Awkward or not, North and South Korea together during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games was impressive to witness. To celebrate the Olympic Games spirit, Omega introduces 18 new NATO straps inspired by flags world wide, as well as 6 NATO straps that are inspired by the 5 Olympic rings: white bordered straps in black, yellow, green, blue and red, and a multi-striped version which blends all 5 colors.All these straps come with stainless steel buckles and keepers. The flag-inspired can be ordered via Omega boutiques. Prices are probably around $188 (the official Omega website gives us the Sorry, the price is not available in your country. Please contact a Boutique.. The regular s...
Barely a month before Baselworld 2018 kicks off, some good news arrived. Today, we received official word that the new Seiko Prospex Mini-Turtle series will be sold within European markets. In late November of last year, our friends over at Worn & Wound first showed these new releases but it seemed these watches would fall under the designation of Japanese Domestic Market only, aka the dreaded JDM. However, as mentioned, were here to report that this is not the case. If you missed the story, heres a recap on these exciting Seikos from the Prospex series.The Seiko Prospex Mini-Turtle received its nickname from the get-go due to its strong resemblance to the well-known SRP series, a reissu...
If youre at all active on Instagram, then youve likely noticed some things going on around the Breitling brand. First, a couple Saturdays ago, there was the #LegendaryFuture event where Breitling collectors posted pictures with their favorite chronographs from the brand. Alongside this, Breitling showed hints of an upcoming line on their feed. Then, last week, events in Asia debuted the new Breitling Navitimer 8 series. Well get a chance in a weeks time to see these pieces in Europe when Breitling continues its roadshow combining a museum-like display with the new pieces. For now, though, well continue to examine the brands heritage in our recurring #TBT series. Todays episode focuses on a m...
What a nice size for vintage-inspired sports watches. And what a pleasant size to wear anyhow. The Maen Hudson 38 Automatic is my 52Mondayz watch for week #6.Maen Hudson 38 AutomaticWe know Maen, or MAEN as they tend to write it themselves, from their dress watches. In June of last year, we wrote a review on their second model, the Brooklyn 39. You ll find it here. And in December last year, we did a preview of the automatic version (yet to be released) as well here.The Maen Hudson 38 Automatic on stainless steel braceletThe Maen Hudson 38 Automatic will be funded using Kickstarter (end of April).Same approach, new directionHowever were we surprised to learn that Maen took such a different d...
The Olympic gold, silver and bronze. But Omega s representation is of course gold, silver and pink gold where the pink gold is their own Sedna alloy and white gold the Canopus alloy. Canopus is a new introduction, an exclusive white gold alloy, which is 100% noble and distinctive for its high brilliance, whiteness and longevity.For the Olympics, Omega introduces to you these 39.5mm Seamaster Olympic Games Gold watches, all in precious metals. The watch is similar to the special Seamaster Edizione Venezia that we showed you here.Seamaster Olympic Gold CollectionA very classic looking Seamaster, which reminds us of the very early models of this collection that started in 1948. That s right, th...
We are very proud to present the first monthly Catawiki Prestigious Watch Auction of 2018. Our top experts have carefully handpicked a selection of fine timepieces for this flagship auction that will start?Friday 2nd of February at 12am (CET)?and will run until?Sunday 11th of February at 8pm (CET). Included in this sale are some rare and complicated watches from highly regarded makers like?Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin. Tourbillions, Perpetual Calendars, Rattrapante Chronographs and other mechanical marvels will go under the virtual hammer here.??Please visit?Prestigious Watch Auction?and start bidding.Omega?De Ville Tourbillon Ref.?5133.30.00Up for auction is thi...
Travel back with me to October 2012 to, of all places, Fukuoka, Japan. Id been to Japan many times but really only to Tokyo, but work had taken me to the Southern part of the country and I was excited to see something different. Well, it was different in some ways, but in many ways, the litter of small restaurants, electronics stores and, naturally, a large baseball stadium reminded me of the countrys largest city. Still, it was here, after going through the typical camera shops for so many years and admiring brands like Seiko, Orient, Casio, and Citizen that the bug finally bit me. Its hard to believe, but it was during this trip that I bought my first new Seiko and it was, and is, a unique...
