Welcome to Watching the Web, our weekly series of a peek around the internet to find interesting watch related articles. And, we also get to crow out the articles you found most interesting over the last week or so. This week, Hodinkee gives us Shinola’s responds to the FTC, ABTW checks out the Ressence Type 5, and Monochrome brings us the full line of MB&F watches. From our website, you guys found our articles about the Momentum Atlas 38, G. Gerlach Submarine, and TWCO Salvage Diver the most interesting (or at least the most read).
Shinola may be assembled in the US out of (mainly) foreign sourced components, but they do consider themselves Built in America. The Federal Trade Commission, on the other hand, didn’t think that there was enough American made parts for the label, and has issued guidelines to that effect. Over at Hodinkee, they bring us an open letter from Shinola’s Founder Tom Kartsotis regarding the issue.
What do you get when you turn the uber-cool Ressence Watch with the tool category of divers? You get the drool worthy Ressence Type 5, which ABTW got a chance to check out in person. At nearly $40,000, I don’t know how many of them will see anything deeper than a lap pool, but they are really pretty watches.
Finally, at least from the external sites, is a full line retrospective of the watches from MB&F from Monochrome. I have seen a bunch of these in previous articles, but there are still plenty of which I was unaware, especially the older models. I wouldn’t mind one of the Legacy Machines, just in case anyone has a sweet spot for me.
For the first of our posts, a Patrick hat trick by the way, we have the Momentum Atlas 38. The Atlas is a very clean looking field watch with a titanium case and an affordable price point of $149. Sure, it is quartz (and a tad small for my tastes at 38mm) but for a weekend beater for your weekend warriors, this could be a nice option.
G. Gerlach is a small brand producing affordable automatics in Poland, outside the spotlight of the typical watch making hubs in Europe. The Submarine boasts a 100 meter depth rating, a brass case, and a Japanese automatic movement. At around $350, it makes a compelling option for a sporty automatic tool watch.
For the beefiest of our three divers this week, the TWCO Salvage Diver out of the Netherlands has a 300M depth rating and an internal rotating bezel. I am not opposed to internal rotating bezels for divers, but I am not sold on them either. In this case, you set it and then lock down the crown to keep it watertight. It makes for a slicker watch, but it makes it impossible to change underwater and it is something you can forget to screw down before you take the plunge. For timing things at the surface, it works, for diving… let’s just say it is less practical.
Did you know that John Biggs’ book, Marie Antionette’s Watch, is free to read with Kindle Unlimited, or you can buy a paperback from Amazon. Oh, and even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can always read via their free apps or their cloud read (check those out here
). You can even check out a snippet of the book.
Want to be more than just a visitor to our little corner of the internet? How about pledging some support for us over on Patreon. There are some compelling funding levels (including site redesigns and removing ads, and getting a copy of the Marie Antoinette book), but really, we just want to ensure we keep this lean ship running and the lights on. You can check out John’s latest post right here. This is a fun thing we get to do on the side, and we want to keep bringing you the content that you have come to rely on from us, and work to make it even better.
We are 1/2 way through June has arrived, so there is still plenty of time to get your name in for the June give away a Ballast Trafalgar. As per usual, there is a two-part entry process, so follow the directions and enter for a chance at this vintage military themed watch. If you want to know more about it, check out Patrick’s review.
We also want to put the call out for wrist shots of our reader’s favorite (or at least favorite of the moment) watches. Put together an email of your wrist shot and tell us a little about the watch and why you love it. If you happened to be introduced to it through our site (or won it through a give-away), even better. Just make sure the image is a JPEG and at least 800 pixels wide. And 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.
