We received news of a new brand that’s launching in March of this year, and it seems like there’s some intriguing (and affordable) styles that they’ll have on offer.  iTime was founded in 2010 by Alessandro Baldieri in Rome.  So, what are they bringing to the table?

From the information we’ve been provided, it seems that they’ve been working for the last year and a half to create polymer – carbon fiber blends to use in the watches to create something lightweight, durable, and good-looking.

They have seven different collections planned, which will range from €85 to €175 ($110 – 230).  From the images I’ve seen, I’m intrigued – and we’ll see if we can’t get some review samples to give you a better idea of what they have.

Press Release

iTime, A NEW GENERATION FOR WATCH INNOVATION HAS ARRIVED! WORLD-WIDE LAUNCH COMMENCES MARCH 2012

The man behind the brand is Alessandro Baldieri, the stylish Italian architect/designer to the international jet set and creator of inspirational watches

Baldieri has spent the last 18 months working with a Milan based engineering company creating new blends of coloured polymers and carbon fibre to incorporate into the iTime watch collection.

The result? A light weight watch of extreme durability, priced aggressively and beautiful on the wrist.

The 7 Collections to be launched will feature both carbon fibre and mineral fibre cases, a huge range of colour combinations, quartz and automatic movements, and retail prices from just €85.00 to €175 for the full carbon fibre Phantom collection.

About the Company

iTime was born in Italy in 2010 with offices in Rome and Hong Kong. The company’s aim is to become a globally recognised brand offering stylish Italian designed watches that incorporate the latest material technologies and a myriad of colour combinations at the most competitive prices possible.

Do you remember those “magic picture” posters that were all the rage in the mid-90s?  Well, TokyoFlash Japan has introduced a new model, the Optical Illusion, that utilizes some similar principles.  Unlike those posters, however, there is a button that will allow you to display the time without having to trick your eyes.  Read on for the introduction sales special, and the bulk of the press release.

First, the sale.  The Kisai Optical Illusion is available at a 48 hour limited time release price of $179 (€132, £115) including free shipping until Friday January 27th at 11:30am (Japan time).   After that, it goes to it’s regular price of $199 (€147, £128).

“The limited edition Kisai Optical Illusion watch displays the time digitally through a maze of high resolution diagonal lines. Like many optical illusions, it’s really easy to see once you have trained your eyes. The direction of the lines in the display allows your eyes and brain to process only the lines that make up the digits that show the time.”

Kisai Optical Illusion comes in black or silver with a natural or green LCD display. It has a touch screen display with time, date, alarm, EL backlight and animation.  All in all, an interesting twist.  We’re looking into obtaining a review sample to give you a better idea of what the watch is like in the real world.

At first, the abundance of Swarovski crystals sounds off-putting, but it is an interesting display method.  We’re looking into getting a sample on-hand to take a closer look…

 

Latest watch from Phosphor blends fashionable nylon band and classic Appear line’s mechanical digital technology

 

(Dallas – December 6, 2011) – American watch brand Phosphor (www.PhosphorWatches.com) announces today the launch of the new Appear Bracelet watch. The Appear Bracelet is the latest edition to the Appear watch line, which features the world’s first mechanical digital watches utilizing Phosphor’s proprietary Micro-Magnetic Mechanical Digital^TM (M³D) technology.

Powered by M³D technology and featuring a modern, fashionable nylon band, the Appear Bracelet maintains the classic Appear look with a Swarovski crystal-encrusted time-display and colored crystal time display that revolves to reveal the time. The time can also be completely hidden behind crystals, with the colored, time-displaying crystals reveled again with the push of a button. The basic “time” mode features a 12-hour display, with the hours positioned above the minutes on the face. A “seconds” mode is also available.

“Marrying technology and fashion, the new Appear Bracelet provides an affordable and stylish timepiece solution,” said Phosphor’s Managing Director, Donald Brewer. “The Appear Bracelet line is a great addition to Phosphor’s diverse line of watches, perfect for everyone from grandparents to teens.”

