If there is something that really is appreciated by a real watch connaisseur in a rectangular watch is a rectangular movement. This means that the movement was specifically made for this case.
The more I look at this watch the more I think the hands should have been placed in the back so as to wear it face down.
Yes, if you ever ask, this is what superlative finishings look like…
SUMMARY
Geneva, October 2016 – The Maison Caran d’Ache and the horological laboratory, MB&F, have combined their expertise for a unique creative odyssey: the Astrograph writing instrument.
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Projecting his dreams of conquering space onto a writing instrument was the original idea of the founder of MB&F, Maximilian Büsser. The creative and technical forces within Caran d’Ache enthusiastically embraced this new adventure, which proved to be both thrilling and complex. The result is the Astrograph writing instrument, a product of the over ow- ing creativity of its designers. An artistic union that took root among the common values held dear by both Maisons: limitless creativity, respect for traditions, impeccable quality and Swiss Made.
THE START OF THE ADVENTURE
The Astrograph adventure began four years earlier when Maximilian Büsser revealed his idea to Caran d’Ache’s creative teams: to let his childhood dreams of traveling in space unfold in a writing instrument. His meeting with Caran d’Ache paved the way for this idea, as poetic as it was as technically challenging, to become a reality. Explorers at heart, Caran d’Ache’s teams drew upon their imagination and technical ingenuity to construct an actual rocket – in reality an exceptional writing instrument that is extremely comfortable in the hand. Astrograph reminds us that we all hide a childhood dream in our heart.
TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
Developing Astrograph was truly challenging. Four years of gestation and discussions were necessary to perfect the technical concept. The result of this collaboration is the futuristically designed body of an instrument that comprises a multitude of innovative features among a total of 99 components: a “detent” system of vertical stabilization, launch- pad box, magnetic figurine… It took a whole year to develop the final model. It takes more than 500 manual operations to produce each writing instrument, genuine proof of an adventure.
The innovative design of the Astrograph, together with the many challenges that were overcome throughout the development of each of its component parts, have led to the creation of the most complex writing instrument ever made in the Caran d’Ache workshops.
ABOARD THE ASTROGRAPH
The slim, curved body of the Astrograph, is immediately reminiscent of the outline of a space rocket. Its fluid design is accentuated by a chequered pattern, enhanced with Anthracite lacquer – a particularly delicate process carried out by craftsmen and a specialty of Caran d’Ache. The proportions have been designed to ensure that the whole body is perfectly balanced so that it rests perfectly in the hand.
The structure is articulated by an ingenious mechanism inspired by penknives: a miniature lever – the entry door to the rocket, concealed in the ring of the pen – activates the simultaneous and symmetrical lowering of three stabilizer legs. These, just like the miniature ladder than runs alongside the “thruster engines” have parts that are sandblasted, satin finished and rhodium-plated. Once the stabilizer legs have been deployed, it is possible to stand Astrograph up, vertically, ready for take-off.
The Astrograph rocket also comes with a miniature figurine of an astronaut. Rhodium-plated and magnetized, it will attach to any part of the body of the instrument, ready to “climb on board”.
Just for fun, a presentation box in the form of a launch pad has been specially devised for Astrograph. This writing instrument may be placed in a vertical position, pointing towards the stars: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… We have lift-off!
The instrument unscrews to reveal a fountain pen inside the fuselage. The fountain pen is “launched” from its “base” to join the hand that will write the rest of the story, setting down on paper dreams of space, speed, and conquest. At this point, Astrograph ‘s tactile dimension takes on its full significance here: touch it, feel the smooth run of the screw thread when you undo the cap and the way the rhodium-plated 18-carat gold nib glides across the paper…
Astrograph is available in three finishes: high-gloss rhodium, sandblasted matt rhodium or anthracite ruthenium. These limited editions are aimed at those who love unusual objets d’art – and at those who have managed to keep hold of an essential part of their childhood dreams.
The world is not enough…
Schaffhausen, 1 de septiembre de 2017- IWC Schaffhausen presenta dos de sus modelos Portugieser más populares en novedoso azul: por primera vez, el fabricante de relojes suizo lanza el Portugieser Automático y Portugieser Cronógrafo con una caja de acero y esfera azul.
