Just before the big BaselWorld 2009 exposition, Glashtte Original (hereafter GO) presents their Senator Navigator Perpetual Calendar.This 44mm pilot watch in stainless steel has a matt black dial (as a pilot s watch always should have) with large Arabic numerals and blued hour and minute hands. I don t know if I am a big fan of too much functionality on a pilot s watch, especially if they seem not very functional (moonphase and leap year).However, as GO put it themselves in their press release: The added perpetual calendar functions have been seamlessly integrated into the dynamic design of this efficient timepiece. Probably only few will actually control the flight control stick in an airc...
Are you looking to buy an Omega Speedmaster but don t know where to start? We re here to help! Over the past 65+ years, Omega has created many variations of one of the world s most famous chronographs. The classic 42mm Moonwatch has been in the collection since 1965, and to the novice eye, little has changed since then. But if you look a bit closer, you will find that the Speedmaster evolved quite a bit in the decades that followed.In this Speedmaster guide, we ll give you an overview of the most important references of the Speedmaster (Professional) and some of its variations. Although this article isn t meant as a pricing guide, we will give some hints, of course. If you re already a knowl...
Some pre-Basel 2009 news from our friends in Bienne, Switzerland. Every 5 years, Omega introduces a tribute Limited Edition Speedmaster Professional for the original ‘Moonwatch that landed on the Moon 21 July 1969, on the wrist of Buzz Aldrin.This coming July 21st, it will be 40 years ago that Aldrin had his caliber 321 Speedmaster Professional strapped on his space suit and Armstrong left his watch in the Lunar Module because of a defect electronic timing system. Check my earlier post on the exact Speedmaster models used during this mission. You can find it here: https://www.fratellowatches.com/archives/2008/07/21/omega-speedmaster-it-is-39-years-ago/.As you might know, I am a big fa...
Marc Menant from Jaeger-LeCoulte mailed me some information on their new Master Compressor Diving Navy SEALs watches. The grade 5 titanium cases with unidirectional bezel and water resistancy of 1000 meters meet the most stringent requirements for the United States Navy SEALs diving watch. Jaeger-LeCoultre consulted snorkelling record holder Patrick Musimu about the relevance of Jaeger s diving watch innovations.The Master Compressor Diving models have a shot-peened ceramic bezel and are engraved with the Navy SEALs emblem. Before paying thousands of dollars for a vintage COMEX diver from , you might want to investigate these new three models from Jaeger-LeCoultre.Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces...
One of the best designed watches – in my opinion – is the Patek Philippe Calatrava ref.5127. I don t know what the idea is behind Patek s reference numbers, as they don t seem to be logical, but if you want to order one at your nearest (un)authorized Patek dealer it might come in handy. Anyway, I will call it ‘Calatrava in this post, without mentioning the reference all the time. Patek has a lot of Calatrava models in their collection, but the one below is the one in particular when I addressed ‘one of the best designed watches . It has no sharp edges or hard lines in terms of design, the lugs have only this slight bend towards the strap (or bracelet for the /1 model...
Just two days ago, I received an e-mail from Dell over at www.jamesbondwatches.com telling me that he is in the progress of creating the most comprehensive list of timepieces used in EON Productions (by Albert R. Broccoli) a.k.a. the 007 movies. His website is all about timepieces in Bond movies, so you ll find the known big brands like , Omega, Seiko, Pulsar and Breitling, but there are also a lot of ‘unknown watches used in these movies. If you are able to identify the unknown watches or can be more specific about some of the used timepieces, please participate!Picture of this Omega Seamaster Professional 2531.80 by Antiquorum.comYou can find the complete list at: https://www.jamesb...
Since Maurice Lacroix introduced their Masterpiece series (around 1990), they are able to compete with brands like Chronoswiss, Omega, Ebel and probably some more established brands. Maurice Lacroix is a relatively new player (1975) and in 2006 they introduced their manufacture chronograph movement. Maurice Lacroix produces 150.000 watches per year, of which 40.000 watches have a mechanical movement.How come that Maurice Lacroix gets so little attention from serious watch collectors and afficinados? Their price setting is really competitive and I have yet to see some complaints about the quality of these watches. One of the few things I can think of, is that Maurice Lacroix ruins their credi...
My longtime watchfriend Bas van Dorp informed me that he just ordered the Stowa Airman. Stowa was also present on the Watch 2008 event in Maastricht, but I must admit that I skipped this brand because I don t like their bauhaus style watches. They remind me too much of Nomos. And I prefer Nomos if I d wanted a Bauhaus style wrist watch.Stowa is a brand founded in 1927, by Walter Storz. After their factory was destroyed in Word War II (February 1945), Herr Storz immediately started building a new factory in Pforzheim. During the war, there were only five companies that made official/original pilot watches. These were IWC, Lange & S???hne, Laco, Wempe and Stowa.Just like the other brands,...
As Jake reports on his Blogspot, Bruno Meier will become the new CEO of . Bruno Meier is also on the board of directors for the Swiss Bank Z?e?orcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), I assume he doesn t combine these tasks ??At ZKB, Bruno Meier was head of the Risk Management Unit. That s at least a bit of comfort when a banker becomes CEO of the watch company… ??As Thomas Mulier of Bloomberg wrote:Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — Group, the Swiss watchmaker, named Finance Director Bruno Meier as head of management after Chief Executive Officer Patrick Heiniger resigned, ending almost half a century of leadership under the Heiniger family.Meier will be responsible for running the company along with th...
