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.
Bell & Ross sends another one down the pipe with the Phantom edition. This standard issue BR 01 Instrument — the automatic one with three hands — has low visibility pips and digits that light up like the sun in the dark. I’m not sure about the overall readability, but the idea is cool. Again — B&R is essentially carving out its own path in the mid- to high-range watch market and I’m very impressed. Gotta get me one.
James read my BR 01-92 review and posted this amazing comment:
My son gave me a BR01-94 and it looks just like the clock I had in the SR-71 Aircraft that I flew between July 68 to Jun 74. All my friends will see the watch at the Blackbird Reunion in Reno this month and I know the watch will bring back great flying moments flying the SR-71. I am a very proud owner of one of the greatest watches I have ever owned.
James H. Shelton, Jr Col. USAF Ret
Thanks for sharing, James. It’s rare to hear these kinds of stories and remind us what a well-made watch really is: a link to the past and a way forward into the future.
“The Centigraphe Souverain from F.P. Journe. An in-house designed and manufactured fully-integrated chronograph, beating at 21,600 bph AND able to record elapsed time down to a mechanically nanoscopic 1/100 of a second! Combined with the tachometer scales, being able to measure intervals of 1/100th second makes it theoretically possible to time something moving at 360,000 km/hr.”
Wait, what?
Centigraphe Souverain by F. P. Journe [THE WATCHISMO TIMES]
121Time has launched another automatic model, the Challenger Black Metal. Cool enough. 121Time.com lets you pick out just about everything to do with your watch is actually quite affordable. For more DIY fun, check out Blancier.com.
121Time Challenger Black Metal [Fratellowatches.com]
Bathys is the little watch company that could. Founded by John Patterson, this tiny Hawaiian company sources their watches in Switzerland and offers the surfer – and landlubber – alike a little taste of that Ahola feeling.
Almost a year after the launch of their first watch, the 100 Fathoms Big Date, Patterson has topped himself. The automatic version of the Bathys 100 Fathoms is a testament to Patterson’s hard work and eye for detail.
A big to do about Steinhart over at WuS today. Steinhart sells “homages,” watches that look strikingly similar to well known brands but have enough subtle differences to stand as their own brand. I can support their efforts, but I’m kind of tired of the homages to Rolex and Panerai I see. I think there are plenty of odd, little houses out there that deserve our cash rather than some junk dealers who traffic in Chinese-made crap. Sorry. Ranting.
Never mind the 1.9 miilion you could spend on a Patek, here on eBay, you could buy piece of history. That’s right, a launch watch for the Nintendo Wii. According to the auctioner only 200 of these bad boys were ever made (read rebadged) and could be yours for a paltry 60 quid.
Notwithstanding the allure of this “sports-style stainless steel quartz, with second hand, rotating bezel and magnified date.” I would rather have a wiimote on my wrist than this.
Go get yourself a piece of Nintendo kitsch here
I’m a bad watch reviewer. Not only am I not updating this site often enough, I’ve been hiding my gems under a bushel, offering up junk like crapola GMTs and monkey-brained divers. Why? Because the watches I love I can’t really review and the watches I review I can’t really love. So I’m torn, WWR fans. Torn.
I present for your inspection the Omega Seamaster Professional 300M 2225.80.00 2599.80.00 Chrono Diver. Every collector chases a dream early on in his career – and often that dream doesn’t jibe with what he or she really wants. You could dig Seikos and then see an Ebel that knocks your socks off. You could love Rolex and then see an Omega that you must have. This watch is my early collector’s grail watch and I am happy to report that it is getting so much wrist time that I think I need to brush it down with rubbing alcohol because it is getting wrist stink.
Read more…
I don’t even know what to think about this 1000M diving monster. As far as I can tell, this is the guy’s page. He seems to make straps and now these watches. Innaresting.
The Delaurian Diver just landed [BIG Watch Forum]
Hokey shmokes. What is this thing? It’s a dual read-out watch with some sort of massive power plant, shown here. Very clever and potentially very expensive. Note: this is not a dual watch – the other side is this photo trick they like to do where they put a mirror to the back of the watch so you can see the rear glass.
