concord

Concord C1 Amethyst Watch

Concord continues with new variations of the C1 with the "Amethyst." Using the same case as the standard C1 (which I think is about 45mm wide), the Amethyst is in 18k white gold quite nicely decorated with 219 baguette-cut amethyst stones. These purple stones are placed all over the case and dial. It frankly looks sorta cool, and contains 13.8 carats of stones. I can't help but think that Concord was influenced by watches like the MB&F JwrlyMachine. Concord says that they will make just one model, but I have a feeling if enough people order the watch - they will make another.

The C1 one case - which never really a favorite of mine - is showing its age. Concord lacks solid direction right now, but when they get a better leader I envision new things from them. This C1 Amethyst uses the same ETA Valgranges automatic chronograph movement that is COSC chronometer certified.

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

Tags: amethyst, c1, concord, purple, watch, watches

Stone Ridge Farm, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Need a lot of room in Virginia but maybe not quite at the Albemarle level? Welcome to Stone Ridge Estate a property on over 2500 acres of land in Concord, Virginia. The main house is a six-bedroom Georgian Colonial Manor home with over 22,000 square feet of space. The home's many amenities include a 6,000 bottle wine cellar with room enough for a formal dining table, a multi-media room, billiards room, arcade, massage area and indoor pool. The property has six guest homes, with 21 bedrooms total. There is also a 20 stall barn with wash stall, feed room & tack room, indoor and outdoor tennis courts and swimming pools, a bowling alley, shooting gallery, softball field and a sports complex. The sports complex is designed for a crowd, it has a commercial kitchen and dining for 50 or more. It's listed currently as price on request but other spots on the internet show it at $17.5 million.

Gallery: Stone Ridge Farm

Tags: concord, estate of the day, stone ridge, virginia real estate

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Concord C1 EternalGravity Jewelry Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Imagine you run Concord and get antsy one day. "Everyone else has a crazy one-of-a-kind jewelry watch, why can't we?" So you take your flagship watch from a couple of years ago an slather it richly with precious diamonds and carnelians just like a deli would put cream cheese and lox on a bagel. In a sense, that is what the Concord C1 EternalGravity tourbillon watch looks like. The diamonds are the cream cheese, and the pink/red carnelians is the smoked salmon. Though it won't be easy to take a bite out of this massive timepiece that is 48.5mm wide and 18.5mm thick in mostly 18k white gold.

Before it was the EternalGravity, the watch was merely the Concord C1 Tourbillon Gravity watch. The focus being on the tourbillon escapement that was vertically aligned and placed facing outward on the lower right hand of the case. The hand-wound movement featured a power reserve indicator for the movement, a torque indicator, time, and a 12 hour flyback chronograph (placed into one dial) that includes hour and minutes, but not seconds. BNB Concept made the Calibre C100 movement but is no longer around. So perhaps the movement is more interesting because in a sense the artist that made it is dead.

Gallery: Concord C1 EternalGravity Jewelry Watch

Tags: c1, concord, diamonds, eternal gravity, eternalgravity, tourbillon, watch

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Concord C1 BiRetrograde Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Concord has recently lost its CEO in a ballsy move where Vincent Perriard jumped ship and left for greener pastures as TechnoMarine. Likely suffering an identity crisis, it remains to be seen where Concord will end up in a year from now. A new release from the Movado Group-owned watch maker is this C1 BiRetrograde watch. It is an amicable attempt to spruce up the quickly aging C1 design (that I was never fond of), but you'd not likely realize it was a new model unless that fact was pointed out to you.

The dial features two retrograde ("BiRetrograde") indicators for the day of the week and the date. The long arms frame the rear of the appropriate day or number of the transparent dials. The effect is nice, but not luxury watch nice. You can see that the entire face is partially transparent with a view to the Concord C101 automatic movement below with some nice Cotes de Geneve engraving on it. Oddly enough, this watch will be offered only in 18k rose gold or platinum (44mm wide case). An odd choice of high-luxury materials for this watch that doesn't have THAT high a luxury character - as the complications are nothing to hold a press conference about. You still have the "generous" amounts of rubber on the case and bezel. Seen above is the C1 BiRetrograde in platinum - and it is attached to the rubber strap. The look of the timepiece will either suit you or not. Regular readers will know that I am less than enthused by the overall Concord C1 design, though this watch isn't the flagrant "look how cool Concord is" timepiece that some in the past have been. The best part of the watch is the simple asymmetric watch dial with applied lume covered hour markers. Look for the watch to be available soon.