Last weekend we joined the Chrono24GTG Event in Germany. Chrono24 is best known to be the world leading watch market platform with 10 mio visits per month, offering new & pre-owned watches from over 16.000 sellers world wide. Both professional and private. We don t need to introduce them, as you are probably well aware of their website.To show that there s more to this company (with over 130 full time employees) than just a website, and show that they care about watches and watch collectors, they organized a get-together for them in their headquarters in Germany. All guests (slightly over 30 people) were welcomed by their CEO Tim Stracke, who acquired Chrono24 in 2010 with two other busi...
Fortis enthusiasts out there might wonder why we did not cover the brand as extensively as we did the previous years. Well, on the one hand many new and interesting things happened and on the other hand Fortis just recently supplied us with some of their novelties. After this hands-on review of the Fortis Pilot Classic chronograph, Mike Stockton will take a look at something cool too. Like every year in March, Mike and I paid Fortis a visit during the busy week of BaselWorld. We pointed out the ones we liked most and as soon as production allowed it, the Grenchen brand provided us with the timepieces for review.Whats new with Fortis?First of all, we would like to set the record straight on s...
You might remember the Bukowskis watch auction from October last year, where two Speedmaster CK2915 watches were auctioned. One of them fetched the world record price for the Speedmaster,?$275,508 US dollars. This Speedmaster CK2915-1 from June 1958, was actually a very early model and had the correct?7077/6 bracelet as well. Last year marked the 60th anniversary of the Speedmaster, which Omega celebrated extensively (including the introduction of a 60th anniversary model of their Speedmaster). But what would be the best thing to buy in the 60th birth year of the Speedmaster? Right, a CK2915 watch.The buyer of the Speedmaster CK2915-1 watch from Bukowskis contacted us and was happy to answer...
Last Saturday during the Chrono24 GTG in Karlsruhe (you ll find our event report here) my attention was drawn to a GMT-Master in steel and gold. One way or the other, Robert-Jan and myself spoke about this watch on our way to the GTG (a 5-hour drive). And you know what happens next. You ll mention that some attendants to the GTG actually have this watch with them. GMT-Master 16753In the early seventies, the steel and gold 16753 version was an addition to the stainless-steel and full-gold models of the GMT-Master. The steel and gold version became available with a black dial and rotating GMT-bezel, as well with a brown dial and gold-brown colored bezel. It s the latter this 52Mondayz articl...
January 2018: Inspired by passion and built by hand. ZOID Mastermind is a union of performance and edginess, this classic-chic watch for both men and women is perfect for all occasions. Looking for a watch to bring you from the board room to the party scene; ZOID has it.As a watch enthusiast and watch lover who appreciate great designed products, Andrew Oliver created the ZOID Mastermind. The first eye contact with ZOID Mastermind, you know this is something unique, something extraordinary, something well-crafted. ZOID watches have been created to be classic with a punch of excitement, contemporary imbued with a look of seriousness, funky yet preserving the functionality. A practical day to ...
Reaching back to your roots, resurrecting old models is a thing in the watch industry these days. Heck, its the only thing?for many brands to be fair. Is it the lack of originality? Laziness, if you will? Or simply a way to pay homage to the predecessors? Not to forget the amazing timepieces of a bygone era? I dont know, and I do not wish to elaborate on that. Its surely a trend, and we know what happens to trends. One thing is for certain though; Tissot has been doing Heritage models for a while now. And theyre good at it too. Amongst all the Swatch group brands Tissot (and Longines) produce some of the nicest and affordable reinterpretations of vintage watches. Last years Tissot Heritage 1...
