Blancpain & Lamborghini's Partnership

Typically when you speak to a watch collector it's not long before you learn that they are also into cars. That correlation is not lost on watchmaking firms. This coming weekend I will be attending a local Italian auto show. Along with checking out some of the world's finest automobiles, I'll also be partaking in one of my favorite hobbies; watch spotting. So in the spirit of that I wanted to share a little promotional film put together for the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo, a series of races that tour some of Europe's legendary race tracks. It was set out to be the world's fastest one-make series of races. Blancpain sponsors the event while Lamborghini provides a racing version of their Gallardo LP560-4 along with technical support of the entire event. Originally conceived in 2008 the popular tour is currently making the rounds again this year.

Blancpain also created a limited edition [300 pieces] chronograph to celebrate the partnership. The watch is appropriately called the "Super Trofeo Chronograph" [pictured below].

Now if we could only get them to bring the series to the states...

Alpha Watch Review from Breitling Source

Another fine video review from our friends at Breitling Source. This time it's of a low cost Asian made Alpha Watch. I have a few Alphas myself and may do some of my own reviews in the future.



Breitling Source's YouTube page can be found HERE.

Breguet's Marie Antoinette Back on Display

It was in November of last year that Breguet's most famous piece, the Marie Antoinette watch, was recovered. In 1983 it was stolen from the Israeli museum that had it as an exhibit, and was never seen again until it popped up in a watchmaker's shop with the person who brought it in asking what they could get for it. Thankfully the watchmaker instantly recognized the watch and reported it immediately. The watch officially went back on display at the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem along with several other Breguet pieces until September 9th, 2009.

Now for a quick history; the watch was commissioned in 1783 for Marie Antoinette. The request came from a suitor of hers. He requested that the pocket watch have every complication available at the time. The idea was to have a timepiece that would find her speechless at the sight of it. Unfortunately she was never able to obtain the piece as she died in 1793. Breguet actually finished and unveiled the watch in 1827, nearly 44 years after her passing.

The watch eventually found it's way into the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art where it sat until 1983 when it, along with 106 other timepieces were stolen in a heist that only a Hollywood writer could come up with. There were no real clues left behind and no one ever heard any word about who may have them.

Fast forward to 2005; Nicolas Hayek, CEO of the Swatch Group & Breguet, announced that the original plans were found and he intended on building an exact reproduction of the Marie Antoinette by hand [this one didn't take 44 years to make, it was completed in 2007]. Ironically enough only months after he showed his reproduction at Basel World 2008, the original watch was recovered. It turns out that the notorious thief; Naaman Diller was the sole perpetrator of the crime and held onto the watch until his death in 2004, when it was anonymously sold to a watchmaker in a lot of vintage watches for $40,000. There was initially some argument as to the rightful owner of the watch, but it was decided that since the museum had official and legal ownership last, it would remain with them.

At this time the watch's estimated value is approximately 30 million dollars. Though Hayek spent a lot of time and money making a fine reproduction...There truly is only one of this piece in the world. Below are some pics of the two watches.

The Original Marie Antoinette after recovery

Breguet CEO Nicolas Hayek with his fine reproduction in 2008.

Read more about the exhibit from the original Associated Press Story HERE.

Click HERE for a Google image search of this stunning beauty.

But Does It Tell Time?

Today Samsung unveiled what is to be the world's slimmest "watchphone". The S9110 is slated to be released later this month in France with a roll out to other European countries soon after. It is set to sell for about $640.00

"It features a 1.76-inch touch screen -- which users can use to check email from Outlook, play MP3s and make calls -- and integrates Bluetooth 2.1, a speakerphone and voice recognition technology. "

This will be the only direct competition for LG's similar offering; the GD910 which is due out in August.

Seriously....Does it tell time?

Original articles from Mobiledia

The Omega Has Landed

On July 20, 1969 [40 years ago today] the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module [LEM] gently touched down on the surface of the moon. Contained inside of its cramped quarters were Neil Alden Armstrong, and Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. with Michael Collins piloting the Command Module over head in the moon's orbit. There is no doubt in any person's mind that these, along with many other people in NASA's past and present, are truly heroes that can be looked up to with pride.

Among the many articles making the 4 day trip to the moon was the now famed Omega Speedmaster Chronograph [model #: 3570.50]. From that day forward this popular timepiece would come to be known as "The Moon Watch" and Omega makes no bones about marketing it as such. The watch first came into production in 1957 and is still available today with little to no modifications from the original design.

