Watchismo Times: 11/2007

Thursday, November 29, 2007

1947 Wrist Lighter from Mechanix Illustrated

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."

via Modern Mechanix

1947 Issue of Mechanix Illustrated

Flipping out over the new Antiquorum Flip-Catalog!

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

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Buggin Out! More Arthropoidal Watchworks from Insect Lab Studio

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

Insect Lab Studio-->LINK

Related Posts;
Insect Lab Studio I
Motorcyclogical
Japanese Steampunk
Art of Movements
Wood & Bone Watches
Bennett Robot Works
Mr. Jones Watches
Vasarely Op-Art Watches

Check out my $100-$100,000 holiday gift guide!-->LINK

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Monday, November 26, 2007

Born with Discs Instead of Hands!

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

1960s Raketa Sun & Moon Dial

Friday, November 23, 2007

More Accurate Than God! Two vintage 60s Bulova Accutron Commercials

1960s Clocktower Video-->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.

Original 60s Accutron Commercial-->Link

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

Related;
Other vintage watch commercials-->Link

Accutron enthusiast websites;
Accutron Spaceview
Accutron 214
MS Accutron
Rob's Accutron
Timezone Accutron

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Watchismo's Timewarp - Max Büsser's 19th Century Steel & Gunmetal Pocket Watch Collection

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.

Click here to read article-->LINK

Ian Skellern's amazing photos of the collection;

Green enamel Jumping Hour

Blackened steel with full triple calendar on back

Blackened seven day power reserve

St. Imiers 1100 year anniversary one-handed pocket watch

Article available in issue 27 of QP Magazine

And of course, Max has just unveiled his remarkable HM2 (Horological Machine No.2) here-->LINK

An interview with Max at PuristsPro-->link

Related posts;
All Horological Machine Stories
Previous Timewarps

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Faux-Electronic Mechanical Digital Watches

You see many types of jump hour watches here at my blog, but these two actually try their best hiding their Swiss mechanics by imitating the popular & new LED and LCD technology of the early seventies. This Fashiontime Instalite Digital has two mechanical discs with printed LCD style bar digits (dark gray on light gray) and a display light activated by the button on the upper right.

This Tegrov Digital took it a step further by creating a fake LED display with red crystal tinting the mechanical jump hour discs. Also with a lamp function to give the full faux emitting diode effect.

Close-up of faux-LED display

Related Posts;
Amida Digitrend LRD (another faux digital)
Dynamic Scattering LCD (earliest of the style)
Sicura Instalite
All Jump Hour Stories

Friday, November 16, 2007

LAUNCH OF WATCHISMO 2.0 !!!

I'm proud to announce the launch of the new Watchismo.com! Hundreds of really unusual vintage timepieces have been added and for the first time, a very select group of modern watches from LIP. A French brand I've collected for years and only now had the opportunity to own all the revolutionary Mach 2000 models by Roger Tallon, Jump Hours of Prince Francois De Baschmakoff, and the distinct ladies watches by Isabelle Hebey. And some interesting new directions as well. More about that soon!

A large variety of LIP including chronographs, jump hours, and LED. Most are original designs from the early seventies. See my article about LIP in QP Magazine here.

And of course, my first love, obscure and unusual vintage mechanical and early digital watches from the sixties and seventies. Everything from the Space Age including a mystery dial Mondia Moonstone, a Spaceman Audacieuse, and an Omega Speedmaster 125.

The site is super simple and easy to stroll through, even just for eye candy, it's all part of a hobby gone horribly horribly wrong...Enjoy!

Check em out--->LINK

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Just when you thought you've seen everything...

I love being pleasantly surprised and appalled at the same time. It's a particular feeling that can't be summed up with one word, at least not in English. But the need for such a word has never been more appropriate than when laying my eyes on a watch owned by fellow collector Ruud in The Netherlands. He shared this recent purchase of a bizarre 1965 Jump Hour by Jean Chuard. I've found no information about this French brand but photos (or actions, whatever) speak louder than words...

The band is a solid cuff of transparent red plastic, the dial has a plastic guilloche face, the time is displayed in three windows (Heure, Minute, Date) of mechanical digital rotating dials.

The movement "capsule"

Related;
All Jump Hour posts

Multi-functional Kitsch Clocks - 1966 Numechron Tele-Vision Clock & 1950s Telephonecigarettelighterlampclock

A reader of The Watchismo Times and mid-century collector named Kyle Supley has shared a few of his kitschy clocks with me. Featured here are two especially funny models.

First, the Numechron Tele-Visiondigital clock from 1966. Plastic burled wood case with gold trim. Meant for the top of a TV set with low wattage bulb to relieve eyestrain believed to be cause by television in the early days.

A vintage 60s digital clock by Westclox with an unusual display of hours as words.

