“Masterpieces of french horology” at François-Paul Journe

From the “Chefs d’œuvre de l’Horlogerie Française ”, an historic collection of 12 unique clocks made between 1770 and 1851, from the private collection of Italian connoisseur Auzano Musa. This exhibition ran last year, 19 January to 6 February, 2009.

Fascinating stuff, curator François-Paul Journe "believes that contemporary watchmaking must take into account the history of horological science while he creates his watches of exception. His insistence on uncompromising integrity in the realisation of innovative pieces and his daily commitment to defending the fundamental values of haute horology make him a link between the golden age of horological science and contemporary watchmaking."

Lepine
Astronomic Regulator
Signed Lepine, Clockmaker to the King, Paris circa 1813.
Astronomic Regulator of the “reversed Y” type with multiple indications. From top to bottom: hours of sunrise and sunset; hours, minutes and seconds, equation of time; full perpetual calendar, moon phases; zodiac signs, striking of hours and quarters. One month power reserve with constant force device.
Height 64 cm – width 32 cm.



Bouchet
Skeleton Regulator
Built by Bouchet, Clockmaker to the King, Paris, circa 1781
Gilt bronze and enamel skeleton Regulator with constant force device, striking the hours and quarters.
One month power reserve, indication of years, zodiac signs, hours, minutes and seconds, equation of time, days of the month and the week, annual calendar, moon phases, position of the sun above the horizon.
This Clock is mentioned in the “Mémoires Secrètes” (Secret Memoirs) of 1781.
Height 47 cm – width 32 cm – depth 20 cm



[via: HH Magazine]

Galileo's Telescope

From Officine Panerai:

The exhibition "Galileo's Telescope - The Instrument that Changed the World", created by the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence and sponsored by Officine Panerai, is open from October 10th, 2009 to January 17th, 2010.

Galileo's telescopes are housed in the Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence. The instrument on show in Stockholm is displayed for the first time outside Italy. The exhibition consists of six sections featuring beautifully crafted replicas of some of the instruments housed in the Museo di Storia della Scienza as well as important documentation and a significant selection of visual material, included extraordinary unpublished photographs taken through Galileo's telescope.

The show also includes the extraordinary "Jupiterium ", expressly conceived and realized by Officine Panerai for the exhibition, displays the movements of the Sun, of Jupiter and his moons through a unique, mechanical scale model.

Homemade Celestial Clock

New subscribers to the North Coast Imports blog may notice that we post a lot on our blog about pieces that we find interesting... and not available commercially. Here's a great project by Sean Gallagher that we found on the web and had to tell you about.

We've had a few clocks available in the past with astronomical features. For example, we've had a few hand-made Orrery's made in England. Stay in touch, and we will most likely have more in the future.

watches from outer space

Here's something interesting...


Forget diamonds - one Swiss watchmaker is betting on watches made from moon dust, parts of the Apollo 11 rocket and bits of spacesuits to capture consumer cash as an economic slow down bites.

More than 600 watchmakers have the Swiss brand stamp, so Geneva-based Romain Jerome aims to use "inaccessible materials" to set its products apart from rivals such as Richemont's Vacheron Constantin and independent watchmaker Patek Philippe.

"We chose the space conquest," he said. "Going to the moon was the biggest adventure of human kind."

The group will make 1969 watches - matching the year of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's first journey to the moon - for the "Moon Dust-DNA" collection.

The watches, which start at $US15,000 and can cost as much as $US500,000, will be launched in Geneva on Wednesday and presented to customers at next year's Baselworld, the largest annual fair for the watch and jewelry industry.

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Meanwhile, at the North Coast Imports nerve center, we are working on presenting our own (considerably less expensive) watches from outer space. We will have a few pieces available from the prestigious firm Poljot International which is the upscale, German factory that produces fine examples that were worn by Soviet Cosmonauts.

In addition to the old Russian styles, there are some stunning new designs. These are made in Germany, with German quality control. Stay tuned, we've got a few models in... send us an email if you are interested.