Quinting describes their product as “the first and unique transparent watch in the world” and that certainly a true statement. The high profile personae wearing their watch is indeed impressive, including former President Bill Clinton, at least three Swiss Presidents, and Secretary General to the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kofi Annan.
Historically it has been a “holy grail” of watch making to create a see-through watch in which the movement was rendered invisible, in fact that reasoning is thought of as the genesis of creating skeleton watches. The idea was to remove more and more of the mass to create increasingly transparent mechanics, and it was thought of as being at an end with the “bridge” styled mechanical movements (such as the Corum or Vincent Calabrese) until Rene Quinting’s breakthrough thinking and design, the research of which began in 1993. The first non-prototype watch did not appear until quite a bit later, and was awarded the “Official Prize of the Revue des Montres” in 1999.
So, how did Quinting do it? The answer lies in a combination of completely re-inventing the watch movement so that it completely fits inside of the bezel area of the case, and twelve stacked sapphire crystals, each designed to facilitate a different portion of the watch complication, and coated with glare resistant material on both sides to render each custom disc basically invisible. These tolerances of these sapphire discs are so exact that even the added diameter of the glare resistant coating must be accounted for within the stack. Every part of this brilliant complicated movement is made and the timepiece hand assembled within their clean room (dust free) facility located in St. Blaise, Switzerland.
Today Quinting builds in 316L stainless steel, 18k gold, and platinum, all available on either exotic strap or bracelet. This review is based on the stainless bracelet example.
Total weight 187 grams
case diameter 44mm (47mm with crown)
case thickness 14mm thick
bracelet 21mm
bracelet thickness 4mm
As you can see from these stats, this is a big heavy watch, especially in the height department. This was considered an unusually large watch upon its introduction years ago, but now with so many luxury watches well in excess of 44mm the dimension can be considered quite mainstream. At 14mm I still consider the watch thicker than most, and depending on the shirt I sometimes have issues getting the cuff to slider smoothly over the watch.
The wearability of this watch is excellent, especially given its heft and size. I attribute this to the exceptional engineering, especially in the hand built bracelet. Each handfinished segment is slightly kidney shaped, so when combined in the finished bracelet the total wraps perfectly around the wrist. The top four links (closest to the case) are permanently installed, with the remaining lower links secured by an elaborate screw and sleeve system which facilitates not only sizing but beautiful flexibility without impacting the way the screws nest.
Quinting produces a beautifully complex watch. Many of you appreciate the complexity of a mechanical chronograph, but now add to that an outer track pointer date that doubles as an am/pm indicator. It does so by pointing to the first half of the designated date section in the am hours, and the second during the pm. Now factor in the additional complexity of doing so with an invisible movement.
For those who would point out that Quinting is a quartz watch, consider this. The electronics only acts as the source of the power, and even that is complicated, divided between four separate engines in turn driving two hundred and thirty two custom built mechanical parts, and it does it all with an ordinary hearing aid battery. The engines are so efficient that if applied to a “normal” watch you would change the battery about every ten years. As it stands, I change mine about every three years, though I don’t run the chronograph very often.
One of the design ingredients I find especially clever is the vertical mounting of the battery, thus taking up very little physical width in a bezel where space is at a premium. Another great idea is to house it just below the serial number plate, which means you can access the battery compartment without ever cracking open the case, so water resistance integrity remains intact.
Quinting also produced one of the most original presentation boxes I’ve ever encountered, building a decorative wooden frame around a real ostrich egg which opens like a “pac-man” revealing a custom pyramid to display the watch. It is my understanding that due to shipping issues Quinting subsequently adopted a more traditional package, and that the original ostrich display now commands a secondary market price tag in the $600 range.
So, on the big question — pricing.
Retail (chronograph model)
Strap model, steel $15,000 (have seen one source listing the strap for $16,000)
Bracelet $16,000
Noble metals
well north of $20,000
Have found the occasional pre-owned example in the $8000 range.
At one point there was a couple of retail counters in the US, but recently have had difficulty locating a current retail counter in the US. Currently they seem to be marketing to high end European and Middle Eastern markets.
Pros: One of the world’s most unique watches. Ingenious complication. Great looking and very comfortable. Brilliantly executed handcrafted excellence.
Cons: Pricey. No retailer currently in US (as of April 09).
Bottom line from this reviewer: if you have the means and appreciate a truly beautiful and complicated watch, don’st hesitate to own one. You will never regret it.
http://www.quinting-watches.com
George J Von Burg is a fourth generation watch maker currently heading up the company bearing the name of his grandfather (the earliest generation made watches under a different name). GJVB watches are built in a pristine state of the art facility in a small picturesque town in Switzerland, a facility it has been my pleasure to tour twice. Here he builds not only the watches bearing his family name and crest but also for numerous other luxury watch brands.
One of the lesser known facts about this brand is that any product bearing the family name is made /entirely/ in Switzerland (a trait increasingly rare in the industry); even the packaging is Swiss produced, as is the exotic strap (crocodile) when applicable. As such it is among the most affordable options when one wishes to own a pure Swiss creation.
GJVB produces their classic 7750 model in both strap and bracelet examples, with or without gold finishing, and in a variety of dials, with and without texturing. For this review I’ll be illustrating the strap version finished in yellow gold.
weight 94g in 316L steel
case diameter 40mm (44mm with crown)
lug diameter 20mm
thickness of case at bezel edge 12.5mm
thickness at case center, including curve of crystal/back 16mm
water resistance 10atm
This watch is accurately described as a classic dress sport watch. The design is very clean with sharp case lines throughout. The case architecture utilizes both a domed sapphire crystal and bowl shaped back to accommodate the rotor of the movement, hence the multiple case thicknesses listed above. GJVB uses only sapphire crystals treated with glare resistant coatings in their namesake productions. GJVB opts to use only solid backs on this model, and each is bowl style and beautifully decorated and engraved with company, water resistance, and individual serial number. The water resistance is individually tested to 100m (330 ft); the company strongly recommends against attempting to operate the chronograph while under water, and this is sage advice.
