The new Engineer Master II Diver Worldtime from Ball Watch Company is now available at authorized retailers. The watch houses a movement that incorporates a world time module developed by Ball and manufactured in its workshops. The module is added to the ETA caliber 2836 to create the first Day/Date Worldtime movement.

Three central hands display local time, while a 24 hour disk rotating counterclockwise simultaneously indicates the time in 24 different time zones. Fifty-five self-powered micro gas lights assure up to 25 years of easy night viewing. The case measures 45mm in diameter and is water resistant t0 300 meters or 1000 feet. The watch is available with black or white dial and a stitched rubber strap or a stainless steel bracelet.

Learn more at www.ballwatch.com.

Hamilton and actor Harrison Ford have collaborated to create the Hamilton Khaki Team Earth. Team Earth is a non-profit organization of individuals and companies working together to address global environmental challenges. Hamilton and Ford are members, and portion of Khaki Team Earth sales benefit the organization. Each watch has “Team Earth” and Harrison Ford’s signature engraved on the caseback. The MSRP is $850.

You may click the images to view larger versions.

Bell & Ross is launching a new collection with two lines: Vintage Original and Vintage Heritage. The collection is an homage to 1940s aviator watches. Legibility is excellent, and the watches have the trademark Bell & Ross look. The collection includes a time and date model (BR 123) and a chronograph (BR 126). Both watches have 41mm round stainless-steel cases.

The BR 123 time and date model puts the small seconds and date at 6. The BR 126 chronograph has central seconds, a 60 second counter at 3 and a 30 minute totalizer at 9. The round date opening is at 4:30. Both watches have domed anti-reflective crystals, 100 meter water resistance, and luminescent hands, numbers and indexes. BR 123 is powered by an ETA 2895, while the chronograph uses an ETA 2894.

The Original and Heritage lines are differentiated by aesthetic treatments. The Original line is available with black or beige dials and uses natural stainless steel color cases and white hands, while the Heritage line has black dials and matte-black PVD cases with beige hands and numbers. The Heritage line’s straps are imprinted with the Bell & Ross “ampersand in a circle” logo.

Vintage Original BR 123 with black dial. In this image, the strap shows age. The strap that accompanies the watch looks new.

Vintage Original chronograph, also shown on an aged strap.

Vintage Heritage models

Officina Del Tempo announces the Italian-designed and made Armatore Chrono series, featuring 42mm round cases crafted in high-grade stainless steel with polished and brushed finishing. Dials are either black or white with applied metal indexes. Dials feature red accents on the chronograph totalizers and on the fifteen-minute countdown indices.

Armatore Chrono timepieces are powered by the Miyota OS20 quartz chronograph movement with date indication at 4:00. All watches feature unidirectional bezels in ocean blue or black, and are water resistant to 10ATM. Watches are marked “Made in Italy” and each bears a laser-engraved serial number. Watches are offered with either a black leather strap, a gel strap, or with a polished-and-brushed steel bracelet with deployant buckle.

Officina Del Tempo backs their watches with a two-year warranty. The Armatore Chrono series retails from $495 to $660. You may click the images to view larger versions.

This past Thursday, on the eve of the traditional Swiss watch industry vacation, a longtime friend visited the watchmakers of the Manufacture Audemars Piguet to get an up-close look at the watch bearing his name: the Millenary Quincy Jones, which was presented at the SIHH 2010.

For several years, Audemars Piguet and Quincy Jones have been associated in developing “Project Q”, aimed at raising political and public awareness of young people’s need for self-expression and the means that must be provided to ensure they fulfill their potential. The cornerstone of “Project Q” is the “Q Prize”, an international award presented by Audemars Piguet honoring a public figure or social organization having played a central role on behalf of children. Through his Quincy Jones Foundation, the artist is also committed to helping children by improving their well-being, their health and their dignity. The new Millenary Quincy Jones watch will contribute to raising funds for this foundation.

In speaking of the man behind the foundation, Audemars Piguet CEO Philippe Merk said: “Quincy Jones is not only an amazing artist and a daring entrepreneur, but above all a man with a big heart. One cannot help admiring his career, especially considering the difficulties he encountered during his childhood. He gives us an important life lesson and naturally inspires profound respect.”

Quincy Jones tours the Audemars Piguet workshop

At the bench, examining his namesake timepiece

Quincy Jones with Philippe Merk

The Quincy Jones Millenary

Now in its seventh season as the official watch partner of AT&T Williams, Oris introduces the Williams F1 Team Day Date. The 44mm black DLC stainless steel case surrounds a slotted dial featuring the Williams F1 team blue and white colors. A blue silicon shock absorber has been placed between the bezel and case to help isolate the movement from shocks. The Williams logo appears on the dial just above the six.

Additional details appear below the image, which may be enlarged with a click.

Product Features

Oris Williams F1 Team Day Date
Ø 44.00 mm
Ref: 735 7634 4765 RS

· Automatic mechanical movement. Centralised second, minute and hour
displays. Day and date display at 3 o’clock.

· Multi-piece black DLC coated stainless steel case and crown. Screwed see
through case back, water resistant to 10 bar/100 m

· Blue silicon ‘shock absorber’ inlay between top ring and central case section.

· Flat sapphire glass with inner anti-reflective coating.

· Two piece dial with Williams logo below the center. Superluminova Arabic
numerals with Williams blue outline.

· Black nickel hands with luminous inlay, second hand in white and Williams
blue.

· Black rubber strap with tire tread pattern, black integrated flexible lugs and
black DLC coated folding safety clasp.

· Tire presentation box.

You may click the images to view larger versions.

Click here to continue to page 3 to see some of the dazzling watches that were on display…

TAG Heuer is teaming up with the Porsche Club of America to celebrate the club’s 55th anniversary by offering a 55-piece limited edition Monaco, a watch strongly associated with sports cars and automobile racing. In preparing to shoot Le Mans, Steve McQueen’s primary inspiration was his friend Jo Siffert, the Swiss racing legend who in 1969 became the first driver ever sponsored by a watch brand: Heuer. McQueen insisted on wearing Heuer’s then newly-released Monaco in the film. Today the Monaco is one of the most recognizable watches in the world.

Celebrating 55 years of the PCA, executive director Vu T.H. Nguyen and Georg Bartkowiak, member of the Porsche Club of Germany and CEO of luxury watch brand Grieb & Benzinger, undertook this project. The watch features a special dial with red and black rally stripes and the racing number “55,” as well as the PCA`s logo engraved on the back. The black leather strap with racing holes and red stitching is unique to this piece and not available at retail. The watch, priced at $5500, is only available through the PCA. Orders can be placed now at www.PCA-TAG.com. Deliveries are projected for September.

You may click the images to view larger versions.

What is Spin Time? Does it determine whose top wins? Is it from particle physics? Perhaps in some neighborhoods, but not here. Spin Time is an innovate new collection from Louis Vuitton featuring watches with no hour hands. Instead, each of the 12 hour positions is occupied by a rotating cube. At any given hour, eleven of the cubes show a blank face (actually they display a subtle letter “V”) while the cube in the current hour position displays the current hour numerically. The cubes have numbers on 2 sides, so they can display, for example, 1 or 13, 2 or 14, indicating a.m. or p.m.

At 3 p.m. for example, the hour cube located at the 3 o’clock position will display the number 15, while the other 11 cubes are blank. The minutes are displayed as usual, via a minute hand. There is also a standard GMT hand, set by the crown at the 8 o’clock position. Got that?

The Swiss-made movement uses an ETA base, but the rotating cubes were designed by LVMH’s in-house designer at its facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The movement is also assembled there. The watch also features Louis Vuitton’s LeVel Up crown stem lifting system which allows the crown to move, increasing comfort on the wrist. The system, inspired by the transfer case on a car, consists of a group of toothed wheels engaged with an internal toothed wheel, controlling winding as well as date and hour adjustments.

The 44mm men’s version in white gold (shown below) is $47,000. The 39.5mm women’s version in white gold with diamonds is $74,500.

Angular, functional, faded jeans for the wrist. The C1 Vintage stainless steel case receives a blue PVD coating, giving it a deep gunmetal color. Then it’s placed in a vibrating drum along with deburring chips, water and a detergent compound and subjected to over two hours of friction and rotation. The result is a shotblasted patina that mimics years of wear. Add a distressed leather strap and you’ve got a great looking mean blue time machine.

The C1 Vintage chronograph retails for $13,900. Complete specs appear below the images, which can be enlarged with a click.

Technical Features

Movement
Cosc certified mechanical automatic movement, Valgranges
48-hour power reserve
28′800 vibrations per hour
25 Jewels

Functions
Hours, minutes, seconds, date and chronograph

Case
Blue PVD-treated worn stainless steel – bezel with 8 black rubber protections
Dimensions: 44 mm in diameter – 16.70 mm in depth
3.3mm thick sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
Blue PVD-treated stainless steel and black rubber crown
Water-resistant to 200 meters
Open caseback secured with 8 screws

Dial
Complex, multi-layered, with black carbon fiber and galvanic blue elements
Indexes and hour-minutes hands with superluminova treatment
Chronograph counters at 6 and 12 o’clock
Date opening at 3 o’clock
Small second on rotating disk

Strap
Structured Vintage blue leather with black PVD-treated stainless steel Concord deployment buckle