Jean Richard Launch – Highlands Big Life

Further to our previous article on the JeanRichard Highlands Big Life Charity Watch in conjunction with The Big Life Foundation, we can now confirm the Watch was launched on the 19th June 2012 in Paris along with an exhibition of work from the acclaimed photographer Nick Brandt.

Good Luck Jean Richard and hope it goes well for your selves and the Charity….

Here’s the JeanRichard Press Release with dates of the Exhibition if anyone is in Paris please visit.

FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE “HIGHLANDS BIG LIFE” WATCH JEANRICHARD exhibits wild animal portraits of Nick Brandt, BRITISH photographer and founder of the Big Life Foundation. 

This launch will feature two key events:

A cocktail, on June 19th at “Espace Louis Pion”, 52 Avenue Des Champs Élysées in Paris, at 7PM.

In an atmosphere created with Nick Brandt’s magnificient photographs, JEANRICHARD will unveil the Highlands Big Life, a limited edition of 100 pieces especially developed to support the foundation. During this evening, JEANRICHARD will present the new “Highlands” collection made of four new self-winding sand-blasted stainless steel models.

The “Highlands” collection, created by the Swiss watchmaker JEANRICHARD in the 1990’s, has become over time the globetrotter’s ideal watch. For its rebirth, JEANRICHARD has chosen Nick Brandt as a partner.

In September 2010, the photographer created Big Life Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve the fauna and ecosystem of Africa, in response to dramatic development of poaching across the whole continent.

JEANRICHARD is proud to support Big Life Foundation with the launch of a distinctive special edition: Highlands Big Life watch.This model is equipped with a JR1000 self-winding manufactured movement. It combines a sand-blasted stainless steel case with black PVD coating, a green external rotating bezel and a black fabric strap. Its black dial displays numerals coated with ivory-coloured luminescent material and comes with the Big Life Foundation signature in red. An elephant inspired from its logo appears on the sapphire glass case-back which reveals the movement.

The model’s technical design and the choice of colors have been conceived to match the most demanding outdoor use.

A photo exhibition, at Antoine de Macedo until July 20^th.

Starting the next day, Nick Brandt’s portraits, all taken from his book, “On This Earth, a Shadow Falls” published in 2010, will be exhibited, at the watchmaker’s Boutique Antoine de Macedo , 28 rue Madame, Paris 6.

Regarding his photos, Brandt says: “To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes.”

The photographs, as well as the Highlands Collection with in exclusivity the “Highlands Big Life”, will be on show during the opening hours, from Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-7pm.

We also like giving you as much information as possible on the watches so her are the Technical details of the Highlands Big Life.

Technical Details – JeanRichard Highlands Big Life Limited Edition

Sand-blasted stainless steel case with black PVD coating

Dimensions: 44.50 x 40 mm

Height: 11.96 mm

Antireflective sapphire crystal

Sapphire case-back crystal with Big Life Foundation logo, Case-back secured with 4 screws

Water-resistant to 100 m

Screw-down crown

Bidirectional rotating bezel

Manufactured movement JR1000, Self-winding

Caliber: 11 ½’’’

Frequency: 28,800 vibrations/ hour (4 Hz)

Jewels: 27

Power reserve: min. 48 hours

Functions: hour, minute, second, date

Matt black dial, Luminescent Arabic numerals and indexes, Luminescent hands

Black fabric strap, Sand-blasted stainless steel folding buckle with black PVD coating

limited edition of 100 pieces

For more news and reviews on JeanRichard and their watches why not see our Jean Richards Brand Page Here.

JeanRichard’s Aquascope Lady “Night” Gives a Feminine Twist to the Dive Watch

I know we have covered the JeanRichard Aquascope before here at The Watch Review Site, but we stumbled across this piece written by the lovely and very knowledgeable Meehna Goldsmith of www.watchmatchmaker.com (one of our contributors) and had to share it with you all, we know Meehna wrote this a while ago but thought it would add a touch of class to our JeanRichard Watch Reviews and News.

Thank you Meehna for the great stuff your producing…

Written by Meehna Goldsmith

Aquascope Lady Night

With few exceptions, dive watches are designed to appeal to the male sensibility with their robust and rugged looks. It’s not like guys are the only ones who like to explore the depths below. We ladies need a cool watch that not only makes sure we surface before our rosy complexion turns blue but also that complements our wetsuit. No matter the environment we care about our outfits and there’s no denyingaccessories make the woman, by land or sea.

