There Can Be Only One - The Blue James

From Montfort -

Courtesy of Montfort

Here are the pertinents -

LIMITED TO 1 PIECE

Case: 4 Piece Case In Hardened "Super Stainless Steel” 

Size: 44 Mm

Water Resistance: 100m/330ft (10atm)

Crystal: Sapphire Crystal Glass (Top And Bottom) With Blue Anti-Reflective Coating

Dial: 3d Printed Stainless Steel Dial "Clous De Paris"

Hands: Hour & Minute : Skeleton Rhodium Polished With ‘Cool Grey’ Luminova, Second: Blue Pvd Coating

Movement: Swissmade Sellita Sw200 Automatic Movement In Black Galvanic Coating, Blued Screws, "Côtes De Genève" On Oscillating Mass And 26 Rubies

Strap: Black, Semi Matte Italian Leather Strap With Blue Stitching – 22/20mm 

The Klondike Moonphase

From Delma -

Courtesy of Delma

Sort of an unusual take on the moon phase chronograph.  the twist being the Day/Night indicator at 9 o'clock - which I personally REALLY LIKE!  

The case is of stainless steel and measures 44 mm in diameter.  As mentioned this is a chronograph with both moon phase and day night indicator.  Hours, minutes and date round out the features.  

Here are the pertinents -

Collection	Gents Collection
Mechanism	Automatic
Caliber	Delma custom rotor, ETA Valjoux 7751, Perlage and blued screws, with Cotes de Geneve
Power reserve (h)	48h
Number of jewels	25
Frequency	28'800 A/h
Case material	Stainless steel
Case back	Stainless steel with transparent mineral crystal
Size in mm	44
Height in mm	15.3
Weight in grams	130
Water resistance	20 ATM / 200 m / 660 ft
Bezel	Stainless steel
Dial color	White
Bracelet material	Genuine leather
Bracelet color	Black
Clasp	Butterfly deployant clasp
Clasp material	Stainless steel
Model	Klondike Moonphase
Collection category	Racing
Functions	Chronograph, Day-and-night indicator, Day-date, Month, Moonphase

The 1964 Spirit Bronze

From ZRC -

Courtesy of ZRC

My understanding was that this was originally a pre-order item, but if I have understood the information, there are still some pieces available for purchase.

CASE

---

MANUFACTURE

Monobloc case
Screwed case back & crown

DIAMETER

40,5 mm

MATERIAL

Nonmagnetic Bronze CuSn8

BEZEL

ECSTM system
(Patent pending N°1462496)
Unidirectional 60 divisions rotating bezel

CROWN

Located at 6H (Crown Protection SystemTM). Inverted screwed thread with dual sealing

GLASS

Sapphire 4mm padded Vintage Glassbox

WATER RESISTANCE

Up to 300 meters

MOVEMENT

---

CALIBRE

2824-2 elaborated - ETA Manufacture

SETTING

+7sec/day

AMPLITUDE

(± 7sec/day) = from 0 to 14 sec/day max.

WINDING

Automatic winding

POWER RESERVE

38 hours

LEATHER STRAP​

---

MANUFACTURE

Leather strap equipped with an automatic sizing folding buckle

CLASP

Single buckle

The U10 Tourbillon Calavera

From Angelus -

Courtesy of Angelus

This is their latest offering.

Eterna calibre 3510 - start to finish

It is often said that pictures speak louder than words. And Eterna was kind enough to provide me with several images that clearly bear that out.

At the "drawing board"

The finished product

More than just the sum of its parts

Anyone with any doubts as to whether this is a hand-finished, in-house movement can put those questions to rest -

My sincere thanks to Manon Public Relations Manager Eterna & Porsche Design Timepieces for providing these fantastic images!

www.eterna.com

MCT - Sequential One exclusive for Hôtel de Charme Les Airelles

This just in from my friend over at MCT -

MCT has created two unique pieces to be displayed at the Hôtel de Charme Les Airelles Courchevel 1850 in the French Alps.  These two pieces will only be available here in cooperation with Kronometry 1999 www.kronometry1999.com.  Pictured above is the model for men. 
My friend was good enough to send over some technical details as well -

Technical details: Unique Piece "Gentleman" for Les Airelles No. 1/1

Case: 18k white gold case with special black PVD treatment

Jewels: bezel set with 88 black diamonds (1.35 carats)

Movement: MCT mechanical hand wound calibre
Complication: Sequential One
Balance frequency: 18'000 BPH/2.5Hz
Power reserve: 40 hours

Hands: white hour numerals on black prisms, black minute ring with white numerals, black and white minute hand, and white seconds indicator (on back)

Strap and buckle: All black alligator strap with black stitching; 18k white gold black PVD treated double folding buckle

MCT for Les Airelles, Courchevel - 2011 etched in white on the inside of the sapphire crystal display back

