Press release:   1957. Having establishing its mastery of the skies, Breitling set off to conquer the seas by launching the Superocean, a professional diver’s watch that also gained a following among the first scuba diving enthusiasts. Some 50 years later, under the “Héritage” banner, this same design still holds a special place among Breitling’s “instruments for professionals”. In celebrating its 125th anniversary, Breitling has chosen to issue a limited s...

  Jaeger-LeCoultre supports film-making as Official Sponsor of the Venice International Film Festival   Two worlds in which movement is an art, history means wealth and time spells energy. Movies share with Jaeger-LeCoultre the kind of visionary spirit nurtured by tradition, the magic of a perfectly controlled yet perpetually evolving mechanism. Within this eminently cultural context, the Manufacture has chosen to celebrate the 80th anniversary of its star movement, Calibre 101, on t...

OMEGA AND THE LUNAR PIONEERS The Speedmaster reunites four Moonwalkers Bienne, Switzerland (June 30, 2009) /PRNewswire/ — It is one of the defining events in history: on the 21st of July 1969 at 02:56:20 GMT, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon and was joined a few minutes later by Buzz Aldrin. For a brief moment in time, the Apollo 11 mission united people from all over the world in a way that nothing else ever had. Everyone of a certain age remembers exactly where they were when they heard t...

Genève, Juin 2009   ©   The Répétition Souveraine F.P.Journe acclaimed "Best of the Best" Robb Report Men's Watch 2009       François-Paul Journe is acclaimed once again for his horological creations of exception; the Répétition Minute Souveraine has been awarded "Best of the Best" Men's watch 2009 by Robb Report in the USA.   F.P.Journe, with its distinctive label - Invenit et Fecit, (invented and made) stamped on all...

  Vertu announces Luxury Chief as new company President London , July 1 2009 – World leading luxury mobile phone manufacturer Vertu announces the appointment of Perry Oosting as President.   Oosting joins Vertu with extensive experience in the luxury industry via senior roles held at several luxury brands including Bulgari, Prada, Gucci and Escada.   Following a strong record of growth for Vertu under outgoing President Alberto Torres, Oosting plans t...

Blacklisted with Audemars Piguet First of its kind, Audemars Piguet has put together an amazing collection of Black. Black is habitually categorized as timeless, a classic and very often themed as the esteemed shade for a formal occasion.Whilst black may not be unique to Audemars Piguet but it is the strength of the high-end luxury watch brand who has taken it a step further, exploring on many new material options. Its provocative measures in research and development not only reinstated the value of the ...

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The "Handcrafted Time"  Exhibition was from June 18th to 21st 2009A group of independent watchmakers presented and discuss their special styles at the Time Gallery in Bern.Watches were presented by:     BLU - Miki Eleta - Pita Barcelona   Thomas Prescher - Romain Gauthier   Svend Andersen - Louis Moinet   Angular Momentum - Cabestan - Hautlence  Mathias Fuchs - Wolfgang Matthes  As I was not able to attend I asked Thomas Prescher to give me some pictures of the event.... more

COMEX is a French diving company founded in 1961 by H.G. Delauze to explore the depths of the oceans: it is the NASA of the deep sea…. At that time, Yuri Gagarine was travelling around the earth at 300 km of altitude, but none dared to travel over 70 m under the sea.   H.G. Delauze in 1963   Delauze and COMEX ran an incredible industrial and human challenge: the conquest of the depths. Their hyperbaric boxes simulated the condition of life under sea and COMEX improved them, as ... more

Hello everyone..Well my photo essay was cut short when my 600m stem broke.  I want to thank the group of watchmakers at the NYC Omega boutique they were able to get the crown to screw down.  I have gotten emails asking about the case side by side comparison of the 600M and 1200M.  The numbers that I published are correct (see part I of this article).  For better shots I removed the bracelets on both watches. Strap width opening on the 600 M 23.8 mm . Strap width opening on the ... more

Dear all, I will of course prepare my own report of the Purists GTG in London but sadly, I'm really busy !But I would like to post these few pics before because they are an excellent symbol of the success of this gathering perfectly organized by Vernon, Mo, Graham and Nicolas. We really appreciated this event , it gave us the opportunity to meet Purists guys, to speak about our passion and to see great watches ! Sharing our passion, that's the key !Thanks a lot to the team at Willian & Son, we were perf... more

The Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles or 1600 KM) is an endurance open road race with raw engines.The Italians call the race : “La corsa più bella del mondo” (the most beautiful race in the world). While Enzo Ferrari defined it as "the world's greatest road race".  Indeed it is one of the greatest.  The Mille Miglia is so popular that it draws racers from all around the world till today.Chopard supports not only in the form sponsorship, but by participating in the race.  Mr K... more

