and internationally, and is represented in around 4,000 selected specialist shops in more than 60 countries all over the world. The company is one of the last few independent Swiss watch manufacturers.

The company elevated itself to the high ranks of Swiss watch manufactures, by both maintaining traditional 'Swiss watch making art' and by creating their own unique and highly complicated movements for its Masterpiece Collection.
Maurice Lacroix watches are known for their intricacies and attention to detail (in both watch movements and design) also many of their watches are hand made by skilled watchmakers.
The Maurice Lacroix range consists of 7 categories
* Pontos
* Miros
* Calypso
* Les Classiques
* Divina:
* Selena
* Masterpiece Collection
Manufacture
Having focussed on developing innovative additional functions for several years and presenting the ML 106 calibre, the first movement to be designed and developed entirely in-house, at the end of 2006 Maurice Lacroix took its place in the exclusive club of Swiss Manufacture brands by producing its own complex movement components for mechanical timepieces.
Highly modern workshops were established in Montfaucon in the Jura region, not far from the Maurice Lacroix watch ateliers. These workshops use the latest CNC technology to produce low-volume individual parts with high added value. Maurice Lacroix is emphasising its creative drive to differentiate its timepieces down to the tiniest detail and its desire to monitor, to the greatest possible extent, the development and manufacture of complex mechanical timepieces.

Jaeger LeCoultre

2009-08-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

JLC watches (Jaeger-LeCoultre) for women and men: Jaeger-LeCoultre - Manufacture de haute horlogerie
Jaeger-LeCoultre is a watch and clock manufacture based in Le Sentier (in Le Chenit), Vaud, Switzerland. In 1833 Antoine LeCoultre (1803-1881) founded a small workshop, which was to become the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre. With over 200 patents and more than 1,000 different calibres developed and crafted under one roof, several icon models such as the Reveros, the Duoplan or the Atmos, it is one of the most important and most innovative players in watchmaking history.
In 1844, LeCoultre measured the micrometre (μm) for the first time; he created the world's most precise measuring instrument, the millionometer (a device capable of measuring to the nearest thousandths of a millimetre).
From 1902 and for the next 30 years, LeCoultre & Cie produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva.
The coming together of Jaeger & LeCoultre
In 1903, the Parisian Edmond Jaeger challenged the Swiss to manufacture ultra-thin calibers of his own design. Jacques-David LeCoultre, grandson of Antoine undertook the challenge.
A relationship with Cartier
Cartier, a client of Edmond Jaeger for several years signed an exclusive contract with the Parisian watchmaker in 1907 under which agreement Jaeger, LeCoultre & Cie crafted the watch creations of Cartier.
1907 Calibre 145 : the world’s thinnest mechanical movement.
1928 Invention of the Atmos clock: virtually perpetual winding.
1929 Calibre 101 : the world’s smallest mechanical movement.
1931 Creation of the Reverso: its unique swivel was to transform this great Art Deco classic into a living legend.
1956 Memovox : the first automatic alarm watch.
1958 Geophysic : chronometer with double anti-magnetic case.
1992 Creation of the 1000 Hours control: a series of tests that gave rise to a new benchmark in horological reliability.
2004 A world first: the Gyrotourbillon 1 spherical tourbillon heralds a new chapter in the history of Grande Complication watches.
2006 With its 6 patents, the Reverso grande complication à triptyque is the first Reverso to offer three watch faces.
Jaeger-LeCoultre JLC : Collection :Reverso, Duomètre, Master Control, Master Compressor, AMVOX, Haute Joaillerie, Horological Excellence, ATMO, etc.

ICW

2009-08-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

ICW the watches for men and women.
International Watch Co, also known as IWC, ...
in 1868, an American by the name of Florentine Ariosto Jones made the brave decision to found a watch factory in Switzerland from where he planned to supply the USA with movements. Switzerland was a low-wage country back then and had a ready supply of skilled labour for the watchmaking industry (mainly manual work carried out by people working from their homes). In French-speaking Switzerland Jones met with fierce resistance because people feared for their jobs and the work they did at home.

In 1850 the town of Schaffhausen was in grave danger of missing the bus to the Industrial Age. It was at this stage that watch manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser stepped in and did the region a huge service. As a pioneer of "white coal", he built Schaffhausen's first hydroelectric plant and laid the cornerstone for future industrialization. He probably met F.A. Jones in Le Locle and showed a great interest in his plans. And so it was that the foundations were laid for the first and only watch manufacturers in north-eastern Switzerland: the INTERNATIONAL WATCH CO. in Schaffhausen.

In the 1970s and 80s, the Swiss watchmaking industry underwent a phase of far-reaching technological change. Following in the wake of the use of miniaturized electric batteries as a source of energy for wristwatches from the late 1940s onwards and the invention of the transistor in 1947, purely mechanical watch technology developed into a hybrid discipline of precision mechanics and electronics.

IWC managed to avoid investing heavily in expensive and eventually unsuccessful technologies, such as the electronically controlled balance. The UHRENFABRIK H. E. HOMBERGER co-founded and was a shareholder in the "Centre Électronique Horloger" (CEH) in Neuchâtel and was financially involved in the development of the Beta 21 quartz wristwatch movement, which was first presented to the public at the 1969 Industrial Fair in Basel. In actual value terms, this movement accounted for about 5-6% of total sales of quartz watches. Parallel to this, the company expanded its collection of jeweler watches to include ladies watches with mechanical movements. The year 1973 was IWC's most successful of the post-war period.

The cataclysmic rise in gold prices in 1974 had grave consequences for the watch exporting industry. Between 1970 and 1974 the price of gold rose from 4850 to 18 000 francs and the value of the dollar against the Swiss currency plummeted by up to 40%. As a result, the price of watch exports rose by as much as 250%. At the same time Japan was flooding the market with cheap quartz watches.
A change of direction was necessary and this led to the adoption of a number of measures. In order to survive, IWC, under the leadership of Director and CEO Otto Heller, built up a line of high-quality pocket watches, and, apart from setting up its own modern wristwatch and case manufacturing facilities, began working closely with Ferdinand A. Porsche as an external designer. In addition, IWC pioneered new watchmaking technologies, notably the first titanium bracelets, developed in 1978.

For its new plans IWC required a high level of venture capital. With the help of the Swiss Banking Corporation, the company was put in contact with VDO Adolf Schindling AG, which took a majority interest in IWC in 1978.
At the same time, IWC reacquired the name it had originally been given by its founder F.A. Jones (INTERNATIONAL WATCH CO. AG).

In 1981, Kawal Singh succeeded H.E. Homberger as general manager following the latter's retirement on age grounds. The new director, Günter Blümlein, pushed for rapid implementation of planned changes, put the existing advertising campaign to work, built up the customer base, and solidified IWC's finances.

In 1991 IWC director Günter Blümlein founded the LMH Group with its headquarters in Schaffhausen. With a 100% stake in IWC, 60% in Jaeger-LeCoultre and 90% in the Saxony-based watchmaking company of A. Lange & Söhne, the Group employed some 1440 persons.
In July 2000, LMH was acquired by Richemont, a Zug-based luxury goods group, for CHF 2.8 bn. Despite the takeover by Richemont, IWC was guaranteed that it would continue to be managed by the same executives from the LMH Group.
In the year 2001 IWC went online with the Collectors Forum.
2008 : 140 years have elapsed since the engineer and watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones from Boston turned his back on America to make his fortune in Switzerland. In 1868, he founded the International Watch Co. in Schaffhausen to supply the American market with high-quality movements. F.A. Jones began with simple, but perfect pocket watches, and IWC today has mastery over all the variant forms and degrees of complexity of Haute Horlogerie and is regarded as the premier address when it comes to horological engineering.

Glashutte Original

2009-08-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Glashütte Original (Glashuette - Glashutte) watches for men and women.

The reunion of Germany caused VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe to become Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH, a limited company. This firm is the legal successor to all of the previously founded companies belonging to Glashütte’s watch communityThe “Original Glashütte“ logo appeared on a Deutsche Präzisionsuhrenfabrik Glashütte pocket watch dial for the first time in 1921. thus, the company was able to set itself apart from the imitation pieces of “System Glashütte”.
Glashütte Original is a German watchmaking company founded in 1994 by the privatization of VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe. VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe was an East German conglomerate formed in 1951 fro m the watch companies based in Glashütte. This included A. Lange & Söhne, founded in 1845. Glashütte Original is one of the few watchmakers that uses its own movements, and it has 10 proprietary movement innovations. Glashütte Original is currently owned by The Swatch Group. In the spring, the manufactory celebrated its first new appearance on the market with a collection of three-handed automatics, an automatic chronograph, and a manually wound chronometer.
1995 : An absolute highlight on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Glashütte watch production was the most complicated and expensive watch in Glashütte’s modern era: the Julius Assmann 1 – a masterpiece outfitted with a perpetual calendar and a flying tourbillon. This masterpiece can be worn as both a pocket and a wristwatch. 1996 : the 1845 – the founding year of the first watch manufactory in Glashütte – gives this popular collection outfitted wtih manually wound Calibers 42 and 49 its name. The 1845 Special Edition model Alfred Helwig Flying Tourbillon, limited to only 25 pieces and outfitted with very fine Caliber 41, was sold out within just a short period of time. With its new Sport collection the manufactory won over ever more fans of striking, robust watches.
1997 : For the production of the special edition model Julius Assmann 2, the Glashütte Original watch manufactory decided to cooperate for the first time with the porcelain manufactory Meissen. The fine mechanics of Caliber 52 are crowned with a dial made of paper-thin, hand-painted Meissen porcelain. Worldwide there were only 25 pieces – each one definitely a unique piece. Today already a classic: the Senator Edition was impressive with its new Caliber 39, the first automatic movement with swan-neck fine adjustment and a skeletonized rotor. And the ladies weren’t forgotten either: the Lady Sport Edition pleased sports-oriented females and ambitioned businesswomen alike.
1998 : Edgy – the new Karree models of the 1845, Senator, and Lady collections demonstrated a multifaceted uniting of avant-garde and classic. For the special edition model Karree Tourbillon, a special manually wound shaped movement, Caliber 43, with a fully new movement design was created. The cooperation with the porcelain manufactory Meissen was successfully continued in the 1845 Meissen and Lady Meissen editions. 1999: Haute horlogerie of the finest sort: The new Senator Perpetual Calendar united demanding complications with the functionality of the modern. In the same year, the readers of the Austrian magazine Die Presse crowned this model the winner in the competition’s most interesting category: “Complicated Watch.”
2000: The Senator Perpetual Calender was honored with the sought-after title Watch of the Year by the readers of the German watch magazine ArmbandUhren and the German national newspaper Welt am Sonntag. With the introduction of the PanoRetroGraph, there was simultaneously a world premiere: the first mechanical chronograph that can also count backwards. Its off-center dial design was also the platform for the new PanoDate Edition. Now it was the goal to make this innovative manufactory art directly tangible for even more watch lovers. Through a strategic alliance with the Swatch Group AG, the manufactory was able to find quick entry to competent watch dealers all over the world.
2001: Connoisseurs of mechanical watches honored the innovation and horological demand of the PanoRetroGraph with the title of Watch of the Year. Glashütte tradition was also always present: the Alfred Helwig Tourbillon 2 represented another exclusive homage to the life’s work of one of the best master watchmakers. His portrait was displayed on a solid gold dial plate on the rose gold model and on a hand-painted plate made of Meissen porcelain on the platinum model. Additionally, at its first Glashütte Watch Boutique in Frankfurt the manufactory presented not only the current collection, but also historical special editions, escapement models, and marine chronometers.
2002: The new Alfred Helwig School of Watchmaking offers up to fifteen young people a modern education in watchmaking and tool making each year. Alongside the PanoReserve with its new duplex swan-neck spring and the PanoGraph, the Julius Assmann 3 model attracted a great number of looks in the same year: very finely skeletonized and outfitted with a flying tourbillon, a retrograde date hand, and a power reserve display.
2003 : Three models within the PanoDate Edition defined a new automatic line. Caliber 90 of the PanoMaticDate and PanoMaticLunar show an individual face with their eccentric winding rotors and duplex swan-neck springs. The limited PanoMaticTourbillon joined the flying tourbillon with the comfort of automatic winding. Innovative concepts were also in evidence at the new factory in Glashütte: a transparent style of architecture and tours on the learning path invited the interested party to take a direct look at Glashütte Original’s lavish style of production. Additional concerts, readings, and exhibitions created an open meeting place.
2004 : New types of solutions inside and out: the PanoMaticChrono convinced watch lovers of this with various dial levels and a patented bilaterally winding stepped gear that made a targeted transmission of winding energy to the serial spring barrels possible. In the same year, the PanoMaticChrono won first prize at International Watch’s readers’ vote in the category “Chronograph. The Saeculum Glashütte Original Music Festival Prize proved the manufactory’s cultural commitment. True to the motto “quality is not a question of time,” from this point on the special life’s work of an artist has been honored.
2005 : After 2000 and 2001, a Glashütte Original was once again awarded the title Watch of the Year at Baselworld. With a decisive lead over the competition, the PanoMaticChrono was very obviously high on connoisseurs’ lists. The new design of the Senator interpreted a classic men’s watch with a modern twist. Its excellently finished Caliber 100 was for the first time outfitted with a reset mechanism. Sport Evolution also showed itself in a new, expressive look with an innovative buckle.
The Star Collection defined the glamorous, precious line and was outfitted with manufacture movements 65 and 90 on the inside. Very publicly, Glashütte Original presented horological perfection with a truly unique piece: the Frauenkirchenuhr. This masterpiece’s dial was made of Meissen porcelain and bore as its motif Dresden’s Church of our Lady (Frauenkirche). The proceeds from its auction were donated to the rebuilding of the famous church. For the second time, Glashütte Original honored special achievements in the musical arts: The Saceulum Music Festival Award 2005 went to famed American ballet choreographer John Neumeier.

