Omega paid $350,000 for JFK’s famed Omega watch at auction yesterday.
The watch, from 1960, was a gift to then Senator John F. Kennedy from his friend Grant Stockdale before the election. With a bit of humor and perhaps some premonition, Mr. Stockdale had the back of the watch engraved with the following message: “President of the United States John F. Kennedy from his friend Grant.”
Also available at the auction were a thank you letter written by Jacqueline Kennedy to Mr. Stockdale who lauds the Omega as “nicer than the watch I gave him” and an image from LIFE Magazine of the 35th President wearing the watch on his inauguration day.
Why do I always do this to myself? Every few weeks, I’ll get tanked on a Friday and pick up an Ebay brand watch just to see what it looks like. I’ve played with Apogaum and a few other watches of dubious heredity in the past, and I keep coming back for more. This time, we’re going to take a look at the Trias Automatic Diver, a 53mm monstrosity that, if it weren’t so hilarious looking, would be the largest hunk of timekeeping ridiculousness ever to traverse the globe.
Read more…
Look at the lume on this thing! Great review on WatchUSeek.
With its 25-jewel ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, there are no surprises here and the watch has been telling excellent time since I got it. These watches are available with leather, rubber, and nylon straps. There is also an all-titanium version that has a titanium case and strap. I bought mine with the nylon strap which was a mistake, but more on this later. The watch has a polished steel case with a glass back and speaking of its glass, both the crystal and back of this watch are normally of mineral glass.
Aristo U-Boat Captain’s watch (Kapitans U-Bootuhr) Review
No sub $200 watch holds so much cachet and rapt attention as the Orange Monster. New watch collectors take note: the Orange Monster is the best way to catch the collecting bug – it is hefty, colorful, beefy, and cool. It is extremely solid, extremely reliable, and water resistant to 200 meters. Why is the Orange Monster so popular? It’s inexpensive, it’s fun, and it’s a Seiko. It’s a beater, but it’s a beater that will get you compliments.
Read more…
An amazing piece on Velociphile about PP’s habit of inflating prices. Amazing.
So says Philippe Stern, but Patek Philippe has been supremely successful in conjuring a frenzy for its line of current wristwatches. What has Patek Philippe allegedly done specifically? Well, at the start of the 80s, Patek started aggressive buying of their vintage pieces on the second hand market “for their museum”. A strategy allegedly proposed and developed by Alan Banbury (acclaimed horological expert who was a personal consultant to Philippe Stern during the creation of the museum collection) to reawaken interest in the brand. Crucially they also made sure the results were loudly accounted in the press as evidence for the mounting value of old watches. Remember up until this point, that watches were really not bona fide collectibles. That all changed, particularly when the Calibre 89 fetched $3.7 million. Suddenly, this event created a market among collectors for wristwatches.
The Ultimate Shill [Velociphile's Journey into Watches]
The age old questions comes up again: What makes a $7,000 watch worth the cash?
Very nice thread for newbies.
I recently became aware for the first time of the Breitling Brand watches and was drawn to the Navitimer and then to my utter horror discovered they cost anywhere from 3K to 7K or more depending on which model and where you buy. What can possibly justify that kind of money for a watch?
Stainless steel isn’t all that expensive, neither is any of the other raw materials involved in the manufacture so I’m guessing I’ll be told that somehow it’s in the movement, but wait those cheap wal mart watches with the quartz movement will keep time to plus or minus 15 sec. a month, the battery lasts from 3 to 7 yrs. and they cost less than $15 for the most part.I wore a casio to work every day for twelve years and I’m very hard on watches as I’m in construction. Not many watches will beat that and for even the ones that do can it be worth $4-7K ?
Are They Really Worth it? [WatchUseek Watch Forums]
Interesting. Orsa is really coming back with this Sea Angler. Very sexy beast.
ETA 2824-2 Automatic movement
316l Stainless steel case
Unidirectional rotating bezel with 120 clicks
Domed hardlex mineral crystal (sapphire optional)
300m/1000ft Water resistant
8mm Screw down crown
Date at 6hrs
Super luminova coated hands and dial.
For more photos go to – www.orsawatchco.info
Case finish is sand blasted
Bezel/case back polished.
22mm lugs with connecting rods
Weight: 136g
Dimentions: 45mm wide x 54mm length
Thickness 16mm
Stainless steel movement holder
Orsa SeaAngler: on wrist & comparison… [The BIG Watch Forum]
Product Page [Orsa]
Someone actually paid $750 for this abomination. Served him right.
Sigh…. [Fratellowatches.com]
Got some shots of the new Nooka line including the limited edition Zot. The new pieces have clear acrylic in the dots to prevent the dreaded “shadow/reflection” problem that plagued some of the earlier models. All of them look great.
Read more…
Now this is a piece of wrist tech – a real with watch with windspeed impeller and it can be worn on a lanyard.
Handy tool measures wind speed, barometric pressure with nine-hour history graph, altitude and temperature with wind chill. Features chronograph, timer, clock with alarm and date, EL backlight and compass. Wear as a watch or hook onto lanyard (both wrist strap and lanyard are included)
SPEEDTECH Weather Watch Pro [Lab Safety Supply]
From TheSportingLife.net – Just got in touch with Mark over at Quo Vadimus cigars and he wanted to pass along to some cigar savings to the readers of the Sporting Life. Each of these things is hand rolled and is an excellent smoke, well worth the initial investment.
For readers of TheSportingLife.Net, Quo Vadimus will provide:
Free Priority Mail Shipping with every order.
10% discount on all full bundles
10% discount on all single sticks.
In addition, we do a 2-for-1 plan. For each single stick
you buy we give a free “Lil Jp” which is a 5″ x 34 stick.
When they place the order, all they need to do is refer to
TheSportingLife.Net and that will get them the discounts.
Read on for more info or check them out here.
Read more…
Captain’s Log – 0600 hours – Baltic Sea – My men and I have surfaced near Gdansk where we stopped for McDonald’s Hamburgers (made with imperialist swine) and some Polish beer. We are testing our Zlatoust diving watches (AKA the CCCP diver) made at the Zlatoust factory in our glorious Russian homeland.
Read more…
Good questions on the PMWF: So what makes a Patek better than a Rolex better than a Seiko?
So we were kicking this around over at a sportscar BBS I hang out at. Everyone just SAYS a Rolex is better than a Seiko however a Patek Phillipe is better than a Rolex. As far as I can tell a high end Seiko has a excelent fit and finish will last as long and will keep just as good time as a Patek.
To add my two cents, I’ve seen high end watches being hand-made by German virgins in the little town of Glashutte and it’s an amazing sight. Each part is so delicate and requires so much patience and care that you’re really getting a hand-made device. Is it worth $10,000? Nah. But it’s impressive.
So what makes a Patek better than a Rolex better than a Seiko? [PMWF]
