Gucci is known for being luxuries and the epitome of the rich and famous, and their watch collections are no different.  Here is an exploration of three Gucci watch collections that give luxury an artistic twist.

The Gucci Signoria Watch Collection

The Gucci Signora Collection features 3 different watches all resembling bracelet watches but with unique twist and turns.  The bracelet, in a variety of materials link together seemingly in space in using intricate patterns. The case is a perfect square and has the Gucci logo at the 12 o’clock marker.  Each watch resembles an abstract art pieces suspending in the air.

The Gucci Chiodo Watch Collection

Similar to the Signora Collection is the Gucci Chiodo Watch Collection. Each watch is chained together with masculine yet feminine large bold locks in half moon shapes. The dial of the watches are in mother-of-pearl with a cotton candy tint to it called flinque.

The Gucci Twirl Watch Collection

Lastly, is a collection of watches by Gucci entitled the Twirl Watch where the dial is created in a rotating case.  The strap is made of either stainless steel or gold and each have the Gucci logo motifed at every angle.

And for a limited time this holiday many Gucci watches are  10% off…

Happy Holidays

Since 1856 Eterna has been making luxury watches.  Even though the family ran business was taken over by the Porsche family in 1995, they have stuck the heritage and history keeping products in line with the original philosophy and mission.

One repeating milestone that keeps popping up throughout the company’s history is their obsession with size.  Here is a look at how the company, Eterna, manipulated size to create some of the world’s greatest watch master pieces.

1930: Eterna creates the smallest Baguette Calibre watch to be manufacture in series production.

1956: Eterna launches an extra-thin Centenaire watch with self winding mechanisms and advertised by violinist Yehudi Manuhin. At the time Eterna was celebrating 100 years of business and this watch became the companies most popular product; hence the name.

1958: Another small record, Eterna creates the EternaMatic Golden which becomes, at that time, the world’s smallest automatic movement.

1962: Eterna launches the EternaMatic 300 and it becomes the world’s thinnest man’s wristwatch during that time at just 3.6 millimeter in height.

1980: This was my favorite. Eterna creates the Eterna Museum watch which, including the watch case, measure at .98 millimeters in height.  It also won the Grand Prix Triomphe del’Excellence Europeene Award in 1980.

Prada and LG just released the new Prada Phone by LG.  It’s sleek, it’s new, and looks to be just as popular as the first one… but this is not a cell phone blog so why are we talking about a Prada Phone?  Well the Prada Phone by LG threw the watch world a fast one by including a new accessory with the phone, The Prada Link, a digital watch that links directly to the phone.

The Prada Link has a 48 hour standby time and a 2.5 hour charging time.  It’s made of stainless steel metal and has a genuine leather strap and 3 ATM of water resistance.  Although the Prada Link only has three buttons on the right, those three buttons can do a lot including:

• caller id
• call history
• snooze/reject a cal
• full text messaging display
• call and alarm alerts with a ring or vibration
• alarm stop
• alarm snooze
• watch themes
• world time
• stopwatch
• batter indicator

Amazing…

Bell & Ross luxury watches are unique men watches designed by men who work in extreme environments such as astronauts, pilots, divers, explorers, and my favorite, bomb squad experts.  Bell & Ross designs feature airplane instrument materials and exceptional design mechanics.  One of my favorites is from the BR Instrument collection.

This BR-S Gold Ivory Dial watch from the BR Instrument collection includes mechanical winding chronograph with an independent second counter at the 6 o’clock position.  The case is 39 mm and the case is also made of grey 18k gold.  Each dial is made of ivory and the hour and minute hands are blue. The watch case is made of crystal sapphire with a water resistance of 50 meters.

This Bell & Ross watch is small, flat and sleek and includes a 42 hour power reserve and alligator strap. Some cool features include different crown settings to manipulate water resistance and care instruction that include simply rinsing the watch in fresh water after entering seawater.

Luxury digital watches are becoming the wave of the future, especially when made by a company called Nooka.

Nook was created by Matthew Waldman in 1997 whose first idea came to life on a napkin… like all great artist beginnings; the napkin made its way to New York and viola, Nooka was born.

So what exactly does the word Nooka mean?  Well it depends on who you are.  If you’re a Hawaiian then it means “sleek”, if you are a history buff then it’s from the ancient Amararunk’thuh word meaning “future is now”, if you are a New Yorker then it’s a pet name that means “New Yorker”.  Whatever it means to you, the timepieces design touch all of using design, diamond, crocodile bands, digital displays, bold colors, and inventiveness.

The watch I picked out above captures the heart of the company; it’s called the Zing Zoo BK and has 16 diamonds around the digital display.  The strap is made of certified farm raised crocodile skin and is available in black or brown.  Other specifications include.78 carats of diamonds, 5ATM of water resistance, stainless steel case, LCD display with backlight, and a 1 year warranty all for $3,000.00.

