After the previous announcement and the official unveiling of Sir Richard Branson as a new ambassador of Bulova Accutron for this year’s edition of Baselworld, back in March, the brand has shown the first glimpse of a brand new limited edition of watches that will bear the name of the famous billionaire. The new Swiss-made watch will not be available this year, and it is not expected to hit the stores until the fall of 2012. The limited edition will be comprised of 500 pieces, and the officials of the brand have sworn to permanently wrack the molds once the 500th copy is made. All watches from the series will be individually numbered on the back of the case. Initial projections say that the price of Branson’s and Bulova Accutron’s co-operational timepiece will cost around $3,500.
Now, let us reveal more details about the announced watch. The timepiece is equipped with a self-winding mechanical movement with 21 jewels. The movement is a certified chronometer, tested by Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC), but unfortunately there is still not precise information about the caliber that will be used.
GMT Hand for Globetrotters
However, the watch will include a feature very useful to all world traveler’s and globetrotters, such as Sir Richard Branson. The feature in question is GMT hand that makes a full revolution in 24 hours. This means that as the standard hour and minute hands display the time in your local time zone, you can always read GMT time in an easy fashion, because the inner ring on the perimeter of the dial is divided into 24 sections. Furthermore out, there is a city ring that holds the names of the major world cities, corresponding with the Earth’s time zones. If you are curious to see which hour it is in any other time zone, simply rotate the city ring and you will get your answer.
The dial of Bulova Accutron Sir Richard Branson Limited edition timepiece will have a black dial with the perfectly appropriate stylized representation of the globe that will even include longitude and latitude lines. The hands will be constructed of anodized aluminum. While the standard hands will be blue, the GMT hand will be red-colored and with an appealing tip in the shape of crescent (the second hand also features a crescent-shaped detail, but as a counterweight).
It is decided that the case (with the diameter of 45 mm) will be crafted out of titanium which is always nice because of its exceptional characteristics and lightness. On the right side, there will be two crowns, at two and four o’clock position. The former will control standard, while the latter will control GMT settings. Besides, the timepiece will have water resistance to 100 meters and will be paired with a black alligator strap. Both the face and the case back will be guarded by sapphire crystals.
The watch was designed with Sir Richard’s input, and will bear his signature endorsement on the back of the case.
