I want this. Comments?

I’m shopping for watches and found this cool video of the JLC Master Geographic.

I’m totally down with this PanoInverse XL from Glashutte. For some reason I’m drawn to GO recently – I saw the factory first hand so I think that’s what’s causing me to cast my gimlet eye over to Germany rather than Switzerland.

The Glashütte Original PanoInverse XL was introduced at Basel 2008. It uses a manufacture Caliber 66 hand wound movement. The hand-engraved duplex swan-neck bridge is visually impressive. Although what is even more impressive, is the large balance wheel that oscillates below the bridge 28,800 times per hour.

I’ve done too many pieces on watches out of the price range of mere mortals, now for a serious timepiece that working Joe’s (and Jill’s) can afford. From one of the creators of Freestyle watches, we get Reactor watches. Jimmy Olmes split off from Freestyle a few years ago and has approached watches from a new direction. The over-riding objectives were the durability needed by action sports athletes and to develop a distinctive style. They succeded, and went on to create some very tasteful watches that wouldn’t look out of place with a suit while still being designed to bear up under the lifestyle of active people. They also made some really chunky watersports (and snow sports, rockclimbing, etc) watches that look excellent.
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While I understand the impulse to buy expensive watches, I’m rarely moved by to open my wallet when simple beauties like these come along. These two new limited editions form Jaquet Droz are sport watches for the caviar and horsie set. The Grande Seconde SW is a standard three hand watch with a few odd touches – “The numerals are printed on the inclined ring itself, a technical exploit to which only the Jaquet Droz craftsmen hold the secret” and presumably those selfsame craftsmen will take that secret to their graves – while the Reserve De Marche Ceramique is limited to 88 pieces and is made of ceramic. It has a 68-hour power reserve and reserve indicator on the dial.

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I was totally down on this watch when I played with it a few months ago and I’m even downer on it now – the fit and finish put it dangerously close to being essentially disposable. John Flynn takes the entire thing apart, showing us the guts.

Prior to disassembly, I’ve worn the watch for a few weeks. It was keeping pretty decent time and overall is rather comfy on the wrist. It doesn’t look too bad either. Some of the case finishing could certainly be better, but being a freebie, I have no right to complain.

All around nice guy Sven from Buscum Ducis is reporting that he just got his first shipment in of his first watch line and one is winging its way over to the US as we speak. As you’ll recall, Sven van der Zande is a 21-year-old horologist with a dream: he wanted to make his own watch. The resulting beefster, as we see here in this mock-up, looks like a monster. Look for it in the next few weeks and please pop over to his site if you’d like to pre-order a timepiece.

From my other site:

I’ve always liked Tokyoflash watches, but I’ve also always been wary of committing to a single crazy-ass color whenever a design impressed me; the ones I liked were always monochromatic. No more! The newest Tokyoflash timepiece, the Negative, sports 7 different colors you can switch between whenever you feel like it. At last, something to go with that day-glo jumpsuit you use when you’re fighting the clowns! At $160 it’s not cheap, but can you really put a price on kaleidoscopic techno-insanity?

AKIRAAAA!

Badollet is a venerable name in watches, going back over 350 years in France. Today, a maker of luxury watches headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland bears this name. There was a disruption in their trade during the French Revolution, and break in continuity of the Badollet as watchmakers from the 1920s to 2006, but the name has returned.
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Battle of Malakov, 8 September 1855

And on this day in 1855 near Sevastopol in the Crimean War, the phrase “Synchronize watches” was used in preparation for the first attack coordinated by timepieces.

Note that this allowed for precise coordination of elements out of contact without visual or audiable signals, and by World War I and the advent of wristwatches a sargeant could afford, was a critical enabler for a revolution in military tactics.

Finally something I’d like to build! This homemade Pong watch by John Maushammer includes full plans for creating this mini Pong game that tells the time by “losing.”