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Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

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Conchita Turtle
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Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Conchita Turtle »

What the hell's everybody got to do with it?

I begin. But first, hit the play...




It all starts with Ferdinand Porsche. One of the most famous car engineers of the last century.

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At the age of 23 he creates the great-great-grandfather of the Prius, the Lohner Porsche, the first gasoline-electric hybrid.

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From there to Mercedes, where he created the mythical SSK with compressor, and later to AutoUnion, the current Audi. Hitler ends up commissioning him to make a car to motorize Nazi Germany. The result was the Kdf-Wagen, whose design was inspired from the Czech Tatras of Hans Ledwinka, and that today we know as beetle.

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During the war he also developed several battle tanks, and the German jeep, the Kubelwagen.

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After the war, and after two years in French prisons (where he would design the 4CV for the newly nationalized Renault) he ended up founding with his son and son-in-law Anton Piech the company that bears his name. The first car would be the 356, designed by his son, Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche, the 356.

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Shortly after, Ferdinand Porsche, grandfather, would die, leaving son and son-in-law at the front of the signature.

Did I say son-in-law before? Oh, yes. Ferdinand had two children. Ferdinand and Louise, Anton Piech's wife. And he had two first-born grandchildren, Ferdinand and Ferdinand, who are in this photo with grandfather Ferdinand.

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The stories of jealousy and envy among them would leave as amateur TV serials like "Falcon Crest" or "Dynasty". The bad karma began when Porsche grandfather put to direct to his son-in-law the factory instead of the son. And they continued when the two eldest grandchildren grew up... Both extremely bright. Two bulls in the same corral.

Ferdinand Piech developed the Porsche 906...

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...and, with him began a saga of racing sports circuit, which would end up taking the Porsche 917, the LeMans movie car. By the way, creating the 917 almost ruined the firm.

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F.A. Porsche, the other grandson, also created a racing car, the 904...

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...but went on to develop what gave money to the firm, a street car. And in doing so, he signed the one that would be the icon of sports cars, not only of the firm. The 901. Well, 911, that the Peugeot said that the 0 in the middle of a three-digit car name was something they had registered. The same is true that the French were bitter, and did not forget that in the war they took machinery from their plant to that of VW... or that Porsche grandfather had his executives imprisoned.

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However, Ferdinand "Ferry" (father) and Ferdinand Piech (cousin) also participated in the creation of this 911. Here they are with a prototype of the engine.

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And here we have F. Piech (I'd say it's an Caliber 11 Heuer on his wrist), Ferdinand Porsche grandson and Hans Michel Piech, on the firm's board of directors.

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But, as I said, personally there was always jealousy, quarrels and miseries between uncles and cousins. Perhaps the most scandalous was that Ferdinand Piech ran away, being married, with the wife of his cousin Gerard Porsche "just to annoy".

And, at Christmas dinner in 1971, they all ended up with a fist fighting. Ferdinand Porsche father said "so far". He bagged Porsche, and kicked his sons and nephews out of the automobile firm, which was to be run by outside professionals. That wouldn't stop the two branches of the family, one of the richest in Europe, from fighting and showing their differences until today.

Outside the family firm, Ferdinand Piech had a very brilliant career in the automobile world. He went through Mercedes, created the Audi Quattro and ended up running the VW group, taking it out of imminent bankruptcy and turning it into the largest European automobile group by acquiring prestigious brands. Curiously, one of the vehicles that marked his stage was... the reissue of his grandfather's car.

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F.A. Porsche... created a design studio... PORSCHE DESIGN.

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Last edited by Conchita Turtle on Fri Oct 11, 2019 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Conchita Turtle »

F. A. Porsche grandson, also known as "Butzi", as we have said, is expelled from the family firm. However... the family has money. Or his half part of the family, which, as we have said, had been left in a bad way with his cousins Piech. Not only the family brand, but because the Porsche family also controlled the sale of VW cars in many countries, and also had a royalty for the VW Beetle, and VW shares. So he has money to start new projects. And he sets up his own design studio: Porsche Design.

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PD has designed almost everything: fashion items and accessories such as the glasses in the photo above, everyday items, electronics, trains, boats... up to a gigantic tower in Miami.

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His design keys are to "optimize the function, and reduce the form to the essence". Yes. It all sounds very German. :D And it is that you read some quotes of his, and they seem of Dieter Rams, or of the Bauhaus.

