watches from outer space

Here's something interesting...


Forget diamonds - one Swiss watchmaker is betting on watches made from moon dust, parts of the Apollo 11 rocket and bits of spacesuits to capture consumer cash as an economic slow down bites.

More than 600 watchmakers have the Swiss brand stamp, so Geneva-based Romain Jerome aims to use "inaccessible materials" to set its products apart from rivals such as Richemont's Vacheron Constantin and independent watchmaker Patek Philippe.

"We chose the space conquest," he said. "Going to the moon was the biggest adventure of human kind."

The group will make 1969 watches - matching the year of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's first journey to the moon - for the "Moon Dust-DNA" collection.

The watches, which start at $US15,000 and can cost as much as $US500,000, will be launched in Geneva on Wednesday and presented to customers at next year's Baselworld, the largest annual fair for the watch and jewelry industry.

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Meanwhile, at the North Coast Imports nerve center, we are working on presenting our own (considerably less expensive) watches from outer space. We will have a few pieces available from the prestigious firm Poljot International which is the upscale, German factory that produces fine examples that were worn by Soviet Cosmonauts.

In addition to the old Russian styles, there are some stunning new designs. These are made in Germany, with German quality control. Stay tuned, we've got a few models in... send us an email if you are interested.