Glashütte in Saxony, September 8, 2016 — On the tenth anniversary of the Wempe Observatory, the young watch brand is celebrating some pretty cool premieres. First it is presenting its fifth Wempe manufacture caliber, CW 4, which is also Wempe’s first own self-winding caliber, secondly the Zeitmeister Sport Diver’s Chronograph DLC, a watch in a limited edition of 100 pieces and thirdly another world premiere with the Zeitmeister Annual Calendar, also limited to 100 pieces which is due to its Annual Calendar with a self-winding movement considered the most complicated watch of the Zeitmeister range.
Wempe Glashütte I/SA invited for this special occasion some close friends to have the chance to get a sneak peak of the new watches and to celebrate its 10th anniversary of Wempe Glashütte I/SA and 111 years of Chronograph expertise.
Out of those many beautiful watches which were presented during that day, I was most intrigued with the Zeitmeister Sport Diver’s Chronograph DLC. A limited edition of 100 pieces.
So lets talk about the Clever functions and design of the Zeitmeister Sport Driver's Chronograph DLC
Housed in a distinctive black case measuring 45 millimeters in diameter, I discovered that this watch was made for aquanauts and style-conscious divers who want to go as deep as 300 meters and measure time intervals or check the date while underwater. For those who don’t like to engage in so much multitasking underwater (-like me ;) ), the Zeitmeister Sport Diver’s Chronograph DLC can easily be used onshore too, around the clock. A sapphire crystal (hello!!!! ) with an anti-reflective coating on both sides and Super-LumiNova® coating on all hands, the trapezoidal hour markers and the reference mark provide such clearly legible contrasts that the watch can be used in all lighting conditions. The watch has a scratch-resistant ceramic bezel (- thank god! Good for those who are as clumsy as I am! ;) ) that does extra duty as an easy-to-handle unidirectional rotating dive-time ring whose reference mark is even filled with a luminous compound.
The really cool and unique matte black dial provides further evidence of the versatility of this watch. The totalizers feature a sunray brushed finish, with the hour counter situated at six o’clock and the thirty-minute counter at twelve o’clock. This clear arrangement of elements ensures precise dial readability and it definitely gives the watch a harmonious overall appearance that makes look every wrist more than cool and sophisticated!
The chronograph is controlled with two pushbuttons located directly next to the side protectors of the crown. The crown is a screw-in version, as is the case back, in order to guarantee water-resistance to 30 bar. Safety was obviously a key concern in the design of the DLC-coated stainless-steel wristband consisting of matte-finished and brushed elements.
The caliber
This really sporty wristwatch features a proven Swiss self-winding chronograph caliber with a power reserve of 48 hours and a frequency of 28,800 semi-oscillations per hour (4 Hz). This makes the Zeitmeister Sport Diver’s Chronograph DLC not only one of the most fashionable but also reliable diver’s watches around.
Certified chronometer
Having my tour through the really family owned (what you can definitely see and feel in every way!) productions the old observatory is a landmark of the watchmaking town of Glashütte. It was here that, beginning in 1910, an astronomically precise time signal was obtained as an official reference to be used as a standard for measuring the accuracy of high-quality timepieces. And as early as the 1930s, Wempe Chronometerwerke made plans to set up a regulating institution here. Wempe ultimately renovated the observatory in 2006 and built it up into a testing facility for chronometers, the only one in Germany. It is operated as an independent institute by the Thuringian State Office for Consumer Protection (TLV) and the State Office for Weights and Measurements of Saxony (SME). There, each of the fully encased movements must pass a fifteen-day test to measure its compliance with German DIN standard 8319. Readings are monitored and recorded in the five positions “crown left,” “crown up,” “crown down,” “dial up,” and “dial down” I was told. When the rates of the timepieces are inspected in this way, the average daily rate must remain within -4 and +6 seconds of perfection. The average daily rate deviation may be at most two seconds, and the greatest rate deviation may not exceed five seconds. An additional challenge is that the rates of the timepieces are also inspected at several different temperatures. Only after the watch has passed all of these tests it does receive the test certificate, and only then is it allowed to display the designation “Chronometer” on the dial.
The Zeitmeister Sport Diver’s Chronograph DLC - WM690004 will be available at all Wempe branches worldwide starting in October 2016.
About Wempe:
The Wempe name is synonymous with fine timepieces and jewelry. This family-owned german company, based in Hamburg and was founded in 1878 and is headed by the lovely and adorable Kim-Eva Wempe. Wempe has 32 branches in cities all over the world, including New York, Paris and London.
For more Information about Wempe or its new watches, please visit www.WEMPE.com or visit one one of the stores.
Special Thanks to the whole Wempe Team, as well to Laura S., Laura L. & Tibor.