On the dial side the HM1 looks like the command center of a rocket ship. The dial on the right provides a reading for minutes with a massive speedometer needle-like hand. An indication for the watch’s massive four barreled fuel tank is also mounted on this same axis. On the left dial you have a reading for hours. Both dials feature transverse mounted floating sapphire subdials to provide time indication on the left, and on which the power reserve indication is engraved on the right. The hour and minute hands have to communicate with each other across the massive divide between them. This was accomplished with an oversized, ultra-flat, mirror-polished wheel centrally located under the dial. Too thin to support from its axis, this wheel cleverly floats between two layers of precision-adjusted jewels. Because of the artisan minutia involved, only 100 watches will be made in the next three years. Indeed the Horological Machine No.1 is the horological equivalent of a super car. It is a mixture of technical mastery, truly refined traditional finish, and groundbreaking new aesthetics that heralds the arrival of one of the new masters of form and function — a new world collective known as MB&F, spearheaded by one of the watch industry’s most exciting young leaders, a man named Max Büsser.
MB&F Horological Machine No.1 [TimeZone]
This thing looks pretty cool but Romain Jerome? Who is that? A porn star?
Hand-wound, La Joux Perret movement. Personalised tourbillon with invisible bridge fastening. Movement thickness : 5.40 mm. Movement diameter : 30.60 mm. Jewelling : 18 jewels. Power reserve : > 90 hours. Frequency : 21,600 vibrations per hour. CASE: 18-carat pink or white gold (total gold weight 97 g in white gold). Diameter: 42.9 mm. 13 parts assembled without any visible screws Sapphire crystals with multilayer anti-reflective treatment on both sides. Case-back engraved with limited series number. DIAL: 11 parts, in addition to hour-markers. Applied hour-markers. Applied 18-carat gold RJ logo. Blued steel hands, tips coated with white Superluminova C1. BEZEL: 18-carat pink or white gold, Versions set with brilliant-cut or trapeze-cut diamonds. Water resistance : 50 metres. STRAP: Hand-sewn mississipiensis alligator leather in brown, green, black or white. Buckle : 18-carat gold double folding clasp, safety push-piece (weight 32 g in white gold version). Edition : 50 in each gold colour.
Romain Jerome Golf Master Tourbillon [DreamWatches]
Friends, neighbors, and esteemed readers – here’s a doozy of a contest. Prove to me that you need a sweep GMT hand because you live in a very special spacial rift between continents and I’ll send you a brand spanking new Alpha GMT Diver. Leave a comment after this post and then we’ll see who has the best reasoning. Then you’ll have in your hot little hand an Alpha GMT diver. I’d rather give this thing away than take a hammer to it.
Win one of the following great prizes:1. Hamilton Khaki Navy Frogman
2. Brand new Trias 200m Yellow Diver
3. A custom leather Delaurian strap
4. Chronomat F4U GMT
5. Custom Leather Strap by Mike McHann
6. Citizen Promaster Super Tough Eco-Drive
7. Seiko model SKZ211 “Land Shark,” also known as “Atlas”
8. Timex Automatic Power Reserve
9. Glass top 10-watch caseTickets are $10.00 each. Feel free to spread the word. All details are on the web page below.
Special thanks go out to Mike McHann, Marc Frankel at Island Watch, Shane Delaurian and Mike Richman. A big Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! Applause! for them!
Thank you for your support in this effort. Contact me if you have any questions, or if you run into any trouble on the web page. Thanks!
Dan Smiley
Got a chance to fondle the Linde Werdelin Biformeter and I have a much better idea of what’s up now. Essentially, this is a really fancy watch with a strange attachment that covers the mechanical part and adds a number of digital functions.
The wristwatch itself costs about $4,000 for a steel model and the digital device costs $1,800. They snap together like Voltron to form the super ninja Biformeter.
Read more…
