independent watch projects

Hat tip to BusinessMontres.com.

So, for a change, a new watch brand, obviously for diving…

It is with that slightly sarcastic remark that prominent horology journalist Gregory Pons opens the paragraph about the Compañìa Relojera Especializada Para Actividades Subacuáticas, also known as CREPAS.

Based in Malaga, Spain, CREPAS watch tried to emulate the look of 1970′s Omega diving watches. The result is the Le Grand, a limited edition of 99 stainless steel watches with Milanese mesh band powered by an ETA 2824-2.

At 43.0 mm of diameter, the case’s 4 mm sapphire crystal makes it impervious to pressures up to 120 BAR (equivalent to a static depth of 1,200 m).

Little particularity, CREPAS have ensured that the movement is surrounded by magnetic shielding. As a consequence, the watch can withstand magnetic fields of less than 70,000 A/m, which is almost like the legendary Rolex Milgauss and 15 times better than can be expected from an average watch (4,800 A/m). For mor on magnetic shielding, read our article about Antimagnetism In Watchmaking.

High water-resistance and magnetic shielding combined bring the thickness of the LeGrand to a whopping 17.2 mm, but that is a concession to make if you want your watch to be impervious to both high pressure and magnetic fields.

Available on the company’s Web site, the Le Grand is announced at USD 1,249.00 but the 50 pre-ordered pieces will go for USD 849.00.

Note: the picture of the vintage Omega Seamaster comes from the VintageWatch.ca e-store.

The Purists forum features January 2010 pictures of a prototype made by a new German brand called “VDB”.
The collection comes in diameter 46 mm and features a vintage GUB Spezimatic calibre. Click here to see the original post at ThePurists.com.

Watch collector Ken Sato produced what was considered the best hommage to Italian WWII military watches. At some point, he got slapped on the fingers by Officine Panerai for copyright infringment. After several collections inspired by vintage Rolexes, Ken sato did build the Plasmir Milgraph, a watch enhanced with tritium vials and available at the PlasmirMilgraph.com website.

Kentex released a limited series of a 100 pieces of the S526M a titanium watch featuring high antimagnetic shielding (64,000 A/m), self-luminous Tritium vials and housing a Swiss ETA 2824-2. At JP¥ 76,500 a pop, they just sold like hot cakes.

Read the full article here.