Watch Buying Guide - Part One

As we approach the holiday season, you may be considering a special watch for a special person in your life. If you’re not sure what to look for, we’ll be highlighting different features to consider in our weekly Watch Buying Guide.



When choosing a watch, functionality and style are two of the most important aspects to take into consideration.

To begin your education on How to Buy a Watch, consideration should be given to the choice of an authorized watch retailer. Look for an authorized watch retailer who has earned a distinguished reputation. A retailer should have the proper selection of quality timepieces to choose from, knowledgeable and experienced salespeople, and a service department that has trained personnel capable of handling maintenance and repair, using genuine replacement parts and watch bands, for years after your purchase.

Established in 1912, King Jewelers has proudly styled jewelry and timepiece aficionados from around the world. A pioneer among independent couture jewelers, King Jewelers has built an outstanding reputation steeped in quality, value and first-class customer service. King Jewelers features exclusive jewelry designers, offers in-house custom designs, private label jewelry collections, and is an authorized dealer for over forty luxury Swiss watch brands including Alpina, Bell & Ross, Bulgari, Breitling, Cartier, Chanel, Chopard, Concord, Dunhill, Ebel, Harry Winston, Hublot, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Jaquet Droz, Montblanc, Roger Dubuis, Swiss Army, TAG Heuer, and TechnoMarine. With two store locations in Aventura, FL and Nashville, TN, King Jewelers has won numerous awards as the Southeast’s top jewelry store and diamond wholesaler. With a diamond office located in Antwerp, Belgium since 1961, King Jewelers is able to offer Nashville and Miami custom diamond bridal designs and loose diamonds at prices. King Jewelers is a member of the Jewelers of America, American Watch Guild, and the American Society of Appraisers. King Jewelers has GIA Certified Gemologists and offers expert jewelry and watch repairs.

This week, we will focus on the different types of power available in timepieces:

Quartz watches - Battery life has an average of 1-2 years. Watch does not require winding and is very accurate.
Solar-Powered watches - Watches with panels that capture light and convert it to electricity to power the quartz movement.
Kinetic/Autoquartz watches - The weighted rotor, activated by the movement of your arm, turns a mini-generator to generate electricity, which is stored in the watch battery.
Mechanical watches - Require daily winding. Experience has shown that this becomes second nature, usually wound in the morning as you start your day.
Automatic watches - Also known as self-winding, have a rotor which is activated by movement of your arm winding the main spring. Can also be hand-wound. For those who wish to keep the watch running when not being worn, you can purchase a winding box.

Next week, we’ll feature the different types of protection to look for.

For more information about Nashville watches and Miami watches that are available at King Jewelers, please visit our locations in Aventura, FL and Nashville, TN or visit our website at www.kings1912.com.

Miami Swim Fashion Week - TechnoMarine Cruise Sport featured

TechnoMarine’s Cruise Sport watch is featured in the current Ocean Drive Magazine 2010 Swim Guide, which will be distributed during this week’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week SWIM, held in Miami, Florida.

Coinciding with the swimwear industry's largest trade show, the five-day event is invitation-only and provides a runway platform for designers' swimwear and resort collections with exposure to national and international media, style setters and fashionistas. Fashion, beauty, supermodels and celebrities come together in South Beach to celebrate the sexiest swimwear designs in the world.

The special swim promotion from Ocean Guide being distributed during the event includes a “Beach Bag Essentials” guide, highlighting a variety of accessories, including sunglasses, shoes, and bags. The only watch featured in the section is the TechnoMarine Cruise Sport.

TechnoMarine timepieces are available at King Jewelers in Aventura, FL and Nashville, TN. For more information, please visit http://www.technomarine.com and http://www.kings1912.com

King Jewelers Timepiece Spotlight | Pailloneé – A Lost Art Revived by Jaquet Droz

Pailloneé by Jaquet Droz - Available at King Jewelers

The creation of an enamel dial is one of the most high-risk of the high-arts.

The process itself is an ancient one yet the finished product is one of fine art’s most challenging to produce successfully. There are several types of enamel techniques, including Cloisonné, Flinqué and miniature painting. However, the rarest of the techniques is Pailloneé. This method takes its name from the decorative gold foil motif elements or “paillons” that are laid over an enamel dial base and then immured in further layers of translucent enamel.

At Jaquet Droz, only one person in the world is capable of creating Pailloneé dials that live up to our exacting standards. This person is Anita Porchet.  Ms. Porchet is considered a master in the art of enameling.  Reminiscent of artisans from centuries past, Ms. Porchet works independently out of her home studio located in the countryside between Geneva and Lausanne.

When Jaquet Droz began developing the Pailloneé dial, the goal was to recreate the art form in the same manner as ancient masters. Unfortunately, there were no records from artisans in the 1700s on their enameling techniques.  Therefore, multiple experiments were performed and many months were spent by Jaquet Droz and Ms. Porchet during their attempts to replicate the pailloneé motif.

The choice of a base dial material is important. Gold, not copper, was chosen because of its medium-high melting point, suitable coefficient of expansion, and low modulus of elasticity. These properties are important for the base metal because glass also changes properties during heating and cooling. Ignoring these characteristics would cause cracks to develop inside the enamel. White gold alloy also has oxidation characteristics which allowed for the reproduction of the trademark Jaquet Droz blue color while maintaining the brilliant and translucent properties of glass.

To start the process, the base dial is hand guilloched for a subtle but distinctive pattern under the transparent enamel (flinque). After application of 3 layers of translucent blue enamel, Ms. Porchet then applies the gold pailloneé leaves (about 220 in the Petite Heure Minute dial) and arranges them into the design one leaf at a time by hand.

The 14 K gold Pailloneé leaves used in the Jaquet Droz pailloneé dials were hand produced in the 1700s. These paillons were given to Ms. Porchet from a retired headmaster of an enameling school and are the last examples remaining. Once the individual gold leaf is set on the dial it is permanent. So one mistake and not only is the dial ruined but so is the antique gold leaf.

After the paillons have been applied, Ms. Porchet applies another 6-7 layers of the translucent blue enamel and fires the dial each time. Finally, the dial is carefully polished and the dial is ready to be set into the case. The total working time from start to finish is about 5 working days (50 – 60 hours) per dial. The final result is a work of art unmatched in the world of horology.

Jaquet Droz can be found at King Jewelers of Nashville, TN and King Jewelers of Aventura, FL.

King Jewelers Nashville, TN: P.615-724-5464; 4121 Hillsboro Road, Nashville, Tennessee 37215

King Jewelers Aventura, FL: P.305-935-4900; 18265 Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, Florida 33160