Can you believe this thing (click to embiggen the image)? It’s a 200,000+ Euros “spherotourbillion” from Jaeger-LeCoultre and it’s probably one of the most complex “classic” watches you’ll ever lay eyes on. What’s that ball thing in the window there? That’s the escapement. It spins in multiple directions, ensuring the sort of accuracy found in quartz watches with the complexity found in a haute mechanical.

Watch as Ariel apparently gets a demo from Bruce Willis’ girlfriend in Pulp Fiction (“Tulip is much better than mongoloid.”) The watch has two barrels – one for the tourbillon and one for the actual indications – and it comes in platinum.

Here are some specs for your jealous edification:

RGM Watches, one of the only true manufacturers in the US, is celebrating 20 years of watchmaking excellence with a new Caliber 20, a square movement with an American-invented “Motor Barrel.” It is the company’s third, American-made in-house movement and features a design that reduces friction on the mainspring barrel and transmits power more precisely.

Read a bit of PR below and lets raise a glass for our absolute favorite American watchmaker.

Welcome to the HourTime show, the best 30 minute (+/-) hour podcast on the web

Welcome to 2012!

Today, our intrepid watch wariors are testing the latest in ‘tin-can & string’ tech recording devices.

With can in hand, they spoke on Jean-Claude Biver Step Down As CEO Of Hublot,Ochs Und Junior Selene Tinta Watch, John wears a watch in a WiMM, IWC Pilot Chronograph Top Gun Miramar Watch and the start of SIHH. Hot stuff.

Note: The audio is a little rough on this one. We’re fixing a few things. Bear with us.

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If you’ve ever wondered where the middle- to low-end of the watch world came from, here you go. Most “brand name” watches like Calvin Klein, Burberry, and the like come from Chinese OEMs who, for the most part, run their companies as well or better than Swiss manufacturers.

For example, I got this email today offering me OEM services from a company in Shenzhen, China, the heart of world manufacturing. Shenzhen is where they make almost all Apple products as well as huge range of precision equipment.

Why am I mentioning this? Because China is a very real threat to Swiss hegemony. The average frou-frou watch retailer would tsk tsk that suggestion, but remember: people manufacture watches and people are people wherever they are. Do Chinese manufacturers cut corners and create absolute abortions sometimes? Yes, they do. But can they build the pyramidal base of the watch market by producing acceptable timepieces for the average person? Absolutely.

Switzerland would do well to heed this simple warning: they’ve been burned by ignoring the East once before, during the quartz crisis. Take China seriously. There are no second chances.

How It’s Made: The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dial from HODINKEE on Vimeo.

Our buddy at Hodinkee took some amazing video of the Audemars Piguet. Here you see how the Royal Oak face is made – using a powered pantograph that is one or two steps removed what Mssrs. A and P would have used in the 19th century.

You know a watch company is good when they have an “und” in the name. Und denotes a sort of Old World patrimony, a sense that no matter what happens in the world at large, that old Teutonic “und” will be there to keep things ticking. It’s what you want to see in a watchmaker.

To that end, I’m pleased to report that the Ochs Und Junior Tinta deserves its “und.” This watch, initially wild-looking at first, is a fascinating marriage of form and function that offers a set of very cool features in a very cool package.

First, what is this thing showing? Around the edge you have dots for the current date, starting at the double dot at about 12:01. This is set as you would a normal date setting (although it’s considerably harder to hit the right dot while spinning the crown.) Then you have a standard set of hands with a sweep second hand to tell the time. Finally you have the real draw – an accurate moonphase register that uses a set of rotating disks attached to an ETA 2824 movement.

The 2824 is a very basic automatic movement that includes a sweep hand and date register. The Tinta, then, piggybacks on that movement to drive the moonphase.

Here are the basic specs:

The watch itself is very unassuming until you get a closer look. A bold dot at 12 o’clock suggests that this might be another brand but that dot is set to signify noon. The steel case is watertight and the lugs are inbuilt and solid. The leather strap is very staid as is the plain, featureless back. In fact (barring production updates) the only location where Ochs Und Junior is visible is on the band.

