Posts Tagged ‘Swiss’
Korona K0 From Stepan Sarpaneva – A Guaranteed Knock Out!
© Guy Lucas De Peslouan
Finland has long been known for its contributions to industrial design and handicrafts, and indeed their architecture is famous around the world (in the right circles anyway), but watch-making? Not quite. In fact, historically speaking the only notable time-telling devices Finland has been responsible for creating have come attached to Nokia cell-phones. That was until Stepan Sarpaneva returned to his country of birth after spending several years studying and working in Switzerland for companies like Piaget, Parmigiani, Vianney Halter and Christophe Claret.
With his latest creation, the Sarpaneva Korona K0, Stepan shows us once again that there is more than one country in the EU capable of producing exceptional, high quality and above all, original timepieces.
A Different Perspective
One of the great things about Stepan is that he is not Swiss and so his reference points and design influences are completely different. Don’t get us wrong, we are absolutely enamoured with Swiss made watches and Swiss watch-makers (heck, we’ve pretty much built a website dedicated to spreading their message) but the simple fact is that this means that his bold creations are often unlike any of the other pieces you regularly see gracing these very pages. This does not necessarily mean they are better or worse, just simply that they are different.
The Korona K0 is no exception. Even at first glance it appears at once familiar and yet simulataneously so unlike anything you’ve seen before. The design is daring and bold but at the same time evenly tempered, in typical Finnish fashion. Still, understated or not, the exceptional quality and craftsmanship Sarpaneva is so well known for is obvious in every aspect of this new timepiece.
© Guy Lucas De Peslouan
The trade-mark spider-web like black diamond coated stainless steel dial features Superluminova indexes and the 46mm case is crafted from Grade 2 Titanium and rated to 200m water resistance with a subdued matte finish that only serves to further enhance the subtle use of color on the inner-rotating bezel.
Even just the shape of the case itself is different enough to draw your attention without being offensive and gives off a decidedly rugged, sporty vibe complemented by the rubber strap. Yet, at the same time you get the distinct impression that it would look just as at home in the board room as it would on the sports field.
What really makes this piece special though is the concept of integration. You see, Stepan has been clever enough to modify the mainplate in the Soprod A10 calibre automatic movement to incorporate the function of rotating the internal bezel. Whereas as most watches with internal rotating bezels require two crowns (one to set the time and the other to rotate the bezel) the stainless steel, diamond coated Imperial Blue timer ring on this piece is manually adjustable by moving the bajonette screw-down crown to the first position.
Very practical but also very cool.
No word on pricing as yet with availability scheduled to be sometime in 2011.
© Guy Lucas De Peslouan
The Final Word
Sometimes different can be very bad, and sometimes it can be very good. To date Stepan Sarpaneva’s unique creations have always belonged to the second category and judging by the new Korona K0 he intends to continue this trend. We can’t help but be impressed by his bold design choices and clever integration of functionality, producing timepieces that are both highly attractive and at the same time extremely practical.
Then again, he is from Finland.
To find out more visit the official website – www.sarpanevawatches.com
4 Great Comments. Leave one too. | Filed under Exclusives and Previews, New This Week, Watch Reviews
Chronometrie 2009 – The Results Are In!
The Rene Addor Calibre Papillon, 11 day Movement © Ian Skellern
While La Locle may not be the most attractive town in the Swiss Jura, it is a World Heritage Site and along with La Chauxde Fonds is the spiritual home of Swiss Watch making. Last week the Horological Museum in La Locle held the awards ceremony in a six month contest to measure the accuracy of watch movements from around the world.
The first competitions were held at the end of the 19th Century and carried on through until the 1970s when the dire situation of the Swiss watch industry at that time, due to the quartz watch, caused it to be cancelled. Manufacturers send in examples of their watch movements and over a period of several months they are subject to a series of tests to measure their accuracy under a number of different environmental and physical conditions.
There are two main categories, those watches from large manufacturers such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Zentih etc and those from independents. The two categories are separated because if you are a large manufacturer produce thousands and thousands of watches just by the law of averages you will produce one that is almost perfect, while a small independent needs to spend many, many hours refining and refining to get it right.
The first place Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Tourbillon (on the left) with the second-place Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon © Ian Skellern
The surprise perhaps was the number of ETA movements that had been entered, not perhaps a surprise given the number of movements the Swatch subsidiary sells each year to other manufacturers and the lengths some watchmakers go to in order to improve the basic movements.
Well the big winners were:
Independent: Rene Addor Calibre Papillon, 11 day Movement
Brand: Jaeger La Coulture Calibre 978 Master Tourbillon
The Rene Addor is a nice silver face classical watch with a subsidiary seconds atthe 9 o’clock , though personally I prefer the look of the rectangular Artisan d’Horlogerie d’Art Voutilainen with it’s “Doctor’s” dial. It’s a shame that there were only three entries in the independent category let’s hope that if they repeat the contest in 2011 that they attract a bigger entry.
