Very Exclusive Gadgets & Gizmos

As the 80th Geneva Motor Show has opened its doors after two hard years for the industry, it’s obviously time for some celebration. This year’s party begins as Alfa Romeo celebrates its centenary with some brand new major licensing and limited editions. It’s obvious that you appreciate a fine Italian wine if you love a fine Italian automobile and this is the reason for Scrimaglio wines to mark their presence at the gala event.

As SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) celebrates its 20th anniversary, it is obvious to expect fine watchmaking from the exhibiting brands. One of the most prestigious and longest established Swiss watch manufacturers, Panerai (also among the list of the exhibiting brands) has released the reissue of Panerai Mare Nostrum to be unveiled at SIHH 2010. Price estimated at $36,000, Mare Nostrum features a monstrous 52mm dial and is reported as being based on a hand-wound Minerva chronograph movement, dubbed the Panerai OP XXV caliber.

If you think that accessories can be a small but great way to add an extra tone of flavor to your style, this Thomas Prescher Tempusvivendi Qatar Watch would be just another way through which you can display your personality. Featuring a manmade island “Pearl” on the dial is a place of an expensive housing for some of the oil-rich nation’s wealthiest. Thomas Prescher’s new addition that gets regional with its design, signals toward his future proposition with nation as the theme.

The New York watch company Tiret has come up with the Gotham collection of watches to impress the Batman fans, because Batman fans come in all ages and sizes. With their strong appeal, strength and agility, the Gotham collection is a mixture of modernism, art and horology goodness. Limited to just 300 units, the Gotham collection is polished, with lots of white gold and other fine materials like steel, ceramic, natural rubber and of course, precious gems. The creativity and expertise in the manufacture of these Gotham watches really reflects the true spirit of Batman.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Duo is a contemporary avatar to its classic predecessor Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, whose metallic face was meant to protect the watch during polo matches. Equally elegant in its design and form, the newly revived Reverso watch serves more than just that. The modern version is double faced. The dark gray face has two time zones, with the lower dial showing the time in the 24-hour format. The other face has the real classic Reverso look with the square dial, guilloche engraved face and subsidiary seconds dial.

The art of combining two different skill sets has resulted in masterpieces. The tie-ups between the motoring world and horology have brought chronographs never seen before. Below are the three latest tie-ups and their results:

The principles of augmenting horological designs have largely being inspired by race cars lately, and the result too has amplified into a “wow” factor that no watchmaker wants to miss. Another in the same genre of car-inspired horology is the Richard Mille RM011 DLC Titanium “Americas White” watch. The limited edition RM011 Ti is an all-purpose timing instrument for the track, boat, plane or even your desk. Richard Mille will make this limited edition set available only at American and Canadian Richard Mille authorized dealers as a celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

While the wildly popular Fiat 500 is much awaited in the US, to sell small cars to Americans is a tough prospect. Haven’t we heard this one before? Well yes, however, by the time US market shows interest in the cute and cuddly, smart and retro sporty cars, Fiat has decided to kick off its return to the U.S. by associating Abarth with the famous French watch makers BRM. The BRM V12-T-44-Abarth is an explosive cocktail of sporting philosophy and elegant style.

There’s definitely something askew with the idea of a retro styled Atomic Pocket Watch which is designed to keep absolutely perfect time for 30 million years. I mean, firstly that’s not the purpose of a fob watch, they’re there to show you’ve got more chic than a Rolex owner. Second, who’s going to be around to collect the refund if it fails the test at the end of the warranty period? Sheesh! $149.95.

Cyclops dispenses with a conventional arrangement of hour, minute and second hands; instead a single hour marker passes around the coloured dial. Each hour is represented by a different coloured circle, the black hoop gradually passes over each circle to indicate the time.