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THE WATCHISMO TIMES WATCH BLOG A reliquary of obscure timepieces from bygone eras as well as the cutting-edge watch designs of today.

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Be sure to come check out our new blog at The Minutes where you'll find features like the following and much more!
The Watchismo Times is now 'The Minutes' - Check it out!

DOES YOUR WATCH HAVE BALLS?

The  Van Cleef & Arpels 'Midnight Planetarium Poetic Complication' by watchmaker Christiaan van der Klaauw, is a hypnotic astronomical timepiece bearing a miniature solar system that you can wear on your wrist. Ok, maybe the title of this post is a tad crass but the fact is the watches below have the balls to use spheres of [...]
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the coolest wood watches EVER MADE

There is no denying mid-century design was particularly special for art, cars & furniture but also true for a variety of watch designs. It was a period of experimentation with minimalism, asymmetry and new materials which opened the door for the use of wood in timepieces. Introduced in the late fifties and [...]

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PUTTING SOME STEAM BACK INTO STEAMPUNK

This week, we're revisiting an old friend, Japanese Steampunk watchmaker, Sueyoshi Haruo (also referred to as Haruo Suekichi), featured nearly a decade ago on The Watchismo Times blog. Having created thousands of custom built Steampunk watches, all nearly one of a kind and with completely hilarious mechanical functions like flapping leather dragon wings to celebratory noisemakers and [...]
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WHAT'S THE COOLEST WATCH NEVER MADE?

Far ahead of its time, the 1958 Patek Philippe Cobra concept watch was doomed.  Destined to torment space-age vintage watch collectors like myself, this watch exists only as a one-off prototype designed by renowned avant garde watchmaker Louis Cottier eight years before his death in 1966.  Unique for its linear time display and [...]
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Prototype Patek Philippe Cobra Movement
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ANDREW GRIMA'S UNUSUAL OMEGA & LED WATCHES 1969-76

Andrew Grima was a famous British mid-century modern jewelry designer, commissioned to create unusual one-of-a-kind watches for Omega and Pulsar in the 60's & early 70's. He was commissioned by Omega to create a highly aesthetic avant-garde collection called 'About Time'.  Grima was given a free hand and chose to stick to one principle: he would [...]
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ARE WATCHES ART?

If you ask us, we wholeheartedly believe there has been a new genre of art forming over the past twenty years within the very exclusive world of independent horology.  That said, it's more about motion and machines as the medium but nevertheless, there are some important collaborations that have occurred with watch brands and [...]


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THANK GOD IT'S SEVENFRIDAY

We've been watching  SEVENFRIDAY's growth in their fast & furious few years since inception...and we're hooked, especially the new collections & limited editions available in very small quantities. In pole position sits the  P3B/01 RACER, the newest from the original P Series. Undeniably forward thinking design up & down, inside and out. Hot on its heels is the [...]

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WHAT DOES TIME IN THE 4TH DIMENSION LOOK LIKE?

22 Design Studio's elegant '4th Dimension' Watches feature a staircase of high tension concrete for the dial. From its sculptural time display to the custom shaped brass hands and perfectly styled leather straps, every detail of this wristwatch has been designed to show the beauty of the raw materials. This unique timepiece's tanned leather and [...]

Look at Legendary LEDs of Lloyd's Large Collection


Video-->Link

With the recent release of the $350,000 Opus 8 ->(link) and the de Grisogono Meccanico dG ->(link) with their mechanically mimicked LED digits, I wanted to also share this video and photos from the collection of UK LED collector, Lloyd "Theledwatch". He was recently featured on Antiques Roadshow (see video above) where he shared some of the best examples of early 1970s digital light emitting diode watches like the Pulsar Hamilton P1, Girard Perregaux Casquette, Omega Time Computer and my one-of-a-kind favorites by the Royal designer Andrew Grima.

Some highlights of Lloyd's collection including the rarest and most valuable vintage digital LED watches of the seventies; (text also from theledwatch.com)

The Hewlett Packard HP-01 LED Watch calculator was a marvel of miniaturization and intelligent design. It was HP's first watch and their first small algebraic calculator but it was more than just a wristwatch and a calculator in the same package.

It combined them to do things that neither could do alone. Its user interface combined the best of both worlds. For example, to change time zones, the user displayed the time, added or subtracted the appropriate amount and stored the result.

Three styles of the Hewlett Packard HP-01 Calculator Watches

In the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's, Andrew Grima was commissioned by various members of the British and Scandinavian Royal family including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, to make various items of jewelry.

Mr. Grima's work is very highly sought after and collectors pay many thousands of pounds for his rare and beautiful pieces.. During the 70's his work was sold in an exclusive gallery in Knightsbridge (LONDON) and would range form many thousands to a million pounds plus.

Another one-of-a-kind Grima LED!

The rarest calculator watch by Uranus


Girard Perregaux's perfectly designed sideview "Casquette"

GP Casquette in Macrolon (also avail in gold)

The first solar powered watch by Synchronar
Invented by Roger Riehl in the late sixties
(Read previous post about history of Solar watches-->Link)
Rare Synchronar Ad for Women

Roger Tallon's original 1975 asymmetric LIP Mach 2000 models
(above and below)


The first electronic digital watches on the market by Hamilton-Pulsar

1973 Pulsar P2 for Tiffany & Co.

The ultra-rare Pulsar P1 in solid 18k
Only a few dozen in circulation valued at around $20k

Pulsar Calculator watches in steel and solid gold
The original 18k models sold for $3950.00 in 1975

Original Pulsar Advertising

Before going under in 1978, Pulsar introduced their very rare "Greenie"

1973 Omega TC-1 in solid 18k gold


1975 Longines LED

1976 Breitling Navitimer
(only produced one year before the LCD version)

Very rare Benrus "Pop-Up" LED Sideview
(case physically pops up when button is pressed and time is displayed)



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