Like a Russian Matrioshka doll, these obscure vintage and antique camera watches keep appearing and gratefully outdo themselves with each layer of the photohorological onion.
The first that caught my attention was the 1950s Steineck ABC wrist camera, which in turn, turned me onto the world of subminiature spy camera watches and the surprising discovery of this 100+ year old secret photographic history starting with this 19th century pocket watch camera.
And just when I thought I've seen them all, this UKA 659 model by Kilfitt kills them all with a single 1969 prototype that never went into production and recently sold on eBay for nearly $60,000 (US). Update! It seems to have been relisted and is currently at $58,000 --> Auction Link
Architect Jason Linde has created a series of clocks with unique display with a single stationary hand and a rotating dial for hours. Some feature double dials for both hours and minutes. On wood veneered blocks and laser engraved dials, they range from $110 - $130.
New from Rado, the 50 year anniversary limited edition Jasper Morrison designed "Ceramica Chronograph". Only ten of each will be made. I like the variation of chrono registers but $6500 for Quartz?
More about the Ceramica at Rado->Link Available at Moss in New York City or through Rado.
As quickly as the time is displayed on an LED watch is about the same length of time high end Swiss brands produced them in the early seventies. Companies like Omega produced their gold brick of a watch called the "Time Computer" and Jaeger LeCoultre got their groove on in the same way The Rolling Stones toyed with Disco in songs like "Miss You" in 1978.
This 1975 Jaeger LeCoultre Master Quartz Digital features a pretty cool asymmetric red crystal and light emitting diodes displayed on command by button and the original bands were a perfectly pretentious golden mesh.
Not long ago I featured some of the coolest in vintage geek wristwear with my Math Watches post-->here. And thought I'd follow it up with a phenomenally rare opportunity to own this vintage 60's Juvenia. The hour hand is a miniature protractor, the minutes a golden arrow, and the seconds is a double edged blade-propeller. Stainless steel, manual winding, and completely overhauled. $2495
Available from Derek at Watchestobuy.com here-->Link (part of his personal collection for fifteen years and just now for sale)
Two vintage mystery dial watches from the late sixties/early seventies with secret dials revealing a not-so-subtle message from a pair of scantily clad tarts. Each of these mechanical erotic novelty watches had a unique feature of discs that obscure the dial most of the time but slowly unveil the other dastardly dirty time of day.
One for those with highly overactive libidos (hourly display) and the other with a more respectable twelve hour time frame. Although anyone who actually wore these was likely not getting any anyway.
One with a transparent disc with floating seconds arrow.
Around the same time, a digital version existed with the same message electronically requested in LED display. If anyone has seen the movie Autofocus about Bob Crane, Willem Dafoe shows his off at a bar to an unsuspecting lady. The filmmakers of Autofocus actually contacted me at the time of production seeking this watch but I could only provide some traditional vintage LED from Hamilton and Compuchron. They did use it for the scene but had to edit the message in.
I'm struggling to find some more interesting vintage watch commercials, here's a few new ones. You can see a collection of the rest at the links below...
Les Montres Vianney Halter finally has a new website featuring his entire collection. I finally get to meet Vianney in a week and if anyone has a clever question for me to ask him, let me know!
A new achievement in chronograph watchmaking -- The mechanical memory of the Maurice Lacroix"Memoire1". via Timezone & Horomundi (much more information about the complications)
Two new unique inexpensive mult-functional, multi-dialed beasts. Above, the HT2 with plenty of junk in the trunk. An overdose on your wrist with analog-digital displays, four time zones, altimeter, thermometer, barometer, and an analog and digital compass. If you know someone that likes to get lost and be on time...$295-$345
This one? I don't know, it's just big, offensive and ugly. And generally, I appreciate an ugly watch from time to time, just not sure this is one of them. From Invicta
Personally, if we're going for multi-function overkill here, I'd much rather have this 1890 gunmetal world-time pocket watch. The front has a respectable dose of information with time, month, day, date, and moonphase but the back displays SEVEN time zones! And also understand, this is a mechanical timepiece, those are all moving parts gauging that much information in a little pod of blackened steel.
