I lost my luxury watch!

As per the charming weather reporter on NBC, the day was supposed to be lovely. Sunny and 70 degrees. Who could ask for more? It was a lovely day until I lost my Cartier Tank.

I have searched high and low. I have upturned countless trash cans, even the neighbours trash, with their amazed permission of course. I rifled through fish skeletons and apple peels. I upturned empty boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and Corn Flakes. I shook smelly open cans of tuna, until I was absolutely sure my Cartier Tank was not in the trash. I even jumped into my car to race to the city dump, until the ones closest to me explained that it may not be a good idea. My house looks like it has been ransacked. I did it. Every drawer has been opened and every closet in disarray. Oh I have a clean-up job when I get back to my senses, but not now. Now I have to find my Cartier Tank. I cannot remember the last time I saw it. But I know it is not on my wrist where it should be, and I know it has been on my wrist year in and year out. I cannot bare the thought of parting with it. It seems like a large crack has appeared in that part which I view my self, who I am. Oh I know this sounds like psychological drib drab, and truly if the watch was sitting in supreme comfort on my wrist I would have rolled my eyes too.

But losing the watch has rattled me to no end, and it is upon losing the watch that I realise the extreme connection I have. It will turn up. I know it will.

Now when one shops for a luxury watch it is so much more than merely shopping for a pair of shoes or a shirt. A luxury watch is meant for life, and it is made for life. Companies like Cartier, Audemars Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Ebel, Tag Heuer, IWC,Concord, Patek Philippe and so many others have this intrinsic knowledge. Every watch they carefully design and craft ,and eventually after much scrutiny release to the consumer, will become part of the identity of the purchaser.

To purchase the perfect watch takes much consideration and thought, and THE WATCHERY can help you. At THE WATCHERY you can narrow your search down by numerous criteria. You can search by Company, Material, Cost, Band Color, Dial Color and so much more. You can find the perfect watch. The watch that will become part of who you, how people perceive you and how you perceive yourself.

I understand the connection one has with ones watch fully now, as I fear my watch is lost. Every space and nook I look into, and every shelf I walk past, I scan, hoping I missed something, and hoping my watch will appear. On second thought I haven't looked in the second bedroom behind the "How to Organize your life" stack of books.

You can own the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon

Back in December I blogged about the Sky Moon Tourbillon,

"The rarest complications integrated in a single timepiece" (Click on the link for detailed information about this remarkable watch)

Now it can be yours ,for a price, of course. Antiquorum, the worlds leading auction house which specializes in luxury timepieces, has the Patek Phillipe Platinum Sky Moon Tourbillon ,made in 2005,up for Auction. The auction will take place in New York, March 4 & 5th. The going price is between$1,000,000 - $1,300,000. If you are wondering about the price ,read the above link to my December blog. To say this watch is a timepiece suggest the watch merely tracks the time. The Tourbillon in the title suggests a beating heart, and the Sky Moon suggests endless possibilities. The Platinum Skymoon Tourbillon Ref. 5002P is only one of the two Sky Moon Tourbillon watches made each year by Patek Phillipe, one in platinum and the other in rose gold. It the clever culmination of 686 parts, some so small, a microscope is required to view their meticulous perfection.

This auction is satiated with deeply historical timepieces such as the "Kennedy Onassis Watch" The very watch worn by JFK and later gifted to Onassis. The timepiece is a Nastrix, 57 jewels circa 1960, engraved on the case back "To John F. Kennedy From the Evangilines 1963" In addition, the word "Waterproof" is engraved on the case back. A term no longer used as no watch can be absolutely waterproof no matter how many gaskets.The term "Water Resistance" is the more acceptable term in the Horological world of today. On the auctioneers block sold somewhere in the range of $150,000 to $250,000. Gandi's pocket watch is also up for auction, a Zenith alarm open face pocket watch, made 1910-1915. Another interesting watch is "The Godfather Watch", a pretty beat up Patek Phillipe yellow gold wristwatch with an integrated bracelet. The watch spent time on the wrist of Giuseppe Bonnano. The "godfather" of the Bonanno crime family.

