Watching the Web for December 27, 2014

Welcome back to our weekly installment, Watching the Web, where we have a quick look at some interesting watches and articles that have popped up over the last week (or so), as well as taking a second look at what some of our more popular articles. Today, we’re going to talk about an article that gives you pointers on vintage buying, and then another piece that talks about what “Swiss Made” is going to mean, and an overview of Icelandic watches. After those, we’ll highlight some of our more popular posts from the last year. Read on to see what we’ve got in store for you.

So, first up, lets talk vintage watches. Understandably, vintage collecting is popular for a variety of reasons. You may find yourself drawn an older style (perhaps one that is not offered anymore), or it may be a way to get into a brand at a more affordable price point than buying new allows. Whatever your reasoning, there are all manner of vintage watches markets. We have talked about them before, but this recent article over at Hodinkee focuses solely on how to find watches on eBay. Why eBay? Well, it is an accessible marketplace (and, of course, Clymer does have, or at least did, a comfortable relationship with the company). The article has some good pointers in it – applicable to any variety of markets, not just eBay. Quite a lot of it boils down to doing your homework and knowing what you are looking for (and looking at). For the details of that TL:DR, just check out the writeup.

Next up, lets talk Swiss certifications. There have been several brands coming up with their own, but there is one that many buyers seem to want to look for: “Swiss Made”. Currently, this has a very specific set of criteria that a watch is measured by – albeit criteria that was set almost 40 years ago. Realizing that there are some companies gaming the rules, there is new criteria coming to bear. What this means is that, by 2017, a watch proclaiming to be Swiss Made will have a lot more Swiss content in it (good, bad, or otherwise). For more details, and what this means in a practical sense, check out the writeup over at aBlogtoWatch.

Finally, lets talk about watches coming from Iceland. It should not be a surprise that I like brands hailing from this country, as I have written about Michelsen (link) and J.S. Watch Co. It appears that I have a kindred spirit over at Wound for Life, as they have decided to cover these brands as well. In the summary they put together, they have focused on watches from both brands that I have not given much ink to, so I think its worth checking out, to get more familiarity with both brands. You can check out the overview right here.

Now, lets turn our attention back to our own pages.  Since this is the last weekly wrapup of the year, I thought I’d do things a little different, and give you a rundown of the top 10 articles we have had this year:

• Invicta Sucks – It’s Confirmed
• What is an Oulm?
• To Better Know A Movement:  The Seiko Classics
• Shinola Brakeman Review
• Omega Speedmaster Pro Review
• Omega Speedmaster Review (yup, John likes writing about Speedys)
• AVI-8 Hawker Harrier II Reviews
• What is a NATO Strap?
• Casio GA-100 G-Shock Review
• Omega Speedmaster Reduced Review (I warned you about John and Speedys!)

And last, but not least, a question: do you have your entries in for our current giveaway? While the month is just about over, you do still have a few days to enter, with our new widget giving you some ways to pick up extra entries via some social sharing. Head on over here to get entered into the contest before it closes next week.

With that, we’ll wrap things up. As always, if there’s something you think we should be covering, feel free to drop us a line. If you bring something up that we end up writing about, we’ll be sure to tip our hats (electronically, if not literally) in your general direction.

Pictures courtesy of the source site; header image courtesy of DesktopNexus