One of the case aspects I wish to emphasize is the gold finish. As many of you know, such a treatment can often have an artificial air about it, and while GJVB will not elaborate as to their process, they produce without question one of the richest noble metal finishes I have ever seen. There is nothing to give this watch away from being built from a block of solid 18k gold.
The dial is very crisp and easy to read in every aspect. The numerals, indexes, and day/date complications are beautifully laid out and legible at a glance. This may seem basic, but not every watch design has achieved this and GJVB has achieved one of the most readable classic dials that I know of, and has established this design to work on both textured and non-textured dials in both light and dark colors. GJVB utilizes both tradition light green luminous material as well as the newer white material, depending on the desired overall effect. In this particular case (flat finish navy dial) they have used both. The luminous properties of both is quite good. It is worth noting that they often change out their dial colors and finishes in an effort to limit the availability of any single dial and to prevent the design from becoming predictable and stale.
One aspect of GJVB designs that I especially appreciate is the hand design. As many collectors know, finding a hand design that is both readable and not overbearing is a bit of a trick. Make then too thin so as to not to obscure the dial and they can be difficult to see. Too large and they appear overbearing. The GJVB design is a beautiful balance, and further achieves high marks for finishing the hands so that they are quickly readable in both bright and dim lighting.
The core of this watch is a Valjoux 7750 mechanical automatic chronograph engine, further finished at the GJVB facility. The power reserve is estimated in the 40 hour range, and while I have yet to time this from fully wound to expiration I can share from personal experience that once wound I have never had to touch it again for many days of wear, as the rotor performs beautifully. You can feel it take off for a prolonged “spin” during the course of a typical day wearing this watch.
The screw down crown unseats and re-seats smoothly, with the positions to set both both the time and day/date showing up crisply, with the chronograph being operated by non-screw down pushers at the classic positions of 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock.
As to wearability, there is nothing not to like. The case has a beautiful heft but at a finished weight of 94g (strap model) the piece never plays overbearing and falls perfectly into a classic status. It looks amazing on the wrist, wears very comfortably, and frankly much more high end than the msrp would indicate.
Price: Current retail about $1895.
Pros: Classic dress sport design. Crisp handsome dial easy to read in all lights. Classic durable mechanical automatic engine. All Swiss production.
Cons: Some may consider 40mm a bit small when contrasted in today’s larger trends. Would have liked to have had 200m water resistance.
Bottom Line: If you are looking for sharp looking well made all Swiss mechanical automatic chronograph that successfully rivals productions retailing for thousands more, your search is over. Acquire one immediately.
For more information about this watch, visit http://www.gjvb.com.
Dunhill is a luxury brand based in London, England. While probably better known for some of their high end lighters they have on occasion produced a nice watch or two, and in fact is a member of the luxury brands known as the Richemont Group. In this review we’ll take a look at one of their 18k pieces.
This drivers watch is crafted in solid 18K gold. The alloy Dunhill favors tends to be a warmer color, which is complimentary to almost any skin tone. For those not familiar with the term “drivers watch” it refers to the overall wedge shape of the case which in turn tilts the dial towards the wearer, the theory being that it makes the watch more readily legible while gripping a steering wheel. It is this wedge shape that results in the unusual case measurements listed below.
In my view the word “classic” definitely describes Dunhill and this model is a wonderful example of such design. The silver dial features a great looking guilloche pattern of vintage styling while keeping time reading simple, and makes the perfect background to highlight the faceted gilt dauphine hands and art deco styled polished gilt stick markers. All of this is displayed beneath a custom milled sapphire crystal.
The case itself is built in two basic large blocks of solid gold; the lower which is brushed and the upper which is polished. When the two of these are nested the contrast of finishes is quite striking. You will also notice that there is not the traditional “back” on this watch given that the entire lower half of the asymmetrical case is one of the solid gold blocks, so the screws that you see actually extend into the upper half completing the anchoring process. Note the ergonomic curve designed into the solid lower block as well.
One of my favorite features is the way the case protects the crown without interrupting the streamlined architecture. The lower portion of the case has a precise cutout which wraps perfectly around the crown extending from the upper portion, thus protecting it beautifully.
The movement is a high grade Swiss quartz movement which I think plays beautifully in this watch, given that there is no sweep second hand so no need to be concerned about the “chunky” motion associated with most quartz second hands. This is a watch that is a true pleasure to just “put on and go” without having to worry about winding and setting, etc.
The watch is presented on a beautiful French made brown calf strap with a crocodile grain fitted with a matching solid 18K gold Dunhill buckle.
weight 63gm
case height 9mm
hug area 20mm
case width 26mm (27mm including crown)
case length 40mm
case length with lugs 44mm
water resistance 30m
As to wearability, what’s not to love. It’s weight is present but not overbearing and the ergonomic curve of the case has it melding into the wrist, and the low sleek architecture assures that the timepiece effortlessly slides under any style dress cuff.
Price: $3400-$3500 dollar range in new condition
Pros: Great high end brand name cache. Sleek elegant design. Excellent Swiss craftsmanship. Timeless elegance that will always play well.
Cons: Would have liked to have seen a water resistance of at least 50m. Some may consider this watch a bit small given current large watch trends.
Bottom Line: Anyone in the market for a tasteful streamlined solid 18k gold dress watch will love this production. I don’t think it’s in current production but well worth pursuing.
