Time Capsules: Some of the Best Watch Brands Have Secrets – Harry Winston Rosebud

The best watch brands in the world are adept at innovation, craftsmanship and technical perfection. Some even go way over the top when it comes to combining haute horlogerie and haute joaillerie. Such is the case with the legendary house of Harry Winston. This brand’s newest, perhaps most versatile watch, is the alluring Rosebud – a secret watch designed in the shape of a rose totally bedecked in diamonds.

A few things stand out about this watch that make it a magnificent work: To begin with it is a hidden, or secret watch, whose dial is beneath the rose bud; secondly, the watch is convertible – it can be worn as a wristwatch, a pendant or a brooch.  This Rosebud Secret watch is set with 69 carats of brilliant-, pear- and baguette-cut diamonds in magnificent Harry Winston style. Roses have never smelled so sweet.

 

Weekend Sojourn: Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion – Coming This Week!

I’ll be there with Rolex – maybe you should, too… more than 550 extraordinary cars will amass on August 19 through 21 to confront the challenging Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey.  The 2.238 mile road course with 11turns and 300-foot elevation changes is demanding and exhilarating, even for spectators. Plus, these are legendary cars and we get to enjoy up-close encounters with their owners and drivers duringhte3-day weekend, which anchors Monterey’s Classic Car Week.

This year’s feature marquee is the Jaguar E-Type, with more than a dozen of these cars racing on Saturday.  Sunday, after visiting the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach, I’ll be back at the track for the Ferrari 250 GTOs racing! Rolex has been  celebrating auto racing, and the passion thereof, through the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the Pebble Beach Tour d’ Elegance presented by Rolex (USA) and the Pebble Beach Concours D’ Elegance , as well as other events. This promises to be a wonderful weekend.  For more information contact www.Mazdaraceway.com

Time Capsules: Today’s Pocket Watches – New Wonders from Gilles Robert

Those of you who know and are avid followers of Atimelyperspective have seen this watchmaker’s name before here. Gilles Robert has been designing luxury watches for decades for some of the best brands in the business. He even created watches under his own name more than a decade ago – and I feel personally honored to own one.

About 10 years ago, Robert did some investigation into his family’s rich watchmaking heritage and, as a result, launched the Robert & Fils 1630 brand – focusing on the Robert family’s 400 years of tradition. It was in 1630 that Abram Robert was responsible for the clocks in Le Locle, and the family has designed and made timepieces ever since. Gilles Robert is the 11th generation of his family.

The wrist watches and pocket timepieces Gilles Robert creates today are built in extremely limited numbers and focus on grand feu enameling and engraving, with many watches inspired by the family’s artistic heritage. The timepieces use “Robert” calibers, that are vintage calibers restored by hand. Now, two wonderful new pieces join the line-up: the stunning Chinese Leopard and the White Tiger. Each a unique piece, hand painted over the course of months and months of tedious and meticulous workmanship – with a movement to rival the outer beauty. The price has not yet been fully established.

Time Capsules: Product – Reactor Watches Offer Poseidon Adventure

Reactor Watches are all about strength, adventure and function. This Limited Limited Edition Poseidon Black/Yellow Watch is a superb underwater timepiece. Housing a self-charging auto-quartz movement, the 48mm piece offers Reactor’s Never Dark® dial illumination system and is equipped with an interchangeable rubber strap and a 2-tone bracelet with expander to fit over a wet suit. The Reactor watch is water resistant to an amazing 1000 meters (3,300 feet) and is crafted in solid 316L stainless steel with dual external and internal rotating bezels and triple 0-ring screw-down crown system – making it a certified “professional diver” standard issue item.  The watch features an exhibition case back with logo’d rotor and offers day and date functions. It is built in a numbered edition of 500 pieces. The watch, which comes in a rubberized gift box and includes interchangeable straps and tools to change them, retails for a cool $900.

