For its second collaboration with Zodiac, American trend model Rowing Blazers has created a limited-edition model of the Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT. Whereas the unique collaboration mannequin between these two manufacturers was based mostly upon the Tremendous Sea Wolf dive watch and drew its inspiration from the well-known Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, the brand new Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT watch makes use of the world timer model of the Sea Wolf as its basis, and it represents a refined nod to a fictitious watch that was prominently featured within the 1983 comedy Buying and selling Locations.
Earlier than we get into the watch itself, it’s price briefly explaining the Buying and selling Locations inspiration behind it. Within the movie, rich enterprise government Louis Winthorpe III (performed by Dan Aykroyd) has swapped locations with road hustler Billy Ray Valentine (portrayed by Eddie Murphy), and whereas down on his luck, he makes an attempt to promote his fancy watch at a pawn store in Philadelphia, the place the proprietor believes the timepiece is stolen and provides him a lowly fifty bucks for it. Whereas attempting to purpose with the store proprietor for extra money, we get this well-known quote from Aykroyd’s character that relatively passionately describes his wristwatch.
“It is a Rochefoucauld, the thinnest water resistant watch on this planet. Singularly distinctive, sculptured in design, hand-crafted in Switzerland, and water-resistant to a few atmospheres. That is the sports activities watch of the Nineteen Eighties. Six thousand, 9 hundred and fifty-five {dollars} retail! It tells time concurrently in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, and Gstaad!”
Except for being the topic of an April Idiot’s joke and a subject of debate on varied watch-spotting boards, the Rochefoucauld timepiece that’s so prominently featured within the movie Buying and selling Locations (together with the Rochefoucauld watch model itself), by no means really existed, they usually had been merely fictional creations like the remainder of the movie. Rowing Blazers Founder Jack Carlson and classic watch supplier Eric Wind (who has helped design earlier Rowing Blazers collaboration fashions) typically joked about making a real-life Rochefoucauld watch just like the one featured within the movie, however relatively than attempting to create the precise timepiece that’s described within the film, the brand new Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT merely makes use of it as its inspiration and subtly references the movie by the town names that seem on its world-time bezel.
Together with being shiny blue (as an alternative of black or pink like on the standard-production variations of the mannequin), the bezel insert fitted to the brand new limited-edition Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT additionally options the entire totally different metropolis names talked about by Aykroyd’s character within the movie, in order that the watch can certainly concurrently inform the time in “Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, and Gstaad.” 4 of those cities are positioned inside the identical time zone, which created a slight problem for the model when it got here to becoming all of them on the bezel, and also you additionally get Philadelphia as one of many cities, because it serves because the setting of the movie. Realistically talking, any watch able to concurrently displaying three or extra time zones will have the ability to provide the time in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, and Gstaad, though the truth that these names are literally printed on the bezel insert serves a enjoyable contact and a refined nod to the Nineteen Eighties film that serves as its inspiration.
Except for its bezel insert, the dial can be totally different on the brand new Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT in comparison with what you will see that on the standard-production world timer fashions. Relatively than being silver or grey like its core-collection siblings, the dial fitted to this new collaboration mannequin is black with a white 24-hour scale surrounding its perimeter, and it options the Rowing Blazers brand printed beneath the fingers. As a substitute of being fitted with a vintage-style three-link bracelet like the usual Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT fashions, the brand new Rowing Blazers model receives the five-link stainless-steel bracelet that’s usually discovered on Zodiac’s Tremendous Sea Wolf divers, and this new limited-edition mannequin additionally comes with an extra cloth strap that options Rowing Blazers’s signature zig-zag sample in black and white.
From a supplies and development standpoint, the brand new limited-edition Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT is an identical to the standard-production mannequin, which implies that it options a chrome steel case that measures 40mm in diameter by 13.6mm thick, with a domed sapphire crystal above its dial, a strong screw-down caseback, and a signed winding crown on the 3 o’clock location that additionally screws right down to the center case to assist assure its 200 meters of water resistance. Clearly, this isn’t the “thinnest water resistant watch on this planet” just like the fictional Rochefoucauld timepiece, though you do get fairly a bit extra water resistance in comparison with the “three atmospheres” (30 meters) which can be provided by Aykroyd’s character’s watch within the movie.
One different element price mentioning concerning the new limited-edition Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT is that the press launch for the watch states that it’s powered by the Swiss STP7-20 automated motion, which is totally different from the Soprod C125 that you will see that contained in the model’s different GMT watches. As a part of the better Fossil Group umbrella of firms, Zodiac has repeatedly been updating its watch collections to function Swiss-made calibers which can be produced by fellow Fossil Group-owned motion producer STP (Swiss Expertise Manufacturing). On the time of writing, little data exists on the Swiss STP7-20 motion, though based mostly on earlier Zodiac watch releases, I feel I’ve a fairly good concept of what now we have inside this newest Rowing Blazers collaboration.
Much like how Zodiac selected the Ariel Adams-designed Tremendous Sea Wolf Pineapple Dream watch to debut the up to date STP1-21 motion that has a silicon hairspring, I’d suspect that the brand new Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT has been chosen to debut the brand new STP7-20 GMT motion. Whereas particulars are minimal on this explicit caliber, I’d assume that the STP7-20 provides related specs to its Soprod/ETA/Sellita counterparts with an working frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) and an influence reserve of someplace within the neighborhood of 42 hours. Whereas this collaboration mannequin seems to be the primary time that Zodiac has used this explicit caliber, I wouldn’t be shocked if we in the end see it begin to make its approach into the model’s different GMT watches within the close to future.
The brand new Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT will probably be produced as a restricted version of simply 282 examples, and it will likely be accompanied by an official retail value of $2,195 USD, which makes it barely costlier than the standard-production world timer fashions, though it’s a fraction of the worth of the fictional Rochefoucauld watch from Buying and selling Locations. Like each different Rowing Blazers collaboration, I’m positive that the 282 examples of this limited-edition model of the Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT will probably be rapidly claimed by collectors, and whereas it may not be the “thinnest water resistant watch on this planet” just like the Rochefoucauld timepiece from the well-known Nineteen Eighties film, you do get get exponentially extra water resistance, together with the flexibility to concurrently inform the time in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, and Gstaad. For extra data on the Zodiac x Rowing Blazers Tremendous Sea Wolf World Time GMT watch, please go to both the Rowing Blazers’ web site or Zodiac’s web site.
