I thought I had seen them all
I really thought that I had seen all kind of possible threads and topics on watchforums, until I crossed this post at TimeZone by beauSF.The whole thread is about watch store girls and which store has the prettiest….. Must have been a slow day at TimeZone yesterday.. ??...
Watch Wallpaper?
Want a watch wallpaper for your desktop? Jocke created www.watchwallpapers.com where you can download several very high quality photographs of watches for free. Certina, Seiko, , Omega, Dreadnought etc. Also check-out his tutorial section!Photo by Jocke. Ofcourse....
Watch Talk Forums
John Holbrook started his own watch forums a while ago now, and it seems to run very smooth! Clifton, moderator of the Forum at Watch Talk Forum and member of the WatchUseek Forum, notified me about his forum overthere. Looks great!...
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Montauk: Honoring a highway
Last week, I was browsing through the monthly stash of watch magazines that enters my house. I don’t know about you, but unlike the advertizements in other type of magazines, I actually like looking at watch advertizements. One of the advertizements that stopped me from quickly flipping pages was this Audemars Piguet advertizement. Since I own one of their watches, I am extra vulnerable for their ads in magazines ??I was immediately catched by the great combination of the cream dial, brown sub registers and blue hands, hour markers and (internal) bezel. The brown croco strap with blue stitching completes the watch. Although I wonder if I will still like the blue accents in 5 years from...
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Montauk: Honoring a highway
Last week, I was browsing through the monthly stash of watch magazines that enters my house. I don’t know about you, but unlike the advertizements in other type of magazines, I actually like looking at watch advertizements. One of the advertizements that stopped me from quickly flipping pages was this Audemars Piguet advertizement. Since I own one of their watches, I am extra vulnerable for their ads in magazines ??I was immediately catched by the great combination of the cream dial, brown sub registers and blue hands, hour markers and (internal) bezel. The brown croco strap with blue stitching completes the watch. Although I wonder if I will still like the blue accents in 5 years from...
Speedy Tuesday Omega Speedmaster QUARTZ LCD
Speedmaster Quartz LCDIt is Speedy Tuesday! Yesterday, we received an email from our reader Niels about this Omega Speedmaster QUARTZ LCD 1620. We’ve seen these quartz LCD models going up in value like crazy over the last 10 years, so we reckon they are quite collectible!Niels explains:The Speedmaster Quartz LCD I’d like to introduce was bought by my father in January of 1979. When I got interested in watches a few years ago he told me about an old digital Omega he had in his desk, at the time I was looking at Omega Speedmasters online all the time so you could imagine that I was quite surprised when I saw his watch in the drawer.It was a model I had never seen before on the inte...
UTS Diver 3000 A Professional German Diver's Watch
UTS Munchen was founded in 1999 by a German engineer by the name of Nicolaus Spinner. He decided to create watch cases with the highest precision for diving purposes. The watch cases are being designed and manufactured in-house in the workshop in Holzkirchen, a small village below Munich in Germany. Our photographer Bert Buijsrogge was able to get his hands on a UTS Diver 3000, a watch that has been created by Spinner in Germany approximately 8 years ago and still going strong in the UTS Munchen collection.We have a 2008 model that was made available through a local watch dealer here in The Netherlands, Local-Time. Normally focused on watches, but the owner of Local-Time thought that this U...
Hautlence And Its Rectangular Chronograph; the INVICTUS 03
Last month Robert-Jan returned from the impressive Hautlence VORTEX presentation, that took place at the Hautlence headquarters and brought me back the new Invictus 03 for a review. I only knew the watch from the first model, the Invictus Morphos' that was designed by Guillaume Tetu together with the famous sportsman & artist eric Cantona. But I only had seen and handled that?model briefly during the presentation last year. The Morphos' with its bright blue wings on the dial is a real eye catcher, but a bit too flashy to my liking.The new INVICTUS 03 is in fact the same watch, but with a complete different look, due to the DLC coated case and the open worked honey comb dial.Hautlence?INV...
Fred Dingemans d.m.h. unique pieces 52Mondayz, week #32
This week I was pleasantly surprised by a visit from one of The Netherlands’ most headstrong watchmakers, Fred Dingemans. Entirely by hand, Fred produces mechanical watches under his brand name d.m.h. Short for Dingemans Mechanische Horloges, or Dingemans Mechanical Watches in English.d.m.h. #09-09 on my wristFred Dingemans d.m.h. unique piecesIt was in March 2009 that I wrote an article about d.m.h. in Dutch on the (now sleeping) horlogenieuws.nl blog. At that time, highly inspired by my findings, I ordered my own d.m.h. watch as well. I received it in September that year, so my watch bears the serial number 09-09.From part to full time watch makerFred started to make his watches as a...
Kampai! Two Seiko Cocktail Time Watches SRPB43J and SSA343J1
Since 2010, Seiko is offering these “cocktail time” watches that were clearly inspired by living the good life. First only for the Japanese market (also referred to as JDM sometimes, Japan Domestic Model) and since a couple of years also for the rest of the world to enjoy. It wasn’t until a few years ago that Michael Stockton told me about these Seiko Cocktail Time watches and since then I keep admiring them whenever I see one. The sunray pattern dials really stand out so they are easy to recognize. Not only the dial, but also the price point of these Seiko Cocktail Time watches from the Presage collection make it a very interesting contester in the sub 1000 Euro price rang...
With Military Precision: Collectible Military Watches
Although less common today, defense departments would collaborate with watchmakers to provide their military with the right tools for the job as early as the 1880s. These extremely accurate watches are still treasured for their unique utilitarian aesthetic and historic value. The watch experts at online auction platform Catawiki have shared a few of their favourites military watches and the stories that make them special.Bundeswehr ChronographThe German air force (Bundeswehr) ordered Heuer and Leonidas flyback chronographs starting in the early 60s. There are a few of different dial variations: a Leonidas, the Sternzeit Reguliert, with 3H logo (stands for Hydrogen 3, to point at the luminous...