IWC produjo sus primeros relojes con esfera azul hace 50 años, marcando una tendencia que se ha extendido por toda la industria relojera. Para sus últimos diseños en azul destacados, el fabricante suizo está desvelando dos versiones de los modelos especialmente populares del Portugieser:
El Portugieser Automático (Ref. IW500710) con el calibre de la manufactura 52010. El apoyo de la masa oscilante de la cuerda Pellaton automática está fabricado en cerámica y dos barriletes se encargan de procurar una reserva de marcha de 7 días. A la altura de las 3 horas en punto hay una indicación de la reserva en cualquier momento. A la altura de las 9 horas hay un pequeño segundero. La caja en acero fino y las agujas plateadas ofrecen un contraste espectacular con el azul oscuro de la esfera.
El Portugieser Cronógrafo (Ref. IW371491) es uno de los relojes más famosos de IWC y ahora está disponible por primera vez con esfera azul. Con un diseño que se basa en el diseño atemporal de los relojes Portugieser de los años treinta, este reloj con un diámetro de tan solo 40,9 milímetros lucirá en cualquier muñeca. La caja en acero y las agujas plateadas combinan también perfectamente con la esfera azul de este reloj.
Los nuevos modelos estarán disponibles en las boutiques IWC y en las tiendas autorizadas de IWC a partir de septiembre.
PANERAI LANZA EL LUMINOR DUE 3 DAYS ORO ROSSO CON UNA RADIANTE CORREA AZULESTA NUEVA VERSIÓN PRESENTA UNA CAJA DE 42MM EN ORO ROJO CON EL MOVIMIENTO ESQUELETIZADO APRECIABLE EN EL FONDO DE LA MISMA
La colección Luminor Due es la caja la más delgada jamás creada en la historia de Panerai. El notable esfuerzo de los diseñadores de Panerai se aprecia en la reducción del grosor de casi un 40% en comparación con diversos modelos de la colección Luminor 1950 del mismo diámetro.
Esta línea se compone de dos relojes de cuerda manual de 42 mm. (calibre P.1000) y dos automáticos de 45 mm. (calibre P.4000) y está disponible en las boutiques Panerai desde el mes de octubre.
URWERK is 20 years old! A time to look back over our shoulder, not with nostalgia or regret, but to recapture a sense of excitement. It was 20 years ago that 22-year-old Felix Baumgartner set foot in New York, where Martin Frei had made his home. It was vibrant, noisy and thrilling, a giant playground of fantasy and tension. Today they evoke that mix of emotions in their new creation, the UR-105 CT Streamliner.
Let’s take you on the ride!
In March 1997, Martin Frei graduated from the College of Arts and Design in Lucerne (Switzerland), and moved to New York where he joined other Swiss artists in founding the United Swiss Artists (USA) Association. He was then living in Brooklyn — in a garret that soon became a creative hub.
Felix was in Geneva, Martin across the Atlantic. Their brainchild, URWERK, had been born but was struggling to take its first steps. The UR-101 and UR-102 were critically acclaimed but the company wasn’t viable. Its founders just managed to keep it above water amid increasing misgivings. What did the future hold for URWERK? Should they persist with a dream that was eating up all their savings? With these questions in mind, Felix took a plane to New York to join his friend. Felix Baumgartner was 22, Martin slightly older. Together in the city of their dreams they wandered the streets, taking in the images of New York, its redbrick houses, its Art Deco skyscrapers and gleaming subway. These pictures filled their minds and would never leave them.
Twenty years have now gone by and URWERK is an established niche brand. Their dream has taken shape and come to life. And when Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner look back to those days, their memories return on the drawing board and the workbench. Their American dream is now on their wrists as the UR-105 CT Streamliner.
The UR-105 CT is first of all a beautiful object that fits snugly in the palm of your hand. Its unique shape is a remarkable octagon with deep grooves along its length. The Art Deco influences are apparent in its geometric angularity and symmetry. As Martin Frei explains, “the Streamliner has a minimalist design with few frills and clean lines. In the initial drawings, I thought of the Empire State, the Chrysler and the Comcast buildings. That is why it has that vertical structure that seems to go on forever.”
You have to slide the catch on the top of the case to reveal the mechanism of the UR-105 CT. It’s a new wandering hour indication based on an openwork carousel, which carries the four satellites, each bearing three numerals for the hours. The hours successively sweep past the minutes scale for an analogue and digital display of the time. According to Felix Baumgartner, Streamliner is an apt name for this watch. “The UR-105 CT is a watch with a flexible design. When it is closed, it looks austere, with only the time indication visible. Open the protective cover and you delve into a metallic environment that is quite cold, yet you perceive a notion of speed and an effort at efficiency. The Streamliner’s carousel has been completely redesigned, becoming lighter, stronger and far more effective.”