Antiquorum has just recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and has solidified its position in the auction world by auctioning off some of the most sought after collectors timepieces and obtaining the highest price. Antiquorum boasts the highest number of watches sold over a million SFr. Out of 67 watches above this price range by major auction houses, 44 have been sold exclusively by Antiquorum. Antiquorum claimed the all-time world record for a wristwatch at auction when it sold a Patek Phillipe ,unique white gold Calibre 89, at its 2004, 30th anniversary April Auction in Geneva.

Antiquorum is renowed for its thematic auctions: auctions devoted to a single subject. In 1989, Antiquorum held an auction titled "The Art of Patek Phillipe" during Patek Phillipe's 150th anniversary. In 2005 during its thematic auction titled "The Quarter Millenium of Vacheron Constantin" it collected a astounding $15,110,000. In April 2007, the Omegamania Auction collected $5,540,000. - three times the auction estimate.

It will be interesting to see the final price collected for the Patek Phillipe Sky Moon Tourbillon.

The rarest complications integrated in a single timepiece.

In 2002, Patek Phillipe unveiled the most complicated wristwatch ever produced- the double faced Sky Moon Tourbillon. On the reverse side of the wristwatch is a complete representation of the night sky. The breathtaking image of the sky portrays the movement of the stars, the orbit of the moon, the moon phases and the hours and minutes in sidereal time. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) –“the father of modern observational astronomy “ would have been duly impressed.

Patek Phillipe main objective, as with its pocket watch baring the same unity in complications, was not cram the most complications in timepiece but to inspire the horological world with the most complicated and fascinating complications in the small boundaries of a wristwatch:

1. A perpetual calendar with a retrograde date display
2. A minute repeater
3. A Tourbillon
4. The display of a sidereal time
5. Depiction of the night sky with the movement of the stars.
6. The Orbit of the Moon
7. The moon phases.

The Complication that proved to be the biggest challenge was the heavenly display. The heaven is infinite as is time, and to place the display of the heavens within a wrist watch in a clear legible manner is almost impossible except, of course, to the watch making experts at Patek Phillipe. A company founded in 1839 by two Polish immigrants, Antoine Norbert de Patek ,the salesman, and Francois Czapek, the watchmaker, and later joined by Mr. Adrien Phillipe in 1944, a French Watchmaker.
Patek Phillipe deeply rooted in achieving horological milestones, came up with a solution. A solution adapted from Patek Phillipe’s astronomical pocket watches: a moving sky chart on the reverse. The mechanical movement originally developed for the “Star Calibre 2000” was redesigned specifically for the “Sky Moon Tourbillon” and achieved a Swiss patent CH 688 171.

The separate complications are discussed individually below:

1. The perpetual calendar with a retrograde date display

Patek Phillip is the master of perpetual calendars. A perpetual calendar adjusts the date in accordance with the differing lengths of months and leap years. Although in this technological age this does not seem like such a huge accomplishment; however, this is done solely mechanical utilizing a number of intricate parts. The “Sky Moon Tourbillon” displays its perpetual calendar in a unique 270° arc. Each day the date hand shifts one position. At the end of the month whether it is the 28th, 29th , 30th or 31st, the automatic fly back hand jumps to the 1st of the month. The unique mechanism is designed with a highly accurate patented ratchet wheel mechanism as opposed to the more conventional use of cams. On the 1st of the month this highly specialized perpetual calendar mechanism “locks” the date display hand in place to prevent it from rebounding to the 2nd or 3rd month. Four subdials display the additional perpetual calendar information: 1) The days of the week at the 9 ‘o’clock position 2) The month at the 3 ‘o clock position 3)The leap year cycle at the 3 ‘o’clock position 4) The moon age at the 6 ‘o clock position. If the watch is wound on a regular basis the watch need not be adjusted till the year 2100.

