We stumbled upon some really inspirational watches today that we had to share with our readers.  Stamp collections can be boring to anyone, right? But when the stamps are part of the watch…who could really resist them?

That’s exactly what we thought when we stumbled upon the P.S. Watch Collection by Arang and Co. Last year the company debuted two collections, “P.S. I Love You” and “P.S. Happy Holidays”.  Both collections are inspired by postage stamp art and are under $200…you can’t beat that.

Even if you do find some other watches with postal stamps for the watch dial; don’t be fooled.  Arang and Co. is the official U.S. Postal Service license holder that mission includes the notion that, as National Jeweler stated, ”people have an emotional connection to stamp art, and not just for the reason of mailing”. As a result, each watch is created by an artist; the one above is called Love Letters by Lisa Catalone.  It’s has a polished stainless steel case with champagne mother-of-pearl dial and a cream leather strap.

Since Valentine’s Day is arriving, here’s a look at the PS I Love You Collection.. We’ll let the rest of the watches speak for themselves.

Love Cupid by Terry McCaffrey (Square)

Love Letters by Lisa Catalone (Round)

Puppy Love by Saul Mandel (Tank)

Love Repeat by Bradbury Thompson (Oversize Tank)

All Heart by Paul Zwolak (East West)

A name that is slowly and surely being heard in the luxury watch industry is Marc Ecko and his new watch collection, The Prez, “where urban street culture meets high society, the Prez is a fashion icon of stunning visual appeal”.

After we show you Marc Ecko watches, you won’t doubt that statement one bit. But before we get into the Marc Ecko watch review, just in case you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years and don’t know much about  urban fashion, the Ecko brand, or even Marc Ecko himself, here’s a refresher course.

Marc Ecko began his life as a designer in New York while in college.  In those days designing meant graffiti art; and he was good at it.  Soon Ecko was born and Marc Ecko began making handmade t-shirts using his graffiti and urban art skills.  Soon a phenomenon was born.  Spike Lee, Chuck D, Good Morning America, and many more began to jump on the Ecko bandwagon.

Soon Ecko became the leader in hip hop, skating, and extreme sports attire. The product line included footwear, leather goods, gloves, outerwear, underwear, women’s clothing, cosmetics, a magazine, children’s apparel, bags, and now watches.

The Marc Ecko watch collection, The Prez comes in a luxury glossy and black wooden block. The diamond versions of the watch include 1.454 white stones prong set in the dial, bracelet, and case.  The case is round with a tire like design on the edges called sun ray edging.  Each Marc Ecko watch has a flat scratch-resistance crystal case cover and special collector’s editions include a special case back.  The watches are available in silver, black and rose gold, and yellow gold.  Marc Ecko watches online include an overview of all the watches in made by the designer.

Silver

Black and Rose Gold

Yellow Gold

Today Amazon.com released that its 14th holiday season was its best ever.  It’s really amazing that regardless of the economic concerns over the holiday, online shopping came up strong.  Amazon.com released that over 6.3 million items were ordered worldwide on online shopper’s busiest day; December 15th…. that’s 72.9 items per second!
(Source:  weltonline.com)

However, the most exciting part of Amazon.com statistics are the top selling watches.  It’s like opening a Christmas present here at the Watch Digest… what watches sold the best?  Well, here’s a closer look at all the best watch sellers this holiday season at Amazon.com.

1. Invicta Men’s Pro Diver Stainless Steel Watch was one of Amazon.com’s top selling watches this holiday season.  The Invicta Men’s Pro diver Stainless Steel watch is designed for divers and is water resistant for up to 100 meters.  It has a stainless steel 44.5 diameter case with a white dial, luminous hands and markers, glare proofed sapphire crystal, day and date function, Swiss quartz movement, and a unidirectional bezel.

2. Citizen’s Eco-Drive Men’s Chronograph Canvas Watch was also a top seller with Amazon.com online shoppers this holiday season.  The Citizen’s watch is a big favorite of “green movement”.  Not only is the citizen Eco-Drive Men’s Chronograph Canvas watch ecologically friendly, it’s also solar powered with a military green nylon strap.  This top selling watch features a date calendar, luminous hands and markers, and a stainless steel bezel polished case.

3. Last, but not least, the Movado Men’s Juro Stainless Steel Watch rounded out the top selling online watches at Amazon.com.  The Movado Men’s Juro (Read more at Movado Watch Blog) has a Swiss quartz movement, scratch resistant sapphire crystal, stainless steel case with black dial, stainless steel bracelet, and 99 feet of water resistance.
Well, that rounds out the top watches this holiday sold at Amazon.com.

