Seiko Quartz Watches Collection, High Quality Seiko Quartz Replica

Seiko Solar Black Dial Black Leather Men's Watch SUP881

I have this Seiko Solar Black Dial Black Leather Men's SUP881 watch in gold and silver, and I wear one of them almost every day. Don't stress out too much if the buckle is stiff at first as mine was. After a wearing or two, the buckle worked just fine. I have received many compliments on these watches, and they look very substantial and high-end.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Leah Lund, From Brazil Petrolina/pe

Seiko Automatic Green Dial Stainless Steel Men's Watch SSA093

I got this watch as a gift for my birthday. I saw it in an add and wanted it but upon arrival the diamonds on the face were so minuscule you cannot see them with the naked eye. The diamond sits inside of a round metal circle that I believe is supposed to mimic a diamond itself, but it detracts from the beauty of the watch. The metal rounds are too big and the "diamonds" are way too small. They should have used bigger diamonds,eliminated the metal it sits in and charged more or left them off the face all together. The diamond-like metal and the puny diamonds make the face look kind of cheap. It's like they're trying to make the watch look like it has diamonds form a distance.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Valerie s, From Espana Alacant

Seiko Solar White Dial White Ceramic Stainless Steel With Diamonds Ladies Watch SUP185

Great price and product!

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by David Cox, From Slovak Republic Zilina

Unlike other regional watch shows, which can tend to be satellite versions of the more famous and bigger ones in Geneva and Basel, SalonQP brings together the very best of mainstream and independent watchmaking from Europe, including the best home-grown talent, as well as local luxury brands. Exhibitors proved that the UK can hold its own in the luxury segment, whether in watchmaking, with the presentation of Roger Smith's new Triple Calendar timepiece, automobiles, admirably demonstrated by the unmistakable mustard-yellow Lotus Evora and Exige S Club Racer models, or even high-end sound systems, as demonstrated by Scottish company Linn.

Regional representation
The Garrick watch company proudly presented its new "Norfolk" watch at the show, whose understated white dial is made of grand feu enamel at the company's production facility in Norfolk. To do this, the brand's craftsmen had to learn this difficult technique themselves, hand enamelling both sides of a silver base in order to prevent any buckling. As further proof of the decentralization of the UK's luxury industry, exhibitor Lotus is also based in Norfolk and the Dennison Watch Case Co. Ltd, which celebrated a discreet "pre-launch" at the show, revives a name that once produced watch cases for the likes of Omega and Rolex from a huge factory in Birmingham. Last but not least, Roger Smith, who famously produces only a handful of timepieces every year, was on hand to present personally his new triple calendar timepiece. His workshop on the Isle of Man can only be reached by boat or aeroplane from mainland UK. More local to the London area, Richard Hoptroff, a quiet innovator who already exhibited "smart" watches last year, presented a new, slightly smaller, version of his truly unique atomic wristwatch.

For the visiting public, it was a first chance to see such significant new launches as the Opus 14 by Harry Winston and the new 1858 collection from Montblanc, who had brought a watchmaker from its Villeret workshop to show off the fine hand decoration of its Minerva movements. Seiko, which was only exhibiting its high-end Grand Seiko collection at the show, also flew in one of its watchmakers all the way from Japan to demonstrate a similar level of attention lavished on these mechanical calibres.
Chronoswiss was at the show with its new UK distributor Tiago Sa-Henriques. The former luxury watch salesman has set up his own distribution company under the name FOGG Distribution. "I know what it is to sell and I know what it is like not to have support from the brand, so that's what I want to change," he says. He promises to bring fresh impetus into Chronoswiss's UK distribution. "Chronoswiss is back full power," he promises, "and we will be investing in the UK and supporting retailers."

Lebeau-Courally had the first of its new moon phase models on display at the show, including a splendid model with a handmade grand feu enamel dial in blue. For the first time, the brand's signature rifle slide on the left-hand side of the watch case is not mere decoration and has its own function: push it and the date is corrected; pull it and the moon phase display can be corrected in one-day jumps.