George Daniels | Daniels London

2009-08-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Daniels London wacthes:
George Daniels (Daniels London - Dr George Daniels MBE Master Watchmaker - The Art of Watchmaking ).
Dr George Daniels MBE, DSc, FSA (born 1926) is an English watchmaker who is famous for creating the co-axial escapement. This has been used by Omega in their highest grade watches since 1999. He is one of the few living watchmakers who can create a complete watch by hand; including the case and dial. He is a former Master of the Clockmakers' Company of London and has been awarded their Gold Medal, a rare honour.
A Daniels watch is made entirely under one roof without assistance. Every component is made from raw materials in the workshop without the use of repetitive or automatic tools. Thus, no two watches are identical and each is accepted as a work of art. Daniels watches are never made to order and all start life as a vehicle for testing escapements. The form of the watches is complete simplicity and no concessions are made to artificial styling. The hand engraved dials are turned for contrast while the hands are of the simplest form first used on watch No. 1 in 1969.

The advance of the quartz watch in the 1970s was responsible for the closing of the Swiss watchmaking schools. The revival of the mechanical hand-made watch by George Daniels in 1969 attracted the attention of connoisseur collectors of watches from which blossomed the new era in precision wrist watches.
The two most successful of his revolutionary escapements are the co-axial and the independent double-wheel, both of which have found international support in the notoriously conservative watch industry. These escapements represent the first advance in the practical design since the invention of the lever escapement by Thomas Mudge in 1754.

Their success lies in the tangential impulse and lock in both vibrations of each oscillation without sliding friction which, unlike the conventional lever escapement, are unaffected by changes in viscosity of the lubricant.
A Daniels watch is made entirely under one roof without assistance. Every component is made from raw materials in the workshop without the use of repetitive or automatic tools. Thus, no two watches are identical and each is accepted as a work of art. Daniels watches are never made to order and all start life as a vehicle for testing escapements. The form of the watches is complete simplicity and no concessions are made to artificial styling. The hand engraved dials are turned for contrast while the hands are of the simplest form first used on watch No. 1 in 1969.

The advance of the quartz watch in the 1970s was responsible for the closing of the Swiss watchmaking schools. The revival of the mechanical hand-made watch by George Daniels in 1969 attracted the attention of connoisseur collectors of watches from which blossomed the new era in precision wrist watches.

The most recent attempts by the Swiss industry to produce a innovative escapement leave much to be desired. To assist them understand the required principles he has written The Practical Watch Escapement.
Extra complications are included in some watches. These can include tourbillon, temperature and equation sectors, chronographs and reserve of winding indicators. Such mechanisms can be beneficial when adjusting high-precision mechanical watches needing a stable power supply. The work with experimental prototypes continues in Daniels' workshop because he sees horology as a continuous scientific art, with social significance and useful qualities.

The decline of the mechanical watch industry is reversed and there can be no doubt that George Daniels, with his improved designs and individual interpretation of progress, has made the most substantial contribution by demonstrating that the mechanical watch can perform as well has the electronic watch and is more attractive to the public.
The Millennium watches were especially designed to fulfill the wish of some friends and aqaintences to own and wear a Daniels watch. 50 examples were made and were the first series of watches with the especially designed extra flat co-axial escapement. As with all Daniels London watches simplicity is the keynote while artificial styling is avoided.
By 1974 he had completed designs for the co-axial escapement, and after rigorous testing the results were extremely positive and later earned him the prestigious Tompion Medal - then, only the fifth ever to be awarded. Consequently, the co-axial escapement was later adopted by Omega for use in its premium watches.
In July 2006 Sotheby’s of London staged a retrospective exhibition of all 36 timepieces which was the first time all pieces have been displayed together and presented a unique view of the progression of his work.

Frederique Constant

2009-08-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

Frederique Constant watches for men & women : " Frédérique Constant watches are defined by their high
quality, differentiation and precision in design and manufacture. We have a passion for design of our beautiful watches.
Frédérique Constant was established in its current form in 1988. Aletta Bax and Peter Stas launched their first collection in 1992, comprising six models fitted with Swiss movements and assembled by a watchmaker in Geneva. Frédérique Constant is involved in all the stages of watch production, from initial design to final assembly.
Watches manufactured under its trademark are either designed by Frédérique Constant or by independent designers contracted for a specific series of models. Strong emphasis is placed on watch design to keep abreast of trends and customer preferences. Frédérique Constant uses cutting-edge computer software, principally computer aided design software, to assist in the watch design and development process.
The name 'Frédérique Constant' has been created from two names:
Frederique: Frederique Schreiner (1881-1969) Constant: Constant Stas 1880-1967
The current Managing Director of Frédérique Constant S.A., Peter Stas,
is a 4th generation descendant of Mr. Constant Stas, who founded his company in 1904, making printed clock dials for the watch industry.

In February 2007, Frederique Constant began production of the Silicium escapement wheel (first introduced to the industry by Patek Philippe in 2005.) Frederique Constant introduced the Heart Beat Calibre FC 935 Silicium in October 2007. It implements new high tech materials to create better, more precise and more reliable mechanical watches.
In April 2008, Frederique Constant established itself as one of Switzerland’s leading watch brands with the creation of a tourbillon with a silicium escape-wheel and, for the first time, an amplitude of over 300 degrees between its vertical and horizontal positions. Coupled with the rapid oscillation, this gives the watch an unusually high level of precision, while the silicium guarantees optimum protection.
Frederique Constant is represented in Asia with brand ambassador Shu Qi.
" Frédérique Constant watches are defined by their high quality, differentiation and precision in design and manufacture. We have a passion for design of our beautiful watches".

F.P. Journe

2009-08-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

F.P. Journe watches :
François-Paul Journe (FP Journe) is an independent master watchmaker ( high-end watch) whose timepieces embody the spirit of the 18th and 19th centuries. Each of the 700 watches he creates annually is designed and developed by him personally and handmade according to the strictest watchmaking standards.
The motto of the brand, Invenit et Fecit (Latin for "Invented and made") denotes that the company builds the entirety of the watches. Journe often designs brand new movements, even inventing completely new systems, like the resonance chronometer.
F.P. Journe defines himself as an inventor and maker of watches. He is not, he emphasizes, a manufacture, the title claimed by companies that make their own watch components.
“If I had the plant, machinery and specialists to manufacture every part, my annual production of watches (currently around 700 timepieces) would keep (my watchmakers) busy for only a few days a year,” says Journe. He goes on to explain that the term “manufacture” is largely a myth. According to Journe, “The reality is that (most watchmakers) depend on outside suppliers for key parts, especially balance-springs and escapements. But most of the brands buy finished movements ready for casing up; they only have to manage a couple of suppliers. We manage 40.”
ourne’s business is to invent the watches of the future and to implement these inventions into functioning prototypes. Research and Development consumes 40% of the time and resources of his teams in the construction studio, mechanical and watchmaking workshops. Before a prototype goes into production, its manufacturing feasibility is tested in a small pre-series, which could include unique variations of the model.

The workshops are divided into three sections, each dedicated to a particular model . Under the direction of Journe’s “chef d’atelier” Georges Alessio, each watchmaker—including Journe himself—builds an entire watch from A to Z, poising the balance, assembling the movement, adjusting and testing it. For the tourbillon, for instance, the process can take up to eight weeks.

Each watch has its own file, which includes details of its adjustment and performance. When the watch is returned to the workshops for a repair or servicing, it is attended to by the watchmaker who made it.

F.P. Journe employs Swiss and French watchmakers with broad experience in a variety of movements. But regardless of how experienced they are, each one comes to F.P. Journe as an apprentice. “The watch schools teach the conventional standard calibers,” explains Journe. “Our watchmakers have to adapt to a new horological environment, which can take three to four months.
They must also be competent in all the major disciplines: assembly; timing; casing up; even mechanical work and tooling.”

F.P. Journe’s watchmaking operation is divided into two independent companies. Montres Journe SA handles the administration, marketing and sales, while TIM is the manufacturing arm. They both occupy an Art Deco building on Geneva’s left bank, not far from the city’s banking district.
F.P. Journe plans to increase his production over the next few years to reach an optimum output of 1,500 watches per year. The watches are sold exclusively to 32 retailers in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

F.P. Journe Octa
F.P. Journe’s latest invention, the automatic Octa watch, is a new, multipurpose construction of extreme complexity, integrating different mechanical complications in the same structure without changing the size of the movement. The movement’s future evolution is thus designed into the caliber, without the need for add-on modules.
Each Octa complication is an original design because it must conform to a common baseplate with holes and recesses cut for other complications. It also has to fit into a 1mm-high space.
F.P. Journe Octa is the first caliber to combine automatic winding with a long (at least 5 days’) power reserve and precision adjustment. Like all of F.P. Journe’s watches, the Octa has a free-sprung chronometer balance of Journe’s own design, with four opposing weights for close dynamic adjustment. The mainspring maintains the amplitude of the balance, and thus a constant rate, for 120 hours of the total power reserve.

Many watches with long power reserves require small balance-wheels, which are susceptible to shocks and disturbances. The Octa’s compact construction allows a large (10.1mm) balance to be fitted, giving greater inertia and stability.

The first Octa model, introduced in 2000, incorporated a 120-hour power-reserve indicator and Journe’s patented large date with separate numerals. Later that year, F.P. Journe produced the Octa chronograph, which features zero-restart as well as zero-stop functions and a 60-minutes register. The watch displays the large date and the hours, minutes and small seconds on Journe’s trademark dial.
F.P. Journe designed an ultra-thin version of the classic column-wheel chronograph to fit into the 1mm-high space under the dial. This space is shared by the twin concentric discs of the large date display. The column-wheel has been flattened into a cam-wheel and its profiled rim, instead of columns, acts on the chronograph levers. A single, sliding lever zeroes both the chronograph seconds and minutes, disengaging their brakes as it strikes specially profiled heart-pieces to zero the hands. These two innovations allow the entire chronograph’s work to be reduced to three mechanical levels.

The third Octa complication integrates an annual calendar with a retrograde (fly-back) date into the automatic, five-day movement with the same dimensions (30mm x 5.7mm) as the first two Octas. The calendar displays the days and months through separate windows, advances instantaneously and is self-adjusting for months with 29, 30 and 31 days. This means that in non-leap years, when February has 28 days, the date must be advanced manually by one day on March 1st.
The annual calendar is a particularly elegant mechanism, driven by an internally toothed great wheel that surrounds the movement. The retrograde date-hand, which rides up its scale on the curve of a snail cam, is held on the precise, correct date by twin sprung-racks acting on a pinion. The design controls the fly-back, reduces the forces required, and distributes them evenly throughout the mechanism.
The first Octa annual calendars are expected to be ready in 2002. Further developments of this revolutionary caliber have yet to be announced, but there is a clue: the slightly decentralized winding rotor allows access from the movement to future indications at the back of the watch.-tourbillon-watches.com-

Chopard

2009-08-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

Chopard is Luxury watch and high-jewellery, the swiss watches for men and women.
Chopard is a Geneva-based luxury watch, jewelry, and accessories company founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard. Chopard initially concentrated on developing precise pocket watches and chronometers based upon innovative ideas. Chopard is regarded as a manufacture, in other words that they make many of their watches and movements in-house rather than using the base movements (ebauches) of other manufacturers.
In 2001 the horology world was joined by the Chopard L.U.C Tonneau watch powered by the first-ever tonneau-shaped self-winding movement with off-centered micro-rotor. In 2002 Chopard new Golden Diamonds concept enlarged the jewelry range.

In 2003 the Chopard Tourbillon watch enlarged the Manufacture's L.U.C. range and the Happy Spirit collection was born. In 2004 the Company unveiled the L.U.C. Regulateur watch and the Butterfly jewelry pieces collection. In 2005 ,Chopard presented the Copacabana and Golden Diamonds collections and introduced the L.U.C. Lunar 1. The brand became a part of the sailing world, having initiated the Grand Prix Chopard Decision 35 sailing regatta.
In 2006 the company celebrated the 30th anniversary of Happy Diamonds watch collection and the 10th anniversary of the movement factory in Fleurier.
Mr. Scheufele is still the president of the Chopard Company. He has kept the Company as a family business. In the 1990s his children joined the business. Caroline Scheufele is the head of the jewelry division, while Karl-Friedrich manages the watchmaking department.
Chopard holds three production sites located in Geneva, Fleurier in Switzerland and Pforzheim in Germany. The Company has organized its products distribution through 13 subsidiaries placed all over the world. In addition, the brand has opened over 90 brand boutiques.
By 2007, the United States has Chopard boutiques in New York City, Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa, California, Bal Harbour and Palm Beach, Florida,and Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. A ninth boutique will open in Boston in 2008 and in San Francisco in 2008 as well.

Breitling

2009-08-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Professional Watch and luxury, Breitling watches for men and women.
Breitling is a brand of Swiss watches from Grenchen, Canton of Solothurn (originally founded in Saint-Imier, Bernese Jura by Leon Breitling in 1884). The watchmaker offers Certified Chronometers designed primarily for aviation use, though most frequently worn as high-end luxury watches. Breitling's watches offer aviation functions, though their chronograph functions have become more of status symbols than practically applied tools.
All Breitling watches are manufactured in Switzerland and are made from Swiss components. Raw movements are obtained from ETA and Valjoux and are modified in the Breitling Chronometrie Workshops (former Kelek S.A.) before (since 1999) undergoing extreme COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) certification.
Breitling Models:
# Navitimer Series
# Windrider Series
# Professional Series
# Aeromarine Series
# Breitling For Bentley
etc.
AVI/Co-pilot
Datora
Long Playing
Maritime Chrono
Military
Military Colt/Maritime
Pupitre
Rallye Quartz
Tabarly Quartz
Titan Gold
Top Time
Unidate
World

Breguet

2009-08-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Breguet watches : Beauty and innovation, Montres Breguet - prestige watchmaking since 1775.
Breguet founded by Abraham Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Currently part of The Swatch Group, its timepieces are now (since 1976) produced in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland. Breguet is one of the oldest surviving watch-making establishments and is the pioneer of numerous watch-making technologies, the most notable being the tourbillon, invented by Abraham Louis Breguet. Breguet has recently introduced a line of writing instruments as a tribute to writers who mention or feature Breguet watches in their works. Breguet watches are often easily recognized for their coin-edge cases, guilloché dials and blue pomme hands (often now referred to as 'Breguet hands').
History
If Breguet holds a special place in our cultural heritage, it is because its founder, A.-L. Breguet (1747-1823), set the standard by which all fine watchmaking has since been judged. Today, his heirs at Breguet still make each watch as a model of supreme horological art.
A.-L. Breguet was born in Neuchatel, but it was in Paris that he spent most of his productive life. No aspect of watchmaking escaped his study, and his inventions were as fundamental to horology as they were varied.

