McGonigle Watches

I like to find out about people like John and Stephen McGonigle.  It serves to continually remind me that the spirit of the entrepreneur and that of the horologist do not separately exist in a vacuum.  But wait!  They only make a few watches per year - how can that be considered entrepreneurial?  To me that is the answer right there!

John and Stephen have more than the average bona-fides, years spent working for some of the most famous ateliers in Switzerland.  They certainly could have stayed exclusively in Switzerland - but they did something different, they set-up shop in... Ireland!  And not merely having an administrative office and manufacturing elsewhere, they are producing unique, dynamic and highly collectible timepieces, a few at a time.  Each watch is signed by the watchmaker.  For the lucky few who will ever own one it is on a par to those who owned an original Breguet watches conceived by A.L. Breguet himself.

These magnificent time-machines are like gold-dust, and I do not kid myself that short of a winning Lotto Ticket that I will ever be fortunate to own one - but I will never begrudge anyone fortunate to own one - I will just have to learn to keep my envy in check!  But a quick note to the McGonigles - If I do get those lucky six numbers - you will be one of my first calls!

Check out the whole story here  www.mcgonigle.ie

There will be more to come from the McGonigles - so stay tuned -

And something to dream on...

Type 21...

Time for a little bit of fun - I hope!  This is a type 21 Chronograph from a very famous (but perhaps not so well known now) watch company.

What company's watch is this?  Send in your guess.

There will be a full reveal in the not-too-distant future!

Don't want to wait and all "guessed-out"?  Here's a hint - click the image.

A bit of credit where credit is due

 If you're reading this, then you are a watch fan of some sort.  Maybe not a high end collector, maybe not even a collector at all.  Maybe it is just that one watch that speaks to you.  You are not so interested in watches in and of themselves, but one watch has caught your imagination and will not let you sleep at night.  I know you.  While working for DOXA Watches I met you several times - on a nearly daily basis.  You were obsessed with Dirk Pitt's watch.  You had seen the watch on the guy from Diners, Drive ins and Dives.  You visited watch stores, googled like there was no tomorrow.  And finally in the wee hours of the morning you stumbled across www.doxawatches.com - and suddenly your problems seemed somehow smaller.  Food tasted better, and you felt more handsome - be honest - you did!

These days we take checking out and buying watches on the internet for granted.  Tissot, Rado and even Longines can now be purchased from the comfort of your living room - in your pajamas!
So the next time you are shopping for a new watch online, say a quick thank you to Rick Marei, and the Jenny family.  More than anyone else, they brought the idea of buying a Swiss watch direct from the factory.  To say the least, it was a risk,  and I think you would have to agree that they not only saw the future, they helped to shape it.

A very happy 10th anniversary to DOXA ONLINE!

www.doxawatches.com

       

Magrette Te Manaia

I got so much positive feedback on the first Magrette posting, I had to reach out to Dion again for some more Magrette goodness - and here it is!  This is the Te Manaia.  For those of you who missed the first post - Dion is based in New Zealand, and with his watches he is bringing many of  the stories of the Maori to watch fans everywhere.



Every watch tells a story - and this one more than most!  The Manaia is a bird of sorts that surounds people almost like an aura.  The Maori hold that the Manaia is a bit of a guardian angel - and I can't think of any of us who couldn't use one of those!


Thank you Dion!


www.magrette.com

What Would Cary Grant Wear - part 2

Another bright, sunny Santa Barbara morning and I woke up with Cary Grant on the brain.  A reader had commented on the first What Would Cary Grant entry about Longines.  And Wendy (my wife) was kind enough to share her self-winding Longines for today's entry.

As I am sure you've surmised by now, photography is not my strong suit!  This is a man's gold-fill model that I found for her in San Francisco.  I have always been taken with the dial of this watch - I am sure that there are others out there like it - but this one is hers.  

DOXA Project AWARE SUB

Every now and then you get to work on something really fun on the job. And sometimes, if you're very lucky, that assignment will benefit something important as well. This is the Project AWARE DOXA SUB. This watch was the result of a commitment by DOXA to produce a watch to support Project AWARE, a non-profit environmental group. I was lucky enough to get to work on this watch with the folks at Project AWARE. I woke up this morning with the Project AWARE SUB on my mind as I hear that it is now nearly sold out. This was my first brush with a "co-op watch" and it is nice to look back on the experience. One of 92 in the world.

www.doxawatches.com

Eterna Heritage Pulsometer Limited Edition 1942

Courtesy of Eterna

This just in from the nice folks at Eterna. This is the Eterna Heritage Pulsometer Limited Edition 1942.

