Audermars Piquet is celebrating its 135th Anniversary this year and in line with this celebration, Audemars Piquet has launched the limited edition Royal Oak Offshore Jarno Trulli. This watch, a limited edition run of only 500 pieces, will be available from the Audemars Piguet Boutique in Ginza, Japan.

The watch will be released for international sale by year end. The watch is expected to retail for USD 28,900. The watch, reference 26202AU.OO.D002CA.01, will be powered by AP calibre 3126/3840, an automatic movement. The movement has 59 jewels and is made up of 365 parts. It offers a power reserve of 60 hours. It is a beautiful movement that is decorated with circular-graining on the mainplate, and rhodium-plated bridges with Cotes de Geneve motif. All these can be seen through the sapphire crystal display back.

The movement is cased in a forged carbon middle case with a Cermet bezel. Cermet is a unique alloy made by combining ceramic and tungsten or bronze. Cermet offers superior wear and corrosion properties. The case back is made of titanium. The case is 42 mm in diameter and 15.65 mm thick offering a water resistance rating of 10 ATM.

What I like about the watch is the dial with the Mega Tapisserie motif and the silver chronograph sub-dial. The hour markers and the hands are coated with a red/purple luminescent coating. The watch offers the following functions: hours, minutes, seconds (sub-dial), chronograph and date complication.

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

Toy Watch has launched a new series of watches under the Chrono PN collection. The watches in this collection are interesting, as their design is inspired by the classic Rolex Daytona model, and more specifically the reference 62XX.

The watch we are looking at is the Crystal and Black model, reference 6001BKP. All the watches in the collection share the same specifications. As with most watches by Toy Watch, this watch is cased in its plasteramic material. The case for this watch is clear plasteramic. It comes fitted with a polycarbonate bracelet with clasp.

The watch is powered by a quartz chronograph movement. The watch is 39mm in diameter and is water resistant to 3 ATM. I am not sure of the chrono pushers are of the lockdown design like the those on the Rolex, but it would be great if they were. Since the watch is a modern take on a classic design, Toy Watch has decided to retain some of the classic aspect of the design by opting to have the hour markers coated in Tritium instead of the more modern Luminova.

For more information: http://www.toy-watch.it/en/Viewdoc?co_id=451

QP Magazine has announced the second annual SalonQP exhibition will take place next month in London. The event will include workshops, lectures and debates. These will be hosted by the brands themselves, industry leaders and QP Magazine's regular contributors

Panerai PAM00335 Luminor 1950 Ceramica

Date: November 11-13, 2010

Location: One Marylebone, London

Exhibitors:
A. Lange and Sohne
Armin Strom
Backes and Strauss
Bell and Ross
Bonhams
Bremont
BRM
Cabestan
Cartier
Daniels London
Ellicott
Frederique Constant
Girard-Perregaux
Graham
Grand Seiko
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Jean Richard
Jean-Mairet and Gillman
John C Taylor
Linde Werdelin
Maurice Lacroix
Meccaniche Veloci
Montblanc
Nick Walker/ Helium Foundation
Panerai
Perrelet
Ralph Lauren
Roger Smith
TAG Heuer
U-Boat
Vacheron Constantin
Zenith

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

Thanks Ivan.

Praesto Watches is offering a 30% discount on its Modern Fliegeuhr Aviator watches, 50 units only. All you have to do is to visit them at their website and use the discount code HWLN2010 to get the discount. The price after discount is even lower than the pre-order prices. This offer expires on Oct 31st.

The Praesto watch is a modern take on WWII pilot watches. It is a limited edition.

Basic specifications:

Functions: hours, minutes, seconds (4:30 o'clock sub-dial)
Movement: Miyota 8245 automatic movement
Case: stainless steel, beadblasted, 44 mm diameter
Crystal: sapphire
Water resistant: 20 ATM

The watch is available with a choice of two dial colors, black or blue. And you can choose between two case finishes, beadblasted or PVD Black.

For more information: http://www.praestowatch.com/home/

A new English language website for Grand Seiko watches has launched. This seems to be the first step towards wider distribution of these watches in North America. There's currently one authorized retail partner in Toronto, Canada that is selling Grand Seikos.

The website lists USA stores as "Coming Soon". The site also contains details on the current collection of watches available from Seiko. Take a look and get ready for more readily available Grand Seikos.

Continue reading Grand Seiko Coming to the US Soon >>

Here's an interesting new collection of watches. The watches by WeWood are made of wood. Yes, wood.

Brown Date Watch

The company, founded in Florence in 2010, is now based in Los Angeles. They currently offer watches in both analog and digital style. All the watches are powered by movements sourced from Miyota of Japan and then encased their special wood cases.

Brown Crono

The watches available are either rendered in beige, black or brown finishes. The wood used to make the case is toxin-free and 100% hypo-allergenic. Each model comes on an intricately carved wood bracelet.

Beige Date Model

The watches retail for about $119 USD. In case you were wondering, Tissot was the first company to offer watches encased in wood back in 1988 called "The Wood Watch".

For more information: http://we-wood.us/

James Stacey has posted a new watch review for the Casio Pathfinder PAG-240-1. This ABC digital watch has a huge amount of features packed into a 57.3mm case. This model is great for hiking and other outdoor activities, with the digital compass and altimeter functions. It's a great choice if you need these features, as there's currently no Casio G-Shocks with a compass. Check out the full review and video for all the details.

Link

Casio Pathfinder PAG-240