Armin Strom for Only Watch

Armin Strom has just release it's unique piece for Only Watch, the Manual Hunt Slonem Edition. The dial side features a screen onto which an expressive painting of American artist Hunt Slonem’s contemporary art has been transferred. 

The watch is housed in a 43.4 mm titanium case, featuring the manually wound AMW11 caliber manufactured in-house, with off-center time display and seconds subdial. Its openwork spring barrel benefits from a 5 day power-reserve. 

A composition of pastel hues and powerful lines continues the artist’s famous “bunny paintings” series. Together with the watch, the successful future bidder will be acquiring a hand-signed original which takes up the colors and motifs of the timepiece in a 46 cm x 31 cm format. For his work entitled “Rex”, the artist has used metal pigments in oil paint as the base for his characteristic linear styling.

The Only Watch auction brings prestigious names in watchmaking togther and provides the opportunity to put their expertise to a good cause once every two years. Proceeds raised from the auction benefits Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research. In 2017 there are some 49 brands participating, although not all of them have donated wristwatches. The auction for the watches will be held on November 11, 2017, and prior to that, Christie's Auction House will take the pieces on a tour. 

MONACO, 27-30 September 2017

BANGKOK, 2-3 October 2017

SINGAPORE, 5-6 October 2017

DUBAI, 9-11 October 2017

HONG KONG, 23-24 October 2017

TAIPEI, 26-27 October 2017

NEW YORK, 29-30 October 2017

LOS ANGELES, 1-2 November 2017

GENEVA, 9-11 November

For more details, please visit: http://www.onlywatch.com/

The Nixie Machine II Debuts at M.A.D.Gallery

If you have ever dreamed of time traveling, the Nixie Machine II by Berlin-based artist Frank Buchwald might be just the way to get there! The clock, created in collaboration with passionate engineer Dalibor Farny, certainly gives you a Victorian-era/Steampunk vibe, and Buchwald’s inspiration definitely reflects this element in his work. “Pencil, glue and cardboard...railway stations, steam engines...childhood memories. Creativity and enthusiasm form the golden thread that has weaved through my life. They’re my fuel.” he explains.

At the heart of the clock, and indeed the display of time, are Nixie tubes which were introduced in the 1950s. Nixie tubes – also known as cold cathode displays – became a popular way of presenting numerals using glow discharge. Each glass tube is filled with a low-pressure neon-based gas and includes a wire-mesh anode and layered cathodes shaped like numerals; a separate cathode is needed for every numeral 0 to 9. A distinctive orange glow discharge surrounds each cathode when power is applied. Assembled in multi-digit arrays by connecting electronic circuitry to several tubes, Nixie tubes were often used for computers, clocks, and frequency counters, though these were eventually supplanted by more practicable, less costly – though arguably less charming – displays such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Each and every detail has been manually handcrafted, from the design, construction, and detailed finishes of the clock to the six Nixie tubes produced by Dalibor Farny. Farny put in numerous years of research and experimentation to build a modern Nixie tube and handcrafts them in a studio that looks like a cross between a laboratory and workshop located inside an old castle near Topolna in the Czech Republic.

The heart of the clock in itself is completely innovative and modern, despite its overall vintage feel and keeps time automatically via its powerful, Wi-Fi-enabled electronics dock. therefore, it is completely automatic. All settings and special features – including scroll effects, day/night modes, digit light dimming, time zone settings and more – can be intuitively programmed online. The clock can also operate offline, regulated by a knob on the back. 

12 unique pieces are available exclusively from the M.A.D.Galleries in Geneva, Dubai, and Taipei.