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The first thing he designs is an automobile chrono, which would be manufactured by Orfina: the Porsche Design Chronograph 1, which today will be called P6000.
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I had two novelties...

...at that time, automatic chronos were also another rare novelty. And it was the first Valjoux calibre watch. The today archpopular 7750, that many of you will have in some watch.

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And it is also the first chronograph that is black, something that today can be seen almost as usual. The motif...
F.A. Porsche wrote: "I asked myself the simple question, can watches be made in any other way? I wanted to create a watch that combined with a car. Black like the speedometer and the rev counter, because that would be the most legible thing.
Besides, the friend must have been passionate about mechanical watches, in a few years when the novelty was quartz.
F.A. Porsche wrote:"Wristwatches represent a set of values unmatched by quartz crystals.

"What excites enthusiasm for watches? Is it their function as a measuring instrument? Or their appearance... in other words, their design? With the due diligence of a talented designer and "craftsman," both aspects can be resolved."





Shortly after he began to collaborate with IWC and would make several pieces with them, including an even more innovative titanium chrono.

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And years later, they purchase Eterna.
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Conchita Turtle »

The PD Chronograph Nr.1 obviously had a car design. But just like the Speedmaster, although it was born to dominate the asphalt, it would end up being a high-flying watch. Soon two things happened.

NATO wanted a watch for its headquarters officers in Brussels that would not only be high performance, but would also give some cache to those who used it.

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And, more importantly, the British Royal Navy ordered some parts for evaluation as use of watch endowment...

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Although we have said that the Chronogaph Nr.1 was the first watch to assemble Valjoux, in both cases, the watches carried the equally new caliber Lemania 5100, being Porsche-Orfina one of the first firms to adopt it.

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These military variants have the following text printed on the dial: "MILITARY" and "PORSCHE DESIGN" and the red circular logo "3H", as the lumen was tritium, and had a sandblasted finish.

The "English" Porsche Design were considered very good... but too expensive for the taxpayer. It didn't matter, the military world is a handkerchief, and the fact that the English examined them made many other countries interested in them: Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, (the then) German Federal Republic, USA... and bought them for their pilots.

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If someone is interested in deepening in the multiple variants of this chrono, in his military life, you can visit this page...

http://brown-snout.com/horology/article ... gn_chrono/

The German versions were not marked ahead, but had a special marking on the rear Bund, of "Bundeswehr"...
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...and it was the first chrono with that caliber used by that army. In 1984, the German army would take a Tutima design practically traced to the Porsche, except the wide chrono buttons, designed to be operated with gloves. Tutima that it would continue manufacturing it even after taking the Lemania 5100 several years discontinued, pulling of old stocks.
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It wasn't the only derivative.

The Heuer Pasadena. I have found a diffuse reference that this model might be given because Porsche supplied engines to McLaren, a firm then linked to TAG, then an engineering studio and turbocharger manufacturer.

Son ADN commun avec la Heuer Pasadena viendrait de la collaboration entre TAG et Porsche à l’époque où ils fournissaient les moteurs des Mc Laren dans les années 80.

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There were several versions of Pasadena, and Heuer did it under other brands, including LeJour. In Calibre11 there is a complete gallery of the watch, in case there are fans of the firm:
https://www.calibre11.com/ultimate-guid ... a-750-501/


And more. Since it was the watch of the pilots of the Bundeswehr, we have that Sinn made its own version, the Sinn 144.

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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Conchita Turtle »

Top Gun was one of the biggest blockbusters of the '80s. I remember seeing it on the big screen, at an open-air summer cinema... and it promises to be next summer's big box office with its new release.



IWC have spent money to associate their pilot chronographs with the name of Miramar's elite pilot academy...

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However, the protagonist, Pete Mitchell "Maverick", wore on his wrist a Porsche Design with markings of a USAF squadron.

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Curiously enough, it was the endowment clock of the 23rd squadron of the U.S. Air Force , USAF, when in the movie the character Mitchell was a Navy pilot. This squadron is heir to a legendary squadron, the Flying Tigers, which operated in World War II defending China from Japan (hence also the flag of the former Republic of China that Cruise wore on his pilot leather jacket in the first film... and which have changed in the new "so as not to offend" the current communist government).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

Why I ended up taking it... after a good while of searching I found it in a comment in WUS...

