Variety Watches

They’ve come to be known as “auto watches” – luxury watches that are born from a partnership with a luxury automobile brand or racing event. The thinking goes that if someone can afford to drive a high end, limited production automobile, that person is also game to buy the specially made, limited edition watch that “goes with” the car.

This is not a new concept; TAG Heuer and Porsche Carrera have a partnership, as do Breitling and Bentley, Tissot and Nascar, and others. Here are three newcomers:

Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin

Only 300 pieces of what’s to be called the AMVOX3 Tourbillon GMT will be made. The watch will feature a round case made of ceramic, a first for this watchmaker. It will run on the automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 988 tourbillon movement, “driving two time-zone displays with more than a glimpse of the tourbillon mechanism. Most remarkable of all is the openworked dial, giving a full view of the ruthenium-coated bridges and baseplate.”

EDOX and Koenigsegg

Only 30 of these hand-made Edox-Koenigsegg Chronograph watches will be made.  “The outstanding visual feature of this timepiece is the pair of hinged ‘doors’ that protect the crown – imitating the gullwing design of the Koenigsegg CCR sportscar.”

Hublot and the Automobile Club de France

A limited edition series of men’s and women’s “drive” chronographs by Hublot for the oldest automobile club in the world will feature the colors of the ACF. “The skeleton dial, which reveals a section of the movement, is surrounded by a black ceramic case and bezel.”

Most likely watch and automobile aficionados will see more of these “auto watches” at the BaselWorld show in March of 2010.

Watch Tags: auto watches, Breitling, EDOX and Koenigsegg, Hublot and the Automobile Club de France, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin, Luxury Watches, men's watches, TAG Heuer, Tissot, Watches, women's watches

For those who are fans of TAG watches and all luxury watches get ready because the long awaited TAG Heuer Monaco V4 watch is here. “Five years after its initial announcement as a concept watch, TAG Heuer is proud to announce the manufacturing of 150 units of the Monaco V4 as a limited edition to celebrate TAG Heuer’s 150^th anniversary.” So there you have it, directly from TAG’s official mini website dedicated exclusively to the promotion of this limited edition watch.

The Monaco V4 is the world’s first mechanical watch with a “belt-driven movement and linear winding mass.” The Monaco V4 represents something which no luxury watch company has yet to do; a complete replacement of the usual gears and pinions used in mechanical movements, instead using belt drives and ball bearings. The winding system too has seen a total make-over, replacing the typical centralized circular rotor with a linear winding mass.

The Monaco V4 brings new technical and design elements to the forefront of watchmaking. TAG Heuer employed 3D design experts, automotive engineers, chemists, mathematicians and others in the development process and while doing so, received two global patents for the Monaco V4. To give you an idea of how complex the inner workings of this watch are, take the belts used in the movement; each belt, of which there are five, are about as big as a human hair, making the integration of them seemingly impossible.

These watches, all of which are cased in platinum, take their name from the shape of the movement’s central plate, which is similar to the cylinders in a car. To highlight this amazing new movement, TAG created an equally cool and innovative case that measures 39 by 48.9mm. A hand-sewn blue alligator strap compliments the blue hour hands.

There is no mention on TAG’s official site of how much the Monaco V4 is going for, although the buzz is that it is well over $80,000. With only 150 pieces, who knows how long they’ll last.

Watch Tags: limited edition watch, Luxury Watches, men's watches, Monaco V4, TAG Heuer, TAG Heuer watches, Tag watches

Luxury watches have been around for nearly two centuries. The concept of keeping time on one’s wrist was something revolutionary during the 1800s. Before the wrist-watch, the most common time-keeping instrument was a pocket watch. Pocket watches eventually became obsolete as the wrist watch was far more convenient and harder to misplace.

Some of the first luxury watch brands to emerge during the 1800s include TAG Heuer, Omega and Audemars Piguet. The term luxury watch refers to the quality with which the timepiece is hand crafted and the rare materials that are used in the manufacturing phase. By these standards, all watches during the 19^th century were “luxury” time pieces.

With the lack of mass production and industrialization there were no cheap knock off watches to purchase. All time-keeping instruments were made by skilled watch makers, who made a life out of crafting small pieces of metal into time-keeping art. Today, the facility with which lower grade quartz watches can be mass produced has given a greater sense of distinction to watches that are made in the traditional manner.

All watches were originally mechanical. The employment of battery and quartz watches did not occur until the 20^th century. Mechanical watches function by winding the crown of the watch, which in turn makes the movement unwind and keep time. The development of automatic watches was a great advancement. Automatic watches function brilliantly by having a pendulum inside the movement. The pendulum moves as your wrist does. When it moves it constantly winds itself, a feature that provides self-efficiency. Watches that are made in this manner are more practical, of better quality, more precise and much classier.

Luxury watches today are made the same way they were originally hand crafted more than 200 years ago. Switzerland is the country of origin for most high-end watch manufacturers. The art of watch making finds its roots in this country as well.

Most mass produced wrist-watches are such low-grade quality that they generally don’t last more than a year. Besides being low in quality, they do not keep time with precision. They will most likely lose 1-2 minutes a month, or up to 5 minutes if the watch is exceptionally defective. Besides all these inconveniences, batteries for cheap watches have to be changed at least once a year. Given all these characteristics, it is far more intelligent to purchase a quality time-piece that will last longer, yield a return if purchased as an investment and look like a piece of art on your hand.

Watch Tags: Audemars Piguet, Luxury Watches, Omega, TAG Heuer

Luxury Watch Movement

Luxury watches have been around for nearly two centuries. The concept of keeping time on one’s wrist was something revolutionary during the 1800s. Before the wrist-watch, the most common time-keeping instrument was a pocket watch. Pocket watches eventually became obsolete as the wrist watch was far more convenient and harder to misplace. Some of the first luxury watch brands to emerge during the 1800s include Tag Heuer, Omega and Audemars Piguet. The term luxury watch refers to the quality with which the timepiece is hand crafted and the rare materials that are used in the manufacturing phase. By these standards, all watches during the 19^th century were “luxury” time pieces.

With the lack of mass production and industrialization there were no cheap knock off watches to purchase. All time-keeping instruments were made by skilled watch makers, who made a life out of crafting small pieces of metal into time-keeping art. Today, the facility with which lower grade quartz watches can be mass produced has given a greater sense of distinction to watches that are made in the traditional manner.

All watches were originally mechanical. The employment of battery and quartz watches did not occur until the 20^th century. Mechanical watches function by winding the crown of the watch, which in turn makes the movement unwind and keep time. The development of automatic watches was a great advancement. Automatic watches function brilliantly by having a pendulum inside the movement. The pendulum moves as your wrist does. When it moves it constantly winds itself, a feature that provides self-efficiency. Watches that are made in this manner are more practical, of better quality, more precise and much classier.

Luxury watches today are made the same way they were originally hand crafted more than 200 years ago. Switzerland is the country of origin for most high-end watch manufacturers. The art of watch making finds its roots in this country as well.

Most mass produced wrist-watches are such low-grade quality that they generally don’t last more than a year. Besides being low in quality, they do not keep time with precision. They will most likely lose 1-2 minutes a month, or up to 5 minutes if the watch is exceptionally defective. Besides all these inconveniences, batteries for cheap watches have to be changed at least once a year. Given all these characteristics, it is far more intelligent to purchase a quality time-piece that will last longer, yield a return if purchased as an investment and look like a piece of art on your hand.

Watch Tags: Audemars Piguet, Designer timepieces, Expensive Watches, Luxury Watches, Omega, TAG Heuer