Zero West – LS-1 Land Speed Chronograph Edition

Zero West – LS-1 Land Speed Chronograph Limited Edition 

LS-1 Land Speed Chrono

Created by British watch brand Zero West, the LS-1 Land Speed Chronograph is probable the only British made bullhead chronograph watch. This automatic chronograph watch model is a tribute to motor car racing.

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The 1920’s saw great international competition in land-speed record attempts. A fierce international rivalry existed for holding the much coveted land-speed record. During the 1920’s the land-speed goal was to break the 200mph barrier and during that decade, the land-speed record was broken no fewer than eleven times.

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The elusive 200mph barrier was finally broken on 29th March 1927 at Daytona Beach, USA, by an Englishman called Sir Henry Seagrave, driving a British built Sunbeam car called “Mystery” aka Sunbeam 1000 hp. The speed recorded was 203.79 mph.

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It was an incredible car built by the British Sunbeam Motorcar Company of Wolverhampton. A colossus at 24ft long, 8ft wide and weighing in at 4 tons it was clad in aluminium alloy and painted in a bright red livery. Two 22.4 litre V12 Sunbeam Matabele aero engines, synchronised and mounted in tandem powered the car, one in front and one behind the driver cockpit. Transmission was via a 3 speed gearbox, its final stage being twin chain direct drive to the rear wheels.

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The record was then broken in February of the following year by another Englishman, Sir Malcolm Campbell, at a speed of 206.956 mph.

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Seagrave however went on to retain the record again in 1929 in a car called Golden Arrow at a speed of 231.446 mph, and once again Britain’s dominance in leading the world in engineering and setting new land speed records was upheld.

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Zero West celebrates this British engineering achievement with their new LS-1 Land speed bullhead chronograph. This watch is powered by the legendary Valjoux 7750 Swiss automatic movement. Presented in a “Bulls Head” configuration, LS-1 harks back to the dashboard mounted timing watches seen on speed record and racing cars of the 1920s.

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The main body is machined from billet 316L stainless steel and finished in matt black PVD with straight barrel knurl and brushed top chamfer. The backplate and lugs are billet machined from a single piece of 316L stainless steel which is then mirror polished to create a beautifully sculpted cradle for the body to nest into. Time adjustment is by an oversize diamond knurled and dome topped crown and the chrono function pushers are sculpted into the cradle to accentuate the flowing three-dimensional form of LS-1.

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The dial has a contemporary feel with balanced vintage design. A satin steel index ring frames the ink black dial, which features white numerals in SuperLuminova X1 pigment along with the matt steel hour and minute hand.

LS-1 is fitted with a leather strap which is hand crafted in the Zero West workshop using Horween leather, which is known for its beautifully supple and highly water resistant qualities. The result is a rugged, vintage feeling strap that will develop a lovely patina over time.

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Technical Specifications

Model:  LS-1 Land Speed Chronograph Edition

Special features

Latitude and Longitude reference Daytona Beach
Date code references the Sunbeam land speed record
1920’s period dial and hand design
Laser engraved watch back denoting record
Polished stopwatch cradle emulates vintage dashboard fixing

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Case
316L stainless steel case:
Billet and finished in matt black PVD with straight barrel knurl and brushed top chamfer
Backplate and lugs:
Billet machined from a single piece of 316L stainless steel and mirror polished
44mm diameter
15.7mm thick
22mm lug width
52.5mm lug to lug pin spacing
Water resistance: 10ATM (100m) 100% tested
Crown: Screw lock & sprung oversize straight diamond knurled and dome topped crown in polished 316L stainless steel with triple seal technology
Pushers: Sprung & double sealed pusher at 11 o’ clock (start/stop red polished) & 1 o’clock (reset silver polished)
Custom double curved domed sapphire glass with blue AR coating on the internal surface
Movement
Mechanical Automatic Chronograph
Calibre Valjoux 7750
Balance frequency: 28,800 vph, 4Hz
Jewels: 25
Self-winding ball bearing rotor
Power reserve ~48 hours
Dial
Black enamel over brass substrate with over printed vintage dial
Numerals highlighted in Super Luminova X1 luminous pigment
Sweep seconds sub-dial & minute & hour Chronograph sub-dials
Steel satin dial ring with 0.2 second resolution indexes
Hands
Matt steel with inset SuperLuminova X1 luminous pigment
Red Chronograph function hands
Strap
22/22mm Custom handmade Horween leather water strap in ink black
Single wide sliding keeper loop
Natural burnished edges
Waxed hemp hand stitching in biscuit
Polished 316L stainless steel buckle with engraved ZW logo

Retail price   £2,995

EDITION
Limited Edition series of only 99 pieces.