A striking 2-register silver dial is housed in a 42 mm stainless steel case. With its authentic "pulsometric" dial, there will be 1942 of these fantastic chronographs.

  

Due out in Autumn 2010.

       
                             www.eterna.com

Ode to the high beat movement

Andy Bard and I met working for DOXA watches.  Andy is the very friendly guy you get when you call to order a watch or arrange for service.  Andy has collected all sorts of different types of watches, and now he has focused his collection on the high beat movement.  Now in his own words, Andy talks about his favorite movements.

There’s just something hypnotic about a high frequency movement. The sweep hand seems to float around the dial, and lying in bed with my wrist under the pillow I drift to sleep form the sound of 36,000 beats per hour.

It's a real shame that today’s watch companies don’t embrace the high beat movement. Yes, it is not as robust as a more sensible 28,800 movement, but just the thought of that balance wheel whirring around at that speed is mesmerizing. Today, Zenith is the only company that uses a 36,000 BPH movement on a large scale.  In the late 1960’s into the early 1970’s just about every watch company had a high frequency model in their lineup. Longines, Zodiac, Seiko, DOXA, and Girard Perregaux, just to name a few. Pictured is my early 1970’s DOXA Ultraspeed, and someday soon I hope to add a Zenith New Vintage 1969 El Primero to my meager collection.

Eterna Heritage Super KonTiki Limited Edition 1973

Courtesy of Eterna

In 1947 Thor Heyerdahl led an expedition that would capture the imagination of a war-weary world. Mr. Heyerdahl and a team of like-minded adventurers constructed a raft of balsa wood and crossed the Pacific; their humble raft was named the KonTiki. And Eterna was there, keeping impeccable time on that voyage from South America to Polynesia. If you can find it, treat yourself to a copy of his account of that historic trip -

Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft

Since 1958 the Eterna KonTiki has come to symbolize that spirit of adventurous optimism of the new post-war world. Eterna has continued to honor this landmark journey with periodic new interpretations of this now legendary watch. I myself was the proud owner of a Super KonTiki chronometer as well as a KonTiki Chronograph. These were great watches, but this - this is something special. The Eterna Heritage Super KonTiki Limited Edition 1973! I have to give a very sincere heart-felt thank you to the folks at Eterna for sending this sneak preview. If you're reading this - I WANT ONE!!!

Courtesy of Eterna

True to the design of the original for which it is named, this watch captures not just the design elements in a modern watch - it captures the emotion, the feeling.

Stainless steel, swiss self-winding ETA movement, water resistant to 200 meters - but perhaps best of all, this bracelet!

The 1973 really speaks to me on a deeper level than simply a dive watch. Just looking at it takes you to a different place and time, transcending your perspective. It conjures images of Johnny Quest or Tintin suiting up for their next adventure. There will only be 1973 of these great watches available. And for those of us in the US it will be a tough find, but for those lucky few who lay hands to one, I suspect that you will not regret it!

For more information about Eterna and the FANTASTIC new Super KonTiki Limited Edition 1973, visit the Eterna website: http://www.eterna.com/

A Few Minutes with Jean-Claude Biver

Every so often, there are individuals who come along and change everything. Some are revolutionaries - creating something completely different. Some are visionaries - seeing something in a way that no one has before. And sometimes in a very few instances, a person comes along who is both - and it turns out he's a pretty nice guy, too! Jean-Claude Biver was kind enough to spare me a few minutes this past week.

JH - What was your first watch?  Was it a gift?  Is there a story behind it?

JCB - It was an Omega Constellation from 1958 offered by my grandfather for my first communion. In our countries in Europe it was a kind of tradition in the catholic families that the grandfather offers a watch to his grand child for the day he goes to church for his first communion.

JH - Why watches – being that your family originally came from Luxembourg, and that you were a business school graduate – why not banking, pharmaceuticals – or given your gift for languages and people skills even politics?

JCB - I was always fascinated by watches. A mechanical watch takes me back to the steam machine that I played with when I was a young boy. Now watches are my toys. There is nothing better than to work in something that you are passionate about. You never get the feeling that it is work! And that makes life much easier, much more pleasant and more comfortable.

JH – If you weren’t doing what you are doing now, what other job could you see yourself doing?

JCB - My job is my passion, and I cannot imagine for one-second not having my passion as my work. So if I was not working with watches, it could be cheese or wine. I am already making about 5'000 kilograms of cheese at my farm and we are known for making one of the better  - if not the best cheeses in Switzerland.