When it comes to beer, I generally favor brews from the smaller companies. These brewers offer beer styles and flavors that often appeal to less people overall, but provide a greater amount of satisfaction to a select group of drinkers. The other note about these brewers is that they were once but a tiny part of the marketplace, but times have changed. This is kind of how I feel when it comes to micro branded watches. No single brand is large enough to disrupt the big boys, but taken as a whole, theyve caused many of the larger players to sit up and take notice. Numerous examples exist of famous brands dabbling in marketing or by offering pieces made out of material (read: bronze) that only ...
Oris is a sympathetic brand in my opinion. Independent (but not small) and very strong in the sub $2000 price range. We covered their Aquis and Sixty-Five Divers watches a number of times, as these are great value propositions. What also helps for us watch journalists, is that the people behind Oris are also sympathetic and real watch enthusiasts. That doesn t help or mean much for the end-consumer perhaps, at least not directly, but believe me, it does for us when the people behind a brand share the (true) love for watches. However, being very strong in that $1000 to $2000 segment, what happens if a brand like Oris creates a watch that retails for nearly $5000?For that kind of money, you ar...
Some people have all the luck in the world. One of our readers from the United States, Jacob, is a 23 year old Speedmaster enthusiast and did an amazing barn find. Being in college, a watch like a Speedmaster isn t his first priority but nevertheless he had been craving for one since a while. It is the classic chronograph that always spoke to his imagination. So on one typical college night, after having a couple of beers, he started searching for Speedmaster watches on Craigslist. Outside the US, it isn t very known, but it is a huge platform (invented by Craig Newmark in 1995) where people can offer and search for houses, people, jobs, services and things like watches. Jacob wasn t looking...
Looking to wear a sober watch this week, friend of the show Alon Ben-Joseph (CEO of Ace Jewelers in Amsterdam) offered me to try his watch. A special and limited edition of the Nomos Orion 38, the ‘100 Years De Stijl .Nomos Orion 38 De Stijl Limited EditionLast summer, this special edition was initiated by Alon s family-owned company, Ace Jewelers in Amsterdam. We showed it to you here. Alon, being a great fan of this neoplasticism art movement as long as he knows, found in the 100th anniversary of the De Stijl movement an ideal opportunity to launch this watch. Nomos, always keen on plain and simple designs as well, proofed to be the perfect partner.The Nomos Orion 38 De Stijl on my w...
The year 1957 was a spectacular one for Omega. It was the year when Omega introduced the?Speedmaster,?Seamaster 300?and Railmaster. The first two are probably best? known, the Railmaster is a bit more a ‘collectors only piece these days. However, that is the watch we are covering in this review. The 60th anniversary edition that is, that was introduced last year.Youve all seen the Omega 1957 Trilogy box set with reedition of the three? legends (if not, click here). Where the Speedmaster CK2915 was introduced for timing (sports) events and the Seamaster 300 CK2913 for diving purposes, the Railmaster CK2914 was meant for people working in professional environments where they would be ex...
Where bespoke timepieces were once an option offered only by luxury brands or independents, Schaffen was founded to push the boundaries on watch customization. Since its inception in 2016, Schaffen has made hundreds of personalized timepieces. Today, we take a look at the next phase of development of the young brand as it releases its new collection of automatic watches.Schaffen Reference 65The first of its kind in this price bracket, the Reference 65 takes customization to the next level by delving into the movement of the watch. It introduces a unique and rarely seen customization option: the rotor. The rotor, an oscillating weight that winds an automatic timepiece, is as much aesthetic as...
HYT, like many independent watchmaking brands, signed up for SIHH and abandoned BaselWorld. Bert and I took an early ride to the SIHH exhibition on Thursday and a little over 9am we were already at the HYT booth. The novelties they presented to us were, as always, different, cool and bearing the typical HYT DNA. The brand offered two models: the HYT H0 Gold and H2O. Both very different watches in terms of pricing and design. While the H0 Gold is a simpler, classical if you like, approach to the HYT the H2O is a crazy looking haute horlogerie piece. Nonetheless, they are timepieces many would love to own including me. Let me elaborate.H0 GoldOut of the two new novelties the H0 Gold is the les...
