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Mido AD1 "All Dial 1" Watch

I was stressing myself out wondering why this watch was called the "All Dial 1," until I realize that in all likelihood, there is no meaning to the name. Ha! You foiled me again Switzerland. What fun life would be if Swiss watch names actually meant something half the time. Perhaps I am wrong? Mido, want to help me out a bit here? Inspired by Mido's watches from the past the AD1 offers some modern areas of interest, with traditional (for Mido), hands, and to an extent the case. What is modern? Well the dial (a bit) and just the way the entire design comes together. In fact, I would venture to say that this design is extremely polarizing. I can see plenty of people checking it out and concluding that it is less than pretty.

The case, which I believe is tapered a bit like a Louis Vuitton Tambour, is just over 38mm wide (medium at best), and steel with a rose gold PVD coating. Case is 100m water resistant and has a sapphire crystal. Inside the watch is a Swiss ETA 2836 automatic movement with a day/date complication. Price for the watch isn't too bad at $950. Let's see who bites.

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

Tags: 1, ad1, all dial, mido, watch

World's Largest Gold Coin Sells For More Than Face Value

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The world's largest gold coin, a 2007 Canadian $ 1,000,000 Maple Leaf was been auctioned off by Austria's Dorotheum auction house on Friday, June 25. The 220-pound coin made from the purest 999.99/1000 gold is listed at the world's largest coin in the Guinness Book of Records. It sold for 3.27 million euros ($4 million) although the face value corresponds to approximately 800,000 euros reflecting the currently sky-high price of gold.

The coin bears a large picture of Queen Elizabeth II and the back has three maple leaves. The picture above is from an exhibition of the coin in September 2009 in Prague. It was most recently on loan to the 'Münzkabinett' of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which houses one of the largest numismatic collections in the world. The coin was bought by the Spanish precious metal trading company Oro Direct.

Tags: 000 coin, 000Coin, 1, gold, maple leaf coin, worlds largest gold coin

Piaget Emperador Full-Set Coussin Perpetual Calendar Is Brand's One Millionth Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Piaget Emperador Full-Set Coussin Perpetual Calendar

After 136 years Piaget has finally reached the point where it will have made 1,000,000 watches. That is really a lot of watches, which averages to about 7,353 watches per year. Though clearly they haven't been consistently making that many from the beginning. Piaget is on a modern mission to reassert itself as fine watch maker as opposed to just a luxury jewelry and timepiece maker. When people think of Patek Philippe for example, they think of "in-house made movements." This association is not always made with Piaget and in-house made movements, though the brand is of the several highly prestigious brands that do make their own movements.

The one millionth watch produced by Piaget is this special Emperador Full-Set Coussin Perpetual Calendar watch. The timepiece will represent watch number 1,000,000 for the brand, as well as 19 other pieces for a total of 20 pieces in this limited edition. The watch case is Piaget's standard Emperador Coussin (cushion) - which is probably the most interesting cushion case out there - probably because it is not a true cushion case. The dial is cushion shaped, but the case itself is actually round. That combined with the design of the lugs make for an interesting optical illusion. This version of the Emperador Coussin is "Full-Set" with diamonds. The case is in 18k gold with 374 diamonds on it (7.5 carats), 12 more diamonds are on the crown, 25 diamonds are placed on the oscillating automatic rotor, and another 263 diamonds (1.2 carats) are placed on the watch dial - while the hands and hour markers are in 18k white gold. Total of 9.9 carats of diamonds on the watch.

Tags: 000 alelas, 000Alelas, 1, coussin, Emperador, full-set, G0A35020, perpetual calendar, watches

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Glashütte Original Pocket Watch No. 1 With Quarter Hour Repeater

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

This seems to be the year of pocket watch from haute luxury watch makers. Something about a "return to classic tradition and heritage of the brand." Say that out-loud in an obnoxious ambiguously European accent for the "full effect." From Glashütte Original comes the lovely limited edition Pocket Watch No. 1. Maybe it is their first pocket watch, at least I think it is in the modern era.

Really the pocket quite is quite classic, in most every design sense. Details are still thin, so I can't tell you about the price or size yet. Expect that it is "of average pocket watch size." I do know that the case is in 18k rose gold, with hinged lids on both the dial and caseback. The dial is enamel, with blued steel hands, and painted Roman numeral hour markers. It has a tasteful looking subsidiary seconds dial as well.

Movement is the hand-wound 84-10, newly design caliber movement that has a few nice features. In addition to the time, the movement has a quarter repeater mechanism. Activating a lever on the side of the watch enables the watch to repeat the time back to you in an audio form, that is accurate to the closest quarter hour. The movement also features a zero-reset mechanism for the seconds hand, which resets the seconds indicator when you pull the crown out for accurate setting.

The Pocket Watch No. 1 comes with a matching rose gold chain. The watch looks very handsome, but carrying around a pocket watch these days is certainly an acquired taste. Glashutte Original is making just 25 pieces in this limited edition, that will be officially unveiled at Baselworld in March.

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

Tags: 1, Glashutte Original, GlashutteOriginal, Limited Edition, LimitedEdition, Pocket Watch, PocketWatch, watch of the day, WatchOfTheDay