Ventura's digital SPARC MGS wins red dot 'Best of the Best' 2012

Ventura's SPARC MGS automatic digital watch has just been awarded with the red dot "BEST of the BEST" design award 2012 by the red dot Design Center Essen. This is not Ventura’s first red dot, having also received the Best of Best in 1995 for Hannes Wettstein's v-matic Chronometer.

The red dot award started in 1955 and is one of the world’s largest design competitions, attracting more than 14,000 entries from over 70 countries every year. In 2012, some 1,800 companies and independent designers from 58 countries registered to compete in the “red dot award: product design” in nineteen categories.

Designed by Simon Husslein, the creative Director of Studio Hannes Wettstein AG Zürich, the SPARC MGS was not the only Ventura items that were up for consideration; the BRAUN Digital Watch BN106 and the belt "Gents & Belts" Preciluxe, also designed and produced by Ventura and garnered themselves a red dot.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Functions : EasySkroll® operating system with the following indicators: T1/Date, T2/Date 2, T1 and T2 Alarm, perpetual calendar, chronograph, countdown, choice of display - 12 or 24 hours and 3 date formats

Dial : LCD screen, LED backlighting

Movement : Automatic, barrel-powered micro-generator, tungsten rotor

Case : Scratch-proof Durinox® hardened stainless steel, or black PVD. Upper part with rotor and micro-generator; lower part with digital display

Case size : 56.3 x 38 mm

Water resistance : 30 m /3 ATM

Power reserve : 45 days

Bracelet/ Strap : Rubber, or Durinox® steel (black PVD-treated or not), with safety folding clasp

Here’s a short video about the Sparc MGS

[AP]

Lemon tart milkshakes, Reubens and more at The Forresters

The Forresters

Corner Foveaux and Riley Streets

Surry Hills

Sydney NSW 2010

Ph : (02) 9212 3035

Lemon tart milkshake. These three words, tweeted, were what convinced me that I needed to visit The Forresters. Despite having visited numerous pubs in Surry Hills over the years, for some reason Forresters had never been one of them. What I didn’t realise was that this milkshake was, on the date of my visit, less than a week old, part of a new menu and new ownership.

The pub is carved out into several sections. We sat in the covered courtyard next to the entry area. There is a larger area behind the courtyard, and still more room on an upper level. 

Ordering consists of going up to the bar, paying for your food and drinks, and taking your number. As well as a weekday $10 menu, there is a much longer menu that can be ordered from at all times, covering a daily rotisserie (whose meat ends up in the Cuban sandwich of the day), snacks, salads, pizza, pasta, mains (short, but covering everything from a cheeseburger to salt cod parmigiana), sides, and two desserts (one being the lemon tart milkshake).

A Reuben ($10) was on the menu, so in line with last year’s sandwich theme, a Reuben I ordered. It may well be the final Reuben for a while, as it feels as though I’ve eaten too many. In the Reuben Spectrum that was my 2011, I’d put the Forresters one in about the 75th percentile. A decent enough filling (pickle inside), slightly let down by the bread. The chips were above average, and a decent serving. For $10, it was pretty good value.

The other sandwich was the meatball ($10). Although I didn’t try any of it, I’m told that the meatballs were tender and juicy. Again, a pretty decently sized meal.

The pizzas - dear Forresters, it’s ‘Margherita’ not “Margarita”.

Pizza Margherita ($15)

When it arrived, the first thought was that it was huge, too much for one person to eat for lunch. Fortunately, it was light - thin, crispy, with some nice slightly charred edges. Covered in tomato with chunks of melted fresh buffalo mozzarella, it was a pretty good Margherita that I’d be happy to eat again.

Onto the desserts.

First up, the lemon tart milkshake, my reason for being here.

Lemon tart milkshake ($7)

With some pastry crumble on the top and in the shake itself, this tastes exactly as you’d expect it to taste – like a lemon tart in a milkshake form. As if someone had put a tart into a blender, along with some milk, and pressed the button. Tasty, filling, and I’d drink it again happily, but it’s definitely no substitute for an actual tart.

