The Florence-based watchmaker produced wrist worn diving instruments and about 300 watches, all for the Italian Marina Militare, between 1938 and 1993. By that time, the company ceased to provide watches to the Marina Militare, as they were no longer cost-effective nor did they meet the naval specifications. It then moved to launch its products to the civilian market, but remained relatively obscure until the actor Sylvester Stallone spotted and bought a Panerai Luminor in a jewelry store in Rome in 1995 to wear during shooting of the film Daylight. Stallone ordered a small batch of such watches with his signature on the case back, called Slytech. He offered them as gifts to friends, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. The watch gained rapid popularity, and Officine Panerai was eventually taken over by Richemont in 1997. It should however be noted that the original Panerai were fitted with Rolex movements as worn by the Italian command frogmen. At auction and in the collectors market, some of these older models, particularly those produced in the 1940’s and ’50s have commanded rich premiums.

The SLR Chronograph by TAG Heuer, like the high-performance, 200-mph, ultra-luxury sports car that inspired it, is an audacious creation, at the avant-garde of high technology and design, yet with the look and allure of a true classic. The direct result of TAG Heuer’s historic relationship with McLaren Mercedes, the SLR Chronograph reflects the values common to both the brand and the team: passion, performance and sporting prestige.

Tag Heur SLR Watch

Like the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, the SLR chronograph combines a unique mechanical movement together with a daring inspiring design.

TAG Heuer and Team McLaren Mercedes: A Successful Partnership

Starting in 1985, the year TAG Heuer signed its partnership with the Formula 1 team, the two groups have worked side by side, creating not only one of the longest-running associations between a leading racing team and a luxury company in the history of Formula One, but also one of the most successful: six Constructors’ World Championship titles, eight Drivers’ titles (three with Alain Prost in 1985, 1986 and 1989, three with Ayrton Senna in 1988, 1990 and 1991 and two with Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and 1999).

The winning relationship goes back earlier still, to 1955, when Juan-Manual Fangio drove the original Mercedes-Benz SLR through the tight hairpin bends of one of the most gruelling road races in the history of motorsport: the 1000-mile Mille Miglia. During this race and all others, Fangio wore on his wrist, like every F1 World Champion since, a TAG Heuer, then named Heuer, timepiece.

Today, the TAG Heuer/McLaren Mercedes partnership is stronger than ever. All McLaren Mercedes cars carry TAG Heuer technology, not just in F1 but at all professional levels of the sport. McLaren Mercedes drivers and TAG Heuer Brand Ambassadors Kimi Räikkönen and David Coulthard, like their predecessors Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and Mika Häkkinen, endorse TAG Heuer timepieces at every race or testing session. They also participate actively in the design and development of new TAG Heuer watches and functionalities.

In 2004 and to celebrate 20 years of partnership, TAG Heuer has renewed and extended its partnership with Team West McLaren Mercedes and its drivers, Kimi Raïkkönen and David Coulthard, becoming the team’s Corporate Partner and Official Timekeeper.

The SLR Chronograph by TAG Heuer: An exceptional, limited-edition chronograph for an exceptional, limited-edition supercar

Fluid lines, high end internally developed manufacture movement, perfection-driven architecture, unconventional styling, leading-edge ergonomic design: the SLR chronograph, like the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren to which it pays tribute, is in a class all its own. Exclusively designed for Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren owners, the daring chronograph was designed and developed by TAG Heuer product development teams in Chaux-de- Fonds, together with the Geneva watchmaker, Jean-François Ruchonnet. The idea for the chronograph was conceived in the F1 paddock during an encounter between TAG Heuer CEO and President Jean-Christophe Babin and the director of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Project, Klaus Nesser.

It draws on the unique design acumen of the world’s most prestigious luxury-car manufacturer and the engineering and horological savoir-faire of the world’s most prestigious maker of luxury sports watches.

The SLR Chronograph by TAG Heuer: Daring and Classic, Innovative and Traditional, a Superwatch for a Supercar.

The two logos – the TAG Heuer shield and the star of Mercedes-Benz – grace the black dial, which looks like a sports car dashboard. The two SLR “gill” patterns stamped at 3 o’clock pay homage to the car’s signature side-mounted exhausts, an echo of the 1950s SLRS. Another unique touch is the off-centred date counter at 7:30. Under the hood lies the peerless Calibre 36 automatic movement. Like the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren’s hand-built, supercharged 626-hp V8 engine, this is an exceptional source of power. The only 1/10 of a second automatic chronograph, beating at 36.000 alternances/, it is the standard-bearer of TAG Heuer’s watchmaking tradition. Yet it also represents an exciting new innovation, unique to the SLR Chronograph: the Calibre 36 has been specially outfitted by TAG Heuer watchmakers with a regulator that provides the TAG Heuer SLR’s dial the look and utility of a sports-car dashboard, with individual gauges for each function. All of which can be read simultaneously. Therefore it’s name: Calibre 36 Regulator

For reading the time, the hour hand has been shifted to the counter at 12 o’clock, while the hand at the center of the dial displays minutes and the counter at 9 o’clock displays seconds. For chronograph functions, the 6 o’clock counter displays hours, the 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock displays minutes and seconds sweep by on the central hand.

