That’s right folks, it’s time to announce the winner of our Modify Watch contest…

Courtesy of Random.org, it looks like Sport1000 is the lucky recipient!  Sport1000, doesn’t look like you left an email for us in the comment profile, so feel free to ping me at Patrick at WristWatchReview.com

IWC is running a promotion they’re entitling “Money Can’t Buy Experiences” that gives you a chance to win one of two trips to a yacht race and an Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph.  First off, the contest details:

Registrants will be entered for a chance to win one of two Money Can’t Buy Experiences during the Volvo Ocean Race:

• Two round trip flights to a Volvo Ocean Race stage destination
• Hotel accommodations (Including airport and hotel ground transportation)
• An IWC Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph
• In-port sailing experience (subject to weather conditions at location)
• A VIP visit to the Volvo Ocean Race Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing boat and private meet-and-greet with the team
• Registration is open between 10 August 2011 and 16 March 2012.

Contestants can win trips to one of two Volvo Ocean Race stages:

• Experience 1: the race start in Alicante, Spain (29 October 2011)
• Experience 2: a mid-race stage in Miami, Florida (19 May 2012)

IWC will select the winners via random drawings at the IWC headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Experience 1 will be awarded on 30 September 2011 and Experience 2 on 30 March 2012.

Even though I don’t know a lick about ocean yacht racing, it’s still one heck of an impressive trip.  Then, you add in the watch that’s up for offer, and things get even more interesting.  For starters, let’s examine the name of the watch – pre IWC, it’s to hearken back to their Yacht Club watches of the 60s and 70s that was one of their most popular models.

And what about it’s yachting credentials?  It can certainly handle the water, as it’s rated at 6 bar for WR and has a rubber strap. And when it comes to timing things, the chrono fills the bill.  It can time in quarter-second increments, and then there’s a second sub-dial that allows you to time over longer periods – up to twelve hours, if you want!

Other specs include:

• Screw-down crown
• Luminescent hands & indices
• Hacking seconds
• Sapphire glass front and back, with AR coating up front
• Case:  44.5 mm, available in steel or red gold
• Pricing: $12,600 (steel), $23,100 (red gold)
• 62 hour power reserve on the in-house automatic movement

All in all, looks to be a great watch, with an impressive movement (read more about it here).  And, if you manage to win the contest, it does look to be a great experience.

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.

Swatch has made it pretty easy. Just start following @SwatchUS, and then submit the link of the Swatch you hope to win from their official website to #swatchofmydreams. One Swatch hits that magical number of 5,000 they will announce exactly who won the watch that they picked. Better hurry though, @Swatch is a pretty popular twitter user.

We don’t often get to run contests here at WWR, but when we do, we get excited. Recently, Orient watches contacted us about doing a giveaway, and we are definitely excited and glad to help them find a new home for one of their timepieces. For the details on how to win, click on constant reader…

Orient Watch is known as the bargain brand with the long names, and the watch that we’re giving away is no exception. The watch in question is the Orient bem72001b, and it’s lovely. It’s a stainless steel case, water resistant to 50 meters, and made with Orient’s in house automatic movement.

How do you win? Well that’s easy. Leave a comment telling us what your first watch was. It’s that easy. Also make sure that you put a real email address in (don’t worry, we’re the only ones who will see it) so we can contact you when you win. The contest will end on October 23, at which time we’ll select a random (or our favorite) comment, and award the watch.

Update: Contest ends at 12:01am Pacific time tonight (October 23rd). We’ll notify the winner via email.

Seiko is running an online contest right now, in anticipation of the launch of their new “Ananta Automatic Chronograph” in October. According to Seiko, the new chronograph pulls it’s styling from the katana sword, legendary weapon of the samurai. This gives the case a gentle curved look, along with a mirror polish finish.

At any rate, the contest ends on August 30th, and to enter you need to send a 15-45 second video to ilove@seiko-watch.co.jp. You can see what the other contestants are up to at Seiko’s YouTube channel. The winning submissions will be awarded a brand new Ananta chronograph, valued at $3,200.