cazalea[Seiko Moderator]
17171
Las Vegas Jewelry & Watch Show Report, Part 3
Jun 05, 2016,15:22 PM
Hi folks, thanks for hanging in here with me. You better take off your shoes, as your feet will be swelling up as we keep walking.
I wandered through miles of diamonds, bracelets, brooches, and pretty girls who wanted to sell me eye cream to take away wrinkles and dark shadows - only $200 for 14 grams of goop. More sleep would help do the same thing, I think.
At least these booths are colorful and not filled with guards or tightly locked cases.
Suddenly in the midst of the lady-goods I came across Citizen. I had no idea they have increased their business greatly in the past two years. But I did know they've bought Arnold & Son and some other Swiss assets, which they have stated was primarily to explore and improve their knowledge of making mechanical movements.
Of course you must have heard about Eco-Drive, Citizen's pioneering solar-powered movements. I suspect every PuristS household has at least one or more - owned by kids, wife, dog, ferret or Purist himself. Here's mine:
But I digress. Let's look in the case.
But wait, this next case looks more interesting. But what is it?
Eco Drive One. $6000 of technology compressed to 2.98 mm thickness, 15-sec/month accuracy quartz, no battery or service ever needed, I think I heard 5 year warranty. It runs 100 days on a charge.
There it is, can you see the buckle at the top of the image?
now it's rotated around the other way - did you see it go by?
the face
the back
the watch case is Cermet, composite composed of ceramic and metallic material. Citizen says "it is made by combusting a mixture of hard compound particles such as metallic carbides and nitrides with metallic binding materials."
I confess that I had so much fun looking at the One, I overlooked the rest of the Citizen line. But I did learn you can get the watch on a bracelet in stainless steel for a fraction of the Cermet price. Someday soon it might join my stable of watches.
I began walking again... a few million more jewel displays and I noticed a "Private Label Watch" sign. Looking closely, I saw BMW branded watches. Guys, here's your selection:
Then surprise! a Seiko booth, and a dedicated Grand Seiko case. I learned there are now 2 boutiques in the US (NYC and Florida) and 27 Grand Seiko retailers! Wow. A big increase in retail outlets.
Perhaps will this reduce the complaints about "can't see it" or "where will I get service?"
We had a chat and I was able to try on some of the new ceramic case models.
Check the Seiko forum HERE for more details.
I think I have enough material for a 4th post. So please come back for more.
Cazalea
This message has been edited by cazalea on 2016-06-06 08:21:00