Unlike the SIAR exhibition, where there was a clear focus on special editions for the market (), there was little hint of any pieces for the UK market, the one exception being Laurent Ferrier, who presented two limited editions of 10 models in its Galet Square with micro rotor for its UK retailer William & Son in white and red gold with a blue dial.

In an industry where many watches are feted with many prizes in many countries each year, one award stands far above all the others. It is the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve. Founded in 2001, it immediately became the watch industry's "Oscars" and its award ceremony is now firmly established, alongside the Baselworld Fair, as one of the key dates in the watchmaking calendar.

On October 31, the 2014 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve award ceremony took place at the Grand Theatre de Geneve. The "Petite Aiguille" category was open to any watch of any type under Sfr 8,000 in price and attracted a large entry. From the short list of six, the jury of 25 watch and luxury experts selected the Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 GMT Limited Edition as the winner.

For over half a century, Grand Seiko has been the very best of Seiko, and to see its beauty, durability, legibility and watchmaking excellence recognised by the most prestigious award in the industry is the greatest possible tribute to the Grand Seiko watchmakers and designers, past and present, who have dedicated their skill and talent to the creation of this remarkable collection.

The watch that won the "Petite Aiguille" award was first revealed at Baselworld 2014. It is the Hi-beat 36000 GMT Limited Edition (SBGJ005). The caliber has a high accuracy of +5 to -3 seconds a day and a power reserve of 55 hours. The GMT hand can be used as a dual time indicator with the hour hand being adjustable independently as the time of day hands continue to mark time.

Commenting on the award, the President of Seiko Watch Corporation, Shinji Hattori said, " I am very grateful to the GPHG and its jury for their decision to award to Grand Seiko this most prestigious accolade. For 50 years, our Grand Seiko team has worked tirelessly to create the best possible functional watch in the world. The Hi-beat 36000 caliber is our proudest achievement so far and this award will spur us on to new achievements in the future."

For true watchmakers, adventure sports, wether on the sea, on land or in the sky, present the greatest challenges of all. For this reason, now, Seiko Prospex brings together all Seiko's sports watch expertise in one collection.

The Prospex Diver's watch
The new Prospex Kinetic GMT Diver's uses a double case system but in a modernized and stylish way. As the name Prospex implies, it has a professional specification, with 200m water resistance, but it also has a design flair that makes it unique, as is clear from the window in the side of the ourter case through which you can see the inner case.
The caliber is Kinetic, the perfect technology for diving as it combines 1 second a day precision with the certainty of Seiko's unique no-battery-change Kinetic technology.
The kinetic GMT Diver's is true to the Seiko tradition, but is updated with the very latest in design specifications.

The Prospex Aviation Solar Chronograph
The slide rule allows calculations of distance, fuel and oil consumption and speed, while the chronograph measures elapsed time for up to 60 minutes. Powered by light alone, this remarkable watch delivers what pilots need most, complete reliability throughout their flight.

Following the success of the first Seiko Astron collection, Seiko Watch Corporation is now releasing a special series of six additional Astron models whose design is inspired by the majesty of the stratosphere above the earth. The new models have a bold, domed sapphire glass, representing the curvature of our planet and the stratosphere that surrounds it.

Until the new Astron, no watch could adjust automatically to different time zones. Now, thanks to the creation of an ultra-low consumption GPS module, Seiko has succeeded in harnessing the GPS network so that Astron adjusts to 39 time zones across the globe, using just the power of light. With only one touch of a button, Seiko Astron receives signals from four or more GPS satellites to automatically determine one's location and set the correct local time and date anywhere on the planet. Seiko Astron GPS Solar is a revolution in wristwatches just as significant as that which was started by its celebrated 1969 predecessor, the Seiko Quartz Astron, the world's first quartz watch.

Imagine our planet as you would see it from space; a blue sphere floating freely, silently and beautifully in its graceful orbit. This is the idea that has inspired the new design and it was realized by the creation of a dome-shaped sapphire glass. Sapphire is very difficult to fashion because of its hardness; it is a material whose hardness is second only to diamond. Over 10 hours of polishing is required to create and polish the glass on the new Astron design into a smooth, curved surface. The light from the luminous paint underneath the glass creates a sense of the earth's atmosphere through the sapphire. The spherical surface extends from the glass to the case and to the silicon band, creating the overall illusion that the watch is like our Earth moving through space.

