Watch Review

Breuget Double Tourbillon Watch
We've seen some gorgeous watches from Breguet before but this one is worthy of note . The Ref. 5347 is their latest "Grande Complication" and features two tourbillons which work independently of each other and turn around the dial every 12 hours. The in-house movement has 570 parts. The watch has a 44mm platinum case with front and back sapphire crystals. The watch sells for 300,000 Euros. As Alberto from The Purists noted in his review from Basel, this watch is really thick and therefore lacking some of the grace of other Breugets but given the intricacies of this watch, I think the artists of Breguet can be forgiven for needing a bit of room to work.

Quadtec Digital Watch
I'm not often a fan of digital watches but the quadtec by berj terzian and ra brodmann is rather fetching. The quadtec shows quarterly time periods which move around the hour centered in the watch face. The watch can show three displays: elapsed forward: minutes displayed in quarters and after half hour minutes are displayed as 'approaching' the next hour; elapsed segmented: quarterly segments of past minutes travelling aroung the current hour or elapsed unified: stationary. The watch comes with three straps stainless steel, black leather, and orange silicone with tools and an instruction manual. It sells for $490 and the case is available in matte or mirror stainless steel.

Limes Endurance 1000 GMT3 Watch
How low can you go? The Endurance 1000 GMT3 watch is water resistant to 1,000 meters (that's over a half a mile under water) and also tells the time in three different timezones. It uses an automatic ETA caliber 2893-2 movement which beats at 28,800 bph with 21 jewels. The home time zone is read in the usual manner and the other two times are determined on two different scales on the dial and the rotating bezel with the red GMT hand. The GMT3 also has a white 60min scale with luminous marker to help it function as a diver¹s watch. The watch is available with a leather strap with rubber lining, a solid rubber strap, or a stainless steel bracelet and sells for $1,195 to $1,395.

Timex Tide and Temperature Watches
The newest watches in the Timex Expedition series are the Tide and Temperature watches. They use a proprietary technology for a dedicated fourth hand that alerts the user of tidal trend, or the current air or water temperature with the push of a button. The watch has a night light, temperature sensor and tide tracking indicator. Perfect for swimmers, surfers and sailors, it's water resistant to 100 meters and has a silicone strap. It sells for $120.

What's tougher than titanium? This manly watch comes from the usually genteel and jewel-heavy Harry Winston line. It is made from the super tough metal Zalium. The case is a wrist-weighing 44 mm and has a mechanical self-winding tourbillon movement HW401A that beats at 28,800 v.p.h. The watch was created with watch hunk Peter Speake-Marin and has off-centered hours and minutes. This sporty tourbillon is water resistant and has a black dial with Superluminova blue hands and numbers, sapphire crystal front and back and a rubber strap.

Hublot Bigger Bang Watch
The latest innovation from Hublot is the world's first tourbillon column-wheel chronograph. The sequel to their popular Big Bang watch, the Bigger Bang has a direct coupling on a flying tourbillon cage. The chronograph mechanism and column-wheel are visible via the dial at 12.00 o’clock. The watch has a dial-side column-wheel chronograph and flying tourbillon housed in a 13mm diameter cage without ball bearings. The watch has 262 components and the tourbillon is fitted with 33 rubies and a circular-grained right bottom plate decorated in black gold, The watch is available in three versions of 18 pieces each, there is a platinum case with a black ceramic bezel, an 18K red gold chase with a black ceramic bezel and an all back ceramic version.

Omega James Bond Watch
In the James Bond books by Ian Fleming, Bond wore a Rolex but for the past few movies, Bond's been an Omega man. Pierce Brosnan wore an Omega Seamaster Professional Diver in his James Bond movies (Brosnan was also an Omega spokesperson). Omega has released two James Bond watches before and the one shown above, the new Omega Seamaster James Bond Limited Edition is one of the first James Bond watches to be equipped with the co-axial escapement. The 41mm stainless steel watch uses the automatic Omega caliber 2500. The dial features the James Bond logo and the second hand has the 007 gun logo on one side. The watch is a "limited edition" of 10,007 pieces. I wonder if this means that Daniel Craig will be sporting an Omega in the new James Bond movie.

Are Wristwatches Being Phased Out?
The LA Times has an interesting article on the future of watches. With cell phones, iPods and computers all telling time do we still need wristwatches? The results of sales data seem to indicate that for the most part cheaper watches are the ones that are most likely to be phased out. Digital watches in particular no longer sell well and for the youth the watch can sometimes seem an antiquated gadget. Last year, the number of people who bought non-luxury watches dropped 12% from 2004, according to a market research group. The runaway favorite brand for teens, A consumer tracking group did find that the number of people buying watches that cost more than $1,000 dropped only 2% last year.

