Officine Panerai, founded in Florence in 1860, makes some of the most coveted wristwatches in the world. They only produce a limited number of timepieces every year, and there's usually a long waiting list for new models costing several thousands of dollars. The company is credited with perfecting the world's first underwater watches in the thirties; many have imitated its oversized style and the numerous devoted Panerai collectors around the globe are known as "Paneristi." Since 1996 the company has also produced a line of watches for Ferrari and serves as the marque's official timekeeper. An impressive new slipcased volume, called simply Panerai, about to be published by Flammarion, details the fascinating history of these beautiful watches.
Early on the company became the official supplier to the Marina Militare (the Royal Italian Navy), initially providing optical and mechanical instruments. In 1910 they began experimenting with luminous materials to make the instrument dials visible in the dark. In 1936 the Marina Militare asked Panerai to develop a wristwatch suitable for use by commandos under extreme conditions. Thus was born the oversized, water-resistant, luminous dial Radiomir, production of which began in 1938, cementing a place for Panerai in the pantheon of the world's great watchmakers.
A one-of-a-kind, oversized 1930s Patek Philippe chronograph that belonged to dashing Italian racecar driver Count Felice Trossi is expected to fetch close to $2 million at Sotheby's in Geneva today. Famed Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli probably copied Trossi's habit of wearing his Patek over his shirt cuff, the better to keep time while winning the Italian Grand Prix, which Trossi did in 1947. These day's Trossi's name lives on mainly for automotive enthusiasts; his legendary one-off 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK, now known as the "Count Trossi", is the star of Ralph Lauren's incredible car collection.
The sale also features several other Pateks including some extremely rare chronographs. Meanwhile, Christie's will stage it's own Important Watch auction in Geneva tomorrow, featuring two of the most important antique one-off Pateks ever to go ion the block: a stainless steel perpetual calendar with phases of the moon, and a platinum perpetual calendar with sweep centre seconds and phases of the moon. Both are estimated at an astounding $1.4 million - $2.4 million.
Avant garde Geneva-based watchmaker Urwerk produces what they claim is the world's hardest timepiece, the 103.08 TiAlN, the Wealth Bulletin reports. That stands for Titanium Aluminum Nitride, a coating less than 4 microns thick and much lighter than gold and platinum but much, much harder - more than 5 ½ times harder than steel, in fact. Nearly indestructible, the watch is practically immune to scratches, shocks, oxidation and even acids, they claim. Theirs is the first timepiece ever to use the coating.
Shown here in rose gold, the limited edition watch will run you about $70,000. The slanting sides of Urwerk's signature "orbiting hour satellites" allow you to see what time it is without turning your wrist. The company, which launched in 1997, has been doing revolutionary things to timepieces, yet their inspiration goes back several centuries. The name is an homage to Ur, an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, one of the earliest known civilizations in the history of the world. Take a look at some of their other designs below.
The other day we reported on the world records set at Antiqorum's recent $8.5 million Rolex auction, where the top-priced timepiece fetched $248,000. At Sotheby's Important Watches auction on April 23, however, that record was shattered by the sale of an ultra-rare 1971 "Albino" Rolex Daytona that formerly belonged to rock & roll icon Eric Clapton. Eclipsing its pre-sale estimate of $100,000 - $150,000, the Daytona went for a whopping $505,000 including buyer's premium.
Though the total proceeds from the Sotheby's sale, $6,588,451, were far less than Antiquorum's, the Clapton sale set a record for the Daytona and was the second-highest price ever achieved at auction for a Rolex watch. This model is known as the "Albino" because both the background and subsidiary dials are in a monochrome silver color, as opposed to the usual contrasting variations found on more common examples.
The second through fifth highest prices paid at the Sotheby's auction were all for Patek Philippes, ranging from $445,000 - $217,000. The sixth highest was also a Rolex, a so-called "James Bond" 1959 Submariner, which brought in $211,000.
Patek Philippe, maker of the most coveted watches in the world, is staging an unprecedented exhibit of the most valuable timepieces from its collection here in the U.S. The exhibit, featuring hundreds of items including priceless pieces from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, is on display at Tiffany & Co.'s Fifth Avenue flagship through Saturday evening; next month it travels to the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons in Los Angeles, running from May 16 - 18.
With Patek Philippes fetching record prices at auction, this is a rare opportunity to view timepieces that the likes of Christie's would kill to get their hands on. The exhibits culled from the company's 169-year history include rare pocket watches and the first Swiss wristwatch ever made.
LVMH already owns several successful watch brands including TAG Heuer, Zenith, Dior Montres and Louis Vuitton watches. LVMH has announced plans to increase the brand's profile in Asia and Japan and expand retail distribution. Currently the watches are sold in 300 stores worldwide. Hopefully they won't dilute the brand too much, part of Hublot's power is that that they do a particular type of big beefy watch, the Big Bang, so well. The Hublot fans on the Time Zone Hublot forum definitely are excited about this move for Hublot.
Wine tycoon Bernard Magrez has run afoul of journalists by offering them what looks to be a classic bribe. Decanter reports that Magrez and his partner in wine, French actor Gerard Depardieu hosted journalists at a press lunch at the Alain Ducasse restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris on March 26. At the end of the lunch, journalists were giving a press kit and a box that contained a Cartier watch worth $2,641.
