Uhren Magazine is one of the three leading German watch magazines. Very informative, and, although with a more than healthy interest in German watches, very independent in their articles (I mean not directed or affected by their advertisers). Mostly they are very good informed and are very professional in giving their opinions and (technical) information about the watches they review or test. 

In the current issue (Juni, edition 6) there’s a quite terrible error in the review of the new Patek Philippe Nautillus. Have a look at the following picture:

The undelined text says (translated from German). ‘Above the minute indexes there exists additional little light emitting dots.’

Don’t think so These are the reflections of the illuminating minute indexes in the edges (facets) of the sapphire crystal…

A few weeks ago, a juweler in The Netherlands (Enschede) has been robbed. 31 Breitling watches and 16 Omega watches are stolen. At least with regards to the Breitling watches, the serial numbers are published. Beware of Breitlings with one of the following serial numbers: 621149, 740150, 743640, 848428, 851141, 852125, 871068, 889714, 892612, 893376, 907977, 935285,  969722, 2027432, 2083172, 2121032, 2125629, 2152997, 2156830, 2139292, 2145680, 2164027, 2175072, 2177832, 2231568, 2235280, 2539207.

Click here for more informaton (in Dutch) about the robbery.

User ‘DarkAngel’ over at the Rolex Forum at WatchUseek started a thread called ‘Your Rolex Story’. One of the members shows his Rolex Chronograph he bought in 1968. It seemed to be 20 USD cheaper than the Omega Seamaster Chronograph he was also looking at. Although the Seamaster Chronograph from that time is a great watch and kept its value after all these years, I think he did a great job choosing Rolex at the time. His Rolex Chronograph must be worth a couple of times the current value of that Seamaster Chrono he was thinking about. Check out the full thread here.

Including the original bill…

I am back from my 12-day trip to Turkey. Happily to see that Dutch watch magazine called ‘Watching‘ had a new edition waiting for me at Horloge Platform Nederland. This edition covers the Basel and the SIHH watch expos, and features the Les Métiers d’Art “Les Masques” watch by Vacheron et Constantin. ThePurists has a nice article on-line about the VC novelties, including these ‘Mask’ watches. They write:

“….a set of 4 wristwatches each decorated by a miniature of an ancient mask. Each mask on the dials of the 4 watches is a replica of an actual mask from the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, famous for its collection of primitive tribal artifacts. Only 25 sets of the quartet will be produced.

VC utilised advanced computer imaging and design software to shrink the actual masks and fit them under the crystal of the watch. All of the masks are identical copies of the ones on display at the museum, right down to the patina and tarnish. Even the dent on the nose of the Chinese Death Mask is reproduced on the watch.

The masks are set on sapphire dials tinted in complementary colours and engraved with a poem written by Michel Butor, a contemporary French writer. Each mask has an individual poem dedicated to it reflecting the nature of the mask. Because of the tinted crystal, the poems are only visible at certain angles so they do not draw attention away from the mask. To accomplish this, VC had to engrave the underside of each crystal with the words of the poem before filling the engraving with gold. “

I am not that VC-ish, but these watches are really stunning. They have a caliber 2460 movement (who cares what type of mechanical movement is inside, with a dial like this) ticking inside, as found in the Les Métiers d’Art “4 Saisons” unveiled for the 250th anniversary of VC in 2005. Time, day and date are read from discs positioned at the edge of the dial, freeing up much of the dial for various forms of decoration.

More details and pictures on these watches can be found at http://www.tp178.com/SJX/Basel_SIHH/geneva2007/vc/vc.htm

Source: ThePurists.com, both text and pictures.