2. A Minute Repeater

A minute repeater sounds the hours, quarter hours, and minutes with a gentle chime. This feature accompanies the visionary splendor of the masterpiece with an auditory delight. This function is enabled when a slide on the left of the case is activated. The number of hours is sounded on a low-tone gong, followed by the quarter hours with double strikes on the low-tone and higher-tone gong and then the number of minutes elapsed since the last quarter of an hour on the higher tone gong. The “Sky Moon Tourbillon” has presented the minute repeater in a rare and mesmerizing manner. In the confines of a wrist watch the chime of a minute repeater is often times barely heard. A rich and clear sound is hard to muster, the room must be silent and the sound of the gong striking is likened to a pin being dropped. However in the “Sky Moon Tourbillon” the gong has turned up its volume. With extensive collaboration of the world first class metallurgists of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausine, Patek Phillipe developed an alloy for gongs that make a strikingly resonant sound. This alloy has been refined enabling a gong to be more than one case circumference long. This unique gong has earned the title of the “cathedral gong” as it sounds the hour with a rich tone likened to the reverberating cathedral bells.

3. The Tourbillon

From the very beginning of my watch infatuation, the tourbillion has mesmerized me. It is a good thing I do not own one as it clearly would effect my daily routine. I would miss many duties as I sit and gaze at its rotation. The Tourbillon was invented in 1795 by French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, a century after Newton defined gravity. Breguet reasoned that as a result of the constant position of the vertical position of the pocket watch, the balance spring is confounded by the effect of gravity effecting the accuracy of the watch. This error could be compensated with a tourbillion whereby the escapement, balance wheel, and balance spring is placed in a rotating carriage which turns once per minute on its own axis. In the Sky Moon Tourbillon, the tourbillion, the balance wheel and the fourth wheel are positioned on a single axis. This unique placement is difficult to accomplish but it provides the best functional opportunity to the tourbillion. The Tourbillon is finely crafted from steel, comprising of 69 individual pieces and weighing in total a mere .03 grams.

4. The Sidereal Time.

The Sidereal time is the measure of the position of the earth in its rotation around its axis. In the Sky Moon Tourbillon this feature is indicated by two hands from the center on the reverse side of the watch. The sidereal time is indicated on a 24-hour scale.

5. Direction of the night sky with the movement of the stars.
6. The Orbit of the Moon
7. The Moon Phases

This is a rare feature of a wrist watch and it is indicated on the reverse side of the watch. The canopy of the Northern (or upon request Southern) hemisphere rotates counter clockwise beneath the scratch resistant sapphire crystal case back, portraying the movement of the stars and the moon, the meridian passages of Sirius – the brightest star in the night sky , the moon as well as its waxing and waning moon phases. An elliptical contour indicates the part of the night sky viewed from a specific location. This masterpiece comprises of a gear train specifically built for this complication.

Patek Phillipe has successfully achieved an unprecedented level of precision in its astronomical display.

The “Sky Moon Tourbillon” is manually wound and is comprised of 694 individual parts. Each part is hand finished. Each edge is finely beveled and every single tooth of every gear is carefully hand polished in an additional process using a rotating hardwood disc. The plate and the module with the perpetual calendar are finished on either side with a technique of circular graining – “perlage” The bridges are engraved with Geneva striping. This additional polishing and engraving earn the prestigious Geneva Seal as well as the COSC Chronometer certificate.

