Monday, October 31, 2011
AUTHENTIC VINTAGE 10K GOLD FILLED LECOULTRE MEMOVOX WRISTALARM GENTS WRISTWATCH (SOLD)
AUTHENTIC VINTAGE LECOULTRE GENTS WRISTWATCH (SOLD)
BRAND/JENAMA: AUTHENTIC VINTAGE LECOULTRE GENTS WRISTWATCH
MADE IN/BUATAN: SWISS
CIRCA/TAHUN: 1960's
MODEL: DRESS
CRYSTAL/CERMIN: ACRYLIC - CLEAN
MOVEMENT/ENJIN: LECOULTRE 17 JEWELS MANUAL WINDING MOVEMENT CAL. K490
DIAL: GOLD TONE WITH SUB SECOND AT 6:00
HANDS/JARUM: GOLD TONE HANDS
MARKERS/TANDA WAKTU: GOLD TONE STICK MARKERS
CASING : 10K GOLD FILLED
LUGS: 18mm
MEASUREMENT/UKURAN: 35mm DIAMETER WITH CROWN and 43mm LUG TO LUG
BEZEL: 10K GOLD ILLED
DITANDA/ENGARVED BACK CASING: -
CROWN: ORIGINAL JL GP CROWN
STRAP/TALI: BLACK LEATHER BAND
SIZE STRAP/SAIZ TALI: 8.5" FULL LENGHT
DISCONTINUED LECOULTRE MODEL...
EXCELLENT CONDITION, KEEPING GOODTIME AND RECENTLY SERVICED
PRICE/HARGA: (SOLD TO TN MOHAMMAD FROM KELANTAN)
SOLD: RM1700
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LE COULTRE WATCHES
A brilliant inventor and self-taught watchmaker, Antoine-LeCoultre founded his first workshop in 1833, following the invention of a machine to produce watchmaking pinions. Ever since, the Manufacture Jaeger-Lecoultre has developed constantly around the founder's original workshops.
Surprisingly enough, it was neither a physicist nor an engineer who first measured the micron; it was Antoine LeCoultre, in 1844. He had created watch components that were so perfect no tool could actually detect their degree of inaccuracy. He followed that up by inventing the world's most accurate instrument: the Millionometer, which served as a benchmark for over half a century.
In 1847, LeCoultre created a revolutionary system that was to do away with the need for keys to rewind and set watches. His simple and brilliant solution was a pushbutton that activated a lever to switch from one function to another. It was the first keyless winding mechanism, and the first reliable system that eliminated the need for keys to wind or set a watch.
In 1866, when Swiss watchmaking was still structured around small home-run workshops, Antoine LeCoultre and his son Elie decided to bring together under one rood the many skills involved in making watches, and installed a steam-driven machine to operate their new tools. LeCoultre & Cie thus became the first Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux.
It was in 1903 when the Parisian Edmond Jaeger set Swiss watchmakers the challenge of producing ultra-thin calibres. It would lead to the Calibre 145, the world's thinnest mechanical movement, measuring no more than 1.38 mm, and the friendship of Antoine LeCoultre's grandson, Jacques-Devid LeCoultre. These two men would give a rise to a range of horological wonders, and eventually the birth of the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand in 1937.
In the year 1908, the Manufacture created its first rectangular-shaped calibre in response to the challenge created to miniaturize watches to wear on the wrist. By the "Roaring 20s" (1920s), very small ladies' wristwatches were all the rage, but extreme miniaturization always led to a loss of reliability and precision. The Duoplan brilliantly solved this problem by arranging its parts on split levels. It would lead to the world's smallest movement, Calibre 101. Outdoing the Calibre 145, Jaeger-Lecoultre miniaturized the Duoplan caliber to the extreme, weighing in at barely one gram and comprising of 74 parts. Its record is still unmatched to this date.