And in the words of Barry White - this one is for the ladies out there -

Technical details: Unique Piece "Lady" for Les Airelles No. 1/1

Case: 18k white gold case

Jewels: bezel set with 88 white diamonds (1.35 carats), dial set with four diamonds (0.095 carats), folding buckle set with 52 diamonds  (0.369 carats). Total of 1.814 carats of white diamonds

Movement: MCT mechanical hand wound calibre
Complication: Sequential One
Balance frequency: 18'000 BPH/2.5Hz
Power reserve: 40 hours

Dial and hands: white dial, pink hour numerals, silvery/grey minute ring with white numerals, white minute hand, and white seconds indicator (on back)

Strap and buckle: All white alligator strap with white stitching; 18k white gold diamond-set double folding buckle

MCT for Les Airelles, Courchevel - 2011 etched in white on the inside of the sapphire crystal display back

Strapping on the C8 Pilot

This is a brief update - the timing is still on within 6 seconds a day, but the real revelation over the weekend was one of comfort - particularly in terms of the strap.  Admittedly, I was a wee bit apprehensive when I first tried the watch on.  The strap is thick and robust and I had concerns that it would be stiff and unforgiving.  While it was a little stiff straight out of the box, I have to say that I am very, very impressed by the way that it has softened and become more and more comfortable as the days have gone by!

I will comment further this evening - but I have to say very, very nice job with the strap! And the deployment clasp works flawlessly - it is a very nice counter-point to the hearty strap.

More on the strap and clasp this evening - we have rather biblical level rain here in Santa Barbara and I have to go man the bilge pump!

15 Days with the Christopher Ward C8 Pilot - Day 1

Pilot's watches... let's see, black face, white indices, large and easy to read face.

Not necessarily!  The Christopher Ward C8 Pilot is a truly refreshing departure from the "stock/standard" model pilot's watches out there.    Not black, but rather a cream / beige dial, with a highly legible face.

44 mm of Swiss made stainless steel goodness!  The C8 is also available in a black dial with blue and white accents, but I have to say that this off-white/cream dial with black numbers and the use of a red second hand really speaks to me!  The use of an applied marker at the twelve-o'clock position is a very nice touch and adds a nice counter-point to the black numbers and indices on the dial.

The C8 is powered by (I believe in this particular instance) an ETA 2824 - 2,  although the Christopher Ward website does indicate that in addition to this, the Sellita SW200-1 is also used.  Considering that Sellita has been around since 1950, and that ETA relied upon them as a reassembling resource (essentially the assembly and regulation of components to make a functioning movement).  So I think it is safe to say Miguel Garcia and his team at Sellita have not only the know-how, but the experience to produce high-quality self-winding movements.

The first day was a good one.  So far the time keeping has been accurate - there was an 6 second loss over a 48 hour period.  More to come this evening - stay tuned.

15 Days with the Christopher Ward C8 Pilot

Okay, scheduling - especially during the holiday season can be tricky!  Just as I had started my review of a "semi-vintage" Hanhart Premier stop watch, the Christopher Ward C8 Pilot arrived.

So I hit the red center button to stop, and will re-start that review in two weeks' time.

So today I begin 15 days with the Christopher Ward C8 Pilot -

Tune in tonight for the first update.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Virtual Museum!

And now for something completely different!  To help celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Reverso, Jaeger-LeCoultre announces the opening of the Reverso Virtual Museum!


http://reverso.jaeger-lecoultre.com/reversolegend/virtualmuseum/


This is truly a unique and original endeavor on behalf of the folks at Jaeger-LeCoultre to gather Reversos (virtual ones at least) from around the globe and giving their owners the opportunity to share their stories.


For you lucky folks out there who own one (and wish that I was in your ranks!), you have an opportunity to share your Reverso's story with the world.  And the rest of you (and that is me included), you have the opportunity to share in some amazing watches - and I suspect some even more amazing stories!


Hats off to the folks at Jaeger-LeCoultre for reaching out to their customers - old and new!

Guillermin Mollet - Part Deux

It is inevitable that sooner or later, you are going to have a watch that not only catches the eye, but starts conversations with complete strangers.  That in fact is what happened this past week here in Santa Barbara as I was wearing my Guillermin Mollet so I thought it might be time to (in the words of Henry Rollins) re-heat it!

Photo courtesy of Guillermin Mollet

I have to say that if I could have had any of them, this would have been my first pick!  The two-tone dial, and the alternating use of numbers and indices is really well-presented.

However, I do love and cherish my own -

There are still a few of these out there for those of you who are interested.  Solid gold, powered by self-winding swiss movement, and beautifully packaged.  But the watch case itself is the thing - beautiful and unique!

New Reverso Update

An important clarification on the new Reverso - 

The steel version of “Tribute to 1931” is NOT limited.  Good news for those of you out there wanting the steel version!

The pink gold version of “Tribute to 1931” is limited.