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Time Tellers
The Art du Temps clock
Art du Temps – the coolest wall clock to date. And no, it ain’t a concept but ready for purchase. Billed at an awesome $95,000, this Swiss made watch is designed by illi and Julien Ado for designby8. Basically a mesh of ‘articulating’ squares, the Art du Temps is a watch that suprises. When in passive mode, some of these squares randomly move up and down “beating” to indicate the passing of the seconds. To see the time you simply “ask” it to show by moving the squares around to reveal a digital clock that uses physical pieces.
Fleurier Amadeo Ladies Touch Watches
Valentine’s is just round the corner and what better way that to confess your love with flowers. To immortalize these precious moments, you can go for a Fleurier Amadeo “Ladies Touch” from Bovet, which can be turned into “a wristwatch, a miniature table clock or a pendant watch through simple manipulations that require no tools whatsoever”.
The timepiece features a 39mm dial and is set in 18-carat red or white gold options, finished with a Alligator leather bracelet, an18-carat red or white gold pin buckle or a Silver-plated, red gold or rhodium-plated chain. The watch comes with a 72-hour power reserve and 30 meters of water resistance.
New Frdrique Constant Amour Heart Beat watches
Valentine’s is not all about intimacy but also about love. To add feather to the season of love at the Baselworld 2011 is the new Amour Ladies Automatic Collection from Frdrique Constant Gen¨ve which has been designed by Taiwan-born Chinese movie star ShuQi. You can opt for a stainless steel or rose gold case with or without diamonds on the bezel and in opaline white or a chocolate colored-dial face and a Convex sapphire crystal caseback. These new models sport a bejeweled dial with a heart-shaped guilloch decoration in the center and a mother of pearl outer ring finishing. The word ‘Amour’ is featured on the dial with iconic diamond-set heart-shaped opening at 12 o’clock, which reveals the beating of the balance of the movement.
Measuring at 34mm diameter, the watch offers 60-meters of water resistance, and is finished with a Satin strap in grey, vanilla white or gourmet chocolate strap as per the watch design.What’s more is that for each watch sold, the company will fund the cost of a life-saving heart scan to the International Children’s Heart.
Ritmo Mundo Persepolis Watches
These are like crazy colored candy – there is something almost charmingly juvenile about the look and size of these watches. A woman putting one on her wrist will feel like a girl again as the large watch dwarfs her forearm and offers an almost amusingly obnoxious display of sparkling colors. These Ritmo Mundo Persepolis models are in the “Multi-Gem” collection, but I like to call them “wild gem” watches. They have steel cases totally covered with a variety of gem-stones. All Persepolis watches features double-sides faces that flip around in the case. The pictured model has two automatic movements that are partially skeletonized. There are also quartz models as well. Like I said, the watch is large – really large. The pictured model is over 50mm wide. Though I think there are a few smaller versions as well.
Piaget Polo FortyFive Perpetual Calendar Watch
The Piaget Polo FortyFive watch that came out a few years ago has been a remarkable success for the brand in giving it a sport’s watch. With chronograph and three-hand variants available, Piaget has designed a Polo FortyFive model with an in-house made perpetual calendar automatic movement.
With an impressive level of symmetry, the dial displays the time, retrograde date, retrograde day of the week, month, and power reserve indicator for the movement, time with subsidiary seconds, second timezone, leap-year indicator, and a clever moon phase indicator. All on the dial that is is a few shades of black with while and raised gold.
The 45mm wide case is in titanium with 18k rose gold accents. More 18k rose gold is used on the dial for the hands and some dial rings. At first glance the watch looks a bit like a complex chronograph but actually has an impressive level of features in it. A very utilitarian touch that I appreciate is labeled inset pushers on the side of the case. Perpetual calendar watches often have pin pushers on the side of the case to adjust the calendar functions.
Richard Mille RM 026 Watch For Women
High-tech themed watch maker Richard Mille produces women’s jewelry watches using the same watch case styles. While the two manners of watches are seemingly very different, the brand is able to make it work. For 2011, Richard Mille’s new ultra high-end women’s watch is the RM 026, otherwise known as the “snakes in a mother f’in half million dollar watch.”
