For IWC, 2009 is the year of the Aquatimer relaunch. IWC’s first Aquatimer saw daylight in 1967 and I doubt that one of these first models ever saw some water, because they didn’t look very water resistant. However, looks might be deceiving because IWC claimed it to be water resistant to 200 meters. Anyway, between 1967 and now, IWC has had several sports watches (GST, Ocean, Aquatimer) suitable for use below the surface.

The new line of Aquatimers have been presented at SIHH 2009 and a number of jewelers organized introduction events for their customers (click here for the Ace Jewelers presentation earlier this year). One of my personal favorites this year, is the IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Edition Galapagos Islands, or perhaps it is easier to remember IWC’s reference number 376705. A diver’s watch in the service of evolution, as IWC calls it. With this time piece, IWC supports the work of the Galapagos-based Charles Darwin Foundation with a contribution generated by the sales of the IWC ref.376705. The Galapagos islands – belonging to Ecuador – have a unique fauna and flora which is being threatened by harmful activities (like fishing, importing animals, growing tourism etc.). IWC wants to support the Darwin foundation, who makes visitors aware with ecologically sound behaviour and watches out over the waters of the Galapagos Islands to make sure animals do not fall victim to poachers and predators. This kind of support perfectly fits into IWC’s philosophy about durability and responsibility towards the environment. Although I am not a dedicated fan of IWC’s watches, I do cheer IWC’s management for embracing these kind of activities and ‘taking responsibility’.

As for the watch itself, it is no different from the other new Aquatimer watches by IWC, except for the used materials and the engraving on the caseback. The 376705 has a rubber coated stainless steel case and a black rubber strap. The caseback is engraved with the Galápagos tortoise and the text “Tribute to the Charles Darwin Foundation”. The photo below, clearly demonstrates the stainless steel caseback with the engraved tortoise.

The Aquatimer Chronograph Edition Galapagos Islands has a diameter of 44mm, which is more or less considered normal these days, for diving / sports watches. The height of the watch is 15mm. Like any other serious diving watch, the ref. 376705 has a screw-in crown and rotating bezel. Ofcourse, this watch is perfectly suited for professional diving since it is water resistant to 120 meters / 12 bar. IWC also made this watch very well readable in the dark, by applying luminescent elements on the hands, dial and bezel.

And one more for the lume freaks, I know you are out there

The chronograph movement is IWC caliber 79320, and as you probably already noticed about the chronograph/dial lay-out, it is indeed based on ETA’s (Valjoux) 7750 movement. This chronograph movement with an impressive track record has been heavily modified by IWC to live up to their high standards of watchmaking. Although there is technically speaking nothing wrong with this movement, I actually hoped that IWC would have used their in-house chronograph movement (used in the current line of Da Vinci models).

Below you’ll see the Galapagos Islands special edition IWC review by Alon Ben-Joseph, vice president of Ace Jewelers in Amsterdam. More watch related videos from them can be found at www.acejewelers.tv.

The IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Edition Galapagos Islands has a list price of 5700 Euro. Visit the e-boutique of my friends over at Ace Jewelers to get more information on this particular watch or other IWC watches. They are authorized IWC dealer and the first that have been approved by IWC to carry watches (and prices) via their e-boutique.

Special thanks to Dimer van Santen of Ace Jewelers for providing me with some custom photographs of the Aquatimer.

BaselWorld 2009 just ended, and when thinking about adding a new watch for my own collection/watchbox, I’ve become very impressed by Linde Werdelin’s new watches.  Although their press releases are quite extensive, nothing beats a ‘real’ look & feel of a wrist watch. In Basel, I was finally able to see all new models in the flesh. I have to admit that their watches needed to grow on me a bit, as they looked a bit too functional for me in the first place. This changed when I saw them on the wrists of Jorn Werdelin and Sky Sit when I met them in London a few months ago.

