Pierre Cardin 1971 Espace Watch Collection

Designing collarless suits for the Beatles in 1963, Nasa Spacesuits in 1970, Pierre Cardin released his very brief Espace watch line in 1971. Made of metal blocks, lucite cubes, layered disks, contouring arcs, bold stripes or Futuro domes, my most prized collection of watches are near majority but forever incomplete due to unearthed prototypes and rare versions of already scarce models. Most are in my gallery for viewing.

Cardin was an 'O.G.' of the space-age set along with Andre Courrèges, Mary Quant, Rudi Gernreich, and Paco Rabanne, all creating clothing for the future where you'd be accompanied by your best friend and confidant, Barbarella.

All mechanical watches fitted with handwound Jaeger FE 68 movements.

LTD Magazine Chronograph Feature

LTD Magazine (Limited Edition 'Product Showcase' Mag)

This Fall issue of a magazine given out to a very select group of "Taste Makers" featured some of my wilder chronographs including a Waltham Jump Hour Digital Chrono, Desotos Superwide, Breitling Pupitre Bullhead and others from the collection of Evan Orensten at CoolHunting.com.

Click to read article.

Clockwise 01 - The Talking Voxclock

No hands, no digits, just a little two inch box with faux wood panelling, a button and a creepy 1981 voice announcing the time in that ever so globalthermonuclearwar-ish way.

Listen for yourself. Hell, it even has a feature for countdown... He says, "A-LEV-IN OW-ERS FOR-TEE TOO MEN-UTS TAH-GOH."

My first installment of cool vintage clocks I've found. More to come...

Putting the whore back in horology! Urwerk 103.05

Finally! The past few years have been an interesting time in watchmaking, granted only on the Haute end of the stick, but nevertheless, people like Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner are breathing inspired fire with their 103 series (103.05 shown) and the Opus 5.

This watch has rotating/orbiting satellites that pass the arc of minutes lining up the time. See & read more about it's cutting edge complications at Urwerk.ch.

Aesthetically, modern watches have stagnated (nice way of saying stunk) since the eighties and only now are younger independent visionaries like the fellas at Urwerk creating remarkable timepieces that both molest the past and fist themselves into the future.

Jaw Donors Wanted - Record Sideview

When I first saw this sideview Record automatic watch by Longines in Pieter Doensen's book, my jaw dropped. I visited Mr. Doensen himself in Utrect, viewed the watch in person and left my jaw in the Netherlands. Jawless and determined, my patience paid off in the form of my very own model with original box!

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Cool Hunting Video - Watchismo

A little background first?

Recently, Coolhunting.com interviewed me about my collection at Watchismo

Here is a link to the video at their site or view it directly from YouTube (lo-res) on the post above...

Patek Philippe Cobra!

The year was 1958 and in a fresh spark of innovation one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious watch companies Patek Philippe designed the Cobra watch, unique for its unusual time display and aggressive profile. Time is displayed through two graduated linear openings showing the hour and minute marks which are printed in a spiral on rollers, thus eliminating the traditional dial and hands.

The Cobra, like many other Patek watches, was designed by the renowned watchmaker Louis Cottier, who is perhaps best known for inventing the practical World Time system (a dual dial watch with two crowns that permits the wearer to set each dial to a different time zone).

The Cobra's high production cost prevented it from being produced, and this functioning prototype was the only one known to have been made. The fact that this watch never quite had its moment in the sun makes it an obscure but inspirational model of futuristic design.

More Cobra images at original Coolhunting article here.

By Watchismo, CoolHunting and Todd Thomas

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