Is the watch being phased out? It's an interesting topic in light of the fact that the big watch and jewelry shows, Baselworld and SIHH just took place. A record 94,200 visitors (up 5% from last year) recently attended BaselWorld 2006, an eight-day watch and jewelry exhibition and 13,000 showed up at SIHH. It seems that the future of the watch industry lies in the watches that are prized for more than just telling time but instead offer status (through recognizable brands), craftsmanship (tourbillons and watches with many complications) or the chance to accessorize with a noticeable and showy piece of jewelry. I think this is why the prestige watchmakers have been making case sizes larger and larger. For the watch collector or aficionado replacing a watch with a cell phone ins unthinkable.

Michele Seaside Collection Watches
The new Seaside Collection of watches from Michele is perfect for summer. The 36mm stainless steel watches feature either a dolphin, seahorse or starfish cavorting across a pink, blue or white dial. The watches have diamond markers and diamond details on the enamel dials. The strap is made of vibrantly colored stingray but can be switched out for a rubber strap for swimming. The watch sells for $1295.

IWC Saint Exupery Watch
You are most likely familiar with Antoine de Saint Exupéry as the author of the children's book "The Little Prince" but he was also an adventurer and pilot. Watch company IWC Schaffhausen celebrates the man known as Saint-Ex with a special edition of their mechanical Pilot's Chronograph. The Special Edition Antoine de Saint Exupéry has a brown dial (yes, another brown watch) and offers special protection against magnetic fields. The case-back has an engraving of the man himself. The edition is limited to 1,931 watches, 1,630 in stainless steel, 250 in rose gold, 50 in white gold and one platinum watch which will be auctioned for the benefit of the "Vol de Nuit /Vuelo Nocturno" association which takes care of neglected children in Argentina.

Burberry Endurance Watches
You don't think of the Burberry set as being the rough-and-tumble crowd but their Endurance watches make a strong argument for manliness. It's not as big as the Hublot Big Bang, but at 42mm across the Burberry Expedition Antarctica Big Date is no shrimp. All the Endurance watches feature a map of the continent (buy now before global warming changes the landscape). This watch has a rubber wristband and a Swiss Ronda quartz movement with a big-date feature and sells for $475.

Corum Gipsy Moth IV Watch
We've written about the Gipsy Moth IV before, now Corum has created a watch to celebrate the classic yacht's return to the sea. Corum also helped sponsor the restoration of this vintage yacht. They have made a limited edition of 250 of the watch. The case is available in 18kt yellow, white or rose gold and measures 44mm. The front has a sapphire crystal and the back has a sapphire anchor-shaped window and the engraved profile of Sir Francis Chichester, the man who took the yacht on its first round-the-world voyage. The dial features the continents and a recreation of the original route of the Gypsy Moth IV and the bidirectional bezel features sailing indications.

Meow! The Charriol Kucha watch is designed for women with a love of feline style. The word Kucha is Swahili for claws and it has diamond set claws curving over the stainless steel case. The watch has four dial variations with matching straps: panther, tiger, white or pink mother of pearl. It sells for $1.340 and was chosen as the ladies watch of the year for 2005 by Swiss watch magazines Montres Passion and Uhren Welt. I wonder what watches it beat out since this particular style isn't quite working for me.

The DBS watch from Swiss company De Bethune is probably the most elegant moonphase watch I have ever seen. The platinum watch (45 x 42.5 mm) has a hand-winding mechanical movement. It shows the hours, minutes and its coolest feature is the revolving moon function. The watch has blued steel hands and there is a 192-hour power reserve on the caseback. The watch has a crocodile strap and is also available in white gold.

Who says a watch dial has to have a 360º dial? The Sectora watch from Jean d’Eve has hour and minute hands that move over a 120º angle. Their latest model is a new automatic version which uses a modified automatic ETA caliber 2892 movement. The case is stainless steel and it has a sapphire crystal. The Jean d'Eve website has a neat animated gif that shows this unique watch in action (when it hits the hour mark it dramatically snaps back to the start).

Bathys Hawaii has a new (It's really their only watch, so "new" fits only technically) dive watch out, the 100 Fathoms. Styling is similar to a Panerai Luminor Marina, but at the same time, unique. At even a cursory look, it is easily recognizable as a diver's dream watch. When I dive, I wear my Oakley Timebomb, and the numbers are not nearly large enough. The 100 Fathoms addresses this problem by only displaying even numbers, and displaying them in a HUGE font. Hands are proportionately large, as is the date. It comes with both leather and rubber straps, so you won't look like a complete dork if you wear it in public. WristWatchReview totally loves it, I may have to go find out for myself.

Longines Watches For Baselworld 2006
Longines is showing off four main models at BaselWorld. Longines isn't one of the companies that produces intricate whirling tourbillons, massive bulky bolted watches, or gem-heavy dazzlers, instead they specialize in classic and refined looks. The first are the latest incarnations of their Les Elegantes line, a look back at the delicate Art Deco watches of the 1920s and 30s. This year they are using three designs inspired by their collections dated from 1928 and 1931.

