Five Things

[Fantasio]

My 44 mm Sinn UX and 35 mm Nomos Orion have the same diameter crystals, I once measured them with a caliper. IMO Nomos models wear bigger then you might think from their specs.

• The dial of the 36mm Rolex Datejust is the same size as the dial of the Rolex Submariner. Both are smaller than the dial of the 35mm Nomos Orion.

[tribe125]

• Vacheron Constantin was once owned by Sheik Yamani. As Saudi Arabia’s oil minister for nearly twenty-five years, Yamani was one of the most powerful and recognisable figures of the late twentieth century. He twice came close to assassination. On the first occasion, King Faisal’s assassin believed he had also killed Yamani, as planned. On the second, Yamani was ten minutes away from being executed by Carlos the Jackal, saved by the broadcast of a statement by the terrorist. Sheik Yamani is a watch enthusiast as much as an investor and is rumoured to be the owner of the Vacheron Kallista, one of the most expensive watches ever made. Through an investment company, Yamani also had a major interest in Breguet. He’s still alive, aged eighty-eight.
  
  
• Ben Lewin, co-founder of Farer Watches, previously led design strategy for Patek Philippe. But he might not have done the watches.
  
  
• LumiNova and Super-LumiNova is the same stuff. ‘Super’ was added when the Japanese Nemoto company established a subsidiary in Switzerland (RC Tritec). LumiBrite and Chromalight is almost certainly the same stuff too. Seiko makes LumiBrite under licence from Nemoto and it’s likely that Rolex makes Chromalight under licence from RC Tritec. Or maybe they both buy it in. Luminosity and longevity of luminosity are down to colour choice and method of application. The spelling of the trade names used here is correct.
  
  
• There is no arcane practical reason for the roulette date wheels found on some variants of the Rolex Datejust. Rolex has been doing it since 1945 and it’s just a bit of fun. Roulette date wheels are fitted to some variants and not others because the red date looks better against some dials than others. Anybody who says that roulette date wheels are something to do with post-war rationing should be dismissed with a lordly wave of the hand.
  
  
• A radio, a wristwatch, a bicycle and a sewing machine were regarded as the ‘four big things’ in China before the 1980s. A girl might not marry a man who didn’t have a watch, preferably a Shanghai watch as worn by Premier Zhou Enlai. It is not clear whether a girl was more likely to find a husband if she owned a sewing machine.

[Raza]

What was the story behind the supposed war rationing? That black paint was rationed?

[tribe125]

What was the story behind the supposed war rationing? That black paint was rationed?

A story that circulates in Rolexland is that Brits could only buy post-war rationed goods on alternate days. Naturally, these austerity-shackled Brits went out and bought one of those newly introduced Datejusts rather than marking their wall calendar...

[Raza]

A story that circulates in Rolexland is that Brits could only buy post-war rationed goods on alternate days. Naturally, these austerity-shackled Brits went out and bought one of those newly introduced Datejusts rather than marking their wall calendar...

Certainly the prudent thing to do. What’s the resale on a calendar? Pretty low, I’d imagine.

[mlcor]

• A radio, a wristwatch, a bicycle and a sewing machine were regarded as the ‘four big things’ in China before the 1980s.

When I started to read this one, I thought it was going to be a joke. You know, "A radio, a wristwatch, a bicycle and a sewing machine walk into a bar..."

[Dimman]

• Vacheron Constantin was once owned by Sheik Yamani. As Saudi Arabia’s oil minister for nearly twenty-five years, Yamani was one of the most powerful and recognisable figures of the late twentieth century. He twice came close to assassination. On the first occasion, King Faisal’s assassin believed he had also killed Yamani, as planned. On the second, Yamani was ten minutes away from being executed by Carlos the Jackal, saved by the broadcast of a statement by the terrorist. Sheik Yamani is a watch enthusiast as much as an investor and is rumoured to be the owner of the Vacheron Kallista, one of the most expensive watches ever made. Through an investment company, Yamani also had a major interest in Breguet. He’s still alive, aged eighty-eight.
  
