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Watch news: Longines, Swatch, more

CollectionsApr 29, 2016

Watch news: Longines, Swatch, more

Longines is reviving the medical watch it first introduced in the 1960s, a timepiece that measures the wearer’s vital signs in addition to keeping time.

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New York--Longines is reviving the medical watch it first introduced in the 1960s, a timepiece that measures the wearer’s vital signs in addition to keeping time.


"Be happy for this moment" and "this moment is for life" are the two messages communicated by Swatch's new This Moment watch.The newly reissued Asthmometer-Pulsometer Chronograph from Longines is based on a model originally created in 1963. In addition to telling time, the watch measures heart rate and respiration. The heart rate is tracked by the red scale while the blue one measures respiration. Both are modeled after the actual medical instruments on which they are based.

The 38.50 mm watch has a steel case with gold-plated hour markers and hands on a black alligator strap.

Also new from Longines is the addition of more colorful models to its HydroConquest line of diving watches. The new models have a round steel case with a diameter of 39 mm or 41 mm with dials in black, white or blue with details in bright red.

The three-hand HydroConquest models come with either a quartz or an automatic movement, while the chronograph version has ETA’s L688 column-wheel movement or are quartz. Both steel and black rubber bracelets are available.

HydroConquest watches are water resistant to 30 bar (300 meters) and have unidirectional rotating bezels, SuperLumiNova hands and a double-safety diving folding clasp and diving extension.

Jewelry watch could be cat’s meow

Luxury watch brand Girard-Perregaux recently introduced a new women’s watch, a “Cat’s Eye” tourbillon diamond-set watch with a mother-of-pearl dial.

The white gold watch has an oval shape and more than 1,000 “snow-set” diamonds. Snow-set is a term used to refer to a type of setting where the stones are positioned so nothing else is visible aside from the crimping grains and also to the fit the curvature of the watch case. It takes a total of three weeks to set each Cat’s Eye watch.

The mechanical, manual-wind watch is 38.40 x 32.90 mm and is powered by an in-house movement visible through an aperture on the dial. The timepiece has a power reserve of 70 hours.

Swatch encourages savoring This Moment
From Swatch Group’s eponymous brand is a model that encourages wears to stop and soak it all in, essentially.

Being “mindful for the need for silence” in today’s fast-paced world, Swatch Group created the This Moment watch (SUOW106) in the

New Gent model. The Swatch watch has a semi-transparent white silicon bracelet with a white plastic case and orange dial.

The watch communicates two different Zen messages to the wearer twice every hour: “Be happy for this moment,” and “This moment is for life.” The watch will be available beginning Aug. 15 online and in Swatch stores nationwide. It retails for $70.

Gucci brings aspiring musicians to ‘Grammy Camp’
As part of its three-year partnership with The Recording Academy, Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry invited select students from its music funds in China, the U.K. and Japan to attend the 2013 Grammy Camp sessions in the United States. The funds work with leading, local musical institutions to provide scholarships and opportunities to young musicians.

The first round of camp took place July 13 to 22 in Los Angeles while the next camping experience is set for Aug. 11 to 14 in New York City.

Students from the London-based World Heart Beat Music Academy and from Japan’s Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo attended Grammy Camp in Los Angeles, while students from China’s Xi’an Conservatory of Music went to the New York camp.

The camps give music students the chance to meet industry professionals and perform at concerts.
Michelle Graffis the editor-in-chief at National Jeweler, directing the publication’s coverage both online and in print.

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