His career started with a series of breakthroughs: the development of the successful self-winding perpétuelle watches, the introduction of the gongs for repeating watches and the first shock-protection for balance pivots.
Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie-Antoinette, were early enthusiasts of Breguet’s watchmaking. Each watch from his workshops demonstrated the latest horological improvements in an original movement, mostly fitted with lever or ruby-cylinder escapements that he perfected.
A.-L. Breguet took refuge in Switzerland from the excesses of the French Revolution. He returned to Paris overflowing with the ideas that produced the Breguet balance-spring, his first carriage clock (sold to Bonaparte), the sympathique clock and its dependent watch, the tact watch, and finally the tourbillon, patented in 1801.

Breguet became the indispensable watchmaker to the scientific, military, financial and diplomatic elites of the age. His timepieces ruled the courts of Europe. For his most distinguished clients, Breguet designed his most remarkable piece, anticipating the wristwatch by two centuries for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810. Honours saluted his enormous contribution to horology. Appointed to the Board of Longitude and as chronometer-maker to the navy, he entered the Academy of Sciences and received the Legion of Honour from the hands of Louis XVIII.
When he died in 1823, all mourned the architect of the greatest revolution in the science and art of time-keeping.
Today more than ever, its capacity to innovate reflects a brand’s vitality. Breguet’s own creative powers and ingenuity have certainly not declined over time. Driven by Nicolas G. Hayek, they have indeed been amplified, resulting in Breguet filing in eight short years, a number of patent applications exceeding that of its founder’s own inventions.

Bovet Fleurier

2009-08-09T23:06:00.001-07:00

Bovet Fleurier - Bovet 1822 artistic and luxury watches for women and men:
Bovet Fleurier SA is a Swiss brand of luxury watchmakers chartered May 1st 1822 in London, U.K. by Edouard Bovet. It is most famous for its pocket watches manufactured for the Chinese market in the 19th century.
Bovet Fleurier today it produces high-end artistic watches with a style that references its history, and is known for its high-quality dials (such as the Fleurier Miniature Painting models), engraving, and its seven-day tourbillon.
The original Bovet watches are also famous for being among the first to emphasize the beauty of the movements with their skeletonized views and highly decorative movements.
Watch making was introduced to Fleurier by Daniel-Jean-Jacques-Henri Vaucher, an apprentice of Daniel Jaenrichard, in 1730. At the time the area was known for metal working, a natural result of the iron deposits discovered in the area in the 15th century.

Bovet watches include much artistic detail, and the company gives the artisans a great deal of independence in creating the elements of the watches, thus encouraging creativity. The Chinese watches were originally sold in pairs in a mahogany box, both for good luck and so that the user would have a back-up watch if one needed repair, as repairs would sometimes take more than six months to complete. The design characteristics of the watch emphasized the elements which appealed to Chinese consumers. One of these appealing characteristics was the mechanics of clocks and watches, and so Bovet emphasized the beauty of the movements with its skeletonized views and highly decorative movements, the first watches to emphasize these characteristics in this way. For the same reason the watches were also among the first to include a second-hand. The enamel decorations were usually of European scenes or plant life, which made the watches more appealing to the Chinese consumers, since such images were as exotic to them as the European-made watches themselves.

Tourbillon | Wacthes

2009-08-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

A Wacthes
In horology, a tourbillon or tourbillion , is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Invented in 1795 by French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, a tourbillon counters the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage, ostensibly in order to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece (and thus the escapement) is rotated. Originally an attempt to improve accuracy, tourbillons are still included in some expensive modern watches as a novelty and demonstration of watchmaking virtuosity. The mechanism is usually exposed on the watch's face to show it off.
Gravity was thought to have a very adverse effect on the accuracy of time pieces at the time of the invention of the tourbillon, particularly because pocketwatches were often less accurate than stationary clocks of the same construction. The prevailing theory amongst horologists of the time was that pocket watches suffered from the effects of gravity since they were usually carried in the same pocketed position for most of the day, which was vertical, and then held in a different position while being read. Because the movements of pocket watches and similar pieces were oriented with respect to the cases and the dials, their movements were positioned with the axes of motion perpendicular to their faces. This meant that when the timepiece was placed vertically, the axis of motion of the movements would be parallel to the ground, and thus the force of gravity. In such a position, the force of gravity would affect the motion of parts of the movement differently when the parts were in different positions (i.e., moving with gravity or moving against it), which would cause variations in the rate the movement, which in turn would affect the timepieces' accuracy. If adjusted for one position, the rate would change when the piece was kept in a different position, such as when being held to be read or when placed on a table at night. In a tourbillon, the entire escapement assembly rotates, including the balance wheel, the escape wheel, the hairspring, and the pallet fork, in order to average out the effect of gravity in the different positions. The rate of rotation varies per design but has generally become standardized at one rotation per minute. Most tourbillons use standard swiss lever escapements, but some have a detent escapement, and others contain novel designs, such as the Audemars Piguet Millenary for example.

In modern mechanical watch designs, a tourbillon is not required to produce a highly accurate timepiece; there is even debate amongst horologists as to whether tourbillons ever improved the accuracy of mechanical time pieces, even when they were first introduced, or whether the time pieces of the day were inherently inaccurate due to design and manufacturing techniques. Nevertheless, the tourbillon is one of the most valued features of collectors' watches and premium timepieces (Ref. August 2006 WatchTime article Girard-Perregaux's Tourbillon Icon), possibly for the same reason that mechanical watches fetch a much higher price than similar quartz watches that are much more accurate. High-quality tourbillon wristwatches, which are usually made by the Swiss luxury watch industry, are very expensive, and typically retail for at least thousands of dollars or euros, with much higher prices in the tens of thousands of dollars/euros being common. A recent renaissance of interest in tourbillons has been met by the industry with increased availability of time pieces bearing the feature, with the result that prices for basic tourbillon models have receded somewhat in recent years (where as previously they were very rare, in either antiques or new merchandise); however, any time piece that has a tourbillon will cost a great deal more than an equivalent piece without the feature.
Modern tourbillon watches
Modern implementations typically allow the tourbillon to be seen through a window in the watch face. In addition to enhancing the charm of the piece, the tourbillon can act as a second hand for some watches as it generally rotates once per minute. However some Tourbillons spin faster (Gruebel Forsey's 24-second tourbillon for example.). There are many "Tourbillon" fake/replicas of premium brand watches that emulate this feature with the oscillating balance wheel visible through the watch dial; however, these are not tourbillons.
In the late 20th century, the first research into multi-axis tourbillion movements was done by British clockmakers Anthony Randall and Richard Good, eventually producing two- and three-axis tourbillon movements. Wikipedia

Audemars Piguet

2009-08-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

Audemars Piguet The finest watches for men and women
Audemars Piguet is a manufacturer of expensive and luxury Swiss watches that compete with Patek Phillipe and Vacheron Constantin.
In 1791, watchmaker and goldsmith Jean-François Bautte signed his first watches. He created a manufacturing company in Geneva regrouping all the watch making trades of that time. In 1852, the watchmaker Constant Girard founded the Girard & Cie Firm in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He then married Marie Perregaux and the Girard-Perregaux Manufacture was born in 1856. In 1906, Constant Girard-Gallet, who took over control of the Manufacturer from his father, took over the Bautte House and merged it with Girard-Perregaux & Cie. Since then, the brand has pursued its activities by reinforcing from the 1980’s its position in the domain of prestigious mechanical watches under the lead of Luigi Macaluso.
The Manufacture has made close to 80 patents in the watch making domain and is the originator of several innovative concepts.
- 1880: Constant Girard develops a concept of wristwatches, made for German naval officers and ordered by Emperor Guillaume I of Germany. Two-thousand watches were produced, which represents the first important commercialization of wristwatches.
-1965: Girard-Perregaux designs the first mechanic movement at high frequency, at which the balancer beats at 36,000 vibrations/hour: the Gyromatic HF.
-1970: Girard-Perregaux presents its first watch to the world to be equipped with a quartz movement which vibrates at 32,768 Hertz, the frequency remaining the universal standard for quartz watches today.
-2008: The brand presents a constant force escapement at SIHH (International Show of High-End Watch making), distinguishing itself from all the other known escapements to this day.
Like many other brands of luxury watches, Audemars Piguet has a number of ambassadors, such as Indonesian-French singer Anggun and Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, as well personalities and teams in different sport categories such as cricket, softball, golf, skiing, motor sports and sailing.

A. Lange & Sohne

2009-08-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

A. Lange & Sohne luxury wacthes :
A. Lange & Söhne is a trademark of premier German watchmaking company Lange Uhren GmbH. Its watches rank among the finest in the world and sell in the same general price range as watches made by such top-tier Swiss firms as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.
FERDINAND A. LANGE – THE JOURNEY TO GLASHÜTTE.
Ferdinand A. Lange was born in Dresden on 18 February 1815. His father was a gunsmith and described as a “man of course character”. After young Lange’s parents separated, he was brought up by an acquainted merchant’s family. His surrogate family enabled him to attend the Technical Institute of Education in Dresden, where he received training at a level then generally reserved for engineers and technicians.
While he was studying, Ferdinand A. Lange began an apprenticeship with Gutkaes, the renowned master clockmaker. He quickly recog-nised 15-year-old Lange’s horological talent and encouraged the young man who had impressed him with his craftsmanship skills, diligence, and intelligence.
On 7 December 1845, Ferdinand A. Lange established the first production facility for pocket watches in Glashütte and began to train 15 young people from the impoverished region with the aim of turning them into accomplished watchmakers. This courageous step was preceded by long negotiations with the government of Saxony which he had asked to support his venture. Finally, he was granted a repayable loan of 7820 thalers.

More recently, on March 15, 2007, the company unveiled the culmination of a multi-year effort to produce the first wearable mechanical watch with a 31-day power reserve: that is, a watch that need be wound only once per month (with a special key). To guarantee the power reserve for a month, the brand's watchmakers used two stacked mainspring barrels that store the required energy. The big-sized barrels made it necessary to apply two mainsprings that are 5-10 times longer than those found in other wristwatch movements. At this point, Lange specialists faced a serious problem - a common winding crown train was not suitable for winding such strong mainsprings. To solve that problem, the watchmakers used the 'key technology' of A. Lange & Söhne pocket watches. Some Lange admirers lauded these technological achievements, while others expressed skepticism that there would be a significant market for this very large (46 mm wide by 16 mm deep) and expensive (almost $180,000) platinum-cased watch.
Lange watches tend to have a highly distinctive appearance. For example, the iconic 38.5 mm "Lange 1" model features an asymmetric layout with no overlap among its key components: a dial containing the hour and minute hands, a smaller dial containing the second hand, a double window containing oversized digits for the date, and an "ab auf" meter registering the degree of wind left in the watch. Lange's watches are often described as more "austere" or "Teutonic" in appearance than comparable watches produced by Patek Philippe and similar Swiss firms. Finally, Lange watches typically feature a "display back" : a transparent surface on the back of the watch that permits views of the timekeeping mechanism at work.

Girard Perregaux

2009-08-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

Girard Perregaux watch for men and women
Girard-Perregaux is a high-end Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791. Owned by the Torino-native entrepreneur and current President since 1992, Luigi Macaluso, it is situated in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and is a part of the Sowind Group.
Jean-François Bautte was a talented watchmaker and became well-known for his ultra-thin models. He founded a manufactory in Geneva which, in a revolutionary move, housed all the watchmaking crafts of the period under one roof. There, he modestly welcomed the most distinguished visitors of his day, one of whom was the future Queen of England, Victoria.
A brilliant craftsman and a shrewd entrepreneur, he did business with all the courts of Europe, making him one of the most celebrated watchmakers of his time.
In 1791, the watchmaker J. F. Bautte created his first timepieces and soon built up a reputation for his ultrathin models. He established a factory in Geneva and, in an innovative move, housed all the watchmaking crafts of the period under one roof.

In 1837, Jacques Bautte and Jean Samuel Rossel took over from the eminent Jean François Bautte, who left them an extremely valuable industrial and cultural legacy.
In 1854, Constant Girard married Marie Perregaux. It was from the union of their two names that the GIRARD-PERREGAUX Company was born in 1856.
In 1867, Constant Girard presented his Tourbillon with three gold Bridges after years of research into the functional use of gold in watch movements. This masterpiece was awarded the gold medal at the Universal exhibitions of Paris in 1867 and 1889, but declared ineligible in 1901 because it could not be equalled.
In 1880, Constant Girard developed an extremely innovative concept for watches, the wristwatch, following an order by Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany for his naval officers. Two thousand were made, the first large-scale production of wristwatches in history. But the idea was considered outlandish and production was discontinued. It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the wristwatch became popular and enjoyed the industrial development that has made watchmaking one of the flagship industries of the Swiss economy.
In the early 20th century, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin used a GIRARD-PERREGAUX watch to time the aeronautical trials of his airships. As wristwatches came into their own around 1910, GIRARD-PERREGAUX's reputation spread far and wide.

2001 GIRARD-PERREGAUX collection:
GIRARD-PERREGAUX introduced a movement with a new date system, with a large display window, and a moon-phases indicator.
The same year, in keeping with its long chronograph tradition, the Manufacture launched the ww.tc (World Wide Time Control), a large model combining chronograph function and hours of the world indication.
2003 GIRARD-PERREGAUX collection:
True to its key role in the history of quartz movements, GIRARD-PERREGAUX presented a new quartz movement.
2006 GIRARD-PERREGAUX collection:
At the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2006, GIRARD-PERREGAUX presented two additions to its portfolio of self-winding mechanical movements, the GP 2700, a 8 ¾ lines calibre, and the GP 4500, a 13 ¼ lines calibre.
With the model Laureato Evo3 Tourbillon with three sapphire Bridges, the Brand presented a technical and innovative version of its renowned Tourbillon.

