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Allemano – a marriage of style and precision

MAN sandblasted DAY brushed At the NAJ Summit Suppliers' Showcase this September, one exhibitor in particular attracted plenty of attention, for the product, yes, but also for the fascinating back story. To learn more we spoke to UK distributor Mike Cantelo of Chrono Emotions.

This is a story that marries the automotive world with that of luxury watches. It’s about a love of precision, mechanical excellence and aesthetics. It concerns an Italian family business with impeccable heritage, and, more recently, two men who could see the UK market was ready to be inspired by their vision of a watch brand with a unique difference.

The Misaratori del Tempo collection by Allemano was born in 2019, a move that celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Turin-based company installing the pressure gauge in the Fiat 501 Torpedo. From the 1950s onwards, Allemano’s measuring instruments have been on board everything that moves! Finally, after so many years in the mechanical industry – with just field technicians knowing their name – Allemano felt the time was right to make their product more visible. Today, their instruments have moved from the dashboard to the wrist and the inspiration for the watch collection comes, naturally, from the Fiat 501 Torpedo pressure gauge.

Mike Cantelo describes how (and why) he and his business partner, Tim Rapley, entered this picture: “Tim and I are both ex-high-end niche automotive engineers. Tim spent many years with McLaren in F1 – with time in Japan and Australia, and then joined the Special Vehicle Operations division before setting up his own business in 2005, carrying out precision contactless 3D measurement.

“We met when Tim came to Aston Martin where I was the production launch manager and plant manager for the Aston Martin Vanquish, from 2000 to 2007. We struck up a friendship, which has endured ever since. After he sold his business in 2019, Tim and I have been seeking opportunities to do business together. We chanced upon Allemano, and it immediately attracted us due to our love of all things precision, mechanical and aesthetic.

“I had lived and worked in La Chaux de Fonds in the Jura mountains in Switzerland, long before getting into the automotive world, and also in Germany and France. Allemano was the perfect product and timing for us. It suited our continued passion and connection with the world of high-end exclusive classic motoring. So, we founded Chrono Emotions in May 2021, just 10 weeks after initial discussions with Allemano.”

The current 1919 Collection is an automotive-inspired timepiece available in three models: DAY, GMT and MAN (with prices ranging from around £1,600 to £3,400). The cases are 316L stainless steel in polished, sand-blasted or brushed finish, and the watch has sapphire crystal cases front and back and is 5 ATM water resistant. The DAY and GMT models use Sellita automatic movements, and the MAN, an ETA manual movement. The Italian leather straps have a matching steel buckle in line with the finish of the case, and an interchangeable butterfly clasp. Later this year, the team will unveil a Diver’s watch, too. Aesthetics, precision and quality are given equal importance, in keeping with the heritage of Allemano. As Cantelo explains, with Made in Italy at its core, the company ethos is about quality and design, its commitment to customers “starting with the design and ending with satisfaction.”

The all-important attention to detail carries through to brand packaging and point of sale material: the watch box and packaging and point of sale units are manufactured in a local artisan workshop using timber from the local area. High-quality imagery is available from Allemano for digital media/ websites and a hard-cover brochure, which describes the history as well as the watches themselves, is available. Completing the picture, the brand also offers a range of clothing and leather weekend bags – we are talking Italian style, after all. 1856 The origins: Founded by Guiseppe Allemano, the Turin factory manufactured steam-powered road rollers used in road construction.

1919 Guiseppe leaves the company to son Felice, who harnesses his knowledge of and experience in steam and steam-engine control and sees the future lies in the manufacture of pressure gauges and thermometers as measuring instruments. Allemano’s measuring instruments are installed on ships, aeroplanes, submarines and early Italian cars… among the first is the Fiat 501.

1929 Fast growth leads Felice to let his sons take over the organisation, and production intensifies on the manufacture of pressure gauges, thermometers and dynamometers.

1950 Allemano manufactures a full range of measuring instruments for aviation – such as pressure gauges for fuel and oil control, as well as for trains and ships. For automobiles, without the need to monitor pressure on board, Allemano’s pressure gauges are now installed only on racing cars, like the world champion Lancia D50.

1960 Allemano expands its production to encompass industry, its precision instruments being used on presses, industrial machines and in chemical and petrol plants.

