The Skeptic and his Very First Automatic Timepiece

How's the watch?  I asked Frank a first time Automatic Watch Wearer.  He was pouring over the Daily News almost hiding his face from what I thought was a fairly innocent question.

"Fine" he said "It will be fine."

Huh? I thought.  "It will be fine! What does that mean? It will be fine!" 

You see he had just bought a watch.  A really nice Stuhrling Original Alpine with its signature rose gold propeller-like adornment straddling the dial. The watch ,however, was an automatic.  A far different kind of movement to his usual Movado Sports Edition Quartz Movement.
"Does it keep time well?" I asked - rephrasing my question hoping to get some specifics on his rather vague answer.
He looked up from his newspaper frowning.

"It must work on some weird kinetic energy or something, because yesterday when I took it off, it stopped" he said.

"How long did you wear it before you took it off?" I asked

"Oh! Maybe an hour or so... but it was working fine until then."

"Oh well" he sighed thinking he had just spent a bundle on a lemon.

Oscillating Weight

"You did not give the watch enough time to wind the mainspring" I said.

"This is an automatic watch.  Instead of winding it by the crown, the rotor at the back of the watch moves back and forth while you walk.  The movement of the rotor or oscillating weight winds the mainspring.  The mainspring stores the energy which is released at a constant rate - thanks to the very efficient mechanics of the balance spring and escapement. To fully wind the mainspring, you must wear the watch for at least 10-15 hours a day. "

"Yeah right!", he said. "We will see about that."

I continued ... adamant to get my point across.  I was desperately trying to make him realize he had not just bought a lemon of a wristwatch. 

Watch Winder

"When you take your watch off, it can continue working for a minimum of 24 hours ,off your wrist, depending on the power reserve of the watch." I frowned trying to remember the power reserve capability of the Sturhrling Alpine. I knew it had to be 24 hours at least.  I found out later it has a 34 hour power reserve, so I was not too far off the mark.

"Huh!" he said raising his eyebrows with unsettling skepticism.

"No! Its true!" I said realizing that all this time I had taken it for granted that most people knew about the basic functions of an automatic timepiece. Maybe I should have made it clear that the automatic watch had no battery.

"If you don't want to wear the watch all the time and you want it to keep time, you should get a watch winder..." I trailed off.

Frank glanced at his watch and shrugged.

  Still not convinced.  He folded his newspaper, tucked it under his arm and headed out the door.
I figured if he comes to the office tomorrow wearing his Stuhrling Original Alpine, then my impromptu tutorial was a success.  Alas, if he ventures in wearing his Movado Sports Edition quartz, my well meaning tutorial was a failure.
Only time will tell. 

Get Your WRYST Rush at ZULUTIMEZONE.COM!

Now introducing the first  ever extreme watch wearing experience.

The WRYST.

The first watch brand exclusively developed and engineered to enhance your extreme, freestyle and action sports.
 WRYST Swiss made timepieces premier with the exclusive WRYST Airborne "FW" Collection - 2012 available at ZULUTIMEZONE.com. The Limited Edition Airborne FW3 is presented in a striking green and black, Limited Edition Airborne FW4 in brilliant yellow and contrasting black, Limited Edition Airborne FW5 in a fiery orange.  The Airborne FW6 commands a bold presence of white dial, black strap and steel bezel. From development to production, the signature contoured case, movement, dial and rubber strap is created for extreme sports.

Owner at  WRYST and renowned luxury watch designer, Jacques Fournier, created a watch brand to fill a void in the watch market:

 "I became a watch designer mainly because I could see much more potential in timekeepers than the industry has always had offered. Since I have created many designs for other brands, I wanted to design and wear the watch I always wanted to wear and never really found, and offer it to others at an affordable price." , Jacques said in a recent conversation with Zulutimezone.com.

WRYST is THE watch for your heart stopping, hair raising adrenaline pumping adventures.

Plummeting down snow covered slopes; spinning airborne at ramp's peak; free falling beneath cloudless skies; tempting gravity and  testing limits to near breaking point as a surge of adrenaline courses through body heightening senses and readying muscles for split second death defying decisions.

Timing is critical. Timekeeping is crucial. 