Another inspiration drawn from the prestigious sports car is the unique placement of the timepiece’s chronograph push buttons on the top of the fine-brushed stainless-steel case. This extraordinary ergonomic innovation – a first in the world of watchmaking – mirrors the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren’s unique steering wheel gearshift. Water resistant to 50 meters, the polished crown is adorned with the Mercedes-Benz logo, while the caseback is engraved with a limited edition number.

The SLR Chronograph is 14mm thick, with a diameter of 40 mm from 3 to 9 o’clock. Both sides of the sapphire crystal are treated with an anti-reflective coating. The dial is black and the stylish strap is in crocodile leather, with a folding, push-button buckle. Luminous markers give added visibility to the hands.

Fusing tradition and innovation, true classicism and cutting-edge invention, this is the unique – and exclusive – timepiece for Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren prestigious sports car owners, a timepiece as expressive and super-charged as the car they drive.

The Carrera is a bit more staid and is essentially a retread of the first Tag chronographs used for years in racing events around the world. No prices, but we can’t afford them.

The global launch of the website www.tagheuer.com/meridiist precedes BASELWORLD, the World Watch and Jewellery Show that starts March 26th 2009 and during which the most recent MERIDIIST collections are to be presented as a preview.

Truly representing the performance of the MERIDIIST, the website highlights the sleek design and key features of this exceptional luxury phone through images and animated content intended to reflect the TAG Heuer universe of luxury, sports and masculinity.

Following an exclusive two month presentation for VIP clients, the website www.tagheuer.com/meridiist now enables the general public to discover the MERIDIIST as well as other available collections and allows customers to find the closest retail location by country. One section of the website is specially dedicated to preorders and enables customers to reserve the model of their choice without any financial obligation by completing a simple form that is automatically forwarded to the appropriate store.

The showcased MERIDIIST collection consists of seven models, all made of 316L stainless steel yet offering different kinds of keyboard finishing. A range of colors and materials (genuine calfskin leather, rubber and alligator skin) is available to customize the back of the phone and provides clients with the ultimate opportunity to design their phones according to their most luxurious tastes. Prices range from euro 3400 to euro 4500, although some diamond-finished models with prices starting at euro 8500 are already on the horizon.

The successive MERIDIIST launches that have started last August within a selected international distribution network in London, Paris, Geneva, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore have been particularly impressive and herald a true success story for the Swiss brand that is the world leader in prestigious chronograph timepieces.

“The success of MERIDIIST surpasses our keenest expectations and manifests itself in the rapidly growing luxury telephone category. This bears witness to the phone’s incredible attractiveness: a subtle combination of performance with its autonomy of 28 days of stand-by time and attractive design based on precious materials such as stainless steel and sapphire crystal. Customers are in search of an object of differentiation and the MERIDIIST perfectly fits that mindset,” says Steve Amstutz, TAG Heuer’s Managing Director of Communications.

“With a Web presence, we are now hoping to attract an international client base that appreciates the quality of the services we provide as well as our responsiveness,” adds Steve Amstutz.

About TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer, the world leader in prestigious sports watches and chronographs since 1860, is currently the flagship brand of timepieces of the world leader in luxury goods: the LVMH group. The Swiss watchmaking legend draws upon its active engagement in the world of sports to create the most accurate measuring instruments and sports watches in the world. TAG Heuer is today the first watchmaker ever to master luxurious Chronographs with an unsurpassed precision of 1/10th, 1/100th and 1/1,000th of a second. TAG Heuer more than ever epitomizes Prestige and Performance! http://www.tagheuer.com

We repair most watch brands, including: American Waltham, Elgin, Hamilton, Illinois, Ball, Omega, Bulova, Gruen, Howard, Hampden, Keystone, Longines, South Bend, Rockford and Wittnauer. We also repair and restore mechanical aircraft clocks. Click here for a more complete list of the brands we repair.

With each vintage watch we restore or repair, the goal of our expert watchmaker remains the same: To return your watch to the best possible condition. We want your watch to look and work like new, and we fully guarantee our work.

We are located near Seattle, Washington but we’re as close as your mailbox! We conduct business exclusively through the Internet and US Mail, and we have a long list of satisfied customers throughout the United States and Canada.

