The G-Shock is a tough watch to love. They’re Casio’s answer to the Timex Ironman and, while they’re quite rugged, the line has drifted towards Swatch-esque fashion models. Well, I’m glad to report the GA-100 brings it all back home with a world-time feature and stop watch that brings to mind the Citizen Skyhawk series with its dedicated readout windows below bold hands.
The so-called “Three Eye” design (I guess the three dials – one analog and two digital – are the eyes? Whatever) and huge hands make this thing quite readable. The watch is light – about 70g – the watch is surprisingly cheap at about $99. It has a 1/1000th of a second stop watch, countdown timer, 29 time zones, and four alarms. It is shock and magnetically resistant, so you can wear it in the hatch in Lost. Read more…
Call me a sucker for a Pathfinder, Casio’s monstrous sports watches designed for hiking, camping, and cage fighting. The PAW5000 uses the same quad-sensor movement as the other Pathfinder models including a digital compass, altimeter, barometer, and thermometer.
Instead of an LCD display, however, the central seconds hand acts as the main indicator, offering a physical view of the various read-outs and cleaning up the face considerably.
The watch will be available in May for $450. Read more…
I haven’t written about Marvin yet but these guys make some striking, classic pieces at prices that are actually astounding. Take this “>old girl here, the M103. This is a Valjoux 7750 chrono movement with day and date register and it costs $1,790. This is the same movement that is in almost every watch you see out there including a lot of the stratospheric $6000+ brands. Read more…
Swatch is celebrating the fact that they’ve gained almost 5,000 followers on Twitter, and decided to show their appreciation by giving away one of their watches. Which one? Well, that’s up to you. How do you win? Click on, constant reader, for the details.
The world of fine watches is a benighted place. Strange hang-ups masquerading as tradition are the norm and historically watch companies have looked at every new improvement to their business with trepidation. Consider the quartz movement, for example. Texas Instruments approached a number of Swiss companies when they first created the miniaturized quartz watch but no one wanted it – it was beneath them. China and Japan, however, bought the movements by the truckload and ate old horology’s lunch.
For years, watch companies have only allowed their wares to be sold through authorized dealers. This meant you had to go into a frou-frou shop, get talked down to by a snooty salesperson, and then pay over retail for a watch that was worth, in terms of parts and materials, about half of its sticker price. Pretty nice scam, huh?
The Internet came along and those authorized dealers hit on a nice scam. They’d “sell” their watches to real people – shills, usually – and those real people would resell them online. Swatch Group, for example, is currently fighting this grey market in the Supreme Court. However, another part of the Swatch Group, Longines, is taking to the Internet like a duck to duck sauce. Read more…
If you head into some CostCo stores you’ll be surprised to find Omega watches at a considerably discount. Those are grey market pieces and CostCo essentially sells them “illegaly,” the illegality stemming from Omega’s authorized reseller policy and little else. It works like this:
Companies that make high-end products often try to control distribution so that the goods do not end up selling for less. However, many offer cheaper prices to distributors in other countries. Costco and other retailers buy the products from those distributors, ship them to the U.S. and sell them at a discount.
I always had a sneaking suspicion that I was doing something horrible to my watches by wearing them in water and now I know: almost nothing under the sun is truly waterproof. This older post by a watchmaker spells it out in plain English: most waterproof watches are, at best, not waterproof at all. Also, don’t wear your watches in the shower, for Wango Tango’s sake!
Finally – do not wear your watch in the shower. Watches are designed for cold water only. After swimming, rinse your divers watch under tap. Have the case and bracelet cleaned every 12 months. Do not expose to direct sunlight or heat. Use common sense and submerge only if you really have to. Do not be fooled by brand / model names like “promaster, diver, seamaster, shower-proof” – very often this is just another advertising gimmick.
Nicks and dings on watches are pretty rough on new collectors. Your first ding is like your first scratch on a new car: it’s scary, saddening, and you want to just take it back. Now you can. Read more…
So this is just the inner heart of a new watch movement by makers of the Horological Machine series of watches. That’s right: this thing that looks like an Interceptor Drone is actually part of a watch. Read more…
Every watch needs some kind of theme, and Equipe has certainly found theirs. Inspired by the auto industry, this Detroit based company designs their watches using vehicles as their guide.
The names that Equipe chose for their watches give you an idea of what each one looks like. With names like “BALLJOINT” and “DASH”, you pretty much get the idea. Most of their watches use the tried and true Miyota/Citizen movement, with some custom quartz work on models like the DASH XXL. There’s definitely a variety of styles in their product line, and it’s well worth your time to take a look at their site.