Granted it's about $9700 more than the other two watches above...but doesn't that seem like a deal now? From Bogoff->Link
Artist Mike Libby's medium consists of dead bugs and watch-guts. His second series of mechanically enhanced insect art (previously featured here->link) has just been released at his Insect Lab Studio and it includes entirely new specimens like the scorpion above. Also new to the collection are grasshoppers, Praying Mantis, and beetles with their entire wingspans displayed with the rest of their horological augmentations.
I asked Mike about the new series and details about the improvements and new species being offered...
"The quality of the work all around is notably improved due to higher quality insect specimens (larger ones too) and watchparts, also an improvement in insect spreading/handling skills has certainly made the final result more visually pleasing."
"Beetles continue to be a big hit and especially lately since I have learned to include their secondary interior wings (responsible for flight, whereas the first set of wings act as a wing case). "
"Development of new work with new specimens. Like I mentioned, scorpions, hoppers and praying mantis are all great new additions to my repertoire and have really challenged my customizing skills. I am always looking for a very thorough way to integrate the parts and gears to the specimen without overloading or suffocating it's natural form and beauty with technology. "How much is too much and how little is just enough?" is a question I ask myself constantly. All in all, the new hoppers (about 5" long!) and the improved beetles are certainly my favorite developments."
Arachnidae: Name Unknown
Scorpion & steel and brass gears, parts and springs 5” long (8” full length) Displayed in 6" glass dome & walnut base, $850
Cetonidae:Polyphemus Confluens Flower beetle with steel gears & parts - 4.5" width Displayed in 6” glass dome & walnut base, $600
Dynastidae:Eupatorus Gracilicornis
Rhino Beetle with brass gears & parts - 5" width Displayed in 6” glass dome & walnut base, $650
Orthoptera:Tropidacris Dux Grasshopper & steel, copper, brass gears, parts and springs - 5” Displayed in 6" glass dome and walnut base, $900
Mantidae: Name Unkown
Praying Mantis & brass, and copper gears, parts and springs Displayed in 6" glass dome & walnut base, $850
Jim Henson's 1965 Experimental Film "Time Piece"-->Link
"Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this nine-minute, experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson-and starred Jim Henson! Screened for the first time at the New York Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, Time Piece enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for outstanding short subject."
Jim Henson, puppeteer, Kermit creator, surrealist filmaker?
For more, visit the Time Piece Wikipedia page here-->Link
Check out my $100-$100,000 holiday gift guide!-->LINK
In addition to the knife watch from Sicura, strangulation watch from James Bond and the self-Defenseband, this antique novelty lighter watch is the perfect gift for that murderous paranoid arsonist in your family!
"Wrist Lighter is the latest novelty for the smoker. Strapped on the wrist, and outwardly resembling a watch, it lights when the cover is flicked back, as demonstrated above. It is being marketed by Samuel Jones, Ltd., London."
There is a incredible new feature for exploring the upcoming Antiquorum "Important Collector's Wristwatches, Pocket Watches, and Clocks" auction on Sunday December 5th in New York City.
Antiquorum developed a really fantastic online flip-catalog where you can view over 400 lots including some of my favorites like a vintage asymmetric Gilbert Albert Patek Philippe, ginormous Omega Ploprof, iconic Heuer Monaco Chronograph, as well as some really interesting antique 1930's Leon Hatot & Atmos Art Deco clocks, classic Rolex Explorer & Daytona, and modern masterpieces such as the mind-boggling F.P. Journe Vagabondage & Seconde Morte, bizarre Gerald Genta retrograde Grand Complicaton, revolutionary Urwerk Nightwatch, stylish Patek Philippe Nautilus, Pagoda & Bombe, retrograde Vacheron Constantin Mercator, confounding Audemars Piguet Grande Complication, and 1 of only 3 ultra-complicated Breguet 250 year anniversary watches. Go here for the flip-catalog-->Link
Paul Boutros of Timezone also features some of the above in his large intimate four-part photographic reviews-->Link
Check out my $100-$100,000 holiday gift guide!-->LINK
Artist Mike Libby's medium consists of dead bugs and watch-guts. His second series of mechanically enhanced insect art (previously featured here->link) has just been released at his Insect Lab Studio and it includes entirely new specimens like the scorpion above. Also new to the collection are grasshoppers, Praying Mantis, and beetles with their entire wingspans displayed with the rest of their horological augmentations.