We are members in good standing of the Washington Watchmakers - Clockmakers Association, the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC), and the American Watchmakers - Clockmakers Institute (AWCI) where our watchmaker has served on the national Board of Directors.

Visit Renaissance Watch Repair

• List price is 99,750 JPY, or about $1,030 US as of Feb 2009. Yes, it's expensive.
• "World's thinnest" ABC watch at 11.3mm by 47.7mm by 57mm.
• Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating - excellent, I have been looking forward to this.
• Titanium case and band, carbide hardened.
• Waterproof to 100m (330ft).
• Low-temperature resistant down to -10C (14F).
• Six-band atomic set up to six times per day.
• 24-hour stopwatch.
• 24-hour countdown timer.
• Dual-layer LCD: one layer for compass and another for the rest. LCD segments are fixed in shape, so this makes sense.
• Five alarms.
• World time with 31 time zones and 48 cities. Not clear if this includes fractional hour offsets.
• Automatic EL backlight.
• Tough solar power, 23 month power reserve.
• The compass claims "16 azimuth angle of orientation" and "orientation correction function," which I would guess means it's more accurate when not held perfectly level.
• Lots and lots of measurements and modes for the altimeter/barometer, graphing and so on.
• Basic temperature measurement, but unless they've invented something new it mostly measures the temperature of your wrist and is therefore almost useless while worn. (This is a problem with all ABC watches.)

The big feature of the Rolex GMT Master II is the additional 24-hour hand which tracks hours against the bi-directional rotating bezel in “military time” as opposed to standard 12-hour time. It was originally created for Pan Am pilots back in the early days of transatlantic flights. The watch’s movement became more sophisticated over the years, and now allows the standard hour hand and the date to be set independently of the other hands which makes moving from one time zone to the next very smooth and simple.

The GMT feature of the Rolex GMT Master II is typically used in one of two ways. The first way is the technique the Pan Am pilots used, which is to keep track of both GMT and local time simultaneously. The second technique, which is more commonly used by travelers as opposed to pilots, is to set the 24-hour hand and the 12 hour hand to the same hour while in your home time zone, then to adjust the hour hand and date either ahead as you travel east, or back as you travel west. The movement in the GMT Master II is very unique in that it allows you adjust the hour and date backwards just as easily as forwards.

The Rolex GMT Master II is available with a black or brown dial and comes with your choice of three different bezel styles: all back, red and black, and the classic blue and red. The Rolex GMT Master II currently sells for $4,525 and is almost never discounted. As always, if you decide to go Rolex shopping, make sure you are buying from an authorized dealer or a reputable personal seller. Don’t expect discounts on stainless steel sports models, make sure all the paperwork is in order, and if the price looks too good to be true, it is!

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S

The sub-dials are the most striking feature of the Aquaracer Calibre S. Rather than placing them at the traditional 3, 6, 9 or 2, 6, 10 positions, the Calibre S actually uses semi-circular sub-dials at the 5 and 7 o’clock positions. Something inspired by sports cars’ tachometers. Since the sub-dials are not circular the Calibre S uses bi-directional motors to position the tiny hands/needles. A design which has given the Calibre S a much more readable and intuitive interface. Since chronograph sub-dials are not particularly easy to read, especially to the untrained eye, the Calibre S takes a completely new approach by using the main three hands to display time, elapsed time in chronograph mode, and time remaining in countdown mode. The theory behind this being, that the three main hands, as opposed to tiny hands on sub-dials, are by far the easiest to read. The right sub-dial shows tenths of a second in chronograph mode (when time is stopped), and in time mode, both sub-dials work together to indicate the date. In any other mode, the left sub-dial indicates which mode you are in.

TAG Heuer calls the Aquaracer Calibre S the easiest to read chronograph in the world. Customers appreciate the idea of using the three main hands for timing functionality since they are what users’ are most trained to recognize and read at a glance.

The most sailing-specific feature on the watch is the regatta countdown timer. The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S has a regatta countdown timer which automatically starts counting down from 10 minutes, can be re-synchronized at 5 minutes, and when the full 10 minutes have elapsed, the mode automatically switches to chronograph so that you can time the race.

A true luxury watch, the Yacht-Master II differs from its predecessor by using an extremely complex and innovative new movement with a countdown timer which can be programmed to start between one and ten minutes in order to accommodate regattas with varying start sequences.  I use the term “program” rather than simply “set” because the value is actually remembered, and when the countdown timer is reset, the countdown hand will return to the last programmed value. For a mechanical watch, this is an extremely impressive feat. There is a tradeoff we must note, the date which was present in the initial Yacht-Master had to go to make room on the dial as to allow for the additional complication of the movement.