A design 'Victory' for Bremont

Ever had the problem of having so many hands all bunched in the centre of the dial that you're just not sure how and where to place all the numbers?

This is how you do it:

Bremont Victory

and this is… well… I'll let you make up your mind.

Longines Master Collection Retrograde

Needless to say- kudos to Bremont - they've managed a clean dial with so many hands...

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my dress watches to have a clean dial....

So what is the new Bremont Victory? Well it's the culmination of the brand's collaboration with the National Museum of the Royal Navy (Portsmouth) to create a limited edition watch with original parts of HMS Victory built into it.

HMS Victory is the only remaining 18th Century ship worldwide, and the oldest serving warship still to be in commission, with her own Captain, offices and crew. Laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765, she is most famously known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. In 1922 she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth and preserved as a museum ship. She continues to be flagship of the Second Sea Lord and is the oldest naval ship still in commission.

This rather special watch is limited to just 250 pieces and you can pre-order one now from The Watch Gallery or Jura Watches, with delivery expected in November 2012.

If you're wondering about the 'why' of this partnership, I'll let Giles English's words explain - "Nelson went to my school and as a boy he always fascinated me, I remember clearly the first time I visited HMS Victory. Over the last few years both Nick and myself have been working with the Royal Navy Fleet air arm Heritage and that’s when we heard about the restoration of HMS Victory. With no hesitation we approached the Navy and discussed the possibility of creating a watch using original parts from the ship. Not only did we want to make the watch unique but we also want it to be a horological masterpiece."

Oh, and there will be a launch party on board HMS Victory in July 2012, to which customers with pre-orders will be invited to attend.

[o]

New Officine Panerai factory

Ten years after the inauguration of its manufactury in Neuchâtel, Officine Panerai has announced the start of work for a new factory which will consolidate all R&D, production and assembly of their watches.

The new production facility will be opened at the end of 2013. At the moment, the stages of development, manufacture, assembly and quality control are all in different locations. The consolidation will naturally mean a higher production capacity. Inside the new building there will be a large space for something called the ‘Workshop of Ideas’, where research and development will be consolidated.

The new manufacture will have an area of 10,000 square metres and will house 290 employees. There are currently 160 employed at OP’s central Neuchâtel premises. One thing that OP are proud of is that the new factory will cut CO2 impact significantly, with a focus on emission reducing equipment and sustainability.

Hopefully, they’ll also ensure that a problem like the PAM 318 ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ movement debacle doesn’t occur again….

[AP]

Khan Baba - Taka Tak, BBQ & Shisha Garden

Khan Baba
453 King St
Newtown NSW
Ph : (02) 8065 0712

It had taken me a few months to get to Khan Baba, and after this evening, I wondered why it had taken me so long, and vowed to return as soon as I could.

Don’t be mislead by the informal appearance of this Indian and Pakistani eatery, with its takeaway looking front section (and a courtyard at the back). They serve up some fantastic food. For this first meal, however, we went ‘light’, in the sense of focusing not on meat, but on vegetables and seafood.

One of the things that you’ll get at Khan Baba which you probably won’t find anywhere else are the “Tak Tak (Tawa)”. Cooked in an almost wok-like traditional hot plate at the front, you can order heart, liver, kidneys, testicles or brain, which will be served sizzling. For the innards fans.

To start, we had the vegetable pakora and vegetable samosa.

Which of the two you prefer will be fairly much subjective, and we were split on this. I enjoyed them both – the pastry on both was crisp and not heavy, but the extra punch of the spice in the samosa, liberally coated with the raita, made it my favourite.

Now for the seafood.

Goan Fish Curry

A huge serving with the most generous amount of fish I’ve been served in a fish curry, this was a mild curry (suitable for young children), a wonderfully creamy tomato and coconut gravy finished with lemon. The flavours are light, and don’t overwhelm the fish.

Prawn Karahi

In contrast, the prawn Karahi, marinated (chilli, cumin) prawns cooked in a fine tomato gravy, had a bit more spice and heat to it, with scattered matchsticks of fresh ginger visible. Again, they were not parsimonious with the prawns, there were enough for a few of them for each (3) of us. For those who like a gutsy sauce with a bit of body to it.

