Watchismo Times

Named for the largest known (and newly discoved) dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth-largest body known to orbit the Sun directly, Eris is approximately 2,500 kilometres in diameter and 27% more massive than Pluto. The spherical Eris watch is considerably smaller that that, in fact I broke my calculator trying to determine its 32.2mm percentage of the former planet. Eris would have been our tenth planet if Pluto hadn't been shamed into oblivion.

Either way, this watch, designed by students from l’Ecole d’Arts Appliqués Genèva is a 100 % Swiss made product by Pierre Junod Switzerland and can be worn as a pocket watch, pendant or used as a small desk clock. The Materials are white hour hand & orange minute hand, anthracite anodized aluminum case, laser engraved figures, mineral glass, Swiss quartz movement, each watch is sold with a natural rubber strap to hang from your neck, a wall, anything you wish to have time fly by.

The time is displayed with two pointers (extended from hidden hands) floating around the "equator" of the globe. The minutes indicated on the upper hemisphere and the hours highlighted down below.

Materials:

• white hour hand & orange minute hand,
• anthracite anodized aluminium case,
• laser engraved figures, mineral glass,
• swiss quartz movement, each watch is sold with a natural rubber band

Dimensions:
Diameter: 33,2 mm
Thickness: – mm
Weight: 36 g
Battery Ref: Renata swiss made 364

Designer:
EAA Geneva, teachers & students:
Sandy Barbey, Anouck-Eva Meyer, Emmanuelle Taillard

Limited Edition of 99 Pieces

Ulysse Nardin introduces a desk clock with a spherical presentation of Earth in the Universe as conceived by Dr. Ludwig Oechslin.

It shows at all times the exact position of Sun, Moon and fixed stars in relation to any location on Planet Earth.

A transparent spherical crystal globe outlining the continents and oceans represents Earth. This outer spherical globe does not move. The inner sphere representing a model of the Universe as seen from Earth, rotates at the speed of the sidereal day in 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. The inner sphere displays the signs of zodiac, months and major fixed stars. Animated from the center a large Sun hand rotates once in 24 hours indicating which part of the Earth is illuminated by the Sun.

The Moon hand rotates once in 24 hours, 52 minutes and 42 seconds and indicates in which part of Planet Earth the Moon is visible.

A blue Dragon hand rotates in 18,613 years one time faster than the inner glass sphere with the fixed stars and sign of zodiac display. In conjunction with the Sun and the Moon hand the Dragon hand displays all eclipses of Sun and Moon.

The Planet Earth’s key-wind mechanism has a power reserve of 30 days. Should the clock need to be re-wound from stop, a year indicator with a push button (located at the bottom of the inner sphere) facilitates easy resetting of the astronomical indications.

A clock on the front panel of the mahogany case indicates hours and minutes.

Planet Earth is an extraordinary time machine and represents another in-house development, conceived and produced in the Manufacture Ulysse Nardin.

via Timezone

Related Stories;
All Clock Posts at The Watchismo Times
Hatching Egg Vacheron Constantin Astronomical Clock
All Astronomic Watch & Clock Posts
Richard Mille Planetarium Telurium



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It seems appropriate to follow up the Omega Moon Mission Collection with another extraterrestrial themed timepiece -- Wristwatches made of meteorite, the truest of space-age materials.

These rare rocks traveled millions of years to find this infinitely tiny speck of a planet, somehow not completely burn up in our atmosphere, find their way to land instead of water, be fortunate enough to be discovered by modern man, delivered to a luxury watch company, and wind up on your privileged little wrist.

"Iron meteorites are composed primarily of various alloys of iron and nickel, and are derived from molten planetary cores that were broken apart billions of years ago. The crystalline patterns within Meteorites are known as a "Widmanstätten Pattern" or structure, named for Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten. These patterns can only form in the vacuum of space where the molten pieces of planetary cores come into contact with very few molecules to which they can transfer their heat and thereby cool. The large metallic crystals characteristic of meteorites require literally millions of years of cooling to form from a molten planetary core fragment. It has been estimated that it took about 1000 years for these molten pieces of planetary core to cool by just 1 degree celsius."

I'm getting carried away...so here are a few examples of meteor watches over the years;

Up at the very top are a variety of Jaquet Droz Meteorite watches. They have been producing many rare mineral dials in recent years and have been using meteorite for some of their most exclusive models.


So, how does one top meteorite as a rare material? Perhaps the answer begins with Romain Jerome. His latest watches have introduced a series made from the actual rusted steel of the Titanic. Incredibly expensive models like the Tourbillon model shown below. Even the dial somehow integrates recovered coal from the shipwreck.