The idea behind the piece is that the skeletonized tourbillon movement should look like two snakes are moving around in it. The illusion works pretty well. Thankfully the snakes are not too life-like being made out of precious stones (otherwise that might be quite creepy). One snake is done in mostly rubies, while the other in mostly emeralds. Look closely and you’ll see scales engraved into the 18k white gold of the snake bodies. On the snakes, as the hour indicators, and all over the case are diamonds. A really neat feature is that sapphire caseback displays a solid onyx place.
The new RM 026 movement has the time, a tourbillon, a second’s indicator on the back of the watch, and a power reserve indicator on the dial. The tonneau shaped watch case is 39.70mm wide and 45mm tall. Richard Mille will offer the RM 026 in titanium, 18k red gold, or 18k white gold.
IWC Portofino Watches Get Back The Mesh
Mesh metal bracelets, otherwise known as “Milanese” bracelet were big back in the middle of the 20th Century, but stuck around for niche use mostly on dive watches. The only mainstream brand I recall using them was Skagen. For 2011 IWC totally redesigned and reintroduced the Portofino watch. There are now four models of the Portofino – two of which will be offered with a metal Milanese strap. The Chronograph is 42mm wide, while the three-hand automatic I believe is 40mm wide.
The watches come in two dial colors – the off-white, and a slate gray. Each has a few red accents on the dial for color. The Milanese strap is quite nicely done – as IWC has been able to overcome the biggest problem with the strap – adjustability. By giving it a strap like buckle, the wearer can adjust its size. The metal is thick, but smooth to the touch, and looks quite good in a retro sort of way.
Zenith Captain Collection
There is a strange nomenclature shift in 2011 to brands preferring to call GMT watches “Dual Time” watches. New this year will be a new Zenith Captain Collection watch called the Dual Time. It has a new in-house made “Elite” collection calibre movement called the 682, and it is an automatic. The movement is less than 4mm thick and has the time, date, and GMT hand. The GMT hand is given a quick adjust pusher at 10 o’clock.
The case is in steel and 40mm wide with either a black or silvered dial with machine guilloche engraved decor on them, along with applied hour markers to match the properly sized dauphine hands. The Captain Dual Time is a very functional watch that is also handsome. It is however oddly positioned as it is not quite sexy enough to be a formal watch, but not aggressive looking enough to be a sport watch.
JeanRichard Highlands Sand Sport Watch
SIHH, The Highlands Sands Sport is just what the doctor ordered, but I fear its price might be a bit too high. Popularized through a few generations of soldiers, the military watch look often has a canvas strap, and a bold, easy to read no-nonsense dial. It is also easy on the eyes and in fashion today given the popularity of the vintage active look.
Based on the design of the Aquascope, the Highlands Sands Sport sheds the diver watch label, now being in the brand’s new “Bressel” collection. The case is still 44.5mm wide in sand-blasted steel. It has a GMT style rotating bezel, but this isn’t a GMT watch. I love the looks of it, but there isn’t much super new except for the colors and the strap. Inside the watch is JeanRichard’s in-house made JR1000 automatic movement. People are used to paying a few hundred dollars for watches of this personality, but the Bressel Highlands Sand Sport will be around $6,000. This sort of forces it to be in the hands of the high-fashion elite who was a neat looking retro-military themed watch, but with an in-house made high-end Swiss movement.
Ralph Lauren’s Diamond Link Watch
A high-jewelry timepiece from Ralph Lauren Watches is this Stirrup collection Diamond Link. A full pave 18k white gold case for the small sized Ralph Lauren Stirrup is not new, but the great looking chain-style bracelet is. The case is about 28mm wide and features a specially made for Ralph Lauren Piaget caliber RL430 manually wound mechanical movement. The Stirrup style is clearly meant to as homage to Ralph Lauren’s love of equestrian activities.
There are literally hundreds of diamonds on the case and bracelet – 1,553 of them in fact. It was nice for me to play with the drool worthy watch. I am sure it would have been like cat nip for women. Total stone weight is about 24.70 carats. Yes, that is a lot of stones. The mixture of the case style and the classy bracelet are a fine mix of the unique styling of RL pieces combined with a very classic jewelry style presentation.
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