The beautiful Calibre de Cartier in solid 18ct Pink Gold case and bracelet has now arrived in selected Watches of Switzerland stores. This stunning watch is a must see for fans of gold watches. Pictured here with a white dial, it is also available with a chocolate brown dial. The 42mm 18ct Pink Gold case houses the Cartier Calibre 1904-PS MC, an automatic mechanical movement, and of course feature the signature cabouchon on the crown. The 18ct Pink Gold bracelet finishes this unique, elegant dress watch. To read more about the Calibre de Cartier or to enquire, click here.

One of the most exciting watch releases for 2011 is arriving in our Sydney store next week – big news for Jaeger-LeCoultre fans! The new Master Compressor Extreme LAB 2 is a mechanical chronograph with GMT function, especially designed for use in the most extreme environments. The new model unites sporting spirit with technical prowess for extreme design, with an emphasis on comfort and ergonomics and technology for maximum reliability in tough situations. New functions include an easy to use function selector regulated through the crown, a patented digital jumping minutes counter for easy readability and a clearly visible power reserve and a GMT function, for use anywhere in the world. All this horological genius is housed in a titanium alloy case and outfitted with a scratchproof high tech zirconium ceramic bezel. Specially designed push buttons guarantee failure free use even when wearing gloves and an innovative interchangeable strap system with double pin buckle makes changing straps fast, easy and safe. 

Contact the store on (02) 9251 0088 for further details, or email sydney@watchswiss.com

One of the most exciting launches for Omega in 2011 is definitely the new Planet Ocean - now available at Watches of Switzerland.

The new Planet Ocean Chrono featured here is available in stainless steel, with an orange matt aluminium or matt black ceramic bezel, and equipped with the latest Co-Axial Calibre 9300/9301. Like every Planet Ocean, it is ready for underwater adventure with a unidirectional rotating bezel, helium escape valve and water resistance to 600 metres. The applied indices on the dial and the hands are coated with Superluminova, making it visible from the depths.

To find out more and to enquire, click here.

Also available is the new Planet Ocean Date, shown here with black ceramic bezel:

Also fitted out with a new Co-Axial movement, the OMEGA Co-Axial Calibre 8500 self winding, and also includes a ceramic bezel. To find out more or to enquire, click here. 

Jaeger-LeCoultre created the Reverso in 1931 as a way to protect the watch from the shocks of a polo game, its unique swivel case could be turned in to face the wrist.

To celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the Reverso, Jaeger-LeCoultre has released the new Grande Reverso Ultra Thin range for both men and women. An extremely compact movement has enabled the design engineers to build the thinnest Reverso ever at 7.2mm thick, making it both light and comfortable to wear. 

Now available from Watches of Switzelrand. For more details on the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute 1931 and to enquire, click here.

For more than a quarter of a century now the classically elegant Portofino family has been the unassuming star of the IWC collections. An expression of understatement and good taste, in many ways the Portofino perfectly embodies the IWC philosophy.

This year, the Portofino line includes updated Automatic and Chronograph models, as well as the newly developed Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days. With an in-house manufactured 59210 calibre movement, the Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days will run reliably and precisely for a full 192 hours — or exactly eight days — before it automatically stops.

Available in a gold case with a slate-coloured dial or in a stainless steel case with a silver-plated or black dial, the watch is beautifully complemented by an alligator leather strap from the House of Santoni.

A full range of IWC Portofino watches if available in all Watches of Switzerland stores. For more details on the IWC Portofino Hand Wound Eight Days and to enquire, please click here.

Drawing inspiration from the world of fashion and the number ‘eight’, a number that has long held special significance for the House of Dior, Dior Horlogerie has introduced a completely new line of elegant women’s timepieces.

Destined to become a timeless classic, the Dior VIII is crafted in high-tech black ceramic. It is reminiscent of the ‘little black dress’ and will be just as versatile an addition to any woman’s wardrobe.

 There are three distinct collections within the range: eight ‘ready to wear’ pieces; four baguette pieces, colourful and playful like a cocktail dress; and five Grand Bal limited edition pieces, the movement of which is reminiscent of a swirling ball gown.

A full collection of Dior VIII is available in all Watches of Switzerland stores.

Pictured here is the Dior VIII 33mm Diamond Dial. For more details and to enquire, click here.