Now, for their Basel highlights, the Oktopus , Spidolite and 3-Timer,  I must say that these are impressive time pieces! Not only for their target audience (divers/sports), but also for the fellow (m/f) who wants to have a ‘good watch’ and do not want to find himself buying something everyone else has already. The design of the watch is out of the ordinary (it IS a Linde Werdelin watch, and not a timepiece that you could recognize as another brand), you are able to change straps like you can with Panerai watches and you can add the Reef or Rock module that will fit your needs as a (professional) climber/diver/ski-er.

LW 3-Timer in gold

The Oktopus will be available for 5900 euro (for the stainless steel model, including 19% VAT), the 3-Timer for 4050 Euro (incl. 19% VAT) and the Spidolite will be available from 6550 (incl. 19% VAT) to 9520 Euro for the skeletonized version. Actual prices can be found on the LindeWerdelin website.

The cool thing about the Spidolite with skeleton dial is that its movement has been optically finished by Svend Andersen. The movement used by the SpidoLite Svend Andersen (SA) is a vintage A. Schild caliber 1876. As written before, the Oktopus uses a modified ETA 2892-A2 movement. A movement that has proven itself over time. The The 3-Timer uses a follow-up version of the ETA 2892-A2, namely caliber ETA 2893-A2. This movement is basically the same as the 2892-A2, but with an extra hour hand for the extra timezone. We have seen this movement before in (a.o.) the Omega Seamaster GMT.

SpidoLite (vintage A. Schild) movement, finished by Svend Anderson

During my conversations with the people over at Linde Werdelin, I found that they have been very cooperative and understand the needs and wishes by the modern watch fanatic (scoops on forums, blogs and being able to order directly from their website). This, combined with the great quality watches is a unique selling point in my opinion. I have become very enthusiastic about the brand and their watches. Especially the 3-Timer is a watch that fits my ‘need’ for a next time piece, as I love the extra timezone as a complication on a wrist watch. This watch is available in stainless steel, gold/steel and gold. I really like this particular model in stainless steel:

The pattern on the dial is superb! You can also see that the crown guard on Linde Werdelin’s watches has a real function, with most other brand’s watches, it doesn’t cover the whole crown and loses functionality. A good example of this is with the Omega Seamaster Professional or former Rolex Sea-Dweller. The crown on these watches is only protected half-way.

In Basel, Aphrodite (the Linde Werdelin PR lady) showed me the Oktopus, 3-Timer and SpidoLite models and I was able to try them on, have a closer look on all the details and ask questions about the watches. The Oktopus has been covered here already in detail (click here for the Oktopus coverage), but in the flesh, the watch is even nicer than I thought it would be.

The bezel amazed me, the numerals are raised (I didn’t see that much depth in the official press photos) like the bezels of the Rolex Yacht-Master or Blancpain diver. I prefer this over a ‘printed’ bezel anytime. In the picture below, you’ll see a wrist shot made by Frank (of Monochrome.nl) who joined me on the trip to Basel. You can see the bezel with raised numerals, but unfortunately it is still hard to see the ‘depth’.

The Oktopus is available in stainless steel, gold and titanium. Linde Werdelin uses Grade 5 titanium, which is considered to be the workhorse of all the titanium grades. The most common market for this grade of titanium is aerospace.

The same titanium is also used for the SpidoLite for all of its versions. The eye-catcher of this collection is of course the SpidoLite SA, with its skeletonized dial. However, the ‘regular’ titanium version and the black DLC version (both with titanium dial) are impressive as well. The latter one has a yellow coated crystal. I actually don’t know if this suits a special purpose, but I have never seen this before on a watch. I can’t say that I like it for myself, but I assume that there will be people who will (I am also not in for DLC’ed watches ). Below, you see the wrist shots of the skeletonized version, the titanium version and the DLC version with yellow coated sapphire crystal.