  
• Ben Lewin, co-founder of Farer Watches, previously led design strategy for Patek Philippe. But he might not have done the watches.
  
  
• LumiNova and Super-LumiNova is the same stuff. ‘Super’ was added when the Japanese Nemoto company established a subsidiary in Switzerland (RC Tritec). LumiBrite and Chromalight is almost certainly the same stuff too. Seiko makes LumiBrite under licence from Nemoto and it’s likely that Rolex makes Chromalight under licence from RC Tritec. Or maybe they both buy it in. Luminosity and longevity of luminosity are down to colour choice and method of application. The spelling of the trade names used here is correct.
  
  
• There is no arcane practical reason for the roulette date wheels found on some variants of the Rolex Datejust. Rolex has been doing it since 1945 and it’s just a bit of fun. Roulette date wheels are fitted to some variants and not others because the red date looks better against some dials than others. Anybody who says that roulette date wheels are something to do with post-war rationing should be dismissed with a lordly wave of the hand.
  
  
• A radio, a wristwatch, a bicycle and a sewing machine were regarded as the ‘four big things’ in China before the 1980s. A girl might not marry a man who didn’t have a watch, preferably a Shanghai watch as worn by Premier Zhou Enlai. It is not clear whether a girl was more likely to find a husband if she owned a sewing machine.

I thought the lume thing between Super and non Luminova had to do with the doping element in the base strontium aluminate. I also read that Seiko's LumiBrite uses a different or additional, doping element (would still be from Nemoto though, the Seiko-Makes-Everything-Themselves myth needs to die).

[tribe125]

I wish I could refer you to the article I read, but I can’t.

Sometimes I summarise things and then forget about them.

[Dimman]

I wish I could refer you to the article I read, but I can’t.

Sometimes I summarise things and then forget about them.

Well there are various strengths of lume from Luminova. I don't imagine that C1 is considered Super when compared to C3 or BGW9.

Wikipedia (sorry, all I could find quickly) says that Seiko's LumiBrite adds Dysprosium as a doping element, in addition to the 'standard' Europium.

Another thought on Super vs non, is it could be the same but different binder to lume ratios.

[tribe125]

• Golfer Greg Norman used his gold Rolex Submariner for diving until he found that barracudas were attracted to its shiny case and bracelet.
  
  
• According to Grand Seiko designer Shinichiro Kubo, the average person is sensitive to a 0.01 mm change in the size of a dial component. This tiny difference can have an impact on legibility, but also on the sense that something is ‘right’.
  
  
• The International Watch Company once struggled with internationalism. Before adopting the dial-friendly initials of ‘IWC’, the company went through periods of calling itself ‘International of Schaffhausen’ and ‘International of Schaffhouse’. Some adverts relegated ‘Schaffhausen’ to the small print, leaving the brand as ‘International’. Whatever they called it, in some countries the watches were known as ‘Schaffhausens’. You might have thought that F. A. Jones would have seen the value of initials from the start, being christened Florentine Ariosto.
  
  
• Lange & Söhne faced local resistance when re-establishing the company in Glashütte. Whilst not enamoured of the old GDR, residents were wary of western entrepreneurs riding into the ‘Wild East’. They also thought that the idea of making a luxury watch in Glashütte was absurd. Recruitment was slow and the small number recruited had to be sent to IWC for training. Roland Schwertner had German government support when setting up Nomos, but Walter Lange had to buy back his family property from the same government. Negotiations were positive in 1990 but the government official was assassinated, probably by the far-left Red Army Faction. It was another ten years before the negotiations were concluded. Things weren’t suddenly easy in Glashütte after 1989.
  
  
• Gaining a contract to service the watches of the German army, Helmut Sinn gave his young brand a boost by swapping the original Heuer dials for Sinn dials. Helmut Sinn was a decorated Luftwaffe pilot (in Dornier 17s and Heinkel 111s), a champion rally driver (in a Porsche-powered Volkswagen Beetle) and previously made a living out of selling cuckoo clocks. He was recently retired when he died aged 101. His personal watch was frequently a two-button Hanhart caliber 41 from his war years.