The time displayed by Astron comes from the UTC* signal sent out from the atomic clocks in each GPS satellite. The design of the dial expresses this visually, by showing the time as if one were viewing a globe from above the north pole, with the city codes and their offset times aligned with the map. The city codes are easy to read in a bold font along the edge of the dial ring through the curved sapphire glass.

The Seiko 49er 2012 European Championships took place between September 9 and 15 in the beautiful surroundings of Lake Garda in northern Italy. Sixty three teams, representing eighteen nations, took part in the Championships, hosted by the Fraglia della Vela Riva yacht club.

After two days of qualifying, ten races were held over the next three days with the final places being decided in the Grand Final, a new style of race that involved just the leading four crews in a 'winner takes all' format on a specially designed, spectator-friendly course.
The late summer weather delivered some thrilling racing in conditions that varied wildly from day to day. Overall, the winds were b and conditions were difficult, especially during the thunderstorms that provided an interesting soundtrack to the racing on Day 3 !
After six days of racing, the four teams who went through to the Grand Final were from France, Denmark, Great Britain and Croatia. The Danish team provided the week's most highly-debated talking point when they showed off their new trapezing technique in which Allan Norregaard stood on the shoulders of Anders Thomsen on each upwind leg.
 

The innovative and athletic trapezing of the Danes

The Croatian team narrowly missed out on a medal in the Grand Final but their consolation was almost as valuable, as they won the 'Seiko King of the Downwind' prize of US$2,500. The prize was awarded to the crew who had the best overall time for the downwind legs of selected races. In one race they averaged a remarkable 23 knots !
 

The Grand Final was won by the French team of Mathieu Frei and Yann Rocherieux who had sailed consistently well all week, with placings of 6-7-2-1 in the four races that made up the final round. In the Grand Final, they came through to take the gold medal with a commanding performance in the second half of the race, with the Danish team taking silver and the young partnership of James Peters and Ed Fitzgerald taking an unexpected third place, a remarkable achievement for a junior team.
The medal-winning teams received Seiko Velatura watches, and the 49er Association distributed to the sailors the spinnakers, sailing vests and other equipment that Seiko donated. Seiko has been the watch partner of the 49er Association since 2007.

WORLDTEMPUS - 24 December 2012

Billed as the "watch that understands time zones," earlier this year Seiko announced its first solar-powered GPS watch. The Astron GPS uses a patented low-energy receiver that picks up GPS signals and identifies the time zone, time and date using at least four GPS satellites. It covers all 39 time zones, and updates automatically once a day (as well as on demand) to the correct local time when it picks up your location.
The technological developments of the Astron GPS Solar are incredibly important to Seiko, who ranks it up there with the company's most groundbreaking developments: the Spring Drive (1999), the Seiko Kinetic (1988), its first solar-powered watch (1977) and of course, the world's first quartz watch launched in 1969, the Astron - after which this is named. The Astron GPS' moniker came about both because Seiko sees it as similarly innovative to its first quartz, and because it is seen as a horological descendent.
When you think about the fact that Seiko has accrued some one hundred patents for this watch, including for micro GPS technology, it's really quite an astonishing little bit of wrist wear. Many people don't realize that Seiko is a true watch manufacture, and one that takes innovation seriously. It is totally vertically integrated and makes all of its own movements, dials, bracelets, cases, hairsprings and mainsprings.
Technologically complex, easy to use
So, how is the GPS reception in the Astron activated? By pressing on the pusher at 2 o'clock for six seconds, at which point the seconds hand will jump to 6 o'clock to let you know that it is ready to receive the signal. The seconds hand will then jump to the hour number indicating how many satellite signals it is trying to get reception from: for example, if it jumps to 4 o'clock, it is trying to receive information from four satellites. It will then take between 30 seconds and two minutes to receive these signals, at which point your watch will sync. How accurate is it? To one second. If for whatever reason you don't receive a time signal, the accuracy is +/- 15 seconds per month.

