Diamond Searchers

Posted by diamondjim on Saturday, 26 December, 2009 @ 6:23 pm

When choosing luxury designer watches, many fine brand names spring to mind.  As many know, Breitling has been synonymous with quality for well over a century, and are most noted for making mechanical aviation watches with giant faces.  What is news is that lately they recently introduced a quartz model – and one apparently targeted more at pro deep sea divers!The Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph was Breitling’s newest offering at last year’s Basel watchmakers’ convention.  This famous yearly watchmakers’ trade fair saw the company take an aggressive approach towards what could be called “the diving demographic,” perhaps looking to penetrate it how they have the market of aviators ( and, let’s face it, of aviator-wannabes and posers ).  This review will take a fast look at this latest model’s key selling points and resolve whether it’s worth the nearly 3 grand American! 

As far as sturdiness goes the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph is built to last.  It’s a extremely rugged telephone that can take some punishment and still be functional.First things first the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph is water resistant.  Many designer watches in fact are water protected but the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph will still run even if it is submerged 300 feet ( 1,000 meters ) underwater.  Most watches will simply cease to function thanks to the extraordinary pressure. Breitling allegedly has found a way to guarantee the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph is functional under such tough conditions.  The watch housing comprises curved sapphire crystals and brushed titanium.  These materials permit the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph to have an anti-reflective surface.  For extreme saturation diving the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph has a helium release valve built in also.  For perfect viewing in low light situations the bezel is engraved and has a luminescent marker.  The Breitling logo is chicly placed on the back of the case. 

Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph watch dials are available in blue, grey, and yellow.  The date is handily displayed next to 3 o’clock.  To round off the customization of this designer watch one can get the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph with the pro divers leather strap or the titanium bracelet. 

Of specific interest is the Super Quartz movement, which is ten times more accurate than the standard found in standard quartz watches.  Such accuracy is alleged to be done by making the movement delicate to the changes in temperature that cause most quartz modules to lose or gain time.  Being thus thermo compensated means the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph is, in effect, self-correcting.  There’s a regatta timer, as well as the standard timepiece feature-set, for yacht races which need measurement in ten minute scales. 

One of the more prominent things about the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph is the magnetically activated push pieces.  These push pieces permit the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph to be completely sealed against the elements and foreign damage.  Anybody ( deep sea divers mainly ) who are in need of a durable and sturdy watch will certainly benefit from purchasing the Aeromarine Avenger Seawolf Chronograph.

Diamond Searchers

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Posted by diamondjim on Saturday, 13 June, 2009 @ 2:38 pm

Rolex watches, the most recognised manufacturer of Swiss watches, has introduced the first mechanical watch in the world that can withstand the pressure of a deep sea dive to the depth of 16,900 feet being the equivalent of nearly 4 kilometres (3,900 metres) below the surface. It should be noted that the world record for a scuba diving deep dive is 330 metres so the new Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea model released last year can withstand a dive more than 10 times the world record depth.

Rolex has a long history of producing water resistant watches and was in fact the first watch manufacturer to produce a water resistant watch when in 1926 it released the Oyster. Many variations of the Oyster model are highly valued on today’s used watches market. Rolex improved the Oyster in subsequent years as well as releasing a new water resistant model, the Submariner, in 1953. The Submariner was water resistant to 100 metres and was shortly afterwards improved to be water resistant to 200 metres. Rolex continued to develop the Submariner and in 1971 launched the precursor to today’s Deepsea called the Sea Dweller, which featured a helium release valve and could be submerged to 610 metres.

To make a watch withstand the pressure of being submerged to great depths, a watch usually has to be made so sturdy that it becomes very bulky and impossible to wear comfortably on the wrist. Rolex wanted to design a watch that was wearable on a daily basis so it took a different approach to the design of the Sea Dweller Deepsea. Rolex designed and patented the ‘Ring Lock System’ for the Sea Dweller Deepsea that uses three different parts to enable the watch to withstand the enormous pressures of being submerged to great depths.