Time Capsules: Product – Citizen Watch Brings Cool Watches to the Forefront with High-tech Eco-Drive Satellite Wave

This fall, Citizen Watch Co unveils the super cool, super high-tech looking Eco-Drive Satellite Wave limited edition watch that captures the day, date and time signals from satellites 20,000 kilometers above the earth.

This ultra-precise watch (since satellites signals are controlled by the atomic clocks) has worldwide reception — receiving signals from each of the 24 navigation satellites that orbits the earth once every 12 hours – no matter whether one is wearing this watch in a desert,  the open Pacific or the world’s highest mountains.

The watch is a combination of high-tech, high-mech with a futuristic space design, satellite timekeeping system and time/calendar functions. The perpetual calendar watch with time indication in 26 cities around the globe features a metal ring embedded in the glass bezel like its own satellite in orbit.  The round case, independent of the lugs, is meant to recall the Earth’s image in the design concept. The spiral parts of the watch seen from the bezel sides evoke a sense of the radio waves from outer space, but in fact are visible symbols of the light waves that provide the Eco-Drive source of inexhaustible energy to drive the watch, which is powered by light.  The Eco-Drive Satellite Wave house the Calibre H990-Eco-Drive. The case is crafted of ceramic and stainless steel and is a steal at $3,800.

Time Capsules: News — Hublot watch in Beijing – with Dwayne Wade

Followers of Atimelyperspective know Hublot is a brand we’ve covered time and again because of its bold sense of technology, design and power. What’s more, we recognize that our readers have an interested in knowing who wears what around the world. Well, just recently, NBA all-star and Hublot ambassador Dwyane Wade traveled to Beijing in his Hublot watch to meet the “One Million RMB Basketball Chinese Charity Challenge.

 It was NBA Champion, NBA Finals MVP, Olympic Gold Medalist and seven-time NBA All-Star Dwyane Wade’s first time to the Forbidden City in Beijing, where the  challenge was to  score a maximum number of baskets, each corresponding to a varying sum of money and on an increasing scale of difficulty and winnings. The funds collected by his shots are being donated to the leading non-profit organization One Foundation on behalf of Hublot and Wade’s World Foundation, launched in 2005 to provide support to various educational, health and family service programs for underserved communities. The One Million RMB Challenge is Hublot’s first international event linked with basketball.

 The brand used the opportunity to also unveil the new King Power Dwyane Wade watch – a limited edition of 500 pieces with a prominent “3” representing his number on the court, and incorporating his logo. Expressing Hublot’s fusion core, the watch is crafted of titanium, ceramic, tungsten, rhodium plating and composite elements. The 48mm case and bezel is black micro-blasted black ceramic, with the bezel featuring red composite resin elements. It houses the HUB 4100 mechanical chronograph with automatic wind and 252 parts.  The oscillating weight is made of black PVD coated with tungsten carbide, and the black rubber strap features gray and red stitching to emulate the basketball net – all in a powerful piece, for $27,900.

Time Capsules: Product — Expensive Watches Extraordinaire—Jacob & Co.’s Crystal Tourbillon on the wrist

There are expensive watches and then there are really expensive watches – and with good reason. Let’s get it out of the way, the extraordinary Jacob & Co. Crystal Tourbillon retails for $900,000 – and it is NOT a one of a kind timepiece. It is, however, created in a limited edition of 180 pieces.

 So, you ask, who would spend nearly a million dollars on a watch and why? Well, many people today easily plunk down $25,000 on their starter watch, and true collectors looking for something special see both technological prowess and haute joaillerie work in this stunning Crystal Tourbillon. On the obvious side, the watch is invisibly set with approximately 18 carats of the highest quality flawless Top Wesselton diamonds – making it a dazzling beauty. However, the true allure for any watch lover comes with the movement – a skeletonized masterpiece held between two sapphire crystals in unparalleled beauty and craftsmanship.  

