Japanese design company Vinta has created a wooden table clock that measures the time by rotating on its perfectly round bottom, tilting to one of two models that rotate once every hour or every minute.
Their description; "We wanted to express the idea of "feeling the time", not "measuring the time". It can be shown from revolving slowly on its own axis once every hour with an ambiguous change in its inclination. And we used the preciseness of a Japanese craftman technique to make this delicate shape to revolve smoothly."
Every so often, I find a really odd watch I've never seen before, never heard of before, and can not live without after. This 70's "Jovial Vision 2000" is one of those, and now one of many vintage Holy Grails I must seek out. Having never seen the actual watch, I'm satiated for now with this original advertisement from an early seventies Basel Fair.
One of a few watches that had half-dials with compressed hours for the covered portion. I am organizing a future posting (next week) of all the unusual vintage varieties with this strange display. If anyone ever does find a Jovial Vision 2000, please email me, share the photos for a follow up and prepare to receive an offer from me. I'd be more than jovial...yes, I just said that. Ugh.
Ad copy; "Vision 2000 The watch that tells today's time with tomorrow's styling"
Sideview
Ad copy; "You may not be able to go to the moon yet but you can already wear this VISION - 2000 watch of outer space concept"
"Haruo Suekichi has made thousands of watches, each with an individual name. And to think it all started with a one-armed man at a flea market in Japan."
Caught somewhere between sadistic torture device and a steampunk gadget, Suekichi's artisinal timepieces are prolifically original, fantastically bizarre, and perfectly timed for The Watchismo Times.
"Steampunk, a subgenre of speculative science fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England." Incorporatingretro-futurism styles of fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells.
"I started to work in a toy store, as a salesman. Across from the toy store was a watchmaker, and he would sometimes come over during work hours, and we became friends. I asked him if he could teach me how to make watches, and... [nods]."
"So did your watches start out as unique as they are now, or have you built up to this level of weird?"
"In the beginning, they were pretty simple, a strange drawing maybe, but that's about it. But at the flea market, a one-armed man came up to me. And he said to me, well, with only my left arm, I can't put on a watch. Wow, I thought, he's right...I wonder if I could make a watch like that? So I made - and you can see one upstairs in the showcase - I made a watch that you put your wrist in it and it shuts around your wrist."
Suekichi's gallery-->Link and more-->Link Chief interview-->Link
"Michel Jordi’s Twins stacks two separately cased mechanical movements atop each other and connects them with a pivoting Twist-Lock hinge positioned on the case side at 8. The top watch swings away to reveal the lower watch. It is a challenging design to perfect, one that progressed through much iteration. The watch opens like a fan; both of the dials can be seen at the same time. 329 Components including 40 rubies, main-plates, bridges and minuscule screws are needed to assemble the two exclusive movements of a Twins watch."
"This year the Aeternitas has morphed into the Aeternitas Mega, a series of 4 different ultra-complicated watches. The Aeternitas Mega 1 contains an automatic grande et petite sonnerie with Westminster carillon and tourbillon; the Mega 2 is a rattrapante chronograph with tourbillon; the Mega 3 offers a 1000-year perpetual calendar with tourbillon and 2 additional timezones; and finally the Mega 4 (pictured) contains all of the above - grande et petite sonnerie with Westminster carillon, rattrapante chronograph, tourbillon, 2 additional timezones and 1000-year perpetual calendar."
Nice shots of the latest prototype at The Purists-->Link
More technical details and photos of the entire Aeternitas series at Le Journal De La Haute Horlogerie-->Link
Hard to say what I think about the Memoire1 without seeing it yet. The marketing and hype is gaining momentum. The race for new mechanical developments has been very active this year, including advancements like the lubricant-free Master Compressor Extreme LAB by Jaeger LeCoultre. The Memoire1 won't be revealed until November but for now, I'd like to share their press release, a video tease and a early peek at the movement.
MAURICE LACROIX CREATES THE FIRST MECHANICAL WATCH WITH A MEMORY!
Can a mechanism remember? From now on, the answer is “yes”! Maurice Lacroix developed the first memory function for a mechanical watch. This completely new Grande Complication, which will find its initial application in the exclusive Memoire 1 chronograph, is a new milestone in the history of the art of Swiss watchmaking.
This watch has only two hands – one for the minutes and one for the seconds – along with a disk to indicate the hours. And yet the Mémoire 1 is one of the most complicated watches ever developed! The reason is that a revolutionary design sits inside this exclusive chronograph – the first memory function for a mechanical timepiece. An indication at 3 o’clock reveals the secret: By pressing the button integrated into the crown, the mode changes from “Time” to “Chrono”. The hands and the hours disk immediately change their positions. If their previous function was telling the current time, they are now available for the precise measurement of time intervals. When the button is pressed once again, they all return to their positions for telling time. Even when the chronograph is running, it is still possible to shift back and forth between the two modes without losing the information provided by one or the other function.