The Appear Bracelet watch line is initially debuting with four women’s band styles – pink, amber and clear, amber and white as well as black. Phosphor plans to expand the Appear Bracelet line with the introductions of three new men’s styles, to be released by the end of 2011. The new watch also features a sleek outer rim of silver or black (depending on the style) and incorporates the classic Appear line’s distinctive sound that uniquely marks the passing of time. Other features include a wide viewing angle, low power consumption and water resistance up to 50 meters.

Available online at www.PhosphorWatches.com and at select retailers nationwide, the new Appear Bracelet watch line will retail from $199-$225.

About Phosphor ^TM

Just had an interesting email cross my inbox that I thought I’d share out.  If you purchase a watch today (the 28th) or tomorrow (the 29th) directly from Xetum Automatic Watches, they’ll throw in a free leather strap for you to have as a spare.  All you need to do is forward your order confirmation email to service@xetum.com, letting them know what color strap you want.

Pretty good deal if you were thinking about getting a watch from them, if you ask me.

The Cinema Watch from Atelier Morpheus. Swiss made 45mm stainless steel automatic (ETA 2824-2), with sweep second hand, non-glare sapphire crystal, superluminova hands, screw down crown and case back, WR 5atm.

The two part 316L stainless steel case is a large 45mm in diameter. It features the word CINEMA etched on the side in a classic art deco font style. The caseback includes data on the watch, as well as the particular timepiece’s specific number from the limited edition of just 15o watches in this variation.

The dial is comprised of two distinct levels. The darker bottom has the texture of wound film, while the top has the template design of a 35mm film reel. Numbers are in a deco font, date window is black against white background, and the hands are coated with Superlumonova for visibility in a darkened movie theater.

The large crown is formed in the shape of a projector lens, with a black center core.

The Cinema Watch’s black strap is molded in the texture of a film strip, and has the Atelier Morpheus logo molded into it on the wrist side.

Designed by film lovers, for film lovers everywhere.

The Cinema Watch may be ordered from www.morpheuswatches.com for $1,495.00

 

What’s that got to do with a watch?  Well, one, it’s almost Thanksgiving.  And two?  Cadence has a new Creative Director, and have introduced their Radian watch that has pi all over it.  Cadence has introduced some stylistically interesting watches, and this one is no exception.  Of course, that bronze-tone case certainly doesn’t hurt, either, now does it?

Cadence Enlists Chris Thompson, Designer of the Famous Math Clock, as Creative Director

Philadelphia artist brings creative expertise to the watch brand

Philadelphia, PA – November 16, 2011 –The Cadence Watch Company today announced that Chris Thompson, Math Clock designer, will join the brand as Creative Director. Thompson brings years of experience to the role and will be the creative lead of the brand.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Chris join the Cadence team,” says Vanya Buvac, founder of Cadence Watch Company. “Over the past few years we have worked hard to expand the diversity of Cadence Watch designs and our customers have responded positively. Chris brings a wealth of creativity, and we are excited for the innovative watches he will bring to the lineup.”

Thompson is known for his design of the Math Clock that replaces each numeral with equivalent notations. His love of mathematics and art has inspired the first design he has in mind for Cadence. Just like the Math Clock, Chris plans to design a watch that speaks to the mathematic geeks, calling it the Radian Watch.

For a chance to win one of the first Radian Watches enter at http://cadencewatch.com/r/radian-watch-giveaway/

“Cadence Watch Company is an exciting brand that brings stylish and unique lifestyle watches to market,” said Thompson. “The opportunity to help grow the Cadence brand is incredibly exciting, and I couldn’t be happier working with a local Philadelphia company.”

Graduating from Lehigh University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Design Arts, Thompson has built a diverse career in design and art working with several mediums from stain glass to graphic design.

Keep an eye on www.CadenceWatch.com for more Chris Thompson designs to come.

If so, you’re in luck!  When I originally wrote about the Christopher Ward Jumping Hand model, it appeared that the model was out of stock.  However, we’ve received word that it is now available for pre-order, and will be shipping in the beginning of November.

If you’re a fan of skeletonized watches, Linde Werdlein has a treat in store for you with their new SpidoLite II.  That said, you’re going to need a fat wallet for this one!