Results From The First Mondani Rolex Auction
The first half of Antiquorum's auction of the Mondani Collection of Rolexes took place Saturday in Geneva. No April fools here, the auction brought in $3.676 million for Antiquorum including buyer's premium. All 152 lots were sold and brought in a total of 200 percent of their estimated value. Ten lots set new records for Rolex watches with the top price being set for the watch shown here, the Oyster Chronograph Antimagnetic which was made in 1941, which has a round button chronograph, register and pulsometer (it's also called the Medical Chronograph). The next day, Antiquorum held another important watches sale which brought in $9.3 million, $1.475 million alone coming from a single watch, Patek Philippe's "World Time" which was made in 1953 and has a map of North America on its cloisonné enamel dial, which fetched $1.745 million. Check out this pricey timepiece after the jump.

Tom Cruise Wears A Casio Watch In Mission Impossible 3
James Bond has worn both Rolex and Omega but what will Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt wear on his wrist in the next Mission Impossible movie? Where Bond's look is a bit more suave and debonair, Cruise's character is more rough and tumble and he will be wearing the Casio G-Schock MTG-910D. The watch is a radio controlled, solar-powered model and water resistant to 200 meters.

Dunhill A-Centric Pentagraph Watch
The latest beautiful watch from Dunhill is the A-Centric Pentagraph, a watch envisioned by Tom Bolt that has five separate hands starting at the center of the dial.The five hands, which give the Pentagraph its name trace hours, minutes, seconds, date and an additional time zone. The outer ring is a 24-hour, dual-time-zone indicator which let the wearer track home time by the blue hand, the second ring gives the date, the third one is seconds and the main dial is local time. The 42mm case is stainless steel and there are double sapphire crystals. The watch is a limited edition of 1,000 pieces (numbered at the base of the dial).

German Newspaper Readers Pick Watch of the Year
The Watch of the Year for 2006 chosen by readers of the national German-language newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” (The World on Sunday) and the magazine “Armband Uhren”(Wristwatches) were announced at BaselWorld, in Basel, Switzerland. The winner, shown here, is beautiful but perhaps a bit of German bias? My pick would be Vacheron's Tour d'I'lle which comes in at a humble number seven.

For women:
1. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s “Reverso Duoface”
2. Glasshütte Original’s “SunRay"
3. Cartier’s “Santos 100”
4. Longines’ “Evidenza”
5. Baume & Mercier’s “Hampton Milleis”
6. Rolex’s “Lady Datejust”
7. Patek Philippe’s “Twenty-4”
8. Rainer Brand’s “Pezzo"
9. Ebel’s “1911 Lady”
10. Chanel’s “J12"

For men:
1. Lange & Söhne’s “Lange 1 Time Zone”
2. Chronoswiss’s “Digiteur"
3. Glasshütte Original’s “Panomatic Tourbillion”
4. Rolex’s “Prince”
5. Breitling for Bentley’s “Mulliner Tourbillon”
6. Omega’s “Seamaster Planet Ocean Co-axial”
7. Vacheron Constatin’s “Tour de I’Ile”
8. IWC’s “Ingenieur Automatic”
9. Longines’ “Master Collection, Chronograph”
10. Breguet’s “La Tradition”

Charriol Ironwatch
Now this is a golf watch. Charriol's new Ironwatch is not made of iron, its wedge shape recalls the look of a golf iron. The watch is made of stainless steel and its rubber strap is perforated like a golf grip. The dial has stud-shaped hourmarkers on a striped background in a choice of silver, black or green. The caseback has an area for personalization. The Ironwatch will be available at the Charriol boutiques as well as certain country club pro shops and will be part of a whole new Ironwatch line that includes belt buckles, cufflinks, sunglasses and paperweights.

Juvenia Tigres Watch
The Collector's Edition watches from Juvenia are luxury watches with beautiful craftsmanship.The Tigres is available as a wristwatch or a pocketwatch. The wristwatch shown here has an 18K god case that is 44.5mm and set with 76 diamonds. The covers has three engraved tigers and the back is engraved with the name Shaduli (the Hindu Mother of the Tigers) in old Sanskrit. The watch uses the hand-wind, NOS caliber Juvenia 1105 movement with 17 jewels, beating at 21,600 bph and with a power reserve of 42 hours.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Bijou Watches
Louis Vuitton's popular Tambour watches have gone girly. The Tambour Bijou comes in three colors rouge, blanche and noir each with a monogram strap, sapphire crystal and the ETA 01 quartz movement. The white watch has a mother-of-pearl dial and lacquered flowers on the case. The Noir watch has a gray anthracite dial with diamonds and the red has a white dial with diamonds and yellow gold details. They are a bit bland but certain to be a hit with the ladies who love Louis.

Baume et Mercier Classima Excutive Jump Hour Watch
This beautiful watch from Baume et Mercier is part of the Classima Executive collection. The Ref. 8690 is a a jump hour mechanical watch that uses an automatic ETA caliber modified by Dubois Dépraz into the caliber 14400 with jump hour function. The case is 18K rose gold and measures 39mm. There is a sapphire crystal and a display back that is engraved with the golden ratio and Pi. It is a limited edition of 176 pieces.