Hopefully, this will give Movado, and others, the boost they need to make it through these economic times…

Happy Holidays

Desperate times call for desperate measures; I guess the old saying is true.  It seems that the best opportunities and show of human ingenuity come at the times when it’s not so easy.  To be honest, the watch industry has been really struggling with the state of the current economy for many reasons.  First, luxury items are the first to go in a recession and two, bargain shopping is aggressive for those who are still shopping luxury items… so the lowest price wins.  However, WatchChoice.com has launched a new luxury watch website that help retailers get a little closer to consumers and help consumers get a little closer to the bargains they are so desperately seeking.

And consumers are seeking choices that why WatchChoice.com is a site that displays luxury watch inventories from watch dealers in US, Europe, and Asia.  Right now, approximately 30 dealers have signed up and about 16,000 new luxury watches and used luxury watches are listed for sale.   The site is a great opportunity for watch retailers for a number of reasons.  First, it gives them a chance to highlight their inventory compared to other dealers; secondly, it gives them a chance to tap into customers that otherwise may not have came across their boutique or site, and thirdly it gives them a chance to keep an eye on the competition.  Glenn Palmer, the Managing Director of WatchChoice.com had these things to say:

“With the economy placing increasing pressure on buyer’s wallets, choosing the right luxury watch at the right price has become even more important than ever…”

“A sign that value is becoming more important is that we are seeing that good quality second hand luxury watches have become even more attractive as an affordable alternative to a new luxury watch as a way of having the watch you want on your wrist, at a price you can afford. For example, thousands of dollars can be saved by buying something like a second hand rather than new Rolex in perfect condition…”

“WatchChoice.com attributes part of its success to watch dealers looking for cost effective ways to highlight their luxury watch stock in a slowing market where buyers are becoming harder to come by. We are very pleased with the quality of dealers that have signed with WatchChoice.com at this early stage and we are working hard to build the variety of luxury watches and dealers represented on the site….”

We definitely agree with Mr. Palmer; retailers are so behind when it comes to online technologies and social shopping, it’s about time the watch industry decided to take a closer look at the internet and how they could leverage it to increase sales.  But don’t take our word for it; check it out for yourself at www.watchchoice.com.

Linde Werdelin has designed the perfect Christmas watch this holiday season, right on time for The Watch Digest to suggest our first last minute holiday gift idea; The Hard Green DLC Watch.

The Hard Green DLC Watch by Linde Werdelin is a limited edition watch of 22 pieces marked with unique numbers.  And these are not just any numbers, these numbers have been blasted onto the Hard Green DLC Watch by carbon which would make them the hardest numbers around; well almost, only numbers made with diamonds would be stronger.  However, most importantly, the combination of carbon blasting and watch making makes the Hard Green DLC durable and perfect for hard core sports.

Although the Hard Green DLC Watch by Linde Werdelin is available with a silver dial design… the green bracelet and case with the red dial and silver hour markers and hands make this watch perfect for Christmas.

For those of you who have not heard of Linde Werdelin, here is a little background.  The company was started by Morten Linde and Jorn Werdelin in 2002 as a way to develop a luxury sports watch that sports enthusiast could clip digital instruments onto for timing and measuring.  Both guys were pretty well established before the partnership.  Morten Linde was a famous Danish designer who created the Copenhagen public park chairs and Jorn Werdelin came from a family of jewelry professionals whose grandfather opened the family boutique. However, Jorn’s success came in investment banking and off-psite skiing which eventually led to his obsession with luxury sports watches.

The idea that a certain timepiece should be described as “jewelry wristwatches”, instead of just a wristwatch or an accessory, could come to past this fall.  Perrelet is set the release the new Diamond Flower Collection (.pdf) before the end of this year.  The Diamond Flower Collection of watches incorporates well-designed handiwork with complicated details all working together to create a spectacular piece of jewelry and a superior timepiece.

The most exhilarating feature of the Perrelet Diamond Flower Collection is the many secrets it holds, as do most striking creations in nature. However, Watch Digest dug deep to uncover most of them…so what are the secrets of the Perrelet Diamond Flower Watch?

1. The Diamond Flower is not all beauty and no brains; the dazzling flower piece is actually a part of the mechanical movement! Think of a regular watch as a SUV and the Diamond Flower watch as a Prius; the flower’s secret is that the power source for the automatic movement comes from the wearer’s motion.  Hence the tag line “jewelry put in motion”.

2. The Diamond Flower Watch was also a massive hit at Montres Passion 2008 by winning the Public Prize.  However did you know that the Public Prize had been an ongoing that allowed the public to vote for three models in order of preference, via the internet?

3. Another hidden secret of the watch is that Perrelet’s new Diamond Flower Collection was designed by a female, which is uncommon in the watch industry.  Carmen Voegeli, a Perrelet designer, was given the mission and basically locked herself away for months.  However when Carmen came out of isolation with 27 models in a choice of steel, steel and rose gold, and rose gold.

