Watches that are “Ready for Action”

During the SIHH which took place in Geneva a few weeks ago, also a lot of functional timepieces were presented. This shows once more, that fine watchmaking doesn’t exclude an adventurous lifestyle. In this article, I’m going to focus on my favorite functional watches from the SIHH.

The International Watch Company (IWC) Schaffhausen presented a model which was made in honor of Charles Darwin. This explains why it is simply called “Expedition Charles Darwin”. Its case (click here) is made out of bronze, which still is an unusual material in watchmaking. It is very suitable for diving and convinces with a simple but elegant style.

Also Jaeger-LeCoultre presented a new high-performance watch which now joins the brand’s already existing Master Extreme collection. This model is called the “Master Compressor Chronograph Ceramic” which already tells us about the used material. Ceramic is very hard and scratch-resistant, which is why the watch can be used for hiking or rock climbing.

If you really want to wear these watches during your activity is your own choice. Surveys came to the result, that a sports watch is more of a style choice and are mostly worn as lifestyle watches. In fact, 99.9 per cent of all sold diver’s watches never go deeper than 20 meters.

Seiko Clean Energy Watches

With clean energy watches, the Japanese watch manufacturer Seiko shows respect for the environment and makes watches run with no battery change ever needed. The Seiko Solar, for example, takes its energy only from light and saves it in a recharging battery in the inner of the quartz watch. With the first Solar watch being developed in 1977, Seiko counts to the earliest pioneers in solar watch technology. The solar cells are invisibly integrated in the watch’s dial. In fact, the only indication that the watch is working with the power of light is the word “Solar” on the dial, otherwise the dials are truly the color you chose, like really white, black or blue.

 

Even though Seiko Solar watches work best with sun light, they also work with fluorescent light and charge very quickly. For most watches, one minute of sun light is enough to deliver one hour of charge, after three hours of incidence of light the watch usually is fully charged and would even retain its charge during 6 months of total blackness.  

Other examples for Seiko Clean Energy Watches are the Seiko Mechanical, the Seiko Kinetic and the Seiko Spring Drive.

ZIIIRO Watches

Designer watches produced by the brand “ZIIIRO” are not only beautiful and innovative but also minimal and unique. The first model manufactured by this company was released in 2010 after 9 months of research and development and featured on famous web magazines. The idea was to create wristwatches without hands, but using changing patterns to indicate the passage of time. In the following, I would like to present you my two favorite models:

ZIIIRO Gravity

The first ZIIIRO wristwatch was the Gravity. The display of this timepiece shows an inner swirl representing the current hour and an outer swirl displaying the minutes. The continuous movement of the swirls shows the passing through time in a futuristic way. The strap combines metal and silicone to guarantee a high level of flexibility. Straps (click here) and bodies are available in different colors – from snow white to green, magenta or banana yellow.

ZIIIRO Celeste

The Celeste also convinces with its colorful and futuristic design. The display is composed of two overlapping transparent colored disks. Casing and strap, however, are less conspicuous and made out of matt stainless steel in black, gunmetal and chrome.

Ora Unica Watch

Today, I might have good news for everyone out there who is looking for a creative watch of high quality. I lately discovered the Ora Unica which – instead of hands- has a squiggly line to represent the hours and minutes. At first, I didn’t really understand how to read the time from that timepiece but after a while, the doodles became clear to me. With one end marking the hours and the other end the minutes, the resulting doodle changes as time passes. But how can one single line have two independently moving ends? Well, that’s the question I asked myself until I finally found out that there are actually two lines, each one printed on a transparent disc. 

The unisex watch is designed by Denis Guidone, an award-winning Italian designer who studied architecture before starting his career as a watch designer for the Italian brand NAVA. By the way, “Ora Unica” simply means “One Hour”.

I really love this wristwatch and keep wondering how a childish doodle can look that stylish and elegant!

Positive / Negative Watch by Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry, a well-known Canadian-American architect, designed a men watch for the brand Fossil a few years ago. This very special and unusual timepiece doesn’t have a numerical display like the ones we are used to. Instead, the time is represented in handwriting and written as it would be said by lazy people. For example, 9:52 is written as “8 til 10”. These numbers appear on a large LED screen and can show the time in positive space as well as in negative space. This is where the name of the watch comes from which simply is “Positive / Negative”. 

The architect is usually known for his eye-popping buildings all over the world, such as the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbo or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. By simply looking at his buildings, you can see Gehry’s innovative spirit what makes it even more special to wear a piece of unique design around your wrist. In fact, all the letters on the Positive / Negative Watch are written in Gehry’s own handwriting.

The watch was originally priced at $150 by Fossil. Unfortunately, the only ones that you can still find today are sold on Ebay at higher prices.