Watchismo Times: cars

Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts

Monday, August 4, 2008

1933 Japanese Clockwork Car Runs 40 Miles a Winding

Taken from a 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix;

"Jap Clockspring Car Runs 40 mi a Winding

THE Japanese have never gained any notable degree of fame for their mechanical capabilities, but undoubtedly their reputations along this line will get vigorous boost by their invention of an automobile that runs by clockwork.

Very little mechanical data is available on the construction of the new car, but it is said to have British car dealers doing business in Japan somewhat worried. This would indicate that the machine is more than just a freak that originated in the mind of a visionary inventor.

Reports state that the car will run 40 miles at one winding. Further developments may see the invention of an eight-day machine. A Modern Mechanix and Inventions artist has caricatured the contraption above."

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Vintage Watching - Two Very Rare 1970 Helmet Jump Hour Watches

Holy crap, I've seen one of these before but fellow eccentric vintage jump hour collector Ruud has found two of them at once! You'll hear more and more about his amazing collection of vintage digital jump hours in time to come... Now if I could only convince him to share the wealth, hell, I'm probably the only other person in the world who would actually want this ridiculous rarity.

A vertical drum display not unlike the 1974 Jaz Derby Swissonic (featured-->here) Or my favorite of all time, the 1950s Patek Philippe Cobra (featured-->here)

Friday, March 7, 2008

The Car-laboration of Chronoswiss & Spyker

World’s first steampunk car/watch collaboration?
by Alex Doak for The Watchismo Times

I suspect Chronoswiss and Spyker’s partnership has soured of late, as the only official sign of their brief dalliance during 2003/4 is buried in the gallery section of the Dutch carmaker’s website… However, as one of the more interesting (ie, less cynical) car/watch brand tie-ins, a proper tribute from the Watchismo Times has been long overdue – especially since Chronoswiss’s signature knurled onion crown forms such a key motif in Spyker’s Steampunk (yes, Steampunk interior design).

Check out how that lush leather cushioning combines with the metallic burred dashplates and exposed gear lever shaft. It could easily be mistaken for the cockpit of an HG Wells contraption, rather than a 500bhp V8 supercar that’ll hit 100kmh in under 4 seconds.

Spyker and Chronoswiss first joined forces in 2003. Cantankerous horolo-guru Gerd-Rudiger Lang, who celebrates the 25th anniversary of his watch brand this year, designed the ice-cool dashboard himself, as well as the Chronoswiss-Spyker ‘Double12’ 24-hour pilot’s watch, which paid tribute to (deep breath): Spyker’s aviation heritage (it merged with the Dutch Aircraft Factory in 1914 to make fighter planes); the C8 Double12 R car (top speed in excess of 199 mph, originally priced at a whopping €300,000); and the famous speed races which, in the past, were held in two 12-hour laps.

More gratuitous car porn: this time, the drool-inducing Spyker C12 Spyder, unveiled in Dec 2004. The first Spyker powered by the all-aluminium 6-litre W12 Audi engine, it had an all-platinum Double12 watch to go with it, only 48 of which were made, yours for €34,700 back then.

And while we’re at it, you may as well drool over this too: Zagato’s interpretation of the C12. Yes, it’s for real. Yes, I want one. No, I doubt very much that Chronoswiss will have the balls to do a watch version. Perhaps Urwerk or Hautlence fancy a try…?

Stay tuned to more stories by UK watch journalist Alex Doak for The Watchismo Times.

Related Posts;
Alex Doak's "Plenty of cracks & scratches, but only one Dent"
All Steampunk related stories-->Link

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Monday, February 18, 2008

The New BRM Manufacture Birotor BRT-3 In Gold

"Many of you are aware of the automotive themed, dramatically styled watches from BRM, and I'm very happy to bring you this introduction to the BRM Birotor in rose gold, with BRM's very own in-house movement.

This is a spectacular watch, very much in the spirit of the modern watch world- a boldly designed piece that expresses from the inside out the renewed fascination of man for machinery and for the ability of watches to both be, and act as, representations of the beauty and power of machinery."

-Jack Forster of Horomundi

Ergonomic adjustable lugs and sideview see-thru case

View of the shock absorbers

The watch is also available in titanium and black titanium.
This model is the BRT3, weight: 111,35 gr of rose gold. every
part, the case, the lugs, the clasp are made from a bloc of rose gold
nothing in this watch has been stamped.
Precitime movement 40x48mm
Suspended movement on triangle bridges in carbon fiber

Shock absorbers with cone-shaped spring, ISOLASTIC system ® (certified)

Differential mechanism Automatic Birotor

Arcap plate and bridges

Assembled movement and 6-sided bolts

Lightened bridge and plate structure

BRM balance with ruby gyroscopic effect

Double ceramic rotor bearings

Fortale HR aluminium rotors

Tantalum rotor weights

Bi-polar time system with double crowns (certified)

Ergonomic lugs with 3 adjustable positions ( certified)

Crown moved to 2 pm for better comfort

Curvilinear front and back sapphire glass

Water resistant up to 30 meters

BRT-1 Titanium case and stainless steel crown and lugs
BRT-2 Black titanium and stainless steel crown and lugs
BRT-3 Titanium and rose gold crown and lugs
BRT-4 Rose gold case,crown, lugs

B.R.M. Manufacture Website
( Birotor prices start at 50,000 € )

via Horomundi

See Also;
All Automotive Watch Posts
B.R.M. Manufacture Birotor
Other Models from B.R.M.
Parmigiani Bugatti Engine Block Watch
Azimuth Chrono Gauge Mecha
Audemars Piguet Maserati Millenary MC12
Gerald Genta Arena Chrono Quattro Retro
Radiator Grille Watches
Kienzle Life 2002 Jump Hour
Paul Smith Dashboard Watch
Heuer Silverstone
Heuer Ford Chronosplit
Tag Heuer Monaco V4 Belt Drive Watch
Dashboard Clock History
Delorean Time DMC2 Wristwatch
Formex Shock Absorber Watch
Driver Watches

Friday, February 1, 2008

1980's Alienating Seiko Speedmaster by Giorgetto Giugiaro

If you're asking yourself, what was that cool-ass watch Lieutenant Ripley wore in the 1986 movie Aliens, I have the answer for you. It was a Giugiaro designed Seiko Speedmaster Chronograph. Entirely unique by its vertical stopwatch pushers placed inside the asymmetrical case extension. Many of Giugiaro's other designs for Seiko between 1983-86 had asymmetric qualities and are shown below.