TAG Heuer

2009-08-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

TAG Heuer is a Swiss watchmaker The company motto is "Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860".
Heuer Watch Company was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer. He opened a watchmaking workshop in St-Imier, a village in the Swiss Jura region. Heuer watches soon became recognized for a high level of accuracy and workmanship. Perfect for the timing of sporting events Heuer soon found its niche.
The Tag Heuer company has its roots in 1860 when Edouard Heuer founded a watchmaking company in St-Imier, Switzerland, patenting his first chronograph in 1882. In 1887 Heuer patented an "oscillating pinion" still used by major watchmakers for mechanical chronographs.
TAG Heuer was formed in 1985 when TAG (Techniques d'Avant Garde), manufacturers of high-tech items such as ceramic turbochargers for Formula 1 cars, acquired Heuer.
On September 13, 1999, TAG Heuer accepted a bid from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. of 1.15 billion francs ($739 million) contingent upon a transfer of 50.1% of stocks.
In 2008 TAG Heuer partnered with CHRONELEC, a European leader in the transponder timing, to push timing technology to a new extreme of precision of sports timing as to bring complete timing designs to tracks and stadiums for most prestigious sports.

Omega

2009-08-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Watches Omega for man and women
The forerunner of Omega was founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848 by 23-year-old Louis Brandt, who assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. He sold his watches from Italy to Scandinavia by way of England, his chief market. After Louis Brandt's death in 1879, his two sons Louis-Paul and César, troubled by irregular deliveries of questionable quality, abandoned the unsatisfactory assembly workshop system in favour of in-house manufacturing and total production control.
Louis-Paul and César Brandt both died in 1903, leaving one of Switzerland's largest watch companies — with 240,000 watches produced annually and employing 800 people — in the hands of four young people, the oldest of whom, Paul-Emile Brandt, who was not yet 24.
Brandt was the great architect and builder of Omega. His influence would be felt over the next half-century. The economic difficulties brought on by the First World War would lead him to work actively from 1925 toward the union of Omega and Tissot, then to their merger in 1930 into the group SSIH, Geneva.

Omega SA is a high-end watch company based in Biel/Bienne Switzerland. Omega is currently owned by the Swatch Group.
Weakened by the severe monetary crisis and recession of 1975 to 1980, SSIH was bailed out by the banks in 1981. During this period, Seiko expressed interest in acquiring Omega, but nothing came out of the talks.
Switzerland's other watch making giant Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG - supplier of a large range of Swiss movements and watch assemblers) was in economic difficulty. It was the principal manufacturer of Ébauche (unfinished movements) and owner, through their sub-holding company GWC (General Watch Co), of various other Swiss watch brands including Longines, Rado, Certina and Mido.

After drastic financial restructuring, the R&D departments of ASUAG and SSIH merged production operations at the ETA complex in Granges. The two companies completely merged forming ASUAG-SSIH, a holding company, in 1983.

Two years later this holding company was taken over by a group of private investors led by Nicolas Hayek. Renamed SMH, Société de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie, this new group over the next decade preceded to become one of the top watch producers in the world. In 1998 it became the Swatch Group, which now manufactures Omega and other brands such as Blancpain, Swatch, and Breguet.

Skagen

2009-08-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Skagen watches for women and men
Skagen Designs, Ltd. is an international design company based in Reno, Nevada. The company was founded in 1989 by two Danish immigrants to the United States, Henrik and Charlotte Jorst. Skagen produces wristwatches, with quartz or automatic movements. Skagen also makes earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, pendants and sunglasses.
In 1989, Henrik and Charlotte Jorst came to the United States from their native Denmark to follow a dream: that of owning and running their own business, to introduce the Danish lifestyle and philosophy into the lives of many. Skagen Designs was founded by these two natives of Copenhagen on the principle that beautifully designed high-quality objects can be created at reasonable prices.
1989 : Charlotte Jorst moves to New York from her native Denmark to join Henrik Jorst who was working for Carlsberg Beer; After a Danish colleague sends them a few sample watches to sell, the Jorsts embark on their dream of starting their own business. They marry in May.
1991 : The Jorsts bring a few sample corporate watches to the New York Premium and Incentive Show. Retailers respond with enthusiasm and even encourage the Jorsts to design the watches without a corporate logo, to sell the watches in stores. This Summer, 200 pieces of each of these suggested styles were placed into production for the Skagen Denmark collection, and by Fall they were all sold out.
1993 : After running the business out of their home in Long Island, the Jorsts decide to relocate themselves and the business to beautiful Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
1995 : Bloomingdales becomes the first major department store to pick up the Skagen line, and shortly thereafter, other top department stores followed suit with much success.
1997 : European distribution of Skagen Denmark begins.
1999 : Skagen Designs is named to the Inc. 500 as one of the fastest growing small businesses in the United States.
2000 -- Skagen Designs wins the prestigious Blue Chip Enterprise Award give by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Mass Mutual Financial Group to companies that have overcome significant obstacles to succeed in business.
2003 : Continued success and growth of Skagen Designs requires US headquarter relocation to a 40% larger facility in Reno, Nevada, where the company resides presently.
2005 : Skagen opens New York City Showroom on 5th Avenue. The Danish-designed, 2,700 sq ft showroom is a reflection of the artistic and picturesque resort town of Skagen, Denmark.
2007 : Skagen Designs launches the world’s first-ever Skagen Denmark Concept Store in Skagen, Denmark. Skagen Denmark launches a stainless steel, contemporary and organic line of jewelry.
2007 : Fall – Skagen Designs launches the Skagen Swiss Collection of Watches, the first Skagen Denmark watches to feature Swiss movement.
2008 : The Skagen Denmark Sport line is expanded and launched at the Basel World Watch and Jewelry Show in Switzerland.
2009 : Skagen Designs to celebrate its 20th Anniversary!.
About Skagen Denmark:
For centuries, the little village of Skagen, Denmark, and its kilometers of white sandy beaches have been visited by artists seeking the magnificent light; artists who by the 19th Century had spread Skagen's beauty on canvasses that today are traded at leading auction houses. It is here where the natural purity and beauty of Danish design found its unique qualities. The small village on the edge of the sea continues to be the inspiration for all Skagen Denmark products.

Invicta

2009-08-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Invicta watches for men and women
Latin for "invincible," Invicta was founded in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland by raphael Picard, Picard had the radical notion that fine swiss timepieces could be offered at modest prices.
Invicta Watch Group is a Florida-based watch company founded in 1837 by Raphael Picard in La Chaux-de-fonds, Switzerland. The Picard family owned and operated the company until 1991, when the company was purchased by a United States-based investment company. The corporate headquarters were relocated to Hollywood, Florida, where the company also operates its service call center and repair facilities. Eyal Lalo, a third-generation watchmaker, is the CEO of the company and frequently appears on televised ShopNBC programs.
new management took over manufacturing and continued to market watches under the Invicta banner. Apart from the Invicta brand, the Invicta Watch Group is also responsible for the S. Coifman, Potger-Pietri, Activa, Brizo, Cacciato & Joss, Pastorelli and Technica lines.
Invicta Ocean Ghost
Upon moving primary operations from Switzerland, Invicta has continued to design watches, but have outsourced manufacturing to third parties in Switzerland and the Far East. Recently the company also began assembling from facilities at the company's Florida headquarters. Any timepieces manufactured in the United States are part of the "Made in the USA" collection. Swiss-made watches are labeled as such, while the Far East watches are labeled with the country of origin of their movement, as Invicta utilizes ETA (Swiss), Sellita (Swiss), RONDA (Swiss) and Citizen/Miyota (Japanese) movements in their product lines. Invicta is developing its own proprietary movements upon the purchase of Technica Swiss Ebauche Microtenique.
Arguably, Invicta's most lauded releases were the Pro Diver and Lupah product lines. The watches in the Invicta Pro Diver series, modeled after the Rolex Submariner and Omega Seamaster, have become widely considered as some of the finest automatic divers for its price point. The Invicta Lupah is available in 196,560 variations and is one of the company's most distinct designs.
Invicta brand:
The new management took over manufacturing and continued to market watches under the Invicta banner. Apart from the Invicta brand, the Invicta Watch Group is also responsible for the S. Coifman, Potger-Pietri, Activa, Brizo, Cacciato & Joss, Pastorelli and Technica lines.

Timex

2009-08-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Timex watches for men and women
Timex Group B.V. is the parent of Timex Group USA, Inc. The latter is located in Middlebury, Connecticut, and began in 1854 as Waterbury Clock in Connecticut's Naugatuck Valley, known during the nineteenth century as the "Switzerland of America." Sister company Waterbury Watch manufactured the first inexpensive mechanical pocket watch in 1880. During World War I, Waterbury began making wristwatches, which had only just become popular, and in 1933 it made history by creating the first Mickey Mouse clock under license from Walt Disney, with Mickey's hands pointing the time. This was made under the Ingersoll brand. In 1879 the company introduced a wristwatch called the [Timex] for the UK market.
Watches were not sold under the name Timex in the U.S until 1950. Over the next three decades, Timex watches were sold through a series of advertisements which emphasised durability by putting watches through "torture tests", such as falling over the Grand Coulee Dam or being strapped to the propeller of an outboard motor, with the slogan "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking." With the help of TV newscaster-turned-spokesman John Cameron Swayze, sales took off. The company later became Timex Corporation, then Timex Group USA, Inc., and, to date, has sold over one billion watches worldwide.
the 1970s, the American watch and clock industry was devastated by the arrival of cheap mechanical watches from the Far East, as well as the development of digital quartz watches pioneered by Japanese companies. In the 1980s, in a joint venture with Sinclair Research Ltd, the company entered the home computer business, selling such computers as the Timex Sinclair 1000 and succeeding machines, modeled on the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. After a reasonably good sales performance to begin with, the Timex Group decided it couldn't compete with the low-end market's eventual saturation and so the company withdrew.
The Timex Group survived the 1970s and 1980s and came back strongly. The group remains profitable and competitive and the Timex brand remains strong. The primary market remains the United States and Canada for the Timex brand, although Timex watches are sold worldwide due to a strong brand image and reputation for quality. In addition, Timex Group sells many other brands addressing all segments of the watch market, such as Guess, Nautica, Eckō, Opex and, in a successful foray into the luxury watch market, Versace, Valentino, and Ferragamo. In addition to its regular watch lines Timex also manufactures the well received Timex Datalink series of PDA-type watches that has attained cult-like status among computer gadget aficionados. Timex also manufactures GPS enabled watches, heart rate monitor exercise watches and similar high tech devices..-wikipedia-

Swatch

2009-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

fashion Watches made in Swiss for men & women (girl and boy)
Swatch is a brand name for a line of wrist watches from the Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products. In 1982, Swatch was conceived and it was introduced to the market in Switzerland in March 1983.
This concept was realised in the early 1980s, under the leadership of the then ETA's CEO, Ernst Thomke with a small team of enthusiastic watch engineers led by Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller who had had the idea to use the case back as a movement main plate (platine), as it had been done to realise the flattest watch in the world, the Delirium, suppressing a lot of parts. And designed for easy assembling.
Conceived at the beginning as a standard timekeeper in plastic, Franz Sprecher, a marketing consultant hired by Thomke to give the project an outsider’s consideration, soon led the project into what it has become: a fun 'Brand' with a full brand identity and marketing concept, instead of developing just another watch collection, which could have soon been matched & killed by the competition.
The first collection of twelve Swatch models was introduced on March 1, 1983 in Zürich, Switzerland. Initially the price ranged from CHF 39.90 to CHF 49.90 but was standardized to CHF 50.00 in autumn of the same year. Sales targets were set to one million timepieces for 1983 and 2.5 million the year after. With an aggressive marketing campaign and a very reasonable price for a Swiss-made watch, it gained instant popularity in its home market. Compared to conventional watches, a Swatch was 80% cheaper to produce by fully automating assembly and reducing the number of parts from the usual 91 or more to only 51 components.
Popularity of Swatch
Swatches enjoyed their peak popularity during the mid-1980s. Such '80s fads included wearing two Swatches and using a Swatch as a ponytail band. Some models, like Pop Swatch, allowed wearers to attach Swatches directly to clothing. During this same time, Swatch introduced the idea of partnering with noted artists, including Keith Haring and others. Artist watches gave a new cachet to what had previously been a trendy youth article.
Swatch Diversified offerings
From the original cult plastic watches, Swatch has diversified its offerings considerably, and the company now sells more than a dozen different types of watches, including metal-bodied watches (the Irony series), diving watches (the Scuba series), thin and flat bodied watches (the Skin family) and even an Internet-connected watch that can download stock quotes, news headlines, weather reports, and other data (the Paparazzi series).
They have now become fashionable objects, generating specialized models (the "Flik-Flak" for children, semi-automatic movements, and even diamond-decorated Swatches). The company also produces watches with seasonal themes.
Product lines
There are five families under the swatch brand. The five families are
Swatch Originals
The Originals are plastic cased watches. They are available in various sizes, shapes and designs. The originals have sub-families as well.
Swatch Irony
The Irony family contains all the metal cased watches produced by swatch. They too come in different sizes and shapes.
Swatch Skin
The skin family contains two sub families; which are Original Skin and Skin Chronograph. The original skin was introduced on October 6, 1997 as a thinner version of the original swatch watch. It is ultra thin, standing at 3.9 mm thin hence the name Swatch Skin. The swatch skin later went on to enter the Guinness world book of records as the world’s thinnest plastic watch. The Swatch Chronograph is just the swatch skin with a chronograph function. It has two additional buttons on the side of the watch.
Swatch Beat
The beat family launched in 1998 and incorporated beat watches across the three existing family but adding twists. Swatch Beat is the digital line and integrate Internet Time.
Swatch Bijoux
The bijoux line is the jewelry line that swatch released in the new millennium. A company that is known for innovations and fashion it went the next step. It partnered with Swarovski to encrust their bijoux line and watches.
A fashion statement
Also in the mid-1980s, mainstream Swatch fashion statements came about in the rising hip-hop scene with the introduction of various colored and interchangeable watch faces and wrist bands (made of vinyl). Colors included bright, day-glow and pastels. The key standard accessory was the Swatch Guard, a thin, rubber-band like strip that would stretch over the watch face. A good number of "Swatchies" sported two Swatch Guards of different colors, twisted or braided together across the Swatch face. A second type of Swatch Guard was a 1/8"-thick hard plastic ring which encircled the face and snapped onto the sides.