Guten abend my fellow Lange PuristS! I trust you all are having a perfect evening this Monday! I have just returned from the Zeitwerk event, and it was indeed a superb evening! I had heaps of fun, and will share with you all the photos that I have taken throughout the day! Without further ado, here we go!   My Lange for the day, naturlich die Richard Lange in Platin. At lunchtime, I had a great paella ! Countdown to the event! Me at the entrance to the restaurant. T... more

So here is part 2 coming, named the black version! We've seen in part 1 the most glorious part of Aston Martin's racing history. Maybe we should remember that the racing history is not an ended book. This year Le Mans was again a great time for Aston Martin. There was very little chance to win with the duel between diesel and petrol engines. And there was alreadya  fierce competition between Peugeot and Audi for the first place. Still as sport is sport and AML racers are not just joking, ... more

As every good thing has an end, our London Annual Purist GTG ended, yesterday...Sadly.We may wonder why a GTG is always a magical moment.1/ It is first of all an unique occasion to " break " the virtuality of our world, to put names on faces, to meet " in the flesh " people who you're used to read, to spend a moment with old friends, and to make some new friends.2/ It is also a kind of escape with our common life,and a very pleasant escape.3/ All is in the share, not the show off.We have nothing to prove, a... more

An In-Depth Review of the Montblanc Sport XXXL Tantalum Chronograph – "Tantalizing Tantalum"   By Dr. Thomas Mao & Anthony Tsai   © June 2009     Tantalum is Periodic Table Element #73, between hafnium and tungsten, and falls into the transition metals group.  Frequently simply unavailable for use in the high horology sector, tantalum is a sporadically ultra scarce element used in cell phones and other industrial and consumer electronics application... more

We had a fantastic time at the PuristSPro Taipei GTG.  The event was held in the world's tallest skyscraper, the Taipei 101: Our morning started with a visit to the Audemars Piguet Taipei 101 Boutique to celebrate their 1 year anniversary.    PuristS were given a special viewing of the Royal Oak Offshore Taipei LE and one of the first production pieces of the AP ROO "bumblebee" ( more details here:  www.network54.com ) In the afternoon, we attended the AP 'Art of Complications' ev... more

If you believe that life is a series of random events, then Nick and Giles English (co-founders of Bremont Watches) are the men you need around. It was just such a random event in 1999 when they had to put down their vintage plane in a hurry in rural north-eastern France that they met the landowner and farmer of that land. A former World War II pilot : a Monsieur Antoine Bremont. Normally, all unauthorized landings need to be reported, and the pilots making such landings are penalized for doing so. But on... more

You've certainly all already read Nicolas' report on our fantastic week end in Le Mans for the last 24 Hours race!   Did you get enough of it?   I can offer you more. Here is the first part, let's say the white version of the story!   As you've perhaps noticed it all begun with the Aston martin team in their own castle. Let's concentrate on the important aspects of the party!   The Le Mans 2009 Aston Martin sport proto drivers   Here it is:  jlc... more

18 months ago, thanks to a good friend who went to Tokyo, I acquired the Grand Seiko SBGM003. I wrote a review three or four months after the acquisition, you can read the review here . In fact, since then I know 8 others who have bought this exact Grand Seiko.       A year and a half later, including a recent short trip to Tokyo, I am even more convinced that this watch, and the Grand Seiko line in general, is a tremendous piece of horology.   Why?   click here &... more

The event took place nearly a month ago but I never quite found the time to post these pics properly so here we go.It all began with a simple phone call from Omega Thailand. They said they were bringing some of the pieces launched at Basel this year to Bangkok. Being as enthuastic about Omega as ever, I required no encouragement to say yes.The invite arrived one week prior to the event. I was assured they did not call the wrong person. The venue for this event was Grand Hyatt Erawan --a 5-star hotel in down... more

  PuristSPro Interviews Alexander Schmiedt By Dr. Michael "mkt33" Ting © June 2009   For the third chapter in this series of interviews, I thought it would be nice to get to know the business manager and director behin...... more

To better appreciate Montblanc's Villeret collection, I thought I would start an interview series with the artisans working at the Minerva Institute.  The first interview was with Ms. Wyssmuller who now is probably the best known "springer" in Switzer...... more

Something more About Monique Wyssmüller A Saturday afternoon, 15 November 2008, the first time I met Madame Monique Wyssmüller during the exhibition of the 150th anniversary of Montblanc Minerva at the Sincere Haute Horlogerie (Singapore). No...... more

Interview with David de Rothschild, Adventurer and Environmentalist   By Su JiaXian © April 2009   Adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild founded Adventure Ecology in 2005 to raise awareness of ecology issues ...... more

A collector with a splendid collection of timepieces from independent makers speaks to us at length about his collection and philosophy.   All inept Photoshop effects are my responsibility. The gentleman in the photo with the slightly jaundiced comp...... more

PuristSPro Interviews Stepan Sarpaneva "An introduction to the Man and his Watches" By Dr. Melvyn Teillol-Foo © January 2009     Although Mr Sarpaneva and his watches have been discussed sporadically over the la...... more