Every aspect of the WRYST Airborne is created and developed to ensure maximum efficiency and protection during extreme sports. 

•  The unique technical 45mm stainless steel case accentuated with a perforated extended bezel is coated with DLC (Diamond like Carbon)- a cutting edge material which elevates resilience and increases scratch resistance.
•  A signature WRYST dial exuding a palpable energy boasts three sub dials driven by a high precision  chronograph quartz Ronda 3540D movement. A chronograph is essential for extreme sports when calculating elapsed time between two points.
•  Bold Arabic numeral hour markers and long hands are meticulously designed to ensure maximum clarity at a glance. Hour and minutes hands are coated with lume (glow-in-the-dark substance) as well as lump dots punctuating the hour markers ensuring adequate read out in dim conditions.
•  The dial is protected by a cutting edge K1 mineral crystal glass which provides optimum scratch resistance.  As WRYST is a watch dedicated to extreme sports, it uses the KI mineral proven more shatterproof than sapphire crystal and treated with an anti-reflective coating to reduce glare. 
• 
  
  For ones watery extreme sports, the WRYST Airborne is water resistant to 100 Meters. 
   22mm rubber straps provide maximum comfort about the wrist and maintains optimal wrist mobility required by extreme sports and is buckled to the wrist.  Both strap and buckles are attached by solid SST screw bars. 
  
  
  
  
  The watch is presented in a black leather box lined with white fabric. Within the box, a USB card provides the  limited 2 year warranty and a clear instruction manual as well as a handy screw driver  for strap change.
  
  
  For a timepiece of this caliber one may expect high prices only  affordable to the select few,
  but Jacques Fournier of WRYST watches is dedicated to providing extreme and action sport timepieces at affordable prices.  The WRYST Airborne Limited Edition FW3 to FW5 is available to you for $750.00, but don't wait... these models are limited to just 75 pieces each available at ZULUTIMEZONE.com. The WRYST Airborne FW6 is available for $650.00. 
  
  
  Jacques Fournier, Owner at WRYST has achieved a profound balance of aesthetics and functionality resulting in the perfect timekeeping extreme sports companion. 
  
  
  WRYST Watches ARE extreme and action sports timepieces you can afford. 
  
  

Urwerk UR-210 Keeps Tabs on the Movement of YOU

If you think you are keeping tabs on the movement of your timekeeper - Think Again.  The Urwerk UR-210 is a timekeeper that keeps tabs on the movement of you.  I would like to introduce the first ever "winding efficiency indicator".  You must understand this is a highly technical advancement only achieved by extreme mastery of mechanics.
So being the first of its kind, an explanation of  your function is in order. Before you claw at your face in despair at the quality of internet writing nowadays and glare at my seemingly rash use of pronouns, let me explain why I have intertwined watch wearer and watch in my description of functions.
You see a winding efficiency indicator does not indicate the efficiency of the timepiece but rather the efficiency of its wearer.

Power Reserve Indicator
Above the Urwerk's remarkable display of time ,I will come to that later, at the one 'o'clock position there resides a relatively unassuming power reserve indicator. Unassuming as it is, the complication of a power reserve indicator serves a very useful function. For a mechanical watch to run at a regular rate it is imperative that 30% of the mainspring is wound. The power reserve indicator displays the amount of tension of the mainspring at any moment and the amount of time the watch will function when not worn.
For the power reserve to always be in the "green" so too speak, a watch must be worn for at least 10-15 hours a day. However merely wearing a watch does not mean one is actually winding the mainspring.  One may be wearing the watch at ones desk for hours at a time or watching  24 hour  reruns of Star Trek for hours at a time not really moving ones wrist at all.   These activities are not really conducive to optimal automatic winding motion, since it is the swinging motion of ones arm which moves the oscillating weight thereby winding the mainspring.

Winding Efficiency Indicator
So how does one know if one's activities actually wind the watch?
That is where the Urwerk UR-210 "winding efficiency indicator" becomes handy. 
The "winding efficiency indicator" is located at the 11'o'clock and displays ones winding efficiency over the last 2 hours.  Sitting in your armchair watching reruns of Star trek, your efficiency indicator will be firmly placed on RED (in other words - you are being inefficient ).  If you happen to get up and walk Porthos the dog well then your efficiency indicator will jump into the green.

