Watchmaking – Swiss Watch Makers

A Look Over the Watchmakers Shoulder

Nicolas Scatena — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 16:35:19 +0000

Many may wonder how a watch is even made. All the small components and parts, how are they even placed in a watch without breaking or falling apart. The watchmaking world is really very skilled and over the years has developed new techniques and machines to improve their work. As many may know, Switzerland is the Mecca of watchmaking. Watches and timepieces can take over months to be made and everything is completely man-made. From the in-house movement to the dial, everything is just completely made by the master watchmaker.

In the video below, NOMOS Glashütte shows how the master watchmaker creates the in-house movement. All of their movements are built in-house and by ourselves in Glashütte. This also applies to their watches—Tangente, Orion, Zürich and all the other models. This short film can give you a first impression of what they do.

Can this watch defeat Superman?

Nicolas Scatena — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 15:31:12 +0000

Introducing URWERK UR-105 CT Kryptonite

No, this watch cannot kill superman but it is indeed named after the radioactive compound that is known as Superman’s only weakness. URWEK seem to always have a theme for their timepieces, this time being Kryptonite. The latest addition to the URWERK UR-105 CT collection is this glow in the dark timepiece nicknamed “Kryptonite.”

This new version of the watch only has a couple changes, being the color variation. The fascinating feature about the CT collection is the protective cover hinged on to offer a partial view of the time display.

In the dark, the hour markers and minute track emit an intense green light while the seconds indicator and the power reserve emit a blue glow. What makes this watch so amazing is the contrast between these glowing colors and the black matte of the case.

This timepiece is up for CHF 65,000 or USD 65,324. I am sure many superman comic lovers will have their eye caught on this precious timepiece.

Your Century, Your Millenia

Nicolas Scatena — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:50:18 +0000

The Urwerk UR-1001 Zeit Device

This is the first pocket watch that I’ve written about.

I find this watch to be spectacular. It looks to me like a modern World War device.

It holds seconds, minutes, and hours like a standard watch; the Ur-1001 Zeit Device displays the day/night, the date, month, years.

There is a power reserve indicator, the power lasts for 39 hours in which it will have to be wound with the three-position winding crown.

On the back it displays the century and millennium! The UR-1001 also has an oil indicator on the back that lets you know when it needs servicing!

Components & Specifications

Now let’s head into the components and specifications. It is 23mm thick and, when holding it in the face up upright position, it is 106mm tall and 62mm wide.

The glass in the case is sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating so nothing gets in the way of that marvelous display. The case itself is AlTiN treated steel with titanium elements.

It is water resistant to 3 ATM. It has a total of 51 jewels.

The UR-1001 includes a hand-made, heat-blackened steel linked chain with a bespoke Urwerk clasp with carbineer closure. Which I believe is replaceable but what is better than the original, right?

Batman/Bruce Wayne’s Time Piece

Nicolas Scatena — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:05:05 +0000

What Watch Would Batman/Bruce Wayne Wear?!

Fiction Billionaire Bruce Wayne is actually one of the most famous billionaires in reality. But what time piece would this billionaire playboy/dark knight wear?

The answer is a Jaeger Le-Coultre

More Specifically the Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso Grande Taille

Yup this billionaire crime fighter wears this classy timepiece.

You can see Bruce Wayne wear this timepiece in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins

But lets go a bit further in time and you can see the Batman wearing this timepiece in Batman Forever by

Here’s the link to the scene. Batman Wears Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso Grande Taille

The Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso Grande Taille is very affordable compared to many other timepieces I’ve written about it is actually under the 10k range in most occasions. It has a Jaeger Le-Coultre caliber 822that has 134 parts 21 jewels with a power reserve of 45 hours.

This timepiece has a 3 bar about 90 meters of water proof

Measuring 42.2 mm long and 26 mm wide

width is 9.3 mm.

So for any Batman fan this is the watch to get!

JLC Counters Gravity Affects, SIHH Jaeger-LeCoultre

Nicolas Scatena — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 17:59:58 +0000

SIHH is one of my favorite watch events. My last few post have been about watches released at the SIHH This next post will be about.. yes.. another.. watch released at the SIHH. Don’t worry guys I’ll review watches that come in to us later. But come on SIHH releases some of the most magnificent watches one can lay their eyes on.

