Swiss watchmakers Fortis hope to fill a gap consumers didn’t know existed by launching an automatic wristwatch featuring Arabic-language numerals.

The completely automatic B-42 Al Tayar features full Arabic calligraphy, including day and date information and its Dubai-based designer describes it as the world’s first luxury product of its kind.

“I’ve lived in the Arab world practically all my life and I wanted a watch that was completely Arabised,” Mahesh Shahani, who was born in India but raised in Morocco, told Emirates Business. “I wanted something that would reflect Arabic culture.”

Shahani is also managing partner of Gems World, UAE distributors for Fortis.

The watch, which has been specially developed for this market, was debuted in Dubai yesterday ahead of an international roll out later this year.

Al Tayar could be loosely translated from the Arabic as ‘The Aviator’, and was so named because the model has been specified to aviation industry standards, with a separate specification developed for the marine industry.

It is also an innovative way to reach a significant segment of your market. The Middle East is one of the fastest-growing regions for Fortis, currently accounting for approximately 10 per cent of its worldwide business, according to Max Peter, Business Development Manager at the Swiss brand.

The Al Tayar has been developed over the course of two years, at a cost of £70,000 (Dh256,900), he told Emirates Business.

Available with a black or white dial, the 42-millimetre watch is made from brushed steel and comes with a rubber strap, although this can be changed to metal or leather on request. It uses the standard Gregorian calendar for its day and date functions, but this is written in Arabic.

The numbers used in English are commonly known as Arabic or Hindu-Arabic numerals, while the digits used in Arabic are known as Eastern Arabic numerals outside Arabia and as Indian numbers in the Arabic language.

Priced at Dh6,000, it is currently on sale at Gems World stores in Dubai, at the Gold and Diamond Park, the Hyatt Regency and the Gold Souq.

Just 200 watches have been produced and with advance orders for some 30 pieces, Shahani – speaking with his retail hat on – believes they will easily sell out. “We’ve introduced them to some VIP clients already and have had a great response,” he said.

Arabised watches are not strictly new to market. The British Museum shop, for example, retails a quartz number for women at £85 (Dh473). And brands such as Rolex and Seiko have reportedly experimented with the watch, either for mass-market or bespoke distribution. “But our design, the fine materials we use and the clear legibility of the Al Tayar, set it apart from anything else on the market,” said Peter.

Limited capabilities mean the firm cannot scale up production even if they wanted to, he added. Nevertheless, by the end of the year, the line will also be available in international markets such as South East Asia, Japan and Germany, where distributors have already expressed an interest in stocking it.

The future, Peter said, could be in women’s watches or in new designs, adding that it was too early to make a decision. “In another year’s time, we might have something new to show the industry at Basel. We’ve got several other designs that could be adapted for the Arabic market,” he said.

The new Excalibur collection has become more virile, its high-tech movements more visible, and its style more modern. In 2005, the ROGER DUBUIS Manufacture took the watch world by storm with the presentation of a highly unusual model that was as virile as it was original, the EXCALIBUR. With the EXCALIBUR collection, the young watch company proved that “value is not a question of years”, further evidence of the astonishing symbiosis that characterises the Brand, a masterful combination of ancestral watchmaking savoir-faire and a boldly modern style.

The Excalibur line is celebrating the most delicate of its complications, the minute repeater, dressed in rose gold. Much of the impeccable Poinçon de Genève finishing of the complex movement can be admired through the openworked dial. The tourbillon, positioned at 5 o’clock, is set off by a rose gold ring enclosed by stylistic grey lines, while a double flange with a minute circle and rose gold appliques, in black and grey respectively, gives the dial greater depth. The hand-sewn alligator strap is enhanced with a rose gold folding clasp. This exclusive model comes in a single limited series of 28.

Hand-wound mechanical movement, 16’’’, 61 jewels, rhodium-plated, Côtes de Genève motif. Stamped with the Poinçon de Genève quality hallmark. Double flying tourbillon with differential, tourbillon cages visible between 4 and 5 o’clock, and 7 and 8 o’clock. Both tourbillons make one revolution per minute, power reserve indicator visible at back of case, jumping hour (360°), retrograde dragging minute between 9 and 3 o’clock (180°). Number of components: 413

Equipped with the brand new self-winding mechanical movement, one of the collection’s very latest models, the pierced tourbillon, reveals both its micro-rotor and flying tourbillon. The rose gold fillets outline the mother-of-pearl area on a dial designed with a circle theme and accentuate the strength of the large Roman numerals. The rose gold case is complemented by a hand-sewn alligator strap fitted with a rose gold folding clasp. This exclusive model comes in a single limited series of 88.