 The first Crystal Tourbillon was revealed to the world several years ago, but due to the complexity of building one, just a few are created annually. The mechanical, manual-wind timepiece houses the 750-part, 17-jeweled Jacob & Co. 7 Caliber movement with sapphire bridges and intricately skeletonized components. This finely etched and engraved movement, with 60-second tourbillon, is then placed between sapphire crystals so it has the illusion of floating in space.  It takes Jacob & Co.’s master artisans and watchmakers 2,000 hours to engrave and build this movement. Additionally, the setting of the 17.48 carats of flawless baguette-cut diamonds on the 47mm 18-karat white gold case requires hundreds of hours of the master gem setter’s time. Indeed, the Crystal Tourbillon is a work of art, craftsmanship, precision and passion – one of the most expensive watches in production – and probably well worth its cost.  Oh, and it feels even greater on the wrist than it looks in the light!

 

Weekend Sojourn: Watch Shop Spotlight — Exquisite Timepieces

Sometimes a retailer is so exceptional that it warrants talking about. Trying to find the best watch shop isn’t always easy, but brick-and-mortar store, Exquisite Timepieces in Naples, Fl, is an amazing store. The authorized watch shop for some of the finest watch brands in the world, the luxurious store sells more than 32 top brands, including some of the hardest to find niche independent brands such as Bovet, Hautlence, H. Moser & Cie, Ladoire, Speake-Marin and Urwerk.  The company also is authorized to sell the top well-known legends such as Audemars Piguet, Bell &Ross, Blancpain, Breguet, Corum, de Grisogono, Franck Muller, Hublot and a host of others. Additionally, Exquisite Timepieces offers an amazing selection of pre-owned luxury timepieces, Vertu mobile phones, and several watch winder brands.  The family owned company maintains high ethics and is always there to work with customers, to educate them about watches, the brands, the history and the complications the store sells. If you live in the Florida area, or are planning a trip there, and you are a watch collector, this is a must-stop-in destination hot-spot. Otherwise, give them a call; they’re always willing to talk tick tock of the highest caliber.

Style Watch: Expensive Watches for Women – Breguet’s Petite Fleur

There’s no denying Breguet does it all right when it comes to watches. This venerable brand has such a legendary history that it must stand up to its past with current models that also pave the way for future generations. While the brand is a whiz at mechanical marvels for men, and at the creation of expensive watches and complications, it also knows how to turn heads with its women’s watches. This week’s Style Watch is proof positive, as we bring you Breguet’s newest piece — the Montre Haute Joaillerie Petite Fleur timepiece. Crafted in 18-karat white gold, the bezel is set with 43 diamond baguettes weighing 12.56 carats that are set en-tremblant—meaning they are mobile and move with the wearer’s every move. The dial of the watch is set with another 141 diamond brilliants weighing more than half a carat. Of course, in typical Breguet style, the movement is mechanical — the automatic caliber 615. In all, the Petite Fleur is a captivating work of haute joaillerie and haute horology.  

Time Capsules: Product — Breitling Watches, What’s Black and Red all over?

Take an up close and personal look with Atimelyperspective as we explore Breitling watches, particularly the cool new Chrono-Matic Blacksteel Limited.  Created in a limited edition of 2,000 pieces this is one powerful looking timepiece. What’s more, it is absolutely great on the wrist. It feels good, too, thanks to the red rubber-molded bidirectional rotating bezel.  The 49mm steel case is made using a high resistance carbon-based treatment so it doesn’t feel heavy and it simply doesn’t look too big in its black and red format. It just looks innovative, modern and must have.

The watch is a COSC-certified chronometer chronograph that is smartly equipped with an Ocean Racer perforated black rubber strap to reinforce the original appearance of the watch. It houses the Breitling Caliber 14 with self-winding movement that beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour with 38 jewels and 42 hours of power reserve. The chronograph times to ¼ second and has 30-minute and 12-hour totalizers. The watch also offers a date indication via dial aperture and the bezel features a circular slide rule — chocking a whole lot into a small space – but doing it beautifully—as only Breitling knows how. The watch is water resistant to 3 bars. In all, this distinctive look can go racing, water sporting – or anywhere you want– for a cool $9,130.