Richard Mille To Debut Incredibly Expensive Carbon NTPT-Cased Watch
Well, would you look at that - the folks over at Richard Mille, known purveyors, of all things, to make crazy lightweight watches, have just come up with a new material to incorporate into their timepiece designs. ?Then again, I say (type?) that with tongue firmly in cheek. While this is certainly a new material in the world of luxury watches, it's not something they invented on their own. The material in question is a carbon fiber-based material that's made by layers of CF filaments (no more than 30 microns thick) in which each layer is at 45 degrees to the previous one.This is something that comes from the world of racing yachts, which is really where there has been a lot of innovation in the past few years coming up with lightweight materials that can stand up to the stresses of sheer speed, and the forces coming from the wind and water. Sure, other areas have had advances, but with racing boats basically becoming planes flying on water, there's been quite a drive for these material

The Patek Philippe 2497: On Leap Day 2012, We Show You A Perpetual Calendar You Need To Know
You won't find the owner of a perpetual calendar any happier than you will today, February 29th.? You see, one of the coolest things about a true perpetual calendar is that it automatically knows and adjusts for leap years.? Thing is, they don't come around too often, so every February 29th, people that are lucky enough to own a perpetual calendar go a little nutty and start showing complete strangers their watches on the streets.So, on this leap day, we thought we'd show you a famous perpetual calendar that you should know about.? It is, of course, from Patek Philippe, and its reference is the 2497.? It is a traditional manually wound perpetual calendar and it was launched in 1951.? The 2497 was introduced alongside the 2438-1, which was the same watch with a waterproof case and though it was produced for over ten years, only 179 examples were made in total, of both references.?The 2497 is traditionally divided into two series, differentiated by their dials.? Series one is as above on

Rubberclad I series / 3126 movement?
I just purchased a soon to be landing black Rubberclad H series with the black date window / new dial and am very excited to have an RC back in the collection after selling the last one I had a couple years ago. Does anyone know if they ever produced an I series or was H the last of the blacks? Also anyone know if the 3126 movement ever made it to any of the RC's? I am almost positive it never did and the 2326 was carried to the end of production. Thanks -

Took the royal oak out to sea
For a lovely day on isle of wight Sun came out today so had a trip down south to spend the day in Cowes yachting capital of the world PS - not my yacht

Water resistance of older Seamasters.
I've been looking at some of the 60s-70s Seamasters as a first foray into expensive watches (Hey, no laughing- I'm coming up from Invicta!), but I have one simple question.Is there a central chart or something where I can find what water resistance rating the older Seamasters had? I'd imagine not much, but it would be nice to know if I could leave it on when washing my hands.