Top 4 Luxury Timepieces You Never Knew Existed
by: Melissa A. Smith
With the number of high quality wrist watches available in the market today, many watch connoisseurs have become bored by the seemingly homogenous selection. Fortunately, luxury watchmakers usually are not unaware of their needs and these makers are continually attempting to step-up their offerings. From watches with telescoping antenna to ultra-luxurious watches, certain creations find a way to be noticed from the rest.
In some cases, only the most serious timepiece enthusiasts are aware of these kinds of developments though. The reason being the most unique timepieces can be designed in limited pieces. Knowing what these watches are will give you a good idea about what’s possible in haute horlogerie. Below is a summary of luxury watches you never knew existed:
Breitling Emergency Watch
Breitling provides glimpse of what future technological developments in watch-making will likely be like. Its Breitling Emergency 43mm Chronograph contains a built-in transmitter than can transmit on 121.5MHz aircraft emergency frequency. In the event of an emergency, the watch’s transmitter will be initialized by simply extending the antenna. It would transmit for 48 hours in a range of about 100 miles.
The Urwerk Hammerhead
In 1678, Henricus Jones designed a timepiece with an expanding and contracting minute hand. It is amongst the very first wrist watches that used balance spring and the minute hands points towards the outer border of the ring. This innovative concept is visible yet again today. 350 forward, the Urwerk 201 Hammerhead uses the exact idea to create an innovative watch that has a telescopic pointer within the hour cubes.
Patek Phillipe Sky Moon Tourbillon
The designers of Patek Phillipe introduced this watch in 2002. As yet, it remains essentially the most complicated timepieces ever produced with its perpetual calendar containing retrograde date display, moon phases, and sidereal time. Its design is the most notable characteristic of this creation because it provides a entire portrayal of the night sky including the orbit of the moon as well as the movement of the stars.
Possibly the largest challenge in experienced by the designers is the heavenly display observed in this particular creation. Displaying the heavens as Galileo first viewed it is practically impossible to accomplish given the limited space of the wristwatch. Not surprisingly, it takes a watch-making great like Patek Phillipe to make it happen. This piece has provided inspiration throughout the horological planet. It pushes the limits on what is quite possible to achieve.
The George Thompson Pocket Watch
Manufactured by George Thompson approximately century ago, this Patek Phillipe Pocket Watch has a minute-repeating feature, perpetual calendar, and split second chronograph. This piece was put on auction; Sotheby’s head of the Geneva Department, Alexander Barter, said that “complicated double-dialed watches by Patek Phillipe are incredibly rare”. Only very few are known to exist around the world. This specific piece is priced at $300,000-$450,000.
The watches listed here are extraordinary in its own right. It showcases the very best practices in haute horlogerie, fulfills the highest demand of watch collections, and provides an inspiration to the industry at the same time.
About The Author: For the most up to date information about Swiss luxury watches, we recommend you visit the official homepage for your favorite watch brand and subscribe to their online newsletters. Additionally, you can keep up to date by visiting many luxury watch blogs. The author invites you to visit: http://www.watchpulse.com
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