8Days

Eterna Madison Eight Days Spherodrive Watch

Eterna watches really are a solid choice for mechanical timepiece nerds like myself. Fans know the brand was responsible for starting the most important Swiss watch movement maker ETA (now owned by the Swatch Group), and their range of other technical additions to the watch world such as adding ball bearings to automatic movements. A reminder of this in in their brand logo, which represents the five ball bearings you'd find in the automatic rotor attachment point. Their newest achievement is the Spherodrive - a cool name for an improvement on the mainspring barrel that was introduced last year. I am not going to go into much detail on what Spherodrive is here, though I did explain it at length (with images) in this article I wrote last year. The complication was introduced in a Madison watch, and this year Eterna will release another Madison watch with an 8 day power reserve as well as a Spherodrive complication. This is going to be one long lasting and reliable mechanical timepieces.

The new Eterna Madison Eight Days Spherodrive watch is in steel at 53mm tall and 38mm wide. Case is water resistant to 30 meters and the crystal is sapphire. Unlike the original Madison Spherodrive watch from last year, the mainspring barrel isn't visible on the dial. Though you do have the time, big date, and disc under window style power reserve indicator. I like how Eterna could have placed its fancy new technology in a futuristic watch, but kept with a nice classic style. The dial is available in silvered, gray, or black. Inside the watch is a new movement, the Eterna manually wound Caliber 3510. Price won't be too crazy (several thousand most likely), and for the money you get a very solidly made watch, with a very good movement, and a traditional style. Look for it soon.

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

Tags: 2010, 8 days, 8Days, eterna, madison, spherodrive, watch

Eberhard & Co. 8 Jours Grande Taille Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

This collection of watches from Swiss Eberhard & Co. is a re-release of their classic 8 Jours (8 Days) model. The model has been rethought to appeal to today's watch size and style requirements. It starts with the formidable Eberhard 8 day power reserve manually wound movement, based on a Peseux caliber 7001. The larger 41mm wide 18k rose gold case is classically designed through and through, complete with a thin bezel and thin functional lugs. A large crown for easy winding is thankfully included.

Two dial designs are offered for the 8 Jours Grande Taille watch. First is a more simple version with Arabic numerals, and the second offers a more designer look with a multi-finish face and Roman numerals. Both versions come complete with a subsidiary seconds dial as well as power reserve indicator. If you had to have a manually wound watch, in my opinion it should be something like this. With potentially 8 days between winding, plus a power reserve indicator, you don't have to get all OCD about winding it obsessively. Flip the watch over and Eberhard & Co. presents a small window into the movement with a cut-away section on the mainspring barrel with a bridge cut and polished like a number 8. Even with 8 days of power reserve, the watch contains only one (very long 125cm in length) mainspring barrel. The view is a nice touch giving this easy to live with, but high-quality watch some needed personality.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 8 days, 8 jours, 8Days, 8Jours, Eberhard Co., EberhardCo., grande taille, GrandeTaille, timepiece, watch