CD-2 Prototype

[snoballz]

Todd, thats some amazing work albeit tedious. We truly appreciate the updates. Best of luck!

[t20569cald]

Not tedious for me Luke, i love this stuff.
I only wish i was making it myself, but maybe best for you guys i am not!

[giosdad]

Awesome....I love the updates

[t20569cald]

I like doing them, and as this badboy takes shape, even more so.
I will admit, i am sweating it that it looks right!
Would cost a house, to change it!

[Dedalus]

Todd, this whole thread

Easily one of the coolest threads I've had the pleasure of reading.

[manitoujoe]

No doubt. I love this stuff!

[SCM64]

Love this kind of stuff.

I should also mention for the masses, that I saw some of this on Facebook.

Don't be afraid people. Facebook is much more than checking out your old girlfriend(s).

[aikiman44]

Todd, you really have some amazing projects planned.
So uh, you working on this full time now?

[t20569cald]

Todd, you really have some amazing projects planned.
So uh, you working on this full time now?

Yes, for over one year now, as well as my day job!
This thing consumes my every hour.

It just so happens that it has all coincided with my not being very well, and i dont really work very much since the accident.
So in some ways it all worked out well.
Problem is i need to pump more funds into it, as costs spring up i was not aware of. (happens a lot)
So it is now 4x the original budget.

So luckily i still do some work, but my diving medical is gone, for now.
I am doing deck foreman work on the dive ship, but this year nothing doing so far. This is why we are going to Australia now, may as well.
So yeah, full time.
I will lose over 30% of my investment, (was not planned) but i have learnt a lot, the hard way, so on the second production, third and so on, things will gather pace without issues.
I am working to a 5 year plan before this is possible to do full time and draw a wage (i am used to a certain lifestyle) but then that depends on how i market this brand.
The forums are great, but wont see many sales after the second production (which will include the CD-1) so i need to think, and think fast.
I have the worlds coolest ever window display planned, but i wish it was that easy.

[manitoujoe]

Well, I really like the look and the care you're putting into these watches. Hell, if I could afford one, I'd be on the list. I think it looks fantastic.

[t20569cald]

Turns out the dial is 0.07mm off! on the print.
The maker thinks i am mad! so i will check them myself and see what is what.
Think the whole box turned out bigger than expected, but once again it may just be the photo.

[T.R.]

I looked closely at the pic and drew a line from the center of the 12 o'clock indice down through the 6 o'clock indice. She looks dead on to me.

I think it looks great. Plus....The proportions are sweet; the box is NOT TOO BIG!

Sometimes it can be easy to get something bad into your head and then it won't go away from some damn reason.

Great project, and as noted... one of the cooler threads out there. It's cool to see how a project like this progresses.

Rock on!

[t20569cald]

I looked closely at the pic and drew a line from the center of the 12 o'clock indice down through the 6 o'clock indice. She looks dead on to me.

I think it looks great. Plus....The proportions are sweet; the box is NOT TOO BIG!

Sometimes it can be easy to get something bad into your head and then it won't go away from some damn reason.

Great project, and as noted... one of the cooler threads out there. It's cool to see how a project like this progresses.

Rock on!

Yep, i toss in bed all night, dream about dials and other problems, it just never goes away.
They cant believe i spotted it, but it jumps of the picture at me, first thing i saw.
0.07mm difference.
Looks like 3mm to me!

Anyway, the dial will arrive to me in a day or two, so i can see for myself, before we bin them.

[t20569cald]

The Metta Catharina strap.
This strap is for the prototype and will be on the limited editions.
It will not be available separately.
It is handmade in the UK and has a calf skin lining.

Here is an exert from an article from the http://www.timesonline.co.uk

In the 18th century, Russia leather was widely regarded as the finest leather in Europe. The hides were known for their rich colour, their suppleness, their resistance to water and an aroma so rich that it could repel insects. It became an immensely valuable commodity. Tanneries in western Europe began to imitate it. They sent spies to Russia, who risked their lives trying to find out what went into the leather. What made it so distinctive, beautiful and hard-wearing? But no one ever managed to capture the quality of the original and the Russian Revolution finally put a lid on production. Russia leather was lost for good.
Then in 1973, in the waters of Plymouth Sound, a team of divers discovered what appeared to be a mass of rotting seaweed. Scattered around it were the broken timbers of a ship. The ship’s bell, recovered from the silt, revealed her to be the Metta Catharina, a 100-ton Baltic brigantine that had foundered in a storm in December 1786. She was bound for Genoa from St Petersburg and her cargo — the rotting seaweed — turned out to be bundles and bundles of hides.