The pusher at 4 o'clock is for setting the time zone. A quick push will show your current time zone and then jump back to regular timekeeping. If you push and hold it for more than 4 seconds, you will be able to manually adjust the time zone - use the 2 o'clock (or 4 o'clock) pusher to scroll through the cities listed and then the hands can calibrate to the selected time zone. Press the 10 o'clock pusher to reset to your current time zone. Helpfully, if you need help with operating your watch, Seiko has a dedicated Astron GPS website with instructions.
As well as the time, world time and daylight saving indicator, the Astron GPS boasts a perpetual calendar (correct until February 2100). Its water resistance is 10 bar and magnetic resistance is 4,800 A/m.

Technological advance in a classic Seiko look

At 47 mm in diameter and 16.5 mm thick, it is not a small watch, but it feels more like a 44 mm watch to wear, especially the titanium models, and it sits easily and surprisingly lightly on the wrist. One thing that was harder to pick up in the original launch photos is that this is a very architectural watch. The dial has a lot of actual physical depth, the hour markers stand up in sharp three-dimensional contrast to the rest of the dial. The dial itself is clear and easy to use, the subdials well placed. The dial is a solar panel, but to look at it, you couldn't tell. The Astron GPS is not like the techy watches of the 1970s and 1980s, which were less about the aesthetics and more about the technology; it is very much about technological development, but is a good looking watch as well, its style conservative but classic. 
In addition to five regular production models in steel or titanium (including two titanium models with ceramic bezels), there is a special model with a ceramic bezel created in a limited edition of 2,500 pieces (Ref SAST001) that comes on a silicone strap. All of them have the same functions and specifications, including a dual time subdial, in-flight mode indicator and sapphire crystal with Super-Clear coating. The silicon straps are soft and very comfortable to wear, and make the large case less pronounced a presence on the wrist.

If you are under any illusion of how popular this watch already is, check out this statistic: Seiko had sold a truly astonishing one thousand odd Astron GPS watches in Japan alone in the first week of its launch.

As Seiko puts it, when you step off your plane all you will have to do is to press a button and the time zone adjustment will be virtually automatic, taking approximately six seconds for the time to self-correct and 30 seconds or so to find the time zone. As if this wasn't cool enough, it also includes a perpetual calendar accurate until February 2100, which is plenty of time for most of us.

WORLDTEMPUS - 3 December 2012

It is true that Seiko is primarily a quartz watch manufacturer, and a massive one at that. But like many of its Swiss counterparts, they also make large amounts of mechanical watches. The high end ones are available under two brand names. Credor is a small brand, almost a boutique one outside Japan. Then there is Grand Seiko. Founded in 1960, it is extremely popular in Japan where it stands for a very high level of quality. It is also being marketed throughout the world with high hopes. One of its workshops is named Shizuku-Ishi. Based near Morioka, north of the country's main island, it is where its mechanical calibers are manufactured. There lay a staggering number of machines, working with very limited manpower, a testament to Seiko industrial culture. On the other hand, the assembling workshops are almost crowded.

Mechanical
With a manufacturing capacity of 10 000 movements per annum, this workshop represents almost all of Japan's mechanical high end movement production. Machine assistance is virtually nowhere to be found. Even oiling and jewelling are hand-made. The co-ed staff works slowly, all of them using a binocular magnifier. From a corner of the room come hairsprings by the thousands, paired with a balance wheel. They are immediately assembled in a range of 5 calibers, all of them of small complication. The fastest of them, Cal. 9S85, beats at 5 Hz, or 36 000 vph, a figure Seiko was already able to reach in 1968. Such is Grand Seiko's culture: aiming at simplicity, a traditional sense of excellence and objective performance.

