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Tuesday 27 July 2010

New Rolex Submariner for 2010

Rolex have finally updated the design of the Submariner for 2010 and it is a fresh but no less captivating design. Keeping within the same dimensions of the original they have added a few curves here and there to make it immediately identifiable as a new model.


Further related reading:


New WATCH RADAR is online

The new look Watch Radar blog is now online. I hope it offers a better user experience for the readers. Enjoy!

Monday 26 July 2010

New WATCH RADAR - Under Construction

In the next few days I will be making some much needed changes to the design of the blog so that it is alot clearer and easier for the reader to use and navigate around. I will also be adding some new features.

Back to normal very soon. Thank you.

Sunday 25 July 2010

WATCH BRAND FOCUS - Tag Heuer Monaco Porsche Club of America

A new year, a new Tag Heuer Monaco model, which can't be a bad thing. It is a classic after all. Expect pricing around $5,500 and arrival in September 2010. Enjoy.

Monday 19 July 2010

WATCH INDUSTRY FOCUS - Glaschutte

GLASHUTTE Some may be forgiven for thinking that quality watchmaking begins and ends in Swizterland. After all, the 'Swiss Made' monocle is the first sign of assurance most people look for when judging the quality of a timepiece. What they don't realise is that there are thriving watch making industries in several countries and the output, alot of the time is comparable to, and occasionally surpasses, 'Swiss Made' products. One such place is Galshutte in Germany. A sleepy town in the hills of Saxon Germany with a population of less than 5000. The kind of town you drive through to get somewhere else.

The town itself may be inconspicuous but the watches made there are far from that. In fact looking for 'Made in Germany' or specifically just the words 'Glashutte' on a watch dial gives similar quality assurances than the Swiss equivalent over the border. You may only print Glashutte on your dial if 50% of the value of the watch has arisen from work carried out in the towns uhrenwerks (watch factories).

A. Lange & Sohne, Galshutte Original, Union Glashutte, Muhle Glashutte, Nomos and Wempe are all conceived, developed and assembled in this sleepy town in the hills. This achievement is quite incredible. 120,000 watches per year are born here.

A LANGE & SOHNE Founded in 1845, A Lange & Sohne is Glashutte's, and therefore Germany's, most celebrated brand (note that Glashutte Original may take offence to this statement). The last 20 years have seen the brand rise from a derelict factory in Glashutte to what it is today through the help of the Swiss watchmaker IWC and the descendants of the company's founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange. A Lange & Sohne is now part of the Richemont Group. With their financial backing it continues to successfully increase its brand awareness and popularity as a luxury watchmaker.



GLASHUTTE ORIGINAL In 1994, engineer Heinz W. Pfeiffer created Glashutte Original from scratch after sacking the entire workforce of its previous incarnation, Glashutte, and starting again with just 50 employees. To this day they are one of the few watchmakers, anywhere in the world, to develop and use there own movements. This fact in itself marks them out as a luxury brand watchmaker of the highest order. Galshutte Original starting fellow Glashutte brand; Union (see below) in the late 1990s. In 2000 both companies where bought by the Swatch Group.



UNION GLASHUTTE This watchmaker was started out of the need for Glashutte Original to expand into a perhaps more lucrative, 'value for money' sector. A sector that would not directly complete with its current product whilst allowing the company to increase sales volume. Union is probably the least well known of the Glashutte watchmakers along with Muhle Glashutte. The aim of Union was to produce quality watches at reasonable prices, saving on materials and decoration. While they have been successful in this, the company seems to have taken a back seat in development as its older brother flourishes.



MUHLE GLASHUTTE A smaller, lesser celebrated brand in the town is Muhle. Originally founded in 1869, like most of the other Glashutte brands, it was only until the fall of the Berlin wall that the company resurfaced. In 1994 Hans Jurgen Muhle, grand nephew of the founder, started Nautische Instrument Muhle Glashutte which began producing ships' chronometers. In 1995 the company produced its first wristwatch using automatic movements from ETA in Switzerland. The company now produces 10,000 watches per year whilst still making nautical and shipping instruments.



NOMOS The watchmaker as we know it today started in Glashutte in 1991 by Roland Schwertner. An interesting side-note however is that it was originally a Glashutte company as early as the the beginning of the 20th century. The company used to import Swiss watches and rebrand them with the Glashutte monocle. A Lange & Sohne, having gotten wind of this, sued the company and Nomos went out of business in 1910. The 'new' Nomos watches are immediately recognisable as pieces of elegant and distinctive design in the Bauhaus style. Like Galshutte Original, Nomos produce their own movements in house.