EXCALIBUR, bi-retrograde jumping date. The subtle play of the Arabic numerals, which border the two symmetrical anthracite bi-retrograde date zones, blends harmoniously with the white gold applique hour-markers. The black inner flange, punctuated with Arabic numerals, encircles the dial and gives it its strong character. This brand new movement, which enriches the Manufacture’s range of products, is housed in a white gold case. The hand-sewn alligator strap is fitted with a white gold folding clasp.

This exclusive model comes in a single limited series of 88.

Montblanc presents the first development of the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie and starts with new ideas into the next decade after celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the watch Manufacture Minerva in 2008.

Following Montblanc`s anniversary celebrations marking the opening of the completely renovated manufactory building in Villeret, the experts at the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie are now concentrating exclusively on their core tasks: on the one hand, the preservation and cultivation of the high art of horology in accord with the authentic Swiss tradition and, on the other hand, the ongoing development of innovative technologies and concepts to assure a bright future for watchmaking. The Institut Minerva, that has been founded by Montblanc, is one of the last manufactures where a large portion of the traditional horological skills, with all their micromechanical refinements, are still meticulously performed by hand, almost as though each timepiece were individually crafted as a one-of-a-kind item. Traditions are upheld, but continual innovation is also indispensable to assure constant renewal and unflagging progress in the art of watchmaking, to set standards for quality and creativity in th
e future. This legacy is especially present at the Institut Minerva, where the staff lives and breathes it in their daily work.

Time Writer: Thanks to Montblanc, the Institut Minerva fosters new talent. With the founding of the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie, Montblanc has not only dedicated itself toward assuring the survival of a manufacture with a legendary chronographic tradition: the mission of the Institut Minerva is to foster young talents whose new ideas will enrich the art of watchmaking, which they’ll enliven with their innovative spirit and dynamism.

For this purpose, Montblanc created the “TimeWriter” concept, under which the company wants to introduce projects with independent creators that have great ideas and plan to establish themselves as independent watchmakers. It is foreseen to present a project every two years.

A complex industry such as watchmaking demands investments that are very often much too costly for young entrepreneurs to finance on their own, so through the help of Montblanc the Institut Minerva also contributes, both materially and intellectually, toward helping these ambitious individuals start their own business. Now, just two years after the founding of the Institut Minerva by Montblanc, its first remarkable project is ready for presentation. TimeWriter 1: Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis embodies a creatively successful response to the following challenge: combining the principles of traditional watchmaking with the creation of something entirely new and unprecedented. This first project of the TimeWriter series, that is based on the Montblanc`s own chronographe calibre MBM 16.29 has set itself twin goals: to provide starting help to promising young talents and to combine tradition with innovation. With this background in mind, the foundation council at the Institut Minerva was most strongly impressed by the ideas of the two young watch specialists Johnny Girardin and Franck Orny, who envisioned a wristwatch with two faces. Of course, a watch with different functions distributed across two dials is not novel per se, but the way in which the Montblanc Metamorphosis transforms itself has never been seen before. By moving a slide down or up, this timepiece changes from a wristwatch with hour, minute, second display to a chronograph and vice versa. To achieve this metamorphosis
in a purely mechanical manner, the two creators Johnny Girardin and Franck Orny were obliged to use all their skills as watchmakers and to borrow methods from the art of automatons construction – a traditional métier which, like watchmaking, has long been practiced in Switzerland’s Jura region. As a prefect blend of tradition and innovation, the revolutionary transformation mechanism is based on the magnificent, hand crafted chronographe calibre MBM16.29

The Metamorphosis watches will be crafted at the manufacture’s ateliers in Villeret, where the idea of the inventors will be brought to live by the profound know-how of the Institut Minerva’s experienced master watchmakers.

The dynamics of shapes have dictated the design of this unique-generation round watch which showcases audacity and ergonomics. SAINT HONORE wanted a genuine masculine watch, as demonstrated in the choices made.

The slender design of the case in a 44 mm diameter is perfectly trendy whilst its chunkiness lends itself to a very contemporary interpretation of the crown/crown protector assembly. The “falling” horns ensure perfect adjustment of the strap to the wrist. In short, everything in this watch evokes a movement of rare elegance.

In its quartz chronograph version, the watch reveals all its class and functionality: push-pieces wedded perfectly the shape of the case, a leather strap adjusted to the millimetre, and on the dial two central counters and a big date. A desire here also to go right to the point and ensure perfect readability in all situations.

Available in a quartz chronograph or automatic version, the Coloseo is yet further proof of the unique SAINT HONORE know-how in masculine watches.

The new Coloseo will delight elegant men seeking a strikingly-designed watch, to be worn confidently in all circumstances.