Hybrid
After a Shinkansen-train dash through the countryside, Seiko unveils the actual heart of its operation. Near Nagano, in the so-called Japanese Alps, lies the Shiojiri site, one that is labeled Epson. The hardware manufacturer was a spin-off of Seiko in the 1970's and has grown even bigger than its parent company. The Seiko Epson branch manufactures high end quartz movements (yes, there is still such a thing), and the very special Spring Drive calibers. This meca-electronic invention is like a hybrid engine, regulated by quartz but mechanical in nature, which runs with a -1/+1 second per day precision. It comes with a power reserve indication (72 hours), a GMT, a chronograph and even a decimal minute repeater, made by the handful per annum.

Methods
The site is also home to the manufacturing of Grand Seiko's external parts. Dial solarisation, beveled Dauphine hands, meticulously polished cases are produced with industrial-grade methods. If most operations are hand-made, they follow the strictest quality guidelines. In this place, Japanese organization is not a cliche but the guarantee of an irreproachable result, albeit of simple appearance. It allows Grand Seiko watches, be they purely mechanical or partly electronic, to be one of the best price/quality deals available on the market today.

The SEIKO-sponsored icare 2 glider sets another new world record.
On September 10, the solar-powered glider "icare 2" established a new world record for the distance covered by a glider on a three point course*. High over the Alpes Maritimes in southern France, Klaus Ohlmann, the German pilot, who already holds over 40 gliding records, guided icare 2 over 439 km to establish the new mark. Just a few weeks earlier he had piloted icare 2 to another record*, 384.4 km for an 'out-and-return' flight, doubling his previous best.

Built by a team from the Institut fur Flugzeugbau at the University of Stuttgart, icare 2 is one of the world's most advanced gliders. Not only does it fly without the use of any fossil fuel, its self-generated solar power allows it to take off on its own, with no winch or other assistance. SEIKO is proud to support the project as part of its "Clean energy, Clear Thinking" initiative. SEIKO is the world leader in energy-efficient watchmaking and is determined to lead the watch industry towards a more sustainable future by creating energy-efficient products in the most energy-efficient facilities.
* pending ratification by Federation Aeronautique Internationale (aka The World Air Sports Federation)

SEIKO's environmentally-friendly watch technologies
SEIKO offers five watch technologies that, each in its different way, make a contribution to a 'greener' future.

Spring Drive:
This revolutionary technology requires no battery or external power source. Driven by a mainspring, Spring Drive is a luxury mechanical watch with an entirely new type of regulator. As a result, there is no environmental impact of any kind.

Kinetic:
Only SEIKO has mastered the challenge of generating electricity from the kinetic movement of the wearer's wrist. This electricity is stored in a self-recharging battery that needs much less frequent replacement than the conventional cell battery in a quartz watch, a major advance in 'green' watchmaking.

Quartz:
Since 1969 when SEIKO launched the world's first quartz watch, SEIKO has constantly improved the energy efficiency of its quartz movements so as to reduce the frequency of battery exchange. Today's SEIKO quartz watches use just 5% of the energy used by the 1969 Quartz Astron. Furthermore, all SEIKO watches contain batteries made by SEIKO at its own CFC** free facilities and, critically, these batteries are entirely mercury-free. SEIKO is, to date, the only watch company to produce its own mercury-free batteries.

Mechanical:
Of course, SEIKO mechanical watches need no external power source and the technology is inherently kind to the environment.

Solar:
By eliminating the need for battery change in a quartz watch, SEIKO Solar makes an obvious and important contribution to the cause of a healthier planet. SEIKO was an early pioneer in Solar technology, with its first Solar watch being launched in 1977.

** ChloroFluoroCarbon

A website tells the story: Clean energy, Clear thinking.
For further details on SEIKO's "Clean energy, www.seiko-cleanenergy.com Clear thinking" initiative, the website www.seiko-cleanenergy.com has been created. It explains SEIKO's green technologies in a way that will open some eyes towards the green dimension in watchmaking. Of course, watches are not major pollutants like cars or home appliances, but it is clear from the fast-growing sales of SEIKO's 'no battery change' Solar and Kinetic watches that consumers are now taking the environment into account as they make watch choices, so the time is right to explain the facts, and this is exactly what www.seiko-cleanenergy.com seeks to do. And you can watch icare 2 in flight!

