The Breitling Watch Blog

Omega Launches a brand new innovation, a Liquidmetal® and Ceramic dive bezel on their new limited edition 42mm Planet Ocean Liquid Metal. The Seamaster PO 42mm Liquid Metal is a Limited Edition of 1948 peices, and features the same movement as previous PO models with the Caliber 2500 Co-Axial movement. The watch adds applied arabic numerals as well to the design, but is primarily the same as previous models.

Liquidmetal®: seamless bonding, remarkable hardness
The Liquidmetal® alloy is an amorphous metal – a metallic material with a disordered, non-crystalline atomic structure. Its fusion temperature is half that of conventional titanium alloys but when it is cooled, its hardness is three times as great as that of stainless steel. Its amorphous structure allows it to bond seamlessly with the ceramic bezel.

The Liquidmetal® is a bulk metallic glass alloy consisting of five elements: zirconium, titanium, copper, nickel and beryllium. A bulk metallic glass can, by virtue of its low critical cooling rate, be formed into a structure with a thickness of more than a tenth of a millimetre. Zirconium is an important constituent part both of the Liquidmetal® alloy and of the ceramic material which is made of zirconium dioxide (Zr02).

The final, perfectly smooth bezel is particularly resistant to scratching and corrosion because of the hardness of the two components.

The union of ceramics and Liquidmetal® at OMEGA
First, ceramic rings are formed. The numbers and the fine lines of the minute scaling are then engraved into these ceramic bezel rings and polished. The alloy is heated and pressed into the cavities in the ceramic material after which any excess Liquidmetal® is removed. The Liquidmetal® can be manipulated at a lower temperature than metals normally used in watchmaking so the heating process does not damage the ceramic material.

The Liquidmetal® numbers and scales are then satin brushed. Because the ceramic is a harder material than the alloy, the satin brushing of the fine details can be done without affecting the ceramic bezel. The numbers and scaling then appear in bold, vivid contrast to the glossy ceramic background.

Redefining longevity in the watch industry
The OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean Liquidmetal® Limited Edition, which has a stainless steel case and bracelet, is driven by OMEGA’s revolutionary Co-Axial calibre 2500. These movements, which have been heralded for their long-term chronometric performance, are perfectly complemented by the ceramic and Liquidmetal® alloy components which are incredibly resistant to corrosion and scratching. The result is pure OMEGA: a design premiere which will retain its appearance indefinitely, blended with innovative Co-Axial technology.

I just received a press release from Gustafsson & Sjogren, or GoS, a watch company whom I’ve reveiwed before. They have released a new customized watch called “Ice”. If you recall, their watches were of interest to me because of their use of Damascus in the production.

The partnership between the bladesmith Johan Gustafsson and watchmaker Patrik Sjögren aims to provide truly unique watches with inspiration from the cold north of Scandinavia.

GoS proudly presents Ice – a customized watch designed in collaboration with the customer, who requested a clean Damascus steel look. The watch is based on a large round case with a combination of different finishing techniques with large diameter bezel and case back as unusual design elements. Etching gives additional contrasts to the wood grain pattern Damascus steel dial. All index positions have gold fitted diamonds and the Damascus stainless steel crown has a spectacular diamond inset.

The watch is equipped with a beautifully finished Unitas/ETA 6498 pocket watch movement. The finishing has been done by the swiss company Soprod, that also have further improved the movement to chronometre grade standard with a screwed balance.

Specifications:

• Case: 44mmx12mm
• Lug width: 22mm
• Glass: Flat sapphire glass (case back mineral)
• Movement: Swiss manual movement ETA 6498-1
• Modifications by Soprod
• Cote de Geneve finishing
• chronometre grade adaptations, screwed balance
• Dial: Hand forged Damascus steel with all indexes in gold fitted diamonds
• Crown: Oversize in Damascus stainless steel with large gold fitted diamond
• Polished stainless steel mesh strap

I’ve decided to post a giveaway on Youtube to try and bring some of the Youtube crowd together with the Forum Crowd… given the immaturity of some of the Youtube crowd, some of you might be asking me why I could possibly want to do this. Well, the majority of the users are very cool.. its primarily the younger ones that really have no interest in the watches to begin with that try and stir up trouble.

At any rate, I really wanted to do a youtube contest to see how it would pan out. Its not crazy popular yet, but hopefully it will take off. You need to watch the video and follow all the directions in the video to win!

Urwerk releases its newest watch, the Urkwerk King Cobra UR-CC1. The watch features a Linear Retrograde Jump Hour complication, linear retograde minutes complication and a standard seconds and date indication. The caliber is in-house developed over 3 years and called the UR-CC1. The case measures 45mm x 44mm so the watch sits very impressively on the wrist.

The Urwerk King Cobra will be limited to only 50 peices, and features a triple-cam design.

There is a new scam going around, and it seems that fake wire transfers are the new thing. This is unfortunate for us because wire transfers have always been the safe bet. I am not sure if this works across the country, but I can see how this would work from within Canada, as you could do it as long as it is the same bank.

What happens if the buyer goes to your bank and does a deposit with a cheque into your account. The cheque comes from a bad account with no balance, and bounces after a few days… but when its deposited, you see the balance and ship the watch, by then its too late.

Keep your eyes peeled, gentlemen!

Original Link:
http://forums.watchnet.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=319245&rid=46379