Technical details:

18 K pink gold plated stainless steel case, Chronograph quartz movement, Curved glass, Black dial with 18 K pink gold plated indexes, 18 K pink gold plated crown and pushers, Dial 2 counters, Big date at 12h, Water resistant to 50 m, Brown leather strap on deploying buckle, SWISS MADE.

What belongs together comes together. IWC Schaffhausen is treating its chronograph movement to a ceramic case made of zirconium oxide. Entirely in the spirit of its namesake Leonardo da Vinci, the Da Vinci Chronograph Ceramic embodies innovation and first-class engineering in perfected form.

The world owes a great deal to Leonardo da Vinci. The universal genius from Tuscany created incomparably beautiful works of art, investigated and documented natural laws, and designed buildings and machines which were often far ahead of their time. Innumerable sketches also provide evidence of his enthusiasm for watchmaking. Many of his pioneering discoveries in the area of helical and bevel gears and complicated screw transmissions are to this day componentparts of many machines – including watches.

Fascinated and inspired by the spirit of Leonardo, the watchmakers of IWC Schaffhausen have given the name Da Vinci to particularly innovative models at regular intervals in the past. The Da Vinci model from1985, for example, made watchmaking history. At a stage when quartz already appeared to have superseded mechanics in the measurement of time, the Schaffhausen company focused its attention on the beauty and strength of mechanics and built a mechanical chronograph with a perpetual calendar, which played a part in the renaissance of the mechanical watch. The design of the complicated mechanism and its user-friendly operation can be summarized as being ingenious in their simplicity. Only one year later, in 1986, IWC Schaffhausen provided further proof of its love of innovation by building the first watch with a case made from the extremely hard, scratch-resistant and impact-resistant ceramic, zirconium oxide. This milestone of case engineering also bore the name Da Vinci.

In the year 2007, when IWC Schaffhausen presented its newly developed flyback chronograph movement, this appropriately made its debut in the completely redesigned Da Vinci family. The IWC-manufactured movement is conspicuous with a number of design features that are unique. Particularly noteworthy is the display of the recorded time, which has bid farewell to all its classic predecessors in the interests of improved user-friendliness. The recorded hours and minutes can now be read on a counter in the 12 o’clock position like a second time display. The 89360 calibre also stands out with a new double-pawl winding system and a flyback function: actuation of the lower button during a timing function causes the recorded time to return to zero and restart immediately, but without stopping the stopwatch mechanism.

Such an extraordinary movement also merits an extraordinary case, in addition to a see-through sapphire-glass back; after all, the Da Vinci family is still inspired to this day by the special ability of Leonardo to think and act innovatively and imaginatively both technically and creatively. The tonneau-shaped design, which draws its strength from the interaction between edges and curves, between convex and concave forms, has now been translated into an exceptional material combination of ceramic and titanium in the new Da Vinci Chronograph Ceramic.

The central section of the ceramic case of the new Da Vinci Chronograph Ceramic consists of zirconium oxide, which was first used in a watch case in 1986 – in a Da Vinci. This model was produced in only very small numbers because

of the enormous difficulty in machining the hard material. Over the years, however, the technicians and engineers have acquired a lot of experience in the manufacture and machining of this extremely scratch-resistant, non-magnetic

and acid-proof ceramic. The case blanks can now be formed more efficiently and with greater accuracy than before from the mixture of zirconium oxide powder and a binder. They are sintered at temperatures between 1500 and 2000 degrees Celsius followed by cooling in a complicated process to enable the material to attain all of its outstanding properties. Diamond tools are required for the intricate finishing of the blanks. At this point, the specialists at IWC possess such thorough mastery of this technology that the new Da Vinci Chronograph Ceramic will be available in unlimited numbers as a model in the collection. What is more, the case stands out with a technical highlight that is admired by experts. It is manufactured with such precision that the movement can be fitted directly into the ceramic case – without a movement security ring. The bezel, back, buttons and crown provide a colour contrast in the form of

ultra-hard titanium grade 5, which, unlike the titanium alloys formerly used by IWC, can be polished and satin-finished. These two materials, titanium and ceramic, are not only extraordinarily robust and scratch-resistant, but they also have an extremely pleasant, silk-like feel. The special three-dimensional design of the dial with a réhaut volant – a tonneau-shaped minute display, which appears to float above the dial – adds to the attractiveness of the latest Da Vinci model. This flying chapter ring, a first for IWC, arcs in parallel with the sapphire glass and in so doing visually reduces the height of the inside of the bezel. The overall appearance is rounded off by a high-quality calfskin strap, to which a special finishing technique imparts a surface structure resembling that of a high-tech woven fabric. With the new Da Vinci Chronograph Ceramic, IWC Schaffhausen has achieved an impressive combination of high-tech and elegance.

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