Ennebi Fondale - Dive 1km without a screw down crown/crown lock

[danny]

As a follow up to an earlier thread on dive watches which do not require crown locking or screw down crown, I contacted Alessandro Bettarini of Ennebi and he so kindly replied. How often does one get a straight reply from the founder of a watch company?
His explanation as quoted below:

For a long time I worked in a Florentine Company whose client was the Minister of Defence and mainly the Italian Navy. It does not exist any more. Its brand now is famous among watch collectors.
We produced equipments and device for  divers Corps. In some devices I used a special gasket to have water tightness on rotating shaft. I use this gasket on Fondale.
With this gasket more is the pressure more you have tightness. It is more expensive than normal oring and it needs enough space for a proper seat. Here you may see some documents.

The documents send by Alessandro:


Article describing the sealing technology on the Ennebi Fondale.



A 3D blowup of the Watch casing components


A 3D sectional view of the watch casing showing the location of the special spring energised seal. Label added by me.

[terrenceterrence]

yeah the guy is top notch!! 

e-mailed him about the custom caseback and he replied me. 

hopefully would be dropping by Florence next year and maybe would write to him again to sneak a peek into his watches up close and see how much is the euro prices over there after VAT.

[chrisyen]

Danny, this is the best crown design man

[TheHobbit]

Cool, one up for Ennebi.

[danny]

yeah the guy is top notch!! 

e-mailed him about the custom caseback and he replied me. 

hopefully would be dropping by Florence next year and maybe would write to him again to sneak a peek into his watches up close and see how much is the euro prices over there after VAT.

Hi Terrence,
You don't have to wait till next year. There's an AD in Singapore carrying Ennebi watches. You can request customization through them also.

Danny, this is the best crown design man

Hi Chris,
I agree that the technical solution adopted by Ennebi is uniquely simple and elegant and not seen in the other divers available in the market (At least not by me).

 

[takashi78]

The watches and his design is top notch!
But looks like that watch is not too suitable for office wear with shirt.

Would be a great casual watch.

[terrenceterrence]

yeah the guy is top notch!! 

e-mailed him about the custom caseback and he replied me. 

hopefully would be dropping by Florence next year and maybe would write to him again to sneak a peek into his watches up close and see how much is the euro prices over there after VAT.

Hi Terrence,
You don't have to wait till next year. There's an AD in Singapore carrying Ennebi watches. You can request customization through them also.

yeah i know GnomonWatches. I went there before to check out the watches when they just got the dealership and tried it out.
http://www.malaysiawatchforum.com/index.php/topic,909.0.html

looks real solid and light. the machining is top notch.

but i always hold this philosophy when buying new watches "Why buy locally when you can get vast savings from VAT rebates overseas?"

i always buy overseas unless it's pre-owned

[takashi78]

Not everyone travels around the world like you ma hehe.

How i wish i could do that...you should be out resident traveler and direct contacts with the brands haha.

[terrenceterrence]

yeah group buy..i go and pick it up whahah

[terrenceterrence]

examples of custom casebacks







they can do custom colours of the hands too



gold crown



and of course this belongs to a fellow in Sarawak

[takashi78]

Nice!
If only the price was half of what it cost, then a group buy would be more likely to happen haha.

[terrenceterrence]

hmmmmm so let's draw a consensus on what price would justify a good buy for a fondale with custom caseback and dial. USD 2K?

[Coco]

How nice and clean dial!
Custom case back is great too 

[takashi78]

I would say 1.5k-2k is a good indicator.

[terrenceterrence]

he have so far been very diplomatic in where you can purchase his watches. always directing you to Gnomon for any inquiries for his watches if you're in asia.

if a few members are really interested in it and some one can be elected to negotiate with them directly. i tried asking them about prices in europe and each time i am directed back to Gnomon when he knows i am in asia and in singapore.

[Gigi]

The other brand that does not use screw in crown is Fortis....

[shijiko_7]

Anyone bought this? mind PM me the price? would love to actually get one...

[terrenceterrence]

Google up gnomonwatches