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Panerai Mare Nostrum Titanio

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The chronograph made by Officine Panerai in 1943 for the deck officers of the royal italian navy is revived in a special edition of only 150 examples.

Many people know that the ancient Romans, following their conquest of Egypt and Spain, named the Mediterranean Sea “Mare Nostrum” (“Our Sea”) since they controlled the greater part of its coastline. It was the during the rule of Trajan that the Roman Empire reached it maximum size and its control of the Mediterranean coasts was then complete, entirely justifying the title. On the other hand it may not be known that, many centuries later – between 1941 and 1942, to be precise – there was a short period when Italy spoke again of “Mare Nostrum”: this was when, during the Second World War, the victorious missions of the Royal Italian Navy meant that for a short time a wide area of the Mediterranean Sea was controlled by the Italian fleet.

It was undoubtedly this second period, much closer to our own times, that the Panerai family had in mind when in 1943 it named the chronograph created for the deck officers of the Royal Italian Navy “Mare Nostrum”. This name had already been used by Guido Panerai in 1924 for what was probably the first Panerai chronograph, but all traces of this first model have been lost. However a few prototypes of the 1943 chronograph still exist, and these have enabled the new replica Breiitling watches to be reconstructed with great technical accuracy and similar aesthetic characteristics. The new Mare Nostrum Titanio is a Special Edition of the greatest interest, consisting of only 150 units. It faithfully reproduces the 1943 model, updating it to the highest standards of today’s high quality watchmaking and with some fundamental differences compared to the original.

The first difference compared to the vintage AAA Cartier Replica watches is the material of which the large case 52 mm in diameter is made. The metal used for this tonneau-shaped case is not steel but brushed titanium, a material which combines excellent non-allergenic properties and greater lightness than steel with the structural toughness needed to resist high pressure, external stresses and corrosion. The wide flat bezel, the screw back and the winding crown engraved with the words “Mare Nostrum” are all made of brushed titanium as well.

The chronograph functions are controlled by two classic push buttons, also made of brushed titanium, and the readings are indicated by the central seconds hand and by a subsidiary minutes counter dial at three o’Clock. The continuous seconds hand rotates in a subsidiary dial at nine o’clock. Protected by a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment, the dial is made in two levels and, instead of the dark green of the vintage model, it is a sophisticated tobacco brown, which coordinates with the brown leather strap and its ecru stitching.

The new version of the Mare Nostrum has a hand-wound manufacture movement: the OP XXV calibre developed on a Minerva 13-22 base; it is 12¾ lignes in diameter and has a balance wheel making 18,000 vibrations per hour, like the Angelus movement of the vintage prototype. This is a high quality Breitling Replica watchmaking calibre, hand-finished, with top-of-the-range technical details such as the column wheel and the swan neck regulator. The bridges are made of Maillechort, a nickel silver alloy that is particularly hard to work, and they have a sophisticated Côtes de Genève finish. The Mare Nostrum Titanio – 52mm has the reference PAM00603 and it is water-resistant to 3 bars (a depth of about 30 metres).

IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “75th Anniversary”

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In 2015, the large digital date and month display becomes a dominant feature of the IWC Portugieser watch family. Limited to just 25 replica Breiitling watches in platinum and 75 of each of the red gold editions, the new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “75th Anniversary” is equipped with a wealth of sophisticated complications that are available in this combination only from IWC Schaffhausen.

The digital perpetual calendar is one of the outstanding technological advances made by the Schaffhausen- based watchmaking company. With the new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “75th Anniversary” (Ref. 3972), the Portugieser watch family now includes a model featuring a digital display for the date and month. This exclusive timepiece packs a wealth of IWC watchmaking expertise into its 45-millimetre case: perpetual calendar, large digital date, leap year display, chronograph with flyback function and the IWC-manufactured 89801 calibre with its quick-action switch and efficient double-pawl winding mechanism. On the occasion of its relaunch to mark the 75th anniversary of the Portugieser family, the watch is fitted with an arched-edge front glass and Santoni alligator leather strap and has an attractive new calibre design. The watch is limited to 25 pieces in platinum and 75 pieces each in 18-carat red gold with either a black or silver-plated dial.

