Watches we love Review

Luxury watch and diamond jewelry house, Jacob & Co., unveils a new campaign that exemplify the firm’s glamorous sophistication and reinforces its reputation as a true innovator. International supermodel, Natalia Vodianova, who has graced the covers of the world’s top fashion magazines, was Jacob Arabo’s choice as the new face and vision for the women’s campaign. The campaign features six distinct executions – focusing on the new line of intricately-designed, paved, colored diamond pieces and timepieces. Each shot conveys a different element of the lifestyle brand’s unique story, bringing to life the narrative of Jacob & Co.’s ascension to the ranks of one of the world’s most prominent jewelry houses. The men’s campaign builds on the brand’s current success story and features Jacob & Co’s new EPIC collection, a state-of-the-art timepiece that reflects the evolution of the brand.

BR01 Instrument Tourbillon

Because Bell & Ross watches perfectly meet the expectations of men who are living on the edge, Bell & Ross has become a benchmark brand name in the field of high quality watchmaking and in the exclusive universe of professional users.

Aeronautic instrumentation being the absolute reference as far as readability, reliability and performance is concerned, our designers attempted to reproduce a plane’s clock as accurately as possible in proportion to the wrist.

The New Limited Edition BR 01 INSTRUMENT:

TOURBILLON

* Grande complication

* Optimum readability, day or night

* Strong, lightweight materials

The design of this sophisticated watch builds on the success of the BR 01 INSTRUMENT collection.

The combination of watch making expertise and Bell & Ross’ history of producing professional grade watches has culminated in a truly unique grande complication movement.

Bell & Ross joined forces with leading Swiss master watchmakers to create this extraordinary movement in a state-of-the-art timepiece. Without deviating from the brand’s design principles, the BR 01 TOURBILLON incorporates four complications: a Tourbillon, a Precision Indicator, a Regulator and a Power Reserve Indicator.

Accuracy

* With its carbon fibre bridges and mainplates and black carbon finish, the black gold finish Tourbillon’s grande complication mechanism performs with perfect accuracy.

* The Trust Index indicates the accuracy of the movement in accordance with the tension on the barrels.

Readability

In its continual quest for simplicity, Bell & Ross based the design of the dial on proven readability principles from the field of aeronautics.

The four counters are arranged in a cross and use contrasting colour — a visual and operational aid in aviation — to make the information stand out from the ever-present black, especially in the Tourbillon carriage.

The white, photo-luminescent coating on the hands, numbers and index in contrast with the black dial provides optimum readability, day or night.

* The Regulator features an hour counter and a large minute hand. The Bell & Ross designers preferred to bring the minutes to the forefront to make the watch that much easier to read.

* 120-hour Power Reserve Indicator.

Materials & Finishes

The Tourbillon is constructed out of technologically advanced materials, which have been further enhanced by sophisticated finishes.

The carbon fibre dial and the case, which is made out of ultra light, DLC-coated (Diamond Like Carbon) titanium at 4 000 Vickers HV, optimize the watch’s performance.

The bezel and the upper plate’s angled ribs increase the robustness of the case. The middle-case hollowed out of the rim lightens the structure without compromising the solidity of the case. Each of these openings is trimmed with a carbon fibre insert. these finishes accentuate the high tech architecture of the BR 01 INSTRUMENT TOURBILLON.

Secured with four screws, the removable caseback reveals the movement through a sapphire crystal.

The Tourbillon also features the modular concept central to the BR 01 INSTRUMENT collection. This ingenious system of removable fasteners allows the watch to be converted into a desk clock, clock pendant or dashboard ornament.

The BR 01 INSTRUMENT TOURBILLON is presented on a titanium and carbon fibre desk stand. This desk stand calls attention to the Tourbillon’s original function: Offsetting the variations caused by the earth’s gravitational pull from a vertical position.

The watch is sold with two interchangeable straps in rubber and black alligator in a lacquered wood and carbon presentation case.

A symbol of its ongoing pursuit of excellence, Bell & Ross presents this outstanding instrument: The perfect combination of the brand’s expertise in professional grade watches and the extreme complexity of fine watch making.

Tissot T-Touch

The Tissot T-Touch has worked hard as consumer-attractor in the windows of high-street jewellers for a while now. But how does it earn its geeky bauble status?

Your average watch lacks the functionality to necessitate a touch-sensitive screen. Not the T-Touch, which packs thermometer, barometer, altimeter and compass widgetry behind its cocktail-party aesthetic. Not to mention a chronograph and alarm.

Never get lost again
Of these wondrous, backwoods activities, the compass wins the ‘wow’ award. Press and hold the ‘T’ button, then touch the compass corner of the screen: the hands spin to form a compass needle, actively pointing north as you spin gaily in circles.

The barometer pressure reading is largely useless to the common man – more useful is that the hands move to either side of the 12 o’clock position to indicate the pressure trend over the past twelve hours. Broadly speaking, an increase in pressure means better weather.

