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ULYSSE NARDIN ASSISTS DISABLED VETERANS

ULYSSE NARDIN HAS PARTNERED WITH the non-profit One More Wave to introduce a limited edition Diver Deep Dive honoring the organization, which helps wounded or disabled veterans with surf therapy by providing customized surfing equipment and assistance. In addition to a financial contribution, Ulysse Nardin launches the Diver Deep Dive One More Wave, a 46 black DLC titanium-cased timepiece ($13,500) with yellow accents, decompression valve at 9 o’clock, crown at 2 o’clock, extension bracelet and 1,000 meters of water resistance. The case-back is engraved with the “One More Wave” logo to signify the partnership. “We really needed the watch that could stand up to the conditions and pressures in the surf and sand,” says Kyle Buckett (above, right), managing director of One More Wave. “The watch is tough, very easy to read and the titanium case keeps it lightweight.” One More Wave was founded among the U.S. Navy SEALS community in 2015, and the non-profit operates a custom surfboard workshop to make boards that meet each veteran’s specific needs, including choice of design as well as being fit for specific disabilities. Buckett notes that the organization’s needs are greater than ever, with fifty-seven applications just last month. François-Xavier Hotier, president of Ulysse Nardin Americas, explains that he was so impressed by his experiences while visiting One More Wave and the U.S Navy SEAL Training Camp in Coronado, California, that he was convinced right away that Ulysse Nardin needed to partner with the organization. “Their dedication, courage, and camaraderie is inspiring and we hope to bring more awareness to this important work,” he adds. For more information, or to make a donation, please visit

www.onemorewave.net.

LUMINOX TEAMS WITH HELISWISS

Luminox has partnered with Heliswiss International AG, a Swiss helicopter company that intervenes during missions and emergencies throughout the world. Luminox notes that the teams at Heliswiss International need a robust, water-resistant and luminous watch that can withstand the difficult conditions of their assignments. Luminox watches meet these requirements, and are now a standard part of the company’s equipment as a result of the new long-term partnership. “Heliswiss International shares our commitment to precision work, accuracy, and reliability, and is therefore a perfect match for us,” says André Bernheim, Mondaine/Luminox CEO. “We look forward to developing inspiring projects together in the future.”

DOXA REBOOTS

Now with a centralized management in Switzerland, and still 100% owned by the Jenny family in its second generation, DOXA Watches has been consolidating its positions and business activities around the world since August, 2019. Very soon, the new website

(www.doxawatches.com),

completely redeveloped by Doxa Watches headquarters in Switzerland, will be online with the brand’s new graphic identity and many new features.

With the launch of the new website, customers will be able to learn more about the new Doxa organization and discover the new collections.

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LVMH WATCH BRANDS TO EXHIBIT IN DUBAI

The four watch brands within the LVMH Group (Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith) will display their 2020 debuts next year in January at the Dubai Bulgari Hotel. As previously announced, Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith will also exhibit during Baselworld 2020 in late April/early May, when the show occurs immediately after Watches & Wonders Geneva, the show formerly called SIHH. “We remain very supportive and loyal to Baselworld and the Swiss watchmaking industry. However, it was not possible for us to go thirteen months without a global presentation of our products and brands,” said Stéphane Bianchi, president of the LVMH Watch Division.

MIH AWARDS GAIA PRIZES AND PRESENTS NEW WATCH

At the annual Gaia Prize ceremony in a Chaux-de-Fonds, presented by the International Watchmaking Museum (Musée International d’Horlogerie), or MIH, enameling artist Suzanne Rohr won the Craftsmanship award, Laurent Tissot was the winner of the History prize and Chopard Co-President KarlFriedrich Scheufele took home the prize in the Entrepreneurship category. The Gaïa Prizes are awarded each fall to individuals who have developed the knowledge of watchmaking through their work and achievements. In addition to the usual three categories, in 2019 the MIH also awarded a new Horizon Gaïa 2019 grant to Aude Moutoussamy. The grant will enable her to undertake original research on the strategies for appropriating social media adopted by different watch brands, in Switzerland and abroad.