Changing ways of seeing things in the course of time

The Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “75th Anniversary” makes allowances for the different ways of seeing things that have developed over the centuries: the dial combines two striking, highly legible analogue displays (time and chronograph) with three digital ones (date, month and leap year). Today, most people prefer to read the time with the help of hands but are happy if the date is shown in figures. This was not always so, as can be demonstrated by the example of the time of day. In 1884, IWC unveiled its first Pallweber-style pocket watches with a jumping digital display showing the hours and minutes. The watches were an enormous hit, but then, after just 3 years, the craze was over. When digital time displays were embraced on a massive scale with the quartz watches of the 1970s, the watchmakers in Schaffhausen stuck to their guns and continued to use hour and minute hands. And for a good reason: on a digital display, the abstract information contained, for instance, in “11:45” first needs to be mentally processed, whereas the spatial arrangement of the hands on an analogue Rolex replica watches for sale is understood quickly and intuitively. It is, simply, “quarter to twelve”.

Displaying stop times is uncannily simple

Just how intensively the designers in Schaffhausen have thought about our habitual ways of seeing things can be seen from the chronograph display on the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month “75th Anniversary”. While considering whether there was a way to make the figures in the various subdials of a conventional chronograph easier to process, they hit on the idea of displaying the stopped hours and minutes in a totalizer – just like the time of day. The stopped seconds continued to be shown by the central seconds hand. From a design point of view this may seem ingeniously simple, but technically speaking it is very difficult to implement. To turn the “watch-within- a-watch” concept into reality, a team at IWC worked for 4 years on the in-house 89360-calibre chronograph movement with its particularly efficient double-pawl winding mechanism. Inthis assembly, four pawls arranged diagonally to the pawl wheel – in other words two sets of double pawls – convey the push-and-pull motion from the rotor to the barrel. This solution eliminates dead spots during winding and boosts the system’s efficiency by a significant 30 percent. The further-developed in-house 89801 calibre is now used in the Reference 3972. Like its predecessor, it features an integrated flyback function that enables the user to reset the running stopwatch hands to zero simply by pushing the button, and to start another timing sequence immediately.

An entire dial set in motion

It is said that some proud owners of an IWC timepiece equipped with the Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month movement put the complex mechanics of their fake Swiss Breiitling watches to the test on New Year’s Eve by starting the chronograph just before midnight. Precisely at the moment that the new year begins the entire dial is set in motion: six hands advance slowly while two large display discs and a smaller one also move forward with a distinctive and (due to the commotion caused by celebrations) barely perceptible click. Despite this tour de force of precision mechanics, the interplay between the complications does not affect the precision of the movement, even if there is hardly any more tension in the spring. Where does the IWC-manufactured 89801 calibre get all this power? The secret is a second source of energy, the so-called quick-action switch. Every night, when the date display moves forward, the switch siphons off a little of the energy, stores it and then discharges it precisely at the end of the month or year when, in addition to the date and month disc, the leap year disc also needs to be advanced. The perpetual calendar can be set easily using the crown. It will not require correction until 2100, a year that breaks with the conventional 4-year cycle and will not be a leap year. The see-through sapphire-glass back provides a view of the meticulously finished movement consisting of 474 individual parts. Following further development, the IWC-manufactured 89801 calibre now has a number of new features: the rotor and the inset “Probus Scafusia” medallion are now slightly more delicate in de- sign and made of solid red gold. Other new highlights include the decorative blued screws, which together with the red jewels and the Geneva stripes on the plate constitute an attractive ensemble.

Test bench Richard Mille RM 017 Ultra Thin Tourbillon

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— With the RM 017 Ultra Thin Tourbillon from the man who invented 21st century cheap watchmaking, GMT offers you a remake of “Back to the future”.

RM 017 Tourbillon Extra plat © Richard Mille


While not an all-new model, this iconic reference incorporates a number of characteristic Richard Mille technological innovations and have since been applied to a number of developments that we owe to the visionary mindset of its R&D department.

Exterior

The RM 016 had accustomed brand aficionados to a new case shape: a clean-cut, well proportioned rectangular curving along its vertical axis and adopted for the RM 017 featured in this test bench. The pure and almost minimalist lines of this design might easily make one forget the complexity of the construction of this case that alone entailed around 20 stamping operations and many hours of work. Due to its upper surface, a rectangular case always seems lager than a round case of the same size and the RM 017 features fairly imposing dimensions, at 49.5 mm long and 38 mm wide. Although definitely not discreet, the RM 017 is nonetheless a Breitling replica watches sale well suited to daily wear.

 

Richard Mille RM017 tourbillon

Zoom on the tourbillon.
© Richard Mille Swiss Replica Watches

In addition to the technical aspects we will look at in more detail, the moderate thickness of the case (8.70 mm) considerably contributes to the overall success of this RM 017. This restrained thickness and the two curves at 12 and 6 o’clock result in an astonishingly ergonomic fit in light of the surface occupied on the wrist. The technical structure of the case is an integral part of its design. The bezel and the back protrude beyond the sides of the case and protect their vertical satin-brushed finish. Long screws pass through two columns on either side that assemble the bezel and back between which the caseback is “sandwiched”, thereby guaranteeing the water resistance of the case as well as consolidating its structure.