As a big fan of Jaeger-Le Coultre I have always liked the Master Tourbillon, if not it’s price, but given a no-limit budget I would go for the Greubel-Forsey.
Emmanuelle Vuille, CEO of Greubel-Forsey, stated “if you promote yourself as crafters of precision movements, then you are obliged to prove it”, and so entered the competition. This is a viewpoint that a few more manufacturers would do well to take on board.
Dunhill Classic versus Mühle-Glashütte Teutonia Big Date – Take A Second Look
Recently the manifestation of two unrelated events provided the catalyst that triggered this article. Firstly, the arrival of my new weekend watch, the German made Vortex by Dievas courtesy of Gnomon Watches. And secondly, Ben Clymer, a good friend of The Watch Lounge, and the chief editor over at Hodinkee drawing my attention to the relatively new ‘Classic’ watch from Dunhill, which was announced earlier this year.
The purpose of this article, quite simply put, is to let you know about a brand that you may have possibly never heard of before and to subtlety hint at the benefits of looking past the fancy marketing campaigns to discover true value.
What Are You Buying?
Now before I get too carried away, I think it’s important to state that I am actually quite a fan of Dunhill as a brand and admire a lot of the products they have released. The new Classic watch is certainly no exception in this regard. Powered by an automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 896 movement and blessed with timeless good looks it would make an exemplary addition to anyone’s collection. So far, so good, right?
The main problem I have is this: Dunhill is not a watchmaker.
Yes, the Classic is powered by a very respectable Swiss Made movement and it does look quite nice, but consider this; the stainless steel version will run you just over $5,000 and you can forget about getting change from $10,000 for the rose gold version. So what are you actually paying for? The brand or the watch?
Keep that in mind as you prepare to meet (possibly for the first time) German watch maker Mühle-Glashütte.
Take A Second Look
The watch I’ve chosen to introduce you to today is the Teutonia Big Date (pictured above), however, please be advised that this is simply one piece in a rather impressive range. This is not a new watch by any stretch of the imagination but thanks to its classic style you could be forgiven for thinking it was released to the market yesterday. Before I go into too much more detail though, I think a little background on the brand itself is required to help reinforce my above point about Dunhill not actually being a watchmaker.
Mühle-Glashütte’s watch making heritage can be traced back as far 135 years ago when the great-grandfather of the current owner Hans-Jürgen Mühle built and sold measuring instruments for the local clock manufacturers. Hans Mühle, his grandson, found his way back into measurement engineering after 1945, but was dispossessed as part of East German collectivisation. It was not until after the fall of the Wall, in 1994, that the company returned into the ownership of the family, who envisaged a promising market in the manufacture and marketing of ship’s clocks and ship’s clock systems – hence the name ‘Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte’.
The production of high-precision wrist-watches was added later. This decision proved extremely successful – in fact, so much so that this branch of business has turned into Mühle-Glashütte’s core business. Today Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte has been in business for over ten years.
In my opinion the value of this heritage cannot be discounted, you are not just buying a watch, you are buying a story.
Now, back to the actual watch itself. As the name suggests the Teutonia features a big date display just under 12 o’clock, as well as a seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock similar to the Dunhill Classic. The watch is also powered by a reputable (albeit modified) Swiss Automatic Movement, the Mühle ETA 2892-A2.
As far as aesthetics go the Teutonia and the Classic are very similar. Mühle-Glashütte’s offering at 41mm is slightly larger than Dunhill’s 38mm, but still well within the realms of respectable sizing for a watch of this style. Both pieces feature beautifully finished dials, polished stainless steel cases and attractive leather straps.
Here’s the kicker, though. The Mühle-Glashütte Teutonia Big Date will only set you back $3,140 from Gnomon Watches.
Yes, arguably the Dunhill Classic does feature the more highly prized Calibre 896 from JLC but for the money they are asking you could actually just buy a very similar styled Jaeger Le-Coultre, which in my opinion would be a far better option.
The Final Word
The purpose of this article was not so much to single out Dunhill for criticism but rather to bring to your attention the fact that there a number of exceptional watch makers out there, who may not presently be on your radar, but definitely should be. I have personally dealt with Gnomon Watches several times before and the only thing I would rate higher than their service (which is outstanding by the way) is their surprisingly unique selection of brands.
Remember, just because you’ve never heard of a brand before doesn’t mean that it’s not worth a second look. You never know what you might discover when you look past the big marketing budgets.
*Note: This article was written without the endorsement or express request of Gnomon Watches. All views expressed above are my own.
|
|
search the watch lounge
enter your email to get updates in your inbox
Latest Comments
- S U Cohen: Took one peep @ this goody, and now eye = know what covet means…..ConjureMan
- tada: seems kinda hard to play with a watch when u’ve been playing without a watch for most...
- Sandrine Szabo: People hate change and social media was scaring them out. Until lately, when...