The Origin of Time Square New Year Ball Drop

The roar of the crowd counts down to the very moment 2010 becomes 2011, as the giant crystal covered ball begins to drop.
10,9,8, 7 flashes above, and the ball slides gently down the pole. Every second the ball moves lower and lower until it is 2011. A New Year. A New Decade filled with hopes and dreams.

Thinking about the ball dropping, it seems quite odd that dropping ball should mark such a momentous occasion. I know the ball has been dropping since 1907, when a 700 pound, 5 feet diameter New Year's Eve Ball crafted from iron and wood by immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, and glowing with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, made its descent. But why a ball? After all, other big cities mark the entrance to the New Year with fantastical displays of fireworks and light shows. In Paris sparks fly from the Eiffel Tower in a dizzying shower of fireworks. In London fireworks surround Big Ben, which makes sense since Big Ben sounds the passage of time, and bongs in the New Year. In Australia multi-colored star bursts and gigantic sparklers light up Sydney Harbor.

The ball dropping in New York City is a tradition, which is fused to the very foundation in which man began to precisely track the time. The Chronometer, (not to be confused with today's chronometer which is a COSC certification - click here to learn more) was a vital instrument used by seamen to determine their longitude at sea by the precise tracking of time.

To know ones Longitude at sea, one must know the time at home port and at the same time knowing the time on ship. Once the time difference is known, the difference by degrees is known and thus the crucial longitude. The world spins on it axis 360 degrees in a 24 hour period thus in one hour it turns 15 degrees. If the navigator resets his ship's clock local at high noon, and refers to his clock representing time at the home port, every hour difference translates to 15 degrees from the home port. A precise watch was required to know the ships course and save it from potential destruction. On October 22, 1707, four British Men 'O War sank just off the Cornish Coast. 2000 men were lost. In 1714, The British Parliament , aggravated by this obviously needless catastrophe, passed the Longitude Act: A huge sum of money would be awarded to anyone who could invent a way to determine the precise longitude of a ship's location to within less than one degree.

Click here to learn more about John Harrison and his quest for precision

By the 1800's, the chronometer was an essential sea vessel navigational instrument. To ensure the chronometer kept perfect time, a "time-ball", the first of many, was installed on top of England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. The ball would drop at one o'clock every afternoon, enabling captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers (a vital navigational instrument). The "time-ball" was an instant success and an additional 150 public "time-balls" were installed around the world. In fact, a "time-ball" is still dropped at United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, where, since 1845, a time-ball drops from a flagpole at noon each day.
Tonight 10 seconds before the stroke of midnight, 400 feet above Times Square , New York's "time ball" weighing 11,875 pounds and glittering with 288 new "Let There Be Love" Waterford Crystal triangles and 1,152 "Let There Be Joy" triangles, and the original 960 "Let There Be Light" crystals will slowly descend down the pole, marking the entrance of 2011.

Happy New Year!
R. Van Halem

An Omega Seamaster for the Ladies

One of the most popular watches, the Omega Seamaster now caters to the ladies. The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph 600mm has a subtle softer look without removing its look of adventurous durability. The Planet Ocean dial has been scaled down from its 45.5mm wide to 37.5 mm wide to suit the smaller wrist of a women.

The watch is fitted with a helium escape valve which allows for maximum functionality needed by professional divers exploring great ocean depths for lengthy periods of time. In great depths divers often spend time in diving bells under pressure breathing a mixture of gases like trimax. This gas mixture contains helium. Helium molecules are tiny, the second smallest found in nature and are able to work their way around the gaskets and other seals and into the watch. This does not present a problem as long as the diver remains under pressure; however during resurfacing when decompression stops, a pressure difference builds up between the interior of the watch with the trapped helium and the environment. This pressure difference can cause the watch crystal to pop off. This is where the helium escape valve is required. The helium escape valve allows the extra helium molecules built up in the watch to escape and thus equalising the pressure between the watch interior and the environment.