In 2011, Chanel invented a new colour, the Chromatic colour, oscillating between black and white, Gabrielle Chanel’s two favourite colours. Fine-tuned in CHANEL’s Swiss workshops, the Chromatic colour was born out of a ture 21st Century material – titanium ceramic, which encases a new generation J12 watch and transforms its surface into ever changing shifts in colour. CHANEL developed exclusive polishing techniques to achieve this new rich palette of reflections inspired by processes using diamond powder for polishing sapphire. With its mysterious duality of colour and non-colour,  titanium ceramic  reinvents the J12, adding a totally new chapter to its watchmaking story.

Titanium ceramic is a precious material that is as scratch-resistant as sapphire.

The J12 Chromatic collection consists of seven models: 33mm with a quartz movement,  38 and 41mm with an automatic movement, of which two versions are set with round or baguette cut diamonds. Pictured is the 33mm quartz set with 54 (1.4 carats) around the bezel and 8 diamond indices.

A full range is now available in Watches of Switzerland Melbourne and Perth stores. For product details, click here.

Breitling for Bentley is lining up an exceptional champion on the starting grid.  Named in honour of the most famous of the Bentley Boys, who was the first driver to win three consecutive editions of the Le Mans 24 hours (1928, 1929 and 1930), the Bentley Barnato Racing chronograph is distinguished by its peerless performance and its resolutely out of the ordinary design.

   
Inside the understated and powerful case, complete with a broad bezel bearing a raised knurled motif inspired by the Bentley control buttons, an ultra-sporty dial features a highly original disc-type totalizer system.  On the reverse, a transparent sapphire crystal caseback reveals a truly unique vision in the shape of an oscillating weight inspired by the wheels rims on the new Continetal GT, which provides a maximum of energy to the COSC certified movement beneath.

The Bentley Barnato Racing Chronograph is now available at all Watches of Switzerland stores. For more information and to enquire, click here to contact your nearest store.

Many people may remark about the solid case back - but with a minute repeater, the case must be solid for the acoustics of the chimes to be heard. As with all minute repeaters, the chimes are distinct for hours, quarters and minutes.

IWC can only produce 50 of these watches each year, and Watches of Switzerland have number 18 - the only Grande Complication in Australia. For enquiries, please call Watches of Switzerland on 1300 888 091 or click here to email.

A true masterpiece, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire has arrived in stock at Watches of Switzerland. The Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire is a new interpretation of the revolutionary 'Dual - Wing concept, featuring two independent power reserves, one of which, in this case, is devoted solely to precise time measurement while the other takes care of the functional displays. Available from Watches of Switzerland in pink gold on a leather strap. For price and other enquiries, please phone 1300 888 091. For more information, click here

We have just received the only platinum piece of this beautiful new IWC creation, the Mystere Retrograde. This tourbillon model has a 7 day power reserve movement with the indicator positioned on the right hand side of the dial at the 3 o’clock position, a date indicator with a flyback function at the end of the month  on the left hand side of the dial at 9 o’clock and the tourbillon encased in a “flying” cage at 12 o’clock. The cage appears to float within the dial opening and performs the role of the second display.

We have limited number 168 of the 250 pieces to be produced for the world in platinum. For enquiries please contact Watches of Switzerland Sydney, (02) 9251 0088, sydney@watchswiss.com.

 Watches of Switzerland have just received the only Portugese Grande Complication to be allocated to Australia and New Zealand. This is one of the most sophisticated timepieces IWC have ever produced. Only 50 pieces will be delivered to the international market within a tweleve month period. Within IWC there are only two watch makers able to assemble this piece – with each piece taking one watch maker  two months to assemble. This is a minute repeater with beautiful sounding individual chimes for hour, quarter hours and minutes, perpetual movement with separate century slide and a chronograph.

We are pleased to offer piece number 18 of 50 to be made in 2010 in red gold.

For more details about this watch, please email Sam van der Griend directly at samvdg@swisstime.com.au

Exclusive to Watches of Switzerland, Breitling offers a limited edition of the Chronospace dedicated to the Breitling Jet Team, the world’s only civilian flight team performing on jets. 
The Breitling Jet Team continues to distinguish itself by its breathtaking aerobatics shows performed at speeds of almost 700 km/h. In tribute to its stunning feats, Breitling has created a 1,000 piece limited edition of the Chronospace, the latest of its instruments for professionals. This model is distinguished by the silvery dial adorned with the new team logo and with a plane representing one of the seven L-39 Albatros jets composing it. Based on cutting-edge electronics, the Chronospace offers a full range of functions including 1/100th of a second chronograph with split times, alarm, countdown, dual timezone display with independent alarm, and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It is powered by a Breitling SuperQuartzTM movement and the LCD screens are equipped with a backlighting system guaranteeing optimal read-off by day or night. For enquiries call 1300 888 091.

