Magellan 1521 Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Dec 29th 2009 at 12:01PM

You can't discuss the interesting Swiss Magellan 1521 watch without the requisite mention of it giving you the "whole world on your wrist." Well, half the world to be exact. The 1521 is split up into two versions. The NH (northern hemisphere) and the very limited SH (southern hemisphere) that has been all sold out. You'll probably be more interested in the NH anyway. Essentially you have a classically mapped half globe surrounded by a ring of mother-of-pearl, with map indicators printed on the chapter ring. The entire 43mm wide watch is covered in a beautiful bubble of sapphire crystal. The case is in steel, but there are also 18k yellow gold versions available. The seamless look has no lugs and the crown is integrated into the case. Very art deco streamlined. The rear of the watch has additional map imagery via tasteful engravings.

The watch has a modified Swiss ETA 2893 automatic movement. Magellan needed to create tiny tubes to raise the base of the watch hands. All four hands start at the top of the globe and wrap around it. The GMT has is tipped with a mirror polished sun, and can be used to indicate the relative position of the sun over the Earth. There is lume applied on the hour and minute hands will addition lume dots are placed on the outside chapter ring of the dial. This version of the 1521 watch has a supple honey brown ostrich strap with a steel butterfly deployment strap (that has perlage polish applied to it). This amazingly unique timepiece comes with an outstanding level of finish (the mirror polish all over the watch is so impressive), while the price is reasonable when compared to other similar unique Swiss watches at $5,600.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 1521, globe, magellan, nh, review, swiss, watch

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gerard Dec 30th 2009 1:31AM

Interesting watch.
I am almost sure astronaut Wubbo Ockels wear one constantly on his right wrist.
On his left wrist he wears another watch.

Kind regards,
Gerard