The original owner, the pilot with the cameo role as kelly McGillis' beau, confirmed that he had the watch PV'D to give the watch a more tactical look. He loaned the watch to Tom Cruise when he didn't have an appropriate looking pilot's watch to wear on the set, cheers!

The truth is that the little man who plays McGillis' "date" in the officers club is Kenneth Pettigrew, Rear Admiral USNR, pilot code name Viper, in which is inspired the character of the instructor played by Tom Skerritt with the same name, a legendary pilot. Pettigrew served as an advisor to the film.



It's not the only PD used in action movies. That explosive blonde who was then married to Stallone, Briguitte Nielsen, wore it in "Beverly Hills Cop"...

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Anthony Perkins (Psycho) wore it in "North Sea Hijak", while Roger Moore wore a Tuna...

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and Lee Marvin wore a Heuer Pasadena on Delta Force.
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We'll see what Tom Cruise wears this summer. I suppose IWC will still be interested in being linked to Top Gun...

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I hope you enjoyed the thread. Thank you for reading me.
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Boourns »

Man... Great thread!

But I have to admit my ignorance here. I never knew Porsche Design was a different company than Porsche. I thought these watches were just crossover products, like how you can buy a "BMW" watch.
I wish that watch were 38mm?
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by TheJohnP »

This was a well put together thread.
Thanks for sharing!
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Stretch44 »

Great write up! Loved the read.
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by watchpalooza »

Thank you...this is stellar. A lot of education.
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by yinzburgher »

I've always liked these chronographs. I've never owned one although I was very close to buying one of these Eterna/PD chronos pictured below a couple years ago. But I never really knew any of the history. Thanks for all the great info! Also, I think I might need a Porsche 904.....

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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by MoT »

yinzburgher wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:15 pm I've always liked these chronographs. I've never owned one although I was very close to buying one of these Eterna/PD chronos pictured below a couple years ago. But I never really knew any of the history. Thanks for all the great info! Also, I think I might need a Porsche 904.....

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I’d go for a replica 904 with a built 2,000cc engine. All the fun and looks, 1/40th the price.
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Boourns »

ManOnTime wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:02 am I’d go for a replica 904 with a built 2,000cc engine. All the fun and looks, 1/40th the price.
Would you rather:
Sold For $1,650,000
Inclusive of applicable buyer's fee.
Capture.PNG
https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/AZ15 ... gts/181365

OR
Capture1.PNG
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ec ... .2356.html
I wish that watch were 38mm?
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by MoT »

Boourns wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:33 am
ManOnTime wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:02 am I’d go for a replica 904 with a built 2,000cc engine. All the fun and looks, 1/40th the price.
Would you rather:
Sold For $1,650,000
Inclusive of applicable buyer's fee.
Capture.PNG
https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/AZ15 ... gts/181365

OR

Capture1.PNG
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ec ... .2356.html

I'd use that $1.65M, buy a $300k house, a Tesla, the moonwatch trifecta, something nice for Mrs.Mot and dump the rest in a retirement fund. ;)
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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Dub Rubb »

Thanks for posting this very interesting read! I am a self proclaimed porschefile and obviously a watch enthusiast. These Porsche Design watches have been coming up in the HUISABH thread, and this is not helping me.

I did enjoy the read, and had no idea of the watch portion of their history. I always just assumed it was a well executed money grab, but there is so much more! Thanks again for taking the time to post this, it was very enjoyable.

Also, for 904 money, I am getting a 959, a 993 turbo and Cayman GT4. Plus a house.

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Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by WhaleTail »

I posted a couple of years back, a Porsche Design Chrono automatic in titanium on a bracelet, for $460 ( after cash Back), I only got one, darn! ( stock exhausted in less than 5 min).
yinzburgher wrote:
WhaleTail wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 1:10 am
yinzburgher wrote:
Awesome price. Any pics? If not steal one from the internet for me please.
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Awesome! I want one.

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Re: Tom Cruise, Porsche 911, Heuer and Sinn, Fernando (not ABBA's), a blonde, Vzlan Air Forces ... and a cool watch.

Post by Boourns »

ManOnTime wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 3:31 pm I'd use that $1.65M, buy a $300k house, a Tesla, the moonwatch trifecta, something nice for Mrs.Mot and dump the rest in a retirement fund. ;)
Nope you gotta pick one, you can't sell it, and you have to use it. I think I'm taking the Porsche. Maybe.
I wish that watch were 38mm?
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