Watches

The brand new watch by Christophe Claret, 21 Blackjack, is the ultimate watch for Daniel Ocean, and will probably be featured in the next Ocean’s 14 movie (if ever produced).  It is a bit on the gimmicky side, but I think it’s pretty cool nevertheless.  I mean who doesn’t want to start a spontaneous game of Blackjack at a business meeting, or anywhere else as a matter of fact?

The watch comes with a pair of dice, playing cards and even a roulette wheel on the back; now that’s cool, and you would be the talk of the party (or meeting, funeral, or wherever else you make an appearance.)  All the games are fully playable:

Luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe has just released a watch aimed at the Middle East market, called the Patek Philippe Mecca World Timer Watch.  The watch honors the holy city of Mecca and is released just in time for the holy pilgrimage of Hajj.

The dial of the watch has an emerald green center, the color of Islam found on many of the flags of Muslim countries.  The watch case is made out of platinum, which could be because Muslim men are not allowed to wear gold.

The watch face features the word “Mecca” in green and has other major cities from around the world in black.  The emerald green center dial has 12 platinum markers indicating the hours of the day and the outer part has 24-hour markers in Arabic numerals and also indicating the position of the sun and the moon.  The front and the back of the watch are covered with sapphire crystal.

Los Angeles based watchmakers March LA.B, in collaboration with French boutique Colette, have released a limited edition pocket watch called the 1805 Imperial Phantom.  The pocket watch is limited to only three pieces and is inspired by Napoleonic designs.

The 1805 Imperial Phantom pocket watch comes with a minimalist design and is finished in all-black.  The watch has a stainless steel cases that received a black PVD treatment, the dial has three hands and raised hour markers, and features the March LA.B logo, all finished in black.  The pocket watch is attached to a sleek looking black snakecoil chain.

Omega watches are synonymous with British super-spy James Bond but that wasn’t always the case.  Omega watches were first worn by Agent 007 in 1995 by Pierce Brosnan in the movie GoldenEye.  Since then, all James Bond movies feature an Omega watch and the latest movie, Skyfall, is no exception- arriving in theaters in November 2012.

The 23^rd movie in the franchise will feature Daniel Craig as the British spy and will be wearing a limited edition Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M Skyfall watch.  The watch is limited to 5,007 pieces and will come in a special presentation case.

Normally I like minimalist designs but you’ve probably noticed (or not) that I’ve written quite a few posts on Urwerk watches, which are the complete opposite of minimalist; their designs are super-complicated because “they can be”.  Today I present you the Urwerk UR-210 “Maltese Falcon” watch, the latest creation from the mad geniuses at Urwerk.

One of the main features of the UR-210 Maltese Falcon watch is its world first “Winding Efficiency Complication”, which tells you whether you’re using stored energy to power the watch or creating energy to charge the power reserve.  I’m sure a lot of thought and engineering went into this complication and it sounds very cool but is a pretty useless feature, in my not so humble opinion.  Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the engineering behind this complication and love Urwerk’s watches.  Below is a quote from the company explaining this complication:

The guys at Maximilian Büsser & Friends (MB&F) have just introduced the 5^th watch in their crazy/artistic/beautiful Horological Machine line.  Like all the watches by MB&F, the Horological Machine 5 is a stunning timepiece that uses some very complicated movements and technology to perform the simple task of time telling.

The MB&F Horological Machine 5 (HM5) is nicknamed “On The Road Again” and is inspired by the supercars of the 1970’s, namely the Lamborghini Miura.  The HM5 is also an homage to the Amida Digitrend watch from the 1970’s that took on all the digital watches of that era by creating a watch that looked digital but was powered by an automatic movement.