Yesterday, Omega announced the Speedmaster Professional Speedy Tuesday limited edition. Watches were available for reservation immediately via the official Omega website. We weren t sure if people would truly take to the watch and the process, but you did. Massively. Yesterday was an unreal experience and I would like to share some of it with you today.First of all, if you reserved one of the 2012 Omega Speedmaster Professional Speedy Tuesday Limited Edition watches, congratulations! All watches were reserved in just a few hours time and that was beyond expectations. I reckoned it would take a couple of days, but it went faster. Far faster.We feel sorry for those who missed reserving a piece...

It is with great pride that we introduce you to the Omega Speedmaster Professional Speedy Tuesday limited edition to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Speedy Tuesday. Limited to 2012 pieces, referring to the year when it all started. For the very first time, Omega is offering this watch only via their own website. What better way to do this with the Speedy Tuesday limited edition Speedmaster, an initiative that started on-line as well.Speedy Tuesday – How it all beganWeve been asked very often how Speedy Tuesday started. The story is quite simple, I took a wristshot of my Speedmaster Professional somewhere in May 2012, put it on Facebook and only wrote Speedy Tuesday, as it was on a T...

SIHH 2017 is around the corner, and our mailbox is filling up with pre-SIHH releases and under-embargo material. Somehow I feel all these pre-SIHH releases spoil the surprise aspect a bit, but all brands are craving for exposure of course. Big brands like IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, A. Lange & S?hne, Audemars Piguet etc. will dominate the news feeds and magazines, but don t forget there are a bunch of independent companies?there as well. One of them is Cristophe Claret and they will be showing us their new Maestro.Christophe Claret MaestroNext week, Christophe Claret will unveil the new Maestro. A watch with an awesome [movement] architecture, that actually needs the super domed crys...

The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean collection is over 10 years old. In this article we already gave you some background on the Seamaster and Planet Ocean in particular. A fact you should know is that in 2007, the models were slowly upgraded to Omega s in-house calibers (8500 and later on, in 2011, 9300). Other improvements were the use of ceramic for the uni-directional diving bezel. Last year in June, Omega suddenly dropped the ceramic bomb on the Seamaster Planet Ocean like they did on the Speedmaster 9300 series and called it Deep Black. I was able to wear one for a few weeks, and here are my thoughts about it.Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Deep BlackJust a few months after BaselWorld, Omega ...

Its the New Year and as many people put together resolution lists, we thought wed do the same and kick off the year with a look at 10 Vintage Seiko watches you should buy right now. Our admiration for Seiko is pretty transparent C from its new releases that we anticipate each March at Basel to our many in-depth articles on classic references (and a recent look on affordable vintage here) C we find that the brand from Japan has so much to offer. Some of our chosen models are extremely familiar and have been covered while some are less known, but still significant. So, Happy New Year and, in no particular order, lets talk vintage Seiko.Reference 6309Seiko 6309A list of top Vintage Seiko watche...

Chronograph ServiceA few months ago, I visited a watchmaker and followed every step he did on servicing this vintage Valjoux 22 chronograph. Not only out of interest, but also to get an idea of all that work a watchmaker does to keep our watches ticking. As a showcase and to create a bit more awareness?for this ancient profession.?I ended up making an appointment with watchmaker Kalle Slaap.Introducing the WatchmakerKalle Slaap runs a workshop?in the picturesque village called Grootschermer, near Amsterdam. He also is watchmaking teacher at (nowadays) the only watchmaking school in The Netherlands, in Schoonhoven. His company is called Horlogemaker Online (Watchmaker On-line). After years of...

Here we are in the last week of 2016 and were going to kick it old-school style by looking at a classic chronograph, the Wittnauer 235T. Weve featured a watch from the brand before with a look at the remarkably unique and bold 242T and while todays watch might not trigger any grail alerts, its deserving of its own #TBT because its such a satisfying watch. Also, if youre a at all a speculator, this Witty may be a good gamble but well expound on that a little later. Take a break from those post-Christmas sales, turn off the questionable bowl game (or English football) and take a read about a really nice and, for now, affordable vintage chronograph.The Wittnauer 235T is a Classic ChronographThe...