 OMEGA and Norman made the announcement as the event got underway at the scenic Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on Thursday the 2^nd of September.

 Norman joins a roster of OMEGA ambassadors which includes fellow golfers Sergio Garcia and Michelle Wie, Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, actors George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, supermodel Cindy Crawford and astronaut Buzz Aldrin among others.

 One of the world’s most iconic golfers

Greg Norman’s nickname recalls not only his Australian origins but the aggressive playing style that made him one of the world’s most iconic and recognizable golfers. Since turning professional, Norman has won 91 events including 20 US PGA tour titles and the British Open Championship in 1986 and 1993. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, Norman held the number one position on golf’s world rankings for an incredible 331 weeks.

 Greg Norman – equally impressive off the course

In addition to his remarkable on-course achievements, his successes in business have been equally impressive. As chairman and CEO of Great White Shark Enterprises, Norman has established an international business portfolio with interests focused around golf and the golfing lifestyle. In recognition of his accomplishments as a golfer, sportsman, businessman, author and philanthropist, Norman was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

 OMEGA President Urquhart: delighted that Norman is part of the OMEGA family

OMEGA president Stephen Urquhart said, “We all know that Greg Norman is a golfing legend. Furthermore, he is one of the game’s great personalities and is enormously popular both on and off the course. We are very much looking forward to this partnership.”  

Winner in its concept stage of many design prizes and awards, the Monaco V4 is the revolutionary new incarnation of the iconic Monaco.

The Monaco V4’s avant-garde look outside matches the revolutionary movement inside. Every complex surface and dihedral angle is fine polished to the highest haute-horlogerie standards. The case is in platinum 950, as is the caseback, which is trisected with 3 glass apertures. There is no reading dial per se — the polished beveled indexes are fixed directly to the bridges, with the small second hand distinctively off-centered at 4 o’clock. The ball bearing systems are visible on both sides, while the movement’s unique escapement and 3 transmission belts can be seen from the front, and the 2 barrel drives from the back. The stylish strap is in large-scale alligator, hand-stitched with a titanium insert. The overall design is breathtakingly new, unlike anything ever seen, yet the influence of Steve McQueen’s square-faced Monaco is apparent at a glance, as is the spirit and DNA. This is what truly drives TAG Heuer and the Monaco V4: audacity, performance, and a passionate devotion to the avant-garde.

Today, the Monaco V4 are hand-assembled at TAG Heuer by “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” watch master Denis Badin, thus bringing the timepiece full circle: from the most cutting-edge techniques of the present era to the most time-honored traditions of artisanal craftsmanship.

This exclusive luxury edition of only 150 pieces in platinum 950, launched at the occasion of the 150th anniversary, is available through Watches of Switzerland. For enquiries, please call 1300 888 091.

Until the V4, all modern mechanical movements, regardless of their complications, were generally based on “classic” watchmaking components, most of which date back to the 18th and 19th century. The principal components of this traditional system are: an energy reserve, by means one or several springs; a transmission, using gears; and a regulatory function, usually organized around a recoil escapement.

In a world first, TAG Heuer award-winning team of watch masters and engineers replaced the pinions and wheels of the traditional mechanical movement with a belt-driven transmission: a high-yield relay of 5 notched micro drive-belts whose tension is controlled by 2 turnbuckles. The transmission belts in polyether block amide have a 0.07mm section, about the same size as a single human hair, and are 10 times smaller than any belt ever manufactured. Unlike a traditional calibre, this modular synchronous drive belt system requires no extra gears to send motion from one point to another. More efficient — less vibrations, optimizing movement — and much easier to maintain, it allows power to be transmitted wherever it is required, allowing for more complications, with no obstacles.

For its 150th anniversary last year, TAG Heuer brought to commercial reality its boldest breakthrough innovation since the 1/100th of a second mechanical chronograph – The TAG Heuer Monaco V4.

