Pearl Star

The unique styling and oval face meant that William Anthony’s Pearl Star pocket watch was the first to be made with ‘expanding hands’.  When the watch indicated it was 12 o’clock the hands would be fully extended to the top of the case, whereas at quarter to and quarter past the hour the hands would become shorter so that they wouldn’t fit within the sides of the case.  Considering this watch was made over 200 years ago, this is a spectacular piece of craftsmanship.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual

The Rolex Oyster was a significant milestone in the evolution of the wrist watch as it was the first to be made waterproof.  Rolex has always been an innovator of timepiece technology and the perpetual movement, first designed by Louis Perrelet in the 1750s, was perfected by Rolex in this model of watch.  It worked by having a small weight wound around the watch.  This weight would then move as the wearer moved their arm, eliminating the need for daily winding - hence the watch ran ‘perpetually’.  The Rolex Oysterl Perpetual celebrates its’ 100th anniversary this year.

Patek Philippe Graves

In 1933 New York Banker Henry Graves Jr. asked Patek Philippe to make him the most complicated possible at the time.  The resulting creation was called the ‘Graves Complication’ and had an impressive 24 functions.  The styling looks remarkably similar to some of the more rugged watches available today.  The Graves Complication was way ahead of it’s time and in 1999 was sold at auction for an incredible $11 million.

The Rolex Oyster was a significant milestone in the evolution of the wrist watch as it was the first to be made waterproof.  Rolex has always been an innovator of timepiece technology and the perpetual movement, first designed by Louis Perrelet in the 1750s, was perfected by Rolex in this model of watch.  It worked by having a small weight wound around the watch.  This weight would then move as the wearer moved their arm, eliminating the need for daily winding - hence the watch ran ‘perpetually’.  The Rolex Oysterl Perpetual celebrates its’ 100th anniversary this year.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

This watch is responsible for the popularity of titanium, steel and ceramics popular as watch materials to this day.  Audemars Piguet was founded in 1854 and catered their high-end watches to only the most exclusive of clientele.  By the 1970s most Swiss watch manufacturers were using precious metals and jewellery in their watches, however in 1972 Audemars Piguet made the world’s first stainless steel luxury watch thanks to famed designer Gerald Genda.  The first watch cost approximately $2000 and has undergone several different incarnations since then, including the Outdoor Survivor edition which cost a massive $42,000.

Jaeger LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon

18th century watcmaker Abraham-Louis Bregue pioneered the first tourbillons during the French revolution.  They were crucial to the evolution of the watch as they offset the effects that gravity had on the balance wheel (the gear inside the movement which measures out seconds).  Jaeger-LeCoultre improved on this mechanism by creating the gyrotourbillon, which was a three dimensional wheel which rotated in a similar way to a tiny planet on the watch face.  This combination of a 300 year old invention and modern engineering techniques resulted in one of the most mechanically impressive watches the world had ever seen.

This watch is responsible for the popularity of titanium, steel and ceramics popular as watch materials to this day.  Audemars Piguet was founded in 1854 and catered their high-end watches to only the most exclusive of clientele.  By the 1970s most Swiss watch manufacturers were using precious metals and jewellery in their watches, however in 1972 Audemars Piguet made the world’s first stainless steel luxury watch thanks to famed designer Gerald Genda.  The first watch cost approximately $2000 and has undergone several different incarnations since then, including the Outdoor Survivor edition which cost a massive $42,000.

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Those of you with even a passing interest in science will be aware of highly accurate atomic clocks.  These types of clock use an atomic resonance frequency standard as their timekeeping element and are used to control things such as the frequency of television broadcasts and GPS systems.

In May 2009 the University of Colarado unveiled their strontium optical clock as being the world’s most accurate of it’s kind.  Like other atomic clocks it harnesses the the natural and consistent vibration of atoms to keep track of time.  What makes this particular clock different is that the vibration of these atoms is made even more consistent by holding them in a laser beam and then freezing them to a rather chilly -273 degrees (the temperature at which all matter stops resonating).

Even those this increase in accuracy is a minute fraction of a second, the implications of this development are large.  It has great potential in areas of astrophysics and determining great distances, in particular measuring the distance to distant galaxies in space.

If it’s accuracy you are looking for in your designer watches then you should really look at quartz watches as mechanical watches are generally only accurate to -/+1 second per day, which will of course add up over the course of a year!

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