But today I’ll be covering 2 Jaeger-LeCoultre. We’ll start with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre à Sphérotourbillon

The Spherotourbillon is part of the Duometre line, a line in which all watches use the Dual Wing concept this concept to put simply uses two power sources one for your time keeping and the other for your regulation and complication needs. This watch will be sold in very limited quantities, 75 in platinum and an unknown amount of rose gold but it’ll be limited as well as stated by Jaeger-LeCoultre CEO.

Ok so lets explain why there is a Dual Wing concept.

In a watch when you use its features a certain amount of power is used to support them, this can affect your normal features.

Let me show another world example imagine you’re on your computer it has say 8 GB and you have your platform and start up programs that use up say 3 GB (That’s a lot for just a platform and startup programs I know) then you open a video editing program that uses 4.5 GB you’ll notice that your operation on your basic platform might slow down, this is essentially the same for watches.

To resolve this they gave the complication and regulation its own power source so it won’t affect the normal time keeping of the timepiece.

Seeing the image above of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre à Sphérotourbillon. You can see there are two mainspring sections one labeled Hours/Minutes the other labeled Regulator. Separating the power source assures high accuracy . But just to take it a step further in accuracy they used a dual-axis, dual cage tourbillon on a 20° incline. The fact that it uses two axis means the tourbillon can counteract gravity in a large magnitude of positions. To make this watch even more exact they’ve added a flyback seconds button at 2 o’clock which resets your seconds without stopping the watch.

The Watch has a 382 movement which consist of 460 parts with a 50 hour power reserve.

Jaeger-LeCoultre says the following about their timepiece

“An authentic revolution in the field of Grande Complication models, the Duomètre Sphérotourbillon, stemming from almost 180 years of history and invention unique to Jaeger-LeCoultre, is equipped withan unprecedented multi-axis tourbillon. In addition to the axis of its carriage, the Sphérotourbillon has a second axis inclined at 20° and thereby freeing it from the effects of gravity in all positions. The revolutionary `Dual-Wing` concept featured in Calibre 382 once again paves the way for an original function and makes this exceptional model the first tourbillon watch that is precisely adjustable thanks to the small seconds flyback system.”

The watch is beautiful and unique.
On the dial you will find two power reserve indicators.
A Date feature around the hour and minute indicator
A second indicator as well as a dual time feature.
Of course your able to see the beautiful tourbillon on the face of the watch.
Look below to see the The Rose Gold Model and White Gold Model as well as a special model that seems to have a night sky dial which I loved.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Takes A Unique Travel

Nicolas Scatena — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 17:57:59 +0000

So I promised 2 Jaeger-LeCoultre watches today and I’m delivering the second one to you now.

This next watch is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Unique Travel.

Lets start of with what Jaeger-LeCoultre had to say about their time piece.

The first watch to combine user-friendly access to the world’s time zones with flexible setting of the time in the destination zone to the nearest minute. This timepiece capitalises on the “Dual Wing” concept, thus avoiding any loss of precision. It displays the reference time together with the time in a second time zone, indicated digitally thanks to a jumping hour disc with the minutes indicated by a hand. A globe at 6 o’clock shows the time zones of the planet with a subtle day/night indicator. Its sapphire crystal case-back reveals the exceptional decoration on the movement.

That’s right this is another Dual-Wing concept watch if you haven’t read my previous blog where I explain it here’s the link Dual Wing Concept

The watch carries a 383 movement with 498 parts to it.

28800 vibrations an hour a power reserve of 50 hours

With 54 jewels decorating it.

Of course this watch provides Hour-minutes, Seconds, Second time-zone, Jumping Hour, Map of the world, Day/Night indicator and if that wasn’t enough it has World time.

The Watch is a nice 42 mm by 13.7 mm
It comes in both White Gold and Rose Gold with a Alligator Leather strap
The Dial is Silver-Grained
The numerals are Polished Black Nickel and the hands are Feuille.

The World Map was beautifully done and in such an appealing fashion.