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

Tags: biretrograde, c1, concord, retrograde, timepiece, watch

Concord Watch's CEO Vincent Perriard Resigns, Joins TechnoMarine

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Concord and I have had a funny little brief history as I have not been as kind to their watch designs as they would have hoped for. I reviewed such watches at their "$$$,$$$" priced Quantum Gravity Tourbillon with less than jovial enthusiasm. Concord even responded to me via their CEO Vincent Perriard who admirably defended the brand, and his ideas. It was a sign of his dedication to his position and the brand that he helped rebuild. Now that dedication has waned and Mr. Perriard has resigned from Concord, to be effective as soon as possible. He will now take the helm at TechnoMarine, a wholly different type of watch company fitting into a lower end segment with much higher volume production.

I have to ask myself whether this move was prompted by Mr. Perriard's outgrowing of Concord, or vice versa. There have been many critics (such as myself) of where Concord strayed during its "re-birth." Others seemingly loved it as a few of the watches even received design awards. Though I suppose not all was well, and now the critics may have prevailed as Concord might have the possibility to offer arguably more "marketable" watches under new leadership (as of now still undecided). I can't speak as to the sentiments on each side of the table, but I sense a degree of "bad blood" as it appears Perriard ditched camp before his time was due - leaving Concord floundering to fill the position and delicately plan its future. We will see what types of new ideas Perriard can breathe into TechnoMarine that has traditionally enjoyed a fair amount of market success.

Via WorldTempus (in French).

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

Tags: ceo, concord, resign, swiss, timepieces, vincent perriard, VincentPerriard, watches

Concord C1 QuantumGravity Tourbillon Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

As long as I can remember I've loved watching science fiction movies. Hollywood has an impeccable way of creating realistic looking models that give the visual impression of doing more than they actually do. Consider your 'average' movie version of the sci-fi space ship, computer laboratory, or mechanical man – and you'll know what I mean. This concept has been adopted by some of today's luxury watch makers.

Which brings me to the this new Concord C1 QuantumGravity Tourbillon watch, a device which does something simple in the most complex appearing of manners. You'd think a mad scientist (or moderately eccentric one at the least) has invested a lot into creating and wearing this 'new kind of watch' watch - when it is in the end just a watch - that tells the time and has a power reserve indicator. The point of the watch is to be a novelty, and in that I would consider it a resounding success. The large 48.5mm wide titanium case is a massive 22mm deep, which is needed for the rich panoramic display of colors and complexities. The overall wrist footprint of This Concord watch is over 57mm, but it is still wearable thanks to the flexibility of the rubber strap. The best way of understanding the QuantumGravity watch (which is not quantum in weight because it is mostly titanium and aluminum) is by looking at the two major areas of interest aside from the case itself.

Gallery: Concord C1 QuantumGravity Tourbillon Watch

Tags: c1, Concord, quantumgravity, timepiece, tourbillon, watch

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Concord C1 Chronograph Wristwatch

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

The Concord C1 watch made its debut at Baselworld 2007. The C1 has a 44 mm case with a very rugged look. The rubber on the watch helps absorb shocks and make the watch sturdier. There is a 3.30 mm thick sapphire crystal and a crown of rubber, composite and steel. It has an official Swiss chronometer. The movement is the automatic ETA Valgranges A07.211 with 25 jewels, beating at 28,800 bph and with a 48 hour power reserve. The dials is made of carbon fiber and machined metal with sunken applied hour-markers filled with luminescent material. It also has a transparent case-back that reveals a decorated oscillating weight. The watch comes in either steel or 18K rose gold. Too much rubber for my taste but you'll never accuse this watch of being too girly.

[via Time Zone]

Tags: chronograph, concord, watch, wristwatch