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URWERK – UR-111C Two-Tone Edition

URWERK – UR-SPECIAL PROJECTS UR-111C Two-Tone Limited Edition - 2020

Independent Swiss watchmaker URWERK has always championed innovation. And its latest model, the UR-111C - now in a striking Two-Tone (TT) black PVD and brushed steel, teardrop profile case - is no exception. Certainly, as part of the “Special Projects” line - a deviation from the wandering hour indications for which URWERK has become well-known - it’s one of the most conceptually adventurous watches on the market.

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The UR-111C TT comes with three key advances for watchmaking. The first is a retrograde linear minute display in an end-mounted driver’s watch style. This is a spinoff of the mechanism invented for the UR-CC1. With a twist.  Here the numerals are set in a 30° diagonal slant for a better readability. This means that the rotating cylinder onto which the minute indicator is painted must rotate 300 degrees about its axis, during which a coiled spring is wound.

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At the 60th minute, the spring is released, making the indicator jump a further 60 degrees and back to the start position. But it also makes the hour indicator to its left jump too. The result is a pleasing optical illusion of the cylinder rotating endlessly and seamlessly.

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The second innovation is the seconds display. Openwork Arabic numerals are set onto two wheels, each graduated in ten second increments. Each wheel is made using a cutting edge process of lithography, electroplating and moulding devised precisely for the creation of very light and specific structures. Indeed, each wheel, complete with its six numerals, weighs just 0.025g - and that’s just as well, given the delicate dance that the two will now take part in. Interlocking like the teeth on cogs, they show a smooth progression of passing seconds. But how is the wearer to see such small-scale elements? They move - at a distance of just one tenth of a millimetre - under what looks to be a kind of circular lens, but which is a cluster of optical fibres.

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The third and, in many ways, most stimulating new concept that the UR-111C introduces is its fresh take on the crown, for winding and setting. Doing away with the conventional, side-mounted winder, URWERK’s new piece introduces a roller system, positioned right across the middle of the case top. Rolling will further charge the watch’s self-winding movement. When small lever to the right side of the case is released, the same roller can be used to set the time, with stop-seconds functionality.

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Of course, arranging all these micro-mechanics to create the end form of the UR-111C watch has been no easy task. The transmission had to be reimagined to allow a horizontal movement to provide a vertical time read-out within the crystal glass-covered truncated cones to both sides of the linear display. Connecting a roller crown to the winding stem likewise took feats of engineering, minuscule in scale but no less striking in effect.

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But that precisely follows the design ethos of URWERK’s co-founders Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei. More than just telling the time in sophisticated fashion, the UR-111C TT embodies both a visual and, especially unusually in watchmaking, a tactile treat for its owner. They’re ones which will sustain interest and intrigue alike through lifelong wear.

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Technical Specifications

Collection: UR-SPECIAL PROJECTS

Model: UR-111C TT Edition

Movement
Calibre: Self-winding calibre with stop seconds
Escapement: Swiss lever
Jewels: 37
Frequency: 4 Hz
Power reserve: 48 hours
Materials: Anodized aluminium cylinder; LIGA-processed nickel second wheels.
Surface finishes: Circular graining, sanding, Côtes de Genève, polished screw heads.
Indications
Jumping hours, retrograde linear minutes, digital minutes, digital seconds.
Case
Dimensions: Width 42mm x length 46mm x thickness 15mm
Glass: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
Water resistance: Pressure tested to 3ATM / 100ft / 30m

Price
CHF 130’000.00 (Swiss francs / tax not included)


Production limited to 25 watches

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Press Release - 2020
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Media contact:
Ms Yacine Sar
Telephone: +41 22 900 2027
Mobile : +41 79 834 46 65
press@urwerk.com
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