WEMPE First and foremost Wempe is a celebrated jeweller and watch retailer with outlets around the world. They have, however, always been involved in timing instruments and manufactured for the shipping and nautical industries. This allowed them to become a manufacturer of movements and with this knowledge they produced their own wristwatch in 1997. The product line has grown steadily since then and they now market a number of own brand watches fitted with quartz and automatic movements from the likes of Unitas, Valjoux and ETA. Their flagship range of watches are in the Wempe Chronometerwerke line. Uniquely, the movements found in these watches are designed especially for them by fellow Glashutte watchmaker Nomos.



If there was ever a single mecca for the watch industry, it would have to be Glashutte. A town that pretty much only exists to create watches. They might not have the universal recognition or reputation of their Swiss counterparts but there is definitely a certain romance to the Glashutte story. This, along with the passion and quality of the watchmaking itself, marks out the Saxon Germanic town as a true master of watchmaking past, present and future.

Monday 7 June 2010

WATCH INNOVATION FOCUS - Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos clocks

JAEGER-LeCOULTRE ATMOS Unless you studied physics or engineering at University the technology behind Atmos clocks sounds a bit like science fiction. It is however fairly simple. Basically, the mechanism uses changes in atmospheric temperature and pressure to expand and contract springs and coils suspended in a vacuum to wind the mainspring. A temperature change of only one degree or a pressure change of 3 mmHg is enough to keep the clock ticking for two days. It's pretty much perpetual motion at work.


The Atmos clock was invented by Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1932 although clocks that used temperature and pressure changes to run were being made as early as the 17th century. 


Australian designer Marc Newson has reinvented the Atmos clock for the 20th century. The Atmos 566 is housed in a hand blown baccarat crystal cocoon. The blue version is a limited edition of 18 and costs £78,500 ($113,000). 


Tuesday 25 May 2010

WATCH BRAND FOCUS - Xetum

XETUM Founded by Jeff Kuo and based in California, Xetum watches are in fact assembled in the Jura Valley, Switzerland, allowing them to display that all important 'SWISS' or 'SWISS MADE' monocle on their dials. There are currently two models in the collection. The Tyndall and Stinson both honest in their simplicity but still different enough to warrant attention.


The cases are all stainless steel with sapphire crystal (AR coated). Movements are either ETA 2824-2 or 2895-2. Prices start at $995. Good luck to Xetum.


Website: http://www.xetum.com

WATCH BRAND WEBSITE LINKS

The watch brand links in the sidebar have been updated. If you spot any that are missing please get in touch. Thank you.

Sunday 23 May 2010

WATCH BRAND FOCUS - Nixie Watch

NIXIE WATCH Weekends around here are always a bit slow so I thought I'd showcase something a bit different. Some of you may have crossed paths with this watch on slow 'browsing' days. I first came across this last year and thought I'd go back for a second look today. The Nixie Watch is unlike any other wristwatch you've ever seen. It uses Nixie tubes to display the time and is powered by a standard CR2 camera battery. All this is encased in a custom made anodised aluminium case. Want to know how Nixie tubes work? Click here for the details. To display the time, in 12 or 24 hour mode, just tilt the watch towards you and it will glow into action.


This is not a watch for introverted people. It is 55mm in diameter. If you are going to attempt to wear this watch in public then puff out your chest, stand up tall and show it off with confidence. Act any other way and people may just think your a nut or that you have a bomb strapped to your wrist. I certainly wouldn't recommend walking through customs with one of these on. You don't need the hassle.

Friday 21 May 2010

WATCH MOVEMENT FOCUS - Seiko Spring Drive

SEIKO If you have 8.43mins to spare and want to know the history of the Seiko Spring Drive movement then take a look at this video. Foward to 4.05mins for a great animation explaining exactly how this revolutionary movement works. It's worth it.


Wednesday 19 May 2010

WATCH INDUSTRY FOCUS - The 'Swiss Military'...



MILITARY OF SWITZERLAND Here's what you need to know about the military of Switzerland. Because Switzerland is a neutral country the army does not take part in any kind of armed conflicts. In recent history there have even been attempts to abolish the armed forces all together, after all why spend billions maintaining a military if you're never going to call on them to fire a weapon in anger.