We ordered both plain naan and Terka rice (which none of us had eaten before) to eat with the mains

With a bit of mixing and matching, we worked out that the Goan fish curry worked best with the naan, as its plainness allowed the more subtle flavours of that sauce to maximised, whereas they were somewhat drowned out by the more pronounced flavour of the rice, which worked far better with the prawn. As testament to how addictively good both the curries were, we cleaned out the Karahi sauce, and almost managed to finish all of the Goan one as well.

This photo of the rice just doesn’t do justice to the size of the serving. There was a lot of rice (and we finished it).

The final item was the vegetable Martabak (or ‘murtabak’ if you’re in Malaysia). There are a number of fillings available for this stuffed pancake, but we were glad, when it arrived, that we’d ordered the vegetable option, as we weren’t sure whether we were going to be able to finish all that we had ordered. The exterior was light and flaky, the filling not too overwhelming in proportion or flavour, and a good snacky item. Also, it was huge. Of all the items we ordered that night, this was probably the one that I’d not feel compelled to immediately order again, even though I enjoyed it. 

Just as we were about to leave, a complimentary dessert came out. Gajar Ka Halwa. This is a very traditional type of dessert made with carrots and milk. Any initial doubts from the non-dessert person, were turned around with the first bite. Served warm, it is sweet, comforting, and no, you can’t tell that it’s carrot.

If I lived near Newtown, or at least within their delivery area (you can order on the website above), I would go there regularly. Khan Baba is amazing value, with generous servings of food with great depth of flavour, and friendly and engaging people who are keen to know whether you like each dish, and who really seem to love being there and sharing their food.

Go.

[AP]

Royal Oak 40th Anniversary Exhibition launch party – NY

I happened to be in NYC on business when I received a couple of emails asking if I was in town, and whether I would like to attend the APRO40A launch cocktail party. This included an email from the Sydney Tarts confirming the very important note that Mr Gerald Genta's actual two tone Royal Oak would be on display - for me, this turned out to be one of those holy grail moments that actually choked me up when I laid eyes on the piece. 

We all know the history and the genius of this designer - the AP Royal Oak is truly one of the all time horology classics and worthy of the word ‘iconic’, which is bandied around too easily these days.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Audemars Piguet has put together an exhibition combining design, photography, sound and film from artists Sebastien Leon Agneessens, Quayola and Dan Holdsworth, and featuring 100 timepieces covering the history of the Royal Oak. The New York event was also the worldwide launch. 

 Installation (see below for detail) and main display cases

The exhibition is a travelling one, making stops across the globe - if the event is half as good as the one last night you are in for a treat. AP is one of the last truly independent watch brands/ companies and have put a lot of thought and energy into the anniversary.

Venue is everything and the newly restored Armoury on the Upper East Side provides splendid housing for the avant-garde installations and display modules, truly well executed, as I believe my pictures show.

From the brand array spanning 40 years to the on-site watch maker, AP's attention to detail for this exhibition is, like their watches, very sleek. 

On a hospitality note, the food and drink was of a standard I've not experienced at a function like this, and I strayed into the complimentary cocktail territory, which probably helped with the huge (easily at least 30ft) computer graphic visual installation (below). Basically, it is a three dimensional image that 'grows' from (rough) polygon into a smooth sculpture, representing the 'growth' of a watch from bits of metal!

Art installation with reflection pool

The resident DJ had the type of sound system seen at high end night clubs, and his choice of tunes had most of Manhattan's finest finding a groove. 

Into the late evening air, passing the photographers, AP red carpet and wall, I carried my AP goody bag, which was the 'Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 40 year book '. I left this event not only thinking that it was a fine 'watch night' but actually 'a real experience' and a stellar night out in Manhattan.

Mr Genta's watch

Thank you AP.

After New York City, the year-long exhibition will make stops around the world including Milan (April), Paris (June), Beijing (August), Singapore (October), and Dubai (December). For more information on the exhibition, go to this link.

Dates: March 21 - March 23, 2012 10am – 4pm. March 24, 10am– 10pm

Location: Park Avenue Armory. 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street, NYC

And a final Royal Oak moment, presented to Howard, the TZ moderator :

[JPVFX]

Casio and Royal Air Force collaborate for new G-Shock

In one of the more practical watch brand collaborations that we’ve heard for a while, Casio has been working with Britain's Royal Air Force on a new range designed for use in combat.