In the back of the watch you can see the movement and the world time feature as well which is written in a very visible manner.

In the front you can see your current time on the right hand side and then your second “Dual Time” time on your left side with a digital display in vibrant red showing you your jumping hour.

The World Map it is also a Day/Night indicator.

You can now carry a miniature planetarium on your wrist

Nicolas Scatena — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 18:03:11 +0000

As the title suggest you can no carry a miniature planerarium on your wrist

thanks to Van Cleef & Arpels

This watch is so beautiful so mesmerizing so majestic.

The Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Planétarium Poetic Complication. This SIHH realese features the representation of movement of 6 planets around the sun.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all beautifully displayed on the dial. The movement is self winding and contains 396 components

The shooting star circulates the watch every 24 hours and is used as an hour marker.

The bezel allows you to select your own lucky day (If you can wear this beauty you’re already lucky)

Using the position of the you can find out the day and month as well.

The case back is decorated with such grace its hard to imagine how much detail and time this timepiece took to make, the oscillating weight itself is decorated with a night sky.

The Watch case is 44 mm and made of rose gold and has a leather strap with a folding buckle.

The planets have the following movements and are made of the following materials.

Mercury: Rotates around the dial every approximately 88 days and is made of serpentine
Venus: Rotates around the dial every approximately 224 days and is made of chloromelanite
Earth: Rotates around the dial every approximately 365 days and is made of turquoise
Mars: Rotates around the dial every approximately 687 days and is made of red jasper
Jupiter: Rotates around the dial in almost 12 years and is made of blue agate
Saturn: Rotates around the dial in over 29 years and is made of sugilite
It is true to the actual planets revolution around the sun which is truly extraordinaire.

The Blue star dial goes perfectly with the rose gold casing of the watch.

The selected gems are perfect for their corresponding planets and are easy on the eyes.

The day, month and year can be set using two push buttons and viewed through two apertures on the dial.

Truly a magnificent timepiece that can be admired by everyone not only watch lovers.

A. Lange & Söhne Release a new watch, its cost? About 2.6 million USD!

Nicolas Scatena — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 14:54:34 +0000

The watchmaking company A. Lange & Söhne has launched a new timepiece, one that cost about $2.6 million. Only six of them will be made. This timepiece was unveiled at the SIHH show in Geneva. This was one of the 7 timepieces revealed by A. Lange & Söhne.

I will be talking about the A. Lange & Söhne Perpetual Calendar Terraluna

This is another timepiece that is a true beauty, a diamond in the sand.

This Watch Features a beautiful orbital moon-phase display, but what makes is so special is that it also displays the moons location relative to earth and sun. It’s orbital moon-phase is accurate for about 1,058 years.

The Terraluna comes in a dazzling rose gold or impeccable white gold.

The case is 44.5 mm by 16.5 mm. The dial features 3 separate time indicators each one containing the perpetual calendar. The Minute display contains the date indicator , the hour display contains the day indicator, and the seconds display contains the day indicator.

If you look at the 15 on the minute indicator you will find the leap year indicator to its right.

It also features a power reserve indicator at the bottom of the dial, this watch has a power reserve of 14 days. The Dial itself is made of solid silver.

The movement itself is a beautiful masterpiece.

A Lange & Söhne says the following about their timepiece.

Richard Lange Perpetual Calendar “Terraluna”

“OVERVIEW DETAILS

Apart from the hours, minutes, and seconds, the regulator dial of the RICHARD LANGE PERPETUAL CALENDAR “Terraluna” also accommodates the four precisely jumping perpetual calendar displays: date, day of week, month, and leap year. The patent-pending orbital moon-phase display can be admired through the sapphire-crystal caseback of the watch. It shows the current moon phase as well as the positions of the moon and sun as an observer in the northern hemisphere would see them. The day and night halves of this hemisphere are also discernible.”

A truly beautiful timepiece.

Follow our blog to see more amazing timepieces.

Retonde de Cartier

Nicolas Scatena — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:58:09 +0000

When I saw the following image I was left breathless.