So how does it work? Well, this is where it gets tricky. To set the moon phase you have to straight up turn this thing until your fingers fall off. First you have to set the moonphase to “full” i.e. the dark or light dot at 6 o’clock and then gradually go forward or back from the last full moon. If the last full moon was on the 4th and it’s the 6th, you’re golden. If it’s currently the 25th, you’re going to have to find a comfortable chair.

Once you set it, however, you’re good to go for thousands of years as long as it doesn’t unwind. The moonphase is perfectly accurate and thanks to some cleverly-shaped plates, very readable.

Who is this watch for? Primarily werewolves but anyone who wants a three-hander with a perfectly accurate moonphase will get a kick out of it. The design is very clean and, dare I say it, industrial. This is a “designer’s” watch more than a tool watch, but it’s quite legible and quite handsome. Ochs Und Junior offer multiple styles and colors. It is a handmade watch (except for the movement) so you’re paying for quality.

You’re also getting a watch from the mind of a master. Designed by Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, this watch brings together years of experience in watch restoring, astronomical timepieces, and (not making this up) theoretical physics. Oechslin is also a designer for Ulysse Nardin.

Now for the bad news: the price. At 7400 CHF (roughly $7857.32 US dollars) I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this over, say, a similarly-priced chrono. It does have a single, very powerful complication so I wouldn’t call it a standard three-hander, but you’re paying for the exquisite design and not the movement or materials. If they decided to slum it and sell this with a Chinese movement for $500 I’d tell you to buy four or five, but they didn’t so I can’t. However, given the quality, the provenance, and the style, I’m not going to go on a populist rant here and close with the simple statement that this is a very cool watch at what, in any universe (theoretical or otherwise) is priced at what the market will bear.

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‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
the WWR readers were stirring and thrashing about.
“Where’s my new watch this season? I had planned to buy
but bills and car payments made things bad for this guy.
But old John and Patrick had both read up on your lists
and decided a Diesel would look good on your wrists.

As a special thanks we’re giving away this Diesel DZ7122 watch that looks like a piece of the Predator’s mess kit. Here are some specs:

Reversed LCD display
40mm rectangular case, 12mm thick; black ion plated
Leather strap
Hours/minutes/seconds + day/date/month
Second time (and date) tracking; set independently
Countdown timer
Alarm
Blue backlight

We’ll give this puppy to one lucky reader who comments below and I’ll announce the winner on Monday (I know it’s a little late for xmas, but this for the folks who might not have gotten a watch for the holiday).

Good luck and best wishes to all.

UPDATE – And the winner is ejtsang. Thank you for playing, guys. I appreciate it.

Keep Hourtime/WristWatchReview On The Internet
For the price of a cup of coffee, we can buy Ariel a cup of coffee.

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In todays show, John starts us off by not talking about a watch, we discuss Hublot’s Magic Gold, John decides he is jonesing for an Omega Ploprof (a vintage or current version – whatever anyone will give him) and we finish off the year with the A. Lange & Sohne Datograph Up/Down watch.

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Another day, another Tokyoflash watch. This one, the On Air, has an LCD screen with backlight and you tell time by reading the numerical minutes read-out as it rotates around in place of the hour hand. It is, to be fair, pretty darn ingenious.

The watch is another fan submission created by skender Asanaliev & Adilet Asanaliev, from Kyrgyzstan. Tokyoflash liked the idea so much that they actually designed and built the working watch.

It’s available now and costs $179.

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Welcome to the HourTime show, the best 30 minute (+/-) hour podcast on the web

This week, John channels his inner wookie when discussing the Jean Dunand Shabaka, decides theCabestan Trapezium Watchis less than useful, thinks theJaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Diving Chronograph GMT Navy SEALs name is entirely too long and that the Hublot Big Bang Watch For Architect Oscar Niemeyer is better than an orange hat.

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