Monday 21 September 2009

EXCLUSIVE!!! 1st Live Pics & Preview of the Azimuth Roulette Watch !!!

I first heard of it from some mates who were rather dismissive of another offering from Azimuth. Back then, I had yet to find one watch that they had done that appealed to me (sorry boyz but thats the fact). My thoughts were that it was cool for these Singapore chaps to get out there and have a go at making and selling their own watches but i found most of their designs pretty bad or derivative of other watches in the market and overall look of the watches rather shoddy(and this is all putting it nicely)... BUT (and its a big BUTT ;) they have done something right as of now! *drumroll please* ...... ..... .... ... .. .


Presenting the... Azimuth Roulette Watch !!!
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my first notice of it was in the Singapore Business Times Special Section on Watches on 28 Aug 09 and it intrigued me then. I knew I had to see it in the metal. The ad in the paper was this...
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and now that i have seen it in the metal, off the wrist from a very lucky owner of one of the first few pieces, i can say that this watch works!

Whats cool about it?
- Its not a ripoff idea similar to their Urwerk or Richard Mille inspired pieces and its not another one of their pilots watch hommages
- It is a cool innovative idea realised... in terms of a roulette ball spinning at the press of the dice button crown which will come to a halt after awhile. FUN!
- it has very nice touches/details... the thing that spins the roulette wheel, the small cross in the centre of the watch turns for the seconds. the sapphire is a nice dome shape. the case is curved to sit well on the wearer's wrist. the hour and minute hand curve downwards away from the centre. the roulette wheel dial is really cool when seeing it in the metal... just a lot of nice touches. well done boyz.

Some info/specs
- Modded ETA 2842, bits viewable through a little window in the back of the case
- Case size is 45 * 34mm 316L Steel... its a beast

A Basel Favorite... Read Me!
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& Why its a winner in my books and why I have ordered one :)
honestly to get something unique as this is in a well made case for its price, you cannot really expect much more. the well thought up design and details secures its place on the 'want to buy' list.

2 bad things about the watch (which aren't anything bad at all :)
- Its a b!tch to photograph (i need to shoot it somewhere i can control the lighting better)
- and the worst thing about it is that it didn't come home with me today :(

a fun and cool watch...
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has loads of presence too... no slouch next to the ferrari by panerai
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Before you lose any $ in the casino when it opens(yes its been statistically proven that the house wins more times than the player), keep the cash aside and go and order this watch now. its a winner and you can be too :) hope u enjoyed the short preview and apologies for the not so hot pics.

cheers, raph

that'll do, alvin and chris... that'll do...
(to read about the boyz click here and go checkout the azimuth website here... the hope of course is they build on this and come out with more cool watches like this here on out and that its not just this one 'flash in the pan' and they go back to making subaru wrxs [in the looks department] of the watch world ;)
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PS. A kind forummer posted that there are other watches with the Roulette theme. The Frank Muller Only Watch 2009 piece being auctioned on 24 Sep 09 and the Corum Bubble Casino Roulette Watch. The other casino themed watch that will stick to peoples mind is the GP Jackpot watch.

The GP costs over 400k pounds so its not in the same league. the FM will also probably go for a whole lotta silly money. and so we look at the corum which is probably at a similar price point. while some of the design ideas may have come from this, the Azimuth is so many times better than the corum. the most important thing about the Azimuth though is that it makes me want to know more about it just looking at it. When I see the FM and Corum, it draws no interest from me. so it wins on aesthetics, great design touches and is still in my view, innovative and a class act. u can safely forget about those others ;) cheers, raph

2 comments:

Gabriel said...

Hey mate : )

Glad to know that the connoisseur is supporting local production ;-)) The watch has a very cool presence on the wrist, but asthetically I worry that the crown (dice) is a bit too large and if it would dig into one's flesh?

I thought maybe it would look more appealing if the crown is smaller. Hope to see it in the metal soon, and the money (4K+) seems right ;-) Congrats Raph!

raphael too said...

Hey Gabriel

Great meeting up with you today. First local watch that is supportable :)

the dice dun worry its a destro so no digging in the flesh except for me as i will be wearing it on my right hand when i wear 2 watches ;)

cheers
raph

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