2011 Laco Special Edition Project - GENERAL DISCUSSION

In my opinion, the process could be sped up without losing much (if anything at all). I think the voting stages could be safely reduced in duration (you get around 80-90% of the results rather quickly with the rest trickling in). This was especially apparent in the movement vote which clearly showed a huge preference for the ETA movement. The vote could have safely been closed much earlier. Discussion/Design phases should take as long as is needed for the majority of those discussing to be happy to go to a vote.

For example, we'll see how the discussion goes but I see the caseback at least being a no brainer. The consensus is to keep cost down and we're not using a decorated movement. This means a display case is useless. Finish is a little more tricky but we'll see how the discussion progresses. If a consensus is found early there is little reason to drag it on.

I think judgement needs to be taken throughout the process and each phase should end at a dynamically chosen, appropriate time. I think this could result in a more compact schedule.

lukeaar said:

In my opinion, the process could be sped up without losing much (if anything at all). I think the voting stages could be safely reduced in duration (you get around 80-90% of the results rather quickly with the rest trickling in). This was especially apparent in the movement vote which clearly showed a huge preference for the ETA movement. The vote could have safely been closed much earlier. Discussion/Design phases should take as long as is needed for the majority of those discussing to be happy to go to a vote.

If a consensus is found early there is little reason to drag it on.

I think judgement needs to be taken throughout the process and each phase should end at a dynamically chosen, appropriate time. I think this could result in a more compact schedule.

Click to expand...

Initially I proposed a shorter vote duration but was then asked to make it longer, which is why it's currently at a week. I feel that assumption is a dangerous thing. Sure it may seem obvious that a particular item is going to win, but to close a vote early on that basis doesn't seem right to me. Life is full of improbability and it certainly wouldn't be the most bizarre thing that ever happened if a group of people suddenly joined the project and voted differently than everyone else in the final days of the vote.

Also, I think it's important to stick with a consistent length of time for the voting. Dynamically altering its length based on voting volume isn't fair to those voters who do decide to trickle in at the end. In the end how much time would arbitrarily truncating voting save? A few days here and there?

I agree that the length of discussion periods should reflect the level of participation in the subject, which is what I've been trying to do up until now.

I'm just managing, not dictating this process. So if others feel we should speed things up, we can certainly do that. Keep in mind that the next design elements aren't as straightforward as they might seem; we'll be reliant on drawings to be prepared and this in itself can cause a bottleneck in the process.

Lencoth said:

It's clear to me that the Artillery theme has won, but (and sorry if this has been answered before) what will happen with the lettering W-SS that's on the original?

Click to expand...

It won't be included. When we design the dial there might be some other text put in its place, but the general consensus was that we were intrigued by the design elements of the watch and its Beobachtungsuhr (observer) connection. The service branch that these watches were originally commissioned for has no relevance here.

Not sure where to post this, I guess you haven't started on the dial yet.

I made a quick mock up of a remake of the original design and what the watch can look like. Hope you enjoy it

Re: 2011 Laco Special Edition Project - CASE BACK and FINISH

ssansone said:

I see a picture of a Waffen-SS watch posted by lukeaar. Has Laco made watches for Waffen-SS? Are you planning to introduce Waffen-SS models?

Click to expand...

ssansone said:

Thanks a lot for a quick reply! Laco is well-known for the Pilot (B-Uhr) watches, but I have never seen a Waffen-SS model.

Click to expand...

Please spend a little more time reading the posts contained within the various threads of this forum. You'll find extensive details about this project that answer your questions. However, in short, no - Laco did not produce the original versions of these watches. Nor is it likely that they will be adding this model to their regular collection, which is exactly why this is a special project watch.

The watch serving as inspiration for this project could conceivably have been built by Laco had there been a greater demand for them during the war. Regardless, its observation tool based design is a theme that neatly dovetails with the Laco B-Uhr. In fact, I'm tempted to describe it as a C-Muster dial because its features would have made it equally useful aboard an aircraft. However, to our knowledge this particular watch was solely used for artillery calculations and not aircraft navigation.

I'd like to point out that the emphasis of this project is on the 'observation' (B-Uhr) aspect of the original watch's design and its usefulness as a measurement instrument. We're NOT interested in who commissioned or used the original watches.

It's unfortunate that the term "Pilot" has been adopted by so many manufacturers - Laco included - to describe B-Uhr inspired watches, as "Pilot" is a complete misnomer. The original B-Uhren weren't worn by pilots, they were navigation tools used by aircrew to assist in the calculation of their aircraft's location. The actual pilot of the plane typically wore a much smaller watch and also had an instrument panel clocks at his disposal.