A power-reserve indicator and digital seconds make up the rest of the information displayed on the dial. The digital seconds are remarkable in that they indicate tens of seconds. The mechanism was made using a photolithographic process, with each marker openworked to make it as light as possible. It thus weighs less than a tenth of a gram.
Two pneumatic turbines on the back govern the selfwinding rate, which can be set with a lever. In the FULL position, the slightest movement of the wrist is harnessed to rewind the barrel spring. Turn the lever to STOP to disengage the selfwinding system and wind up the UR-105 using the crown. An intermediate position, RED (for reduced) engages the turbines to dampen the winding rotor and avoid overstressing the mainspring, if you are particularly active.
In the Streamliner, Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei take you to the New York of their youth, a plunge into a city of different facets, from the top of the highest skyscraper to the depths of the subway.
Here is what can be considered in the absolute «superlative» watchmaking league. It was only decades ago that such mastery of the finishings where unthinkable outside Switzerland.
Lang & Heyne’s Albert is one of the maximum exponents of the proficiency of German watchmaking art. A mono-pusher and crown integrated pusher chronograph is a challenge even for the most experienced master watchmaker.
The Albert is not only a technical marvel but it finishings make it more than just a watch. It is a true work of art.
Like with most superlative timepieces what happens behind the scenes is always more interesting than the front. The movement cries to be observed for hours without end.
Fortunate are those who own one like this…
El majestuoso «Portofino» en todo su esplendor. Grandisima pieza y ejecución impecable como es de esperar de la casa, IWC Schafhaussen.
Reconozco que soy admirador de la linea Portofino, por encima del Portugues y del Flieger. Más ahun desde que la caja se ha hido mejorando y refinando en los ultimos años. Su comodidad y ausencia de estridencias le otroga a la linea completa un tacto muy agradable. El Portofino es de esos relojes que recien estrenados parecen que han sido parte de la muñeca toda una vida.
SIn duda uno de los detalles que más marca esta gran pieza es la envergadura del movimiento. Gran debilidad por parte de los amantes de la alta relojeria es el ajustado que queda un movimiento a la caja que lo proteje. Otras casa de renombre basan parte de su marketing en tener movimientos ajustados a sus cajas (o vice-versa).
La simplicidad pero belleza del movimiento de grandes dimensiones ajustado a la caja entra en esa categoria de reloj que casi uno medita llevar el reloj a reves para poder contemplas este detenidamente.
Realmente un conjunto casado a la perfeccion en funcionalidad y en proporciones. A todo esto se añade lo que es para mi, la complicacion más comoda de todas; una reserva de marcha manual de 8-días. El compromiso perfecto entre comodidad (8-días…) y pasion (dar cuerda a un reloj…) hace de este Portifino un acompañante para todos los días pudiendo este descansar hasta una semana sin pararse.
La fecha grande esta muy bien posicionada y visible.
A destacar el «detalle» de la correa Santony que le otorga al conjunto un toque de lujo muy singular. Nada extraño ya que Santoni es uno de los zapateros con más renombre y más apreciados por los «zapatofilos».
Por ponerle un «pero», a esta gran pieza solo le hecho en cara la falta de material luminiscente y ya para rizar el rizo que la reserva de marcha estuviese en la parte trasera del movimiento. Aparte de eso un reloj muy a tomar en cuenta por los abonados al estilo «smart-casual».
Bell & Ross has a passion for the military world and its codes. Since its inception, the watch company has considered those who serve in the military to be heroes. The brand shares the values of performance and excellence with these men and women and has enlisted their expertise to develop timepieces with optimal functionality.
This year, further pursuing this strategy, Bell & Ross pays tribute to professionals who rescue at sea and, more specifically, to its helicopter pilots and divers, with two instruments designed to support them in their missions.
Bell & Ross has created two watches that meet the operational needs of professionals on the high seas. These military and civil units operate with helicopters in extremely risky and many times, spectacular tasks.
As a rule – at least we think so – watchmaking has thoughtful and severe face. Sure! Watchmakers work in Universe of strict and definite rules of the game where all impulses, inertia, momentum, gear ratios, amplitudes, lift angles have already and forever been calculated. Everyone is familiar with classical mechanisms and design versions. Konstantin Chaykin offered new – off the beaten track – look on the watch. He decided to invent mechanical watch as a kinematic piece of pop-art. He was courageous enough to release monster from a snuffbox, to create new spirit of high mechanics – always changing, spectacular and provocative… This time the idea came out from comics.