In the 1960’s JeanRichard entered into the dive watch arena. Named the Aquascope, the watch established the defining characteristics of the model with its round rotating bezel superimposed upon a tonneau case. The current model takes its design cues from the original but softens the lines and adds a crown at 9 o’clock to set the bidirectional bezel. The Aquascope watch has all the credentials of a diver in a resilient and rust resistant stainless case and a depth rating to 300 meters. The icing on the cake is that both the JR 1000 movement and the case are crafted in house at the JeanRichard factory.

Aquascope_60′

No doubt you’ll say that the Aquascope Lady “Night” is a man’s watch dressed up in drag and it’s true that the dimensions of the case stay the same for both the male and female models. But take a second look. The details are distinctly feminine. The black dial gives off a discreet glimmer with 8 diamond indexes, contrasting nicely to the black aluminum bezel with alternating polished and satin-finished surfaces.

Since a woman appreciates the value of matching details, the red color on both the seconds hand and date provide nice accents, the combination of white, black and red a fashion classic.

For a sporting look with the proper dash of womanly style, the Aquascope Lady Night offers function as well as an attractive wrist ornament. The watch comes on a black fabric strap with a satin-like appearance. There is also the option of a mother of pearl dial and a white fabric strap.

Retail Price: $7,500

(JR released another winner this year at SIHH with the Bressel 1665, which you can read about here.)

JeanRichard Aquascope Lady Night automatic diving watch specifications

Movement: Automatic, caliber JR1000, in-house, 27 jewels, 28,800 vph, 25.94 mm in diameter, Swiss Made
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Power reserve: 48 hours
Case material: Stainless steel
Bezel material: Aluminum
Case shape: Cushion
Bezel shape: Round
Case size: 44.50 mm x 40.00 mm
Lug width: N/A
Case height: 11.85 mm
Dial: Black, satin-finished sunburst effect
Numerals: Arabic
Hands: Rhodium-plated steel
Water resistance: 300 meters
Strap: Black fabric strap with stainless steel folding buckle
Crystal: Sapphire, anti-reflective
Case back: Solid

Original Article can be found at http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/2_womens_watches/jean-richard%E2%80%99s-aquascope-lady-%E2%80%9Cnight%E2%80%9D-feminine-twist-dive-watch.html

You may also want to check out the JeanRichard Big Life Charity Watch or just some of our other Ladies Watch Reviews.

One for the Charity buff – JeanRichard Highlands Big Life

Written By: D Constant for The Watch Review Site

The JeanRichard Highlands Big Life Limited Edition Watch inconjunction with Nick Brandt

JeanRichard have today highlighted the release of the Highlands Big Life by means of a Press Release, so we have taken this opportunity to look at this limited edition timepiece in more detail here at The Watch Review Site.

Inspired by the Original JeanRichards Highlands Watch manufactured in the 1990’s inconjunction with then photograph Peter Beard, JeanRichard have take the same route in a collaboration with a new Photographer (Nick Brandt) to revive the Highlands Collection with a new distinct Charity Limited edition Watch The Highlands Big Life, to be manufactured in a limited edition of 100 pieces worldwide. The name highlights the Charity in question The ‘Big Life Foundation’ as founded by Nick Brandt in 2010 for the preservation of the animals he shoots so elegantly (pardon the pun), well he shoots with a camera.

The JeanRichard Highlands Big Life is designed with safari and photography in mind and has been manufactured strict guidelines and testing so as to withstand the vigours of outdoor usage in harsh environments. Firstly the Highlands Big Life comes in a Black PVD coated case with a green outer bezel, The Dial of the watch is Matt Black and this non reflective dial and case make it ideal for Safari Photography.

Add to this the various test undertaken to ensure the JeanRichard Highlands Big Life is suitable for cause where done so in a climate chamber to test the watches resistance to harsh weather conditions, this led to the Highlands Big Life being exposed for several days to temperatures as low as -50 degrees to over 200 degrees and humidity levels from 0% all the way to 100%, then came the numerous impact tests also to test impact resistance. Then you have a watch for the Outdoor enthusiast.

