Sunday, October 23, 2011

One of a Kind Show Toronto: Ticket Giveaway!

Tickets

As part my lead up to the One of a Kind Show this year I'm going to be giving away some free admission tickets! When I reach 100 likes on my Facebook page or when I reach 100 followers on my Twitter account I'll make the draw to the followers or "likers" of whichever reaches 100 first. This draw will be for one pair of tickets to the show! Good luck!

One of a Kind Countdown: 5 weeks to go!

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As I have for the Queen West Artcrawl, I'm going to be doing a countdown to the One of a Kind Xmas Show. I think this one will be another "right up to the last minute" kind of preparations. For the One of a Kind show, I was producing seven new stainless steel watches as well as having my sterling silver watches. For this years One of a Kind Show, I'm attempting to have about double the new stainless steel watches as well as having the ones I had at the Queen West(provided they don't sell between now and then). There was so much interest in the stainless watches at the Queen West that I've just had to go all out for the One of a Kind.

I guess I should really start with some of the particulars about the One of a Kind this year. It's taking place from Novemeber 24th until Dec 4th at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Please note though that I won't be there for the whole show. I'll be there for the final six days which are from November 29th until Dec 4th. I'm in booth # O-35 which is almost smack dab in the middle of the show floor.

So back to the watches. I've really been busy with coming up with new designs for my stainless steel watches for the show. I'll have new quartz watches, new mechanical watches, new large(above 40mm) mechanical watches and also I'll have new automatic watches, one even has a power reserve indicator! As progress is made on these new designs, I'll be posting some pictures and details regarding these timepieces. All I've got for you now is a couple pictures of the stainless steel cases I'm using.

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Yes thats right, thats a PVD case right in front! If you are not sure what PVD is, just wait! It will be in one of my "Watch Parts" series of posts. Its basically a coating on the steel to make it a uniform colour, usually black. I'll have two of these watches at the show.

Stay tuned for my next post, it will most likely be the next in the "Watch Parts" series and then the post after that I should have some new progress news! Thanks for reading!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Watch Parts Series: The Crystal

Crystal

In this, the first instalment of my blog series about watch parts, I'm going to be examining the watch crystal or the glass of the watch. There isn't a whole lot to this topic, but sometimes the glass is not really glass at all!

In most watches these days, the crystal of the watch is made of one of three materials. First being mineral glass, the second being plastic, and the third being sapphire.

For most lower end watches, lower end being under $500, the crystal of the watch is made from glass. This is basically just like the glass used in the windows of your home but goes through a tempering process to make it a little bit harder and scratch resistant. In the watch industry a regular glass crystal is called a mineral crystal. They break fairly easily if they are hit hard enough or hit on a sharp corner. Throughout the course (so far) of my watch career, I've seen many mineral crystal with scratches or cracks. If you need to get a crystal like this replaced, it usually starts at $20 for a flat round crystal and goes up from there for domed or irregularly shaped crystals.

The second type you might see in a watch is a plastic crystal, basically like plexiglass. They are usually found on older watches or pocket watches and are generally domed. They are quite easily scratched but not as easily broken as mineral crystals. If you need to get the scratches removed, they can sometimes be buffed out or the crystal can be replaced. Fitting these crystals can be somewhat tricky because the plastic generally was made for a specific watch unlike mineral crystals which are just made at certain diameters and thicknesses. If you have a regular brand name watch, a replacement can generally be found.

The third type is the sapphire crystal. This is exactly what it says...it literally is a clear sapphire just like the gemstone, however, this sapphire is laboratory grown. Check out this Wikipedia article about sapphire and read the synthetic sapphire section. Sapphire crystals are very scratch resistant and are a little less prone to breakage than mineral crystals. I've seen a couple shattered sapphire crystals before, but only one scratched one. They are fairly expensive to get replaced, you can count on at least $60, but probably closer to $80 or $100. It is also possible to get your crystal swapped out to be sapphire in some cases if you are prone to scratching your crystal. I use sapphire crystals in all of my sterling silver watches and it is possible (for an additional charge) to have them put into my stainless steel watches.

Lastly, some (generally higher end) watchmakers have been putting anti-reflective coatings on their crystals to reduce glare so to make the dial easier to read. I think we've all had someone in the car reflect the sun in our eyes from their watch. This can be lessened by anti-reflective coatings. Some manufacturers are even going to the extent to put the coatings on the inside and the outside of the crystal. In most cases, the coatings are not that durable, so having the coating on the outside is a risk. Getting the coating redone is next to impossible unless the watch gets sent back to the manufacturer, as this is not a service I've ever seen any watchmaker offer. Suffice to say, it would be quite expensive to get done...just think how much it costs to get done on your eyeglasses.

In the end, the choice for crystals isn't extensive but it can be expensive. Really knowing what is out there can help you make an informed decision if you are in the market for a watch. I hope this has shed some light on watch crystals for you. If you have any questions, please leave a comment!

 

 

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Hodgepodge: A post about many things

Hodgepodge, the word that came to me when I was thinking about what I wanted this post to be about. I guess I really just had a bunch of topics and couldn't make up my mind which one to choose, so I choose them all, and here we go:

I've been accepted to the Christmas One of a Kind show here in Toronto, which is taking place at the Direct Energy Centre starting on November 24, 2011 and ending on December 4, 2011. I will only be participating in the show for the second half which runs from Nov. 29 until Dec 4. I really wanted to be in the whole show but was only accepted for the second half...hopefully I'll get in for the whole thing, next year. If you wanted to get a better price on tickets than at the door, please use the code in the picture below to purchase tickets online at a discounted rate. Click on this link to purchase tickets for the show and enter the code at the top of the page. I also haven't found out what my booth number will be, but I should know in a couple weeks and I'll have it posted here and on my website.

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Also for the show I'm planning on having about half my watches be stainless steel and the other half be my sterling silver designs. The stainless steel watches were a hit at the Queen West Artcrawl, so I've decided to make a bunch more with new, never before seen dials. Of course, just like the Queen West, I'm going to document my preparations for the OOAK here on the blog to give you an in depth look at my process.

I'm also hoping to start a series of blog posts about different parts of a watch, such as the crystal or strap or movement. These posts are meant to be educational for you and me, and hopefully spark some conversation about what people are looking for in a watch. I should have the first in this series next week on the topic of crystals (the glass of the watch). Not really a complex topic, but there are some tidbits I hope you find interesting and would love to hear your feedback on. If there are any topics you would like to see in a post, please let me know!

If you have visited my website recently you may notice that I've reorganized things a little bit. I wanted to add more of an emphasis on the jewellery that I offer which I've broken down into three categories. First is sterling silver jewellery, then custom jewellery, and finally engagement and wedding jewellery. For my silver jewellery, my designs can be purchased through on Etsy shop for jewellery. Over the next two weeks I'll be posting many many more pieces to this shop for your viewing or purchasing pleasure, just in time for the holiday season. You can also see some of these pieces here on the blog by following this link.

Well, thats all I've got for now. Thanks for reading.