To me personally, the SpidoLite SA was one of the high lights of the BaselWorld show this year. This light weight watch with A.S caliber 1876 movement, finished by Svend Andersen is very comfortable on the wrist and the skeletonized dial reveals parts of the movement. Although I gave up on watches bigger than 44mm, all Linde Werdelin watches measure 46mm x 49mm, and they actually wear very well on the wrist. There will be only 44 watches of this version and the yellow coated sapphire crystal version. The normal titanium (with ditto dial) version is limited to 222 time pieces. The DLC and titanium (non skeletonized) watches have an ETA 2892-A2 movement ticking inside.

Linde Werdelin also presented their advertizing campaign in Basel, using comics by Bertail (also known for his art in comic Shandy and l’Enfre des Pelgram). These drawings made for Linde Werdelin are very refreshing and I haven’t seen watch manufacturers using material like this before.

Rumours go that some of the characters in the advertizing material represent the people who work at Linde Werdelin. This couldn’t be confirmed though.

Click on the video below for Linde Werdelin’s new collection, reveiled during BaselWorld 2009.

Do not hesitate to leave a comment on these wacthes, as I am curious to know what you think of them…

Big thanks to Frank for taking pictures during our visit and Martin Issing (Linde Werdelin) for the additional information on the SpidoLite movement.

About a month ago, I had this lunch meeting in London with Jorn Werdelin and Sky Sit (cool name eh?) of Linde Werdelin watches. I had never seen Linde Werdelin watches in real, only on their website and on their press release(s). It is [always] difficult to determine whether you like a watch or not, if you have only see them in ads. Both Jorn and Sky were wearing a watch from their collection of course, and in my best memory a watch from their ‘Element’ series and one from their ‘Two Timer’ series. Let me tell you, that the photos you’ve seen on the internet don’t do justice to these watches.

Although the watches look a bit clunky at first, when you examine them, the (sharp) edged case, crown guard and lugs are totally in harmony and have a great finish. I can imagine these watches are a typical example of: you either love them or hate them. However, as I wrote some time ago, their Spidolite model [to be introduced in Basel] is perhaps a watch that is going to be liked by a broader audience. The skeleton case (I don’t have any other word for this ) and dial look awesome on the pictures!

Anyway, I received this e-mail from Linde Werdelin, telling me about the Oktopus diving watch. I thought the Spidolite was going to be the watch they want to introduce in Basel, but to my surprise they are also introducing a new diver to their collection. The Oktopus will become available in stainless steel (222 pieces), titanium (88 pieces), DLC (22 pieces) and in 18kt gold (22 pieces). Although I wonder why someone would want to dive with a 18kt gold wrist watch of course But I guess Rolex thought of that long time ago already when introducing a 18kt Submariner and Yacht-Master, and people bought (and still buy) them too.

The Oktopus is water resistant up (or down?) to 1111 meters. That should do it. It seems that the 300 meters we were used to, aren’t enough any more for the professional diver. Honestly, I don’t know what a professional diver would need to have for professional diving. But if you are over a kilometre under water, I guess you know what you are doing and which equipment to use.

The Oktopus also carries an integrated helium escape valve that ensures the watch endures the pressure during resurface time. Otherwise, the sapphire crystal may pop off for example. And, you are also still able to use the diving instrument called ‘Sea Instrument‘ by Linde Werdelin to snap on top of the watch for professional use.

As for the tech specs:

The Oktopus uses the ever reliable ETA 2892-A2 movement. This movement has proven itself since 1982 (the additional -A2 came later) and can be found in a lot more watches from various high end brands. It’s ETA’s work horse for no-nonsense hour/minute/seconds/date watches. The size of the watch is 46(w)x49(l)x13.5(h) mm.

The stainless steel version will cost 5900 Euro and the DLC version (as pictured above) will cost 7380 Euro. Make sure to visit stand A03 in Hall 4 if you are planning to visit BaselWorld 2009.

Too see the whole collection, order or pre-order a watch or instrument, visit the official Linde Werdelin website.