EDOX DELFIN FLEET 1650 LIMITED EDITION

Says Arqueonautas spokesman Nikolaus Graf Sandizell of the search for the lost fleet: “There is no certainty, there is only adventure. We want this important UCH (underwater cultural heritage site) to be protected and the amazing tale of the events in 1650 to be preserved for future generations, and especially so for those who have a bearing in the events; ASUCH and Maresearch work closely together with the archaeologists of Indonesia’s Makassar Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, supplying research expertise, logistics, documentation and publications.”

Edox, too, is celebrating this great adventure with the release of a new timepiece, the Edox Delfin Fleet 1650 Limited Edition (200 pieces worldwide).

The 43 mm watch, which is water- resistant to 200m, features a stunning bronze case, the same material used on the fittings of 17th Century Dutch ships. The watch, a true revival of the vintage Delfin timepiece collection, will of course get its own patina as bronze interacts when in contact with water or moisture.

Powered by an ultra-reliable mechanical Swiss-made movement, the watch has a steel case-back decorated with an historic wind rose that featured in drawings in the documents that led to the last resting place of the ships. Each watch is also individually numbered and carries an engraved inscription “There is no certainty, there is only adventure.”

Presented in a hand-made leather travel pouch, the Edox Delfin Fleet 1650 Limited Edition also comes with a vintage heritage leather strap and a bi-colour NATO strap.

Edox has been making exceptional watches since 1884 and is the Premium Partner of the Sauber F1® Team for 2017.

SAVING WORLD MARITIME HERITAGE

Time is running out for many of the world’s historical shipwrecks.

Hundreds of wrecks around the busy sea-lanes of Indonesia’s vast archipelago, relics of the age when men risked life and limb to bring the exotic riches of the Spice Islands back to Europe, are particularly vulnerable.

Every wreck has its own story, a unique link to man’s seafaring passion – yet due to looting, destructive fishing practices, the ravages of time and the high cost of survey and reconnaissance operations to pro- actively protect these heritage sites, most shipwrecks are in danger of being lost forever.

Now Switzerland’s family-owned and Jura-based boutique watchmaker Edox has announced it will underwrite a fascinating project to research, record and protect one such site for future generations.

Edox and the Arqueonautas Fashion Brand are supporting a joint project by Indonesia’s Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the German-based Association for Saving of Underwater Cultural Heritage (ASUCH) and the archaeological company PT Maresearch Indonesia for a survey of what is considered to be the final resting place of five ships of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the famed Dutch East India Company.

In the last week of February 1650 the ships, led by the flagship Tijger, left Batavia, the company’s headquarters on the island of Java, for Ternate, one of the legendary Spice Islands of the Moluccas.

The fleet never reached its destination. Just before daybreak on March 4 1650, the five ships were driven by a squall onto a reef off the island of Kabaena in Southeast Sulawesi (Indonesia), stranding nearly 600 crew and passengers on the tiny sandbank of Sagori. Against all odds, the shipwrecked yet showed the tenacity and persistence to recover most of the fleet’s cargo and armament – and, faced with being marooned, in the next weeks even constructed a new vessel, christened “The Yacht of Five”, out of the wreckage. When in May a small Dutch squadron arrived to the rescue, they not only found more salvaged goods and guns than they could load into their vessels, but the new ship launched and nearly ready to set sail … .

The astonishing tale of Tijger and her sister ships might have been lost had it not been for the re-discovery of a diary of the ship’s council in the National Archives of the Netherlands.

Guided by the diary, a team of researchers led by Maresearch and Indonesia’s regional Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in April last year re-discovered what appears to be the remains of Tijger and another, as yet unidentified, vessel.

Edox is proud to support a detailed reconnaissance and survey of the site in April/May this year - exactly 367 years after Tijger and her sister ships were lost.

EDOX DELFIN FLEET 1650 LIMITED EDITION REF. 88004 BRZBU BUI

Calibre                                 Edox mechanical calibre 88

Functions                           Display of hours, minutes, seconds, day-date

Diameter                            43 mm

Case                                   Bronze with rotating aluminium navy bezel

Finishes                              Steel caseback, with windrose engraving and limited numbering. Special engraving “There is no certainty, there is only adventure”.

Dial                                      Deep-blue

Water resistance                  200 meters / 20 ATM

Glass                                    Scratch-resistant and anti-reflective doomed sapphire crystal

Strap                                    Genuine leather strap or NATO strap with Delfin collection buckle

Limited Edition of 200 pieces worldwide. Presented in its special hand-made leather travel pouch.

Visuals, requests, interviews, … :
Racin Communications
Amélie Putmans
amelie@racin.eu
+32 477 20 09 70