Franck Muller Travel Alarm Clock

G¨¦rald Genta Has Died at Age 80
G¨¦rald Genta, designer of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, IWC Ingenieur, Omega Constellation, Cartier Pasha, Bulgari Bulgari, and other icons of the modern era has passed away at age 80. Genta was born to Italian immigrant parents in Geneva in 1931. He launched his career as an independent watch designer in 1961, and in 1968 he designed the Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse. As Lucien Trueb wrote for WatchTime in December, 2006, “A crowning moment came when Audemars Piguet commissioned him to design a sporty stainless steel wristwatch. Genta met for preliminary negotiations with Paul-Louis Audemars… and his son Jaques-Louis…. The elder Monsieur Audemars died before he could see Genta’s design for the Royal Oak, famously drawn in one overnight session in 1970. Genta presented the sketch to Jaques-Louis who was initially aghast: a sporty watch in a steel case was something entirely new for Audemars Piguet.” Though the design was unprecede

Konstantin Chaykin Decalogue Watch Available On James List
St. Petersburg based Russian watch maker Konstantin Chaykin is one of the independents that I watch closely. Their new watch for 2011 was the Lunokhod that I covered here. Though this Decalogue is a piece they released last year as a limited edition of 76 pieces. The watch is actually based on a large clock in Prague that also features Hebrew characters as the hour indicators. Like the clock, the watch tells the time with the hands going counter-clockwise.This seemingly odd feature has to do with the Hebrew language, which is read right to left versus left to right. Therefore, to the left of 12 o'clock on the dial would be 1 o'clock versus 11 o'clock. Each of the Hebrew characters has a numeric property, so they do actually indicate 1-12 on the dial (just in the reverse of how most watches do). The result is a watch that basically indicates the time in the same, but reverse way as standard timepieces.The name Decalogue is actually another term for the Ten Commandments - which obviously

The Everyday Oris F1 Day Date Watch
There are some watches that are art, and some that are technical marvels but we are talking about neither of those today. Today we are talking about a high quality and comfortable every day watch that should be in every "normal" watch guys collection. The Oris F1 Day Date is a marvelous watch that is impossible not to love. The watch is available on both a nice metal bracelet or an exceptional rubber strap, and in my opinion one of the nicest rubber bands you will find at this or any price level. The rubber band is soft yet never losses it's shape and unlike less refined bands, is slightly scented with vanilla so the foul smell of wet rubber will never be on your watch or arm.The case and face have multiple color combinations anywhere from blue on sliver to completely blacked out with a black face and black PVD case, some orange and red are thrown in for good measure. As a casual watch collector, you'll have no problem finding a color combination you'll want to wear every day. The case

Illinois watch list
Today was a fun day. I visited my PO Box, and waiting for me there were a few new nice bands from a new (to me) source along with letter from Fred Friedberg, THE Illinois wristwatch expert. In the old days, a few times a year Fred would put together a list with photos of treasures in search of a good home. Sadly, he has been travelling all over Asia and Europe the last few years so these lists have not been published. (His REAL job is an an exec and top lawyer for a largish international company.) Included on the list are many of the models that collectors seem to like most Consul, Jolly Roger, Piccadilly, Ritz, Chieftain, Townsman, Speedways, and more. Most seem to be very nice obviously some are from his personal collection because this quality simply does not pop up often anymore. I have asked him to visit here periodically to chime-in on Illinois discussions and he tells me that he will. Until then, if you are intersted in seeing what he has available, please let me know

Parmigiani Mechanical Wonders @ La Vieille Russie New York
To attend a Sandoz collection exhibition, one of the finest old automat & timepiece collections, is like transcending one¡¯s horologic culture.Very often, when one sees the phenomenal prices reached during some horologic auctions, the question to be answered is the question of the sense. Meaning crisis? Investment crisis? Values crisis? Yet, it is on the contrary a tribute paid to the classic horologic culture: it is either an outright tribute, by buying rarities such as the Rochat brother¡¯s pistols; for example, the pair of pistols was auctioned for 5 million Dollars recently, in Asia.Alternatively, it is a bet on the future, when collectors put crazy amounts of money on a new Great complication; one could remember the Patek 3939, which was auctioned for 1.4 million Euros.The very high-end watchmaking purchases are those of technical concepts, the oldest being unique pieces for which fabrication secrets have been lost; we get close to the Art auctions, where the principle is to pu