The first advanced integrated mechanical movement of the third millennium — and probably the 21st century’s first major contribution to watchmaking innovation — the TAG Heuer Monaco V4 represents a complete break with tradition and the audacious next step in mechanical movement engineering. This belt-driven wonderment, first unveiled as a Concept Watch at BaselWorld in 2004, is now industrialized and entirely hand manufactured in TAG Heuer La Chaux-de-Fonds workshop in an exclusive luxury edition of only 150 pieces in platinum.

In 2004, the company unveiled the Monaco V4 Concept Watch, the world’s first watch with belt drives, linear mass and ball bearings. In only 5 short years, the dream comes true - TAG Heuer has achieved the unbelievable, The Monaco V4 in commercial production. Double-patented Monaco V4, 100% TAG Heuer-made, outdoes its own legacy. A bold technical masterwork unlike any watch ever seen or imagined, it completely turns that heritage upside down and inside out.

The hottest release for Chanel in 2010 is the J12 Marine – and Watches of Switzerland is the only place to get it. As the exclusive stockist of Chanel watches nationally, Watches of Switzerland was excited to receive the first shipment of these this month.

IT was meant to happen, one day J12 was going to return to its natural habitat: the immensity of the sea, the force of oceans,. Inspired from birth by maritime symbols, J12 is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year by stating its true identity. J12 Marine is an authentic diving watch. With three versions and two sizes, this new J12 asserts its thoroughbred nature without conceding anything to aesthetics. Staying true to the stylistic design which has made it so successful, the J12 Marine is thus setting out to conquer new territory - the depths.

Available with either a black high-tech sand-blasted ceramic and steel case with black rubber bracelet and blue bezel (38 / 42MM) or black bezel (42MM). Features a unidirectional rotating steel bezel engraved and equipped with a high-tech ceramic or sapphire dial (in blue or black) for easy reading of time under water. Luminescent at 12 o'clock acts a a guide marker. The watch glass is sapphire crystal with a blue anti-reflective coating on the inside and outside. Also features a screw in crown with high-tech ceramic cabochon equipped with a crown protector.

Available with a black or white lacquer dial, with hands, numerals and the number '12' luminescent for perfect legibility in the darkness. Water resistant to 300 meters. Powered by a mechanical Swiss automatic movement (28800 vibrations / hour) with a 42 hour power reserve. Available on a matte rubber bracelet with openings which allow water to be released - highly water, shock, light and UV resistant, made from composite material. The clasp is available with a polished or satin finish ardillon buckle, engraved with Chanel.

To check out the J12 Marine in action, visit http://j12-marine.chanel.com/en_au/#/home/the-film

The ultimate Australian diving watch, the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition, is now in available in all Watches of Switzerland stores. This very special limited edition was designed by the Australian distributors of Oris, with a distinctively Australian look of blue (reflecting the clear waters around the reef) and orange Superluminova (one of the last colours to disappear underwater). Keen divers will love the water resistance of 1000m. The crown and helium valve on the left of the case give the watch a quirky, but practical and professional look and feel. Best of all, CHF 50 from each of the 1000 pieces sold globally will be donated to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, to assist in activities to conserve Australia’s natural wonder. RRP $2500 metal bracelet, $2400 on rubber strap.

One of the world's natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef off the north east coast of Australia is the world's largest reef system and home to thousands of species of marine life. These include whales, dolphins, sharks, birds, sea snakes and fish. The reef is made up of more than 400 species of coral and covers over 2600 km (1600 miles). It can be seen from outer space.

Over the years, fishing pollution and tourism have all lead to the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and have endangered the lives of many species that live there. The largest part of the reef is now protected by a national marine park.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has a long history of working to protect the Reef. Since it was established in 1965, the members have successfully fought to stop oil and coral mining on the Great Barrier Reef, undertaken ground breaking surveys of its marine wildlife to prove its outstanding biodiversity and campaigned to protect it ina  World Heritage marine park. The AMCS is a group of passionate professionals working to protect threatened species, make fisheries sustainable and create marine national parks where our ocean wildlife is safe from harm. Oris has entered into a partnership with AMCS to support the work they do to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

As Managing Director, Eric van der Griend, explains, ‘we are committed to making it as easy as possible for our customers to start their search for a Swiss watch, and preview our wide range. The watch finder tool is the first of its kind in Australia and shows that we offer a wide range of options, not matter what your requirements. We are looking forward to bringing our members the latest news from Switzerland so they can stay up to date.’ 

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