JH - In light of all of your success, I have to ask – have you ever had a watch launch that did not go “exactly as planned”?

JCB - Many things didn't work out exactly as we had thought they would, but you always learn through defeats or mistakes. Each failure, each mistake has to be identified, recognized and quickly corrected. You will then realize that the mistake and failure helped you to climb the steps that are leading to success.

JH - For many of us, it seems that you are a bit of an horological alchemist – what you touch seems to turn to gold.  Your track record with Blancpain, Omega and Hublot seems to be the work of at least five top watch executives, not just one!  This is clearly more than luck.  So at the “Jean Claude Biver school of Watch Executive Excellence” – what would three best practices be?

JCB - First of all it is HARD WORK, HARD WORK, HARD WORK!  In addition you need creativity, vision and a lot of help from your people, your suppliers and your customers. And last but not least you need to be spared bad luck. 

JH - Okay, on a different note, like you, I am also an avid cyclist – so steel or carbon fiber?  

JCB - Carbon, because I have to save some weight were I can do it easily (easier for me to buy an ultra light bike than to loose a few kg....). So for me it is carbon because I love high technology, and I also love new materials. And finally I believe that a bike is more than a bike. It is also a high tech machine, and I love high tech machines.

JH - Any thoughts of sponsoring a football club or a cycling team?

JCB - We are already the Official Timekeeper of the next Euro 2012, the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and Official Timekeeper of the legendary team of Manchester United. 

Therefore we see no need and no sense to extend our activities in Football. We do not consider entering cycling as we cannot be active in every sport.

JH - Of all of the famous folks from the world of sports, entertainment and business – who made the greatest impression upon you?

JCB - In sport as an individual Andy Schleck, because I realize what it means climbing 3 or 5 summits and riding the Tour de France.  As a businessman certainly Steve Jobs for his creative genious and as a team the Spanish Football Team. They play the most modern and sophisticated football today.

JH - You more than anyone – with perhaps the exception of Mr. Hayek Sr. resurrected the Swiss watch industry.  What made you set your sites on Blancpain in the first place?  There were, to be sure, several other options out there – why Blancpain? 

JCB - There were a few reasons.  Blancpain was the oldest watch brand in the world and we could buy it for less than $20,000.   Blancpain had gone out of business some 20 years before we bought the name. I believed that it was right to use the oldest watch brand in the world to give rebirth to traditional watchmaking.

JH - Who else out there is making watches that excite you?

JCB - I love Patek Philippe and I am not only a great admirer but also a avid collector of their pieces. It is a collection that I have assembled mainly for my children. Most of the pieces of this collection are "museum pieces" and of course I never wear them, but look at them with my children at home

JH - In the private world of Swiss watchmaking, you have a reputation as one of the friendliest and outgoing people around.  This seems somewhat contradictory in the watch business.  Has this always been your way of doing business?

JCB - I have three commands in both my private life and of course my business life -

1. Respect

2. Sharing

3. Forgiving.

When you live and respect these three commands, you are guided by love. Because love means respect, love means sharing and love means forgiving.

JH - Was there ever a moment back in the early days at Blancpain where you might have regretted your decision?  Did you ever wake up in the early hours of the morning with your stomach “talking to you”?

JCB - No, I don't remember having had any regrets, except for a certain time, the regret of having sold my brand. But if you ask me today what I would wish for me second life, I would want exactly the same as my actual life, 100% the same.

JH - So for your third act, and I ask this with all respect - why Hublot of all companies?  As a football metaphor you could have signed with the watch making equivalent of Juventus, Real Madrid or Manchester United!  Hublot was certainly under the radar of most of the watch press.

JCB - I wanted to start again in a "start up".  Anyone who has ever worked through the excitement, creativity, reactivity, vitality, dynamism, and emotion you get in a "start up" company will understand why before the end of my career I wanted to have this "start up" feeling again

JH - Your fashion style has changed a bit over the past few years – lately your suit jackets almost have the same drape of a lab coat – or dare I say it, a watch maker's…as the son of a fashion designer I can’t help asking – any connection or significance?

JCB - No, it is probably the result of my age, which helps me in being more simple and modest. That's the beauty of age – you become wiser.

A big thank you to Mr. Biver - and also to Hublot who kindly provided all of the photographs.

