A rare total solar eclipsed wowed the the world today. The moon slid in between the sun and the earth, blocking the sun's rays and basking the earth in an eerie dim light. The spectacular occurrence shadowed the earth from Canada, through Greenland and Siberia finally ending in China, as it prepares for the momentous Olympic games. If you were not able to make it outside and experience the rare wonder; you would have seen it on your Astolabium Luxury Watch.
Within this magnificent watch is crafted an Astrolobe: The oldest instrument for predicting and measuring the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars and thus able to predict and display the solar eclipse of today. Although the Astolobe has been around since the 8th century, this watch is the first pocket astrolabe.
The extraordinary masterpiece is crafted by Christiaan van Der Klaaw, a member of the "Horlogeres des Créateurs Indépendants" and has an intense fascination for astronomy. All his watches are crafted to perfection with unique designs and astronomical complications.
I would have loved to see the watch today, a rare event both on the watch and in the sky.
Christiaan Van Der Klaauw crafted other mechanical astronomical marvels such as the "Planetarium 2000" - The smallest planetarium in the world displaying the Date and month as well as the revolutions of the planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn on the left and the Venus .
One of the newer additions to Christiaan Van Der Klaauw collection is the Venus 2006. Introduced in Basel in that year, this watch is genius. It displays the circulation of the earth and Venus around the Sun and the Moon around the earth.