Luxury watches fall in a number of categories including vintage watches, sports watch, diamond watches, and more.  But how about luxury watches so decadent that putting one on would change the way people look at you?  What about luxury watches so delectable that the a prince in Arabia would most likely own one?

That’s exactly what you would find in Angular Momentum’s Sculpture Collection, a collection of timepieces hand sculptured in silver and gold.

The watch above is entitled the Oriental Blossom Time Cushion and is hand sculptured and engraved using 18 karat gold.  All over the watch, 100 full cut diamonds add an amazing sparkle and a pear shaped padparadscha sitting proudly in the middle pointing at the digital time display.   The Oriental Blossom Time Cushion by Angular Movement is a mechanical self-winding  movement and a digital time display works through revolving disk.

One thing I was curious about was the Padparadscha.  The Padparadscha is described as one of the world’s most expensive and rarest gems… right along with the ruby or the emerald.  However, a natural Padparadscha is almost none existent its so rare that they start pricing at $5,000 per carat and can get up to $30,000 per carat depending on size, color, clarity, and tone.

Okay…here’s a complicated Physics equation for you calculating the double pendulum… see if you can give it a try…

…No? Well neither can I, but don’t worry, watch lovers can feel a little smarter with a new Fortis watch by the celebrated artist Rolf Sachs entitled Fortis “IQ Watch”.  The theory behind Rolf Sach’s artist edition “IQ Watch” came from a window design (below) in Selfridges (the London Department Store) based on a Dada exhibit from a local museum.

But you may have to hurry to get yours, only a limited edition of 999 were made and the secret behind the watch is making them sale even faster.  The watch actually represents Dadaism, the anti-war culture movement that focused on the arts, something the world needs right now.

The one thing about luxury watches is that boredom is never an option.  Whether they wow you with their beauty or shock you with their prices, the best surprise is when they actually make you smile.

One watch maker, Alain Silberstein, takes his job very seriously; as a matter of fact his tagline is “true happiness is to have one’s passion as a profession”.  Alain Silberstein’s watches fall into the luxury watch category for many reasons. Some say it’s the price of his watches, some say think it’s the materials, I say it’s his creative and funky design methods that add a little extra spunk to your wrist.

I have so many favorites from his collections that I had a hard time picking just one watch to share.  However, after looking around for a while I settled on a diamond watch from Alain Silberstein’s Klassik Collection entitled the Krono Bauhaus 2 Diamonds.  The Klassik Collection was actually the first collection created by Alain in 1987 and this amazing watch was one of his first creations.

Alain Silberstein’s Krono Bauhaus 2 Diamonds is a watch with a stainless steel case embedded with 438 diamonds!  Each diamond is VVS - Top Weselton and of the highest quality.  The Krono Bahaus 2 has an automatic calendar is a limited edition because Alain only made 999 of these watches. Each one has 10 bars of water resistance and anti glare crystal.

Bulova prides itself in knowing precisely what sophistication is and how to make a watch seep of luxury.

A perfect example is this elegant Wittanauer Ceramic Men’s watch by Bulova.  The Men’s Wittanauer Ceramic Men’s Watch is made out of stainless steel in natural and black finish.  Each of the 49 diamonds on the watch were hand set including 38 diamonds on the case and 11 diamonds on the black enamel dial.

The Men’s Wittnauer Ceramic watch also has domed glareproofed sapphire crystal on both sides and luminous hour and minute hands for reading in the dark.  Other specifications of this Bulova watch inlcude a calendar, a second hand, a 6 screw locked caseback to ensure at least 30 meters of water resistance, and a locking deployment buckle to keep the watch in place.

Unfortunately, I do have a few down points about this Bulova watch.  The Bulova Men’s Wittnauer Ceramic watch has a two infuriating features that I wish they would have included in the watches calendar technology.  First, the watch calendar is programmed for a 31 day cycle.  Consequently, on the first day of any month following a month with less than 31 days, the date must be advanced manually.  Secondly, in some models the calendar cannot be changed manually between the hours of 9pm and 6am!

Photo via Impress Watch

Next year Japan strategizes to put on the market a media player wrist watch made by Sega toys.  The Digipod Treck is the digital wristwatch of future that will be able to do things that watch enthusiast have been waiting for. The Digipod Treck by Sega will be able to play music and video directly from the watch.  The tiny speakers are positioned on the sides of the watch case.

Additionally, the Digipod Treck will be able to capture sound turning itself into a digital voice recorder.  The watch can be used by the wearer to record memos or.  But that’s not all; you can upload all your beloved songs, video, or your memo’s by connecting the watch to your personal computer through USB connections.

This is a very fascinating development in the watch world.  The Digipod Trek is not only the form of a bracelet, it also has a hefty color LCD screen and can view PDF and Word document easily.  The Digipod Trek will be on sale in 2009 in Japan for 13,000 yen or $130.00.

Great price for a cutting edge technology.