How hot, how high?
The temperature sensor only accurately measures ambient temperature if you take the watch off your hot wrist for 20 minutes, so it’s of limited use. It’s a similar story for the altimeter, which measures expedition altitude gain or loss, rather than your exact height.

Casio's Newest Watch Line Called Oceanus

Pipeline Interactive recently launched a web site to introduce Casio Inc.'s newest watch line called Oceanus.

Oceanus represents Casio's venture into a completely new market. As the world's first atomic chronograph watch collection, Oceanus targets male business professionals and offers them the newest functional technology combined with a refined style.

A
built-in atomic timekeeping feature, Casio's waveceptor technology, transmits data received from an atomic tower in Colorado multiple times a day. The technology allows the watch to deliver superior time and date accuracy even during Daylight Saving. A solar powered battery makes battery replacement simple.

"We're excited about our new Oceanus watch collection," says Michael McCormick, online marketing manager for Casio Inc. "This web site will really be the consumer's first touch point with the product, and given Oceanus' high tech features, it is important that the web site communicate that by creating a rich user experience."

The Oceanus site, which was released in June, includes a number of rich media components. One of the key site features involves a 360-degree animated tour of the watch.

The tour is complemented by a number of interactive demonstrations showing the operation of the solar powered battery, tachymeter functions, chronograph and sapphire crystal features, and atomic clock synchronization.

Making Time with the Watchmakers

To combat a shortage of skilled horologists, Rolex is underwriting a free school in Pennsylvania to teach the craft to a new generation

It's just six months until graduation, and in a bright, clinical classroom, 12 students in crisp white lab coats with round loupes attached to their foreheads and glasses pressed to their noses are sitting on low stools at their work benches. In front of them, under Plexiglas lids that look like miniature cake holders, are tiny disassembled parts, some the size of a grain of salt, others no wider than a human hair. Under the tutelage of a master horologist, the intensely focused individuals are being given a lecture on the Lemania caliber 1873 chronograph, a mechanical timepiece with a 30-minute counter and a small second-hand dial.

It's one of five types of chronographs that by graduation, each of the 12 pupils will be able to take apart, diagnose, handcraft a part for, and repair. The individuals, all second-year students at the Lititz Watch Technicum, are in the final phase of studying what until only recently was considered the dying art of watchmaking.

Launched in 2001 by Rolex USA, the U.S. arm of the venerable 101-year-old Geneva watchmaker, the Lititz Watch Technicum was started in an effort to shore up the shortage of skilled watchmakers in the U.S., which had for decades been on the wane due to the popularity of digital and electronic watches. However, a strong resurgence in mechanical watches in recent years, particularly luxury models, has catapulted demand for horologists, a profession that was not so long ago thought to be going the way of blacksmiths and corset makers.
The End of an Era?

A not-for-profit foundation, the Technicum is fully subsidized by Rolex, which underwrites the $10,000-a-year tuition for all students and helps subsidize the cost of tools, which run about $5,000 per student. "We were facing a situation today where we needed to foster a new generation of watchmakers," says Charles Berthiaume, the senior vice-president for technical operations at Rolex and the Technicum's president "Thirty to 40 years ago, there was a watchmaker at every jewelry store. That's not the case today," he notes. Since opening, the school, which is partnered with the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program, has graduated 40 students.

Following World War II, the watch-manufacturing industry in the U.S. had all but disappeared, as dominant Swiss and Japanese manufacturers took over. Then in 1969, Seiko introduced the first battery powered quartz watch, nearly sounding the death knell for mechanical watches. Four years later, the Tokyo-based company began selling liquid-crystal display digital watches.

The precipitous decline of mechanical watches had begun, as more and more cheap battery-powered and digital watches hit the U.S. market and gained popularity. "Personally, for me, the introduction of quartz watches was a dark day for our industry," says Herman Mayer, the German-born principal of the Lititz Watch Technicum.

Unlike electronic watches, which need little more than battery or strap replacement, mechanical timepieces still require intricate micromechanics for maintenance and service. A typical self-winding watch can have as many 300 parts, and they're all packed into a space the size of quarter and less than half an inch thick.

Despite the advances of technology, the basic proficiencies of watchmaking haven't changed much in over 300 years. As the need for trained horologists dropped sharply, so too did the number of schools and programs teaching watchmaking. According to Berthiaume, in 1976 there were 43 watchmaking programs in the U.S. Today, that number has fallen to 12.

However, something of a renaissance in mechanical watches began in the 1990s. Traditional handcrafted timepieces with price tags starting at $1,000 and increasing exponentially have become highly desired. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, exports from Switzerland—where most of the top-name timepieces originate—spiked 11% last year, to more than $9.5 billion. While mechanical watches make up only 10% of production in the watch industry, they make up more than 50% of revenue (see BusinessWeek.

Submariner Swiss

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