Friday, April 22, 2005

The phases of the moon

One of my favorite watch functions has to be the moonphase.



It reminds you that time, as we calculate it, is based not merely on the thin sweeping seconds hand spinning on your watch, but rather on the enormous movement of a barren moon, a spinning planet, and a star that holds it all in orbital motion.

I've just added a moonphase function to the side bar of this site. So if you can't make it outside that often to look up in the heavens yourself then you can always visit us here to find out what phase the moon is in (an especially handy feature for werewolves).


picture: jilt33.com

Friday, April 15, 2005

Guess That Watch

Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant? Six blind men touch different parts of the elephant and describe each part individually without being able to put the pieces together to describe the whole elephant. So here is the game for the day: Can you name this watch model only by seeing the different parts of it and not the whole?



Let's see, what are the clues: round case, yellow gold, do you recognize the emblem on the crown?



Moonphase. . . and what are those numbers around the moonphase?



Movement under glass. Is it Manual wind or Automatic?



What is that? A chronograph pusher?



And a deployant folding clasp.

Do you know it?




Well here it is:



Patek Philippe 3970 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph in 18k yellow gold on a leather strap w/ deployant buckle. Manual wind movement with optional solid case back or exposition back. Chronograph, day, date, month, moonphase & sub-seconds. Certified Pre-owned w/ exclusive one year warranty & like new for life policy. Original Box & papers. Est. Retail $89,200 Gray & Sons price $72,000

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Are larger watches here to stay?

Excerpt from an interview with Hank Edelman, President of Patek Philippe USA:
Are larger watches here to stay?

Hank Edelman: I've been with Patek for a long time, and the pendulum does swing back and forth as things get bigger and smaller. While this is a pretty long-term trend, at some point it will level off.
For a brand like Patek, there's a limit for how large we'll go. We want soemone 50 years from now to feel comfortable wearing our watches the way people feel comfortable wearing our watches from the 1940s and 1950s today. So extremes tend to be out for us.
Taken from Watch Aficionado Magazine, April/May 2005.

So if you want a BIG Patek it looks like your best bet is the Jumbo Nautilus (you may not see one on the wrist of Arnold or Stallone but that's OK - Patek Philippe can only cater so much to you Action Hero types.)

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

More new stuff from Rolex



This new dial from Rolex is called "Goldust" and is essentially a mother of pearl dial overlayed with 24k gold dust. Hence the name.

Monday, April 11, 2005

50th Anniversary Rolex GMT Master II

In 1955 Rolex introduced the GMT Master (with its dual timezone feature) to a society that was increasingly traveling across timezones and working with people around the globe. This year Rolex is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the GMT Master with a new commemoritive edition. Available only in 18k, it comes in two dial configurations: black dial with green 24 hour hand, or a beaming green dial. While the dial is the most obvious difference there are a few other features that differ on this new model as well. Though Rolex has not answered the call to produce larger case size watches that are so popular right now, they have made the lugs on this new GMT larger and the case heavier giving the entire watch a bigger look & feel. If you haven't seen them already, James Dowling has posted pictures of the watches on the Timezone Baselworld forum.

2006 is the 50th Anniversary of the Day-Date, so we will have to see next year what part of that watch they make green.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

BaselWorld 2005

BaselWorld, the largest watch & jewelry show on Earth, is going on now in Basel, Switzerland. The watch world always goes abuzz this time of year anticipating, critiquing, boo-hooing, and applauding the new watch models that are unvieled at BaselWorld. This year is no different.



If you can't make it over to Switzerland then you can check out this fair-goer's post on the Timezone BaselWorld Forum.