Luxury Watches Expert, Timepiece Consultant, Watch Stylist, Meehna Goldsmith

Hamilton Ventura XXL Elvis® Anniversary: You Ain’t a Nothing But a Hound Dog

January 27, 2012 By Meehna Leave a Comment

Original Electra Like Elvis Wore

Yep, the very same one Elvis sported in many photo ops has now made another bow for Basel 2012. The Hamilton Ventura is one of those unmistakable watches you can identify across the room. You gotta admit this watch exudes 1960’s swank and perfectly matches the King’s off-beat, swiveling hips style. And, at the same time somehow the watch fits into the 21^st century, with its retro-futuristic look. Sony agreed. For the third installment of the Men in Black series, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones wear the Ventura, the original when they’re in the 1960’s and once back in 2012 they clock the time with the new version.

Hamilton presented the first electric watch in 1957, the Hamilton Electric 500, which included the asymmetric Ventura in its lineup. What might’ve looked dated in the 1980’s has now swung back to hip. Last year Hamilton reintroduced the Ventura, updating its look for a modern wearer. A bolder case size and sleek black styling (PVD over stainless steel) mark this Elvis edition Ventura for the new era along with a water resistance to 50 meters. A black, rubber strap replaces the original elastic one. This is the only Ventura that ticks off a special mechanical ETA movement made specifically for this model. The rest use quartz.

Interesting factoid: Did you know that 85% of Hamilton watches use a mechanical movement?

The Hamilton Ventura XXL Elvis^® Anniversary retails for a very reasonable $1345 and you don’t even have to grab a mic and croon to the crowd. But you can if you want to.

Hamilton Ventura XXL Elvis® Anniversary

Filed Under: Hamilton, Men's Watches

Exclusive: CEO of Baume & Mercier Alain Zimmermann Talks About 2012 Collection

January 26, 2012 By Meehna Leave a Comment

Baume & Mercier continues to revamp by focusing on their strengths by reaching into their heritage. In the last couple years, they have refined their message to reflect the brand as seen through the customer’s eyes. Alain Zimmermann, CEO of Baume & Mercier, explains that people purchase their timepieces to celebrate a moment: a wedding, engagement, graduation or birthday. (See our exclusive video interview below.)

Baume & Mercier finds the image in the Hamptons seaside, a place of “relaxed expression”. The booth at Palexpo was a lovely “Hampton house” replete with bar and “outdoor” patio, an environment emblematic of the theme of the watches. Interesting factoid: Baume & Mercier is celebrating their 180th year.

The bulk of the collection retails in 2-4k range. You might wonder what this low-mid-range brand is doing amongst the powerhouses such as Greubel Forsey, Lange & Sohne and Vacheron Constantin. Is it a match for the Richemont identity? If you put it in perspective, Richemont represents luxury. Most can’t afford to immediately purchase a watch in the high-end. It might take several years to save up for that aspirational timepiece. In the meantime, Baume & Mercier offers a way to enter into luxury with a quality timepiece that is affordable and gives a taste of what’s in store. Where else can you get an ultra-cool jump hour for under 5k? Plus, though the Richemont haute horlogerie brands bring prestige and lots of press coverage, they aren’t the real moneymakers. Baume & Mercier with their volume business are one of the brands that drive the machine. They are more important to Richemont than you may think.

I’ll tell you something else, Baume & Mercier gives out really cool and clever party gifts. A leather checkerboard with magnetic pips made by the chic chic Paris company Lancil. Attending to details like this shows you that while Baume & Mercier doesn’t make a watch for snobs, at the price point, you get a lot of watch for the money.

Filed Under: Baume & Mercier, Men's Watches, Women's Watches

Blancpain Celebrates Valentine’s Day with the Saint — Valentin 2012

January 25, 2012 By Meehna Leave a Comment

With Christmas holiday season behind us, the next celebration is waiting for its turn in Cupid’s wings. Continuing their tradition of presenting a Valentine’s Day watch, Blancpain premiers the Blancpain Saint – Valentin 2012 in a limited series of 14 watches glittering with 2.95 of that most treasured of stones, diamonds. Dispense with the chocolate, it’s so passé and says I don’t have a creative bone in my body. There’s a reason for the expression: Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. And, what better way to make a best friend this February 14^th than to gift this watch to your favorite girl, even if it’s yourself. Self treats are allowed.

