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Watch News: Legendary Brand Waltham Is Back; New Launches By Le Vian and Alpina June 10, 2015 (0 comments)
Legendary Watch Brand Waltham Returns To The Global Market
New York, NY—Waltham, an iconic American/Swiss watch brand founded in 1850 and renowned for leading in the industrial revolution of worldwide watch manufacturing, is back.
The brand, considered by many as the absolute founder of today’s modern watch making system, created timepieces, clocks and precession instruments for the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. (A vintage 1942 CDIA timepiece is shown at left). Railroad companies in 52 countries across seven continents also officially used Waltham timepieces. Waltham Watches produced 40 million timepieces and employed over 4,000 individuals at the height of its American production, making it the largest producer of pocket watches to date. World-renowned pioneers relied on Waltham instruments, such as Sir Ernest Shackleton on his trek to the South Pole, Robert Peary conquering the North Pole, and Charles Lindbergh on the first non-stop transatlantic flight. (Photo at left: Wikipedia)
In 1954, Waltham SA is established in Switzerland to continue the brand legacy. In 2011, majority shares of Waltham International SA were purchased by Antonio DiBenedetto, the brand’s current CEO and president, who is intent on reviving the legacy of the iconic brand.
Inspired by the same model that Charles Lindbergh chose for his Spirit of St. Louis, the Waltham XA features a dial with a small seconds sub-dial at 12 o’clock. The Wlatham CDI is a GMT with a unique civil date indicator in the center that is inspired by the CDIA fitted on board the Consolidated B24-Liberator and the Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircrafts during the Second World War. The Waltham ETC highlights a central chronograph function with second hand and 60 minute elapsed time indicator similar to the iconic Type-A13a model used by the F4 Phantoms of the 1960’s, and the legendary Top Gun fighter weapons school.
All three models are available in Pure, with case in titanium G5; Eclipse, in two-tone black PVD; and Black Matter, completely in black PVD. Below, an example of an iconic Waltham timepiece, this one chosen by famed aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh, and the modern iterations inspired by it.
Video: Tour The New Le Vian Time Collection
Las Vegas, NV—Le Vian has significantly expanded its Le Vian Time collection with a host of new models and “good-better-best” pricing, featuring simple and gem-set options for most of its styles. One example is shown here. Click here to watch design manager Steven Grotell give a video tour of more of the new pieces from Le Vian's booth at the JCK Show.
Alpina Watches Launches The Seastrong Diver 300 Chronograph Big Date
Geneva, Switzerland—Alpina Watches’ Seastrong collection made diving watch history in the 1960's when the Seastrong "10" reached depths of 200 meters (660 ft). Alpina now launches the Seastrong Diver 300 Chronograph Big Date, an extremely readable professional diving chronograph range that is 300m/1000ft water-resistant. It is immediately recognizable due to its distinctive colored unidirectional turning diving bezels and its oversized minute hand for optimal diving time readability.
The aluminum bezel, turns only counter-clockwise. With this "fail-safe" feature, the number of elapsed minutes can never be accidentally decreased, only increased. In addition, the 60-minute markers on the bezel are luminous, as are the dial indexes, which perfectly contrast against the matte black dial. The watch's hands are luminous for maximum readability in low visibility conditions, and the minute's hand is oversized to safely read diving time.
The 44 mm stainless cushion shaped steel case, the screw-in crown and case-back, the scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, the water resistant genuine leather strap and engraving of the Alpina diving symbol on the case-back are all distinctive functional and aesthetic features matching the requirements of divers and everyday wearers. The range comes in 4 different models, each with a different bezel color: bordeaux, gray, navy, and orange.
The extremely precise and reliable AL-372 1/10th of sec. Swiss quartz chronograph movement features 30- and 10-hour chronograph counters, add and split functions, big date and has a standard battery life of 48 months.