Also at the ceremony, the MIH unveiled its newest watch. Developed by in-house experts and produced with the help of local businesses and artisans from La Chaux-de-Fonds, sales of the watch will assist the museum as it develops programs to raise public awareness of watchmaking and local watchmakers and to fund projects to restore, document and showcase the museum’s collection. The new MIH watch, priced at CHF 2,900 (about $2,914) is available online on a subscription basis until January 19, 2020, at www.montremih.ch and at the MIH shop inside the museum. The first few subscribers who start the production process by supporting the museum will receive a discount of CHF 500.

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TAG HEUER AND PORSCHE AGREE ON FORMULA E

TAG Heuer and Porsche have entered a long-term agreement regarding their Formula E engagement. TAG Heuer is now the Title and Timing Partner and will enter the ABB FIA Formula E Championship 2019/2020 under the name of TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. You may recall that “TAG-Turbo made by Porsche” powered Formula 1 cars in the 1980s and won two Constructors’ Championships (1984 & 1985) and three Drivers’ Championships (1984-1986). Similarly, Heuer was involved in motorsports in the 1970s, teaming up with Jo Siffert who drove for Porsche from 1966 to 1971 and won a number of endurance races, as well as contributing to Porsche’s victory in the 1969 in the World Sportscar Championships.

TAG Heuer in the 1990s became a sponsor of the Porsche Supercup and still continues its role as partner for several Porsche Cups today. Porsche and TAG Heuer now enter their sixth engagement in Formula E, the first electric street racing series soon starting its sixth season. Porsche unveiled the Porsche 99X Electric racing car (right) it will use to start at the Formula E for the first time in the 2019/20 season. The racecar will be driven by Neel Jani and André Lotterer.

CHRONO24 OBTAINS ADDITIONAL FINANCING

German-based online watch marketplace Chrono24 has secured 43 million euros in its the most recent financing round, according to company founder and co-CEO Tim Stracke (left). Chrono24, founded in 2003, now has more than 250 employees in offices in Karlsruhe, Berlin, New York, and Hong Kong, and counts more than 80 million euros invested in its expansion over the past five years.

“With over fifteen years of experience in the industry, we feel closer to our users than ever before and are familiar with what makes them tick. We will use this new capital to better address the needs of dealers, private users, and manufacturers,” said Stracke.

VORTIC CELEBRATES THE AGE OF STEAM

Colorado-based Vortic Watch Company has created a one-of-akind version of their new Railroad Edition timepiece to promote and celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio, a museum dedicated to American steam locomotives and railroading. Vortic planned to give away the watch in a promotional drawing in November.

Vortic’s Age of Steam Roundhouse Railroad Edition utilizes a movement manufactured in 1924 for Cleveland’s Ball Watch Company. It was one of only 53,600 ever produced. The movement is a 21-jewel, 16-size, lever-set movement with a white porcelain dial marked with the Ball Watch Company “RR” trademark. Ball established the “RR Standard” (“RR” for Railroad) to assure a high accuracy and nearperfect time reading for all railroad employees. The watch is engraved on the case back “Age of Steam Roundhouse.”

Porsche 911 964 Cup from 1993

Porsche 99X Electric racing car

BEAUGESTE AT MCCALL’S MOTORWORKS REVIVAL

Distributor BeauGeste Luxury Brands recently partnered with Chatel La Passion Horlogère, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, to display many of watch brands BeauGeste distributes in the United States at the recent McCall’s Motorworks Revival in Monterey, California. Visitors to the vintage automotive, motorcycle and aircraft exhibition were able to see and try on watches from Chronoswiss, Eberhard Hysek, Kerbedanz and Reservoir.

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PATEK PHILIPPE SHOWS NEW WATCHES AT SINGAPORE GRAND EXHIBITION

At the Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore 2019, which concluded on October 13, Patek Philippe debuted six watches in limited editions. These include a World Time Minute Repeater (five watches in a limited edition) that features a dial in cloisonné enamel depicting a map of Singapore. Also debuted were: a World Time Chronograph (300 watches), an Aquanaut in stainless steel for men (500 watches) with a red and black-gray combination, the Aquanaut Luce (300 watches) for ladies in steel and raspberry-red, the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time (400 watches) with a medium-format steel case in a blue-gray version, and a new Ref. 5303R-010 Minute Repeater Tourbillon. Beyond these special editions, the manufacture created a new collection of dome table clocks, table clocks, pocket watches and rare handcrafts wristwatches. You can read all about these Patek Philippe special editions on the watchmaker’s website and at iwmagazine.com.