10:10 Default Setting

2009-08-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Why is 10:10 the Default Setting for Clocks and Watches?
Reader Humaira writes in, “I have always wondered why clocks, watches, timepieces etc. always say (roughly) 10:10 before you set the correct time? If you go in a store selling any kind of time-telling device, that is the default factory setting. Why is that?!!”
...
The real reason for the setting? Aesthetics. The 10:10 position gives the clock or watch a number of benefits:
• The hands not overlapping, so they’re fully and clearly visible and their styling can be admired.
• The arrangement of the hands is symmetrical, which people generally find more pleasant than asymmetry, making the product more appealing to customers.
• The manufacturer’s logo, usually in the center of the face under the 12, is not only visible, but nicely framed by the hands.
• Additional elements on the face (like date windows secondary dials), usually placed near the 3, 6, or 9, won’t be obscured.

According to the folks at Timex (who set their products at 10:09:36 exactly), the standard setting used to be used to 8:20, but this made the face look like it was frowning. To make the products look “happier,” the setting was flipped into a smile (occasionally, you’ll still see the 8:20 setting on some clocks or watches where the manufacturer’s logo is at bottom of the face above the 6). by Matt Soniak-mentalfloss.com

Seiko

2009-07-28T01:01:00.000-07:00

Seiko is a Japanese watch company, The company started in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called "K. Hattori" in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the name Seikosha . According to Seiko's official company history, titled "A Journey In Time: The Remarkable Story of Seiko" (2003), Seiko is a Japanese word meaning "exquisite," "minute," or "success."
The first watches produced under the Seiko brand appeared in 1924. In 1969, Seiko introduced the Astron, the world's first production quartz watch; when it was introduced, it cost the same as a medium-sized car. Seiko later went on to introduce the first quartz chronograph. In 1985, Orient Watches and Seiko established a joint factory. Recognized as a leader in timekeeping accuracy, Seiko products are often used as the official timekeepers of the major sporting events, including the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup editions in Argentina 1978, Spain 1982, Mexico 1986, and Italy 1990.
Seiko produces both quartz and mechanical watches of varying prices. The cheapest are around US$50; the most expensive (the Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie) costs over $US100,000. Seiko's mechanical watches are the most prized by collectors: from the Seiko "5" series (the 5 reflects the five essential features of the watch, namely shock resistant, water resistant, automatic, and day and date display), which is the most common; the Seiko automatic Chronometer series; the "Bell-Matic," with a mechanical alarm; to the highly prized luxury "Credor," "King Seiko," and "Grand Seiko" lines. Seiko Kinetic watches account for a large proportion of sales nowadays and combine the self-energizing attributes of an automatic watch with quartz accuracy. There is no battery to change; the watch is entirely powered by its movement in everyday wear.
Seiko Spring Drive
On 7 October 2005, Seiko announced the world launch of the Seiko Spring Drive, a new movement that provides 72 hours of power, as opposed to the average of 40 hours in automatic mechanicals. This new movement, which employs a special alloy called "Spron510", has eliminated the traditional balance wheel/escapement regulating system in favor of a "Tri-synchro Regulator." The power from the spring is used to turn the wheels but is also used to generate electrical power for a tiny, ultra-low consumption (~25 nanowatts) crystal oscillator, which in turn is used to regulate (with quartz accuracy) the speed of the wheels to eight beats per second.
Seiko Holdings is one of the three core companies of the Seiko Group. The Seiko Group consists of Seiko Holdings Corporation (Seiko), Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII), and Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson). Although they have some common shareholders, including the key members of the Hattori family (posterity of Kintarō Hattori), the three companies in the Seiko Group are not affiliated. They are managed and operated completely independently. Seiko Watch, an operating subsidiary of Seiko Holdings, markets Seiko watches, while SII and Epson manufacture their movements.
On January 26, 2009, Seiko Holdings and Seiko Instruments announced that the two companies will be merged on October 1, 2009 through a share swap. Seiko Instruments will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seiko Holdings.

Rolex

2009-07-28T00:44:00.000-07:00

Rolex watches are popularly considered status symbols. Rolex is the largest single luxury watch brand by far, producing about 2,000 watches per day, BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex 71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands, top among all watchmakers.
Rolex SA is a Swiss manufacturer of wristwatches and accessories.
In 1905 Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis founded "Wilsdorf and Davis" in London. Their main business at the time was importing Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to England and placing them in quality cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked "W&D" inside the caseback.
Rolex :
In 1908 Wilsdorf registered the trademark "Rolex" and opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The company name "Rolex" was registered on 15 November 1915. The word was made up, and its origin is obscure. Wilsdorf was said to want his watch brand's name to be easily pronounceable in any language. One story, never confirmed by Wilsdorf, is that the name came from the French phrase horlogerie exquise, meaning "exquisite clockwork". Another story claims that "rolex" was meant to evoke the sound of a watch being wound. The book The Best of Time: Rolex Wristwatches: An Unauthorized History by Jeffrey P. Hess and James Dowling says that the name was just made up. The Book A Movement in Time with Breitling & Rolex by Mark A Cooper states that the name came from the partner Alfred Davis and not Wilsdorf. Alfred Davis was a Rolls Royce driver and loved the quality of the car, something he wanted with Rolex. He used the name Rol and then added the popular watch name at the time 'TIMEX' to make the word Rolex.
In 1919 Wilsdorf moved the company to Geneva, Switzerland where it was established as the Rolex Watch Company. Its name was later changed to Montres Rolex, SA, and finally Rolex, SA. The company moved out of the United Kingdom because taxes and export duties on the case metals (silver and gold) were driving costs up.
Rolex watch counterfeits
Like many high-priced, brand-name accessories, Rolex watches are frequently counterfeited. They are among the most commonly counterfeited brands, often illegally sold on the street and on the internet. These fakes are mainly produced in China due to the ease in copying the general design (EU figures show that 54% of fakes seized in 2004 originated in China), and retail anywhere from $5 upwards to $1000—for high end replicas fabricated in solid gold. By some accounts, over 75% of all replica watches produced annually are copies of Rolex Oyster Perpetual designs. These fake watches have been nicknamed "Folex" or "Fauxlex", or "Trolex" in Spain (faux means fake in French, trola means fake in Spanish). Fake Rolexes are often promoted via E-mail spam, and have been reported to be one of the top ten things offered in spam solicitations.

Rolex SA has three watch lines: Oyster Perpetual, Professional and Cellini. The Cellini line is Rolex's line of "dressy" watches.
Modern Rolex Oyster watch models include:
Air-King, Date, Milgauss, Datejust, Datejust II, Datejust Turn-O-Graph, Lady Datejust Pearlmaster, GMT Master II, Explorer, Explorer II,
Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II,
The Rolex Sea Dweller Deepsea, introduced in 2008, : Submariner, Sea Dweller, Sea Dweller DeepSea, Daytona : o Paul Newman Daytona, Day-Date, Day-Date II, Masterpiece, Oyster Perpetual, Yacht-Master, Yacht-Master II.
The primary bracelets for the Oyster line are named "Jubilee", "Oyster", and "President".

The Cellini models include: Quartz Ladies, Quartz Mens, CelliniumCestello, LadiesCestello, Mens, Danaos Mens, Prince.

Rolex sells less expensive watches under the Tudor watch brand name, which was introduced by Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf in 1946. While still sold in Europe and the Far East, American sales of the Tudor line were discontinued in 2004. Rolex is the largest manufacturer of Swiss made certified chronometers. In 2005 more than half the annual production of COSC certified watches were Rolexes

Casio

2009-07-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

Casio was established in April 1946 by Tadao Kashio, an engineer specializing in fabrication technology. Kashio's first major product was the yubiwa pipe, a finger ring that would hold a cigarette, allowing the wearer to smoke the cigarette down to its nub while also leaving the wearer's hands free. Japan was impoverished immediately following World War II so cigarettes were valuable, and the invention was a success.
After seeing the electric calculators at the first Business Show in Ginza, Tokyo in 1949, Kashio and his younger brothers used their profits from the yubiwa pipe to develop their own calculators. Most of the calculators at that time worked using gears and could be operated by hand using a crank or using a motor (see adding machine). Kashio had some knowledge of electronics, and set out to make a calculator using solenoids. The desk-sized calculator was finished in 1954 and was Japan's first electro-mechanical calculator. One of the central innovations of the calculator was its adoption of the 10-key number pad; at that time other calculators were using a "full keypad", which meant that each place in the number (1s, 10s, 100s, etc...) had nine keys. Another innovation was the use of a single display window instead of the three display windows (one for each argument and one for the answer) used in other calculators.

In 1957 Casio released the Model 14-A, sold for 485,000 yen, the world's first all-electric compact calculator, which was based on relay technology. 1957 also marked the establishment of Casio Computer Co. Ltd.
In the 1980s, its budget electronic instruments and home keyboards gained huge popularity. The company also became well known for the wide variety and innovation of its wristwatches. It is one of the early manufacturers of quartz crystal watches, both digital and analog. It also began selling calculator watches during this time. It was one of the first manufacturers of watches that could display the time in many different time zones and of watches with temperature, atmospheric-pressure, altitude, and even GPS position displays.
A number a notable digital cameras firsts have been made by Casio, including the first consumer digital camera with an LCD screen, the first consumer 3 megapixel camera, the first true ultra-compact model, and the first digital camera to incorporate ceramic lens technology.
Casio : Timeline of important product releases
* 1957 Casio releases the Model 14-A, the world's first all electric compact calculator
* 1965 The 001 calculator is released
* 1972 The release of Casio's personal calculator, the Casio "Mini" sells for 12,800 yen,
* 1974 The Casiotron, a watch that features a fully automatic calendar, including month lengths and leap years, is released.
* 1980 Casio releases their Casiotone keyboard instrument.
* 1983 The first G-Shock watch, the DW-5000C, is released.
* 1985 Casio launches its first professional synthesiser, the CZ-101.
* 1995 The Illuminator/Foxfire backlight is released. The DW-5600E was announced as the first G-Shock watch with a full EL LCD panel.
* 1995 The QV-10, the world's first digital camera that includes a TFT display, is released.
* 2002 The EX-S1, the first Exilim digital camera is released.
* 2007 The OCW-S1000J, dubbed the Oceanus "Manta", is released being the world's thinnest solar-powered chronograph being only approx. 8.9 mm in thickness.

Citizen Watch

2009-07-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

Citizen Watches

Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd, is the core company of a Japanese global corporate group based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was originally founded as Shokosha Watch Research Institute in 1918 and is currently known as the manufacturer of CINCOM precision lathe machine tools as well as CITIZEN watches. The trade name originated from a pocket watch CITIZEN sold in 1924. It is one of the world's largest producers of watches.
n the United States, Citizen is best known for its Eco-Drive range of watches. Eco-Drive watches use a battery recharged by a solar panel hidden under the watch face. In the rare and discontinued Eco-Drive Duo series, the solar power was supplemented by an automatic quartz power source. There was also an Eco-Drive Thermo model that exploited temperature differentials between the wearer's skin temperature and ambient temperature to recharge the battery. However, the only Eco-Drive system currently described on the Citizen Watch Official Web Site is the one depending solely on light to recharge. The Eco-Drive feature is similar to the Tough Solar battery charging system used in G-Shock watches by Casio. All Citizen Eco-Drive models are made in Japan but may also be assembled in China.
Citizen also manufactures watches for collectors. For example, a watch bearing the colors and logo of the Blue Angels. This watch is part of the Skyhawk A-T line, which utilizes Eco-Drive as its primary power source and features Atomic Timekeeping. The bezel of the watch includes a slide rule useful for calculating time, distance, speed, conversions, and other computations useful for pilots. The Blue Angels use blue and gold as their trademark colors and the watch bears this color scheme.
The Deployment Clasp with a Push Button (DCP) is a clasp available for many Citizen watch bracelet bands. The clasp, as with the Calibre 8700, is also used with leather bands as if they were metal bracelet-style watchbands; however, when the clasp is fastened, the band appears to be a normal eye-hole and link pin leather watchband.
Atomic Timekeeping
The Skyhawk A-T line of watches features Atomic Timekeeping with radio-controlled accuracy. The watches can synchronize with atomic clocks in Japan, North America, and Europe and will automatically select the correct frequency for doing so based upon location of home time zone. The watch actually tracks two time zones--home and world--but synchronizes to the 'home' zone. When traveling, the user may swap the 'home' and 'world' zones--thereby enabling proper time signal reception on a different continent while retaining the other time. Note that day, date, and Daylight Saving Time settings are also set automatically when the watch is synchronized. These features are comparable to the synchronization with atomic clocks found in Casio Wave Ceptor watches.

Bulova

2009-07-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

Bulova is corporation making watches and clocks.

Bulova was founded and incorporated as the J. Bulova Company in 1875 by Joseph Bulova (1851-1936), an immigrant from Bohemia. It was reincorporated under the name Bulova Watch Company in 1923, and became part of the Loews Corporation in in 1979.
Bulova established its operations in Woodside, New York and Flushing, New York, where it made innovations in watchmaking, and developed a number of watchmaking tools. Its horological innovations included the Accutron watch which used resonating tuning forks as a means of regulating the time keeping function.
The Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking was founded in 1945 by Arde Bulova, Chairman of the Board, initially to provide training for disabled veterans after the Second World War.
Accutron Movement. The tuning fork is between the two electromagnetic coils at the top of the watch, which drive it.

Bulova's "Accutron" : watches, first sold in October 1960, use a 360 hertz tuning fork to drive a mechanical gear train to turn the hands. The inventor, Max Hetzel, was born in Basel, Switzerland, and joined the Bulova Watch Company of Bienne, Switzerland, in 1948. The tuning fork was powered by a one-transistor electronic oscillator circuit, so the Accutron qualifies as the first "electronic watch". More than 4 million were sold until production stopped in 1977.