AUTHENTIC VINTAGE LECOULTRE TANQ GENTS WRISTWATCH
BRAND/JENAMA: AUTHENTIC VINTAGE JAEGER LECOULTRE TANQ GENTS WRISTWATCH
MADE IN/BUATAN: SWISS
CIRCA/TAHUN: 1940's
MODEL: TANQ
CRYSTAL/CERMIN: ACRYLIC
MOVEMENT/ENJIN: JAEGER LECOULTRE 17 JEWELS MANUAL WINDING MOVEMENT BY VACHERON CONSTATIN AXN
DIAL COLOR: TWO TONE SUB-SECOND AT 6:00
FUNCTION/FUNGSI: HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND
HANDS/JARUM: GOLD TONE METAL HANDS
MARKERS/TANDA WAKTU: RAISED GOLD TONE ROMAN AND SQUARE DOT MARKERS
CASING : 10K GOLD FILLED
LUGS: 16mm
MEASUREMENT/UKURAN: 24mm DIAMETER INCLUDING CROWN and 36mm LUG TO LUG
BEZEL: -
DITANDA/ENGARVED BACK CASING: -
CROWN: UNSIGNED ORIGINAL CROWN
STRAP/TALI: BROWN TEXTILE MILITARY BAND
SIZE STRAP/SAIZ TALI: 8.5" FULL LENGHT
DISCONTINUED LECOULTRE MODEL... RAREST!
EXCELLENT CONDITION, KEEPING GOODTIME AND RECENTLY SERVICED
PRICE/HARGA: USD900 (NEGOTIABLE/BOLEH DIRUNDING)
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LE COULTRE WATCHES
A brilliant inventor and self-taught watchmaker, Antoine-LeCoultre founded his first workshop in 1833, following the invention of a machine to produce watchmaking pinions. Ever since, the Manufacture Jaeger-Lecoultre has developed constantly around the founder's original workshops.
Surprisingly enough, it was neither a physicist nor an engineer who first measured the micron; it was Antoine LeCoultre, in 1844. He had created watch components that were so perfect no tool could actually detect their degree of inaccuracy. He followed that up by inventing the world's most accurate instrument: the Millionometer, which served as a benchmark for over half a century.
In 1847, LeCoultre created a revolutionary system that was to do away with the need for keys to rewind and set watches. His simple and brilliant solution was a pushbutton that activated a lever to switch from one function to another. It was the first keyless winding mechanism, and the first reliable system that eliminated the need for keys to wind or set a watch.
In 1866, when Swiss watchmaking was still structured around small home-run workshops, Antoine LeCoultre and his son Elie decided to bring together under one rood the many skills involved in making watches, and installed a steam-driven machine to operate their new tools. LeCoultre & Cie thus became the first Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux.
It was in 1903 when the Parisian Edmond Jaeger set Swiss watchmakers the challenge of producing ultra-thin calibres. It would lead to the Calibre 145, the world's thinnest mechanical movement, measuring no more than 1.38 mm, and the friendship of Antoine LeCoultre's grandson, Jacques-Devid LeCoultre. These two men would give a rise to a range of horological wonders, and eventually the birth of the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand in 1937.
In the year 1908, the Manufacture created its first rectangular-shaped calibre in response to the challenge created to miniaturize watches to wear on the wrist. By the "Roaring 20s" (1920s), very small ladies' wristwatches were all the rage, but extreme miniaturization always led to a loss of reliability and precision. The Duoplan brilliantly solved this problem by arranging its parts on split levels. It would lead to the world's smallest movement, Calibre 101. Outdoing the Calibre 145, Jaeger-Lecoultre miniaturized the Duoplan caliber to the extreme, weighing in at barely one gram and comprising of 74 parts. Its record is still unmatched to this date.
Since its founding, the Manufacture has created and produced over 1,000 different calibres in many varieties. Over 200 patented inventions have contributed to the progress of Swiss watchmaking in the field of movements, as well as that of cases, bracelets, dials, and watch functions.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
ROLEX OYSTER PERPETUAL DATE GMT-MASTER 16700 GENTS WRISTWATCH (SOLD)
A History of Rolex Watches
Rolex Dateline
- 1905 - Hans Wildorf establishes a London firm specialising in the distribution of watches.