Update! I had no idea while writing this meteorite watch story, this deadly Kryptonite-like meteor struck Peru and has been making the locals sick!-->Link

Don't forget to enter The Watchismo Times 1st anniversary vintage chronograph giveway!-->LINK


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I'm proud to be one of the first to unveil the Richard Mille Planetarium Tellurium. A massive achievement in horology with an entirely new mechanical interpretation of a centuries old tradition - Depicting the universe as clockwork. Created by the revolutionary independent watch brand, Richard Mille (with obvious watch case design) and developed by mastermind Stephen Forsey and Robert Greubel of CompliTime and an exclusive look into his original drawings for the Planetary Tellurium below the photos...
Related Posts;
Other Astronomical Timepieces-->Link
All Clock Posts-->Link
Complication Timepieces-->Link
Richard Mille-->Link
$2,000,000 Hatching Astronomic Clock by Vacheron Constantin --> Link


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'L’Esprit des Cabinotiers' - The one-of-a-kind mystery clock that literally emerges from a hatching sphere - Created for the 250th anniversary of Vacheron Constantin.

The incubating clockwork consists of a golden sphere engraved by hand according to the sky chart drawn by Robert de Vaugondy (1723-1786), cartographer and geographer to Louis XV and creator of two large globes, one celestial and the other terrestrial. The sphere is composed of eight mechanical petals symbolizing the lotus flower, which may be progressively opened by means of an extremely sophisticated spring mechanism. The keys to the mystery and its revelation are known exclusively to the one owner of the object. The automata flower delicately reveals its heart, a timepiece endowed with a wide range of functions and complications (detailed below photos). Sold at auction for nearly $2,000,000.











Technical specifications

GLOBE

Materials: 18-carat 750 pink gold (5N)
Diameter: 220 mm
Form and construction: Globe divided into a fixed half-sphere and 8 petals opening by means of 16 connecting rods linked to the telescopic shaft (on tiny sapphire balls) carrying the timepiece, driven by the mechanical motor housed within the base.
Finishing: The outside of the globe is in natural polished gold and features a depiction of the position of the stars on September 17th 1755 (date of the first document mentioning the existence of the House of Vacheron), decorated with a hand engraving inspired by the work of Robert de Vaugondy. The inside, enhanced by slender polished gold ribs, is finely satin-brushed.

CLOCK

Materials: 18-carat 750 pink gold (5N), Corundum
Diameter and thickness: 145 mm, 70 mm
Shape and construction: A cylinder and 2 sapphire crystal domes connected by a frame in 5N pink gold. An openworked support links the clock to the telescopic shaft at the centre of the sphere. Two holes for winding and time-setting are drilled into the rear dome.
Glasses: Sapphire crystal, glareproofed on both faces.

DIALS

Dial material: 18-carat yellow gold
Material for appliques: 18-carat pink gold (5N)
Dial description: Silvered with special 250th anniversary hand-guilloch? motif, minute disc encircling the dial in silvered 18-carat gold with engraved indications. ?Grand feu? miniature enamelled 12-segment outer disc.



MOVEMENT

Indications & functions :
1. Hour on 12-hour display
2. Minutes
3. Deadbeat seconds
4. Hour on 24-hour display
5. Power reserve
6. Name of the day
7. Date of the day (perpetual)
8. Name of the month
9. Number of the year within the leap-year cycle
10. Equation of time
11. Age of the moon
12. Phases of the moon
13. Temperature
14. Astronomical calendar giving the position of the sun according to the Gregorian calendar. This mechanism was built on the basis of calculations by the mathematician Charles Etienne Louis CAMUS (1699-1768) and the watchmaking mechanical engineer Antide JANVIER (1751-1835).
15. Hours and quarters striking automatically in passing and on request, with the possibility of preventing the automatic striking.

Other technical characteristics:

Energy: Mechanical, twin-barrel, manual key winding
Regulating organs: Mono-metallic balance. Isochronous balance-spring ending in a Phillips curve, micrometric index (patented by Vacheron Constantin in 1884), Straight-line lever escapement with constant force system applied each second to the escape-wheel. This system precisely measures out the energy required for the regulator to perform 5 vibrations of an ideal and invariable amplitude.
Frequency: 18,000 vibrations per hour
Power reserve: Over seven days

Main dimensions:
Caging diameter: 125 mm
Total diameter: 129 mm
Total thickness: 41 mm


via The Purists --> Link
Quarter Millennieum of Vacheron Constantin auction --> Link

Related posts;
Christiaan van der Klauuw Astronomical Watches --> Link
Sethosphere Globe Clock --> Link


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Literally out of this world, the classic-cased timepieces by Dutch watchmaker Christian van der Klauuw are astronomically complicated. Inconceivably measuring everything from the position of the planets, the constellations, worldwide sunrises, sunsets, solar and lunar eclipses. Each model is handmade by Christiaan himself resulting in a very limited edition of each. Originally an astronomical clockmaker, the watches were developed after he miniaturized his own highly complicated movements.


Self-lauded as the smallest planetarium in the world, the obviously named 'Planetarium' features a heliocentric revolution of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). 


His most recent invention introduced at the 2006 Basel World, the 'Venus' features a very animated dial with separately rotating Earth & Moon and Venus orbiting the Sun amidst the Constellations.


Frighteningly complex, the 'Astrolibium' measures celestial bodies and constellations. 


A variation of the Astrolibium, the 'Mondial CK1' is customized to where you are located on the globe and features a sunrise/sunset gauge for the rest of the planet. 


One of Christiaan van der Klaauw's original Astronomical Clocks which ultimately led to his miniaturized mechanical universe.