After what must have been some interesting moments of desire versus ethics, many of the journalists decided to either donate or return the watches. Magrez told Decanter he wasn't trying to buy good press, he was just using the watch as a way to commemorate the special occasion. The French website Backchich certainly isn't buying that. In their article titled The Advantages of Being a Wine Journalist, they feature a cartoon of a woman dressed in sparkling jewelry with a note pad and a glass of wine. My French is a bit rusty but I the caption roughly translates to this wine is rich and generous just like Mr. Depardieu.
It may seem like a silly idea but it's really just a reflection of the times -- watches are less and less about actually telling the time (we all have cell phones and PDAs for that now) and more about style and luxury. The Day&Night watch sells for $300,000 and the first lot sold out in just 48 hours. Apparently there are a lot of people looking to know whether it's day or whether it's night -- from their watch.
Watch company Linde Werdelin has unveiled a new design they call the Sea Instrument, the world's first luxury dive computer. The Sea Instrument can be attached on top of the Linde Werdelin Biformeter watches, for divers of all abilities.
It has a transflective color screen with the display covered by sapphire crystal glass and is designed to be readable underwater. It doesn't protect the wearer from sharks but it does guide divers by tracking the critical pieces of information needed on any dive using an advanced 3-axis compass, CPU's and alarm systems. It shows depth, dive time, vital decompression stops, temperature, maximum depth and surface interval times, constantly keeping the user in a real time picture. It comes in natural or black anodized aluminum and a limited amount have been commissioned in solid 18K yellow gold. The Sea Instrument is water resistant to 1,000 feet and is powered by a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery with 28 hours continuous diving or five days standby. The aluminum version sells for 2,100 euros and will be available later this year.
In the market for a waterproof watch? You may have trouble finding one, considering few watches (if any) are truly and completely waterproof, and are in reality only water resistant. Water resistance is a term that can mean anything from "withstands minor splashing" to "submersible up to 100 meters," to any number of other definitions. So before you take your $5000 "water-resistant" watch into the swimming pool you may want to check on some details. Maybe it can go cannon balling with you or maybe it should stay sitting safely by your beach towel and flip flops -- either way it's something worth knowing.
Nine world records were set at Antiquorum's massive vintage Rolex auction on April 17, entitled Revolution: The Evolution of the Rolex Sport Watch, commemorating the brand's 100th anniversary. In total, $8,515,260 worth of timepieces were sold to bidders worldwide.
Among the records set was $237,600 each for two highly-prized 1967 Sea-Dweller Submariners, and $166,800 for a 1973 Submariner originally issued to the British military. The most beautiful watch in the sale, the rare "Jean-Claude Killy" Antimagnetic Oyster Chronograph, fetched $155,000, while the highest price was brought in by a 1979 "Comex" model Sea-Dweller, which went for $248,800.
While collectors certainly paid a premium for historical value, not all the most attractive watches hit six figures. The super-stylish version of the Explorer known as the "Straight Hand Steve McQueen" pictured here went for a more modest $40,800, still a significant sum for this model.
Bastion of top-drawer British style Bamford & Sons has just come out with their own take on the classic and much-coveted Rolex Daytona Cosmograph, popularized by Paul Newman back in his racecar driving days. The London-based Bamford design team sourced 25 vintage Daytonas -- no mean feat in itself -- then customized them with an aqua blue face and a black PVD coating (a low-friction finish used by the military) over the stainless steel.
Bamford's wares are available Stateside from Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, but this limited edition timepiece can only be ordered direct from the company's own UK store (they'll ship worldwide); it costs £14,995, or just over $30,000. Bamford previously customized a cool Rolex Submariner on a black leather strap, but the Daytona is in a class by itself.
Jaermann & Stübi watches have a unique feature that golfers will love, a golf counter. Their St. Andrews Link watch has a mechanical golf counter and an automatic movement. It can count a player's strokes per hole and add up the total score per round comparing it with the player's handicap. Their latest watches are the elegant St. Andrews Links and the sportier Eagle Heart. Each comes in several variations including one version of the St. Andrews which has 71 sapphires and one diamond circling the bezel.
The latest product to tie in to the Beijing Olympics coming up this august is the Voila Beijing Dream. The elaborated cage like design of the watch mimics the National Stadium (also called the Birds Nest) that will hold the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics. The watch is available with a stainless steel or gold plated case with a strap of Chinese silk brocade. It comes set with .23 carats of diamonds or .72 carats and prices range from 1,490 to 2,190 euros.
The Seiko watch company has a compelling story behind their latest watch the Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk launched at Baselworld. The watch has been engineered to withstand the extreme environment of outer space and will be worn on the wrist of Richard Garriott, the sixth private-citizen space explorer, when he takes his trip this fall. Garriott, a video game designer and the son of a NASA astronaut, will pay $45 million for his trip and plant to viisit the International Space Station and become the first private citizen to do a space walk outside of it. He will be wearing the Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk outside of his spacesuit and so the watch has to be able to survive zero gravity and an environment where temperatures can get as low as negative 22 degrees Celsius. Battery-powered watches aren't viable for space and the spring drive was chosen over a mechanical watch for safety and accuracy. The watch was designed to be light and recesses on the sides of the case save weight. It also has a dial with a Lumibrite treatment for readability. The case is air tight and made of high-intensity titanium. The watch is a limited edition of 100, three will go with Garriott on his October adventure and the other 97 will be available in December and will retail for $25,000.
A one-of-a-kind, oversized 1930s 
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