The Tiramisu Knickerbocker Glory. That wasn’t.

Tiramisu Knickerbocker Glory ($12)

A knickerbocker glory is an ice cream sundae that is served in a large tall glass, particularly in the United Kingdom. It is typically served in a large sundae glass (tick) and contains ice cream, jelly, cream, possibly fruit, and even meringue. There are alternate layers of each of these, and it can be topped with a syrup, nuts, or whipped cream.

I ordered it because I didn’t know what to expect – some sort of clever riff on an old-fashioned sweet, I guess. It turned out to be tiramisu. A huge serving of tiramisu that I could barely finish. As a tiramisu, I found it quite heavy, as a Knickerbocker Glory …

The revamped Forresters is still a casual, welcoming type of place. Good for both small gatherings and groups, the food simple, flavoursome, and bang for buck. I’ll be back soon.

[AP]

What's a watch worth?

Here's a short piece I found online which I found interesting and hope that you do too. Bloomberg Television's Elliott Gotkine reports from Baselworld 2012 on the economics of watch making.

[AP]

Baselworld 2012 : Longines 180th anniversary 'red 12' monopusher

As part of Longines’ commemorative models for its 180th anniversary, they have gone all ‘heritage’. One of these anniversary watches is the “Column-Wheel Single Push-Piece Chronograph”, perhaps more simply known as a monopusher chronograph. Based on the early wire-lugged watches, and appropriately in rose gold, this watch will be limited to 180 pieces.

Replicating a classic look of the old officers watches with a white dial, black Arabic numbers, a red ‘12’ and blued steel hands, but with a date aperture as well, this almost old-fashioned watch will not appeal to everyone, but particularly for those who have a soft spot for the old red 12s, it’s an unexpected and attractive model from Longines. I would have been happy to have had a date-free version, and perhaps, especially given that it is a special model for the brand, an enamel dial might have been worth considering. The 'blue' of the hands is a bit difficult to nail down exactly, the tones seem to be slightly different in each of these photos.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Reference number : L2.774.8.23.x

Functions : hours, minutes, seconds, date

Movement : Automatic Cal. L788.2 (ETA A08.261) with single push-piece and column-wheel chronograph mechanism. 13¼ lines

Jewels : 27

VPH : 28,800

Power reserve: 54 hours

Case : rose gold, 40 mm. Single push-piece integrated into the crown. Transparent sapphire case back

Dial White, black Arabic numerals and a red “12”

Water resistance : 3 bar (30m)

Strap: brown alligator

Amongst the ‘Tarts’ there are two members who own a number of vintage red 12s. It’s a thumbs up from them, though an enamel dial would have been even better and, as one person has suggested, perhaps if the finishing of the hands was a little less flat, it would have given the watch a bit more depth.

[AP]

Top Gear Wrist Watching Season 18 Ep.4

And… for episode four we continue our focus on James May's wrist. Well ... the other two need to step up their watch game if they want to be featured more prominantly in the Tarts blog.  It's actually a very special episode today, and for once we'll actually look at something that's NOT on the wrist, but more about that later.

James May's choice of watches seem to match his wardrobe...

May continues to impress with his wrist presence and it seems like he's a bit of a vintage buff as well, although he's never shown off his vintage collection till now (at least on Top Gear). I suppose they match his wardrobe…

So we all know that Jeremy's Seamaster never seems to leave his wrist these days, but he's not the only one out of the trio that sports a Seamaster. May also has a Seamaster. Just not as we know it. 

Really.

James May with the Omega Seamaster Chrono-Quartz

As I write this I find myself contemplating the average age of the Top Gear viewer. Given the merchandising efforts from them I've seen so far, it might appear that many of the target audience could in fact be quite young. In which case, a good many viewers of said program will have never ever seen anything like what May has on his wrist. Except … perhaps fromsome really dodgy recent efforts from Diesel and Police watches. No. I will not dignify them with an image. There's always THIS.