Cartier have created a jaw dropping timepiece that makes jaws drop to the floor. They names it Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendaire. Designed like a stadium in rows and with the center stage being the (Ask Watchmaker). This piece is truly admirable. The “Cartier Stadium” is set up as follows:
Upper Level: Date display
Mid Level: Month Display
Ground Level: Day Display

Now I’ve seen a good amount of perpetual calendars but none like this. Cartier has redesigned the perpetual calendar into something new. Something that you look at and become lost in because you scan the watch in and out, out and in. But even with this marvelous designed they’ve made it easy to read. The display windows is what I like to call a “Cartier Blue” that is easy to spot.

But it goes much further than that, Cartier have redesigned the manual adjustments of this timepiece.
Changing the Date/Day/Month on a perpetual calendar can be hard as well as risky since you can over-wound the watch. But Cartier has changed that, just like how you would change your hour/minute on your normal watch using the crown you can do so with the Date/Day/Month features on this timepiece.
Cartier has essentially taken the perpetual calendar to the next level.

On the back of this timepiece you can see a leap year indicator.
With a a sapphire crystal back case you can see the amazing movement working.

Cartier states the following “The Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendar watch revolutionizes the perpetual calendar in terms of function and appearance. Its innovative design has produced a three-dimensional concentric display of the day, date and month. A flying tourbillon, rotating once every minute, occupies center-stage. Fine watchmaking connoisseurs will be sure to appreciate the ease of correcting the settings with the crown and admire the fine finishing of this “Poinçon de Genève” certified watch which is fitted with a 9459 MC mechanical self-winding movement.”

The case is Platinum and measures 45 mm 15.1 mm thick and the watch is Automatic of course. The crown is Platinum and has a Sapphire Cabochon to decorate it.A silver galvanized guilloche dial with a silvered grid and black Roman numeral and of course the sword shape in a “Cartier Blue”. It comes standard with a black alligator strap double folding buckle that is made of 18k white gold. The “stadium” (Perpetual Calendar) with of course the tourbillon complicatio. The watch is also certified “Poincon de Geneve”. The movement consist of 382 parts inclduing 51 jewels, the movement itself it 32 mm and 8.1 mm thick. There is 21,600 vibrations occuring every hour and has a power reserve of about 50 hours, water resistant up to 30 m.

This is truly a magnificent timepiece and my respect goes out to Cartier for being innovative, yet maintaining the essence of watchmaking.

Remember Swiss Watchmakers offers Cartier Watch Repair

Thank you all let the Holidays begin early

Nicolas Scatena — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 17:30:06 +0000

As the the final Quarter and holiday season Swiss Watchmakers is sought out by many people to revive their timepieces.

In the past few years Swiss Watchmakers took the business to an online level.

We thought there are many people who are unsatisfied with amateur watch makers so lets offer them the top of the line work.

The idea came to fruition slowly as we were a bit privatized only serving dealers, jewelers, and collectors.

Many people didn’t know about us.

But now we are known throughout the United States not to mention in Switzerland (We were already known in Switzerland prior to our online launch).

Normal everyday people could now get the best possible service.

This would save the time and money.

You can get the same Service from Rolex and Omega as us but they’re turnaround time isn’t the greatest.

Rolex and Omega also exchanged everything on your timepiece. Everything.

So if you have a new looking crystal they would still change it and charge you.

So we decided we’ll offer Full Service plus parts needed to make the timepiece function perfectly,

but we decided that we would offer aesthetic parts and let the client decide if they want them or not.

Now back to the reason as to why I’m writing this.

As our online business has grown in the past years we have a very high demand on repairs.

So I’m going to make an offer to have a bit more space to breath.

Most people send in their time piece 3-4 weeks before the New Year.

This causes us to have an over abundant amount of repairs.

So I am offering a 10% Discount (Promotion Code: Holiday10) for all Holiday repairs that are sent in early November.

This is to help us serve you better and is also a Thank you for choosing Swiss Watchmakers.

It has truly been a pleasure to grow with new clients and have many heart warming experiences with many of you.

From returning a 60 year old to a grand father who thought the timepiece was irreparable, which we actually had the opportunity to skype his son while he returned the watch to his grandfather.

A truly touching moment.

To birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, or many other special occasions.