Winding Efficiency Selector

However Urwerk is not a weight loss watch company and understands if you have no time to run around and swing your arms all day, so Urwerk has developed a movement to meet your energy needs. With the knowledge that you are not a mover or swinger, you can use the Winding Efficiency Selector discretely located at the back of the watch.  The Winding Efficience Selector has three options "FULL", "REDUCED" and "STOP"

"FULL" - If the Winding Efficiency Indicator shows up in the red, you can either become active or select the "FULL" option on your Winding Efficiency Indicator.  What this will do is convert even the slightest motion into stored energy. In this mode a turbine connected to the rotor aids in a smooth transfer of power from rotor to storage.
"REDUCED" - If one is very active one can opt for the REDUCED mode triggering a "rotor damping system".

Rotor Damping System
The Rotor Damping System comprising of an air turbine compressor is  placed on ruby bearings and spins creating internal resistance. The function of this is to create sufficient friction to slow down the rotor.

"STOP" - This mode entirely disables the automatic winding system essentially converting the watch to manual wind.

Time Display
Although Urwerk's time displays are always highly original, the originality does not effect the ease of readability.  Urwerk's displays are a breeze to read and so very very clever. The UR-210 utilizes its signature retrograde minute display indicated by an ultra large hand framing the current hour.  The satellite hours always remind me of the earths orbit - turning around its own access at the correct hour and orbiting the central access.  There are three four sided satellites with a different hour marked on each side.  The minute hand moves along the display taking the current hour along for the ride.  At the end of the 59th minute, a flurry of activity occurs - in rapid procession of a mere tenth of a second.  The minute hand springs back meeting up with the correct hour. The transition is smooth - components performing in utter symphony.

Retail Price $145,000

UR-210 - Technical Specifications

Indications: Patented revolving satellite complication with wandering hour and three-dimensional retrograde minute hand; power reserve indicator; winding efficiency indicator (patent pending).
Super-LumiNova treatment on markers, dials, indexes, hands, and satellites
Controls: Two-position winding crown On the back: winding efficiency selector

Case
Material: Titanium and steel
Dimensions: Width 43.8mm, length 53.6mm, thickness 17.8mm
Glasses: Sapphire crystal
Water resistance: 30m/100’/3ATM
Surface finishes: Satinized

Movement
Caliber: UR-7.10
Jewels: 51
Escapement: Swiss lever
Balance: Monometallic
Frequency: 28,800v/h, 4Hz
Balance spring: Flat
Power source: Single mainspring barrel
Power reserve: 39 hours
Winding system: Automatic-winding coupled to turbines
Materials: Plate in ARCAP P40; 3D minute hand in aluminum with brass counterweight; central cylindrical spiral in spring-steel; hour satellites in aluminium; central carrousel and screws in Titanium Grade 5.
Surface finishes: Circular graining, sandblasted, circular and straight satin-finished plate; satin-finished and diamond-polished satellites; beveled and polished screw heads.

Louis Vuitton Goes a Bit Dotty with Japanese Icon Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama Retrospective@ Whitney Museum of American Art

Louis Vuitton has gained recognition as a watch company to be reckoned with, rather than just another fashion house dabbling in fashion watches. Its parent group LMVH is the owner of  Zenith, Tag Heuer, and Hublot.

 Its latest ladies line of watches -  Louis Vuitton Tambour Yayoi Kusama watch collection - features the work of iconic 88 year old Japanese artist  and writer Yayoi Kusama.  Yayoi Kusama is best known for her dazzling "dotwork".  Her dots have donned the surfaces of clothing, stones, walls, furniture,  books ... actually everything ,including vague sort of shapes, that can be dotty. Yayoi Kusama often becomes artist and art submersing  herself within the image.