- 1908 - Wildorf coins a brand name in which to sign his creations: Rolex.
- 1910 - In Switzerland, Rolex obtains the first official chronometer certification ever awarded to a wristwatch.
- 1914 - The Kew Observatory in Great Britain awards the Rolex wristwatch a CLASS A precision certificate.
- 1926 - Rolex develops and patents the first airtight, dustproof and waterproof watch - named the Oyster.
- 1927 - The Rolex Oyster crosses the English Channel unscathed.
- 1931 - Birth of the Perpetual Rotor, a self winding mechanism later found in every modern automatic watch.
- 1945 - The Oyster Datejust is invented. The first watch to display the date automatically.
- 1953 - Rolex has created the diving watch of reference - the Submariner.
- 1954 - The Oyster Perpetual Ladydate is introduced.
- 1955 - The Oyster GMT Master is designed making it possible to read the time in any two time zones.
- 1956 - The Oyster Day-Date is created.
- 1960 - The so called Bathyscaphe is created and plunges 35,787 feet into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1967 - The Oyster Sea-Dweller is invented - waterproof to a depth of 610 m / 2001 ft.
- 1971 - The Oyster Explorer II is designed.
- 1978 - The Oyster Perpetual Date Sea-Dweller is tested waterproof to a depth of 1220 m / 4003 ft.
- 1988 - The first Cosmograph Daytona is fitted with a perpetual rotor.
- 1992 - A new model is added to the Professioanl range - the Yacht-Master.
- 2004 - Submariner celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Rolex celebrates with a special commemorative model with a green bezel and unique black dial.
AUTHENTIC VINTAGE ZENITH BOY SIZE WRISTWATCH (SOLD)
BRAND/JENAMA: AUTHENTIC VINTAGE ZENITH BOY SIZE WRISTWATCH
MADE IN/BUATAN: SWISS
CIRCA/TAHUN: 1930's
MODEL:CLASSIC
CRYSTAL/CERMIN: ACCRYLIC
MOVEMENT/ENJIN: ZENITH 15 JEWELS MANUAL WINDING MOVEMENT
DIAL COLOR: WHITE PORCELAIN - CLEAN AND NO CRACK
FUNCTION/FUNGSI: HOUR, MINUTE, SUB SECOND AT 6:00
HANDS/JARUM: BLUE METAL HANDS
MARKERS/TANDA WAKTU: BLACK ARABIC MARKERS
CASING : GOLD TOP AND STAINLESS STEEL BACK
LUGS: 16mm FIXED LUGS
MEASUREMENT/UKURAN: 30mm DIAMETER WITH CROWN and 31mm LUG TO LUG
DITANDA/ENGARVED BACK CASING:
CROWN: UNSIGNED GP CROWN
STRAP/TALI: BLACK LIZARD LEATHER BAND
SIZE STRAP/SAIZ TALI: 8.5"
GOOD CONDITION, KEEPING TIME AND RARE FIND
PRICE/HARGA: SOLD TO MR LHB FROM PONTIAN JOHOR - 2.11.11
Zenith was founded in 1865 in Le Locle, Switzerland by a 22-year-old clockmaker named Georges Favre-Jacot. Unlike competitors at the time, Zenith made its own movements. By 1875, Zenith employed almost a third of the town’s population to manufacture its pocket watches.
Acclaim for the company's products came fairly quickly. There was a gold medal at the Swiss National Exhibition in 1896, followed by a first prize for chronometers at a Neuchâtel Observatory competition in 1903. By the 1920's, Zenith had introduced its first wristwatches, which were cased in gold and reflected the Art Deco sensibility of the day.
Despite significant global disturbances such as the Great Depression in the 1930's and World War II, production increased until the 1950's, when Zenith was one of the unquestioned leaders in Swiss watchmaking (in that decade, its calibers won prizes from the Neuchâtel Observatory five years in a row).
A typical vintage Zenith dress wristwatch from 1955 had an 18k rose gold case, a silver dial, and a hand-stitched black patent alligator strap. Inside was a 135 caliber, manual-movement chronometer, which at the time was state of the art.
