 | World beater: The 20,000 FEET by CX Swiss Military Watch is the world’s first and only mechanical diving watch certified water resistant to 20,000ft |
SWITZERLAND. Montres Charmex SA is celebrating after one of its watches achieved a world-beating 20,000ft water resistance. The 20,000 FEET by CX Swiss Military Watch is the world’s first and only mechanical diving watch certified water resistant to 20,000ft (6,000m).
But that was not enough for the Swiss watch company’s ambitions, according to CEO Frank M. Bürgin. “In order to comply with ISO norm 6425, we constructed the watch to be water resistant to 7,500m, resulting in the required 25% safety margin and annihilating Rolex’s world record of 2008 by an impressive 50%,” he said.
The Guinness Book of World Records also recognised the 20,000 FEET by CX Swiss Military Watch as the new record holder.
Montres Charmex is no stranger to achieving world records. The company’s 12,000 FEET by CX Swiss Military Watch model won the world record for water resistance in automatic diving watches in 2005. Then, in 2008, a competitor had set a record in 3,900m of water resistance.
“The R&D team thus decided to annihilate all existing records by constructing the world’s first mechanical timepiece with a water resistance of a staggering 20,000ft or 6,000m – and, again, with a chronograph,” Bürgin said.
To beat the record, Montres Charmex had to develop a pressure tank capable of producing a pressure of 800bar, the equivalent of a water depth of 8,000m. “This alone proved to be a sizeable task as worldwide there are only two manufacturers of such manometers,” noted Bürgin.
After hitting some technical problems, all tests were passed. In a next step, the prototypes were sent to the Oceanographic Institute of the University of Southampton, UK. In their pressure tanks they tested the fully functional prototypes for a water resistance of 6,000m and certified the positive result as per ISO norm 6425. Several more tests are ongoing at the IFREMER Institute, the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea.
Described as “the ultimate diving watch”, the automatic 20,000 FEET by CX Swiss Military Watch is manufactured in a limited edition of 1,000 pieces. The recommended retail price in Switzerland, including VAT, is CHF3,995.
For details, contact Frank M. Bürgin, CEO, Montres Charmex, PO Box CH-4416 Bubendorf, Switzerland, tel: +41 61 927 90 70, fax: +41 61 927 90 71 or e-mail frank@charmex.ch Visit www.charmex.com
MORE STORIES ON MONTRES CHARMEX
Charmex dives underwater with latest watch models – 22/10/08
Charmex hits an 80-year high with limited series – 09/11/07
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