4. The last secret is for a few special consumers. A limited edition of the Perrelet Diamond Flower Collection called the Rare Prestige Edition.  The Rare Prestige Edition will present the latest high quality styles with mind-blowing extravagance including extraordinary emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds. However, only seven pieces will be offered.

 

Montres Passion Magazine, Baselworld 2008, and myself agree that Harry Winston’s Diane Minute Repeater watch is something to remember.

Most recently the Harry Winston watch won an award at the annual Montres Passion Magazine Watch of the Year 2008.  The “Diane, minute repeater” won the Jury’s Special Prize for watch designers, won by Sandrine de Laage, Deputy Head of Design at Harry Winston.

Not only is this a spectacular as this Harry Winston timepiece and they know it because there is a minute amount of information available to the public. Not only is Diane is considered to be one of the most complicated and rarest watches on earth, the minute repeater uses hammers to chime the time.  The time is actually amplified by the case of the watch.

Diane was inspired by Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt.  Only 20 will be fashioned, carved from a single block of gold, only 5 will be set in diamonds and only five will be set with diamonds and rubies..  Other technical specifications include an oscillating weight in the case back, abstract forest motif, and swiveling bezel complication.

My favorite part of Harry Winston’s Diane Minute Repeater watch would have to be the placement of the jewels.  It almost seems as if a jeweled hand is gripping the case and spreading a color change from one part of the watch case to the next. The arrow hands are unique round shaped figures with elegant points telling the time.

By far, the Harry Winston Diane Minute Repeater watch is my favorite timepiece of the year.

Sincere launches exclusive luxury watch collection

Oct 2, 2006

The Business Times

By UMA SHANKARI

SINCERE Watch is launching a collection of exclusive watches in
Singapore, and chief operating officer Ong Ban says that it is part of
the company’s plan to stay ahead of the pack, and enhance its customer
base.

This week, Sincere will launch 40 specially designed watch
models. It will showcase luxury watches from 13 high-end brands worth a
whopping $45 million in total. Prices start at $10,000 but can go as
high as $800,000.

“For this year, you can expect growth for sure. All the signals and factors are right for the moment.” - Mr Ong Ban, Chief Operating Officer, Sincere Watch

‘The
13 brands we are working with are the biggest watch houses in the
world,’ says Mr Ong. Among them are Girard-Perregaux and Jaeger
LeCoultre.

The collection follows a similar launch in 2004, when the
luxury watch retailer celebrated its 50th anniversary with exclusive
watches from 26 brands. Then, response was ‘excellent’, and Mr Ong
expects a similar response this time round. Although the number of
brands this time is smaller, the collection is more premium as the
focus is on only luxury watches.

Mr Ong says that the brands were eager to work with Sincere as
they get to showcase their ability to produce high-end watches.
Sincere, however, funded the cost for the watches’ creation.

The launch is part of Sincere’s strategy to carve out a niche
for itself as a seller of top-segment luxury watches, and distinguish
itself from its competitors.

Mr Ong says that satisfying true watch connoisseurs is
difficult. ‘To find the next timepiece to excite these customers is not
easy. Some of them have hundreds of watches.’

Customers must thus be given a challenge, such as exclusive one-of-a-kind or limited edition watches.

According to Mr Ong, Sincere is right now the only luxury watch retailer in Singapore to offer such a collection.

‘In our (Singapore’s) ambition to be a watch hub, we need ideas
such as this - where we have one retailer doing something that cannot
be found anywhere else in the world,’ says Mr Ong. Since the collection
is in line with the Singapore Tourism Board’s aim to make Singapore a
tourism hub, the government body is funding some of the advertising and
promotion expenses, he adds.

However, Sincere’s recent performance this year has been less
than satisfactory for its shareholders. The company posted drops in
profit for both the fourth quarter of its financial year ended March
2006 as well as the first quarter of the current financial year. Fourth
quarter net profit slipped 5.3 per cent to $9 million, while net profit
for its first quarter ended June 30 fell 63.9 per cent to $2 million.

The company’s stock has similarly taken a beating - shedding
8.33 per cent since the start of the year to close at 77 cents on
Friday.

But Mr Ong is not worried. ‘For this year, you can expect
growth for sure. All the signals and all the factors are right for the
moment,’ he says.

The company has expansion plans on the cards. In Singapore, the
retailer will be opening an Omega boutique - the first one here - in
Raffles City in April next year. And it will soon open a large boutique
in mega-mall VivoCity.

In Malaysia, Sincere plans to open a flagship store next year,
and the company is also looking to open new outlets in Thailand, Mr Ong
says.