Diamonds encrust the bezel and lugs of the Saint – Valentin, while the case band is set with four diamonds and a heart-shaped ruby. A diamond on the crown makes winding the watch a luxurious event, though you don’t have to because the movement self-winds with a rotor. Not to be forgotten, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blancpain, Women's Watches

Bremont Let’s You Fly with the C-17 Globemaster

January 23, 2012 By Meehna Leave a Comment

Bremont likes to take on a challenge. In 2010 they produced a global timer chronometer for the military C-17 Globemaster crew. The C-17 is an Army transport plane that carries equipment including cargo, trucks, tanks, artillery and including human cargo such as paratroops and aeromedical evacuees. It’s got incredible maneuvering too, capable of doing three-point turns. Since civilians aren’t able to fly a C-17 and therefore qualify to have the C-17 Globemaster, Bremont created the World Timer (ALT1-WT) so the rest of pilots and travelers won’t feel left out.

“Engineered Beyond Endurance” is the claim made by upstart company Bremont. The motto must be true because they attract the attention of some heavy-duty players that need heavy-duty equipment. The “MBI” was developed in conjunction with ejection seat manufacturer Martin Baker. Bremont’s directive: make a watch that will hold up when a pilot ejects from his plane. You know the g-forces involved in that? 30g’s at the first second of ejection. Let’s give a little perspective here. A g-force is a weight per unit mass. The standard gravitational acceleration at the Earth’s surface is 1 g on an object.

Large proper accelerations (g-forces) can, to put it mildly, can bang up your body and do major damage. Not to mention explode your watch into little parts.

To satisfy civilians who want this tough-guy watch or are adrenaline junkies, Bremont developed the “MBII” because the “MBI” is only for those who have officially ejected. According to Bremont, guys started ejecting just to get a watch. They wanted one so bad it was worth the risk.

The World Timer (ALT1-WT) is very similar to the original with a few modifications. The new version comes in a Trip-Tick case with a Roto-click bezel. The case, in hardened steel, rates a hearty 2000 Vickers. Compare that to a common 316L case that rates 300 Vickers.

Rather than the usual clicking bezel on top of the case, Bremont chose to use an internal bezel, which still has a ‘click’, operated by a crown at 8 o’clock. Developed by the company, the mechanism uses a series of ball-bearings. The date refers back to its older brother with a Head Up Display (HUD).

Of course, the watch passes COSC certification as a chronometer. Important when you’re in the air and needing to make accurate calculations. Don’t want to be blinded either by the sun or lights reflecting off the dial so Bremont coated the sapphire crystal with nine layers of anti-reflective coating. For fun, you can flip over the watch and see the movement through the exhibition back.

The World Timer (ALT1-WT, which comes in dial colors of blue, black and white retails for $5695 and comes with a travel walled, strap changing tool and an extra NATO military nylon strap and the paper assuring you of COSC certification.

While you may never ride on an aircraft carrier, you can brag that your watch’s brethren is tough enough to do so.

Filed Under: Bremont, Men's Watches

Introducing: Van Cleef & Arpels “Poetic Wish”

January 17, 2012 By Meehna Leave a Comment

Remember the Hermes Arceau Le Temps Suspendu, the wonderful watch that can suspend time? The one that won the “Watch of the Year” prize last year at the competition sponsored by Montres Passion magazine in Geneva and also took home the honor of Men’s Watch of the year at the Grand Prix d’horlogerie de Genève. That was the work of none other than genius watchmaker Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and his team at Agenhor.

Since 2006, Van Cleef & Arpels has dedicated a collection to what they call poetic complications, where timekeeping meets storytelling. Last year we saw the delightful ‘Five Weeks in a Balloon’ (Cinq Semaines en Ballon) and this year we get to “Poetic Wish”, a sequel to the Pont des Amoureux, (Lover’s Bridge), where a man and a woman cross a bridge to meet in the middle to smooch at midnight.

As Wiederrecht explains, every year you must progress and show something technically more interesting. If you look at the stunningly engraved and enameled dial of “Make a Wish”, you will discover that it’s a similar retrograde layout to the Lover’s Bridge. It would be a mistake to write this off as nothing new except a new dial treatment before taking a closer look because you’d be missing out on one of the hits of the show.

What we’ve got here is an on-demand 5 minute repeater that activates the automata: a man (a woman on the female version) makes a wish upon a shooting star to meet his lover. The sound rings out in crisp tones and is actually much easier to decipher the time than a minute repeater because of the five minute increments.

Usually the poetic complications use a Jaeger-LeCoultre base with a module designed by Agenhor to transform poetry into motion. In this case, Widerreccht had to go to the drawing board and create a whole new original movement from scratch! just to power this watch. It took over 90 months to achieve. This isn’t just any calibre; the 5-minute repeater systems works with a very cool hammer and gong system. Through the exhibition case back you can see the hammers strike the concentric circles of the gong, providing a rich, resonant sound.

The one little difficulty is setting the time. It’s a bit tough to see the black hands tracing time in a traditional circular manner underneath the gongs. Nonetheless, so far this piece wins my best in show for SIHH 2012. In the below clip, you can hear the 5-minute repeater and see the automata in action. Make sure to also keep your eye on the cloud on the right.