Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Christiaan van der Klaauw - Aquarius Planetarium

Christiaan Van Der KlaauwCVDK Planetarium Aquarius Planetarium Edition  
 
Astronomy – time in its purest form – is the source of inspiration for the well-known Dutch watchmaker and member of the prestigious AHCI, Christiaan van der Klaauw. And  now it’s combined with an engraving of the well-known Dutch master-engraver Kees Engelbarts. 
Christiaan van der Klaauw is specialized solely in the design and manufacturing of astronomical watches and now presents the first piece in a series of twelve unique watches: The Aquarius Planetarium. It is based on Christiaan van der Klaauw’s famous Planetarium watch, featuring the world’s first and smallest mechanical planetarium, showing the cycles around the Sun of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
The solid gold dial shows one of the twelve constellations, in this case Aquarius, and is engraved by master-engraver Kees Engelbarts. The case is made of platinum and measures 40 mm in diameter, and is fitted with a sapphire crystal on both sides. Only one watch will be made of each zodiac sign. Every watch will be a ‘pièce unique’ and a collector’s item by its very nature. The other zodiac signs will only be made on special order, according to Christiaan van der Klaauw.
The Aquarius Planetarium is equipped with the world’s smallest heliocentric planetarium and displays the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the Sun. Centrally positioned are the hour, minute and seconds hand and to the lower right corner is a month indicator.

At the Christiaan van der Klaauw website, they created a flash animation that shows exactly how the planets of the planetarium orbit around the sun. There you can also find more info about the entire collection and points of sale.
Some final words… personally I would suggest to use blued hands, which improve the ease of reading the time, however the plain hands match better in terms of color. So I guess that’s a matter of taste. All together the Christiaan van der Klaauw offers a lot: the world’s first and smallest planetarium in a wrist watch, a fair sized (40 mm) platinum case and a solid gold dial that is engraved by Kees Engelbarts. Two Dutch masters have joined their forces for this unique timepiece.

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Press release - 2012
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Address
Christiaan van der Klaauw b.v.

Businesspark Friesland-West 47
8447 SL Heerenveen
The Netherlands
T +31 (0) 513 - 624 906
 info@klaauw.com
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www.facebook.com - Christiaan.van.der.Klaauw
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www.klaauw.com

PROME - THEUS S80 PreOrders

The Pre-Order phase for the Prometheus S80, a collaborative dive watch made by PROMETHEUS Watch Co. and the Spanish watch forum Relojistas has begun. A list of available numbers is HERE. Pre-Orders will run until December, 15th 2011 with pricing as follows . . .

€399 for pre-orders in Portugal and Spain

€409 for pre-orders in rest of Europe

€340 for rest of World

Prices includes shipping and VAT (for orders in European Union). A 50% deposit is required for reservation. Watch is expected to be ready around June 2012. If you live outside European Union you may have to pay taxes at your country once watch arrives.

http://prometheuswatch.com