Louis Vuitton Yayoi Kusama

  Louis Vuitton is a huge fan of Yayoi Kusama. In fact Louis Vuitton was the principle supporter of the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Tate Modern.  Louis Vuitton admiration for Yayoi Kusama has become a collaboration. Dots now appear on a line of clothing, bags and other dotty accessories including the highly popular Tambour wristwatch. The steel 28 mm Tambour wristwatch  features a jolly red face featuring frolicking white dots.  Round diamonds on the inner wall of the elevated bezel surround the dotty goings on and lend an hourly indication of the time.   The crown is capped with a round red  cabochon. The watch is powered by a quartz movement (most of Louis Vuitton Ladies watches are quartz movements).  The band ,as you can see, sports dots of its own upon a perfectly matching red patent leather and embossed by the Louis Vuitton logo.  The case back is engraved with  its own steely dots and the signature of Yayoi Kusama.
The watches are limited to a mere 188 pieces and destined to become collectors items. 

Rado Reveals an Icy Edge and a Trendier Look

Rado R-One

2012 is turning out to be a great coming of age year for Rado.  A year where its style has finally caught up with its top notch ceramic technology. Rado has always been renowned for its avant garde insistence on scratch resistance.  In the past, however, I have always felt Rado's watch style was stuck in a stylistic pit of a bygone era.  An era of tight leather pants, pink rock and big hair. The infinity for clinging to the past did dawn on designers at Rado, leading to the more trendier HyperChrome watches; however  trendier often means more competition. But Rado has vast technological experience in ceramics, something which trendy 

Rado HyperChrome

Rado has cutting edge technology associated with the hardness of the watch material.   The new HyperChrome watches are an awe inspiring 1,250 vickers with some models built from  Ceramos™
- a Rado high tech ceramic and stainless steel specialty. 
With the new RADO R-ONE (displayed above), Rado's style has rocketed over decades and landed in the not to distant future.   Personally, I love the watch for its icy blue markings and matching dial hands.  The ceramic gleams of  indestructibility.  Of course the sci fi futuristic look is not every ones cup of tea and thus its editions are limited to 300 pieces.
The Rado R-One is made from ceramic and titanium. The  48.55 mm high and 34.5mm wide case is curved for comfort. Rado places emphasizes on its high tech materials by keeping the dial small in relation to the watch face space.  Crafted from black ceramic, the dial is accentuated by bold electric-blue hands. The same shade of blue runs along the sides of the watch indenting on either side of the dial.  A blue line runs straight down the center of the watch pausing for the dial and continuing its journey.  All blue accentuations are coated in lume making for an interesting looking article in the dark.   The watch is powered by a highly efficient Swiss ETA 2094 automatic chronograph. A see through case back allows the wearer vision of the custom Rado automatic rotor  and underlying movement.
The watch dial is protected by a scratch resistant sapphire crystal with a really cool depression in the center.

Cost: $15,000 - quite pricey for a Rado, but it is a limited edition with an exclusive target customer base. Besides Rado has top scores when it comes to longevity. 

Rado History
 Rado was founded in Switzerland in 1917, as strictly a watch movements manufacturer known as Schlup ; Co. In 1957 Rado launched its first collection of wrist watches. In 1983 Rado became part of the Swatch Group. Rado manufacturers its watches utilizing non conventional material such as hard metal(tungsten and titanium carbide), ceramics, lanthanum and sapphire crystal (which is now used in most high end luxury watches). In 1962 Rado made its mark on the Watch World by producing the world's first scratch proof watch; the Rado Diastar. Rado kept experimenting with different hardy materials and in 1996 Rado unveiled its Vision 1 watch. The watch casing was made from crushed diamonds, so hard was the watch that it made its way into the Guinness Book of Records for the hardest watch ever.

Insignum Reserve Alpha Bold Design

A relatively new German Brand, Insignum,  has started to gain recognition for hip affordable timepieces. Insignum Timepieces are bold and trendy baring vague resemblance to other higher end brands for a fraction of the price.    Insignum timepieces, however,  can stylistically stand on their own.

   My personal favorite is the Insignum  Reserve Alpha Collection, which ,come to think of it., does bare a resemblance to Concord's C1 watches.  In fact the sub dials vertically placed on the bezel resembles Concord's  Quantum Gravity.

Insignum Reserve Epoche

 The C1's prices commence at the $5,000 mark and the price of the Concord's Quantum Gravity is well ... astronomical - far above my watch purchasing budget. The Insignums Alpha on the other hand are listed around the $599.00 mark.  Of course in pricing other factors come into play, which is warrant for another discussion.