And for those of you who don't know Giorgio Giugiaro, he was one of the most important car designers of the 20th century. Credited with the "folded paper" car designs of the 1970s and 80s, he was responsible for such classics as the Lotus Esprit, De Lorean DMC 12, Maserati Merak, Bora, Quattroporte, BMW M1, and most interesting to learn, my first car, the Volkswagen Scirocco. See the rest of his resume here-->Link

Personally, I think he may have been influenced by the design of this watch that came out 12 years earlier-->Link

An appropriate future-from-the-eighties choice by James Cameron

It took me a while to dig these up!

Proof!

What bothers me the most is that I had one of these chronos and sold it prior to learning of its claim to fame.

Another fantastic Seiko Speedmaster design by Giugiaro.

I must find one!

Check out those four quadrant crown/pushers

Another from the Speedmaster series
With the dial off-kilter rotated towards the wearer

An asymmetric Giugiaro Speedmaster Diver

An interesting digital design

More about Giugiaro-->Interview and article from Designboom

Giorgetto Giugiaro Wikipedia Page-->Link
Giugiaro Design Website-->Link
ItalDesign Website-->Link

See Also;
John De Lorean's ill-fated wristwatch-->Link
Dashboard Clock History-->Link
Radiator Grille Watches
Audemars Piguet Maserati Millenary MC12
Kienzle Life 2002 Jump Hour
Azimuth Chrono Gauge Mecha
Paul Smith Dashboard Watch
Heuer Silverstone
Heuer Ford Chronosplit
Tag Heuer Monaco V4 Belt Drive Watch
Delorean Time DMC2 Wristwatch
Formex Shock Absorber Watch
Gerald Genta Arena Chrono Quattro Retro
Parmigiani Bugatti Engine Block Watch
Manometro
Dunhill Petrolhead
Richard Arbib
B.R.M. Birotor
Driver Watches

And speaking of Alien, the designer H.R. Giger had his part in a watch design for Swatch in the early nineties, see a sketch of his Crosswatch above. Watch blogger Ariel Adams of Ablogtoread details more from the 1993 exhibition here-->Link

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

Living Vicariously Through Other Watch Collectors - 1977 Heuer Split Lap Unit

I can't have everything I want, and that's okay (for now). With fellow collectors detailing their acquisitions in such detail as Jeff Stein of OnTheDash and Chronocentric has done with his recent purchase of a very rare 1977 Heuer Split Lap Unit made for the Ford RS Motorsports Team, I can live vicariously through him. The images might even be sharp enough for me to print out a paper version and assemble it on my wrist.

Heuer Split Lap 77-->Link

The varied reactions Jeff received upon wearing it for the first time;

one bad ass watch

the ugliest watch I have ever seen [his wife's reaction]

a statement . . . a very loud statement

a cool-looking machine

one rock-solid watch

I thought you were getting into the Bubble-backs?

what in the world is it?

Original 1978 advertisement

Partial ad translation; "Built for those with the higest of expectations. With the ambitious standards of motorsport, - with obsession, with the love of perfection & measuring equipment. If you want to wear a timecomputer, that will remain a styling & technology rarity"

Friday, September 7, 2007

Edox for Koenigsegg - Speeding Swedes with Style

Swedish sports car brand Koenigsegg has just introduced their $30,000 Euro limited edition wristwatch produced by the Swiss brand Edox.

Now I know some people are quite tired of the sports car/watch tie-in but it's undeniable, wristwatches, primarily chrongraphs are usually an extension of a guy's manhood. What's under your hood is often comparable to what's on your wrist (Not sure what this means for me and my Metrocard).

In this case, the watch case is styled after the Koenigsegg CCX's body. The hinged case flaps imitating the hinged doors and cover the pushers/crown, the chronograph registers pretending to be the dashboard, so on and so forth. Definitely like it enough to post it here today. Movement by Dubois Depraz.

Check out the Koenigsegg CCX video

Monday, August 13, 2007

Miniature Brazilian Horological Motorcycle Art

Brazilian, Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau and his miniature motorcycles made entirely of watch parts. The cases, movements, crystals, bracelets and bands are regurgitated into very appropriate representations of every conceivable style of motorbike.

57 year old Pfau makes the miniatures on the weekends as a hobby. His passion for motorcycles began in the sixties with the 1969 film, "Easy Rider." As stated on his website, "It is a personal collection and they are not for sale yet, but he hopes to be able to sell them in the future. He owns more them 200 miniatures at the moment. In the beginning the pieces were applied on wood frames to be hung on walls. They then became three-dimensional pieces, developing into sculptures as shown here."

Featuring everything from vintage bikes, dirt bikes, hogs, and choppers. There is even a series of famous movie bikes like the Harley Davidson "Captain America" from Easy Rider and the Norton 500 from The Motorcycle Diaries.

Motorcycle Watch Images-->Link 1 (new models) and-->Link 2 (official website)

"Captain America" (Easy Rider)

Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau

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