The case is available in 18k yellow gold or solid platinum which is aesthetically pleasing. The “Sky Moon Tourbillon” is by no means a small watch at 42.8 millimteres in diameter and 16.25 millimeters in height; however, the exceptional craftsmanship provides a distinctive elegance to the watch. The case is decorated with the engraving of halved Calatrava Crosses. Calatrava Crosses also adorn the middle of the dial. The Calatrava Cross is the brand symbol of today’s Patek Phillipe. The Crosses roots extend deep into the middle ages to the year 1158. It was in that year that a Spanish religious order defended the Calatrava citadel against the moors. Patek Phillipe adopted the emblem of these brave knights at the end of the 19th century.
The crown at the 4 ‘o’clock position winds the movement and sets the hands on the front of the watch. The crown positioned at the 2 ‘o clock rectifies the position of the sky chart and the hands on the reverse side of the watch that indicate the sidereal time. When turned in the opposite direction, this crown corrects the position of the moon and the moon phase display. A setting stylus is used to activate a number of correction button on the side of the case. The button between the 11 and 12 ‘o clock corrects the date and the day of the week, the button between the 3 and 4 ‘o clock corrects the month and the button between the 6 and 7 ‘o clock corrects only the day of the week. The minute repeater slide is recessed in the case on the left hand side. The strap is hand stitched crocodile leather. The front of the dial is crafted from gold, coated with silvery opaline. The hours are indicated by Roman Numerals. The retrograde date display is located between the 2 and 10 o’ clock position with a fueille hand made of blued steel.

This wristwatch is one of the Patek Phillipe’s most complicated wristwatches ever introduced as a regular production. The movements alone take many months to complete and as a result of the intensive production, assembly and meticulous regulating procedures, annual production is limited to two timepieces.

Striving for the ultimate luxury watch material

Since the first watch was created, watch makers have been striving to better their timepieces in terms of accuracy, durability and aesthetics. Watch manufacturers are forging ahead inventing exciting new materials. Many of these material innovations are targeted to eliminate friction without the use of oils and thereby obtaining greater accuracy in mechanical movement and simultaneously increasing durability and decreasing weight. Up till now the oils and lubricants are critical for reducing the friction of wheels. These oils and lubricants deteriorate with time requiring ongoing watch maintenance. Is there a material that is so friction free within itself that no oils or lubricants are necessary to maintain the accuracy of the timepiece?


Patek Phillipe has gained great ground in the progress of inventing an oil free watch in experimenting with the potential application of silicium in watchmaking techniques. During the past six years Patek Phillipe Advanced Research Department developed Silinvar - a patented substance derived from oxidising the constituents of pure silicium in a vacuum. From this material , Silinvar, Patek Phillipe has presented an escape wheel, a hairspring and an escapement which requires absolutely no oiling as well as eliminating long term servicing concerns, resistance to corrosion and magnetism and in addition improves the performance of the mechanical movement. Patek Phillip has utilized Silinvar in its Patek Philippe Ref. 5450 Annual Calendar watch. This platinum timepiece, produced in a limited series of 300, features an escape wheel, hairspring, and pallet fork in Silinvar which boasts a density 1/3 that of steel components.

Richard Mille agenda in developing a new material was to create an ultra lightweight watch that is expectationally resistant. The success was in the RM 009 which has Alusic for the case- a super light hybrid material- aluminium AS7G, silicium and carbon used for the production of ultra-light satellites, and another aluminium-lithium alloy for the tourbillon skeleton movement. The RM 009 weighs just over one ounce and is the worlds lightest mechanical watch ever produced as well as being extremely resistant.






Audemar Piguet has adopted carbon for its Royal Oak Offshore Alinghi Line as Carbon is both lightweight and shock resistant.




Jaeger-LeCoultre presented a watch that required no lubrication - the ExtremeLab Tourbillon. Jaeger-LeCoultre tested the amazing properties of its watch to a whole slew of witnesses to provide evidence for its claim. The watch was first subjected to extreme temperatures from -40 degrees Celsius to + 60 degrees Celsius. A quartz watch and another regular mechanical watch was used as a control. When these watches were removed from the test baths only one was working - you guesses it - the ExtremeLab Tourbillon. The success is not as a result of a simple new material but a collage of 13 different materials such as carbon, titanium, ceramic, magnesium, polyurethane, carbonitride Easium, silicium carbonitride, black crystalline diamond, platinum-iridium and Ticalium. The end result is a new calibre, the 988C. Jaeger-LeCoultre is definitely ahead in the game for the development of ultimate watch - a watch where time does not symbolize the nearing of the end, but merely the passage of time.


