Azimuth SP-1 Landship

Azimuth released the prototype of their SP-1 Landship earlier this month and in this instance saying this watch is built like a tank is more than typically apt. Its design is heavily inspired by early world war I tanks that were often referred to as “Landships”. The design influences are clearly apparent in the “Turret” on the top of the watch, the shape of its sides and the watch’s crown which is intended to recall a gun turret.

Made of titanium, the SP-1 Landship indicates the hours on the small turret-like dome on top via a rotating disc within and the minutes by way of a red hand and linear minute gauge at the wide opening on its front face.

Azimuth SP-1 Landship Front

Azimuth like to draw inspiration from the past, another of their watches the Roboto was inspired by 1950’s Japanese robots.

40mm wide and 55mm tall it is equipped with a modified ETA automatic movement, is water resistant to 30 meters and will be sold for 6,800 Swiss francs. Its a limited production, only 100 units will be completed this year.

Schaumburg Moon 2

The latest moon-phase watch by Schaumburg features up to the minute accuracy by way of a moon adjustment button that allows you to minutely adjust the shadow of the earth above the moon. Representing the moon at a size of 13.4mm it is considered to be the worlds largest in an automatic moon-phase chronometer.

The Grand Perpetual Moon Meteorite watch (pictured below) uses fragments from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter so that “every watch is a unique piece with its own galactic history”.

B.R.M Bomber

B.R.M `s watches usually draw inspiration from the world of motorsport but this time they have looked to aviation and legendary WWII fighter aircraft as their source, although a different world, speed, power and engineering are a dominant thread.

The chronograph models are a tribute to the spirit and technical prowess of fighter aircraft such as The Spitfire, The P-51 Mustang North American and The Mitsubishi Zero.

Itay Noy Dialog Num

Israeli watch brand Itay Noy presents its new watch DiaLOG, which, according to the company offers a variety of ways to display time.

The design of the watch recalls last year’s X-Ray model but with a different dial design and a larger winding crown for better management of the manual winding ETA Unitas 6498-1 .

Romain Jerome Titanic Chrono

On 2 April 1912, welcomed by crowds, the Titanic entered for the first time the waves of the Atlantic, ready to conquer the oceans. Already a legend it was a true symbol of the industrial era.

This giant of the sea inspired Romain Jerome`s Titanic DNA collection, and to mark its 100th anniversary they have released two new models, the Steampunk Chrono 100th Anniversary (pictured above) and the Steampunk Auto 100th Anniversary (below).

Using metals separated by 100 years the models incorporate rusted metal from the 3840 meters deep wreck along with contemporary metal parts. Romain Jerome has invented a unique process that prevents the metal from rusting any further, producing `stabilized steel`, a first in the watchmaking industry.

Apparently the “Qlocktwo” is the worlds first “wristwatch in words”, and I must say I can’t think of another one that uses this novel way of displaying time. Its an interesting combination, a modern digital display that doesn’t display digits.. but words instead. Reading the time is in this case literally “reading” it.

Using a grid of 110 letters and LED technology the time is displayed when the button is pressed and indicated in 5 minute intervals, exact time is then calculated by adding the number of dots that light up at the bottom of the watch. For example the time on the watch in the photo above would be 12.33.

Not a watch you could just glance at and read the time, it is actually an adaptation of their well known wall clock which uses the same style display and won the red dot award for product design.

Its made by German studio Biegert & Funk, measures 35 × 35 × 7 mm and comes in plain stainless or black.
It will be available in both English and German sometime in the autumn, retailing for about $700.

Recently released at this years Baselworld this new model from Cyrus could be termed a ‘Martian watch’ . Its a variation of their Klepcys model which featured a 3D moonphase but this time its been replaced by a miniature version of the red planet.

The Klepcys is a collaboration between Cyrus and renowned watchmaker Jean-François Mojon, who was also responsible for the Harry Winston Opus X.

A particularly unique aspect of the 3D Mars globe is that it rotates at the same speed as the real thing, completing one revolution every 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds.

An interesting detail at the left of the dial, at about 7 O’clock is an image of the famous “Martian face”. Based on the photo taken of the mountain in Cydonia-the northern hemisphere of Mars which resembles a human face and was taken by the “Viking 1″ in 1976.

Harry Winston Opus 12

Each year at Baselworld Harry Winston unveils a new Opus watch.

The Opus models are collaborations with distinguished watchmakers and designers and certainly among the most spectacular timepieces created by HW. They are looked forward to with anticipation.

This year, Harry Winston has decided to give carte blanche to Emmanuel Bouchet and Augustine Nussbaum, watchmaker and designer respectively, to create a watch that displays hours and minutes in an original way.

The latest watch from Christophe Claret is an intriguing technical marvel.
Metal balls that appear to magically float inside two Sapphire tubes are used to indicate the time.

The balls have hollow cores and float due to magnetic fields, these are generated by two miniature magnets towed by silk cables and located inside the watch.

The silk is fine but braided and very strong, the type used in  reconstructive surgery.
The resistance of the silk was tested using a time-lapse system to the equivalent of 6 years.

Magellan are a Swiss brand named after the famous navigator who proved that the world was round by circumnavigating it. Their 1521 series -named after the date of Magellan’s historical discovery- have unusually high watch crystals and dials with different types of decoration. Their latest called the Magelluna features the surface of the moon.

De Bethune Ninth Mayan Underworld

De Bethune’s latest model is in a style quite different from what we are accustomed to and a novel piece exploring new territory, the Arts and Crafts. It is inspired by the Mayan Calendar.

Through their calendars, the Maya established with incredible precision the end of their ‘long count’ calendar to be Friday, December 21, 2012, this being the basis of various interpretations for the end of the world.

To mark the symbolic passing of humankind as predicted by the Mayan calendar, De Bethune will release twelve unique watches in honor of these traditions.

With the the Ninth Mayan Underworld, De Bethune has tried to recreate the deep atmosphere of pottery and stone sculptures by Mayan scribes.

“Moments in Time” are a series of watch sculptures by British designer and inventor Dominic Wilcox.

He has created unique, miniature animated scenes using a collection of watches and customised model figures.

Reflections on human behavior and delightfully surreal scenes, each tells a story or conveys a message and draws on everyday and imagined situations.

A man in a suit extends his arm towards his colleague expecting a handshake. The colleague crosses his arms in clear disregard for their friendship, in “The unrequited handshake” (above)