An impressive strap with a surprising black satin lining stretches its tapered lines between the 38 mm of the case and an ingenious folding buckle secured with a spring-type clasp. Although the movement appears to be suspended alone at the center of the case, a dial covers almost its entire surface. This effect is achieved by a transparent sapphire plate bearing the superluminova-enhanced Arabic numerals.

Refined cut-outs on this dial reveal the barrel and tourbillon bridges appearing on the same level, creating a stunning yet almost invisible effect. Exactly the kind of detail that nurture authentic Haute Horlogerie. One also notes an attractive and functional cone-shaped crown and splendid delicately beveled dauphine hands.

 

Richard Mille RM017 back

Case back.
© Richard Mille Fake Watches

Movement

This is a hand-wound caliber regulated by a pivoted tourbillon. The single barrel feeds the oscillations of the regulating organ at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour, for a full 72 hours. The bridges and plates are made of grade 5 titanium. This choice of material made it possible to skeleton-work the movement without sacrificing the overall rigidity, which is indeed further enhanced by the use of ribbed profiles. The hours and minutes are displayed in the center, while the discreet power-reserve indicator appears at 2 o’clock and the brand’s cherished function selector at 4 o’clock.

The most remarkably ingenious features of this caliber are indeed concentrated within the winding and time-setting mechanism. In normal usage with the crown pushed in, nothing particular happens. The winding stem is uncoupled from any winding or time-setting functions. This means no stresses and strains are inflicted on the mechanism by inadvertent handling or impacts on the crown. The crown must therefore be pulled out to the first position for the function selector to switch from N (neutral) to W (wound) and thus enable winding of the best replica Breitling watch. In the second position, the selector shifts to “H” (hours set), which enables time-setting. Nonetheless, coming back to the “W” winding position. The crown boasts an exceptional grip despite its surprising shape. At the end of the winding operation, in order to avoid overtightening the spring, a progressive recoil barrel pawl limits the torque. A second safety feature then prevents the latter mechanism from having to absorb the surplus energy, and closer examination reveals that the Richard Mille engineers have developed a dynamometric crown. This is a true stroke of genius and shows the full extent of Richard Mille’s innovative role on the watchmaking scene. These are the kinds of ideas that provide authentic solutions to the problems encountered by mechanical horology from its very outset.

Tests

So what kind of performances and chronometry (precision timing) can one expect from the watchmaking of the future? In order to reliably measure the impact on the rate of the fake Breitling watches implied by the torque limitation and dynamometric crown, the test procedures where slightly modified. We thus performed measurements of rates and amplitudes after 60 hours of operation in order to appraise the residual rate at the end of winding, as well as after 48 hours of running, along with two measurements at 0 hours. We therefore wound the spring to the maximum until the crown disengaged and then immediately performed a series of measurements. As expected, the results were exceptional. Amplitudes consistently above 290° to 265°, respectively in horizontal and vertical positions with an average rate of +3 sec/day in horizontal position and +5 sec/day in vertical position. We then conducted a second series of tests after one hour of operation. This enabled us to be sure of having eliminated any possible residual excess tension in the winding mechanism and the barrel spring.

The results are stunning! The print-outs show maximum differences of 3° in the amplitudes, while the daily rates are strictly identical! The contribution of the torque limitation, and especially of the dynamometric crown, should be considered a major innovation in modern watchmaking and should ideally be applied at some stage to all hand-wound movements. In addition to the security-related aspect of the invention that would in itself be sufficient to establish its credibility, this crown also has a remarkable influence on chronometry during the first hours of operation. Finally, the solution displays a mechanical purity worthy of the most illustrious historical watchmakers. After 48 hours of running, the results are still chronometer-worthy, and it was not until 60 hours that the amplitudes and rate quite logically showed a decline, while remaining well within the read-off precision provided by a minutes hand. Finally, the ergonomics of this out-of-this-world model are simply stupendous.

 

Richard-Mille-RM017_front

© Richard Mille

Conclusion

Richard Mille inaugurated an avant-garde style heralding an era that is proving sufficiently long and eventful to make a definitive mark on the history of watchmaking. A replica watches sale such as the RM 017 demonstrates the importance of these innovations that should point the way towards progress in the coming decades. If the design of the RM 017 appeals to you and you are not afraid to wear a somewhat showy replica watches for sale, you will certainly not be taking any risks by acquiring the fruit of such impressive technical accomplishments.

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