Now if you want a proper analogue/ digital watch with street cred, there are two ways to go about it. You either get a Casio G-Shock or you can go the vintage route. These were all the rage back in the '70s when the quartz crisis hit, and the Swiss watchmakers were trying to hold their ground against a Japanese onslaught. I think it was almost a case of "if you can't beat them, join them". So here we are - an Omega Seamaster Chrono-Quartz.

The Omega Seamaster Chrono-Quartz - image courtesy of Antiquorum. Amazing to see that "quartz" is actually a selling point back in those days- seeing how it's placed so prominently on the watch face... Even more prominently than the brand!

According to our good friends over at Hodinkee it's the 1st anadigi watch and they also talk at length about the identity crisis of the Seamaster name, but I think many brands, Swiss ones in particular, went through the same in that period. Some simply ceased to exist cuz they can't make up their mind about who they are… but that's another story for another time. I won't go into too much detail about the watch as you can read it all over at Hodinkee. But identity crisis or not, there are some gems to be had from this period and this is definitely one of them. This watch was actually designed for the Montreal olympic games in 1976.

It's a chunky watch with a chunky bracelet (in keeping with the sport styling of the day) and it has plenty of wrist presence. It's a well balanced watch and sits on the wrist nicely, due to its 'widescreen' design. It's also one of the very few quartz watches that commands quite a bit of a premium in the secondhand market.

There's nothing on Clarkson or Hammond this time round, but we did get a close look at the wrist of Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC ,who was a 'guest' of sorts on this week's episode. What we see is a fairly typical rock star/ celeb wrist wear - the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph of some description. There have been so many limited editions made of this watch that I think even AP's lost count…

Audemar Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chrono on Brian Johnson's wrist

Now, for something quite different…

1928 Bentley

This, according to James May, is a 1928 Le Mans body Bentley something or other, and back in those days, Jaeger (of Jaeger-LeCoultre) makes the dashboard instruments for many car brands, including Bentley, MG and Bamford & Martin (the latter would later on become Aston Martin, with whom Jaeger-LeCoultre has a modern day partnership, producing watches inspired by Aston Martin styling in their AMVOX range, and car key - in the form of the AMVOX 2 Transponder).

Jaeger dashboard instruments - Modern day Bentleys had to make do with Breitling clocks and "Breitling for Bentley" watches

Car key you say? well.. not quite. it doesn't start the car … yet, but I reckon James Bond would be better off with one of these on his wrist than that other brand... He can 'find' where his Aston Martin is in a sea of 'similar looking' cars in the car park, and open the doors to jump in for a quick getaway all by pressing on the crystal (it works in a similar way to remote car keys).

The Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX 2 DB9 Transponder

Let's hope we'll be able to talk about Clarkson or Hammond's wrists next time, and don't forget that all our other Top Gear watch spotting posts can be found by selecting the 'Top Gear' tag below…


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Baselworld 2012 : Seiko Astron GPS Solar watch

Billed as the ‘watch that understands time zones’, Seiko has created their first solar powered GPS watch, using a patented low-energy receiver that picks up GPS signals and identifies the time zone, time and date using at least four GPS satellites, covering all 39 time zones. The watch updates automatically once a day and also on demand. As you can see in the video below, the hands adjust automatically to the correct local time when it picks up your location.

The Astron GPS Solar is named after the company's 1969 Astron, (see blogpost here), the world’s first quartz watch, as the brand see this development as similarly innovative. A direct descendant, if you will.

In commemoration of the launch, a special titanium piece with a ceramic bezel has been created in a limited edition of 2,500 (Ref SAST001). It is accompanied by an additional extra-strength silicon strap.

 Ref SAST001

There are three other iterations in titanium, and two in stainless steel. All of them will have the same functions and specifications, including a dual time sub-dial, in-flight mode indicator and sapphire crystal with Super-Clear Coating (TM).

In addition to the date and dual time displays, the status of the GPS signal is indicated by the second hand and indicator at 10 o’clock when the appropriate button is pressed. You can identify whether a GPS signal has been received, from how many satellites, and whether Daylight Saving Time is activated.

