The people at Christopher Ward has released a watch to celebrate Silverstone staging the Bristish Formula 1 Grand Prix for the next 17 years. The watch, called the C90 Beckett Power Reserve, reference C90SKK, is named after one of the most demanding sets of corners in any Formula 1 track. The Beckett's complex provides the spectators with a heart stopping view as the cars flick left and right across the corners.

The watch is large, measuring 43 mm in diameter and is 13 mm thick. It is fitted with a sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 5 ATM. What is interesting is the dual layer dial. Having seen the prototype of the dial, I have to say the it is well made, very beautiful and very retro.

The watch will retail for about $940 USD. The movement that powers the C90 Beckett is the new Valgranges ETA A07.161 automatic movement. The Valgranges movement are larger as compared to the standard ETA movement of similar functionality. The Valgranges A07.161 that powers the C90 Beckett is a 16 1/2 ligne movement with 24 jewels. It beats at 28,800 A/h and has a power reserve of 45 hours.

For more information: www.christopherward.co.uk

Seiko will be releasing a limited edition watch in the Pride in Black collection, reference SAGK015. The watch will be a limited edition run of only 500 pieces and it will be powered by a Seiko calibre 8R28. The 8R28 is an automatic movement with hacking and hand-wind capabilities. The movement will also feature a number of technical aspects not seen in current chronograph modules, both Japanese and Swiss. The movement will feature a column wheel and vertical clutch. It has 34 jewels and a 45 hours power reserve. It beats at 28,800 A/h.

The watch itself is made of stainless steel with a black PVD coating. The watch measures 43 mm in diameter and is 14 mm thick. The lug to lug measurement is 50 mm. The watch will feature the following complications: hours, minutes, seconds (sub-dial), date and 12-hour chronograph. The bezel will have the traditional tachymeter scale and on the outer perimeter of the dial the telemeter scale. The watch will be fitted with a sapphire crystal with anti-reflection coating and is water resistant to 10 ATM. The crown, instead of having the Seiko signature, will have the legend 'Automatic Chronograph'. The watch has a display back. It is expected to retail for about $1,400 USD.

Seiko Watch Corporation will be releasing six watches to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Grand Seiko. All the watches will be fitted with Seiko enhanced movements, exclusive to Grand Seiko. The 50th Anniversary collection comprises of Spring Drive, quartz and mechanical movements. The watches will feature the famous Grand Seiko lion emblem on the dial and also on the movement in the case of the Spring Drive and mechanical movements. The lion emblem, in 18 carat gold with be on the rotor. All the watches will carry the inscription '50th Anniversary 1960 - 2010' and the limited edition serial number on the case back.

There are two Spring Drive models in the collection. Both watches will be powered by the new enhanced Seiko calibre 9R15. The movement is accurate to 10 seconds a month. The movement features the following functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date and power reserve complications. The 9R15 is an automatic movement with 30 jewels. It has a power reserve of 70 hours.

Reference SBGA055

The watch features a stainless steel case, 41 mm in diameter and 12.5 mm thick. It is fitted with a dual-domed sapphire crystal on the front and flat sapphire crystal on the display back. It is water resistant to 10 ATM and is anti-magnetic to 4,800 A/m (60 gauss). It is a limited edition run of 300 pieces. Retail price expected to be about $6,900 USD.

Reference SBGA065

The watch features a Platinum case, 40.2 mm in diameter and 12.8 mm thick. It is fitted with a domed sapphire crystal on the front and flat sapphire crystal on the display back. As with the SBGA055, it is water resistant to 10 ATM and is anti-magnetic to 4,800 A/m (60 gauss). This watch is limited to only 30 pieces and will retail for about $25,000 USD.

The quartz model will be powered by Seiko calibre 9F62. This quartz movement is exclusive to the Grand Seiko collection and is accurate to 5 seconds a year. The movement will feature the hours, minutes, seconds and date complications. It has an End of Life indicator and quick date adjustment. The caliber 9F62 is a 9 jewel movement and has a 3-year battery life.

Reference SBGX075

This watch features a stainless steel case, 37 mm in diameter and is 10 mm thin. It is fitted with a high definition dual-curved sapphire crystal. It is water resistant to 10 ATM and is also magnetic resistant to 4,800 A/m (60 gauss). It is a limited edition of 500 pieces and is expected to retail about $3,750 USD.

There are three models in the Grand Seiko Mechanical collection. All the watches in this collection will be fitted with either the Seiko calibre 9S65 or calibre 9S85. Both movements are built to exceed the C.O.S.C. chronometer standards. The movements offers an accuracy of -1 to +5 seconds a day.