In the 1960s, the company was involved in a notable space age rivalry with Omega Watches to be selected as the 'first watch on the moon'. Ultimately, the Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph wristwatch (known as the "Moon watch") was designated by NASA for use by the astronauts in all manned space missions, becoming the first watch on the moon on the wrist of Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin.
However, all instrument panel clocks and time-keeping mechanisms in the spacecraft on those missions were Bulova Accutrons with tuning fork movements, because at the time, NASA did not know how well a mechanical movement would work in low gravity conditions. The Bulova company currently manufactures a limited edition "Astronaut" model under its Accutron line of watches. The back of the watch case is autographed by Buzz Aldrin. The tuning fork movement has been discontinued by Bulova, and the current Astronaut model features automatic ETA SA movement, making it similar to the rival Omega.
The Bulova family mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
In 2008 a Bulova Automatic wristwatch, lost overboard by a sailor in 1941, was found after 67 years on the seabed and returned to its owner. It still works today.
On October 5, 2007 Citizen Holdings Company announced it would purchase Bulova Corp. for $247 million. On January 10th 2008 Citizen bought the Bulova Watch Company. Together they are the world's largest watchmaker.
Currently Bulova designs, manufactures, and markets several different brands, including: the signature "Bulova", the affordable "Caravelle", the dressy/formal Swiss-made "Wittnauer Swiss", and the sportier Swiss-made "Accutron". wikipedia-

Watch manufacturing

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Georges-Auguste Leschot (1800-1884), pioneered in the field of interchangeability in clockmaking by the invention of various machine tools. 1830 he designed an anchor escapement, which his student, Antoine Léchaud, later mass produced. 1839 he invented a pantograph allowing some degree of standardisation and interchangeability of parts on watches fitted with the same calibre.
Watch manufacturing really changed from assembly in watchmaking shops to mass production with interchangeable parts, as from 1854, pioneered by the Waltham Watch Company, in Waltham, Massachusetts. in 1850, Roxbury, David Davis, Edward Howard and Aaron Lufkin Dennison formed together the company that would later become the Waltham Watch Company. The Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch Co. and the American Watch Co., produced about 40 million high quality watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1957.
The Waltham Watch Company went out of business in 1957, but had founded a subsidiary in Switzerland in 1954, Waltham International SA. Waltham International SA continues to produce mechanical wrist watches and mechanical pocket watches under the "Waltham" brand and is a full-fledged member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH.

A Watchmaker

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- Watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since virtually all watches are now factory made, most modern watchmakers just repair watches. However, origionally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their parts, by hand. Since modern watchmakers are required to repair older watches for which replacement parts may not be available, they must have some fabrication ability. A skilled watchmaker can typically manufacture replacements for many of the parts found in a watch.

A watchmaker, as the name implies, works primarily on watches, not clocks, the latter is called a clockmaker. Some watchmakers work on clocks, but the skills and tools needed to work on a watch are not always applicable when working on a clock.
Historically, in England, watchmakers would have to undergo a seven-year apprenticeship and then join a guild, such as the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in London, before selling their first watch. In modern times watchmakers undergo training courses such as the ones offered by the BHI, or one of the many school around the world following the WOSTEP style curriculum. Some USA watchmaking schools of horology will teach not only the wostep style including the ETA range of movements but also focuses on the older watches that a modern watchmaker will encounter on a daily basis.wikipedia

watch battery

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A watch battery, button cell, silver button cell, or coin cell is a small form-factor battery designed for use in wrist watches, pocket calculators, hearing aids, and similar compact portable electronics products. They are compact and have long life. They are usually a primary single cell with a nominal voltage between 1.5 and 3 volts. Common anode materials are zinc or lithium; common cathode materials are manganese dioxide, silver oxide, carbon monofluoride, cupric oxide or mercuric oxide. The circumferential wall of this type of battery is part of its positive (+) terminal.

International standard IEC 60086-3 defines an alphanumeric coding system for "Watch batteries". Examples of this code are batteries coded CR2032, SR516, and LR1154 where the letters and numbers in that code indicate the following characteristics.
code | Letter
L Manganese dioxide
S Silver oxide
P Oxygen
C Manganese dioxide
B Carbon monofluoride
G Copper oxide
"L", "S", and "C" type cells are today the most commonly-used types in quartz watches, calculators, small PDA devices, computer clocks, and blinky lights.

Its package's size is identified by a three-to-four digit code, preceded by the letter "R" to indicate a round cell. The first 1–2 digits indicate the outer breadth of the battery (in millimeters, rounded down), and the last two digits indicate the overall height (in tenths of millimeters, rounded down). Examples:
CR2032: 20 mm diameter, 3.2 mm height
SR516: 5.8 mm diameter, 1.6 mm height
After the package code, the following additional letters may optionally appear in the type designation to indicate the electrolyte used:
S: sodium hydroxide electrolyte
P: potassium hydroxide electrolyte
no letter: organic electrolyte
An appended letter "W" states that this battery complies with all the requirements of the IEC 86-3 standard for watch batteries.

Mechanical watch

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Mechanical watch is a watch that uses a non-electric mechanism to measure the passage of time. They are driven by a spring (called a mainspring) which must be wound periodically, and releases the energy to turn the watch's wheels as it unwinds. They keep time with a balance wheel, which oscillates back and forth at a constant rate, and make a 'ticking' sound when operating. Mechanical watches evolved in Europe in the 1600s from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 1400s.

Mechanical watches are not as accurate as modern quartz watches and are generally more expensive. They are now worn more for their aesthetic qualities and as jewelry than for their timekeeping ability.

The first spring-powered pocket watch was created by Peter Henlein in 1524. In 1556, Taqi al-Din may have created a spring-powered pocket watch that could measure time in minutes, by having three dials for the hours, degrees and minutes.
Until the quartz revolution of the 1960s, all watches were mechanical. Early watches were terribly imprecise; a good one could vary as much as 15 minutes in a day. Modern precision (a few seconds per day) was not attained by any watch until 1760, when John Harrison created his marine chronometer.
Mechanical watches are powered by a mainspring. Because the mainspring provides an uneven source of power (its torque steadily decreases as the spring unwinds), watches from the early 1500s to the early 1800s featured a chain-driven fusee which served to regulate the torque output of the mainspring throughout its winding. Unfortunately, the fusees were very brittle, were very easy to break, and were the source many problems, especially inaccuracy of timekeeping when the fusee chain became loose or lost its velocity after the lack of maintenance.

the Electric watch

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Electric watch, which commonly means any watch that is powered by electricity, has become a generic term for the first generation of electrically powered watches which appeared starting in 1957, before the invention of quartz watches in the 1970s. Their timekeeping element was either a traditional balance wheel or a tuning fork, driven electromagnetically by a solenoid powered by a battery. The hands were driven mechanically through a wheel train. They were superseded by quartz watches, which had greater accuracy and durability due to their lower parts count. Recent automatic quartz watches, which combine mechanical technology with quartz timekeeping, are not included in this classification.

A weak point in early balance wheel electric watches was the switch contacts on the balance wheel, which turned the solenoid on briefly to provide the impulse to keep the wheel oscillating. These wore out and did not operate reliably. Later designs used electromagnetic sensing, with a transistor in the circuit to turn the solenoid on.
Types of electric watches
Moving coil system, contact controlled: refers to watches with a balance wheel with integrated coil, fixed magnets and mechanical contacts. Examples of this technology are Hamilton 500 (first electric watch), Epperlein 100, Champion (Ruhla / UMF) and Timex M40.
Fixed coil system, contact controlled: watches with a piece of iron attached to the balance wheel, a fixed coil and mechanical contacts. In order to extend the life of the watch, some of these movements included a diode to minimize sparking on the contacts. Examples of this technology are Lip electronic R 27, LIP R 148, Elgin-electric 722 and Landeron (ESA - Ebauches S.A.) 4750.
Transistorized watches with balance: had a balance wheel, a transistor acting as a switch and no mechanical contacts. Usually the coil was located in the base plate and the magnets are on the balance wheel. Watches using this technology include Timex M87/Laco 882, Citizen X-8 series and Seiko Electronic 31A. Another common example example is ESA Dynotron cal. 9150.
Tuning fork watches: these watches used a tuning fork with a transistor acting like a switch and no mechanical contacts. No balance wheel. The tuning fork had an attached pawl and 'index wheel', which turned the gear train. The common frequencies used in watches were 300 Hz (ESA MOSABA cal. 9162, 9164 and 9210), 360 Hz (Bulova Accutron cal. 214 and 218), 480 Hz (Bulova Accutron cal. 2300) and 720 Hz (Omega Megasonic cal. 1220 and 1230). Omega F300Hz and Speedsonics series are common examples of ESA MOSABA based watches..-Wikipedia..

Watch ( with solar powered)

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" Watches : Junghans, Casio, Alba, Seiko and Citizen"

A solar powered watch is a watch that is powered entirely or partly by a solar panel. Some of the early solar watches of the 1970s had innovative and unique designs to accommodate the array of solar cells needed to power them (Synchronar, Nepro, Sicura and some models by Cristalonic, Alba, Seiko and Citizen). In the 1990s, Citizen started to sell light powered watches under the Eco-Drive series name. They have developed the technology such that solar powered watches are now a major part of their range of watches.
Several other watch manufacturers offer similar watches or are developing such technology. These other watch manufacturers include (amongst others) Junghans, Casio G-shock and Casio Oceanus. Typically, sunlight and artificial light are absorbed by a solar panel behind the crystal. The dial is either on a layer above or actually on the solar panel. This solar panel converts the light into electrical energy to power the watch. The watch will usually store energy in a rechargeable cell to power itself during the night or when covered such as by a person's sleeve. Citizen's watches use lithium-ion rechargeable cell to store sufficient energy to power the watch for several months/years of darkness. However, this figure assumes that the watch enters a power-saving mode during which the seconds hand stops until the watch is re-exposed to light.

Automatic quartz

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Kinetic powered quartz watches
" Automatic quartz is a collective term describing watch movements that combine a self-winding rotor mechanism (as used in automatic mechanical watches) to generate electricity with a piezoelectric quartz crystal as its timing element. Such movements aim to provide the advantages of quartz without the environmental impact of batteries. Several manufacturers employ this technique".

Mode of operation: A rotating pendulum inside the case is attached to a relatively large gear which meshes with a very small pinion. As the wearer moves, the pendulum turns and spins the pinion at a very high speed - up to 100,000 rpm. This is coupled to a miniature electrical generator which charges a storage device which is a capacitor(s) or a rechargeable battery. A typical full charge will last between two weeks and six months.
A KENETIC ( Seiko)
Japanese company Seiko pioneered the technique which it unveiled at the Baselworld 1986 under the trial name AGM. The first such watch was released in Germany in January 1988 and April of the same year in Japan (under the name Auto-Quartz).
The watches had an average monthly rate of ±15 sec and provided 75 hours of continuous operation when fully powered. Early automatic quartz movements were called AGS (Automatic Generating System); in 1991 the company introduced the Kinetic brand name. Today Seiko offers a wide range of watches with various different Kinetic movements. The top of the line is the caliber 9T82, included in Sportura (international brand) and PROSPEX (only marketed in Japan) Collection. It's sold in limited volume at a price range of about US$3000 which makes it one of the most expensive automatic quartz watches. Kinetic technology has also been used in some of Seiko's Pulsar and Lorus watches. As of 2007, Seiko has sold more than eight million automatic quartz watches.
Citizen
Citizen, the second largest Japanese watch company (after Seiko), also built an autoquartz-powered watch: the Citizen Promaster Eco-Duo Drive (released in December of 1998). Novel to this watch was the use of both mechanical power as well as a solar cell. This model was an attempt to enter higher-priced markets (at a cost of around $1000 USD) but the technology failed to attract consumer interest and Citizen has since stopped making use of the unique movement. No other autoquartz powered watch from Citizen is known, all other Eco-Drive models only use solar power or thermal power.
Ventura
Ventura was a small Swiss watch manufacturer claiming to be "the World's only manufacturer of automatic digital watches". Their VEN_99 movement was the only watch to ever combine autoquartz and digital readout of time (LCD) in one package. Offered were three models: the Sparc rx, fx and px. In late 2006, the company started selling their movement with an incorporated alarm, another exclusive feature. All hardware was proprietary to Ventura.

Chronograph

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| Chronograph : is a timepiece or watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions. Pocket watch chronographs were produced as early as the 18th century but did not become popular until the 1820s. The term 'Chronograph' is often confused with the term - Chronometer - which in some cases designates a watch that has received a precision certification. The Marine chronometer was an accurate timepiece used to enable celestial navigation.

There are many types of chronographs
Digital chronographs use a digital display for both timekeeping and stopwatch functions, either with separate displays or by switching modes on a single display.
Analog-digital chronographs have a standard analog watch with permanent center seconds and a separate digital display that usually operates independently of the analog section. A fallback will reset to zero and then continue to run when the reset button is pushed while the stopwatch is running. In contrast, most mechanical chronographs will reset to zero only when the stopwatch is stopped.

Wacth quartz

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The world's first analog quartz wristwatches were revealed in 1967: the Beta 21 revealed by the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH) in Neuchâtel Switzerland, and the prototype of the Astron revealed by Seiko in Japan (which was in development since 1958.

History
The piezoelectric properties of quartz were discovered by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880. The first quartz crystal oscillator was built by Walter G. Cady in 1921. In 1923, D. W. Dye at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK and Warren Marrison at Bell Telephone Laboratories produced sequences of precision time signals with quartz oscillators. In 1927 the first quartz clock was built by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The next 3 decades saw the development of quartz clocks as precision time standards in laboratory settings; the bulky delicate counting electronics, built with vacuum tubes, limited their use elsewhere. In 1932 a quartz clock was able to measure tiny weekly variations in the rotation rate of the Earth. The National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) based the time standard of the US on quartz clocks between the 1930s and the 1960s, when it went to atomic clocks. The wider use of quartz clock technology had to await the development of cheap semiconductor digital logic in the 60s.