The Highlands Big Life’s case is a robust sand blasted steel, PVD coated 44.5mm wide case, the green bezel rotates and allows a second time zone to be indicated, The non reflective matt black dial features the ‘Big Life’ signature in Red, highlighting the intention of this timepiece. The Highland Big Life’s dial also has large Arabic hour numerals hands and also black hands, both of which are coated with ivory luminescent material making the watch very easily read.

The JeanRichard Highlands Big Life comes with a black fabric strap mounted on steel, and with a PVD coated folding buckle.

To top it all off the internals of the JeanRichard Highlands Big Life is adourned with a JR1000 self winding movement, comprising of 27 jewels and has a minimum of 48 hours power reserve when fully wound.

Now, I here you ask where does the Nick Brandt influence come from, well we saved the best til last, it comes from the back of the JeanRichard Highlands Big Life, On the Saphire Crystal Exhibition Case Back of the watch JeanRichards have placed a transfer reproduction of one of Brandt’s most famous photography pieces (which is also symbolises the logo of The Big Life Foundation) of an Elephant, and through this you can see the JR1000 movement at work.

Now for a bit about Nick Brandt and the Big Life Foundation followed by technical details for the JeanRichard Highlands Big Life.

Elephant with Exploding Dust Photo by: Nick Brandt – copyright protected

Nick Brandt is a British Wildlife Photographer whom specialises in the intimate portraits of African savannah animals, no telephoto lenses here, just plain close getting to grips with nature at its best. JeanRichard go on to say this about Nick

His approach is a far cry from the animal shots seen in traditional colour documentary photography. Nick Brandt does not use a telephoto lens, which means all his animal portraits are taken at close quarters, enabling him to capture the true character of the subject. His spectacular panoramic shots document animals in their natural surroundings, and are reminiscent of the studio portraits of the early 20th century.

To see more of Nick Brandt’s work you can visit his website http://www.nickbrandt.com/. please note all animal photography on this post is courtesy of JeanRichard and Nick Brandt and is copyrighted to Nick Brandt.

Lion before Storm II Photo by: Nick Brandt – copyright protected

The Big Life Foundation was created in 2010 by Nick Brandt in response to the dramatic rise in poaching across Africa, it is a charitable non profit foundation which has been set up to preserve the fauna and ecosystem of Africa

Founded in September 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt in urgent response to the recent dramatic escalation in poaching across much of Africa, Big Life Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of Africa’s wildlife and ecosystems.

With one of the most spectacular elephant populations in Africa being rapidly diminished by poachers and increasing human/wildlife conflict, the maintenance of the Amboseli ecosystem that straddles Kenya and Tanzania is the Foundation’s large-scale pilot project.

With highly-regarded conservationist Richard Bonham at the helm, multiple fully-equipped teams of rangers have been placed in newly-built outposts in the critical areas throughout the 2 million acre region on both sides of the Kenya / Tanzania border. As of August 2011, Big Life has hired 120+ rangers, built or expanded 14 outposts, and purchased 13 vehicles, with latest technology night-vision equipment, tracker dogs, aerial monitoring and a critically important large network of informers.

For more on the Big Life Foundation you can visit their website www.biglifeafrica.org

Technical Details – JeanRichard Highlands Big Life Limited Edition 

Sand-blasted stainless steel case with black PVD coating

Dimensions: 44.50 x 40 mm

Height: 11.96 mm

Antireflective sapphire crystal

Sapphire case-back crystal with Big Life Foundation logo, Case-back secured with 4 screws

Water-resistant to 100 m

Screw-down crown

Bidirectional rotating bezel

Manufactured movement JR1000, Self-winding

Caliber: 11 ½’’’

Frequency: 28,800 vibrations/ hour (4 Hz)

Jewels: 27

Power reserve: min. 48 hours

Functions: hour, minute, second, date

Matt black dial, Luminescent Arabic numerals and indexes, Luminescent hands

Black fabric strap, Sand-blasted stainless steel folding buckle with black PVD coating

limited edition of 100 pieces 

The New 2012 JeanRichard Aquascope Collection – Time Keeping in the Ocean Depths for All

Written By: D Constant for The Watch Review Site

The Aquascope has a tradition of being a Divers Watch, this was first introduced to us in the 1960’s by JeanRicahard (then known as Daniel JeanRichard) and according to the watchmaker “water is their element, and the oceans their playground”.