The watch case is steel with a metal bracelet. The watch is resistant to 600 meters crafted specifically for divers. The chronograph pushers are available with either black or orange tips. In the orange versions the color is extended to parts of the rotating diver's bezel.

The watch has endured rigorous testing by the COSC and thus is a certified chronometer. The watch is powered by an Omega Co-Axial Calibre 3313 automatic mechanical movement.

The spirit of the Omega Speedmaster.

Since 1957, Omega Speedmaster has accompanied man on many missions from an inspiring six round trips to the moon, one Apollo-Soyuz test project to a future project aimed to take flight this year. A Speedmaster will take to the skies on board an entirely solar airplane. This solar impulse prototype with a wingspan like that of an airbus A340 and weighing only 1.5 tons will try to circumnavigate the earth solely utilizing solar energy to power of the aircraft. In great human accomplishments, Speedmaster is the timepiece to withstand the elements and witness the spirit of achievement.














It was with a Speedmaster strapped to his wrist ,Ralph Plaisted, a St. Paul, Minnesota insurance man and amateur explorer set out on Wednesday, February 21st, 1968 to be the first undisputed expedition to travel overland and stand on the North Pole. (Robert Peary claimed to be the first in 1909, although his claim is fraught with decades of skepticism). It took Ralph Plaisted and 3 fellow explorers, 44 days and 474 mile trek across the polar ice cap to arrive at the North Pole. They traveled by four gasoline powered snowmobiles with a horsepower of 16. The party spent a day at the Pole to allow a US Air force C135 weather reconnaissance plane to confirm their position and take pictures. It was Ralph Plaisted second attempt that was successful, his first in 1967, was a failure, as he was forced to turn back just 370 miles from the pole as a result of storms and open water.
His pioneering spirit was unstoppable and he tried again in 1968. Once asked why he would try the dangerous arctic journey a second time, Ralph Plaisted said,

" It's there and the challenge is ours. Even if we fail, we have more satisfaction than those who remain in the gray area - the warm house, the television set- of those who never try and can never know success or failure."

It is amazing to note that an Omega Speedmaster accompanied Ralph Plaisted on his frigid voyage to the North Pole. The Omega Speedmaster is still manufactured with the same attention to excellence. It is still in a class of its own. Each timepiece is manufactured over a 14 month period whereby all the 195 separate parts are carefully crafted. It takes 80 hand held operations to create the main plate for a single Speedmaster. Just like the pioneering spirit of those that surged forward and into the light, Omega Speedmaster has kept up with cutting-edge technology in terms of digitization and new man-made materials.
To own a Omega Speedmaster is to own a touch of humankind. It is with the Omega Speedmaster that man will finally step on the red dust of Mars and it is with the Omega Speedmaster that mankind's next greatest achievement will be documented in time.

Omega Speedmaster Date Chronograph Automatic Men's Watch Stainless Steel Black Dial 3210.52

Omega Speedmasters are available at THE WATCHERY for 33% off the List Price. The Watch is crafted for voyages of discovery and the strive to stretch man's survival to the limits. The hands and hour markers are luminous useful in the face of darkness. The movement is an automatic chronograph chronometer. To achieve the title of Chronometer, a watches movements has to undergo rigorous testing by the COSC (The Official Swiss Control Office for Chronometers) The movements are individually tested for 15 days, in 5 different positions at 3 different temperatures. The Watch has a power reserve of 44 hours to and scratch resistant sapphire crystal.

If ever you would like to embark on that voyage of a lifetime, take an Omega Speedmaster along, it will ensure your success.

My Luxury Watch is COSC Certified. What does that mean?

The Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres or COSC (The Official Swiss Control Office for Chronometers) reported record figures for 2007. The number of certificates registered in 2007 was up 13.3 per cent from 2006 making that a total number of 1,538,676 registrations.

The top three companies applying for registration were Rolex with 728,255 certificates, Omega with 341,161 and Breitling with 222,650.

Who is the COSC? C.O.S.C. was founded as it is currently known in 1973. It is a Swiss non-profit organization that tests Swiss-made chronometers.

