mark iv iwc

Some pre-Basel 2009 news from our friends in Bienne, Switzerland. Every 5 years, Omega introduces a tribute Limited Edition Speedmaster Professional for the original 'Moonwatch' that landed on the Moon 21 July 1969, on the wrist of Buzz Aldrin.This coming July 21st, tag heuer watches will be 40 years ago that Aldrin had his caliber 321 Speedmaster Professional strapped on his space suit and Armstrong left his watch in the Lunar Module because of a defect electronic timing system. Check my earlier post on the exact Speedmaster models used during this mission. You can find it here: http://www.fratellowatches.com/archives/2008/07/21/omega-speedmaster-it-is-39-years-ago/.As you might know, I am a big fan of these Speedmaster Professional watches. They embody everything a perfect chronograph should be. Timeless casing, excellent readability, easy to operate chronograph buttons (no screw-down pushers), fit for stainless steel bracelets and leather straps, proven hand wound chronograph movement by Lemania (Omega caliber 1861) and a great history!Enough ranting about my favorite chronograph, le…The green production process of the watch manufacturer in Schaffhausen, is something to be proud of. Not only IWC, but a lot of other companies seem to embrace durable entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. One of IWC's projects is to support projects like David de Rothshild's Plastiki Expedition. David de Rothschild and his Adventure Ecology organization built a 60 foot catamaran made entirely of plastic bottles, PET plastic and recycled waste products. With this Replica Rolex Watches , named the Plastiki, David and his carefully picked crew members will sail approx. 10,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney.The name of this boat, Plastiki, was inspired by the famous Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, lead by Thor Heyerdahl.To 'celebrate' (and make some money of) this joint venture between IWC and David Rothschild, IWC launched the IWC Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition (Limited Edition). There will be 1000 pieces of this special edition Ingenieur Automatic. The Mission Earth watch has been covered here earlier this year, right…I promised to get back on my new watch At first, I was looking at Rolex watches again, but couldn't make up my mind. Although I like the new GMT-Master IIc and the Milgauss, tag heuer ayrton senna watches wouldn't add much variation to my current collection. Then I was looking at the Royal Oak Jumbo, but I am not ready yet to spend over 8K Euro on one wrist watch. However, as I have written before, I am a huge fan of the 1970s design of Gerald Genta. He designed the Nautilus, Overseas, Royak Oak and�� the Ingenieur. The original ref.1832 Ingenieur SL is highly sought-after I believe, and the prices paid for those are unbelievable. So I decided to settle for a brand new one! To be honest, IWC isn't my brand. Omega and Rolex are my brand, I like what they are doing and like most of their watches. However, there are some other brands that make one or two types of watches that I really like, and that's it. I don't care much for IWC in general. Not my cup of tea. I do like the Ingenieur and the Portugieser line of watches though. Anyway, I've read some articles on the new…

A. Lange & Söhne Grand Lange 1 LuminousThe new A. Lange & Söhne Grand Lange 1 Luminous model goes in the same direction as the gorgeous Zeitwerk Luminous (Ref. 140.035) “digital” hand-wound wrist watch.Like the rest of the Grand Lange 1 line, the Luminous version is powered by the in-house Caliber L901.2 hand-wound movement decorated and assembled by hand. Being 30.4 millimeters in diameter and mere 5.9 mm in height, the movement allows for a pretty slim body, which, in this particular case, is only 11 mm thick. With a diameter of 41.9 mm, the 18-carat white gold job indeed looks very slim on just about any wrist.The manual-wind movement with its plates and bridges made of untreated “German silver” (which is not silver at all, but is a 60% copper alloy with 20% nickel and 20% zinc) and the balance cock engraved by hand, sports Lange’s trademark twin mainspring barrel that stores enough power for the watch to run for as long as 72 hours. Well, not particularly impressive compared to the latest manufacture calibers from IWC that offer up to 168 hours of continuous operation with guaranteed accuracy, but still much better than an average Swiss Made in-house hand-wound movement can offer.It is not clear how many copies of the watch Lange plans to sell, however it seems that it is going to be a strictly niche product. While the “normal” Grand Lange 1 is a living classic of watchmaking that looks great on just about any wrist with just about any suit (if it costs more than $5000, that is), the Luminous version of the timekeeper leaves an impression of a timepiece developed for a small group of fans who need “something different” without any particular reason.SuperLuminova is a good choice when you need something versatile or, just the opposite, something highly specialized, like a diving watch or a pilot’s instrument. But a dressy watch that is designed to be worn on very special occasions where there is always light doesn’t really need any amount of lume on its hands and indexes, especially when the lume utterly destroys their gorgeous shapes. Well, like I said, a niche product.