Ri(t)ch Styles' Victorinox Christmas wish list

Watches are my new obsession these days. While I always had a fetish for watches, over the last few years my craze for them had reduced. Lately I have noticed a revival of the craze, but this time majorly for the luxury watch brands. Victorinox with it's innovative range of watches is a part of this obsession (you saw my detailed review of the I.N.O.X watch recently here). With Christmas just a month away and my someone special’s birthday too round the corner, I have been evaluating the various options that Victorinox has to offer, and have kind of zeroed down on a wish list to choose from.

1. Night Vision

The Night Vision watch line has been a success since it first appeared in 2003. The new watch launched from this range this year embodies the existing successful features of being luminous yet multi-functional, along with being available with two new bracelets options: 'Black Ice' PVD steel or a black leather strap. Last year it had been launched with the rubber strap options in green and black.

The wearer can illuminate the dial for optimal time reading, turn on a continuous beam and even launch an SOS rescue signal, in Morse code, that can be seen clearly a kilometer away. How cool is that! This avant-garde lighting feature uses low-energy consumption LED technology that is perfectly integrated into the sleek design of the dial and bracelet. It has two separate batteries for light and time, and also a battery end-of-life indicator. So no worries about exhausting the battery with any kind of usage or getting stuck with a watch that suddenly stops working when you are rushing for something important. Works perfectly for me!

The electronic module of the Night Vision is an exclusive Victorinox Swiss Army creation that has been developed and manufactured in Switzerland, and no other watch on the market offers anything like it.

2. Chrono Classic
Chrono Classic is a 'three-step' watch. A classic timepiece dedicated to the reading of hours and minutes, it is also a chronograph accurate to the hundredth of a second. The transition from one mode to the other is performed through a simple double click of the crown. This returns the three central hands to 12 o’clock and turns the date window at 6 o'clock into a counter displaying the zero-zero position. Perfect for a Chartered Accountant (that's what P.S. is ;-) - financial stuff all the time!) whose every minute is important when it comes to money matters. Money is time after all!

The most amazing thing about the Chrono Classic is that you can switch back to normal time-reading mode while the chronograph continues running (here is the video). This technical prowess is due to the watch’s Swiss Made FM13D quartz movement, which is manufactured by Soprod, a Bernese Jura company with which Victorinox Swiss Army has worked closely. This collaboration has resulted in an exclusive development: the numerical representation of 1/100th of a second, which is performed by two small rotating discs on the lower part of the dial.

The display form of the Grande Date, a perpetual calendar, is another unique feature of the movement. The guilloche decoration covering both discs recalls the shape and decoration of Swiss Army Officer’s knife. No wonder this is called a classic! I'm confused here between the dark grey dial and bezel with Black Ice PVD coating, and the champagne dial and bezel.

The I.N.O.X. watch I reviewed earlier, is also a part of the wishlist along with the above two. Why don’t you guys help me out in picking one from these? :-) Drop in your sweet comments with the suggestions!!!

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Victorinox marks 130 years with its 'Made to last' watch - I.N.O.X.

The 130th anniversary of Victorinox definitely deserves a special celebration, and they know it better than no one. So to celebrate it, they launched a very very special watch - I.N.O.X - a timepiece that echoes the unique values of Victorinox’s signature product, the Swiss Army knife: authentic, robust and reliable in all conditions thus making it a lasting product that pledges quality. The watch commemorates linking of two different crafts by a single philosophy: respect for Swiss know-how and its peerless standards of quality. The watch is named I.N.O.X. as a tribute to the history of Victorinox, because ‘Inox' in French means ‘stainless steel’, an early 20th century invention that was responsible for the development and success of the Swiss Army Knife.

Let's look at why the I.N.O.X is a 'Made to last' watch. To start with, the watch has been designed to withstand unusual levels of stress and has passed 130 brutal strength tests with flying colours. Further, the watch is made of solid steel. The watch’s case has been stamped and machined in the metal, creating a protective envelope of unmatchable strength. The dial is a single sealed piece and the indexes are not applied in the usual manner but stamped. The axis and the attachment of the hands are reinforced. The horns are protected against warping and solidified by a crossbar. The crown, too, is protected, as is the crystal by the slightly elevated bezel. Finally, its been reinforced with the original 'bumper' - a removable bumper protector composed of nylon and silicone that matches perfectly with the crown, the case and the back, without disturbing legibility. While being useful and functional, the protector gives the I.N.O.X. its unique look.

Designed to withstand unusual vibration, shock and temperature changes, it has been reinforced well beyond the standards of a conventional timepiece. Hence the I.N.O.X. can resist a 10-meter drop onto a concrete surface, have a 64-ton tank drive over it, is guaranteed to maintain a perfect seal underwater to a depth of 200 meters. and resist two hours in a washing machine as well as a sandstorm. It can defy variations in temperature from -51° C to +71 ° C and 12G forces of acceleration and deceleration. I.N.O.X. has also been subjected to attack by corrosive products such as gasoline, solvents, oils, cleaning products and insecticides.

Despite the I.N.O.X. being made to last with exceptionally strong characteristics, it still remains a harmoniously designed timepiece - compact and solid yet sleek. The steel has been subtly sculpted and polished to catch the light.

The 2014 collection comes not only in black but also in khaki green and navy blue and all versions are equipped with a Swiss made Ronda quartz movement.

After knowing so much about the I.N.O.X., I have come to a conclusion - We all want a precious companionship to last forever and with these qualities the I.N.O.X. is definitely a perfect “companion for life.”

If you like what you see on Ri(t)ch Styles and want to stay updated regularly, follow Ri(t)ch Styles on 

    

You can also email me on ritchstyles@gmail.com :)

I have partnered with the advertiser to write this article.