Some Watch Manufacturers have developed there very own materials that actually bear there name: Zenithium - A Zenith innovation. Zenith has every right to name a material after its company. 7% of all Zenith turnover was poured into years of research and development. The end result is Zenithium which is three times stronger than steel. The material is comprised of titanium for resistance, nobium for memory of shapes, and aluminium for lightweight. Zenith is not the only company to name a material after its company:


Hublot has created Hublonium. Hublonium which combines magnesium and aluminium creating a timepiece that is lightweight and durable. Its Mag Bang timepiece is the first timepiece ever to have a movement and case made of the same material.


These materials are incredible in innovation and functionality, but don't kiss the good old elements goodbye ... not just yet.

Traditional materials such as brass (copper and zinc), steel (iron and carbon) and nickel silver (copper, nickel and zinc) are still favored in watch productions. Many modern companies have attacked the use of these materials as old-fashioned; however, steel pinions and brass wheels still provide the best friction coefficient and so these two alloys remain crucial in modern watch production. In addition, these materials are familiar to watchmakers and watch repairers throughout the world, and there workbenches are laden with tools, oils and lubricants designed to service these old time materials. If these new materials flood the market will the watch makers know how to repair these pieces or are these pieces going to be so durable that no repair is needed?
These pieces are still very costly as the price incorporates the years of research and development as well as the specialized craftsmanship and materials required to manufacture a watch of this calibre.

The Self-Winding Luxury Wristwatch.

Or more commonly referred to as the Automatic Watch. Most Mechanical Watches nowadays are equipped with a self-winding mechanism. In other words the mainspring is wound automatically by the natural swinging motion of the wearer's arm.

You might be wearing one at the very moment... so how does it work?

The watch contains a semi-circular rotor - depicted in the image of the Perrelet Watch. This rotor is an eccentric weight that turns on a pivot within the watch case. Natural movement of the wearer's arm causes the rotor to swing to and fro on its staff. The staff is attached to a ratcheted winding mechanism. The motion of the wearer's arm is transformed into a circular motion of the rotor that by a series of reverser and reducing gears winds the mainspring. Most modern automatic luxury watches have two ratchets and thus wind the mainspring during clockwise and counterclockwise rotor motion.
Once the mainspring is fully wound, a regular watch can store enough power reserve for two days. Most automatic watches can be wound manually if the watch is not worn sufficiently to keep the mainspring wound. Another alternative to keep automatic watches running is the use of a watch winders. (click here if you want to know more information about watch winders)

Abraham-Louis Perrelet invented the self-winding mechanism ,in 1770 ,for pocket watches. The watch wound as the wearer walked. An oscillating weight inside the hefty pocket watch moved up and down. Perrelet invention was quite the rage in 1776. The Geneva Society of Arts reported that only a 15 minute walk was enough to wind the watch sufficiently for eight days. In 1777 the automatic pocket watches were selling quite nicely.

Breguet improved on Perrelet mechanism calling his automatic pocket watches "perpetuelles"

Although the first wrist watch was introduced by Patek Philippe in 1868, the automatic rotor for wrist watches was not invented until 1923 by a watch repairer from the Isle of Man named John Harwood. This self-winding mechanism was an improvement as the wearer only had to move his arm not take a walk. Harwood's system utilized a a pivoting weight which swung as the wearer moved, winding the mainspring. The ratchet mechanism only swung in one direction and were stopped at 180 degrees by spring bumpers to encourage the back and forth motion. This early type of automatic watch is now known as a "bumper". Fully wound the bumper would run for 12 hours. The "bumper" did not have a stem winder and so the hands were moved manually by rotating a bezel around the face of the watch. The Harwood Self-Winding Watch went on sale in 1928 and 30,000 were produced until the company collapsed in the Great Depression.