Reference SBGR065 White Dial and SBGR075 Blue Dial

Both the watches will be fitted with the Seiko calibre 9S65. This movement features the following functionalities: hours, minutes, seconds and date. It is an automatic movement with hand winding capability. The calibre 9S65 is a 35 jewel movement beating at 28,800 A/h and has a 72 hours power reserve. The watches itself is cased in a stainless steel case measuring 37 mm in diameter and is 13.3 mm thick. It is fitted with a double-dome sapphire crystal on the front and flat sapphire crystal on the display back. It is water resistant to 10 ATM and has a higher magnetic resistant rating at 10,000 A/m (125 gauss).

The reference SBGR065 is limited to 500 pieces while the reference SBGR075 is limited to 300 pieces. Both watches will retail for about $5,650 USD.The last watch in the collection is reference SBGH015. This watch is fitted with Seiko calibre 9S85. This is a 'HI-BEAT 3600' calibre. It has a mean daily rate of between -2 to +4 seconds a day. The movement is an automatic movement with manual winding capability offering the following functions; hours, minutes, seconds and date complication. It has 37 jewels and a power reserve of 55 hours.

Reference SBGH015

The watch echos the 'Special' version of the 70s. The 'Special' logo on the dial is presented in gold. The watch has a stainless steel case measuring 40.2 mm in diameter and 13 mm thick. As with the rest of the collection, it has a sapphire crystal display back and a high definition dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflection crystal on the front. It is water resistant to 10 ATM and is anti-magnetic to 10,000 A/m or 125 gauss. It is a limited edition of 300 pieces and is expected to retail for $8,150 USD.

MKII will be having its Black Friday Exclusive this Friday. For this one day sale, the Paradive Type I-A1, non-date 12 hour GMT will be available at a 15% discount. This watch is MKII interpretation of the watch issued to the US Special Forces and CIA maritime units between 1960 to 1980. These issued watches were never made for commercial sale.

The modern Paradive is a not a large watch coming in at 41.25 mm in diameter. It features a bead-blasted 316L stainless case with a double-domed sapphire crystal and an automatic ETA 2836-2 Elabore grade movement. The luminous material of the hour markers and hands are SuperLumiNova BGW9 which will glow for 7 hours on a full charge. The watch is rated to 30 ATM.

For more information: http://www.mkiiwatches.com/

IWC will be releasing a limited edition Portuguese watch to commemorate Taiwan 100 years as a Republic. The watch, The Portuguese Automatic Limited Edition for Republic of China 2011 will be produced in run of 100 pieces. It will have the classical appearance of the original Portuguese watch which first appeared in the 1930s.

It will be powered by IWC in-house movement the IWC calibre 51011 which offers IWC Pellaton winding system.The dial will feature the Portuguese classic embossed Arabic hour markers, the railroad minute track, seconds display at the 9 o'clock position and the 7 day power reserve display at the 3 o'clock position.

The beautiful gold IWC Probus Scafusia medallion embedded in the middle of the rotor has been replaced by a gold medallion featuring the map of Taiwan. The rotor will feature the inscriptions 'For Taiwan' and 'One out of 100' in addition to the medallion.The watch will measure 42.3 mm in diameter and 14 mm thick. It will be fitted with a sapphire crystal and will be water resistant to 3 ATM. This is a worldwide release.

This is a review of the Swatch Spare Corner. This model is a colorful unisex watch that was released as part of their Fall/Winter 2010 collection.

• Collection: Spare Corner
• Model number: GJ129
• Manufacturer: Swatch
• Basic specifications: Function: Hour, minutes and seconds
• Case: Polycarbonate (plastic?), diameter 34 mm, height 8.5 mm, lug width 17 mm, lug to lug 38.5 mm
• Movement: ETA quartz
• Crystal: Acrylic
• Water resistance: 3 ATM
• Retail price: $50 USD

CASE
The watch is a one-piece design. It is made of either polycarbonate or plastic. The case is well made and has a nice finish. You can’t see the seams of the mold on the case.

The case has a matte yellow finish. The case lugs have lughole to push out the strap pins. As with most Swatch watches, the lugs have two tabs. The case has two access points, the top and a battery access on the case back.

Continue reading Swatch Spare Corner Watch Review >>

A sneak peak of one of the watches that Panerai will release in next year SIHH. It is the PAM00386, the Luminor Marina Automatic Composite 1950 3 days 44 mm watch. The watch will be powered by Panerai in-house p.9000 calibre.

The watch will feature it composite case and offers the following functions; hours, minutes, seconds and date. The dial will be of the sandwich design with Arabic markers and rendered in brown. The display back crystal will be smoked to match the color of the case. The watch is expected to retail around the $10,000 USD mark.