Formed in 1918, the RAF is one of the oldest air forces in the world. G-Shock approached them for input on the specifications for a watch that would actually be useful for a professional pilot. The RAF asked its pilots (helicopter, jet, air transport) about what they wanted in a watch, and after the (much shortened) final list had been compiled, the RAF met with Casio’s R&D team and came up with the final specs. Some items that the pilots wanted, such as a torch, were excluded from the eventual design.

There was one overriding request from the RAF – that the watch be discreet, with no metallic surfaces (including buckles) because of reflection, and in a shade of grey that would be between the two types of suits worn by their pilots.

The foundation of this G-Shock is the Casio 'Triple G Resist' technology : shock-resistant, vibration-resistant, and resistant to centrifugal gravity. Added to this is something called 'Smart Access', described as an analogue movement where each of the three hands are controlled by individual motors, allowing the face of the watch to display different types of information. Functionally, 'Smart Access' will be able to do nifty things like allow the watch to measure the temperature in the flight cabin, using the hour, minute and second hands as indicators.

It will be a dual time zone watch, with one of these zones Greenwich Mean Time (‘Zulu’ time to aviator types). The Zulu time will be via a single-touch display. There will also be a stop watch for recording flight times and, as someone has already pointed out on a forum, a bomb-timer…

The case of the watch will include a shock-resistant electronic crown and quick-lock rotary switch so they can’t be activated by random contact with hard surfaces. The hands on the watch are also longer than G-Shock’s normal ones, at their request.

Accuracy-wise, it’s all about atomic timekeeping from the signals of the six atomic clocks worldwide. If nothing else, this will chew up a lot of power; the RAF watch will be solar powered and have a rechargeable battery. 

Obviously, being a watch designed for such use, it’s considerably more low key than many of Casio’s G-Shock offerings, but for those who know where to look, there will be one obvious identifying mark - a carbon fibre resin keeper on the strap will be decorated with the RAF 'wings' logo.

Rather dramatically called the “Gravity Defier” (Ref: GW-A1000RAF-1AER), it is being released in a limited edition of 2000 and will be on sale from June 2012 for GBP500. A rather expensive G-Shock, but I reckon it’ll sell out.

[AP]

Baselworld 2012 : Jaquet Droz Eclipse - the ‘dark’ and the ‘light’

A brand that still somehow seems to fly under the ‘major league’ radar, Jaquet Droz has a quite distinctive style, particularly for its dress watches, but two of JD’s new Baselworld 2012 models, part of their ‘Majestic Beijing’ collection, seem to be less JD and more strikingly reminiscent of Blancpain Villeret Moonphases.

Firstly, the ‘dark’ – the Eclipse Onyx.

A 43mm stainless steel case encloses a black onyx dial which has 8 rhodium plated stars with a rhondium moon, and hour, minute and date hands which are also rhodium plated. The dial is highly balanced, with the date and month windows at 12 o’clock balanced by the moonphase at 6 o’clock. The moon is revealed via a moving disc.

Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony (a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of the minerals quartz and moganite) and comes in a myriad of colours, but most commonly containing black and/ or white bands. I love the black/ silver combination in watches, and it’s a safe choice for a watch called Eclipse.

Here is the video from JD :

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Reference : J012630270

Case : Steel. Open caseback

Size : 43 mm. Thickness 12.4mm

Functions : Hours, minutes, day, month, date, moon phase

Dial : black onyx. rhodium plated stars and moon. Hour/ minute/ date hands rhodium-plated. Central pointer date hand. Moon phases in black onyx at 6 o’clock

Water Resistance : 30m/ 3 ATM/ 3 bar

Movement : Automatic, Jaquet Droz calibre 6553L2

Jewels : 26

VPH : 28,800

Power reserve : 68 hours

Strap : black rolled-edge alligator

Price : 18400.00 CHF

On the flipside, we have the JD Eclipse Ivory Enamel, a stark contrast, in a wonderfully warm red gold. Ref J012633203, it is the same watch as the Eclipse, only in eponymous enamel, and priced at a more hefty 30150.00 CHF. Perhaps the key is to have two of them, one for day and one for night?

These are not the first Eclipse models, a 18k gold case black enamel dialled version came out last year.

My preference is for the 2012 versions over last year's, but there is that ever-present nagging query at the back of my mind as to whether I like these watches just because they remind me of the Villeret …

Of course, what else but some etymology to end this post. ‘Onyx’ comes through Latin (of the same spelling), from the Greek ὄνυξ, meaning "claw" or "fingernail".

[AP]

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…


[o]

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.

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…

[o]