Category Archives: historic designs

Second Degree chance in Яussia

Posted on March 28th, 2011

While pacing through the alleys of Baselworld 2011, I came across the booth of the revived Russian brand Raketa, which official Website is registered with a .SU domain name (as for Soviet Union). The new management decided to go for a tongue-in-cheek second-degree idendity, playing with strong visuals of Soviet propaganda of yester. As a matter of fact, I was welcomed by [...]

Posted in arty, assembler, brand of origin, historic designs, legacy, militarophilia, novelty, original designs | Leave a comment

Stowa’s new unusual Flieger chronograph

Posted on March 26th, 2011

Hat tip to Jorge Merino of Timezone.com. This new model from watchmaker Jorg Schauer’s brand Stowa could definitely have been added to our List of XXI Flieger Chronographs. Stowa is one of the very few German brands that once supplied the Luftwaffe with big pilots watches. The size was imposed by the pocket watches movements [...]

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, historic designs, legacy, militarophilia, novelty, original designs, Valjoux 7753 | Leave a comment

Watch size throughout History

Posted on February 28th, 2011

The first reliable wearable timepiece was most likely the H4, commissioned in 1759 to John Jefferys by self-taught British watchmaker John Harrison in his quest to design the perfect longitude watch. Weighting 1.45 Kg, the ”pocket” watch measured more than 13 cm in diameter, but it was far more accurate than any of the previous clocks Harrison had ever built: only 5.1 seconds slower after 60 days [...]

Posted in design blunter, editorial, historic designs, saturation diving | Leave a comment

Review: WatchProject’s list of XXI Flieger chronographs

Posted on February 28th, 2011

In the article A list of XXI Flieger chronographs, the reader is brought through a little history of standard military watches. The first paragraphs explain the distinction between three main schools: the British, the German and the French; and the text explains how the concept of a Flieger chronograph (as we know it today) was invented in the early 2000′s by the [...]

Posted in antimagnetic, assembler, brand of origin, editorial, historic designs, legacy, militarophilia, novelty, original designs, Valjoux 775X, vintage movements | Leave a comment

introducing: International Watch Man

Posted on February 9th, 2011

I came across their Website before, but a recent visit to International Watch Man drew my attention to their 2010 collection of Fifty Fathoms homages. Bill Yao of MKII, Eddie Platts of Timefactors and the brothers Cameron of Corvus Watch have all famously released homages of what is considered the first proper “diving watch”. For more [...]

Posted in aftermarket parts, assembler, ETA 2836, historic designs, Limited edition, militarophilia, straps, Unitas 649X | 3 Comments

introducing: IWI Watches

Posted on January 30th, 2011

English watchmaker Ian Walsh trained in Manchester before working with TAG Heuer. Base in Lancashire, UK, Mr. Walsh registered the British trademark IWI Watches in Summer 2006 and launched his first collection of IWI Watches in September 2007. Prior to IWI watches, Mr. Walsh has been supplying and repairing specialist timing equipment to the film [...]

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, ETA 28XX, historic designs, legacy, Limited edition, made-to-order, racing, restoration, Valjoux 7750 | Leave a comment

introducing: Temporanea Manifattura Fiorillo

Posted on January 12th, 2011

Unveiled by TLex of OceanicTime.com and mentionned by Grégory Pons of BusinessMontres.com, Italian entrepreneur Federico Fiorillo launched his watch company. Temporanea Manifattura Fiorillo was first born in Spring 2009, as a project to supply a small number of watches to friends. Mr. Fiorillo was quickly overwhelmend by orders, and so he decided to plan production [...]

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, ETA 2824-2, ETA 2892-A2, ETA 2893-2, historic designs, legacy, Limited edition, made-to-order, militarophilia, novelty, Unitas 649X, vintage movements | 2 Comments

The Poor Man’s Fifty Fathoms

Posted on January 4th, 2011

Seiko has a rock-solid reputation when it comes to their diving watches and über-affordable Seiko 5 collections. Standing on the shoulders of their legacy, history and Intellectual Property, Seiko are rightly the last company that one would expect to attempt to draw inspiration from competition. This is the certainty that was challenged in the minds of some forumers when they discovered Seiko’s latest 42mm-wide [...]

Posted in forum watch, historic designs, legacy, Limited edition, militarophilia, pimp your watch, Seiko | 2 Comments

Proyecto Pleamar para el Foro de Relojes

Posted on January 3rd, 2011

Hat tip to Grégory Pons of BusinessMontres.com [EDITED Feb 18, 2011] When it comes to diving watches, there is very little information publicly available regarding one of the most remarkable Swiss case makers of all times. Located in Bassecourt, in the heart of Swiss Jura mountains, Ervin Piquerez S.A. used to produce and supply watch [...]

Posted in ETA 2824-2, forum watch, historic designs, legacy, Limited edition, made-to-order, militarophilia, Spain

Trintec, Maker of Aviator Instrument Watches since 1990

Posted on December 8th, 2010

Brendon Nunes has been flying many types of aircrafts; and in all of them the layout and function of cockpit displays controls are designed to increase pilot situation awareness without causing information overload. In 1993, the entrepreneur became one of the first instruments manufacturers of the post-Quartz Crisis to adapt the paradigm of aviator instruments to timepieces. For the dials, he drew inspiration from instruments features in the T arrangement.

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, editorial, historic designs, legacy, militarophilia, Miyota 8215, original designs, tech stuff | Leave a comment