Grand Carrera Calibre 17 Pink Gold Chronograph - Tag Heuer for Baselworld 2008

The TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre 17 Pink Gold Chronograph has been developed in two versions: the first version with an elegant silver dial, and the second one with a tasteful brown dial (500 pieces in each dial color).

Both versions will spotlight framed chronograph dials with Cotes-de-Geneve-pattern decoration. The dial is completed with applied curved and facetted 18k-pink-gold hour-markers. The date window is positioned at 6 o'clock.

The satin-finished and polished 18K pink gold case of the Grand Carrera Calibre 17 Pink Gold Chronograph watch measures 43 mm in diameter.

The iconic Tag Heuer Grand Carrera collection has been joined by a new, exceptional watch inspired by modern GT cars. The peculiarity of the watch is its distinctive chronograph display with rotating discs to feature elapsed time.

As hinted by the name, the Grand Carrera Calibre 17 Pink Gold Chronograph is crafted in luxurious 18K rose gold. The creators of the new Tag Heuer Grand Carrera have opted for the use of 18K gold to underscore the prestige of the model. The timepiece will be available in a limited edition of 1000 pieces.

The Tag Heuer watch encompasses the following functions - hours, minutes, seconds, date, chronograph with double rotating system, and tachometer scale. The functions are provided by the TAG Heuer 17 RS Calibre, a self-winding chronograph movement crowned by the prestigious COSC-chronometer-certification.

WIND POWERED WATCH: Urwerk UR-202

The UR-202 uses compressed air generated by the wind turbines to regulate the winding mechanism. With traditional self-winding watches use a slipping mainspring to prevent overwinding. The main rotor, which is constantly moving back and forth (as the user moves his arm), tends to wear as time goes on, due to the friction generated as it winds. What the turbines do is to regulate the velocity of the winding rotor to ensure that it doesn’t spin too fast, nor too slow. In principle, this will extend the life of the winding mechanism.

As we said, not exactly revolutionary in the big picture, but cool nonetheless. The watch is certainly distinctive enough, and has a number of features which make it quite interesting, and a little intimidating. We won’t lay claim to being watch experts, or even guess whether the extremely high price is justified, but we definitely like the idea of wind turbines being used in a watch. As well as the notion to get them into other gadgets.

High-end watchmaker Urwerk is bringing new meaning to the term “small wind” by replacing the traditional self-winding mechanism in their UR-202 watch with miniature wind turbines. While this small scale turbine installation isn’t solving any energy crisis, it is a step towards better design, and a wind-driven move that extends the life of this distinctive timepiece. While we’ve seen wind turbine technology in many forms, from large, powerful designs that can power neighborhoods, to small hand-held devices that can charge your mobile gadgets, we can’t recall any innovation that used wind power in such a small (yet significant) detail.

Bell & Ross Watches

Here is a new professional diving watch designed by Bell & Ross to be extremely readable and water resistant. The BR02 watch is fitted with photoluminescent large hands and indexs to make it easier to read while deep sea diving. The unidirectional inside bezel graduated to 60 mn is marked by photoluminescent indexs and provides great visibility when underwater. The water resistance is 1,000 M and during deep sea diving, its decompression valve balances the pressure inside the case with pressure outside the case. The BR02 Instrument also provides optimum comfort through the ergonomics of the case and the flexibilty of the strap. The case is 44 mm in diameter and is made of a 316L glass bead blasted steel with a vacuum carbon black finish. The crystal is anti-reflective to make sure visibilty is not impaired. This new dive watch from Bell & Ross costs a little over $4800 which seems a little steep considering you can find a Bell & Ross Hydromax for well under three grand.

Bell & Ross recently released two Limited Edition Instrument wristwatch models. They released the BR01 Instrument Red and the BR01 Instrument Yellow, which actually consist of two versions each, so there are actually four models. The model numbers end with either a 92 or a 94. The models that end with 92 have automatic movements and the models that end with 94 have automatic chronograph movements. Each version is limited to 500 pieces, which is a respectable number for a limited edition. I hate when manufacturers make over 1000 pieces and then abuse the term "limited edition".