As with previous JeanRichard Aquascope Dive Watch reincarnations, the new 2012 collection has been styled on and manufactured to give homage to first ever Aquascope manufactured by the company in the 1960’s, This 1960’s Aquascope established the defining characteristics of the model with its round rotating bezel superimposed upon a tonneau case.  We do see the continual use of two crowns as added in 2010 by JeanRichard on the Aquascope, with the second being at 9 o’clock and activates the bidirectional bezel.

The Aquascope has the classic rounded glass opening within its barrel shaped curves and the case created from a single piece of steel to provide rigidity and resistance capabilities necessary for a Diver’s Watch, This polished and satin finished case provides protection for the two symmetrical crowns with facets on each side to ensure the Aquascope’s maximum functionality and exceptional comfort for the user.

The key feature of  the JeanRichard Aquascope collection of watches is it’s bidirectional rotating bezel, which is designed to display the remaining diving time. I’m sure you agree, an important facet in a Diver’s Watch.

When looking at the Dial it is very clear and easily legible thanks to its large Arabic numerals, indicators and hands which have luminescent graduation, which gaurantees perfect legibility even in the deep blue sea, well upto 300m that is. We still haven’t told you about choice of dials, well the JeanRichard Aquascopes come in a choice of three dials two sunburst effect satin finished anti reflective dials in night blue or black or an opalin silvered surface dial.

It’s internals may also surprise a few as JeanRuchards have turned to the JR60 in house self winding movement and not the usual JR1000, the JR60 has 21 jewels and a power reserve of a minimum of 42 hours.

As I touched upon above the Aquascope can be relied upon to dive to 300m or 30bars and comes finished with a natural rubber strap in a selection of colours, these being black, night blue, red, green, orange or white.

The watch face, dial and strap even though are vividly different strike a fascinating and pleasant balance makeing the JeanRichards a lovely practical, diver’s watch steeped in JeanRichard’s tradition.

But thats not all The 2012 JeanRichards Aquasdcope Collection offers, yes we have more and this is for the Ladies out there, with very few exceptions, dive watches are geared towards and designed to appeal to the men of this world, with their strong, robust and rugged looks (that’s the Dive Watches, not the men that wear them). The JeanRichard Aquascope is one of these exceptions to the unwritten rule of watchmakers, Truth be said it is not only us guys how enjoy exploring the deep blue.

Yes, Yes, I know that the Ladies version of the JeanRichard Aquascope Divers Watch is in the same 44.5mm case and you are probably calling out its a man’s watch in drag, but you would be wrong…. JeanRichard have again made some distinct differentiation between the two pieces in styling and design, giving the Ladies Watch a very feminine feel. The key elements to the femininity of the Ladies Aquascope is the Glimmering Mother of Pearl dial (very feminine) along with the 8 diamond hour markers which add a je ne sais quoi to the timepiece.

The Ladies Dive Watch comes in three strap choices a white, grey or pink rubber strap, yes the rubber strap has been put on all the watches in the JeanRichard Aquascope collection, a good thing for divers as for the previous Aquascope’s to be fully functional as a proper dive watch as it was designed and used, it was preferred by divers to change the strap to a rubber one for longevity. 

Technical Details – JeanRichard Aquascope Dive Watch

Polished and satin-finished stainless steel case

Dimensions: 44.50 x 40 mm

Height: 11.85 mm

Anti reflective sapphire crystal

Case-back secured with 4 screws

Water-resistant to 300 m

2 screw-down crowns

Bidirectional rotating bezel – for dive timing

Movement JR60 Self-winding

Caliber: 11 ½’’’

Frequency: 28,800 vibrations/ hour (4 Hz)

Jewels: 21

Power reserve: min. 42 hours

Functions: hour, minute, second, date

Dial: Sunburst-effect satin finished in blue or black, or opalin silvered dial

Luminescent Arabic numerals and indexes, Luminescent hands

Strap: Black, white, red, green, orange or blue natural rubber strap

Stainless steel folding buckle

Technical Details – JeanRichard Aquascope Ladies Dive Watch (as above bar)

Dial: White mother-of-pearl dial

Arabic numerals and 8 diamond indexes, Luminescent hands

Strap: white, grey or pink natural rubber strap

Stainless steel folding buckle