Hard Timers: How Hublot Conjured its Magic Gold
The Hublot brand is known for its use of unusual materials, including cermet (a mix of ceramic and metal), tungsten, and something the brand named Hublonium (an alloy of magnesium and aluminum). Now the company has unveiled one more: a very hard and therefore scratch-resistant alloy of gold Hublot has dubbed Magic Gold. Click here to read our report on how Hublot creates it.Despite all the excellent properties of conventional gold, it is very soft. Measured on the Vickers scale, 18k gold has a hardness of 140. By comparison, the steel alloy that's commonly used for watch cases and bracelets, 316L stainless steel, ranges between 200 and 240 on the Vickers scale. Rose gold is slightly harder than yellow gold because there's more copper in rose gold. Magic Gold, however, scores nearly 1,000 on the Vickers scale.Hublot is not the first to introduce a harder form of gold. In 2010, A. Lange & S?hne developed a gold alloy for its 165th Anniversary Homage to F.A. Lange watch. It refers

Talking With Patek Philippe President At Their New LA Boutique
Los Angeles is the first US city with a dedicated Patek Philippe brand boutique store (previously discussed here), and I got a chance to check it out recently. I have to say, the ambiance there is really lovely. While there I had a rare opportunity to interview Patek Philippe President Thierry Stern. I discussed the unique?interview in more detail in an article on Forbes (that I recommend you read here). In addition to sharing that article, you can check out some images of the boutique and the interview video below.[youtube youtubewatches-dealer/watch?v=FMQ8TbxDTqI&version=3&hl=en_US] #gallery-2 { margin: auto; } #gallery-2 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 20%; } #gallery-2 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-2 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0

F.P. Journe Octa Sport Watch
F.P. Journe is really pushing aluminum as its sport watch material of course. I've written in the past about not understanding why they would choose aluminum, which is a soft and easily dented metal for a super high-end luxury watch. It is very light, and I guess they like the quirk. Titanium has really usurped most aluminum use, but I think aluminum is still technically a bit lighter (just not stronger). The watch is just 53 grams in weight. According to F.P. Journe they used "high technology aluminum" (which is apparently the same used in Aeronautics).So like fragile race cars F.P. Journe's sport watches are nice to look at with good performance but you don't want to hit things with it. The watch even has bumpers on the sides. This concept started with the first F.P. Journe sport watch which was last year's Centigraphe Sport (seen below, and priced super high). Oh, and they call their sport collection the "lineSport" collection. It does wreak of a certain disdain for English, whereby

Need some thoughts on how this looks on my wrist. PO 45.5mm
What do you guys think? I like big watches (I have 44mm PAM) but wondering what other's think just because I want feedback.Thoughts? Much appreciated.

DavidSW has 2 5711 Blue?
Seems that he has been having these for couple of days already? Is the demand becoming soft?