gazman70k
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- Joined
- Mar 21, 2008
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Everyone should be familiar with the first brand...
The Patek 5124 Gondolo in WG.
A very understated dress watch.
With the awesome shaped movement from Patek.
The next one is a little obscure, unless you are really into independent haute horlogerie.
Romain Gauthier Collection Prestige in 18K rose gold
The movement is to die for!!! In-house designed, manufactured, hand finished AND hand assembled by a huge team of TWO, Romain and his watchmaker, Sebastien Berney. Only about 20 pieces have been delivered worldwide. Romain flew halfway around the world to deliver my piece personally.
Again, another very understated dress watch.
The third is another obsure independent brand, Sarpaneva. Designed, assembled and hand finished by Finnish watchmaker, Stepan Sarpaneva. This is a watch that is nothing short of otherworldly - Steampunk meets Bladerunner!!!
The Korona K2 with a custom rose gold finished movement and skeletonised dial. Stepan comes from a long heritage of designers. Google "Sarpaneva" and you will find that he is the nephew of the late Timo Sarpaneva, a celebrated Finnish contemporary artist and designer, whose pieces are exhibited in modern art museums around the world.
The depth of the dial is just stunning and is constructed from three seperate steel layers, each hand finished by Stepan. The hands are also hand finished by Stepan. Note how the tip looks black. This is achieved by a technique called specular polishing (or black polishing) where the surface is so highly polish, depending on the angle light reflects, the surface will be either black, white or grey. This piece was the first pair to leave his workbench (he assembles his watches himself and does it in pairs).
The date window and date wheel are just so cool. Stepan has just recently hired another watchmaker to help him out. He has the capacity to produce no more than 50 pieces a year and is already fully committed for the rest of the year.
A very futuristic piece and a very fitting companion to visit Japan with (Osaka to be precise).
And finally, another obscure watch from the brains of Ludwig Oechslin (ex-head of R&D of Ulysses Nardin and father of UN's FREAK watch) and the hands of independent watchmaker Paul Gerber.
The MIH watch is a special project by the Musee International d'Horlogerie (The International Horology Museum) to raise funds for the restoration of a gigantic clock. Ludwig is the Director of the museum.
Believe it or not but this simple looking watch is a monopusher chronograph annual calender. For the uninitiated, it is a single button stop watch (the single button starts, stops and resets the second hand) with a 30 minute counter at the back of the watch AND will automatically adjust for months with 30 and 31 days. February is the only month that requires manual adjustment.
The entire annual calendar mechanism is achieved with just NINE parts!!! Nothing short of a huge technical achievement. And the packaging is pretty cool. It comes wrapped in a newspaper!
Hope this was an interesting post. Curious to know which one grabs your attention the most and why?
Cheers
Gaz
The Patek 5124 Gondolo in WG.
A very understated dress watch.
With the awesome shaped movement from Patek.
The next one is a little obscure, unless you are really into independent haute horlogerie.
Romain Gauthier Collection Prestige in 18K rose gold
The movement is to die for!!! In-house designed, manufactured, hand finished AND hand assembled by a huge team of TWO, Romain and his watchmaker, Sebastien Berney. Only about 20 pieces have been delivered worldwide. Romain flew halfway around the world to deliver my piece personally.
Again, another very understated dress watch.
The third is another obsure independent brand, Sarpaneva. Designed, assembled and hand finished by Finnish watchmaker, Stepan Sarpaneva. This is a watch that is nothing short of otherworldly - Steampunk meets Bladerunner!!!
The Korona K2 with a custom rose gold finished movement and skeletonised dial. Stepan comes from a long heritage of designers. Google "Sarpaneva" and you will find that he is the nephew of the late Timo Sarpaneva, a celebrated Finnish contemporary artist and designer, whose pieces are exhibited in modern art museums around the world.
The depth of the dial is just stunning and is constructed from three seperate steel layers, each hand finished by Stepan. The hands are also hand finished by Stepan. Note how the tip looks black. This is achieved by a technique called specular polishing (or black polishing) where the surface is so highly polish, depending on the angle light reflects, the surface will be either black, white or grey. This piece was the first pair to leave his workbench (he assembles his watches himself and does it in pairs).
The date window and date wheel are just so cool. Stepan has just recently hired another watchmaker to help him out. He has the capacity to produce no more than 50 pieces a year and is already fully committed for the rest of the year.
A very futuristic piece and a very fitting companion to visit Japan with (Osaka to be precise).
And finally, another obscure watch from the brains of Ludwig Oechslin (ex-head of R&D of Ulysses Nardin and father of UN's FREAK watch) and the hands of independent watchmaker Paul Gerber.
The MIH watch is a special project by the Musee International d'Horlogerie (The International Horology Museum) to raise funds for the restoration of a gigantic clock. Ludwig is the Director of the museum.
Believe it or not but this simple looking watch is a monopusher chronograph annual calender. For the uninitiated, it is a single button stop watch (the single button starts, stops and resets the second hand) with a 30 minute counter at the back of the watch AND will automatically adjust for months with 30 and 31 days. February is the only month that requires manual adjustment.
The entire annual calendar mechanism is achieved with just NINE parts!!! Nothing short of a huge technical achievement. And the packaging is pretty cool. It comes wrapped in a newspaper!
Hope this was an interesting post. Curious to know which one grabs your attention the most and why?
Cheers
Gaz
