The famous Shepherd Gate Clock at the Greenwich Observatory has been featured frequently on these pages, but at last you can wear this iconic design as a watch, courtesy of the folks at gtgwatch.com.
At present you can still join in their Kickstarter Campaign, but hurry — the 24 hour models are selling out fast (there is a 12 hour version for the less adventurous).
If you have a Mac computer, you can download my old Greenwich Observatory Shepherd Clock screensaver (halfway down this page). Surprisingly, it still runs OK after nearly 10 years:
The AAA watch club have released this new 24-hour Swiss-Movement Quartz ALPHA Series 24 Hour Military Time watch.
These new models keep the three symbols (Air, Land and Sea) but now as morse code on the dial. Features: New BIG (43 mm) Case (15mm Thick), a Screw-Down Crown and date indicator at the “south east” position that’s easy on the wrist, and 10 ATM (300 Feet) Water Resistant, plus a Leather Band with matching colour stitches; super LumiNova Hands and luminous Hour Markers; a dome of mineral glass – and dial with two shades representing day and night.
These watches are available with 24, 12, or 00 at the top.
Also updated to Series 3 are the luminous display versions — here’s the beautiful white dial version:
Over at No-Watch you can find five new models of 24 hour watches, including this one-handed model:
Check the official No-Watch website. There’s 15% off tax-free prices for international orders and an additional 10% discount for 24hourtime.info visitors.
You can find this elegant 24 hour watch, and other interesting pieces, at No Watch.
If you visit the web site before the end of 2014, you can buy these watches at a reduced price: for a single watch ($100 discount), use coupon code “24hourtime”, for two or more watches (50% discount) the coupon code is “24hourtime24”. The coupon codes are valid for any model in store up to 12/31/2014. Also, free worldwide economic shipping (Registred Air Mail shipping with a tracking) is available with this offer.
At $ 250,000, you probably won’t be able to afford the new Midnight Planetarium watch from Van Cleef and Arpels, but you will be able to enjoy this beautiful video of it for free:
Not only is it encased in 18ct rose gold and sport double sapphire crystals, it features six of the planets of our solar system orbiting the Sun in real time.
Each of those planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – is itself represented with a precious stone. Aventurine, serpentine, chloromelanite, turquoise, red jasper, blue agate and sugilite have been employed to double as the planets and stars. The Sun is a similar rose gold to the frame.
The strap is made of alligator leather, but beyond the materials used, it is the mechanism inside that is truly spectacular. As each planet orbits the Sun in real time, that means some of them move very slowly indeed. For example, while it will take just three months for Mercury to complete an orbit, Saturn will take 29-and-a-half years.
You can see why Van Cleef & Arpels has stopped at Saturn. Uranus takes 84 years to complete an orbit, while Pluto takes 248. There’s little point having a dial on a watch that you are unlikely to ever see rotate.
The Grande Heure GMT from Jaquet Droz has two hands, but both of them are hour hands.
From the description:
Never before has a watch presented such a clear, effortless indication of two time zones. This technological development is enhanced by the majestic hands in the form of a compass, a detail which hints at the navigational instruments used by sailors of another era. The red hand indicates local time while the blued steel hand shows the time at the destination. When the two hands come together in the same time zone they merge into a single, bicolored indication of the exact time.
How much does it cost? Well, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. (About $25,000, I think.)
I noticed that Mr Jones also made this 24-hour watch, the Average Days model, reminiscent of the Swatch watch, which had the similar idea of showing what you’re up to at different times of the day:
The dial of this watch visualises statistical research into how the average person spends their time. The slot on the hour-disc shows what the average person is doing at that time of the day. You can see at any time how you measure up to this notional individual.
Professor Jonathan Gershuny, the Director of the Centre for Time Use Research provided us with an updated and customised data set for the activities mapped to the different times of the day for this watch.
Satellite is the first 24 hour watch from Mr. Jones, which means the hour hand makes one complete revolution of the dial in 24 hours. The watch has an unconventional arrangement of hour and minute hands: the slow moving hour marker sits outside the the minutes. This was inspired by the movement of celestial bodies: the more distant a planet is from the center of gravity the longer its orbit takes.
Each hour is marked by a bright color and these colors follow a regular six hour pattern, so you can learn to read the time intuitively and at a glance.
However, this is a limited edition – only 100 pieces made – so if you want one, hurry up!