Imagine the creature, irrestrainably laughing and at the same time tragic and – so as to keep the balance (watchmakers try to keep the balance in any situation) – poisonously malicious. What this creature will be? Certainly, Joker! Let’s welcome Joker! First, this is the card in a poker game that is able to knock over the course of a game, that appears for every poker hand to be beaten, that creates special hands or freak hands and provokes courageous and deadly dramatic courses of the game. Who cares if the risk is not 100% guarantee of success? Joker is synonymous to good luck, joker is the cue for how the destiny can turn everything into the joke.
20000 grimaces of high watchmaking art
Watch with a classical dial is truly impressive just for few times a day. Every watch with hands in dial modestly laughs at 10:10 and 13:50, and expresses moderate sadness at 15:40 and 20:20. New ‘Joker’ watch, presented by Konstantin Chaykin in BaselWorld-2017, is fitted with disk hours and minutes indicators as well as moon-phase display. New ‘Joker’ obviously has non-poker face because it is highly emotional and unpredictable – every minute. We counted that human eye will easily recognize more than twenty thousands of various grimaces, from hopelessly moody at full-moon 15:42 to flamy tongue-in-cheek at first quarter of the moon 15:48. Isn’t it amazing that Joker’s mood is manipulated by our nearest space neighbor more than any other creature? Nevertheless, most of the time Joker exhibits devil-may-care feeling, so you just want to say him “Gimme Five!”, as ‘Five of a Kind’ highest poker hand is engraved on the bezel of the watch case. ‘Five of a Kind’ is the highest poker hand, that is impossible to beat, and regarded as the sign of incredible luck.
Especially for ‘Joker’ watch Konstantin Chaykin had developed module with double-disk time indication (hours and minutes as Joker eyes) and moon-phase display (Joker’s recognizable smile). The module has 8 jewels for friction reduction, it is mounted on tried and tested ‘workhorse’ automatic winding Caliber ETA 2824-2. Additional fixed crown set in 9-o’clock position is fitted with recessed corrector provided for correcting the moon-phase display. The new ‘Joker’ watch is available in a stainless steel, the edition is limited to 99 pieces.
Inventive watchmaker from Russia
Russian inventor and independent watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin is considered to be true master of challenging stereotypes. Were there any tourbillon watches and clocks produced in USSR and Russia since 1917? In 2004 he finished the first table tourbillon clock completely made in Russia. According to European tradition this clock could be considered as apprentice’s masterpiece. Russian watchmaker didn’t manage to get international recognition? In 2010 he was accepted into Academy of independent watchmakers (AHCI, Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants), based in Switzerland, the world’s cradle of fine watchmaking. The achievements of great Soviet engineering tradition were not embodied in modern watchmaking? In 2011 Konstantin Chaykin launched ‘Lunokhod’ wristwatch, equipped with impressively large spherical 3D moon-phase display, the largest one of all indicators of such type used in wristwatches. He devoted ‘Lunokhod’ to the Soviet space program of remote driving rovers designed for Moon investigations (‘Lunokhod’ means ‘moon walker’ in Russian). It’s impossible to overcome Swiss watchmakers, playing their game? Konstantin Chaykin went to the heart of traditional mechanical watchmaking art of Switzerland and created his own construction of mysterious time indicator that actually was reinvented and optimized by him and used in ‘Levitas’ collection since 2012. Has everything already been invented in watchmaking?
In 2013 Konstantin Chaykin found a way to combine watchmaking and cinema arts, developing ‘Cinema’ watch – the first ever wristwatch equipped with zoopraxіscope, an early mechanical device for displaying motion pictures. Is it much harder to imagine and design watch with the simplest appearance than to make complicated mechanical watch? Konstantin Chaykin disproved that in 2014 by releasing ‘Genius Temporis’ watch equipped with switchable system of single hand used both hours and minutes. Didn’t Russian watchmaker have any chance to be mentioned in watch encyclopedia or in chronology of watchmaking art? In 2007 Konstantin Chaykin entered the small circle of just a few watchmakers who were able to calculate and develop mechanical clock with Computus function, designed to indicate Easter date automatically. Moreover he is the first in creating clock with Computus function for Orthodox Easter date indication. By now he developed the second optimized version of this horological supercomplication.
And still…
