Watches

What do you think of this:

http://www.thepurists.com/brandjpg/ap/ja/eot/sqdial.jpg

Incredible, eh?

That looks great, the intricacy in the design is admirable.

The watch is a perpetual calendar world timer. That means that it's a watch that will display February 29th after February 28th correctly in the year 2148 (if that year is a leap year). It will show you the appropriate time at any time zone in the world any time you want it to. And, it's mechanical - just a lot of gears. And, it's skeletonized - all of the gears sit between two panes of sapphire crystal, so you can see entirely through the mechanism. I think the watch is yellow gold.

The watch calculates the equation of time, too, which is the difference between solar time and time according to the gregorian calendar. For some reason the two differ (most noticeably in February), and somehow the watch will tell you the difference - the difference changes depending on which time zone you live in, so Audemars Piguet sets the watch to the specific time zone you live in, and engraves the top of the bezel to remind you where you live (Geneva, here).

Pretty sweet, but the actual time seems to get lost in the watch face.

Sweet Jesus that's beautiful.

Do they even make those anymore and what sort of price does it command?

The thing I posted a picture of isn't something that's sold normally. A special order, I've got no idea how much it costs. It's great, though, eh? Watches are pretty neat. People exert an amazing amount of effort perfecting something that's in a way worthless - a $10 Casio watch is every bit as useful as a $700,000 grande complication.

The watch is a special type of an Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Equation of Time. It's in yellow gold (I think), a watch that's been skeletonized (that's the special part, where the front is removed, so you can see the internal mechanics from both the front and back). You could get a regular equation of time in white gold for $20-$25k, I think. That one has a solid front (a real dial), but you can see the back.

Looks very nice. I love clockwork gears...

But I'm alright with my $11 watch from the Fossil outlet store, thanks. If I were to ever pay $20k or more for a timepiece it had better be on the scale of Big Ben.

Big deal, it doesn't even have a calculator!

That thing is smarter than I am...

that looks great - a true timepiece, makes my fossil watch look like junior nuts.