Horological Meandering

Baselworld 2010: Linde Werdelin - repost from PuristSPro's report

Apr 25, 2010,20:20 PM

Linde Werdelin, the small Danish sports watch brand, continued its cooperation with independent artists, 2010 once again with AHCI-Veteran Svend Andersen. Instead of re-vamping a rare vintage movement, like last year, Anderson now modified the nice Frédéric Piguet FP 1150 automatic movement. He replaced the date wheel with a moonphase mechanism. This might not be that spectacular, but LW's execution certainly is: The whole moonphase ring is covered with white SuperLuminova C1. On top of theat, a black silk-print produces photo-realistic depictions of seven different moon phases, which are shining in the dark. A small dot, also luminous, serves as reference point, so it is easily possible to read the current moon phase at night.

To read PuristSPro's comprehensive Baselworld 2010 report in Basel forum, please CLICK HERE

Baselworld 2010: Linde Werdelin
by Marcus Hanke

The "Oktopus Moonphase", which is limited to 29 pieces, is made from titanium, dimensioned 46 by 49mm, but appears smaller on the wrist, due to the ergonomic shape. The revolving bezel is made from 18k pink gold.

More interesting from the outward appearence is Linde Werdelin's second co-operation with an artist: the "Oktopus Tattoo". Denmark's most famous tattoo artist, Henning Jensen, delivered an intricate design of an octopus, which is engraved onto the watch's caseback, while its flanks and shoulders are covered with matching ornaments. The engraving was executed by laser, since a hand engraving would have caused too much loss of the tiny details.

The orange-pink SuperLuminova on hands and markers is matching the colour of the stitching on the alligator strap; or better should be matching. Since the watch shown still had a prototype dial, this feature was lacking perfection.

The stainless steel Oktopus Tattoo is limited to 88 pieces, and a corresponding edition of 88 "Reef" diving computer modules, engraved with matching ornaments, is available.

Regarding the "Reef", it is worth stating that Linde Werdelin's own software engineering bureau is curently applying the last touches to the newest version of the "Reef" software, just in time for this year's diving season. Hopefully, brushing up the software of the "Rock" module will be the next step.

The "Spidolite" with the skeletonized case is now also offered in 18k pink gold. The choice of material clearly inicates that saving weight was not the primary intention this time. That the watch looks nice, though, is a satisfactory reason.

By the way, LW issued a nice catalogue of the novelties this year: A well-sketched comic book, telling the story about a hunt for five powerful microchips, serves to present the new watches. However, only the initial part of the story is told, we have to wait until next year to learn how the story unfolds ...

EDITOR'S NOTE

Linde Werdelin is an unusual brand to be appreciated by PuristS but we have some pedantic reasons for doing so. Until now, they have been a purist's watch with a clear mission and unique selling point. An ultimate amalgam of tool watch with modular interchangeability. This year, they added a few 'arty' bits and we are not so sure about how that fits with their purity rating, to date.

On another note, the skeletonised dial on the Spidolite seemed a nice idea but in doing so, LW has exposed themselves to criticism about the movement finishing on the dial side that can now be seen. We are not asking for haute horlogerie 'black polish' finishing but to have rough burrs and manufacturing marks still present is probably not acceptable. It was OK as long as it was hidden behind the dial but if you are going to expose yourself, it should be a little better.

Melvyn Teillol-Foo

This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2010-04-25 20:21:36 This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2010-04-28 07:32:40

More posts: Linde WerdelinSvend Andersen

Comments: view entire thread

A few points we would like to share..

By: aphrodite : June 25th, 2010-09:43

Hello Marcus & Melvyn First of all we would like to thank you for your report and interest in LW (as well as apologise for the delay in posting this...) ! The Oktopus Tattoo is indeed a watch bearing ‘arty’ details and was essentially created ...