With the start of summer and vacations, it is a good time to consider a manual wound watch. The IWC Portofino Eight Days, introduced at SIHH 2011, allows you to wind your watch only once a week. The watch will go for a full eight days keeping perfect time without needing another wind, so you can “forget” about it and relax. The watch features IWC’s calibre 59210 movement, with a power reserve indicator on the dial. The watch also features a large date and a second hand sub dial.

The power reserve indicator is much like the gas gauge in a car. When the watch is fully wound, the indicator hand is in the “full” position, in this case indicated by the number 8. While the watch’s power reduces, the indicator hand slowly moves towards “empty.”

The Portofino Eight Days also features a date indicator at 3 o’clock and a seconds subdial at 6 o’clock, and the design allows the wearer to read everything at a glance. IWC has had huge success with its Portofino line, and deservedly so. Portofino watches are know for clean design and ease of readability, and of course accuracy.

The town of Portofino sits on the Ligurian coast if Italy, with wonderful cafes, charming architecture and a relaxed atmosphere. It is easy to see how this picturesque town first inspired the IWC Portofino line over fifty years ago.

Breguet has created yet another amazing complication for its Reine de Naples Watch. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the year that the Queen of Naples, Caroline Murat, commissioned Breguet to create the first wrist-worn watch.

This is the first time that Breguet has added a grand complication to the Reine de Naples watch - it strikes on every hour with a set of three double “sonneries.” This differs from a minute repeater in that it strikes automatically and only every hour (the striker can be turned off). The beautiful movement in all its glory is displayed from the back - it is an oval shape to fit the shape of the watch, and features a richly carved rendering of a dove in flight. The hammers that strike the hourly chime are visible through two apertures on the dial at 11 and 1 o’clock.

Caroline was Napoleon Bonaparte’s younger sister and one of eight children. Her husband Joachim ruled Naples from 1808 to 1816, when he was tried for an attempt at the French throne and executed. Caroline was known to be highly intelligent and ambitious. She commissioned the first wrist watch made by Breguet and also was an afficionado of barometers and thermometers.

Watch Specifics: Automatic movement, with a 65 hour power reserve when the strike is off and 50 hours when the strike is on.

It’s not easy to be a start up in the watch world, full of 100-plus year old manufactures. The Swiss have a virtual lock on fine watchmaking, and Ralph Lauren wisely launched his new haute horologerie collection in a partnership with the Richemont group.

This is not to say that Mr. Lauren did not have his hand in every step of the process. He is according to reports an avid watch collector (he also owns some of the rarest automobiles) and of course has his own distinctive style and unwavering dedication to quality. It’s also rumored that he rejected the brown color of his watchbands several times until it was just to his specifications.

All of this hard work and attention to detail has borne a distinctive collection of three first models, the Stirrup, the Slim Classique, and the Sporting collection. Movements range from manual winds to automatics.

The highest complication is a World Time in the Sporting collection, that has a second time zone, 40 hour power reserve, day/night indicator, and date. The collection was introduced at the 2009 SIHH show amid great anticipation from retail. Historically many fashion designers have licensed their name to manufactures but this is the first “designer” launch that embraces the craft of watchmaking at its highest level.