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Panorama |
SEIKO SPORTURA HONDA F1
Seiko Sportura Ultimate Kinetic Chronograph is a unique
wristwatch created to celebrate Seiko's partnership with Honda
F1 and their premier driver Jenson Button. The special edition
Sportura watch was born out of the partnership between Seiko
and the Honda Racing F1 team, and is perfect for the true
Formala 1 fan. This watch displays the team’s emblem on its black
dial and has a durable black oil resistant urethane strap. Its chronograph
measures up to 60 minutes in 1/5 second increment. The
watch also has dual time capability and an alarm. Seiko Sportura
is a collection that comprises only chronographs and is dedicated
to just one sport: motor racing. Thanks to Seiko's unrivalled
mastery of the technology of elapsed time measurement, Sportura
can offer a wide range of chronographs, both quartz and kinetic,
each with different features and characteristics. Within the
Sportura collection, motor sports enthusiasts can find the functions
that fit their individual needs, from a 1/100th second analog
quartz chronograph to a 12-hour kinetic chronograph. Now in its
fifth year, Seiko's partnership with the Honda Racing F1 Team
has brought great benefit to both parties. The team has enjoyed
not only Seiko's financial support, but also the very latest Sportura
watches, which Seiko donates to all the team members. And Seiko
has learnt, at first hand, what an F1 team really needs from a
watch. The Sportura Honda Racing F1 chronograph cannot make
the car go faster, but it can do almost everything else! |
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FERRARI GRANTURISMO GMT
BY OFFICINE PANERAI
Ferrari recently left their previous timepiece partner Girard-Perregaux for Officine Panerai. The iconic Swiss-Italian watchmaker has crafted a unique case evoking the lines of Ferrari automobiles and together they've launched two lines of watches, the Granturismo with more sophisticated accents and the sportier Scuderia line. Sensations and emotions which are aroused by owning or even simply driving one of the remarkable cars of Maranello, a culture and a philosophy of beauty married to sophisticated mechanics, reliable and powerful. With its black face and leather strap with contrasting top-stitching, this model has an additional hand to keep tabs on Greenwich Main Time (or alternatively, a second time zone); a handy feature for travellers.
The Granturismo collection of Ferrari, developed and distributed by Officine
Panerai, celebrates the combination of black and red, a strong reference to the stylistic code of Ferrari which defines the car sector with the originality of line, the craftsmanship applied to details and the aesthetic solutions which have made Ferrari one of the most authentic symbols of Italian design.
The Granturismo collection watches interpret this heritage of tradition, authority and excellence through the exclusive style developed by Officine Panerai. The dials are black with a square-grid motif, embellished with decorative elements such as the Ferrari logo with the applied Prancing Horse, the discreet touch of Ferrari red on the seconds hands and on some of the details of the chronograph counters of different sizes formed by cone-section rings applied to the dial. A Scuderia Collection watch designed particularly for those who habitually
travel and want to overcome the jet-lag schedule in the best manner. It has a highly legible calendar, a 12-hour scale on the outer flange and two subsidiary dials, one for continuous seconds and the other for the power reserve of 10 days, perfectly linked by a titanium mask. The hour and minute hands are luminous, as is the arrow which indicates the second time zone. The strap fitted to this watch is of calf, with a design which is inspired by sports car interiors and a finish recalling the tread of a tyre. The characteristics of this watch are reminiscent of a car capable of competing in infernal endurance races and at the same time
of racing on the roads even for a short journey. It is inspired particularly by the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, constructed in a few examples in 1962. Without a shadow of doubt, this model is, of all the cars of the Cavallino, the most valuable and the most sought-after by collectors, but now it is virtually unobtainable, even for someone ready to spend more than 10 million euros in acquiring one. |
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The third and most striking component
of the exhibition space is analogous
to the dial. A single, seamless horizontal
plane of polished black Corian slicks
powerfully across the space like motor oil,
filling it to a depth/height/width of
1 meter. An organically carved path navigates
through this richly reflective surface
to reveal the 9 horizontal circular displays
as ‘sub-dials’ to the watch face. The horizontal
displays contain an extraordinary
collection of timepieces based on the
9 themes of the collections: Great Inventions,
From Pocket to Wrist, Modern
Times, The Dream of Flight, Legendary
Tracks and Races, Famous Partners, The
Call of the Sea, Technology + Function =
Design, Watches for Women.
Pointing to the Carerra Panamericana
poster, Jack told us: “Mexican drivers
Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez introduced
me to the Carrera Panamericana. Both
kids died a year later in an accident.
We paid tribute to the race in 1964 by
naming one the most famous chronograph,
the Carerra.”
Interestingly, each circular display
made of rose wood and brushed
aluminum is hydraulically equipped
to lift and lower the islands of watches
in silent perfection. As a final touch,
50 large magnifying lenses of varying sizes,
resembling giant water drops on
the body of a car, have been placed in an
irregular pattern over the vast horizontal
surface. Each clear glass lens is strategically
positioned above key timepieces to enlarge
the infinitesimal details of the watches
in display.
The Museum allows visitors to examine
the collections and let themselves be
carried away by legendary characters, stroll
through the whole of the company’s
history, discover the objects that are
emblematic of timekeeping, and lastly,
step from the timelessness of the legend
into the now of the sporting event. Don’t
miss the Microsplit 820 displayed here; for
it was in 1973 that . |
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TAG Heuer unveiled
the first pocket quartz stopwatch which was 99.999 per cent accurate, almost to
1/100 th of a second “Two years earlier,
i.e. in 1971, Enzo Ferrari asked Cry Regazzoni,
Swiss winner of the Italian Grand
Prix, to find timing instruments for the
Le Man’s 24-hour race. When we demonstrated
the Le Mans Centigraph, which
measured time to 1/1000th of a second,
the French felt cheated by our act,” informed
Jack, taking a seat to rest his knees,
which suffer from arthritis.
Visitors are able to browse through
three levels of interpretation: Legends,
History and Collections. The Legends
are projected on to a giant conical screen
suspended above the ground, History
is written on a 50-meter strip of light
that winds around the museum space,
Collections are revealed in 9 circular flat
glass display cases. Here you can view the
Formula 1 racing car of Ayrton Senna
or the golf balls of Tiger Woods, spinning
around the visitor on a giant screen
7.5 meters in diameter. Through the
succession and movement of the images,
this machine separates the seconds, the
minutes, giving body and feel to the control
of the measurement of time.
Thrilled by the amazing display,
we moved out of the Museum and were
ushered in to a hall for refreshments.
I asked Jack whether TAG Heuer ambassador
Shah Rukh Khan had visited the
Museum. “No, not yet,” he answered. “We
plan to invite him when he visits Switzerland
next.” |
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