The memory function of the ML 128 manufacture movement, which makes possible this unique connection between the time and chronograph indications, is a major new Grande Complication that Maurice Lacroix developed to enrich the world of mechanical timekeeping. The mechanism and movement were completely designed and developed in the new “Atelier de Maurice Lacroix”. The result of this intensive process is a highly complex calibre made of 537 components – including nine switching hearts – for which Maurice Lacroix has already submitted numerous patent applications.
Maurice Lacroix is also pioneering new territory with the Memoire 1 in the design of the case and dial as well as in movement decoration and the selection of the materials used. The development process for this watch, which will be presented officially at Baselworld 2008 for the first time, is still underway. You can follow its creation on a dedicated Internet site at www.memoire1.ch.
One of a series of animated shorts leading up to its unveiling.
Memoire 1 Movement
For further information, check out JAW's post at Horomundi-->Link
Recently featured here-->Link, the Opus 7 developed by Andreas Strehler for Harry Winston Fine Timepieces really needs to be seen in (on) the flesh. The video shown above doesn't really do it justice but it does help illuminate the complex simplicity of its unusual alternating mechanical digital display. As the watch journalist, Ian Skellern describes, "With only one display indication, the Opus 7 can 'remember' hours, minutes or the power reserve while displaying only one of them." These innovative mechanical memory devolopments are being discussed at Horomundi-->Link, where a post about another watch, the Maurice LaCroix "Mémoire1", the world's first, and yet unseen by the public, chronograph with memory. (...and which I'll be posting more about this week)
But back to the video...More brands need to shoot live action videos of their complicated watches in motion. Potential enthusiasts and future collectors would really appreciate seeing the convoluted mechanics mingle. Computer animated presentations are fantastic, they go inside the watches like no other physical possibility. They all start to look the same with the spiraling video game slickness. Why not hire a filmmaker who shoots insect documentaries and could really examine the watches in its their actual micro-mechanical-environments.
The first "Only Watch" auction of 2005 was so wildly successful raising €1.9 million Euros for charity (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy), there was little doubt they'd try to follow it up. Two years later, it's back with more rare machines from todays most desirable brands. The event, commissioned by Prince Albert II of Monaco, will offer 35 limited edition and one-of-a-kind prototype watches, or as the horologically correct say "Piéce Unique". The watches will be auctioned at the upcoming 2007 Monaco Yacht Show by Antiquorum. Last years largest fundraiser of €285,000 was the collaboration of Richard Mille and Philippe Starck. They have teamed up again for the ultra-futuristic model titled, “An integral interpretation in titanium" (Shown Above).
Patek Philippe, Ref 5712T “Nautilus Titanium”, Genève Hublot "Big Bang Only Watch” Pièce Unique. Breguet "Chronograph Classique A Rattrapante”No. 1 of a limited edition of 7 pieces. Audemars Piguet "Royal Oak Offshore Volcano”, first in the series.
deLaCour "Saqra Weekend Graphite”No. 1 in a limited series of 5. IWC - International Watch Co. Schaffhausen “Fliegeruhr 5026, Perpetual Calendar” Officine Panerai ”Radiomir 10 Days GMT Pink Gold”
More accelerated high speed styles from B.R.M. (Bernard Richards Manufacture) including this triple dial 3MVT-52 with its three separate automatic ETA 2671 movements and black titanium checkerboard case. All models are produced in a very small series and crafted by hand.
Automatic 2671 ETA movement, 45mm diameter stainless steel and titanium case or black PVD treatment. Seemingly, the movement and dial can rotate and float inside the case. Animation of spinning watch here-->Link
From BRM's patented Isolastic System technology. The movement, shaped like an engine with its cylinder on the left, is maintained by three triangles in carbon fiber or fiberglass. On each of these triangles, a spring allows for the absorbtion of any vibration inside the case. The calibre has a forty-eight hour power reserve and the rotor, made of Fortale HR and aluminium AU4G, has a tantalum weight. A 50mm case made of extra hard grade 2 titanium.
The Linde Werdelin Biformeter and Land Instrument has made history by guiding world leading climbers, Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding, to becoming the first to free climb the famous North East Ridge of Everest. This is the first confirmed true, unaided ascent of the route.
The Linde Werdelin Land Instrument measures heart rate, temperature, altitude, weather and compass readings, principally keeping the expedition team safe whilst measuring how the body reacts to such extreme conditions. Previously, all confirmed ascents using this route to reach the summit have used a ladder bolted to the Second Step of the North East Ridge. The Chinese authorities gave special permission for the removal of the fixed ladder and ropes enabling Houlding and Anker to complete the Second Step very much as Mallory and Irvine might have done 83 years earlier proving that it is very possible that they did reach the summit.
Japanese design company Vinta has created a wooden table clock that measures the time by rotating on its perfectly round bottom, tilting to one of two models that rotate once every hour or every minute.
