The Breitling Watch Blog

It looks like there is a continuing interest in Rose Gold as the new luxury watch material of choice after stainless steel. I’m seeing more and more people gravitate towards the Rose Gold stuff, as White gold looks too much like stainless steel, and yellow gold is too tacky for their tastes. There seems to be a variation of Rose, Red and Pink Gold in the industry. There is no standard, so with varying levels of copper and other metals alloying the Gold, different colors of Rose gold are produced. Breitling has both Red and Rose gold varieties.

A lot of beautiful peices with in Rose Gold like this Ebel 1911 BTR Perpetual Calendar that was just released. Note also the Perpetual Calendar is a significant complication compared to what Ebel has normally produced – which is another trend we are seeing with luxury watch brands.

Jaeger LeCoultre has decided to go against the grain with one of their most recent releases, the Master Grande Ultra Thin 40. Though this watch is extremely thin, it still boasts a relatively decent 40mm diameter. And the case is available in stainless steel and…. you guessed it.. Rose Gold!

One of the latest offerings from Corum, the Romvlvs Retrograde Annual Calendar. Beautiful peice of work, 41mm, beautiful dial and case is in 18kt Rose Gold, of course. Dial is black, as it seems to compliment Rose Gold the best. However, we are starting to see a little bit of Two-Tone rose gold and steel as well. I am hoping that more of this will start to happen as the combination is striking in my opinion.

Do you have an Aston Martin DBS? If so, you just might have to score yourself one of these JLC AMVOX2 DBS Transponder watches, that allow you to interact with your car! Using the Amvox2 system of using the Sapphire Crystal as the trigger (you simply push down on it), you can unlock and lock your doors of your Aston Martin DBS Sportscar.

Crafted of 18kt Pink Gold, the Jaeger-LeCoultre AMBOX2 DBS Transponder watch is available exclusively through Aston Martin dealerships for owners of the Aston Martin DBS. Though the Transponder itself is not mechanical, the rest of the watch is. When this watch was announced I was prepared to be surprised by a completely mechanical watch doing the work, but there is indeed some electronics used to control the circuit.

Check it out:

And now, check out the car!

If you aren’t aware, the Olympics started today, and the opening ceremony was absolutely amazing… easily the most impressive Olympics opening ceremony I have ever seen. Beijing has set the new standard by which all other Olympics opening ceremonies will be judged. The official timekeeper, as has been for quite a while now, is Omega.

Omega erected a pavillion to showcase their watches at the Beijing Olympics and it looks pretty cool. I wonder if Omega will put up a similar structure in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics? If so, I will be there!

I wonder if US MADE will ever carry the same prestige that the “Swiss Made” declaration on swiss watches do? Michael Kobold seems to think that its certainly they should work towards, because he’s introduced the first serially produced American watch since the quartz crisis of the 1970’s. Back in the days when Elgin, Waltham and Illinois watch companies had a huge impact on the watchmaking industry. Kobold is bringing America watchmaking back, with the new Spirit of America automatic watch:

Kobold claims that the watch is 87% made in America with the balance of the parts made in either Germany or Switzerland. The watch has a manufacture movement, but also states that it is a based on a German watch movement, called a Caliber Forster 197.

The watch was launched on July 4th, 2008, which is the US Independence day, and coincedentally, the 10 year anniversary month of Kobold. The dial proudly displays “Pittsburgh Pennsylvania” as its region of manufacture where one would typically find the Swiss Made printed.

Watch has a 100m water resistance, case constructed of 316L stainless steel. Movement is a K.2651 Caliber with no second hand. Power reserve of 46 hours. Case diameter is 44m, in the modern-day classic soarway case. Lug width measures 22mm.

Overall, this looks like a killer watch, American heritage or not. This is Kobold’s flagship watch, and carries a retail price of $6250.

Looks like watch brands are trying to get in on some of the retail action as well as direct promotion of their own brands. Breitling has some Brand Boutiques in Japan and other places in the world, but none in North America unfortunately. However, Jaeger LeCoultre has opened its first North American boutique and Piaget has opened it’s first west coast boutique, already having several boutiques on the east coast and in Hawaii.

JLC continues to be one of the most sought after wristwatch manufactures out there, with over 1000 people working in their workshops in Switzerland. As their catalog states, their personnel span over 40 different professions masterings more than 20 different cutting-edge technologies required to design and produce over 40 different calibres.

Very impressive.

I really look forward to owning my first Jaeger LeCoultre soon. The catalog is indeed a work of art in itself, with over 270 pages of beautiful pictures explaining the watches and their brand. The pinnacle of their achievement is the Gyrotourbillon: