Although I have mentioned the Linde Werdelin SpidoLite SA All Black before (click here), I never really published about it, since I don’t want to become too biased. On the other hand, this blog represents my own interest in watches and brands, so why not? Fellow Dutchman Martin Wilmsen’s website (WristWatchPhoto), normally dedicated to Panerai watches, mentioned the SpidoLite SA All Black a few days ago. I was blown away by the pictures he took and he told me I could use them for my own blog if I wanted to. Well, here you go. The full set of pictures can be found at his other web initiative, PaneristiPix.com.

The SpidoLite SA All Black DLC version was introduced on the 15th of October 2009, retailing at 9.800 Euro. This DLC’ed titanium watch is limited to 88 pieces world wide, and is available for pre-order via the Linde Werdelin website or through one of their distributors. Like all SpidoLite SA versions, the movement is a A.Schild caliber 1876 modified by Svend Andersen. The rotor, made from blue gold, is engraved with both the LW and Andersen Geneve logo. Svend Andersen is an independent watch maker, based in Geneva, and respected member of the AHCI (Horological academy of Independent Creators). Actually, Andersen is one of the founding members of the AHCI, an initiative from 1985 for (master) watch makers to demonstrate that watch making is more then meets the eye. Michael Clerizo covered Svend Andersen in his recently released book on watch making, Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking.

The SpidoLite has been designed to fulfil the need of professional mountaineers, to have a light weight wrist watch. Like all other Linde Werdelin time pieces, this one can also be extended with The Rock instrument for mountaineers or skiing fanatics. This All Black version has been coated with DLC (the normal version has a titanium grade 5 watch case) and features blued hands.

I think it is important to stretch that despite its size (dimensions: 46mm (w) by 49mm (l) by 12mm (h)), the Linde Werdelin watches wear very comfortably on the wrist.

Also, if you are Dutch, please visit www.horloge.com for more information on Linde Werdelin. Horloge Platform Nederland recently became Linde Werdelin’s official retailer in The Netherlands.

Photos courtesy of M.Wilmsen.

Linde Werdelin is making fame for the last 6 months here at FratelloWatches. Between the lunch I had with Linde Werdelin’s managing director and their marketing manager in London and becoming so enthusiastic about the brand and ordering one myself (a 3-timer with brown dial) sat only a 2 or 3 months. The introduction of the new models I received during my visit to the Linde Werdelin booth at BaselWorld was overwelming, especially after seeing and trying the 3-timer.

Now, a few months after the introduction of their new LW models in BaselWorld, they not only started distributing the new SpidoLite models (with funky looking blue gold rotors) but LW also unveiled the new Hard Black DLC II watches. As I suggested before, that Linde Werdelin watches would be the perfect companion for James Bond’s adventures, this new Hard Black DLC II would suit him best probably.

The way James Bond solves his problems as a secret service agent, his watch should better be scratch proof! The watch case of the Linde Werdelin Hard Black DLC II is three times harder than stainless steel and second to diamond in terms of hardness. How is this possible? Well, before the case undergoes a blast of 1/1000th of a millimeter of carbon to create the DLC coating, the watch case is being prepared in such a way that the applied DLC coating does even a better job making the watch case coating tougher than ever.

Leo Houlding, British rock climber and base jumper, has been putting the first Hard Black DLC watch to the test during his climbing of the Riglos (Spain) and in Yosemite (US). Friend of the show, Kristian Haagen, also has one of the first Hard Black DLC’s and is very excited about this time piece.

I have to admit that the Hard Black DLC II reminds me a bit about AP’s Royal Oak Offshore models with the heavily stitched straps and bright dial colors, but the case design is definitely different (although I like both) and I don’t think they necessarily bite eachother.

This 46mm (w) by 49mm (l) by 12mm (h) watch is being powered by an ETA 2892-A2 movement (which doesn’t need any further introduction I’ll assume). The watches comes on a black leather alligator strap and the clip-on instruments called The Reef and The Rock will perfectly go together with this watch of course.

This Euro 4920,- watch will be produced in a limited number of 88 pieces and is now available at LindeWerdelin.com for pre-order.

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.

Mid-November, I blogged about Linde Werdelin, a brand that has its focus on toolwatches for die-hards. This coming Basel, they are expanding their collection with the Linde Werdelin Spidolite Watch. This watch will be available in titanium, titanium DLC (limited edition) and in titanium with a skeleton dial (also limited edition). The best part is (in my opinion), the movement for the sekeleton dial version. This movement is a 1970’s automatic mechanical movement, modified by Svend Anderson. Svend Anderson is member of the AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants).

The Spidolite skeleton dial version is a 46×49mm wristwatch, with a height of 12mm. This hockey puck in titanium has a see-through sapphire crystal case back that shows the 42 hour power reserve movement by Svend Anderson. The watch is water resistant to a 1000 feet (300 meters) and has a textile strap with titanium buckle.

I can’t wait till the end of March, when I am heading to Basel and meeting the people of Linde Werdelin to see these toolwatches in the flesh! If you are coming to BaselWorld 2009 as well, here is the Linde Werdelin stand information: