The New japanese brand, Tamawa, centers its entire collection of accessories including watches on the purity of the surface of bakelite beads. Seen above are the TW 25 Python and TW 35 40.
Every year, for the past 17 years, the magazine Montres Passion has been awarding the Watch of the year prize by selecting the winners from among forty finalists. These finalists are selected from hundreds of watches that became available in the Swiss market during the previous year and then are further scrutinized by a jury of watchmaking professionals.
For this year, the Octo Bi-Retrograde steel-ceramic by Bulgari was selected as the winner.
The second prize went to the Annual Calendar by Patek Philippe (Ref. 5205) and the third to the Miss Golden Bridge of Corum. The Corum watch also took home the ‘Woman’ Watch Award 2010.
The Special Jury Award went to the Upside Down Number One by Ludovic Ballouard and the winner of an online public voting contest went to the Duomètre à Quantième Lunaire by Jaeger-LeCoultre wins this Award.
If you’ve been following Casio’s recent popularity (and I’m not saying that they weren’t popular before), you would’ve noticed how their seemingly no-nonsense utilitarian excess aesthetics is currently trending very well in the global street culture market.
Well, the brand recently updated their line’s design language by embracing their cult status and recent fashion trends into account by further playing up the details on the watches. For example the G-001 has a visible strap insertion. Well, it’s not an insertion anymore. It’s the added curve underneath the case that curves on to your wrist. Usually, this is a metal or plastic insertion that curves the strap on to your wrist or the curve is part of the case design. However, in the G-001, they aren’t hiding it, instead they’re using it as a design feature.
Then there’s the perforated insert inside the strap and the details on the back of the case that I simply adore. Other similarly enhanced models include the new large GX56-1A and the GA110B-2 that are seen below.
The Anti is a simple customizable wristwatch that allows you to change the band easily. It exists as a concept only and was developed by designer Manuel Lopez as an example of a wristwatch that could be potentially manufactured in his native Argentina for the South American market and even though he conceived of it in 2006, it remains relevant as far as current market trends in the watch market.
A good recession keeps fashion watch brands well-behaved – Guess’s latest fall collection is far more restraint and conservative than their usual. Below are a selection of models that color within the lines:
We’ve seen these type of phantom watches before – bracelets that references wristwatch aesthetics but this is the first one that references the retro casio look. Designed by Denise Julia Reytan, the jewelry is called the T1mepeace and it retails for between 139-149 euros.
We interviewed Nicolas Lehotzky, a promising young designer, a few years ago about some very impressive wristwatch concepts he had designed (You can see them here). Since then, he has worked briefly for a wristwatch company and now runs his own studio out of his native Switzerland.
We followed up on him to see some of this work since then.
The Icarus for Harry Winston (Concept)
The Radeon for Harry Winston (Concept). Both the Icarus and the Radeon feature a minute hand that is held by a vertical support structure.
The inspiration for the Radeon watch came from the Sea shadow navy vessel
Touch screen, elegant tilt display, vibration alarm, the Mutewatch (No spaces) is no-nonsense understated elegance for the iphone generation – it has a gesture based navigation where you swipe horizontal to scroll between timer, clock and alarm functions. To delete an alarm you’ve set – just pinch it and it will be erased.
I hope this watch (priced at 199 Euros) turns to be as good as it sounds when it comes out.
Usually when I see a concept wristwatch like Igor Chak’s “Watch oNe”, I dismiss it as vaporware because production costs and the required manufactured quantity to create an experimental e-ink display watch at this point in time can be discouraging. However, this one is ‘chalked’ up for a March 2011 release.
The Watch oNe is the watch of the near future – It’s a watch where you can change the display on it according to your mood, sync new ones via a usb interface and download or create your own display. You can also upload it to an online store for others to purchase.
The physical watch can also be customized – straps, colors, materials. The watch uses an E-ink display with a back lit LED and comes with a usb port. The watch is set for a release in March 2011 and will be priced at USD 350.
The Zenith Christophe Colomb is a limited edition tourbillon wristwatch, limited to 25 pieces each in white, rose and gold. The brand tries to borrow a little bit of historical association by naming the watch after Christopher Columbus in order to make reference to that era’s struggle to achieve precision measurements with instruments and by that connection, a reference to Zenith’s own exploration in that regard leading up to this wristwatch with the eye-catching iconic bubble glass capsule.