In 1969, Seiko produced the world's first quartz wristwatch, the Astron. The inherent accuracy and low cost of production has resulted in the proliferation of quartz clocks and watches since that time. By the 1980s quartz technology had taken over applications such as kitchen timers, alarm clocks, bank vault time locks, and time fuzes on munitions, from earlier mechanical balance wheel movements.
Quartz timepiece production has emerged from Asia, notably Hong Kong and Japan. Many traditional European clockmakers, particularly in Switzerland, Germany, France and Russia have continued to produce the less-accurate but still-popular geared timepieces.
Quartz wristwatches are in high demand today as they are more accurate than their mechanical counterparts; they need neither winding nor much maintenance. Light-powered and motion-powered quartz watches represent two innovative types of timepieces. Light-powered quartz watches incorporate a solar cell that transforms the light into electricity. As for the motion-powered wristwatches, they have a tiny rotor spinning in response to motion and generating electricity.

Quartz

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Quartz clock is a clock that uses an electronic oscillator that is regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time. This crystal oscillator creates a signal with very precise frequency, so that quartz clocks are at least an order of magnitude more accurate than good mechanical clocks. Generally, some form of digital logic counts the cycles of this signal and provides a numeric time display, usually in units of hours, minutes, and seconds.
Since the 1970s, they have become the most widely used timekeeping technology. Chemically, quartz is a compound called silicon dioxide. When a crystal of quartz is properly cut and mounted, it can be made to vibrate, or oscillate, using a constant electric current. If the crystal is accurately shaped and positioned, it will oscillate at 32,768 Hz, and once the circuit supplying power to the crystal counts that this number of oscillations have occurred, it increases the recorded time by one second. This property, of changing shape under an electric current, is known as piezoelectricity.
Such crystals were once used in low-end phonograph cartridges: the movement of the stylus (needle) would flex a quartz crystal, which would produce a small voltage, which was amplified and played through speakers. Many materials can be formed into plates that will resonate. However, since quartz can be directly driven by an electric signal, no additional speaker or microphone is required. Quartz has the further advantage that its size does not change much as temperature fluctuates. Fused quartz is often used for laboratory equipment that must not change shape along with the temperature, because a quartz plate's resonance frequency, based on its size, will not significantly rise or fall. Similarly, a quartz clock will remain relatively accurate as the temperature changes. he relative stability of the resonator and its driving circuit is much better than its absolute accuracy.
Standard-quality resonators of this type are warranted to have a long-term accuracy of about 6 parts per million at 31 °C: that is, a typical quartz wristwatch will gain or lose less than a half second per day at body temperature. If a quartz wristwatch is "rated" by measuring it against an atomic clock's time broadcast, and the wristwatch is worn on one's body to keep its temperature constant, then the corrected time will easily be accurate within 10 seconds per year.
This is more than adequate to perform celestial navigation. Some premium clock designs self-rate. That is, rather than just counting vibrations, their computer program takes the simple count, and scales it using a ratio calculated between an epoch set at the factory, and the most recent time the clock was set. These clocks usually have special instructions for changing the battery (the counter must not be permitted to stop), and become more accurate as they grow older. It is possible for a computerized clock to measure its temperature, and adjust for that as well. Both analog and digital temperature compensation have been used in high-end quartz watches.

Automatic watch

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An automatic or self-winding watch is a mechanical watch, whose mainspring is wound automatically by the natural motion of the wearer's arm, to make it unnecessary to manually wind the watch. Most mechanical watches sold today are self-winding.

To accomplish this, the watch contains a semicircular 'rotor', an eccentric weight that turns on a pivot, within the watch case. The normal movements of the user's arm and wrist cause the rotor to pivot back-and-forth on its staff, which is attached to a ratcheted winding mechanism. The motion of the wearer's arm is thereby translated into the circular motion of the rotor that, through a series of reverser and reducing gears, eventually winds the mainspring. Modern self-winding mechanisms have two ratchets and wind the mainspring during both clockwise and counterclockwise rotor motions.

The fully-wound mainspring in a typical watch can store enough energy reserve for roughly two days, allowing automatics to keep running through the night while off the wrist. Usually automatic watches can also be wound manually by turning the crown, so the watch can be kept running when not worn, and in case the wearer's wrist motions are not sufficient to keep it wound automatically.
he 'slipping mainspring' device was patented by Adrien Philippe, founder of Patek Philippe on June 16, 1863, long before self-winding watches. It was invented to allow simultaneous winding of two mainspring barrels. In an ordinary watch mainspring barrel, the outer end of the spiral mainspring is attached to the inside of the barrel. In the slipping barrel, the mainspring is attached to a circular steel expansion spring, often called the 'bridle', which presses against the inside wall of the barrel, which has serrations or notches to hold it.

As long as the mainspring is less than fully wound, the bridle holds the mainspring by friction to the barrel wall, allowing the mainspring to be wound. When the mainspring reaches full wind, its force is stronger than the bridle spring, and further winding pulls the bridle loose from the notches and it simply slides along the wall, preventing the mainspring from being wound further. The bridle must grip the barrel wall with just the right force to allow the mainspring to wind fully but not overwind. If it grips too loosely, the mainspring will begin to slip before it is fully wound, a defect known as 'mainspring creep' which results in a shortened reserve power time.

A further advantage of this device is that the mainspring can't be broken by overzealous manual winding. It is often referred to misleadingly in watch company terminology as an 'unbreakable mainspring'. wikipedia

Multi-function watches

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Best watch for men and women

Computerized multi-function watches Many computerized wristwatches have been developed, but none have had long-term sales success, because they have awkward user interfaces due to the tiny screens and buttons, and a short battery life. As miniaturized electronics became cheaper, watches have been developed containing calculators, tonometers, barometers, altimeters, video games, digital cameras, keydrives, GPS receivers and cellular phones. In the early 1980s Seiko marketed a watch with a television in it. Such watches have also had the reputation as unsightly and thus mainly geek toys. Several companies have however attempted to develop a computer contained in a wristwatch. For men's dress watches appropriate for informal, semi-formal, and formal attire are gold, thin, simple, and plain, but recent conflation of dressiness and high price has led to a belief among some that expensive rugged, complicated, or sports watches are also dressy because of their high cost. Some dress watches have a cabochon on the crown and many women's dress watches have faceted gemstones on the face, bezel, or bracelet.

Wristwatches

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watch for man & women
Wristwatches are often appreciated as jewelry or as collectible works of art rather than just as timepieces. This has created several different markets for wristwatches, ranging from very inexpensive but accurate watches (intended for no other purpose than telling the correct time) to extremely expensive watches that serve mainly as personal adornment or as examples of high achievement in miniaturization and precision mechanical engineering.

Traditionally, men's dress watches appropriate for informal, semi-formal, and formal attire are gold, thin, simple, and plain, but recent conflation of dressiness and high price has led to a belief among some that expensive rugged, complicated, or sports watches are also dressy because of their high cost. Some dress watches have a cabochon on the crown and many women's dress watches have faceted gemstones on the face, bezel, or bracelet.

Many fashion and department stores offer a variety of less-expensive, trendy, "costume" watches (usually for women), many of which are similar in quality to basic quartz timepieces but which feature bolder designs. In the 1980s, the Swiss Swatch company hired graphic designers to redesign a new annual collection of non-repairable watches.

Still another market is that of "geek" watches—watches that not only tell the time, but incorporate computers, satellite navigation, complications of various orders, and many other features that may be quite removed from the basic concept of timekeeping. A dual-time watch is designed for travelers, allowing them to see what time it is at home when they are elsewhere.
Most companies that produce watches specialize in one or some of these markets. Companies such as Patek Philippe, Blancpain, and Jaeger-LeCoultre specialize in simple and complicated mechanical dress watches; companies such as TAG Heuer, Breitling, and Rolex specialize in rugged, reliable mechanical watches for sport and aviation use. Companies such as Casio, Timex, and Seiko specialize in watches as affordable timepieces or multifunctional computers.

Space watch

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Space astronauts Wristwatch
Zero gravity environment and other extreme conditions encountered by astronauts in space requires the use of specially tested watches. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin wore a Shturmanskie (navigators) wristwatch during his historic first flight into space. The Shturmanskie was manufactured at the First Moscow Factory. Since 1964, the watches of the First Moscow Factory have been marked by the trademark "ПОЛЕТ", transliterated as "POLJOT", which means "flight" in Russian and is a tribute to the many space trips its watches have accomplished. In the late 1970s, Poljot launched a new chrono movement, the 3133. With a 23 jewel movement and manual winding (43 hours), it was a modified Russian version of the Swiss Valjoux 7734 of the early 1970s. Poljot 3133 were taken into space by astronauts from Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine. On the arm of Valeriy Polyakov, a Poljot 3133 chronograph movement-based watch set a space record for the longest space flight in history.. During the 1960s, a large range of watches were tested for durability and precision under extreme temperature changes and vibrations. The Omega Speedmaster Professional was selected by U.S. space agencies.
TAG Heuer became the first Swiss watch in space thanks to an Heuer Stopwatch, worn by John Glenn in 1962 when he piloted the Friendship 7 on the first manned U.S. orbital mission. (The company was then called "Heuer"; TAG had not yet been formed.) The Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute was designed with a 24-hour analog dial to avoid confusion between AM and PM, which are meaningless in space. It was first worn in space by U.S. astronaut Scott Carpenter on May 24, 1962 in the Aurora 7 mercury capsule.
Since 1994 Fortis is the exclusive supplier for manned space missions authorized by the Russian Federal Space Agency. China National Space Administration (CNSA) astronauts wear the Fiyta spacewatches. At BaselWorld, 2008, Seiko announced the creation of the first watch ever designed specifically for a space walk, Spring Drive Spacewalk. -wikipedia.org-

The watches for Scuba-diving | water resistant

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Watch for water Sport

Watches may be crafted to become water resistant. These watches are sometimes called diving watches when they are suitable for scuba diving or saturation diving. The International Organization for Standardization issued a standard for water resistant watches which also prohibits the term "waterproof" to be used with watches, which many countries have adopted. Water resistance is achieved by the gaskets which form a watertight seal, used in conjunction with a sealant applied on the case to help keep water out. The material of the case must also be tested in order to pass as water resistant. The watches are tested in theoretical depths, thus a watch with a 50 meter rating will be water resistant if it is stationary and under 50 meters of still water for a set amount of time. The most commonly used method for testing the water resistance is by depressurizing a small chamber containing the watch. A sensor measures the movement of the case and crystal to gauge how much pressure the watch is losing and how fast. The watch never touches water in this type of machine. Another type of machine is used for very deep measure tests, where the watch is immersed in a small container filled with water, this chamber is then submitted to the pressure the watch is supposed to withstand. In neither case is there any variation in the pressure, or is the watch submitted to that pressure for an extended period of time(normally only a couple of minutes). These are the only logical ways to test the water resistance of a watch, since adding variations added by time spent underwater or the movement of the wearers hands would simply make this a very intricate and difficult measurement. Although confusing this is the best way of telling the customer what to expect. For normal use, the ratings must therefore be translated from the pressure the watch can withstand to take into account the extra pressure generated by motion and time spent underwater.

wacth (Digital)

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(time, clock, Watch) DISPLAY : Since the advent of electronic watches that incorporate small computers, digital displays have also been available. A digital display simply shows the time as a number, e.g., 12:08 instead of a short hand pointing towards the number 12 and a long hand 8/60 of the way round the dial. The digital display watch was the newest way to tell time in 500 years.
First digital watch, a Pulsar LED prototype in 1970, was developed jointly by Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data. John Bergey, the head of Hamilton's Pulsar division, said that he was inspired to make a digital timepiece by the then-futuristic digital clock that Hamilton themselves made for the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. On April 4, 1972, the Pulsar was finally ready, made in 18-carat gold and sold for $2,100. It had a red light-emitting diode (LED) display.

Digital LED watches were very expensive and out of reach to the common consumer until 1975, when Texas Instruments started to mass produce LED watches inside a plastic case. These watches, which first retailed for only $20, reduced to $10 in 1976, saw Pulsar lose $6 million and the Pulsar brand sold to Seiko.

Most watches with LED displays required that the user press a button to see the time displayed for a few seconds, because LEDs used so much power that they could not be kept operating continuously. Usually the LED display color would be red. Watches with LED displays were popular for a few years, but soon the LED displays were superseded by liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which used less battery power and were much more convenient in use, with the display always visible and no need to push a button before seeing the time. The first LCD watch with a six-digit LCD was the 1973 Seiko 06LC, although various forms of early LCD watches with a four-digit display were marketed as early as 1972 including the 1972 Gruen Teletime LCD Watch, and the Cox Electronic Systems Quarza.
From the 1980s onward, digital watch technology vastly improved. In 1982 Seiko produced a watch with a small television screen built in, and Casio produced a digital watch with a thermometer as well as another that could translate 1,500 Japanese words into English. In 1985, Casio produced the CFX-400 scientific calculator watch. In 1987 Casio produced a watch that could dial your telephone number and Citizen revealed one that would react to your voice. In 1995 Timex release a watch which allowed the wearer to download and store data from a computer to his wrist. Some watches, such as the Timex Datalink USB, feature dot matrix displays. Since their apex during the late 1980s to mid 1990s high technology fad, digital watches have mostly devolved into a simpler, less expensive basic time piece with little variety between models.
Despite these many advances, almost all watches with digital displays are used as timekeeping watches. Expensive watches for collectors rarely have digital displays since there is little demand for them. Less craftsmanship is required to make a digital watch face and most collectors find that analog dials (especially with complications) vary in quality more than digital dials due to the details and finishing of the parts that make up the dial (thus making the differences between a cheap and expensive watch more evident).