When the Clifton was introduced by Baume & Mercier s CEO Alain Zimmermann in Geneva, he introduced it as a watch in the category of affordable luxury. Back then, the Clifton series started below 3000 Euro for the most basic version. Later on, complications (including a tourbillon) were added. Today, we take a look at the Baume & Mercier Clifton Chronograph Complete Calendar. A watch that does not exactly belong to the affordable luxury category, but does offer a neat and useful complication.Clifton Chronograph Complete CalendarLast year, we reviewed the Clifton Complete Calendar, a watch offering day, date, month and moon phase indicators. This Baume & Mercier Clifton Chronograph...

After collecting and hunting down Speedmasters for many years now, I can say that my personal grail would be a Speedmaster CK2998-1. To me, it represents the Speedmaster in its best form. Black bezel, leaf hands, straight-lug case and caliber 321 movement. Unfortunately it took me some years to find out, and once I did, I also realized it had become very expensive.Omega Speedmaster CK2998-1Only two years after the first Omega Speedmaster was introduced, it was time for the Bienne company to come with?an update. Although the first Speedmaster, reference CK2915, looked quite similar to the CK2998 in some of its last CK2915-3 executions, you could say that the CK2998 was the first Speedmaster g...

Novak Djokovic has been the Seiko Astron GPS ambassador since 2014. Since then, Seiko didn t stand still and kept developing the GPS movement. It became much smaller, more energy efficient and is capable of receiving information from 4 satellites. Just a while ago, Seiko introduced a new limited edition of 35oo pieces only, with a mother-of-pearl dial and a titanium case with rose gold color coating. Let s have a look!Quartz MovementsQuartz powered watches remain to be a bit difficult to accept for us watch enthusiasts. They almost single-handedly killed the entire Swiss watch industry in the 1970s, allowed big brands to produce utter junk till far in the 1980s and took away the soul from ma...

Two years ago, watch collector and connoisseur Mike Stockton contributed a wonderful write-up about his Submariner 14060M. A 2000 word write-up about the classic Submariner 14060M, from the very early moment he laid his eyes on this iconic diver from , the moment he bought it (years later) up to now, years of ownership. Time to bring this story to your attention again, a wonderful (Christmas) tribute to the Submariner 14060M. Submariner 14060M ReviewSouth Florida. The words evoke different things to different people. To some, it means sun, fun and vacation. To others, images of Scarface style hustlers, gangsters and drug dealers come to mind. To me, it is simply home. Make no mistake; Sou...

Zahnd & Kormann to Launch biggest Swiss Made Watches Crowdfunding Campaign ever on KickstarterZahnd & Kormann watch brand was founded by Roger Zahnd and Florian Kormann in order to create and offer you high quality timepieces bearing the prestigious Swiss Made label, in a most transparent and modern way, aiming to change how Swiss automatic watches are sold to the customer nowadays. Based in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, we do have an easy access to the expertise and services offered by world renowned companies involved in the traditional watchmaking industry.For our debut watch collection ?ZK No.1 we have selected the legendary ETA Valjoux 7751 self winding calibre which offers ...

3, 6, 9 and 12 – There is no watch brand that relies, so much on these four bold numbers.?Year after year,?Panerai keeps its followers in a grip and surprises them with new models. Often with minimal changes, since at Panerai it is all about details.?Now I just said minimal changes, but thats a bit crude, minimal only counts for those who just know the brand? by name; any die-hard Paneristi notices every tiny detail that has been changed.Panerai s Heritage and HistoryPanerai was around 1935 commissioned by the Italian Navy to construct watches for use underwater.? When Navy orders dropped in the late eighties and watch collectors started to show interest in these vintage Panerai watche...