Sports models such as the Pilot, designed to compete with the Rolex Explorer, appeared in the 1960's, but the biggest news of that decade was the 1969 launch of Zenith’s El Primero chronograph movement. Watches from this era with this movement inside are among the most collectible vintage Zenith wristwatches available.
Work on this marvel of watchmaking (150 individual stamps were required to manufacture all its tiny parts) had begun in 1962. Despite subsequent advances in technology, El Primero remains the only integrated chronograph caliber with automatic winding in both directions, and the only mechanical movement to vibrate at a rate of 36,000 beats per hour, making it accurate to within a tenth of a second.
Zenith has a long reputation for the quality and precision of their watches, with 1,565 1st-place precision awards to date. Zenith, is one of the few Swiss watch brands that make their own mechanical movements - the Elite (standard movement) and the El Primero (chronograph). The El Primero movement has a frequency of 36,000 alternations per hour. This high rate allows a resolution of 1/10th of a second and a potential for greater positional accuracy over the more typical chronometer frequency of 28,000 alt per hour.Ironically, at the same time that Zenith introduced it's greatest movement, quartz arrived to the watch world, an invention that would almost destroy the traditional swiss watch industry in the subsequent years. Zenith takes on the quartz challenge, preserving its precious tooling and waiting for the inevitable comeback of the mechanical movements. While many watch manufacturers ceased to exist during this rough years, Zenith was able to persist in part thanks to supplying its El Primero movement to other prestigious watch makers, the most famous being the Rolex Daytona.
The turn of the century saw Zenith reinvent itself and modernize its timepieces. In 2002 at the Basel watch fair, Zenith launched 4 new movements and 14 new models that represented an overwhelming 52 new variations. There have been several innovations made by Zenith in the 2000's and many new models have been launched. Currently, Zenith has been launching a collection of sport-chic watches entitled DEFY, and are further progressing the modernity of their timepieces.
Zenith was purchased by luxury giant LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy) in November 1999, becoming one of several brands in LVMH's watch and jewelry division.
Presently, Zenith markets five watch lines, including the Chronomaster, Class, Port-Royal, Vintage, Defy, Star and the all new Omnipotence.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
SOLD - BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION - SOLID 18K BEZEL RING ROLEX OYSTER PERPETUAL DATEJUST 1601 GENTS WRISTWATCH
A History of Rolex Watches
Rolex Dateline
- 1905 - Hans Wildorf establishes a London firm specialising in the distribution of watches.
- 1908 - Wildorf coins a brand name in which to sign his creations: Rolex.
- 1910 - In Switzerland, Rolex obtains the first official chronometer certification ever awarded to a wristwatch.
- 1914 - The Kew Observatory in Great Britain awards the Rolex wristwatch a CLASS A precision certificate.
- 1926 - Rolex develops and patents the first airtight, dustproof and waterproof watch - named the Oyster.
- 1927 - The Rolex Oyster crosses the English Channel unscathed.
- 1931 - Birth of the Perpetual Rotor, a self winding mechanism later found in every modern automatic watch.
- 1945 - The Oyster Datejust is invented. The first watch to display the date automatically.
- 1953 - Rolex has created the diving watch of reference - the Submariner.
- 1954 - The Oyster Perpetual Ladydate is introduced.
- 1955 - The Oyster GMT Master is designed making it possible to read the time in any two time zones.
- 1956 - The Oyster Day-Date is created.
- 1960 - The so called Bathyscaphe is created and plunges 35,787 feet into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1967 - The Oyster Sea-Dweller is invented - waterproof to a depth of 610 m / 2001 ft.
- 1971 - The Oyster Explorer II is designed.
- 1978 - The Oyster Perpetual Date Sea-Dweller is tested waterproof to a depth of 1220 m / 4003 ft.
- 1988 - The first Cosmograph Daytona is fitted with a perpetual rotor.
- 1992 - A new model is added to the Professioanl range - the Yacht-Master.
- 2004 - Submariner celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Rolex celebrates with a special commemorative model with a green bezel and unique black dial.