1980 Another sector arrives: underwater instruments, such as hyperbaric chambers, depth gauges and decompression gauges, Allemano takes over the SOS brand. The arrival of digital depth gauges – less precise but much cheaper – in the mid ‘80s, means that this achievement is short lived.

2010 Having ridden out the harsh socio-economic environment of the 1990s, the Allemano Laboratory opens. It is equipped for Accredia calibrations and calibration services for equipment that measures such things as length, shape, force, pressure, hardness, torque, angle and level, volume, temperature and electrical quantities.

2019 After so many years in the mechanical industry, Allemano realises the desire to re-establish the visibility of its products outside of it and become directly in contact with people. Allemano timepieces are born.

A brief history of Italian precision

SCI Jenna and Shelley at the computer

Diamond samples mounted at the SCI lab and ready for laser ablation

Perth based sci-tech company Source Certain International has announced that it will provide critical technology in new global certification for ethical and sustainable diamonds.

verification technology to underpin its Chain of Custody requirement.

SCI is providing the scientific provenance verification component, with its proprietary TSW Trace® technology, which will form an essential part of the requirement for certification.

According to Stanley Mathuram, Executive Vice-President of SCS Global Services, most diamonds sold today do not come with thirdparty proof of origin. “Our standard utilises SCI's scientific provenance verification techniques and chemical profiling to document a natural diamond’s, or lab-grown diamond’s, mine or lab of origin.”

SCI’s technology analyses the naturally occurring chemical and trace metal markers present in natural and lab-grown diamonds which allows the provenance of diamonds to be verified down to a mine or lab level.

Dr John Watling, Chief Scientist, of SCI said, “Everything we need to know about a diamond’s origin is already present in it. We study the unique relationships between selected trace and ultra-trace elements to establish a ‘fingerprint’ used to identify the trace elemental signature unique

to the mineralising event in which the diamond was formed. These fingerprints are imprinted on natural diamonds when they were formed, millions of years ago, and similarly are imprinted on lab-grown diamonds when they are produced.”

TSW Trace® is a legally accepted and scientifically robust technology backed by over 40 years of development and has been widely used to verify food and gold provenance. Its work on diamonds, which has previously been reserved for forensic and law enforcement cases, dispels the myth that the origin of a diamond can’t be verified. “Until recently, the sensitivity of the instruments used to produce the fingerprint wasn’t adequate to determine the impurities in all diamonds, so we have waited before trying to commercialise the protocols. Furthermore, the interpreting process is complex and requires specialist knowledge, but we believe we can now confidently provide scientific validation of diamond origin on a commercial scale,” Watling said.

The inclusion of SCI and its technology within the certification gives consumers the confidence diamonds carrying the certification are ethical, sustainably sourced and produced, and that those consumers are not inadvertently purchasing a conflict diamond.

Mathuram said, “Customers should demand that their diamond’s provenance is independently verified with empirical evidence detailing its mine or lab of origin, country and date of extraction.”

Cameron Scadding, Co-Founder and Managing director of SCI said, “What SCS has done has coupled the science of provenance verification to connect brands and end consumers to the promises of the certification. It does not matter the sector – finding ways to mediate transparency in supply chains is now essential.” “Seeing companies achieve certifications backed with scientific technology tells us they are measuring themselves to the highest of standards, far surpassing those

set out by industry bodies and regulators. These are the companies that are going to change the face of the diamond industry.”

Critical technology is now available for new global diamond certification

Based in Perth, Australia, Source Certain International (SCI) has partnered with SCS Global Services to provide the company’s provenance verification technology for

SCS’s newly formed Global Services

Certification Standard for Sustainable

Diamonds (SCS-007).

The standard establishes a leading benchmark of sustainable accountability, transparency and provenance assurance for the gemstone diamond industry, and is the first unified framework for assessing natural and laboratory-grown diamonds.

The standard is the first global Environmental, Social & Governance certification across any industry – including diamonds, mining, seafood or agriculture – that has implemented scientific provenance "Retailers, jewellery manufacturers – all companies that handle diamonds from source to market – who are interested in carrying Certified Sustainability Rated Diamonds can register to become an accredited SCS-007 Certified Diamond Retailer. This registration involves a commitment to uphold the integrity of Certified Diamonds. In addition, retailers can opt in to be certified as meeting the SCS-007 Ethical Stewardship Code of Practice.