The funny thing is the Omega Watch Company had no idea that NASA was testing this watch to be used for space travel. NASA officials covertly bought several brands of chronograph watches in retail stores and began to put them through rigorous stress tests to see which would survive the hard trip and atmosphere in outer space. On March 1st, 1965 the Omega was proclaimed the winner and was adopted by NASA as the only “Officially Certified Wristwatch For All Manned Space Missions.”. It wasn't until Edward White wore a Speedmaster on his wrist during his space walk [the first EVA by an American] on the Gemini IV mission that Omega even found out. NASA has used the Omega Speedmaster Professional on every space mission since. It is currently one of only three watches officially rated as mission certified. Most modern wristwatches can handle the rigors of space travel and astronauts are allowed to bring any timepiece they wish along with them, but they are still given an Omega Speedmaster Professional for their missions and are expected to use them as their primary mission wristwatches.

It is widely known that Neil Armstrong is the first man to step foot on the surface of the moon. Most people, however, are not aware that the first Omega to make its way to the lunar surface was on Buzz Aldrin's wrist and not Armstrong's. Why is that? Turns out that a timing device in the lunar module was malfunctioning so Neil left his Speedmaster in the cockpit to replace the device [you can't get a better advertisement than that]. The video above shows Buzz Aldrin's first steps on the moon, and in turn shows the first wristwatch being worn on the moon as well. Unfortunately Buzz Aldrin's watch has since have been lost. While many of the watches used for manned space missions are available to view at various air and space museums across the country Buzz Aldrin's famous watch was lost in transit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and remains so to this day. So to whoever may have it...Just give it back.

Buzz Aldrin wearing his Omega Speedmaster during the Apollo 11 mission

As recently as July 19, 2009 the three Apollo 11 astronauts, along with John Glenn, appeared together at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC to discuss their mission and to try to spur the next generation of NASA workers to send a human to Mars. Full story HERE.

Many may ask what the point of a manned mission to Mars is...The answer is simple: It's next. Man has always had a need to explore further and further and no other reason than that is needed. If we do send a man/woman to Mars you can bet that an Omega Speedmaster Professional will be on their wrist and now even Stephen Urquhart, current President of Omega Watches, has committed Omega to being on all manned flights from here on out.

For more information on the Omega Speedmaster and other watches worn for moon missions check out THIS SITE.

Freebie For Your Computer!

Here is a little freebie for my fellow watch enthusiasts. I was clued into this from the online watch forum I spend too much time on. It's a Panerai GMT screensaver clock. It's pretty widely known that Panerai offers an official screensaver on their page. This new one appears to have been a labor of love from an Officine Panerai fan, and in my opinion is much better than the official offering.

The dial rendering has a 3D feel to it which is much more fun. The screensaver shows the time, the date, a seconds 'subdial', a cyclops, and a moving GMT hand which matches the current time in the 24hr scale [the GMT hand is not adjustable].

Now for the cool part; the screensaver has 'lume' on it. During the daylight hours the screensaver shows the numerals and hands in white, when it hits the nighttime hours they glow green. Below are a couple of screen shots [not captured by me]:

Daytime Display

Nighttime Display

This is available HERE for download. This has been making the watch forum rounds for a while, and I've had it on my computer for a few days. All is well, it's completely freeware and contains no funny stuff. When you get to the page click on "Free User" and it makes you wait 30 seconds to download the .exe file. You'll notice upon installation the instructions are in German...just click on the first button on the left and you are good to go! Das ist gut, ja?

Enjoy!

Orlando Bloom's Watch Collection Burglarized

One of the stars of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' film series had his home, and specifically his valuable watch collection burglarized.

"His collection reportedly included eight watches that were more than 40 years old, six rare Rolexes, including a rare antimagnetic Milgauss from the 1950s, which vintage watch experts told the paper could be worth almost $200,000. His collection also reportedly included a Rolex Submariner, popularized by Sean Connery in “Goldfinger,” estimated to be worth over $32,000. His entire watch collection was reported worth over $328,000, according to the paper."

Bloom has been heard to state that he is not too upset about the break in as no one got hurt in the incident.

Here is a bit more information HERE.

Be sure to insure those pricier pieces, kids!