Watch Review

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.