Sure, we can talk about watches all we want, but can we say we know how to remove a watch cyclops? Tick Talk is a blog by a certified watchmaker and he tells the story of Cyclopsi in real life.

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who like a cyclops and those who don’t. I often see people on timezone wanting to know how to remove the cyclops from their watch. And then other people come into my shop and want me to put one on their watch. I have one customer who brings in every new watch he buys and has me install a cyclops.

Cyclops Removal [Tick Talk]

Reader and watch fan Sven just sent me some concept art for his new line of watches, Buscum Ducis. He’s building prototypes right now and we can expect final product in about two months. I always love it when folks decide to build their own watches. It shows that not just the big houses can add some magic to this tired market.

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Go to Christopher Ward Watches, and see the work of a visionary. Chris Ward is an entrepreneur who returned to the watch industry, and has made a bit of a splash. His goal is to make “the cheapest most expensive watch in the world” at “the biggest ‘smallest’ watch company”.

He uses first rate Swiss movements, currently ETA 2824 automatic, ISA quartz, and Ronda quartz movements (but Valjoux may be on the horizon). Style and substance go together when these bits of quality mechanism are put inside tasteful cases with restrained dials and hands. The basic watches, in his Russell and Malvern lines are relativel small by modern standards at 38 mm, but some of the other chronographs and his dive watches are a little more typical at 42mm. The styling of the chronographs was also a pleasant surprise as it was not the customary Rolex, or Breitling homage, but a distinct designs that took a few risks without getting as gaudy as the fashion watches. The Russell line stands out as distinctive and classic, and one of the other lines was inspired by early IWC aviators’ watches, but still look good. The attention to detail comes through in the photos, and they certainly look like $500 to $1000 (U.S.) watches, but the collection averages about half that.
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The little experiments and photos were taken in April 2007, and had forgotten all about it.

I’m a notebook-user, and I’ve sent 2 watches for abnormal daily rate getting faster without placing my watches near mobile, speakers or even bags with the magnetic clips!

There is only one thing I use daily and many hours with it….. my notebook (or laptop)!

Coincidentally, I was trying to find some answers and was reading Donald de Carle’s Practical Watch Repairing…and there was a chapter on magnetism ( I’ve enclose a page of it for your reference, and also for the respect of copyrights).

* Magnetism, Have We Missed Out The Obvious? Laptop-Users Be Aware! [WatchProSite]

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’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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As of late yesterday a deal was struck for a JV between Swatch Group and Tiffany for the world’s largest watch company to manufacture, market and distribute the watches by one of the world’s premier luxury brands.

Oligarchs rejoice!

Why spend money on a pricey quartz movement when you can get a monstrous Ball with a built-in mechanical thermometer.

This is a dive watch, but the coolest feature is the mechanical thermometer that reads Fahrenheit and celsius. They used tritium tubes in the watch dial and the rotating inner bezel for excellent illumination. There are 2006 Limited Editions available worldwide for $3,299.

PROFESSIONAL WATCHES™: Engineer Master II Diver TMT by BALL

Very cool. G-P gave the ANF a free, one-of-a-kind watch to raffle off for victims of Hurricane Felix.

“Virtus White” is an utterly exclusive piece handcrafted by Girard-Perregaux for ANF. The only one ever manufactured of its kind, this extraordinary watch was created to strengthen ANF’s efforts of providing hope and relief to children and families such as those affected by Hurricane Felix. Through the Foundation’s “Bright Future Reconstruction Fund” and relief operations, ANF seeks to rebuild lives and create new sources of opportunity. All suggested contributions of $100 made to the Foundation will merit participation in this historic drawing for Girard-Perregaux’s “Virtus White.”

American Nicaraguan Foundation: More about the Girard-Perregaux timepiece

I’ll be featuring another of our advertisers, MidwestWatches.com, in a little while but I wanted to point out, to all the coin collectors out there, that a new eBay shop just signed up with us. They sell ancient coins for fun and/or profit, so maybe you can surprise grampy with a Roman-era coin, perhaps the very kind used to buy his freedom from the salt mines in ancient Caledonia.

eBay Store - HISTORIC REAL TREASURES Ancient and Spanish Shipwreck Coins: Shipwreck Coins of Atocha 1715 Treasure Fleet