We are normally all about watches, but when the guys at Smith & Bradley put together the Smith & Bradley Beacon Box, I wanted to get the word out.
Thanks for taking the time to check out our weekly installment, Watching the Web, where we point you toward some interesting watches and articles that have popped up over the last week (or so), and take a second look at what were our more popular pages. Today, I am going to highlight the Roger Dubuis Excaliber Tourbillon from ABTW, the Time Bum’s review of the Prometheus Piranha, and Tempus Fugit’s lunch with the Michael Happé from Gavox. From our site, we have the Ventus Caspian on Kickstarter, the AVI-8 Hawker Harrier II, and The Christopher Ward C7 Rapide Chronometer.
Origin stories for crowd funded watches are long past redundant at this point, especially if you search out for these projects. What I really care about is how the watch looks, and is it a good enough value to jump in and take a chance. With the Ventus Caspian Watches currently funding through April 25, the watch looks great and the value seems to be there.
There is an old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I think this must be the motto of the Griffin Emblem Watch Company, since they are back with a second batch of watches on the crowdfunding site, Indiegogo. The Griffin Emblem Automatic is offered in three general flavors and several case options for a total of 10 watch configurations, and the designs are only slightly different than the previous campaign. There are three levels of skeletonization in the watches, a small open heart window for the balance wheel, a larger central open heart, and a semi-skeleton design.
Touch of Modern (join here is you are not already a member), is a limited time, members only sales site that features lots of guy-centric goods. For our audience, it is the watches that really matter, and the site does feature a lot of watch sales. Today, they’ve got a flash sale (24-hour pricing) on the series of Eone Bradley Watches
There are times where one can see a new watch and clearly pick up the inspiration behind…
Techne is a brand that we have not focused on much recently, but both Patrick and I have an appreciation for what the brand is doing. They create attractive and affordable aviation inspired watches, with many of the watches tied to modern fighter planes. Though the Techne Dual Time is not tied to a specific plane this time around, it is pilot oriented with a day/date and a single hand GMT complication.
The Melbourne Watch Company has graced our pages multiple times, starting with a preview and then hands on review of the Flinders, then the Hawthorne, and the Portsea, and finally the Parkville. Now this Australian watch company is back again on Kickstarter, with their take on the modern pilot’s watch, the Melbourne Watch Company Avalon.
Sometimes we look for the next cool watch and overlook a well made, but not overly exciting watch. I am not going to say I overlooked the Brigadier, but it did take me a little while to get to writing about it. And it is a watch worth writing about on its own, since the Mercer Watch Company Brigadier on Kickstarter is a pretty three hander that looks like it is well designed and made, even if it is not super exciting.
February is now in the books, and with the second month of the year came a number of watch projects on crowd funded sites. Myself, I tend to favor projects listed on Kickstarter, and have purchased a number of them, but there are alternative sites, most notably Indiegogo. In addition to the projects below, I have longer reviews of the Nevo Watch, which is technically over but still collecting pledges in “bonus time;” the Trintec Zulu-07, running through March 7; the Melbourne Watch Company Avalon, running through March 16; and the Mercer Watch Company Brigadier, funding on March 29. I am also working on a write up of a new crowd funded design from Techne with is currently on Rockethub. I have a Techne, and the company has been on our pages several times, so I have no issue in recommending this project if you are looking for a military cockpit style quartz watch,