Miraculously, much of the leather was intact. The pressure of 15 fathoms of water combined with the hides’ mysterious oils meant that for nearly 200 years little water had penetrated. When untied, the bundles opened up like packs of vacuum-sealed coffee.

The divers did not realise the importance of the Metta Catharina’s cargo until, some time later in a Falmouth pub, a young leatherworker overheard one of them talking about the wreck. Robin Snelson was immediately interested. The first leather he saw was a disappointment. But gradually, as the divers probed deeper into the silt and as Snelson developed his cleaning techniques, the hides revealed their original quality. Word spread, and in 1986 Snelson was visited by two bespoke shoemakers from the West End. John Carnera and George Cleverley saw at once that this was the real thing.

“I’d seen some books in the British Museum bound in Russia leather,” Carnera explained. “But it was the smell that gave Snelson’s hides away. There’s no other leather with that smell. We use it now for shoes and the strange thing is that the older it grows, the better it becomes.”

Recovering the hides has not been easy. Every year, divers manage to bring up only a couple of hundred from the Metta Catharina. They are treated by Snelson and either worked by him or sold on to other case-makers; some of the best hides are selected for shoes by G. J. Cleverley & Co. The bows of the wreck have been emptied and the divers have begun on the stern. No one knows how many remain but Snelson believes they have already had the lion’s share.

[snoballz]

I can smell the Metta Catherina strap already!

That's a big reward after all the stress from the dial, Todd!

[craniotes]

Stops?

Pulled.
All of 'em.

Regards,
Adam

[t20569cald]

I can smell the Metta Catherina strap already!

That's a big reward after all the stress from the dial, Todd!

I have been wearing one of these straps for a month now, and it is by far my favorite.
It has been made with care too.

The dials, well we will see tomorrow i think.
0.07mm difference, maybe we can work it. If not, its no stress, as the appliques will be saved and the dial itself, so just two new tools and some printing. Some extra cost, but hey, easy come, easy go.

[t20569cald]

Stops?

Pulled.
All of 'em.

Regards,
Adam

Thanks!

Just one missing piece, the correct buckle!
I have actually been waiting for Basel, as the companies i want to talk with dont reply to my mails, and no English speakers when i call.
I think i might have to learn French.

[dukerules]

Mmmm...Metta.

[aikiman44]

That is some wicked leather.

[fastward]

The bar has definitely been raised.

[caesarmascetti]

wonderful stuff can hardly wait for the CD 1

[Dedalus]

wonderful stuff can hardly wait for the CD 1

+1

The CD-1 & CD-2 will be regular production models, right Todd? I ask because the CD-1 has quickly risen to the top of my want-list, but it will likely take me a little time to get there. Now if some unexpected good fortune comes my way I'll be all over an LE CD-1 like a rash.

[t20569cald]

wonderful stuff can hardly wait for the CD 1

+1

The CD-1 & CD-2 will be regular production models, right Todd? I ask because the CD-1 has quickly risen to the top of my want-list, but it will likely take me a little time to get there. Now if some unexpected good fortune comes my way I'll be all over an LE CD-1 like a rash.

Yes mate, the CD-1 and 2 will be regular production models.
The CD-2 LE models in their current configuration be limited to 50 only, maybe less!
There is a lot that can change, as its not the case maker putting them together. The LE will be assembled in Switzerland instead of Germany. The main difference is the movement of course.
But if we make 15 only, 40, or 50, it will never be put together by this watchmaker again. He is part of the LE significance. To be revealed later.

The CD-1 LE is planned the same way.
Same watchmaker assembling, regulating, etc.

Then if future ones are done, they might have a ceramic dial, with ,,,,, i dont know, but not the same as the ones now, never.

So the standard CD-1 and 2 using the A10, will be the base models for how ever long they are popular.
Will have some updates along the way i am sure.

I am focused on making the CD-1 happen in the coming 7 months, as its about movement order lead times, and well all lead times really. But this year for sure.
My main focus will be on how to make that happen in half the time, but if its not Basel fair, they are on holiday, or,,, they just dont want to make things!
I am mainly going to Basel to talk with a bracelet company, who seem to speak French only.
And explore a Swiss casemaker for the future too. I am happy now, and they are on schedule, but i want options.

Oh yes, and another movement i want to have a close up look at, well several really.
Something upmarket, way up!

[aikiman44]

Todd, will the CD-2 come with rubber and a bracelet at well?
Will the farkakte (that's Australian) questions never end?