Of course, this is a subtly skeletonized dial, which I appreciate.  It gives you a glimpse of what’s ticking away in the in-house movement, and doesn’t appear to detract from readability.  I also like how the date display is done – it’s unobtrusive, but easy to tell what the value is.

It does, however, make the sub-seconds jump out all the more. Perhaps if they had skeletonized that a bit, or muted the indicators, it would blend in a bit better.  This “issue” is not truly an issue, however, as I’m not about to be dropping $12,500 (at today’s exchange rates) on a watch.  If you’ve just won the lottery, though, this just might be a great limited edition for you to pick up.

Linde Werdelin continues the journey of evolution by announcing the launch of the SpidoLite II model. With a strong reference to its predecessors, the SpidoLite and SpidoSpeed, the SpidoLite II is a living testament of true evolution in complex watch case design and craftsmanship. Featuring the three – part case construction, the SpidoLite II is crafted in titanium to further reduce the weight of the watch while ensuring the integrity of strength. The dial has also been skeletonised to reveal parts of the movement while a seconds sub-dial has been added at 9 o’clock and a date function has made its appearance for the first time in a SpidoLite model.

SpidoLite II will be available in two versions of Titanium and Titanium Anthracite DLC and.

SpidoLite II Titanium and Titanium Anthracite DLC will be a numbered series starting with series A of a 100 pieces each and will retail at €9360 and €9960 inclusive of VAT respectively. Available from November 2011 on LindeWerdelin.com  or from any LW authorised retailer in local currency.

Charlie and I are pleased to announce our first web course featuring one-on-one time with Charlie and I online during the run of the program. It’s a 12-week writing course with a focus on blogging and it should take you 20 minutes or so a day to go through the sections, videos, exercises and discussions.

This course is not a collection of short videos. It’s not a repackaged eBook or a bunch of PowerPoint slides. It’s not a set of DVDs. It’s not self-study.

It Is a LIVE, 12-Week, Online Social Learning Program

This course is not just a bunch of ‘information’ to consume on your own, and it’s not self-paced. Your exclusive instructors, Charlie and John, will personally lead the course–real-time!–in a unique social learning environment powered by Simversity.

You’ll learn with and from other students. You’ll complete writing assignments. And you’ll be expected to give feedback to other students, all online in a fun, interactive learning environment.

This is powerhouse training for folks who want to become world-class bloggers!

Best of all, we (John and Charlie) will be present with you every step of the way.

We’ll check your assignments, read your comments and be engaged in your progress. You’ll receive real feedback on your writing from other participants in the course because it’s the only way you’ll understand what it takes to become an exceptional blogger!

If you’re interested in the course, please follow and Tweet @johnbiggs to request a discount code with hashtag #bootcampme.

You can buy Nook and Kindle versions of the book here and check out the course here.

We received word of some new, limited-edition, models from U-Boat, and we’re passing along the news to you.  First up, we have the Golden Crown Arrow.  This is a big watch, coming in at 51mm in diameter, and 19.6mm thick, with an oversize crown guard and pushers.

Along with that, you get a customized, automatic, chronograph movement with a 44 hour power reserve, as well as a date function.  This watch is limited to 99 pieces, and offers, in their words, a “rich black and gold” presentation.

The other watch they’re bringing to the party is the Classico Titanium IPB Chronograph, in a 300-piece run.  While this watch is smaller, relative to the Golden Arrow, it still comes in at 53mm in diameter, and 16.6mm thick.  Where the Golden Arrow is flashy, the Classico opts for a more stealthy mode, wrapping it’s titanium case in a vacuum-deposited IP coating.  This watch also offers a 44 hour power reserve with it’s Swiss automatic ETA caliber Valjoux 7750 movement.

When it comes to price, the Classico comes in at $5,750, and the Golden Arrow?  I don’t have any information, so I have a feeling that falls more into the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford” sort of realm.

My opinion on both of these watches is pretty set.  While I wouldn’t turn anyone down who handed me one, there are elements to them just seem too over the top.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for a good sized watch, these just seem too big for daily wear.  I don’t think there are many shirt cuffs that these could fit under!  Of course, the styling is unique – and if it is up your alley, they’ve got quite a few other models, and variations in those models, that you can peruse.