The new SEIKO Solar Pilot Watch
SEIKO's new Solar Pilot watch sets a new standard in aviation watches. Not only does it deliver the rotary slide rule and chronograph functions that pilots require for navigation purposes, it operates on a solar cell that is powered by all kinds of light and will retain its charge for up to six months, even in complete darkness. The watch is fully charged after just five hours of exposure to sunlight in fine weather and never needs a battery change. The uniqueness of SEIKO's solar technology is immediately clear from the deep black color of the dial. Until this new generation of SEIKO technology, the dials on solar watches needed to be opaque to let the required amount of light through to the solar cell beneath. Now, thanks to a new generation of high-efficiency SEIKO Solar calibers, the dial can be pure black, allowing the pilot maximum visibility of the time data.

The 2010 49er European Championships, sponsored by SEIKO, and held in Gdynia, Poland in July, attracted more participants and spectators than ever before, proving once again that the 49er is the rising star in the Olympic fleet.
The races took place in Gdansk Bay, just a few hundred meters from the beach where, on each of the six days of competition, crowds of between 3,000 and 5,000 spectators enjoyed the racing. For the first time, the mainsails displayed the national flags of each team so the spectators could follow the unfolding drama of the intense competition more easily than ever before.
Over the first few days of the Championships, 16 races were held in a wide range of wind speeds varying from just 7 knots on Day 5 to over 20 knots on Day 3. This variation of conditions provided the perfect test for the 88 crews, from over 30 nations.

Coming into the final Medal Race, crews from France, Austria and Italy were all in contention, with the British team of Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh holding a six-point lead over the rest. At the start of this deciding race, they took a risky line, away from the rest of the fleet, and were well behind at the first mark. However, they climbed steadily up the field to finish third in the race, thus securing the overall Championships. The Medal Race itself was won by the Sibello brothers from Italy but the French crew of Manu Dyer and Stephane Christidis had enough points from previous races to secure the overall silver while past World Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes from the UK secured the bronze medal.
All the medallists were presented with SEIKO Velatura watches, as were the winners of the Silver and Bronze fleet finals. In addition, SEIKO sponsored a coaching clinic, held just before the Championship began, aimed at encouraging new teams into the 49er Class. Sailors from Holland, Malta, Russia and Bermuda attended the Clinic which was run by the very experienced 49er coach, Richard Parslow.
SEIKO has been the main sponsor of the International 49er Class since 2006, and supports the Class with both finance and equipment. SEIKO also supports the International 29erXX Class.

WORLDTEMPUS - 1st july 2010
"My best enemy"
I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Mr. Nicholas Hayek, and to express to them my admiration for all that he achieved for the watch industry.
Seiko and the Swiss watch industry are, at one level, competitors, and the Swatch Group and Seiko Group have brand portfolios that compete side by side all over the world. However, that is not the whole story. Both Groups share a common interest in making sure that the quality watch business remains b, which is why we both invest heavily in innovative technologies, in prestige distribution and in long term development. In this Seiko and the Swiss industry, and, in particular the Swatch Group, are partners in the promotion of the quality watch industry. I believe that both Seiko and the Swiss Industry make equally important contributions to the industry and if one is successful, the other also benefits.

Traders in the stock market pay attention to gaps in a stock's price. For example, if a stock closes one day at $10 per share and opens the next day at $12 per share, then there is what is called a gap. Even if the stock continues going up, traders will watch in anticipation of the stock returning to "fill the gap" from its move from $10 to $12. Funny enough, however, the most famous gap of all can be found in the London Underground system, where signs everywhere warn you to "Mind the Gap."
 

I am a seasoned watch collector, having bought and sold hundreds of watches over the past twelve years. Lately, I find the most fulfilling acquisitions to be the watches that I wanted in the early days of my collecting, but never actually owned: in other words, the "gaps." In speaking with seasoned collectors of anything, this desire to go back and fill in the gaps of one's collecting experience is a common phenomenon. In a way, I suppose, it's a rare opportunity to go back in time and relive the excitement that you felt when your collecting passion was at its zenith.
So, in this series of articles I want to pay homage to the watches that I missed collecting in my early years, some of which I subsequently acquired and some that eluded me.
 