You can keep up on all of the goings on at Blancpain via Blanpain TV - All Hublot, all the time:

www.hublot.com

Blancpain Rescue Project

What happens to all of the old watches that are broken, believed beyond saving, sitting in boxes in watch makers benches?  This was one that my friend Ali Athari had stashed away in a drawer with bits and pieces of other lost children.  This watch came his way about 5 - 10 years ago when he acquired it in a "grab bag" of parts and extremely damaged watches to "harvest organs" from.  That was until he showed it to me, and thus the great Blancpain rescue Project of 2010 was launched!

So as you can see, the dial does have some patina, but looks fairly good.  In better days, this Blancpain was a 2 hand mechanical (hand-wind) watch.

The "heart" of this Blancpain is a hand-wound Aurore Villeret (AV) movement - 11/2 Lgn.

Once Ali had the movement "opened-up" he went into "horological CSI" mode.  What he was able to figure out is that the movement had never been serviced, but the stem had been replaced. 

"So where's the case?" I asked, anxious to see the highly-polished stainless steel that once housed the dial and movement.  "Ah... you're going to have to use your imagination a bit on this..."

He reached into his bench again and pulled out this.

Essentially, this Blancpain was nearly "legless".  I was a bit puzzled and flipped it over.  

"Where's the bezel"?  Ali shrugged.  I was a bit bummed out.  But then a curious look came over Ali's face, he dug around a bit more and pulled out this -

This bezel started out life as part of a Rolex watch that was part of the same grab bag.  

So you now have seen the bits and pieces.  I will be checking in with Ali later to give you an update.

This just in - ARCHIMEDE SportTaucher

Mr. Ickler was kind enough to send me the details of the newest ARCHIMEDE offering.  The Ickler family are the folks behind Limes, Defakto as well as another brand - Autran & Viala.

This is the ARCHIMEDE SportTauscher

It is available in really nice blue dial - and what I really, REALLY love are the ORANGE hands and the ORANGE numbers - really striking!

But if Blue is not your color, the folks at ARCHIMEDE have you covered with a beautifully understated white dial option.

This is a solid stainless steel watch, and at 41.5 mm it is a refreshing move back to a more traditional sized diver's watch.  Powered by ETA's 2824-2 self-winding movement, ARCHIMEDE has really delivered the goods.  

I also have to say that I really love the use of a sharkskin strap.  You still have the traditional options of rubber or a stainless steel bracelet for an additional purchase price, but I would personally be leaning towards the shark skin strap!

And best of all - you can order direct from the company!  Again, I am of course a little biased, but I have to say that it is great that you can interact directly with the folks who make the watch.  

Ready to grab hold of one of these?

For US customerswww.archimede-uhren.de/US/SportTaucher.htm for US$ 775 with leather strap or for US$ 945 with steel bracelet (including shipping and US duties) 

And for those of you elsewhere - International customers
www.archimede-uhren.de/EN/SportTaucher.htm for Eur 535 with leather strap or for Eur 655 with steel bracelet, plus shipping costs

Check out ARCHIMEDE at:

info@archimede-watches.com
www.archimede-watches.com

The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

As today is July 20th, I woke up with astronauts (and even cosmonauts) on the brain.  41 years ago man first landed on the moon - and better yet made it back in one piece!

My aunt still remembers a Saturday in the late 1960's,  when her shopping companion grabbed the future Senator from Ohio in a Columbus department store, and holding him in a near death grip exclaimed - "You're John Glenn!" Without loosing any of his composure despite being clutched by a very excited housewife, he replied "I know lady, and who are you?"

John Glenn did not go to the moon of course, but he always epitomized the excitement of the space race.  The captain of Friendship 7 was not even the first man in space, his orbit followed the earlier exploits of Gagarin and Titov, but his flight in 1962 captured the imagination of the world.

Like John Glenn, I do not suppose that this Speedmaster visited the moon either, but what I can tell you with certainty was that it was manufactured in 1969 - the same year that Apollo 11 landed on the moon.


Growing up, I imagined we'd be having weekend getaways to the moon, or even Mars by now.  Perhaps in another 40 years.

P’6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition

I need to send a big thank-you to Manon Abplanalp - Eterna and Porsche Design's Public Relations Manager for sending these images and details about this new Porsche Design chronograph. This is the P’6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition. It was released this year to celebrate Porsche's first win in the 24 hours of Le Mans. It was forty years ago that German driver Hans Herrmann - a baker by profession, and Richard Attwood of England drove their red and white No. 23 Porsche Salzburg 917 KI to victory. It is difficult to imagine that Porsche's first Le Mans victory is now 40 years ago. In many ways Porsche has come to represent the ultimate in speed, performance and elegance, and this fantastic watch embodies that spirit.