The first component is the crystal made of sapphire and 5.5 millimetres thick. The caseback is made of Grade 5 titanium and is the second component. Grade 5 titanium is an alloy with vanadium and aluminium and is four times stronger than the 904L steel case of the watch. In between the sapphire crystal and the Grade 5 titanium caseback is a ring made of BioDur 108 steel which provides extra support for both components. BioDur 108 steel is three times stronger than 904L steel and due to its high nitrogen content is very corrosion-resistant.

Choosing to use the combination of 904L steel, Grade 5 titanium and BioDur 108 steel to manufacture the Sea Dweller has resulted in a watch that can withstand the enormous pressures of being submerged to such great depths. But not only can it withstand the pressure, its dimensions of a case diameter of 43 millimetres and 18 millimetres deep is still very wearable by today’s standards. And don’t worry if your dive ends up going deeper than 3,900 metres, this watch has been tested to a water pressure of an amazing 4,900 metres!

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Posted by diamondjim on Saturday, 30 May, 2009 @ 7:40 am

The Hong Kong market for Swiss watch exports grew by 10.9% during 2008 while the US market shrunk by 3% which was enough to see the US toppled from the number one spot it has held for the last decade. The US fell to second place but it is still a market twice as large as Japan in third place. Japan is followed closely by the fourth and fifth largest markets, France and Italy respectively. Compared to 2007, the biggest gains in the value of Swiss watch exports were 43.1% for China, then the United Arab Emirates with 27.6% and Saudi Arabia with 24.0%. Spain showed the biggest decline with 13.5%.

Somewhat surprisingly, 2008 was still a record year for Swiss watch exports with the total value of exports 6.7% higher than 2007, which itself was a record year. The final result doesn’t tell the whole story however with the final quarter of 2008 showing a 7.8% decline as the Global Economic Crisis started to hit home for most markets.

The top 15 markets for Swiss watch exports in 2008 with the percentage variation against 2007 and the total value in million US dollars are:

1. Hong Kong ($2,405, +10.9%)

2. USA ($2,111, -3.0%)

3. Japan ($1,053, -4.5%)

4. France ($1,008, +15.1%)

5. Italy ($932, +2.5%)

6. Germany ($814, +10.2%)

7. China ($736, +43.1%)

8. Singapore ($698, +16.8%)

9. United Arab Emirates ($600, +27.6%)

10. United Kingdom ($571, -2.7%)

11. Spain ($403, -13.5%)

12. Russia ($259, -9.7%)

13. Taiwan ($258, +5.1%)

14. Thailand ($236, +11.8%)

15. Saudi Arabia ($213, +24.0%)

The decline in Swiss watch export values seen in the final quarter of 2008 has continued into 2009. The results for the first two months of 2009 released by The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry show the value of exports to the US declined 38% against the same two months in 2008. Exports to the US in the month of February 2009 alone fell by nearly a half with a drop of 47.5%. Other markets have fared better however with the next largest market decline being Japan with 13.5%.

As not all markets have been declining to the same extent (with some markets still growing), not all price ranges of Swiss watch exports have been affected the same. Higher priced exports fared much better in 2008 by growing 20% when compared to their 2007 results. Watch exports with a value of USD $2676 (at time of writing) grew while watches priced between USD $446 and $2676 fell.

In hard economic times, luxury items such as watches become purchases that are more difficult to justify for middle income earners while high income earners still have enough discretionary income to afford a high end luxury watch. So as was expected, the higher end of the luxury watch market held up in a generally declining export market while those watches in the lower end suffered the most. This trend has continued on into the first quarter of 2009 and only time will tell whether the market for luxury watches will show signs of recovery by the end of 2009.

Having seen sustained growth in the value of Swiss watch exports year on year, some of the declines being experienced in 2009 can appear alarming. However it should be remembered that 2008 was a record year for exports and even though the market in a number of key markets, adjustments are being made by the Swiss watch industry to ensure a healthy long term future.

Diamond Searchers

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