A chronograph is a
specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display
watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand; it can be
started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive pressure on the stem. More
complex chronographs use additional complications and can have multiple
independent hands to measure seconds, minutes, hours and even tenths of a
second.
Modern day
youngsters may not really understand many a thing – one of that is the
importance of watch ~ a wrist watch was a luxury till about 5 decades ago… only
college goers and rich were blessed with
wrist watches ~ HMT ruled the roost… the most common Q that one to put to the
other on the road was ‘may I know what the time is ?’ ~ now the Q is ‘where are
you ?’ [everyone talking on mobile on street and perhaps mostly asking the
other person as to where he / she is ?] [ in Cinema, if one were to speak to a
girl – Q – what is the time ?] ~ and mobiles have effectively replaced the
wrist watches !!
Wearing
wrist watches were customary – they were to be hand wound – automatic watches
were costlier. MG Ramachandran, Tamil
Nadu's former chief minister and founder of AIADMK, was laid to rest at Marina
beach in his iconic attire, complete with his fur cap, dark shades, and his
famous Seiko watch. In years to come, believers swore that MGR's watch could be
heard ticking from beyond the grave.
Those
days when I went to school, wearing a watch was a prestige ! – not many could
afford watches; HMT [Hindustan Machine Tools] priced their watches in the range
of Rs.350/- + and in 1979 my grandfather
awarded me one [HMT Vijay blue-dialled wrist watch] for me scoring good marks in SSLC Exam - it was heaven ~ those days, Rs.300/- + easily
was more than a month’s salary for most…… life has changed a long way.. now you
have costly wrist watches, brands that are status symbols ~ at the same time,
you have duplicate ones at throw away prices, which also work fine and well
serve the intended purpose of showing the time.
Now this post is about a watch worth Rs.9 Crores worth approx. – leaves
to imagine, if one requires a watch for showing time – why and how can a watch
be so costly ? – what extra will that offer ? – what sort of utility value it
has ??
At home, have seen
some elders have the time in watch set a few minutes faster – that way – one
could get a warning they would say .. .. I always wonder whether that will work
at all – when one is aware that the clock is running 10 mins or so faster,
would not we always reckon that extra time and somehow contrive to be late !
Richard Mille is a
brand of luxury Swiss watches from the company of the same name founded in 1999
by French businessman Richard Mille. After studying marketing in Besançon,
Richard Mille, started work at Finhor, a local watchmaking company in 1974. In
1999 he founded the company Richard Mille SA in collaboration with
AudemarsPiguet. Its first product, the RM001 went on sale in 2001. Richard
Mille SA is based in Les Breuleux, in the Canton of Jura, Switzerland.The
brand's most famous models are the Tourbillon RM 008 (chronograph tourbillon)
and the sapphire split seconds (chronograph tourbillon) RM 056. The RM 008
combines a tourbillon movement with manual winding, a chronograph
split-seconds, a torque indicator, and a power reserve indicator. Claimed to be
one of the most advanced watches in the world, it is priced from 500,000 Euro.
Today,
Daily Mail UK reports of a super-rich tourist losing his £1MILLLION McLaren F1-inspired watch ! ~ valued so high, there
are only 75 of the ultralight pieces in the world. .. . it is reported that a pickpocket in Ibiza stole one of the world's
most valuable watches worth nearly £1million from a tourist. The thief, thought
to be in his 30s, stole the Formula One inspired wristwatch from its Azerbaijan
owner in broad daylight after shoving his victim several times. He then made
off with his haul at around 4.30pm last Wednesday which police say is worth
€1.2 million. Only 75 of the record-breaking ultralight watches exist in the
world.
The
Azerbaijan tourist, aged 22, was walking along the seafront in Ibiza town with
a friend when the robbery happened. He was left with injuries to his wrist and
arm. Police say he was staying in a hotel in Ibiza and immediately went to the
police station to report the theft. The watch is a Richard Mille (RM) 50-03
McLaren F1 valued at approximately €1,150,000. (INR 9 Cr approx) It is the lightest in the world, weighing only
40 grams with the strap included. The watch is inspired by the McLaren F1 cars
and is a tourbillon - a specific mechanism of watchmaking - that means the
entire mechanism inside the case rotates at a rate of one revolution per minute
in order to nullify the effects of gravity. In addition to that, the RM 50-03
features chronograph function of fractions of a second to measure lap times, a
power reserve of 70 hours, and a torsion sensor to avoid winding.
No words to say !!
With regards –S.
Sampathkumar
26th
June 2019
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