So a happy 40th Anniversary Porsche, Mr. Herrmann and Mr. Attwood!




This series is limited to 917 pieces and comes in a pretty nifty package!
Crafted from titanium, Swiss self-winding movement, and probably one of the coolest leather straps I've seen in some time!




For more info. on this and other great Porsche design watches, visit their website:

www.porsche-design.com

A Few Minutes With Thomas Prescher

Thomas Prescher was good enough to spare me a few minutes this week -

Q - What was your first watch?

TP - My first watch was a hand wound wristwatch with digital time indication in two little windows. That was in the early seventies.

Q - What REALLY got you started in the watch industry?

TP - My passion for horology was born from a childhood obsession with collecting crystals and minerals. As a teenager on a visit to a local jewellery shop, my eye drifted to the watchmaker working at his bench and I was smitten. I began working part-time at the store and became familiar with the mechanics of watches and clocks. While it seemed my path to becoming a watchmaker was clear, there was a detour. At 19 I joined the German Navy, leaving six years later as a Captain.

Q - Six years is a long time in the Navy! Was there a point during your service that you thought this might become your career?

TP - After around three years in the Navy, I gradually changed my mind about my future and decided to do something else with my life after my service. My passion had been watches and watch making and ultimately I felt that my passion would become my profession. After I left the navy, I decided to study watch making and I won the single apprenticeship position offered that year by IWC.




Q - When did you really know that this was your calling?

TP - I realized that I had a special talent when I jumped from the mid-point of the first apprenticeship year to the mid-point of the second year. And if I had any self-doubts, it definitely came to the surface when I received the permission to make a half flying tourbillon as a school watch and presented the finished watch at the end of the apprentice ship period.


Q - Before you launched your own company, where were you working?

TP - After my apprenticeship, I stayed a short while at IWC and then I moved to Audemars Piguet in Frankfurt, where I also obtained my Master Watchmaker certificate. Then I came back to Switzerland to work in the restoration department of Gübelin where I had the opportunity to restore some of the world’s most iconic and complicated timepieces and to create bespoke watches for special clients. Four years at Gübelin was followed by a brief spell at Progress Watch, then a position as Production Manager for Blancpain.

Q - What are some of the bigger challenges you have faced in starting your own company?

TP - Being independent is a daily challenge. Especially the beginning when I developed the Tempusvivendi and the three Trilogy Tourbillons at the same time, it was a hard time, with a lot of work day and night. It is a big challenge as well to continue developing and producing high quality, technically extraordinary watches.



Q - And now besides the design and assembly, you are in a sense also doing marketing and public relations. How has the transition been to these new roles?

TP - Public Relations has always been a part of my profession. There is no way to be in a responsible position without having contact with others. The individual life is inseparably connected with all kinds of public relations. The watch is independent and independence is embodied within the watch.


Q - Having worked for a direct company myself (DOXA), do you see this as a growing trend in the watch business? With the SWATCH group jumping in with Longines, Tissot and RADO all selling direct via the internet, do you see this as a positive or negative?

TP - I have a relatively neutral view of these direct shops. I am 100% sure that new media, especially all of the possibilities to be found through the internet will fundamentally change the method of trade in the near future. That means that the work of the watchmaker whether as an independent or a big brand will change a lot too.

Q. In what ways do you see this happening?

TP - The relationship between final client and the watchmaker will become closer. Ultimately the work of intermediates will change.


Q - You have made a very unusual offer - to let complete strangers into your workshop and actually work on watch parts. Where on earth did you come up with such an idea?

TP - It was always our philosophy to have an open workshop and to show it to interested people what we do and how we do. There is no better proof than to let people in so that they can experience the work of a watchmaker. All of these people have been the best ambassadors of our brand and transferred our philosophy to a larger public. By the way, by far the most interesting visit we ever had was a group of 15 children from a nearby kinder garden. These six year-old children were already able to disassemble and assemble a simple movement without damaging anything!




Q - Apart from the watches you have made yourself, do you have any other type of watch collection?

TP - Before I started my career as a watchmaker I was collecting everything I could get my hands on. These days I buy a mechanical gadget from time to time, but only if it is well made/crafted. I am also interested in very old watches, of course. But I don’t collect them.

Q - Who else out there is making watches that you admire?

TP - There are a lot of colleagues who make fantastic watches. Each one has his specialty and so these watches are quite different and unique. It is impossible for me to pick out one, or even several!


