Watches - another OCD problem
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Today I went out shopping for a new pair of eyes (considering laser refractive surgery), a new summer jacket, and also take a look at the watches in Kronometry 1999, a Bond Street outlet for expensive horology.
The piece I wanted to take a look at was the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde in white ceramic.
It's a lovely piece, though it does look rather like something that Swatch makes. Which is ironic, because the brand is part of the Swatch group, but at the very top of the tree along with Blancpain.
But that was relatively cheap compared to the Ladoire Black Widow Mr. Grey.
It's a mad looking beast. The hour and minute are done by rotating disks with numbers, with seconds done by a pointer to a 0 to 20 scale. (It repeats three times.) The hour hand is a GMT indicator, with a pusher on the right side of the watch to advance it through timezones.
It's an automatic watch with a micro rotor, and all sorts of trick ceramic parts inside it.
But I think that my favourite was the Urwerk 103T Tarantula.
To tell the time, the hour is the number showing at the bottom of the watch, whilst the minute is what's pointed by the line. It's reading 8:03 in the picture above. As the central part revolves the numbers rotate, which looks really cool when you're setting the time.
If you want to know the seconds then you've got to take the watch off, and look at the back! Rather helpfully, the power indicator is also there.
Both the Ladoire and Urwerk are around £30K after the current 40% discount. Neither have been made in large numbers: The Urwerk is in a limited edition of 60, whilst the Ladoire is one of only 12.
I need to get saving…
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I love the Jaquet Droz watches and have come close to getting one used for a great price. I've never liked white ceramic watches but that looks very elegant and is comparable with what I've come to expect with their designs. I can do without the Urwerk stuff. I appreciate it, but it does nothing for me.
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Nice how you can do fine tuning adjustments to the Urwerk without having to crack open the case.
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I don't like most of the Urwerk range, but that particular model is a cleaner and simpler design than the rest, and hence I'd like one. It's also surprisingly light, but I wear an enormous Breitling…
The Jaquet Droz was beautifully put together, and made my watch feel like cheap tat...
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My pic of the day, a Junghans Chronoscope on shell cordovan.
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Anyone got one of the Lum-Tec 300M XL's? Looks interesting, like a poor-man's Planet Ocean kinda.
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Just arrived from the UK! -
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Late this year. My local jeweler a couldn't give me a definite time though. So I found a store overseas that would ship to the US.
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One for Giles.
The new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe.
I like this a lot more than the existing model.
Edited:
According to one website, the price will be "under 9000 CHF", or £6K.Edited again: The man at Selfridges said £7900, and available in September. There's more on Blancpain's site:
And a video:
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This arrived today:
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Hajime Asaoka is an independent Japanese watchmaker.
http://www.watchesbysjx.com/2012/12/visiting-hajime-asaoka-in-tokyo.html
