Isn’t this a pretty looking watch? Pretty in the way a man can wear it and not feel weird. Before you start reading this article, please start the video below. You can then get in the “cosmic mood” to read about this watch. As KC Tay mentioned in regard to two of the images above that he took located on Horomundi, this is a notoriously difficult watch to photograph. Why? Because the beauty comes from the spectacular array of sparkles that comes from the galaxy looking dial of this correctly named Blu Galaxy watch, and these are simply hard to get on camera. This is one of Blu’s first watches and was released in 2000.
The watch dial is the major attraction and is constructed from something called Aventurine, which is a type of glass made with small copper particles inside. The copper particles inside of the man-made glass provide the incredible glitter look. Here is a bit about Aventurine directly from Blu. Note that the Aventurine used in the Galaxy watch is made in the Murano region of Italy:
“Aventurine is a man-made glass in which copper particles are suspended to give it a glittering appearance. It was discovered in the 17th century by Murano glass maker, Vincenzo Miotti, after he accidentally dropped copper shavings in molten glass. The result was an iridescent glass paste, which Miotti sold under the name of “aventurine” after he was granted the exclusive rights of production by the Doge of Venice in 1677.On the Galaxy, three concentrically rotating disks revolve at different speeds to indicate time by the position of the inset diamonds.”
It should be clear how the time is displayed. The dial is constructed from three circular plates, each with a section of inset diamonds (or diamond). These sections are the hour, minute, and seconds indicators. The central seconds spins continuously thanks to the Calibre BL706 Automatic movement inside of the watch. The movement is actually quite impressive as it contains a rotor that winds the movement no matter which direction it is spinning in, and is set on ceramic ball bearings that help reduce friction. You can see an image of the rotor in the image of the back of the watch – how cool is that with the “blu” logo as the rotor?
The Galaxy watch is available in three sizes, 36, 39, or 42mm thick, while each being a relatively thin 11.6mm. The watch comes in stainless steel, white gold, or red gold, and looks terrific in each color. 36mm might sound a bit small, but the size is popular in Asian markets. I am going to go with the 42mm size! The watch is remarkably easy to read despite its non traditional design. This is aided by hour markers around the chapter ring of the bezel. The case is further available with or without pave diamond settings, while the cylinder lug design with the attached alligator strap is pretty hip looking completing this very cool watch for a very select few. Price? Remember that thing about being able to afford it if you have to ask? That applies here.
Some images by KC Tay from Horomundi.