I’m looking for four writers for:

* Audiomonger.com - Music
* TheSportingLife.net - Men’s cool stuff
* RunningGearReview.com - Running gear reviewers
* WallStreetTechDaily.com - Financial tech news

Pay is commiserate with me not making any money, but it could be a cool way to break into the biz. Drop me a line at john at bigwidelogic dot com if you’re interested.

One of my favorite homebrew watchmakers, Serket, just launched the Reef Diver 2.0, a beefy automatic with a beautiful huge bezel. I loved the original Reef Diver and this new model looks extra good. It costs $999.

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I always though Invicta was shady but here’s some confirmation. This poor guy gets his watch back in WORSE condition than when he sent it in.

I sent my Invicta Dune diver back to Invicta in October of last year to have them replace the lume dot on the bezel, which had fallen out, after only wearing the watch about three times. The movement on this watch was also very stiff and something was not right with it from day one. I sent a check for $25 per their warranty instructions.

I received a card back in the mail about three weeks later acknowledging receipt of my watch, with an estimated delivery back to me of mid-November. So far, so good.

Well, I didn’t receive the watch back until December 13th, so this simple repair took 2-1/2 months, which is an incredibly long time to wait, IMHO. All my experiences with Seiko’s COSERV have taken about three weeks at the most. Invicta also did me the favor of scratching the bezel on the watch, with a visible mark running from the ‘50’ to the ‘56’ on the bezel. This scratch was NOT there when the watch was sent in for ‘service.’ They did replace the lume dot and seemingly serviced the movement, but they damaged the watch in the process by scratching the bezel.

I immediately, within 20 minutes of receiving the watch, emailed Invicta’s customer service center describing the problem and requesting that my $25 be refunded to me (I did not receive adequate service from them, only a damaged watch in return) and/or a new replacement bezel be sent to me, as I had no intention of sending my watch back in and risking further damage or another 2-1/2 month wait. I do not think this request was out of line in any way.

After receiving no response, I proceeded over the next two weeks to email Invicta’s service center, customer service personnel and their sales department three more times, with absolutely no response from anyone. We’re talking a total of about 13 emails without response.

Why I’m Through with INVICTA My story of Terrible Customer Service…

This thing looks kind of dopey. Not sure if it gets my vote yet.

The Nike Amp iPod control watch is unusual for many reasons. To start with, it only displays hours and minutes. No seconds, no date, no alarm, no stopwatch. And to see the time, you actually have to press a button to illuminate the LED display.

But the Amp isnt designed to be an all-around running or fitness watch. Its specifically designed for runners who already have the Nike iPod kit. Similar to the Timex iControl we recently reviewed, the Nike Amp is a remote control for your iPod Nano, however unlike the Timex, the Nike Amp uses the existing Nike iPod gadget that plugs into your iPod, so youre actually adding the iPod remote control to the Nike iPod system.

Review of the Nike Amp+ iPod Control Watch - Watch Reviews, Information, and News

Jose Geraldo Pfau Kings makes cute little scultures out of old watches. It looks like an old Seiko bezel in there, right?

Clockpunk choppers: mysterious motorcycles made from watch-parts — UPDATED - Boing Boing

TokyoFlash does it again with a $120 design-watch with binary and standard time-telling modes. It’s odd, but you’ll get used to it.

Tibida expresses three functions through its name; time, binary and date. Created using 42 white LEDs, this design offers three conceptually different ways to tell the time; hour-centric, minute-centric and binary.

Combining a stainless steel case and clasp with a mineral crystal lens and polyurethane band, Tibida is available in four fashionable styles; polished stainless steel case with either a red, blue or black face or IP black case with an orange face.

Hour-centric mode displays the hour in digits on the lower display and minutes on the upper display, each LED representing a progression of five minutes. Perfect for when you need to know the approximate time quickly.

Minute-centric mode displays the exact minutes in digits on the lower display with the upper display representing the progression of hours using twelve LEDs.

Binary is presented on the upper display only. The top line of six LEDs indicating the hour, the second line indicating minutes. To read the time in binary, refer to the example below. Binary is read from the right, the first lit LED representing the number 1. This is then doubled; 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32, a combination of these numbers representing the time in hours and minutes.

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I’ve been clearly failing our dedicated watch readers with my coverage of odd and sexy designs. Take the Nooka Zirc for example. It has a 45mm face with a 22mm band and looks like a Dick Tracy watchphone — but isn’t. The dots show the hour and the long bar shows the minutes. It’s $350 but trust me, Matt Waldman makes a mean watch.

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Reader Jeff wanted to make a coin-face watch using his own coin. I basically suggested hitting 47th Street in New York with the coin, a cool watch, and a plan and a few months later, he sends me this image of the finished product. It’s amazing what a good jeweler can do when working with a knowledgeable customer. Congrats, Jeff!

I just got the Garmin Forerunner 205 — I didn’t need the heartrate monitor in the 305 — and now they go and launch this touch-sensitive 405. Drives me nuts!

Runners can track their speed, distance, heart rate and location accurately and effortlessly, and the revolutionary patent-pending touch bezel on the face of the watch makes navigating the options easier than ever. Simply by tapping, holding or running a finger along the bezel, runners can begin a new workout, access their training history or challenge a Virtual Partner™. The Forerunner 405 makes training with a Virtual Partner easy and efficient. Runners can adjust the Virtual Partner’s pace without stopping in the middle of a workout, and the Virtual Partner is always on and ready for a challenge.

The Forerunner 405 is water-resistant (IPX7) and can be used outdoors or indoors (with an optional foot pod), making it the ultimate year-round, all-weather training tool. And the high-sensitivity GPS receiver sustains satellite reception, whether you’re tackling a trail or jogging through the urban canyons of skyscrapers. When a heart-rate monitor is used, the Forerunner 405 helps athletes train in their optimal range of effort. An optional speed/cadence bike sensor helps cyclists monitor their pedaling cadence and wheel speed. At only 60 grams and available in two colors – black and sage green – the Forerunner 405 fits in at the gym, the office or out on the town.

Once the workout is done, the training is far from over. Using ANT+Sport technology, the Forerunner 405 sends workout data to the user’s computer via automatic wireless data transfer. There’s no need to take off the watch or bother with cables as the computer automatically syncs with the Forerunner 405 as soon as the user enters the room. And the data transfer is a two-way street. Runners, joggers, cyclists and hikers can send courses, goals and workouts to their Forerunner 405 before they begin, and then the data gets sent back to the user’s computer when the workout is over. Athletes can log their workouts, track their totals, set goals, share workouts with coaches, friends and family and participate in an online fitness community at Garmin Connect™ — Garmin’s online training site (connect.garmin.com) previously known as MotionBased. Users can also share courses and workout data from one Forerunner 405 to another through wireless data transfer.