This amazing new watch has over 100 patent applications linked to its development, notably for a miniature GPS receiver. Not unexpectedly, the amount of technology going into this watch means that it is a decently sized 47mm, putting it firmly in the range of too-big-for-most-people.

As Seiko put it, if you step off a plane, all you have to do is to press a button and the time zone adjustment is automatic, taking approximately six seconds or a little more for the time to self-correct and 30 seconds or so to find the time zone. As if this wasn’t cool enough, there’s also a perpetual calendar (until February 2100, which is plenty of time for most of us).

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Movement : Calibre 7X52

Functions : Time, date, perpetual calendar to Feb 2100, world time (39 time zones), daylight saving function.

GPS : GPS controlled time and time zone adjustment, signal reception indication

Accuracy : +/- 15 secs per month (without receiving a time signal and in temperatures between 5C and 35C

Case : 47mm. 16.5mm thick

Case : High-intensity titanium with black hard coating and ceramic bezel (SAST001/007); high-intensity titanium with ceramic bezel (SAST003/005), stainless steel with ceramic bezel (SAST009), stainless steel with black hard coating with ceramic bezel (SAST011)

Strap : high-intensity titanium with black hard coating and three-fold clasp with push button release (SAST001/007), high-intensity titanium with three-fold clasp with push button release (SAST003/005), extra-strength silicon with three-fold clasp with push button release (SAST009/011)

Crystal : Sapphire with “Super-Clear” coating

Water resistance : 10 bar

Magnetic resistance : 4,800 A/m

Prices :

Europe will be between 2,000 – 3,300 Euros.

SAST003 - black dial with white indices, ceramic bezel, Bright titanium case and bracelet - JPY199,500 (~USD2450)

SAST005 - black dial with gold indices, ceramic bezel, Bright titanium case and bracelet - JPY199,500 (~USD2450)

SAST007 - black dial with white indices, ceramic bezel, Bright titanium case and bracelet with black hard coating - JPY210,000 (~USD2580)

SAST009 - black dial with blue indices, steel case and silicon strap - JPY152,250 (~USD1870)

SAST011 - black dial with white indices, steel case with black hard coating and silicon strap - JPY157,500 (~USD1930)

Here’s a video  from Seiko about the new GPS Astron.

Functionally it’s pretty cool, but its quite conservative aesthetics belie this. It probably doesn't look as funky as its technology is, but they are at an accessible price point, and probably sell well because of the solar powered GPS-coolness factor. Unfortunately, I can’t yet seem to find any information about the power reserve and charging details.

Last year, Citizen released the Eco-Drive Satellite Wave. Although also solar-powered and GPS linked, the two watches sport a number of major differences - the Satellite Wave only syncs once every three days if it is exposed to sunlight (although the time can, like the Astron, be set by the push of a button), and covers 26 time zones.

[AP]

Baselworld 2012 : Omega Spacemaster Z-33

So... what do you get when you cross a Flightmaster and an X-33? You get a Spacemaster Z-33 (whatever happened to Y?), launched (pun intended) into Omega's atmosphere (ahem) in 2012. Basically it combines the Flightmaster outer with the X-33 innards. Both updated, of course, to reflect modern taste.

Omega Flightmaster Cal. 910

Omega Speedmaster X-33

I'm just not sure about the ultra-thick cases that Omega's pumping out these days. First the Planet Ocean Chrono, now this...

As a forum member puts it quite nicely, I'd rather have the Flighty and the X-33 senior. Separately.


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Case : Grade 5 titanium with 'double wall' resonance chamber construction for alarm
Calibre : Thermo-compensated Quartz calibre 5666
Dial : matte black. White indexes, skeletonised hour and minute hands coated with Super-Luminova.
Display panels : for digital function. Black screens with transreflective LCD
Crystal : Sapphire
Water Resistance : 3 bar/ 30m/ 100ft

One thing you might have noticed is that the dial says 'Spacemaster' and the strap says 'Speedmaster'. It seems that the Spacemaster is still a part of the Speedmaster range. On the case back it still says Speedmaster and has the Seahorse medallion…

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