VETERANS WATCHMAKING INITIATIVE GRADUATES FIRST CLASS

The Delaware Veterans Watch School hosted its first graduation ceremony in April. Its first graduates represent veterans of four branches of the military: Jason Adams, Army; Jonathan Dunn, Coast Guard; Giancarlo LaRusso, Marine Corps; and Don Morton, Air Force. The graduates enrolled via the Veterans Watchmaker Initiative Inc., which officially opened in Delaware in September 2017 in a former EMT facility slated for demolition and leased from New Castle County government for $1 a year. It is the only school of its kind in the United States.

“VWI is privately funded. It depends on grants and donations of equipment and watch parts from the watchmaking industry and corporate and private donations with every dollar going directly to the program,” said Sam Cannan, chairman and co-founder of VWI. Volunteer labor has converted the building’s garage bays into classrooms with the help of local veterans from Hogs and Heroes and other volunteers. The faculty includes retired watchmakers who volunteer their time, making the program free of charge for disabled veterans. No one is required to pay any fee, either for the program or for housing while attending.

The school is the forerunner of a planned school in Middletown, Delaware, that will accommodate as many as fifty students from across the nation.

The school is similar to what the Bulova Company did in New York at its watchmaking school after WWII when it trained thousands of Americans veterans with missing limbs and other injuries. Visit www.veteranswatchmakerinitiative.org or call 302-378-7088 or for more information.

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CITIZEN TO SUPPLY TITANIUM TO COMMERCIAL LUNAR EXPLORER

Citizen will supply its proprietary alloy Super Titanium for titanium components used in the Hakuto-R lunar lander and lunar rover (right) as part of a new partnership between the Japanese watchmaker and Ispace, Inc., a lunar exploration company based in Tokyo. Ispace engineers chose Citizen’s alloy for its light weight and strength and will utilize the metal for various mechanical parts in the Hakuto-R moon exploration craft. As a lightweight, scratch- and corrosion-resistant material developed by Citizen for its watches, Super Titanium is expected to improve the reliability and environmental resistance of the spacecraft’s titanium parts. Citizen developed Super Titanium using proprietary technology called Duratect, which utilizes special treatment techniques—including ion plating, cold plasma, gas hardening and duplex coating—to produce a lightweight titanium material that is six times harder than stainless steel with excellent durability and abrasion-resistance. Citizen’s history with titanium begins in 1970 when it released the first watch made of pure titanium.

FHH REPORTS ON WATCH TRENDS

The Foundation High Horology (FHH) has unveiled its latest industry report, Watch Trends 2019/2020, which detail key trends with a sociological analysis of current and potential watch customers. The report is broken up into four socio-styles; the Extrovert, Idealist, Connoisseur, and the Performer, with each style profiled and then categorized. The report invites readers to find the watches that best suit them based on their tastes, values and aspirations. For the past seven years, the Foundation has published a detailed yearly overview of the new creations unveiled by its watch brand affiliates. Initially presented as a “tool” at the service of the profession, this new, less technical work is carried out by about ten experts, complemented by an analysis of the year’s watchmaking trends. Developed with NellyRodi agency, known for its trend books, the new approach is geared towards the public, watch lovers, customers of the luxury industry and those who will become so. The report can be downloaded for free from www.hautehorlogerie.org.

FRANCK MULLER INTRODUCES BITCOIN WATCHES

Franck Muller launched a Vanguard Encrypto watch this summer in partnership with cryptocurrency trading platform Regal Assets. The watch bears a Bitcoin logo and a QR code of Bitcoin on its dial. The dial effectively includes a laser-etched QR code for a public wallet address that can be used to deposit Bitcoins and check the balance of the account. To allow this secure process a sealed USB stick is included with the watch to store the private key. The Vanguard Encrypto, in a host of gem-set or non-gem-set models, is available in 45mm and 38mm stainless steel, rose gold, titanium and carbon cases. It comes with a hand sewn alligator strap with rubber on the other side of the folding buckle. Functions include hours, minutes, seconds and date at 6 o’clock. Prices start at $10,780.