And this 1950s teal lamp which is also a clock (clock face instead of telephone dial), and a cigarette lighter, conveniently hidden in the phone handset. It does not function as a phone. This lamp also comes with a conical desk lamp top instead of the venetian blind metal shade.

Steinway & Sons watch, a Synethesia Condition, and the Golden Ratio

Ian Skellern just introduced the first Steinway & Sons watch (Yes, the Piano company) at Horomundi. From industrial and watch designer, Fabrizio Cavalca, who has a rare variation of a condition called Synethesia.

Ian describes, "For Cavalca, visual designs and auditory compositions are holistic and are part of the same continuum: when he hears music Cavalca sees shapes and forms. The phenomena is scientifically documented and is called Synesthesia, though the majority with this ability usually associate colours with sound rather than shapes."

Cavalca's designs utilize the "Golden Ratio (also known as the Divine Proportion and the Golden Section), the lyre-shaped form of the strings over the gold soundboard on the dial provides an instant bond between watch and grand piano . . . right down to the posts and lugs attaching the string."

For the rest of Ian's article, go here.

I guess my 1980s Majestron Piano watch doesn't really compare but it is the first electronic Piano watch ever made! And I sold this watch to Devo co-founder and composer Mark Mothersbaugh years ago. The perfect recipient.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Long Lost Urwerk Relative? A 1970 Jump Hour with very familiar features

The contemporary brand Urwerk creates some of the most phenomenally complex and understandably expensive watches today but when finding this beat-up rare vintage jump hour from the seventies, it only made me think of their wandering hour designs, especially their Hammerhead, and cost me $50,000 less! It'll satisfy me for about a week.

Someday Mr. Baumgartner, someday...

Not wandering, retrograde or even protracting hands, just a simple semi-sideviewing jump hour digital display with a low grade manual winding movement.

You gotta admit, DNA tests might prove some relation. Especially the chin and lips.

Of course, I'd rather have any one of these Urwerks

Friday, November 9, 2007

Smuggling Watches from Zurich...Spain - A Classic Python

New Views of the Old Vianney Halter "Antiqua"

Although I've featured this remarkable watch before, Suitbert of The Purists has photographed it in a new light. Somehow, it looks more "Steampunk" than ever before, as if it's rising from the sea with a few giant squid trying to grasp it back down into the murky depths.

See the rest of his shots here-->Link

All Vianney Halter watch related posts-->Link

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Thursday, November 8, 2007

VINTAGE WATCHING - 1970 Prototype Concept Calculator Watch by Litronix

This week's "Vintage Watching" presents an opportunity to own a one-of-a-kind chunk of electronic watch history. A 1970's concept calculator watch by Litronix.

Litronix, primarily an LED supplier to the other vintage digital watch brands including the first Hamilton-Pulsar digital watches. Featured here are these two experimental prototype calculator concept watches Litronix was considering for development.

But what makes this strange watch special is the unusual feature of sliders instead of buttons. Likely an attempt to improve the data entry from multiple miniature buttons to a more tactile sliding mechanism. The sliders move over a commutator which is a pc board segment. I assume you move them to the desired number and press down for selection but it sure seems like a waste of time. I guess that's why it never went into production, huh? Maybe someone can let me know if this slider function has ever been developed into another product from that time.

The second model shown here is just a block of metal, likely an earlier prototype of the one above.

The owner auctioning it (ends in less than a week), says he bought them a few decades ago a local watch and clock collectors' meeting. It is non-functional but nevertheless an interesting segment of calculator watch evolution.

Three battery compartments on back

Click here to see the Litronix auction
You're lucky, I was gonna keep this quiet and bid on it myself!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Haute Steampunk! Attack of the Horological Machine No.2

An exciting evening out on the town for the reclusive Watchismo Times! I had the honor of meeting Maximilian Büsser and his new child, the Horological Machine No.2! And for some strange reason, Max trusted me enough to hold his bolted baby even though I almost dropped it into the Bolognese sauce...

Personally, I think he just pulled it out of an antique alien submarine control panel and put a strap on it.

After decades learning and conforming to the rules of corporate watchmaking, Maximilian Büsser broke the chains and started a rebellion - a rebellion called MB&F.

MB&F is an artistic and micro-engineering concept laboratory in which changing collectives of independent horological professionals are assembled each year to design and craft radical Horological Machines.

The ramifications of these audacious projects are profound. By respecting tradition without being shackled by it, MB&F acts as a catalyst in fusing traditional high-quality watchmaking with cutting-edge technology and avant-garde three-dimensional kinetic sculpture.

MB&F's first timepiece, Horological Machine No.1, wrote the first chapter in the story of the revolution, Horological Machine No.2 continues the adventure.

Each of HM2's twin portholes allows the viewer a different perspective of time. On the right, the Jumping Hours and Concentric Retrograde Minutes reveals time up close and 'now', while the Retrograde Date and Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase on the left dial allows the viewer to take a step back from immediacy and relax.

