Tag: London

Categories
Swiss Replica

FABERGÉ : Lady Compliquée PeacockBlack

In the latter part of last year that #thewatchnerd arranged for a joint visit to the Fabergé boutique in London, which had kindly agreed to showing us some of their replica watches. We had been motivated by the desire to see the new Visionnaire DTZ, but found ourselves staying not just for that, but also for the Lady Compliquée Winter. The latter is notable for its movement, which made its debut in the Peacock replica watch.

At Baselworld 2015 Fabergé and Agenhor launched the Lady Compliquée Peacock. With a retrograde time display at its time telling centre, there are fanned blades that spread the peacock’s feathers gradually over the course of an hour, indicating the minutes on a scale and the hours via a rotating ring, with the four moving blades flying back to their original position with the passing of an hour.

Based on a 1908 egg which contained a bird automaton that could spread its wings, in this replica watch the first feather moves forward by 15 degrees per hour, the second by 30 degrees per hour, the third by 45 degrees, and the last by 60 degrees. This is achieved by an Agenhor invention that they have called AgenFAN, made of two series of toothed wheels of increasing diameters on one and decreasing diameters on the other which are superimposed on the same axis. They are placed side by side and mesh along their length. The first toothed wheel is driven by the spindle of the hours cam (the hours cam is beneath the visible hours ring) and drives the second, which powers each of the blades.

This complex and really rather glorious new way of doing a retrograde time display was recognised with a win in the ‘High Mechanical’ category at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in 2015.

Powering the fanned retrograde time display is the manually wound Calibre 6901, which has a diametre of 32.7mm and a power reserve of 50 hours, beating at 21,600VPH. It is visible through the case back and has horizontal Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges, and circular graining on the main plate.

At Baselworld 2016, following on from the original, the ruby, and the emerald, the a new one appeared – the Lady Compliquée Peacock Black Sapphire. It featured an 18 carat gold dial with snow-set diamonds (157), black sapphires (59) and black sapphire cabochons (6), with the hand-engraved peacock in 18 carat white gold. Surrounding this dial are an onyx rotating hour ring, minute track, and and minute and hour indicators in black lacquer.

All of this is inside a 38mm platinum case (and crown) and adorned with a bezel set with 54 brilliant-cut diamonds. The strap is alligator, with a matching platinum Fabergé pin buckle.

This year there is a new version for those who like their replica watches without stones (and their peacock more streamlined), simply called the Fabergé Lady Compliquée Peacock Black.

I find myself more drawn to this new one. The real bird may use vibrancy and colour to gain attention but in a possibly counterintuitive way, black seems to draw my attention because of its absence. In comparing the two black versions, I like to think of the Black Peacock Sapphire as the Art Nouveau version and this, the Art Deco one.

Hopefully, either Horologium or #thewatchnerd will be able to bring you ‘in the metal’ photos of it at some point.

 

Categories
Urwerk Replica

HANDS-ON Urwerk’s ZeitDevice Replica Watch Replcia

UrwerkZeitDevice1

When is a pocket replica watch not a pocket replica watch? When even its creators don’t use the term but call it “a grand über complication”. Oh, and there’s also when the ‘pocket’ replica watch can’t actually fit into a pocket.

We are speaking of Urwerk of course, and the UR-1001 Zeit Device, a time ‘device’ which covers a timekeeping expanse from a second to a thousand years.

As Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei put it – “With Zeit Device we could allow ourselves carte blanche and created a larger playground for our imaginations… and then filled it with all of our complications and indications.”

The first thing you’ll notice when picking up this pocket replica watch is its weight and size. It measures a rather mindboggling 106mm x 62mm x 23mm and you can see, in the comparative photo above, exactly why it is more ‘device’ and less ‘pocket replica watch’.

The second thing you’ll notice is that it has all the hallmarks of an Urwerk piece, especially the use of satellite systems – in this instance, orbiting satellites for hours and day, as well as retrograde hands. In fact the Zeit Device has ten complications : the satellite hours and months, running seconds, retrograde indicator for minutes, indicators for date, day/ night, power reserve (39 hours), ‘oil’ (i.e. service) change (every five years), 100 years and 1000 year. The calendar aspect is what (apart from the size) makes it special compared to the other Urwerk complications.

So what is the point of having 100 and 1,000 year indicators other than ‘because you can’? They show how long the pocket replica watch has been running for, although its service is required a good deal before the first 100 years is up. The 100-year indicator advances in 5 year increments; both it and the 1000-year register the total running time of the movement. When the hand reaches the 100-year mark, the small pointer at the bottom of the linear 1000-year indicator on the left will move an increment.

The method (revolving hands0 for telling the hours and minutes is now used to indicate the month and the date on the linear scale. The revolving satellite calendar is similar to the hour satellite, with months and date replacing hours and minutes.

The hour satellite consists of a rotating central carousel which supports three hour satellites, each of the three with four hours allocated to it on individual sides. Hours and minutes can be set backwards without affecting the calendar function.