In all types of collecting, there are entry-level acquisitions that are normally easy to find and affordable. While there are watch collectors who start at the top, dropping a few hundred thousand on a platinum Patek Philippe grand complication and subsequently working their way down is certainly the exception—and a watch dealer's best customer. Accordingly, I started out with a collection that looked like a rainbow with all the different dial colors of Seiko and Citizen automatic diver's watches. (Who can forget the early Seiko Orange Monsters?) I mean, really, what could be more insanely cool to a beginning collector than a 42 mm orange-dialed automatic diver's watch for $129 brand new?
I soon followed that up with a Hamilton Atlantis, which was the spitting image of a Rolex Submariner. I got hooked on Hamiltons for about a year and then moved on to Omega Speedmasters. Rolex comes after Omega for many collectors, and I was no exception, acquiring a vintage Datejust, then a bunch of Submariners, GMTs and Explorers.
 

After that, I entered the typical "snob" stage, in which one discovers the pedigreed brands like Jaeger LeCoultre, A. Lange & Sohne, and IWC. At this stage of watch collecting, you find yourself ashamed for having recently been so uncultured that you actually loved your Rolex and Omega watches and that you own so many of them. So, you sell all of your former lust objects to fund your "holy grail," which is typically a watch retailing for more than you paid for all of your Rolexes combined and maybe for even more than your car. You tell yourself that you will stop after your Holiness is strapped around your deserving wrist. This special watch is often a Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe—or perhaps an F.P. Journe? All excellent choices as your collection's "crowning glory"
At this point, many collectors morph into connoisseurs, and while they may still acquire a watch once in a while, they are basically sated, basking in their horological knowledge and the satisfaction that comes with having done something well and to its fullest. Others keep collecting with gusto for years, or indeed for the rest of their lives.
 

This 208-page visual delight comprising insightful texts by international horology-specialized journalist Elizabeth Doerr and original photography by German photographer Ralf Baumgarten will allow readers to see well-known horological figures such as François-Paul Journe, Vianney Halter, and Philippe Dufour as they've never been seen before. Their stories are separately told in masterful English giving an impression of the history, concepts, and technical ideas behind the watchmakers. The black-and-white visuals atmospherically depict the technical magicians in their environments, displaying plenty of their mechanical wizardry alongside impressions of what makes them unique.

Independent watchmakers
The reader will also gain unique insight into major independent horologists like Finnish chronometer specialist Kari Voutilainen, Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk fame, triple-axis tourbillon technician Thomas Prescher, German wunderkind Volker Vyskocil, English contender to the horological crown Roger Smith, resonance specialist Beat Haldimann, and Paul Gerber, Guinness Book of World Record holder for the most complicated watch and the smallest wooden clock movements.
Readers will probably particularly enjoy learning about two men who are very rarely seen in the press. Dr. Ludwig Oechslin is not only the curator of the Musee International d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, but also the movement designer for some of Ulysse Nardin's most complicated and forward-thinking movements and creator of the MIH watch. Kenji Shiohara is the innovative Japanese watchmaker who founded a mini-department for high watchmaking within Japan's gargantuan Seiko Corporation, bringing forth the first Japanese-themed and expertly finished sonnerie—using Seiko's Spring Drive movement as the basis.
Book signing at Baselworld 2010
Twelve Faces of Time, out now in large format hardback, will interest not only die-hard aficionados of high watchmaking, but also those attracted by artistic photography and beautiful imagery. A feast for all of the senses, the reader will practically hear the ticking of the rare and unique movements alongside the exotic accents of the masterful thinkers and gifted watchmakers speaking from the pages to introduce their life's work—one that propagates an age-old craft.

Additionally, fans will have the chance to meet many of the watchmakers portrayed in the book during Baselworld, since Swiss watch book specialist Watchprint is staging two autograph sessions during the fair: one each on Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21 at 2:00 pm. Visitors to the book hut run by Watchprint on Messeplatz right outside the entrance to Hall 1 can have books signed by author Elizabeth Doerr, photographer Ralf Baumgarten, and any of the twelve watchmakers present.