Concord RE-Launches the Mariner

Baselworld 2014 marks an  historic milestone for Concord - the reintroduction of the Mariner.  Historic - since it seems Concord has a serious change of heart in regard to its older collections.  When Concord recently relaunched the Saratoga, I thought this sudden nostalgia was a once off deal, but a second relaunch proves Concord has renewed faith in its past.  Although the C1's , 2s  and Clabs are still quite hot, a brand of this size comprised entirely of one idea has limitations. The C hype has faded.  Its been five years ago since the Baselworld 2009 release of the QuantumGravity Tourbillon. An entire company - HYT - started by former Concord CEO Vincent Perriard - was built on its hydro mechanical concept.  

 Even though I blogged quite a bit about the C models - I could not fathom how a company could throw away all its previous and well loved collections.  I was terribly sad to see the production of Deliriums and La Scalas stopped.  La Scala is actually one of my favorite Ladies Watch.  The Delirium's and La Scala's ,still available on Ebay and on quite a few watch sites, have not lost their place in the watch world.  I personally think there is a definite market for new models of  old collections.
It seems Movado Group. owned Concord has finally realized that the C collections ,no matter how cutting edge and cool, is not enough for Concord.

 Of course the newer models of old collections are modernized.  In the words of Concord..
"This Iconic Collection has been updated to reflect a modern and beautiful sense of style"

The Mariner Collection is supposed to evoke an "ahoy there" feel; even engraved with the wind-rose logo on the case back. However, I think the watch collection can stand on its own as a really elegant  sporty timepiece without the Nautical nuances.
The mens 41mm models  have a really great automatic Sellita movement, beneath an engaging anthracite dial and housed in a stainless steel case.  A ETA quartz movement lies beneath a silver-toned dial. The watches are only water resistant to 50 meters which is not really ideal for waterways. The indices and hands are Rhodium plated and treated with Superluminova. 

The white mother of pearl dial upon the  30mm ladies timepiece is punctuated by 12 diamonds. A stainless steel case houses an ETA quartz movement.  An Anti-reflective treatment is applied to the scratch resistant sapphire crystal enabling read-out at high noon.

One collection I am eager to welcome is the Concord Delirium.
I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

Concord CEO jumps ship.

The CEO of Concord, Vincent Perriard, has resigned from Concord. He is now joining an entirely different kind of watch company ,TechnoMarine-a lower end; higher volume company. It will be interesting to see if Concord will continue its voyage through the galactical influences of watch design like the Quantum Gravity Tourbillon or turn back time and restore production of the iconic Concord Collections such as Delirium, La Scala and Saratoga.
The Quantom Gravity Tourbillon definitely has a place in time and space; however although the craftsmanship is outstanding and the design out of this world, I feel the watch is targeted specifically to die hard Star War fans. It is a watch I have blogged about with much interest and I was particularly entranced by the strange green goop that measured power reserve - Not a watch for everybody, but highly creative non the less. Click here to read more about the Quantum Gravity Tourbillon.
Although the new Concord Collections such as the C1's are awesome, I kind of missed the iconic Deliriums, prolific La Scala's and captivating Saratoga watches.