Horological Machine No.2 (HM2) is a holistically conceived and engineered three-dimensional timekeeping machine for the wrist. The functions and indications were specifically conceived to tailor to the strengths of HM2's chief watchmaker, Jean-Marc Wiederrecht. The bespoke architecture of the highly technical movement was developed to both fit and complement the radical form of the modular case. HM2 is the world's first mechanical movement offering: Instantaneous Jump Hour, Concentric Retrograde Minutes, Retrograde Date, Bi-Hemisphere Moon Phase and Automatic Winding.

With over 450 components making up its case and movement HM2 is an incredible sophisticated machine; however, its complexity has been engineered for simple and trouble free functionality.

The movement features an extremely energy efficient Jump Hour/Retrograde mechanism developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht. Wiederrecht's exclusive (and patented) asymmetrical-tooth gear wheels ensure high precision and play-free functionality.

The realisation of HM2’s complex case shape - with its architectural volume, bold flying buttresses, bolted portholes and sliding crown guard - was only made possible by using an innovative modular approach: a method inspired by the Meccano sets (similar to Erector sets) of Maximilian Büsser's childhood.

Horological Machine No.2 is full of dynamic tension between apparently incongruous elements. Tension between cutting-edge technology and sculptural art, matte textures and mirror-polishes, high-tech alloys and precious metals and tension between traditional watchmaking and 21st century micro-engineering. This vibrant tension is amplified by the interplay of light and colour off the varied finishes, textures and shapes, and gives the machine its pulsing vitality.

Inspiration and Realization: MB&F is first and foremost about people and the key person behind Horological Machine No.2 is Jean-Marc Wiederrecht. It was 9 years ago, in Maximilian Büsser's former position as Managing Director of Harry Winston Timepieces, that Büsser first began working with Wiederrecht and found him to be imaginative, inventive and sharing in the same human values. Wiederrecht and his company Agenhor are world leaders in Retrograde and Jumping Hour mechanisms and Büsser conceived HM2's functions specifically to play to these strengths.

The case, with its flying buttresses, bolted portholes and sliding crown guard, was so complex - over 100 components go into its construction alone - that it could only be developed with an innovative modular method inspired by the Meccano sets of Maximilian Büsser's childhood. And in line with best engineering principles, this modularity also simplifies future refurbishment of the case should it ever be necessary.

Architecture: The principal feature of Horological Machine No.2 is the holistic symbiosis between the three dimensional architecture of both the case and the movement. The sheer complexity of the case design necessitated a modular approach to construction. More than 100 components go into the assembly of the case alone - that is more parts than make up many complete movements! While extremely complex to fabricate, this bolted-not-welded engineering allows maximum flexibility in design and enables a rich variety of materials and finishes to be used.

Technical Innovations: The principle technical challenge in developing the movement was ensuring that the jumping hour functioned both instantaneously and simultaneously when the retrograde minute flies back from 60 to 0. And not only instantaneously, but also without using excessive energy. The usual method of activating Jumping Hour indications is to store energy in the minutes before the change to power the jump; however, while this energy is being accumulated it takes power from the balance causing it to loose amplitude - an effect detrimental to time-keeping precision. Wiederrecht's solution was as brilliant as it was simple: he designed a ingenious mechanism so that when the minutes fly back, a snail on the minute mechanism hits the hour star causing the hour to jump. The hour jumps instantaneously with the minutes because it is triggered by the minutes and, as the jump is powered by the energy of the minutes flying back, it has virtually no effect on the amplitude of the balance.

The complication has another very special feature. Specific gears in HM2's movement are manufactured to extremely high precision using Mimotec's UV-LIGA technology. These gears mesh together with a virtually a no-tolerance/no-play engagement. Normally, gears interacting this tightly would bind; however, Wiederrecht's patented asymmetrical-split-tooth gear design ensures this does not occur. The high precision of this gearing enables very accurate time-setting and offers high reliability.

To maximise the efficiency of MB&F's already iconic double Hakken automatic rotor, one of the 22kt gold blades was machined down to a razor sharp edge of just 0.2mm - a dimension which pushed the very limits of micro-machining.

The innovative sliding crown guard clearly indicates its position (in or out) and facilitates access to time-setting and quick date correcting.

And now for some candid shots of the new brood. (photographed by and courtesy of Felipe Jordão, the independent horology moderator at Timezone.com - all his photos can be seen here-->Link

The MB&F Clan (HM1 & HM2)

What watch do I wear to such an event?
Well, my cuffbusting vintage Desotos

Max, Watchismo, and the HM2

Priced at $59,000 (US) and in larger editions than the $150,000 HM1.

MB&F website-->LINK

All MB&F related posts-->LINK

Want more? Jack Forster's HM2 article for Horomundi-->LINK

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