As a watch enthusiast, if you did not already know this fact about the Swiss military, you could be forgiven for thinking the Swiss had one of the biggest most well equipped and active armed forces in the world. After all, look at some of the marketing pictures the 'Swiss military' watch companies use to advertise their products. The picture below even shows two subamrines flanking a photos of a Swiss Military watch, and this for a country with no coastline.


Honowa Swiss Military, Vicotrinox Swiss Army, Wenger, Swiss Military and Swiss Defender. All Swiss watchmakers claiming a lucrative piece of the Swiss military watch market. Some of the names these watchmakers call their models strengthens the already tenuous military link further; Commando, Delta Force, Luftwaffe, Maverick... In Maverick, they even reference the film 'Top Gun' in naming a pilots watch.

When it comes to military watches, in my opinion, nothing sells better than knowing a timepiece is actually being used somewhere in the world by a soldier, pilot or military diver, positively supporting their ability to perform duties in the toughest conditions. Buy a Swiss military watch, and, while you might be very happy with the aesthetic, value and overall quality of the timepiece, there may always be that lingering thought in the back of your mind that what you're wearing is just a clever marketing exercise, build up on false pretences.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

HALL OF FAME - 'Seiko Diver'

'SEIKO DIVER' Ask any enthusiast about the 'Seiko Diver' and I guarantee a majority will know exactly the model your talking about. The truth is there have been many different incarnations of the 'Seiko Diver' but the model most will be familiar with, visually, is the SKX007 (below). For quite a few of us it would have been one of the first, if not the first, 'proper' watch we owned. This was a watch to be worn with pride, a watch that was really worth considerably more than most of us paid for it (thanks to eBay and the Asian grey market). You would find a 'Seiko Diver' on the wrist of both men and women, on people whose other watches were Daytonas or Speedmasters and of course, at one point or another, on the wrist of many of you reading this right now.


The 'Diver' monocle pretty much covered all Seiko models that were water resistant to depths of 150m or 200m. The 150m models ran from 1965 to the late 1980s when they were replaced with a 200m depth rating. Aesthetically nothing changed much during this time, the odd bulge here and a sharper line there, the watches were always loyal to the original design. In recent times Seiko have released some pretenders to the 'Diver' name such as the 'Monster' (below) and the 'Samurai' and although they have their own charms none can beat the pure simplicity and classic presence of the original.


In the last five years or so these watches have seen a massive increase in popularity. Although Seiko still sell an updated range of Divers it is not in fact these that are driving up popularity. It is the older models collectors and enthusiasts are scrambling to get their hands on. Models such as the 6105-8110 and the 6309-7040 'Cushion Case', both from the 1970s and early 1980s, are increasingly becoming hard to track down as their popularity snowballs.

The popularity is largerly due to the recent phenomenon that is 'Diver' modifying (an example of this can be seen below). In simple terms, you buy a clapped out 'Seiko Diver', strip it down, replace pretty much every single part that you can remove and what you're left with is a 'Diver Mod', a highly sought after unique 'Seiko Diver' designed to your exacting taste and specification. You want a bright yellow dial, green 'Submariner-style' hands and a red bezel insert? It is all available at the click of a button. In most cases, if you have steady hands and are prepared to study numerous online how-to guides, you can fit all these after market parts yourself.


To alot of Seiko purists, taking a classic like the 6309-7040 'Cushion Case' and stripping it down is sacrilege. This is why you'll find the prices for these Divers becoming increasingly inflated as you have two sides of the 'Diver' enthusiast spectrum, the modders and the purists, fighting over the same watch for very different reasons.

In five years time it will be the 50 anniversary of the original 'Seiko Diver', the 6217-8000. My guess it that by the time this landmark comes around, in 2015, the 'Seiko Diver' will never have been so popular.

Further reference:


Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum (SCWF): http://www.thewatchsite.com/index.php

Noah Fuller webstore : http://www.10watches.com/

Tuesday 11 May 2010

WATCH BRAND WEBSITE LINKS

The Watch Brand Links in the sidebar have been comprehensively updated. The aim of the list is to provide readers with the ultimate one stop shop for brand websites. The links will be continually updated.

If you know of any brands that are missing or would like your brands' website added please get in touch or leave a comment.

Monday 10 May 2010

WATCH INNOVATION FOCUS - Scuderia Ferrari One by Cabestan


CABESTAN When it comes to innovation, the watch industry seems to be in overdrive at the moment. Like the Devon Tread 1 and the De Grisogono Meccanico DG before it (see Blog entry below) the Cabestan Scuderia Ferrari One is truly innovative. On the outside it's a pleasing visual homage to the Ferrari brand with carbon fibre elements and the proud prancing horse at its centre. On the inside however it is a precision engineering marvel.