All the Insignum timepieces are Quartz.  The Insignum Alpha is a Quartz Swiss ISA 8172 - not ETA or Ronda, but pretty good none the less and widely used.   The crystal is Sapphire Coated Mineral Crystal - cheaper than a crystal crafted entirely of sapphire crystal.  Mineral crystal is not as hard as sapphire crystal and is prone to scratches. Sapphire crystal is almost as hard as diamonds.  Coating the mineral crystal with sapphire crystal ensures maximum scratch resistance.


The case material is Titan - which is probably a titanium alloy - of which there are a wide variety varying in quality.  A Titanium alloy is titanium with another chemical element. The appeal of titanium is its light weight property  and corrosion resistance. The watch is 141.4 grams - which is quite light in relation to its really large 54.3 mm size.
 The strap is Caoutchoc - an uncommon term used for natural or Indian rubber.  This type of rubber is really stretchy and flexible which provides for a very comfy fit around the wrist.  The type of rubber is also completely water proof, which is a nice addition to the watches 100 meter water resistance. The watch is secured to the wrist by a regular buckle.

Insignum Tornado Fashion Line

Models in the Insignum Reserve Line are in limited editions of 888 pieces. Insignum appeals to the attraction of exclusiveness within an individual. The Insignum Reserve line is always a huge success.  Oftentimes the Limited Edition watches are sold out before Insignum International distributors have a chance to get their hands on even one.  In 2011, Insignum solved this problem by unveiling a limitless new line called Insignum Premium Line. 
I have to say I really like the Insignum Alpha. This collection has a couple really cool attractive features:

• Handy compass placed vertically on the case between the 12 and 3 'o'clock position.
• Prominent display of bold hour indices placed vertically and at an angle. 
• Chronograph movement enabling timing. 
• Vertically placed seconds sub dial beneath the  3 and 6 'o' clock shaped like an old Kodak camera I once had as a kid. 
• Prominent screws exhibited on bezel.

Insignum has a wide range of collections and styles suited for a variety of requirements and tastes.  The Insignum Tornado Fashion Line is crafted in 316L steel which has superior corrosion resistance to regular steel. The Insignum Reserve Epoche Collection is unique in its angular case and prominent indices.  This Collection is protected by a Sapphire crystal provided with a 15 year warranty. Its Art Collection renders depictions of skulls in various forms of distress. I am not sure - but it seems Insignum's skulls are a tad less ferocious than Corums.   Perfect for Halloween!

Dubey & Schaldenbrand Unveils Grand the Shar DBT Ti Tourbillon

Dubey & Schaldenbrand (founded 1946) unveils a surprisingly dark case to house its latest tourbillon movement. The darkness of case is due to titanium grade 5 treated with an  electroplasma oxidation process.  This process further increases the hardness and resilience of the case.  The rich blackness is accentuated by electric blue screws and hands.
This is the first time Dubey & Schaldenbrand has housed a tourbillon in a case treated with this patented oxidation process.  Although this process is used in the sophisticated medical and aerospace industries, Dubey & Schaldenbrand has improved the process to enhance the quality of its timepieces.

  Bold roman numerals emblazon the upper half of the dial in contrasting white. Skeleton DS hands are coated with SuperLuminova, which ensures time display in dim conditions.
  The case shape is by far one of my favorites.  The shape resembles that of a large wooden cable reel,  The likes one would see on an electrical truck baring bright yellow cables.  The vision of this comparison makes the perception of the watch all the more powerful. The dial is protected by an attractive convex spherical scratch resistance sapphire crystal treated on either side with an anti-reflective coating.  For optimal viewing of the tourbillon base 8001 movement, transparent sapphire crystal is affixed to the case back as well.


  The watch is equipped with a shock protection Incabloc.  A trade name for a spring-loaded mounting system for the jewel bearings which support the balance wheel.  This system protects the wheel's pivots from harm if the watch is subjected to sudden sharp movements.

The watch is capable of a 100 hour power reserve and is water resistant to 50 meters. A black alligator strap is affixed to the watch case by really cool lugs and is secured around the wrist by a titanium grade 5 buckle treated with the electroplasma oxidation process.

Yes! Powerful yet elegant.  An excellent combination - sought after, but often unattained.

The cost of the watch: $127,500.