EDOX – DELFIN Fleet 1650 Edition

EDOX – DELFIN Fleet 1650 Limited Edition


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SAVING WORLD MARITIME HERITAGE

Time is running out for many of the world’s historical shipwrecks.

Hundreds of wrecks around the busy sea-lanes of Indonesia’s vast archipelago, relics of the age when men risked life and limb to bring the exotic riches of the Spice Islands back to Europe, are particularly vulnerable.

Every wreck has its own story, a unique link to man’s seafaring passion – yet due to looting, destructive fishing practices, the ravages of time and the high cost of survey and reconnaissance operations to pro-actively protect these heritage sites, most shipwrecks are in danger of being lost forever. Now Switzerland’s family-owned and Jura-based boutique watchmaker Edox has announced it will underwrite a fascinating project to research, record and protect one such site for future generations.

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Edox and the Arqueonautas Fashion Brand are supporting a joint project by Indonesia’s Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the German-based Association for Saving of Underwater Cultural Heritage (ASUCH) and the archaeological company PT Maresearch Indonesia for a survey of what is considered to be the final resting place of five ships of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the famed Dutch East India Company.

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In the last week of February 1650 the ships, led by the flagship Tijger, left Batavia, the company’s headquarters on the island of Java, for Ternate, one of the legendary Spice Islands of the Moluccas.

The fleet never reached its destination. Just before daybreak on March 4 1650, the five ships were driven by a squall onto a reef off the island of Kabaena in Southeast Sulawesi (Indonesia), stranding nearly 600 crew and passengers on the tiny sandbank of Sagori. Against all odds, the shipwrecked yet showed the tenacity and persistence to recover most of the fleet’s cargo and armament – and, faced with being marooned, in the next weeks even constructed a new vessel, christened “The Yacht of Five”, out of the wreckage. When in May a small Dutch squadron arrived to the rescue, they not only found more salvaged goods and guns than they could load into their vessels, but the new ship launched and nearly ready to set sail … .

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The astonishing tale of Tijger and her sister ships might have been lost had it not been for the re-discovery of a diary of the ship’s council in the National Archives of the Netherlands. Guided by the diary, a team of researchers led by Maresearch and Indonesia’s regional Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in April last year re-discovered what appears to be the remains of Tijger and another, as yet unidentified, vessel.

Edox is proud to support a detailed reconnaissance and survey of the site in April/May this year - exactly 367 years after Tijger and her sister ships were lost.

Says  Arqueonautas  spokesmann Nikolaus Graf Sandizell of the search for the lost fleet: “There is no certainty, there is only adventure. We want this important UCH (underwater cultural heritage site) to be protected and the amazing tale of the events in 1650 to be preserved for future generations, and especially so for those who have a bearing in the events; ASUCH and Maresearch work closely together with the archaeologists of Indonesia’s Makassar Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, supplying research expertise, logistics, documentation and publications.”

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Edox, too, is celebrating this great adventure with the release of a new timepiece, the Edox Delfin Fleet 1650 Limited Edition (300 pieces worldwide).

The 43 mm watch, which is water-resistant to 200 meters, features a stunning steel case and is a true
revival of the vintage Delfin timepiece collection born in 1961. Powered by an ultra-reliable mechanical Swiss-made movement, the watch has a steel case-back decorated with an historic wind rose that featured in drawings in the documents that led to the last resting place of the ships. Each watch is also individually numbered and carries an engraved inscription “There is no certainty, there is only adventure.”

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The 43 mm watch, which is water-resistant to 200m, features a stunning bronze case, the same material used on the fittings of 17th Century Dutch ships.

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Presented in a hand-made leather travel pouch, the Edox Delfin Fleet 1650 Limited Edition also comes with a vintage heritage leather strap and a bi-colour NATO strap. Edox has been making exceptional watches since 1884 and is the Premium Partner of the Sauber F1® Team for 2017.

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TECHNICAL FEATURES

Model: EDOX DELFIN Fleet 1650 Edition

REF. 88004 BRZBU BUI - Bronze with black dial
REF. 88004 3 NIN - Stainless steel with black dial

Calibre 
Edox mechanical calibre 88
Functions
Display of hours, minutes, seconds, day-date
Case

• Bronze with rotating aluminium navy bezel
• Steel with rotating aluminium black bezel

Diameter Ø 43 mm
Finishes Steel caseback, with windrose engraving and limited numbering.
Water resistance  200 meters / 20 ATM
Glass  Scratch-resistant and anti-reflective doomed sapphire crystal
Dial

• Deep-blue
• Deep-black

Strap
Genuine leather strap or NATO strap with Delfin collection buckle

Limited Edition
Edition of 200 pie ces worldwide. (Bronze)
Edition of 300 pieces worldwide. (Steel)
Presented in its special hand-made leather travel pouch.

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Press Release - 2017
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