Speedy Tuesday Overview Of Speedmaster Moonwatch models in gold
Already three years ago, we created an overview of all gold Speedmaster Moonwatch models that Omega released since 1969. It seems that the interest in gold watches, and gold Speedmasters, is picking up. A number of our friends, colleagues and readers purchased a (vintage) gold Speedmaster in the last few years.? Time to update our overview of Speedmaster Moonwatch models in gold. This article is divided in two parts, from 1969 (BA145.022-69) till 1994 (Apollo XI 25th anniversary). In part two, we cover the models from 1995 and onwards. That part will be updated soon as well, as the Apollo XVII and Starmus models can be added to that overview.Speedmaster Moonwatch in GoldAlready in the early ...
Review: Undone Type XX Classic Flyback Chronograph
It’s just over two months ago that we published our review of the Undone Basecamp. They seem to be busy at Undone because even in this short period, we’ve seen quite some new additions to their line-up. Our next, and probably last, Undone review is the Urban Type XX Classic Flyback Chronograph, or short:Undone Type XXWe already criticized the use of the iconic Explorer-II 24-hour hand as hour hand in the Undone Urban Explorer model in our last review. But with every newly presented watch model, it becomes clearer that Undone overly loves to get their inspiration from rather well known and authentic designs from the past.Undone Type XX’s design is borrowed from historical i...
Omega Genve Dynamic watches from the 1970s
Omega Genve Dynamic watches from the '70s are fun, exciting and still very much under the radar.Mind you; it's not an easy task to search for Omega Dynamics on the web. The brand released various models at a different point in time, all under the name; Dynamic. Most of you probably remember the latest Dynamics (III) that first came out around 1995. It went on to a few years with the last model (a Targa Florio edition) coming out in 1999 if I'm correct. You had time-only and chronograph version, with large pump pushers and vintage-style dials. They came in a capsule; collectors often refer to as the tin can. I have to say, while those watches are not everyone's favourite, they represent exce...
Pre-Owned Picks Watches They Remade
For this week in Pre-Owned Picks, I am selecting watches from the Twentieth Century that have seen a revival in the Twenty-First. I do not mean watches that have iteratively had improvements throughout the decades - ala, the Speedmaster or Submariner. Specifically, I refer to watches that were once made, in a time-gone-by, but ceased production. Decades later, the watches are brought back to life as a re-edition with similar or identical styling and modern materials.“Are we living in a crisis of watchmaking?” - that was the question posed by Tomas in his #TBT article here. Quite possibly, we are. But importantly, it is we who are to blame. We reminisce of when wristwatches had to...
New Release: MING 18.01 H41 Diver
It’s finally here - the new MING 18.01 H41 and it rocks! We’re here with news on the two variants and an exciting bracelet from one of the hottest independent brands.But first, because this new MING 18.01 H41 will sell out in moments, here’s the link for your ordering pleasure. We’ll see you in five, so you can actually read about what you’ve hopefully scored.First, an apology and a plea on the MING 18.01 H41“The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray,” was written (and translated from Scots-language) by Robert Burns in 1786. And folks, nearly 235 years later, this is definitely still the case. You see, I was supposed to have a prototype of ...
NOMOS Glashutte Ludwig Neomatik 41 Date Celebrates Watchmaking
The NOMOS Glashutte brand has changed drastically over the past decade. With a huge investment made to bring manufacturing of almost all components in-house, the small, Saxon independent has carved a very special place for itself in the German watchmaking canon. And now, with the release of three special Ludwig models, NOMOS Glashutte pays homage to the story that led to its foundation 30 years ago…When NOMOS Glashutte was established following the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was part of a movement designed to stimulate the renaissance of Saxon watchmaking. It succeeded. Now, three decades after the brand’s birth, Glashutte is booming. Other brands such as A. Lange & Sohne, G...
How Watches Work: Automatic Watches And Their Winding Weights
Welcome back to another installment of How Watches Work. Today, we’ll be discussing automatic watches. We’ll take a look at not only what they are, but also how they came to be, how they work, and what different types there are. Whether you’re new to watches, a veteran collector, or simply a curious enthusiast, there will no doubt be something in this article that will help you better understand these miraculous ticking machines we love so much. So prepare yourselves, we’re about to jump in.To get our first question out of the way, an automatic watch is a mechanical watch that winds itself through the user’s movement. Being a mechanical watch, an automatic watch...
Dave's Top Travel Watches Grand Seiko, NOMOS, Ming (2021)
It’s been a long time, but travel is slowly starting to open up again. After not stepping on an airplane for 18 months, I have found myself arranging four trips to three different countries in a relatively short period of time. Different countries mean different time zones, and I’ll be straight up in admitting that I lack the basic memory skills to remember time differences. With that in mind, I have recently found myself frequently looking at travel watches - the perfect tool for those who travel and want a convenient way of keeping track of time wherever they may land.Travel watches come in many different shapes and sizes, from the instantly recognizable world-timers to the tra...
Buying Guide: The Best G-Shock Watches From The 1980s (2021)
We like to talk about vintage watches a lot within the Fratello team. While the daily routine is largely focused on the most recent developments in the world of watches, the most fun for many of us lies in the sometimes weird and often wonderful world of vintage watches. It's a world full of history, remarkable watches, incredible stories, and quirky details. It inspired us to come up with a series of articles focusing on the best watches per decade from a select group of brands. Some of them are priceless, some of them still affordable. In this installment, we will take a look at the best G-Shock watches from the 1980s.While the 1970s were a decade filled with tremendous change in the watch...