Q - If you were not doing what you are doing now – what would you do for a living?

TP - It is quite difficult to answer that because my passion is already my profession. I think I would make big mechanical sculptures but I could imagine a job in nature too.


You can visit Thomas Prescher's website for more details about his fantastic time machines, as well as find out about a possible visit to his workshop.

http://www.prescher.ch/

The First Kiss

My wife and I were living and working in Turku, Finland back in the mid 90's. One day I had some time on my hands between classes and went for a walk, ending up in a "thrift/flea market/antique" store. After nosing around something caught my eye half-buried under a heap of Soviet era war ribbons and decorations. The dial was "splotchy" to say the least, having acquired a pattern well beyond patina. The hands were dinged up and the crown was somewhat rough. But it worked! I asked the gentleman how much, and he told me the equivalent in US dollars - about $50.00. Probably my only regret is that I never took a "before" picture.

As an English teacher I was not blessed with a great deal of disposable income, so I went off to teach my class. The next week my wife and I visited the shop and it was still there. Another two weeks went by and I just had to have it - and luckily it was still there - I went to the Merita bank ATM and withdrew the Markka (pre- Euro days), and made my purchase.

This Omega Seamaster is from 1963 - about 5 years older than me - and had been the retirement present for someone named Janne. That spurred what I rather naively imagined as a great research project, a triumphant discovery of the identity of the original owner. Phone books would be consulted and cross-referenced, family members sought out, utility company clerks charmed, whatever it took to get the real identity of the original Janne of 1963 - I would go the distance! Sadly, owing to the limited scope of the Internet at that time, as well as my limited (read 0) ability in the Finnish language, the great Seamaster 30 research project of 1997 came to an screeching halt one Friday evening at the Old Bank one of Turku's re purposed pubs, exactly one week after it started! Over what would become the third of several rather "hoppy" beverages, my erstwhile research partner Raimo had had enough and was throwing in the towel. As I walked him back to the bus station, the folly of my vision became startlingly clear through rather foggy eyes.

I suspect the original Janne has long since left the realm of us who measure time in hours and minutes, and I feel bad that his family had, for whatever reason, decided to part with this watch - this treasure. Ultimately, it is a possession, a thing. It is steel and levers and springs. It is utilitarian - it tells the time. It is not Janne. But for me, the interloper, there is more. This is something that Janne strapped on with pride every day. While this is not him, this is something of him. I can imagine Janne winding it every morning as he looked at the Helsingin Sanomat. A second cup of coffee, and maybe now he's ready to take the dog out for a walk. He probably still talks about talvisota - the Winter War. He might have even known Paavo Nurmi - after all, Turku wasn't such a big town.

Sitting here in Santa Barbara I imagine the two of us having a beer together at the Old Bank, talking about ice hockey, the end of the Cold War and sharing stories about our Seamaster 30. I would proudly show him the restored watch - "Look at this Janne! New hands, crown, crystal - all original from Omega!". He would probably just smile politely and shake his head at my extravagance. "Does it still tell the time?" he'd ask me, and only then would I understand.

An "Oktupus" by moonlight?

Linde Werdelin has never been hesitant to propose something new - and the Oktupus Moonphase Complication is no exception!
This newest member of the Oktupus's growing family offers something more than mere water resistance and legibility.
This dive watch has a moonphase indicator!

Made of titanium and gold, Linde Werdelin's fantastic new diver has combined a Frederic Piguet 1150 and a moonphase complication designed by none other than Svend Andersen, this is something truly unique.

Only 29 pieces in the world - just the thing for your next moonlight dive.

For more information on the Oktupus Moonphase visit Linde Werdelin at:

www.LindeWerdelin.com

We will have more from Linde Werdelin, so stay tuned!

A Classic Design

With all of the new innovations out there - and there are plenty - it is nice to see something classic - and reasonably priced! This is the Limes Pharo Hand/Wound Power Reserve, truly a beautiful watch.

The Limes watch company is owned by the Ickler family Pforzheim, Germany. Limes was one of the first companies to utilize the direct sales model - connecting to customers around the world via the internet.



And for US customers there is an added bonus, Limes watches are sold with the shipping charges included!

Visit the folks at Limes here for more information on this hand wound classic:

http://www.limes-uhren.de



Limes combines their own beautifully finished cases with Swiss made movements. The results speak for themselves.

Limes hosts a lively discussion forum where owners and owners to be hold forth on their favorite watch:

http://www.watchandclockforum.com/viewforum.php?f=110