Watch (analog)

2009-07-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

(time, watch, clock machine: Display) Traditionally, watches have displayed the time in analog form, with a numbered dial upon which are mounted at least a rotating hour hand and a longer, rotating minute hand. Many watches also incorporate a third hand that shows the current second of the current minute. Watches powered by quartz usually a have second hand that snaps every second to the next marker. Watches powered by a mechanical movement have a "sweep second hand", the name deriving from its uninterrupted smooth (sweeping) movement across the markers, although this is actually a misnomer; the hand merely moves in smaller steps, typically 1/5th of a second, corresponding to the beat (half period) of the balance wheel. In some escapements (for example the duplex escapement), the hand advances every two beats (full period) of the balance wheel, typically 1/2 second in those watches, or even every four beats (two periods, 1 second), in the double duplex escapement. All of the hands are normally mechanical, physically rotating on the dial, although a few watches have been produced with “hands” that are simulated by a liquid-crystal display.

Analog display of the time is nearly universal in watches sold as jewelry or collectibles, and in these watches, the range of different styles of hands, numbers, and other aspects of the analog dial is very broad. In watches sold for timekeeping, analog display remains very popular, as many people find it easier to read than digital display; but in timekeeping watches the emphasis is on clarity and accurate reading of the time under all conditions (clearly marked digits, easily visible hands, large watch faces, etc.). They are specifically designed for the left wrist with the stem (the knob used for changing the time) on the right side of the watch; this makes it easy to change the time without removing the watch from the hand. This is the case if one is right-handed and the watch is worn on the left wrist (as is traditionally done). If one is left-handed and wears the watch on the right wrist, one has to remove the watch from the wrist to reset the time or to wind the watch.
Analog watches as well as clocks are often marketed showing a display time of approximately 10:09 or 10:10. This creates a visually pleasing smile-like face on upper half of the watch. Digital displays often show a time of 12:38, where the increases in the numbers from left to right culminating in the fully-lit numerical display of the 8 also gives a positive feeling.

Power sources

2009-07-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Mainspring - mechanical watch movements
Traditional mechanical watch movements use a spiral spring called a mainspring as a power source. In manual watches the spring must be rewound by the user periodically by turning the watch crown. Antique pocketwatches were wound by inserting a separate key into a hole in the back of the watch and turning it. Most modern watches are designed to run 40 hours on a winding, so must be wound daily, but some run for several days and a few have 192-hour mainsprings and are wound weekly.
Automatic watch
A self-winding or automatic mechanism is one that rewinds the mainspring of a mechanical movement by the natural motions of the wearer's body. The first self-winding mechanism, for pocketwatches, was invented in 1770 by Abraham-Louis Perrelet, but the first "self-winding," or "automatic," wristwatch was the invention of a British watch repairer named John Harwood in 1923. This type of watch allows for a constant winding without special action from the wearer: it works by an eccentric weight, called a winding rotor, which rotates with the movement of the wearer's wrist.
Some electronic watches are also powered by the movement of the wearer of the watch. Kinetic powered quartz watches make use of the motion of the wearer's arm turning a rotating weight, which turns a generator to supply power to charge a rechargeable battery that runs the watch. The concept is similar to that of self-winding spring movements, except that electrical power is generated instead of mechanical spring tension.
Electronic watches require electricity as a power source. Some mechanical movements and hybrid electronic-mechanical movements also require electricity. Usually the electricity is provided by a replaceable battery. The first use of electrical power in watches was as substitute for the mainspring, in order to remove the need for winding. The first electrically-powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, was released in 1957 by the Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Watch batteries (strictly speaking cells, a battery is composed of multiple cells) are specially designed for their purpose. They are very small and provide tiny amounts of power continuously for very long periods (several years or more). In most cases, replacing the battery requires a trip to a watch-repair shop or watch dealer; this is especially true for watches that are designed to be water-resistant, as special tools and procedures are required to ensure that the watch remains water-resistant after battery replacement. Silver-oxide and lithium batteries are popular today; mercury batteries, formerly quite common, are no longer used, for environmental reasons. Cheap batteries may be alkaline, of the same size as silver-oxide but providing shorter life. Rechargeable batteries are used in some solar powered watches
Solar powered watches are powered by light. A photovoltaic cell on the face (dial) of the watch converts light to electricity, which in turn is used to charge a rechargeable battery or capacitor. The movement of the watch draws its power from the rechargeable battery or capacitor. As long as the watch is regularly exposed to fairly strong light (such as sunlight), it never needs battery replacement, and some models need only a few minutes of sunlight to provide weeks of energy (as in the Citizen Eco-Drive).

Movement of watch

2009-07-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

A movement in watchmaking is the mechanism that measures the passage of time and displays the current time. Most watches intended mainly for timekeeping today have electronic movements, with mechanical hands on the face of the watch indicating the time.
Watch with Mechanical movements
Mechanical movements use an escapement mechanism to control and limit the unwinding of the spring, converting what would otherwise be a simple unwinding, into a controlled and periodic energy release. Mechanical movements also use a balance wheel together with the balance spring (also known as a hairspring) to control motion of the gear system of the watch in a manner analogous to the pendulum of a pendulum clock. The tourbillon, an optional part for mechanical movements, is a rotating frame for the escapement which is used to cancel out or reduce the effects of bias to the timekeeping of gravitational origin. Due to the complexity designing a tourbillon, they are very expensive, and only foun in "prestige" watches. The pin-lever (also called Roskopf movement after its inventor, Georges Frederic Roskopf), is a cheaper version of the fully levered movement which was manufactured in huge quantities by many Swiss manufacturers as well as Timex, until it was replaced by quartz movements.
Wacth Electronic movements
Electronic movements have few or no moving parts, as they use the piezoelectric effect in a tiny quartz crystal to provide a stable time base for a mostly electronic movement. The crystal forms a quartz oscillator which resonates at a specific and highly stable frequency, and which can be used to accurately pace a timekeeping mechanism. For this reason, electronic watches are often called quartz watches. Most quartz movements are primarily electronic but are geared to drive mechanical hands on the face of the watch in order to provide a traditional analog display of the time, which is still preferred by most consumers.
The first prototypes of electronic quartz watches were made by the CEH research laboratory in Switzerland in 1962. The first quartz watch to enter production was the Seiko 35 SQ Astron, which appeared in 1969. Modern quartz movements are produced in very large quantities, and even the cheapest wristwatches typically have quartz movements. Whereas mechanical movements can typically be off by several seconds a day, an inexpensive quartz movement in a child's wristwatch may still be accurate to within half a second per day—ten times better than a mechanical movement. Some watchmakers combine the quartz and mechanical movements, such as the Seiko Spring Drive, introduced in 2005.

Watch Now (time)

2009-07-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

A watch is a timepiece,..In addition to the time, modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions. Most Wacht inexpensive and medium-priced watches used mainly for timekeeping are electronic watches with quartz movements. Expensive, collectible watches valued more for their workmanship and aesthetic appeal than for simple timekeeping, often have purely mechanical movements and are powered by springs, even though mechanical movements are less accurate than more affordable quartz movements.
Modern (new) watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions.
All watches provide the time of day, giving at least the hour and minute, and usually the second. Most also provide the current date, and often the day of the week as well. However, many watches also provide a great deal of information beyond the basics of time and date. Some watches include alarms. Other elaborate and more expensive watches, both pocket and wrist models, also incorporate striking mechanisms or repeater functions, so that the wearer could learn the time by the sound emanating from the watch. This announcement or striking feature is an essential characteristic of true clocks and distinguishes such watches from ordinary timepieces. This feature is available on most digital watches.

A complicated watch has one or more functions beyond the basic function of displaying the time and the date; such a functionality is called a complication. Two popular complications are the chronograph complication, which is the ability of the watch movement to function as a stopwatch, and the moonphase complication, which is a display of the lunar phase. Other more expensive complications include Tourbillion, Perpetual calendar, Minute repeater, and Equation of time. A truly complicated watch has many of these complications at once (see Calibre 89 from Patek Philippe for instance). Among watch enthusiasts, complicated watches are especially collectible. Some watches include a second 12-hour display for UTC (as Pontos Grand Guichet GMT).
The similar-sounding terms chronograph and chronometer are often confused, although they mean altogether different things. A chronograph has a stopwatch complication, as explained above, while a chronometer watch has a high quality mechanical or a thermo-compensated quartz movement that has been tested and certified to operate within a certain standard of accuracy by the COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres). The concepts are different but not mutually exclusive; so a watch can be a chronograph, a chronometer, both, or neither.

History of wach

2009-06-26T00:23:00.000-07:00

... History of wach
Better materials: 1900
During the 20th century, the mechanical design of the watch became standardized, and advances were made in better materials, tighter tolerances, and improved production methods. The bimetallic temperature compensated balance wheel was made obsolete by the discovery of low temperature coefficient alloys invar and elinvar. A balance wheel of invar with a spring of elinvar was almost unaffected by temperature changes, so it replaced the complicated temperature compensated balance. The discovery in 1903 of a process to produce artificial sapphire made jewelling cheap. Bridge construction superseded 3/4 plate construction.
Wristwatches: 1920
Before World War I only women wore wristwatches, they were considered 'unmanly'. Wristwatches became fashionable as a result of their use by soldiers in WW1, who needed access to their watches while their hands were full. These first wristwatches, called 'trench watches', were made with pocketwatch movements, so they were large and bulky and had the crown at the 12 o'clock position like pocketwatches. After the war pocketwatches went out of fashion and by 1930 the ratio of wrist- to pocketwatches was 50 to 1. The first successful self-winding system was invented by John Harwood in 1923.

Electric watches: 1950
The first generation electric watches came out during this period. These kept time with a balance wheel powered by a solenoid, or in a few advanced watches that foreshadowed the quartz watch, by a steel tuning fork vibrating at 360 Hz, powered by a solenoid driven by a transistor oscillator circuit. The hands were still moved mechanically by a wheel train. In mechanical watches the self winding mechanism, shockproof balance pivots, and break resistant 'white metal' mainsprings became standard. The jewel craze caused 'jewel inflation' and 100 jewel watches were made.

Quartz watches: 1969
The introduction of the quartz watch in 1969 was a revolutionary improvement in watch technology. In place of a balance wheel which oscillated at 5 beats per second, it used a quartz crystal resonator which vibrated at 32,768 Hz, driven by a battery powered oscillator circuit. In place of a wheel train to add up the beats into seconds, minutes, and hours, it used digital counters. The higher Q factor of the resonator, along with quartz's low temperature coefficient, resulted in better accuracy than the best mechanical watches, while the elimination of all moving parts made the watch more shock-resistant and eliminated the need for periodic cleaning.

Accuracy increased with the frequency of the crystal used, but so did power consumption. So the first generation watches had frequencies of a few kilohertz, limiting their accuracy. The power saving use of CMOS logic and LCD displays in the 2nd generation increased battery life and allowed the crystal frequency to be increased to 32,768 Hz resulting in accuracy of 5–10 seconds per month. By the 1980s, quartz watches had taken over most of the watch market from the mechanical watch industry.

Wacth

2009-06-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

... History of Wacth
The balance spring: 1657
A great leap forward in accuracy occurred in 1657 with the addition of the balance spring to the balance wheel by Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens. Prior to this, the only force limiting the back and forth motion of the balance wheel under the force of the escapement was the wheel's inertia. This caused the wheel's period to be very sensitive to the force of the mainspring. The balance spring made the balance wheel a harmonic oscillator, with a natural 'beat' resistant to disturbances. This increased watches' accuracy enormously, from perhaps several hours per day to perhaps 10 minutes per day, resulting in the addition of the minute hand to the face around 1700. The increased accuracy of the balance wheel focused attention on errors caused by other parts of the movement, igniting a two century wave of watchmaking innovation. The first thing to be improved was the escapement. The verge escapement was replaced in quality French watches by the cylinder escapement, invented by Thomas Tompion in 1695. In Britain quality watches went to the duplex escapement, invented by Jean Baptiste Dutertre in 1724. The advantage of these escapements was that they only gave the balance wheel a short push in the middle of its swing, leaving it 'detached' from the escapement to swing back and forth undisturbed during most of its cycle.

Temperature compensation and chronometers: 1765
The Enlightenment view of watches as scientific instruments brought rapid advances to their mechanisms. The development during this period of accurate marine chronometers to determine longitude during sea voyages produced many technological advances that were later used in watches. It was found that a major cause of error in balance wheel timepieces was changes in elasticity of the balance spring with temperature changes. This problem was solved by the bimetallic temperature compensated balance wheel invented in 1765 by Pierre Le Roy and improved by Thomas Earnshaw. This type of balance wheel had two semicircular arms made of a bimetallic construction. If the temperature rose, the arms bent inward slightly, causing the balance wheel to rotate faster back and forth, compensating for the slowing due to the weaker balance spring. This system, which could reduce temperature induced error to a few seconds per day, gradually began to be used in watches over the next hundred years.

The going barrel invented in 1760 by Jean-Antoine Lépine provided a more constant drive force over the watch's running period, and its adoption in the 1800s made the fusee obsolete. Complicated pocket chronometers and astronomical watches with many hands and functions were made during this period.

Lever escapement: 1800
The lever escapement, invented by Thomas Mudge in 1759 and improved by Josiah Emery in 1785, in this century replaced other escapements until from 1900 on it was used in almost every watch made. In this escapement the escape wheel pushed on a T shaped 'lever', which was unlocked as the balance wheel swung through its center position and gave the wheel a brief push before releasing it. The advantages of the lever was that it allowed the balance wheel to swing completely free during most of its cycle; due to 'locking' and 'draw' its action was very precise; and it was self-starting, so if the balance wheel was stopped by a jar it would start again.

Mass production: 1850
Watch manufacture changed from assembly in watchmaking shops to mass production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Georges-Auguste Leschott. The railroads' stringent requirements for accurate watches to safely schedule trains drove improvements in accuracy. Temperature compensated balance wheels began to be widely used in watches during this period, as well as jewel bearings, introduced in 1702 by Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. Techniques for adjusting the balance spring for isochronism and positional errors discovered by Abraham Breguet, M. Phillips, and L. Lossier were adopted. By 1900, with these advances, the accuracy of quality watches, properly adjusted, topped out at a few seconds per day.

Key winding was replaced by keyless winding, where the watch was wound by turning the crown. The pin pallet escapement, an inexpensive version of the lever escapement invented in 1876 by Georges Frederic Roskopf was used in cheap mass produced dollar watches, which allowed ordinary workers to own a watch for the first time.