The retrograde minute hand is fixed to a ring around the circumference of the satellite. This ring is moved along a guide rail by the hour satellite. When the minute hand gets to the end of the rail at 60 minutes, the star-cams trip over to release the minute hand, which springs back to zero at the start of the scale.

Turning the UR-1001 over and flipping over the protective cover reveals the “Oil Change”, 100-year and 1000-year indicators. The first of these, as mentioned, will tell you when a service is due. During years 1-3 it will be green and from 3-5, red of course. Inside is the Urwerk calibre UR-10.01 manually wound movement.

There is Super-LumiNova on the dial’s markers, and a rotating disc day/ night indicator is marked with black Super-LumiNova for night, white brushed-ruthenium for day. Dawn and dusk are a combination of both.

So, how do you operate the Device? There is a three-position winding crown. Position 1 is winding, position 2 is for the month and date, and position three sets hours and minutes.

The combined winder and desk display case of the Zeit Device is in polished solid walnut with buffalo leather lining. Every 10 or 15 minutes – the interval is adjustable according to whether the timepiece requires fast winding or maintaining winding – the Zeit Device is rotated 185° and slowly oscillates to rest, causing a winding rotor to charge the mainspring.

A use of AlTiN steel and titanium case, PE-CVD and DLC treated mainplate, baseplate, dials and satellite complications means that it has a no-nonsense high-end industrial feel to it. With its looks and weight, this is almost like a handy horological weapon; it certainly looks as though it can handle a bit of rough and tumble.

Made in an edition of 8, the Zeit Device is a rare beast to come across. This one was kindly shown to me at Marcus Replica Watches in London, where I also saw this piece. Thanks go to Liam for the opportunity to see a timepiece that I never thought I’d see ‘in the metal’.

Categories
Swiss Replica

HANDS-ON Greubel Forsey’sGMT Replica Watch

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Earlier this year when I was in London I visited Marcus Replica Watches, a replica watchnerd ‘destination’ London boutique on Bond St that carries many brands but in particular, is known for being the supporter of a number of ‘independents’. In the decade of its existence it has grown into a powerhouse and destination for many visiting replica watch enthusiasts.

I had visited them on my last trip to London a couple of years ago but this time I had Liam as my host. He not only took me on a tour of the boutique but very graciously showed me more replica watches than I could absorb in one sitting, including some rare pieces. This post is about the first replica watch I saw, the Greubel Forsey GMT in white gold.

This was only the second time that I’d handled Greubel Forsey pieces and as ever, the finishing on them is one of the things that really stands out for me. The GMT, which I’d seen in photos, is actually even more striking ‘in the metal’. The rotating globe is hard to properly capture in a photo not for any dimensional reason but because it is difficult to capture a proper ‘sense’ of it. Its colour and its sheer physicality are bold but it still manages to maintain a feeling of delicacy.

You can get a more complete view of the globe through a window at the side of the case. It makes a complete (anti-clockwise) rotation every twenty-four hours.

Although of a decent thickness (16.14mm) for obvious reasons, the case itself is only 43.50mm. Nonetheless, because of its thickness, it does sit with a marked presence on the wrist, as is the case with all Greubel Forsey pieces.

The GMT in this post is white gold (it also comes in 5N red gold). It has an asymmetrical convex synthetic sapphire crystal, along with a transparent case back of the same through which you can see the hand-wound Greubel Forsey Calibre GF05 with 72 hour power reserve and patented tourbillon. The movement is 9.80mm thick and has 443 parts. The mainplates are nickel silver, as are the bridges. The tourbillon has 87 parts, inclined at a 25 degree angle and 24-second rotation. The tourbillon cage has titanium cage bridges and a gold counterweight.

Functionally, the GMT has a second time zone indicator at 10 o’clock and a 24 time zone world time display. The rotating glove is titanium with a Universal Time display. There is also a Summer time indicator and day/ night indicator. The dominant hour and minute dial is in frosted gold with anthracite treatment. The hour-ring is also white gold, the hour and minute hands in polished gold with Super-Luminova. Similarly, the smaller sub dials are also in gold, as is the GMT indicator, but the small seconds and power-reserve hands are in blued-steel. The second time zone indicator is a red triangle, to the top left of the dial.

Turning over the GMT reveals the a ‘worldtime’ disc bearing the names of 24 cities. Aligning the relevant city with the local hour on the outer chapter ring – or inner ring for cities with summer time – sets the dial-side globe in the correct position. I didn’t get a good photo of the case back, so here’s a stock photo of it in lieu.

This is a replica watch that is every bit as beautiful ‘in the metal’ as it is in photos, but as I mentioned above, it is also one that is difficult to capture the ‘spirit’ of in photos. Greubel Forsey’s GMT is not for the faint of wrist (or for that matter, of wallet), but should the opportunity arise to be able look at it, as it did with me during my visit to Marcus, take it.