We ve been following the Toolwatch guys since their early start and they did a great job in creating a ‘tool to measure the accuracy of your watch. First via their website, but now there s also the Toolwatch app available in the Apple Store and Play Store (Google).Checking the accuracy of your watchFor most of you watch enthusiasts out there, accuracy is an important aspect of your mechanical watch. The chronometer (COSC) standards is one way to guarantee the accuracy of a watch (down to -4/+6 seconds a day on average), but it is only valid for 5 years and perhaps -4 seconds a day still isn t good enough for you. Also, the chronometer testing and certification only applies to the move...

Not that long ago, we reviewed the Victorinox I.N.O.X Paracord watch. Today, we have a look at the I.N.O.X Professional Diver.?This is basically the bigger (45mm) brother of the 43mm I.N.O.X (Paracord) and comes with a uni-directional rotating?bezel.I.N.O.X. Professional DiverThis watch is very similar to the I.N.O.X. Paracord that we reviewed in this article. However, the styling is somewhat different, the size is different and in the end, the I.N.O.X. Professional Diver is a tad bit cheaper than the 43mm Paracord model. It retails for 589 Euro instead of 599 Euro for the Paracord model. Only 10 Euros, but still. You don t get the fancy box or the Paracord strap though.However, if you will ...

Just as the moon accompanies us day by day and yet always fascinates us anew, the new Belisar Chronograph Moon Phase from Union Glashtte proves to be a reliable and attractive companion for every day of the year. This elegant timepiece from Saxony features all calendar display elements and a mechanical chronograph movement with a power reserve of up to 60 hours.The phases of the moon are shown through a classic, handsome indicator positioned at 6 o clock, where the celestial spectacle is acted out as though on a miniature dark-blue stage with yellow stars. The white dial with black, nickel-plated indices and numerals and blued hands form a subtle backdrop, which remains clear and tidy despi...

Almost identical to the Grand Seiko that won the?Petite Aiguille award in the Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve in 2014, Seiko now introduces the Grand Seiko Hi-Beat SBGJ021 with a special dial and oscillating weight. The design of this Grand Seiko is based on the 1967 Grand Seiko 44GS. Let s have a look at this limited edition Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 GMT SBGJ021 up close.Grand Seiko Hi-Beat SBGJ021This is that typical example of a watch you need to see in the flesh to really appreciate it. When I first saw the press release, I didn t pay too much attention as the dial and rotor appeared to be a bit gimmicky. However, when the kind people of Seiko Netherlands offered the watch to me for a r...

A cool watch does not have to be an expensive one. I think we can all agree on that. (Vintage)?Seikos are as cool as it gets, there are a bunch of divers that wont break the bank and not to mention the 7733/7734 vintage chronographs. So for a few hundred euros you can get yourself a true conversation maker,?something that looks and wears great. I have a watch for you today that fits exactly into this category. It has a unique, unconventional design that makes it instantly recognizable for watch connoisseurs. To prove that there is nothing new under the sun, it also served as inspiration for one of the leading and hippest independent watch manufacturers out there to create an iconic piece. So...

We always had a slight preference for Sinn watches that we would categorize as tool watches: the 140/142, 103, EZM series, 358, 756, 856 and so on. However, there s more to Sinn than these watches for professional use only. They also have collections like the ‘Klassische Meisterwerke (dress watches basically), ladies watches and of course, the Frankfurt Financial District collection. Or Frankfurter Finanzplatzuhren, if you want to come correct.Frankfurt am MainAs you might know, Frankfurt am Main is the financial capital of Germany. If you ve ever been there, you will know about the city s center, a combination of modern skyscrapers and beautiful old buildings. Frankfurt was bombed s...

Ronde Louis CartierCartier has been best known for its square and rectangle watches, ask anyone on the street to name a Cartier watch, and you will get an answer like; ‘that watch with the screws.. That is what Cartier is among the general public; the Santos and the Tank watches. They represent the common understanding of the essence of Cartier, in the luxury world of watches.?It therefore had lasted 30 years, after the first Cartier mens watch was made,?before a round mens dress watch was launched on a larger scale.Elegance, Style and SophisticationThe Ronde Louis Cartier as its still called, was born around 1937 and is a creation by the maestro himself. I have to be a bit vague since...