I asked Mike about the new series and details about the improvements and new species being offered...
"The quality of the work all around is notably improved due to higher quality insect specimens (larger ones too) and watchparts, also an improvement in insect spreading/handling skills has certainly made the final result more visually pleasing."
"Beetles continue to be a big hit and especially lately since I have learned to include their secondary interior wings (responsible for flight, whereas the first set of wings act as a wing case). "
"Development of new work with new specimens. Like I mentioned, scorpions, hoppers and praying mantis are all great new additions to my repertoire and have really challenged my customizing skills. I am always looking for a very thorough way to integrate the parts and gears to the specimen without overloading or suffocating it's natural form and beauty with technology. "How much is too much and how little is just enough?" is a question I ask myself constantly. All in all, the new hoppers (about 5" long!) and the improved beetles are certainly my favorite developments."
Arachnidae: Name Unknown
Scorpion & steel and brass gears, parts and springs 5” long (8” full length) Displayed in 6" glass dome & walnut base, $850
Cetonidae:Polyphemus Confluens Flower beetle with steel gears & parts - 4.5" width Displayed in 6” glass dome & walnut base, $600
Dynastidae:Eupatorus Gracilicornis
Rhino Beetle with brass gears & parts - 5" width Displayed in 6” glass dome & walnut base, $650
Orthoptera:Tropidacris Dux Grasshopper & steel, copper, brass gears, parts and springs - 5” Displayed in 6" glass dome and walnut base, $900
Mantidae: Name Unkown
Praying Mantis & brass, and copper gears, parts and springs Displayed in 6" glass dome & walnut base, $850
A few interesting examples of vintage watches with off-center discs in place of traditional hands. Above and below are two 1960's Juvenia with this rare deformity.
And below, a vintage Russian Raketa "Rocket" (printed in cyrillic as Paketa) with double disc-hands. One solid sphere for hours and outline disc for minutes. See it here-->Link
Fantastic vintage 1960s television commercials for the Bulova Accutron. The humming transistorized electromagnetic coil tuning fork watches invented by Max Hetzel in the fifties.
Thanks to devout Accutron enthusiasts Horst Knebel and Hummin Georgie Stalzer for digging these out of the dusty vaults.
Max Hetzel - ACCUracy through ElecTRONics
"When the Accutron was introduced in 1960 it was described as the first electronic watch but it also had another revolutionary feature, the time keeping was controlled by a tuning fork. The tuning fork vibrated 360 times per second and the vibrations were maintained at a constant amplitude by means of a transistor, dispensing with the mechanical contact which had been a source of trouble with earlier electric watches. The tuning fork was made of Elinvar, for temperature stability, and Bulova was able to guarantee that it would not gain or loose more than a minute a month thoughout its life. It was designed by a Swiss engineer, Max Hetzel, and manufactured in the USA. It remained in production until 1976, by which time five million watches had been sold." --via Science Museum
"Bulova Accutrons were also subjects of the other famous space era rivalry with Omega Watches for being the first watch on the moon. Ultimately, the Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph wristwatch (known as the "Moon watch") was designated by NASA for use by the astronauts in all manned space missions, becoming the first watch on the moon on the wrist of Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin.
However, all instrument panel clocks and time-keeping mechanisms in the spacecraft on those missions were Bulova Accutrons with tuning fork movements, because at the time, NASA did not know how well a mechanical movement would work in zero gravity conditions. The Bulova company currently manufactures a limited edition "Astronaut" model under its Accutron line of watches." -via Wikipedia
After many opportunities to address my proclivities in my Timewarp column in QP Magazine, I wanted to turn the loupe on people who never fail to impress me, to explore what makes them tick. First on my list was modern pioneer, Maximilian Büsser and his rare & unusual 19th century unsigned laminated iron, gunmetal and steel pocket watches.