Rolex improved Harwood's design in 1930 and used it for the basis of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual which had a mounted semi-circular weight which could rotate a full 360 degrees. Rolex Oyster Perpetual had 35 hours of stored energy.




Omega is the only Automatic watch that utilizes a Co-Axial movement which is a double Axial escape wheel, a lever with three pallet stones and impulse stone on the balance roller, together with a free sprung balance. This system reduces sliding friction compared with the lever escapement inorder to promote greater accuracy over the course of time



Watch Companies like Concord still create manually wound watches and can be produced
with exceptionally thin watch cases like the slender Concord Delirium pictured above which has a Watch Case of just 6mm. This type of thickness cannot be achieved by an automatic watch as the rotor occupies space within the watch case. However with the knowledge that ones watch is being wound as you wear it does afford a certain peace of mind.

By: R Van Halem

Set Luxury Watches back this weekend

Daylight Saving Times officially ends this weekend and we are back to Standard Time so adjust your Luxury Watches back one hour this weekend . This is a friendly reminder from The Watchery.com ,making sure that you don't turn up one hour early to your mother-in-law's birthday party or drop your kid off at Hockey Practice at the crack of dawn.

Now at last World Time Watch wearers like those who don this elegant Girard Perregaux Worldtimer WW.TC Perpertual Calender will be able to utilize this watch to the fullest without having to adjust the time by an additional hour. The World Time watch such as this Patek Phillipe World Time displays the time of all the cities on the dial. The City located at the top of the watch (the 12 'o' clock position on most watches) is the main city where the wearer is at. The time adjacent to each city, is the time of that city. It is night time for those cities on the dial whose hours are displayed in black. This watch is extremely convenient if you need to make dozens of phone calls all over the world but have no time to reflect upon the hour at that location.
This morning at 4am, I got a call my nephew in the Netherlands, who apon hearing my sleepy voice said, "Oh is it early by you" I kind of grunted at went back to sleep.
If he would have had his Worldtimer, the 4am adjacent to New York would have been as black as night, and I would have slept uninterrupted. Not to be a grouch my nephew meant well. He wanted to wish me a good weekend.

Both these incredible watches and many other Worldtime Models are available at The Watchery for incredibly low prices. Take advantage of the great prices, because the next time you need to make a phone call on the other side of the planet, you won't have to spend your valuable time working out their time.

The World's Most Complicated Luxury Watch.

If a simple Mechanical Watch is comprised of give or take 130 parts, and one of the most expensive watches in the world, the Vacherin Constantin Tour de I'lle, contains 834 parts, then the Watch with the most parts would be ...?

...1728 parts. That is 1728 individually crafted pieces working in complete harmony. The watch in question is the Calibre 89 crafted by Patek Phillipe. This watch was crafted to commemorate the 150 year anniversary of Patek Phillipe. It took five years of research and four years of crafting to complete. Patek Phillipe declares that "it is the most complicated watch in the world. It weighs 2.4 lbs , is 18K gold, and has a amazing 24 hands.

A complex Watch indicates much more information than the time of day (which up until a couple of hundred years ago was no mean feat). This extra information indicated on the watch is called a complication.

The complications on the Calibre 89 include:
Day of the month, Day of the week, 12-hour recorder, Hour of second time zone,moon phase display, winding crown position indicator;century, decade and year displays (I suppose Patek Phillipe expects this watch to last quite a long time), Leap year indicator,Power reserve, month, thermometer,Date of Easter, Time of Sunrise, Equation of Time, Star Chart, Sun Hand, Time of Sunset and split second hand. There are only four in the world, and one was sold in Geneva for 6,6 million Swiss francs.