To make sure you get your weekly watch fix we round ‘em up Texas style and serve up all the hottest new watches and watch world happenings to you on a plate complete with beans and grits. So don’t wait to be asked twice, just dig in.
Pierre Deroche – TNT Royal Retro Power Reserve
The spectacular complication of the TNT Royal Retro Power Reserve makes way during a full 20 seconds for the elegant mechanism of the new function positioned at 6 o’clock. The four remaining retrograde seconds mechanisms are nonetheless enough to give this timepiece unique character and to display the avant-garde talent of the watchmaker from the Vallée de Joux. Loyal to the TNT spirit, the movement, and notably the four power-reserve wheels, are entirely visible and magnificently decorated; a brilliant mechanical blend of strength and delicacy.
Hysek Phenomeno
Always in search of audacious and avant-garde shapes, HYSEK proposes the watch Phenomeno in rose gold. Its barrel case takes inspiration from a bridge, a technical component representing the logo of the brand. Oversized, it is transformed into an element in the innovative style of drawing, giving a unique aura to this instrument driven by an automatic caliber piloting three hands and a big date at 12 o’clock, as well as an indicator of power reserve at 6 o’clock. And because art creates different styles as a means of identification, in the same anti-conformist spirit, HYSEK has chosen to offer this amazing watch combination on rubber which purpose is to accentuate the masculine look of this model in a reinterpreted chic.
TW Steel meets Man of Steel
If you go to your local UK TW Steel stockist in the coming weeks, expect to find sales staff making super human efforts to get you to buy a TW Steel watch. Oversized watch brand TW Steel has signed up as the official UK watch partner of the new Superman film Man of Steel and is running a competition for all its UK retailers.
Already under way, UK TW Steel stockists have until May 31st to sell as many of the brand’s watches as they can. Prizes for top-selling retailers include a four-day trip to Los Angeles with VIP tour of Warner Bros. Studio, tickets to the UK premiere of Man of Steel in London’s Leicester Square, cinema tickets and the TW415 chronograph from the brand’s Pilot collection, which has been chosen as the hero watch of the partnership.
There will also be a consumer targeted competition too whereby UK residents can enter a prize draw on the brand’s UK website to be in with a chance of winning tickets to the Man of Steel premiere, a session at an indoor skydiving facility, a TW Steel TW415 watch or Man of Steel merchandise.
Ethnic by Swatch
Swatch has introduced no less than 19 new watches within its Ethnic collection of colourful summer watches inspired by sunnier climes such as Mexico, Greece and Spain. We’ll feature these in more detail next week.
Rory McIlroy becomes OMEGA Brand Ambassador
It’s goodbye Audemars Piguet hello OMEGA for world number 2 golfer Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. The 23 year old clubmeister has been tempted away from AP in an undisclosed deal to promote Omega watches. He’ll be in good company, with McIlroy joining Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Sergio Garcia and Michelle Wie.
McIlroy said: “Omega has a rich history in sport, both with the Olympics and in golf, and I have always had great experiences playing in its events. I have been a fan of the brand for a long time so to now be an Omega ambassador is special for me. I am truly excited about this new partnership and look forward to many great years together.”
MB&F Mega Wind
MB&F always come up with something unique with which to blow people away at Baselworld, and it seems this year will be no exception. HM3 aka Mega Wind is designed like a spaceship, of the sort we watched in science fiction movies as kids. And it has literally turned traditional watchmaking on its head: its automatic movement is flipped upside down, displaying MB&F’s signature “battle axe” winding rotor on top of the case. It’s been christened Mega Wind for the new giant rotor has extended its reach to the very limits of the case. The rotor’s centre and arms, crafted in lightweight and tough titanium, are firmly riveted to the 22k gold blades on either side. Look out for more on this next week.
Parmigiani Pershing Tourbillon Abyss
From the Mega Wind to the Abyss. Master watchmaker Michel Parmigiani runs his own eponymous and very exclusive boutique brand. Now just in time for Baselworld 2013, he has released a new limited-edition watch, the Tourbillon Abyss, to his collection of Pershing timepieces, – Pershing is an exclusive line first established in 2007 in a partnership with the prestigious Italian yacht manufacturer. The watch features an exceptionally light titanium case middle, a dynamometric screw-down crown and a rose-gold, unidirectional bezel. Pershing yacht influences are clearly shown on the dial with a deep azure hue and wave patterns in lighter shades of blue. With just 30 pieces of this remarkable watch available at $225,000 each, expect to find it next to impossible to get your hands on one.
The Pink Pig Watch phenomenon
And finally, from the highest peaks of haute horology, to the er…veritable trough. The Pink Pig watch has taken certain parts of Asia by storm, and will no doubt become a ‘pig’ deal in other parts of the world too. Known as ‘kawaii’ meaning loveable or cute in Japan, at the moment every girl dreams of nothing more than slapping a little pink pig watch bracelet on her wrist. The watch runs on a Japanese quartz movement, every bit as reliable as a quality Citizen or Seiko, and features a silicon bracelet with no buckle required. The watch is splash-proof and can be customised to give to friends or colleagues. The watch – from Japan but no doubt via China – has become a summer holiday sensation in the Philippines where people have an insatiable love of pork. While unlikely to be a hit in Muslim countries, the Pink Pig watch is currently ‘hogging the headlines’ elsewhere.