The movement (designed in house) is a vertically mounted tourbillon. Take a second just to look at it.........

The Suderia Ferrari One is designed by Jean Francois Ruchonnet for Cabestan. The movement is chain driven with very small and intricate hand crafted links. Think bicycle chain only smaller. Alot smaller. The watch is limited to 60 units and is only being offered to current Ferrari customers at a cost of $300,000. The price is pretty ridiculous for any luxury item let alone a wristwatch, however there's no denying it is truly a unique piece of engineering and pairing it with the Ferrari brand seems to be a match made in heaven.

Saturday 8 May 2010

WATCH FORUM FOCUS - Poor Mans Watch Forum (PMWF), Time Zone, Watchuseek

Watch forums (fora) are essential sites for anyone looking to buy, query or just discuss watches. Forum members are fellow watch enthusiasts and their collective knowledge pool is indispensable. Here are three of the best:

POOR MAN'S' WATCH FORM (PMWF) The essential starting point for all watch beginners. If your looking for added value in a watch then this is the place to gather and discuss. From Seiko to Orient to G-Shock and the like this is the place to be. You'll also find a dedicated Sales forum.



TIMEZONE If you don't want to mix with us riff-raff or couldn't even comprehend discussing the merits of the $30 watch you bought in a garage sale then this is the forum for you. The members here are more likely to concern themselves with Speedmasters and Navitimers than Monsters and Mudmen. Saying that however, the advice dished out is no less knowledgable or compehensive. You'll also find brand specific forums for the likes of Bell & Ross, Breitling, IWC and Omega amougnst others as well as a sales forum.



WATCHUSEEK The king of the watch forums. If you only ever use one watch forum in your life, this has to be your first and final destination. It encompasses all that you'll find in both PMWF and TIMEZONE whilst managing to expand on them further, alot further. There's no point in listing all that Watchuseek offers, just go and look for yourself, you won't be disappointed. Quite simply, the best reference for watch enthusiasts anywhere on the planet.


Friday 7 May 2010

WATCH BRAND FOCUS - PyroLume

PYROLUME WATCH WORKS LLC Look at a PyroLume watch in daylight and you would be forgiven for dismissing it as a ordinary 'asian sourced', 'western branded' timepiece. In fading light however, these instuments come alive. The machined dial designs and the lume emanating from beneath, although not to everyones tastes, are what make PyroLume unique in their execution and aesthetic.


The watches are designed, machined (the dials are machined in house) and hand essembled in New Jersey by a practicing Anesthesiologist. The lume is bought in from Switzerland and the US and formulated to get the exacting colour required. A hobby that has escalated into a full blown startup and one that looks to have already gained a following. The cases incude stainless steel, carbon fibre and titanium housing both mechanical and quartz asian movements (most likely sourced from SeaGull and Miyota) Rrices range from $350-$700.

Are they to my taste? No, not particularly. Would I buy one? No, probably not. Are they fresh and unique? Absolutely!

Official website: http://www.pyrolume.com/.

There is also a dedicated PyroLume forum over at Watchuseek: Watchuseek PyroLume Forum.

WATCH INNOVATION FOCUS - Devon Tread 1, De Grisongono Meccanica DG



DEVON Called Tread 1 (above), Devon's first timepiece represents a fresh take on the watchmaking industry. The movement – inspired by motorcycles and developed with input from the aerospace industry –encompasses four microstep motors driving fibreglass-reinforced nylon belts that measure 2/1000ths of an inch thick, powered by a rechargeable lithium polymer cell with two weeks' worth of power reserve. An on-board microprocessor monitors the movement's accuracy. No price or production details have been released.




DE GRISOGONO The Meccanico DG (above) was released last year but while we're all salivating over the Devon Tread 1 we might as well revisit what still is a masterpiece in watch design and innovation. The Meccanico DG has s a 100% mechanical movement designed in house at De Grisogono that runs dual timezone analogue and digital displays. The mechanically operated digital display of the second timezone shows tens of hours, single hours, tens of minutes and single minutes, all displayed by mobile microsegments driven by an assemblage of 23 cams connected to a set of gears and a triggering and synchronization system. The time information is displayed by an array of 23 horizontally and vertically positioned microsegments.........i could go on but you get the idea. It's very clever. If you want one your probably too late. Only 177 were made in its original run at a cost of around $350,000.


Official Website: http://www.degrisogono.com