Who founded COSC? COSC was founded by five watchmaking regions of Switzerland: Bern, Geneva, Neuchatel, Solothurn and Vaud, in conjunction with the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS). It includes the laboratories/ observatories that were created independantly of each other from the late 1800's.

What is the role of COSC? COSC tests the movements of timepieces submitted by individual watch manufacturers to be granted the status of chronometer.

Where is COSC located? COSC have testing laboratories in three different locations: Biel/Bienne, Geneva and Le Locle. The Laboratories in Geneva and Biel are almost completely dedicated to testing Rolex movements.

Which movements calibres obtain most of the COSC certificates? The Rolex 3135 (since 1988) variations of which are 3155,3175,3185,4130; Rolex 2235; the ETA 2892A2, and its variants; Valjoux 7750. Each of these movements operate at 28,800 beats per hour.

Bretling claims that all its watches that have been manufactured since 2000 are COSC certified, Rolex and Omega watches have a large selection of their watches which are COSC certified.

How can you tell if a watch is COSC certified ? A Certified Chronometer has a serial number engraved on its movement and a certification number provided by the COSC.

What are the testing criteria for a chronometer? Testing criteria are based on ISO 3159 which defines a wrist chronometer with spring-balance oscillator. Only movements that meet the precision criteria are provided with an official chronometer certificate.

How is the watch tested? Actually only the uncased movements are tested, not the entire watch. The movements are individually tested for 15 days, in 5 different positions at 3 different temperatures. The movements are fitted with a seconds hand. The automatic winding movement is disengaged for the test. Daily measurements are made with the assistance of a camera. Once these measurements have been obtained, 7 criteria are calculated, each of which must meet the syandards of the COSC.

I know that these criteria are solely for mechanical watches. What about quartz watches? Currently there are no ISO standards for quartz timepieces, but COSC has developed its own standard for testing quartz chronometer with eight eliminatory criteria.

How difficult is it for a watch to become an Official COSC Certified Chronometer? Well judging from the fact that only 3% of the entire swiss watch production is COSC Certified, exceptionally difficult. This percentage only accentuates the fact of the outstanding nature of the chronometer. Inorder to receive the chronometer certificate, a movement must be crafted from the highest quality components, and be crafted with special care, by the finest watchmakers and timers during assembly.

Which are some of the high-end brands submit their movements to the COSC? Invicta, Bauem & Mercier, Breitling, Chopard, Ebel, Girard-Perregaux, Omega, Patek Phillipe, Rolex, Tag Heuer, Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin and Zenith.

Which are some of the high-end brands do not submit their movement to the COSC? Audemars Piguet, Breguet, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, A. Lange & Sohne and Piaget.

My Watch has a Chronograph, does that mean it is a Chronometer? NO! Chronograph and Chronometer are two completely different terms used in association with a timepiece.

A "Chronograph" is a timepiece that is fitted with an additional mechanism that may be set in motion by knobs to enable the measurement of the duration of an event.

A "chronometer" is a high-precision watch capable of displaying the seconds and housing a movement that has been tested over several days, in different positions and at different temperatures, by an official neutral body (COSC).
Each movement is individually measured. Any watch with the denomination "chronometer" is provided with a certified movement.

The perfect accuracy of a chronometer can be destroyed with rough handling and little maintenance

There is an ongoing debate, by watch enthusiasts whether the COSC Certification is a significant test or simply a marketing gimmick? A watch maker proposing to submit a movement for COSC testing, they add additional jeweling (i.e. to the barrel) and superior quality "assortment" parts - better quality hairspring, mainsprings, balance wheels, regulators and so on). The aim is to obtain the highly regarded COSC Chronometer Certification. Alternatively, many watch enthusiasts believe that with today's innovations utilized in watch making, most high-end, good quality movements are capable of being adjusted and timed so that they will fall between the COSC criteria of -4/+6 average daily rate. Movements that are presented are more likely than not, presented with better quality parts, and as a result may be less likely to maintain better timekeeping rates over longer periods.