Normally, I don t like to copy/paste a blog post, but this message is most interesting to post as-is:Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — Group, the Swiss watchmaker, said Chief Executive Officer Patrick Heiniger resigned for ????personal???? reasons after 16 years in the post.Heiniger will leave at the end of the year, the Geneva-based company said in a statement late yesterday. Separately, today denied a L?????Agefi report that the company may have lost 1 billion Swiss francs ($900 million) invested with Bernard Madoff, the U.S. money manager charged with fraud.Heiniger, who replaced his father Andre in 1992, leaves as the financial crisis ends a boom for the watchmaking industry that l...
The German R-L-X forum has this populair ‘Welche habt Ihr im Moment am Arm? -topic. You don t have to understand German to know what it says I guess. The most exotic watches come along in this thread, as can be seen below. One of my favorite vintage es is the Explorer II, a.k.a Steve McQueen , a.k.a ‘Freccione . I don t recall seeing Steve McQueen wearing this watch (he did wear a Submariner though), so I don t know why this watch is being called the ‘Steve McQueen anyway.Anyway, the ref.1655 Explorer II I found in this thread is a handsome looking watch and I really could live with this vintage time piece if it wasn t for these crazy prices they are asking.Even though...
The story goes that after a polo match in India, some British officers challenged their friend Cesar de Trey to create a watch that was able to resist the serious beatings caused by polo sport. Once back in Europe, Cesar de Trey (businessman) shared the problem with Jacques-David LeCoultre, who creates the Reverso watch in association with Jaeger. The Reverso watch was patented in 1931 (the 4th of March to be precise) and was originally designed by Rene-Alfred Chauvot.Almost 80 years later, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is still going strong and it is one of the classic watches that can also easily be referred to as a cult watch. The rectangular shape, the Reverso mechanism, the inhouse movem...
In the first weekend of December, I will be visiting the Watch2008 event. A two day watch event, to be held in a castle in Maastricht. A city with a very nice shopping center and lots of nice watch and jewelery stores.Anyway, one of the exhibitors on the Watch2008 event is Rainer Nienaber, from Bnde/Germany. This watchmaker, born in 1955, created his first wristwatches in 1995. Before that, Nienaber had a repairshop and was primarily occupied with clocks (regulators). Nienaber is a member of the AHCI – the Acad?e??mie Horlog?e??re des Cr?e??ateurs Ind?e??pendants. Other members of the AHCI are George Daniels (Co-Axial design), Paul Gerber, Svend Anderson, Franck Muller, FP Journe, Fel...
More and more haute horlogerie brands are demonstrating their haute-ness to make sure that you know how to be different from other fortunate watch collectors. Although I would feel very frightened with an expensive haute horlogerie timepiece on my wrist, there are probably enough fortunate people that don t. During my trip to Singapore earlier this year, I have seen a number of haute horlogerie timepieces that really struck me. I also wondered why we didn t have these timepieces closer at home, in The Netherlands, Benelux or even the rest of Europe. But that thought crossed my mind for only a few seconds. North-America, Asia, Russia and only some parts of Europe is where the money ‘is ...
Omega has this almost annoying habit of introducing Limited Edition Speedmasters for about every event. However, try to get a NASA patch model (such as the Snoopy Award edition or any of the Apollo 11 editions) and you probably feel stupid for not see that one coming ??Speedmasters are, besides being linked to the NASA programme, also connected to racing. Initially, the Speedmaster was created as the watch for car drivers, as you can see on the picture below (pre-NASA programme).In 1968, Omega even produced a Speedmaster Professional with a so called ‘racing -dial. Not to be confused with the later 1970s Speedmaster Professional Mark II with racing dial. This 145.012 (1968) model is pr...
A while ago, I posted about this watch strap made out of the leather interior of this Mercedes-Benz 300SLR (owned by Jean Todt). If you own a Panerai watch, you probably know all about this strap thing. I have seen them in all kinds of colors, materials (even elephant) and with all types of buckles and inscriptions.A very popular leather strap seems to be the ammo pouch strap. Yes, an ammo pouch. Below you ll see one of a Russian soldier outfit from the early 20th century.I have seen some really nice models over at Catcherstraps, and for a decent price as well. The straps made by Ted Su are also very popular amongst Paneristi world wide. I really like the vintage Swiss ammo pouch strap by Te...
Jorg Hysek, designer of watches and pens for Tag Heuer and Cartier. Hysek also manufactures watches under his own label.As Hysek writes in their press release of the X-Ray Perpetual Calendar, this watch is a result of traditional watchmaking and high-tech style ‘n design. The X-Ray watch is made out of 18ct rose gold (including the folding clasp) and uses rubber for some parts of the watchcase as well.This watch features a perpetual calendar function and an impressive dial which gives a view on the highly worked movement. Months and bissextile leap year indication at 12 o?????clock, date indication at 3 o?????clock, day counter at 9 o?????clock and second GMT indication at 6 ...
A few months ago, I visited Singapore and noticed this incredible piece of art in the display of The Hour Glass shop in the Millenia Walk mall. This watch, an URWERK 103, was an incredible eye-catcher.Last week I received a presentation of URWERK s latest creation, the UR103 Hexagon. It also included a technical description of this time piece.URWERK, founded in 1997 by Felix Baumgartner (watchmaker) and Martin Frei (artist), celebrates each new collection by 10 black watches. This year, URWERK introduces the new black platinum 103 Hexagon. The birth of URWERK?????s ???Black???a limited editions goes back to 1999 with the presentation of a special version of URWERK?????s very first wat...
The Omega Speedmaster Professional is the watch that seems to be the back bone of my watch collection and interest in mechanical wrist watches. It is the watch that started the whole madness for me. That s probably why it is in the header picture of this website anyway ?? I have to admit though, that there are periods that I almost never wear mine and that it gets almost no attention at all. However, with the slightest trigger the whole obsession with this watch start all over again. The latest trigger has been a small GTG with a few long time watch friends. One of the guys was wearing this very rare Speedmaster Professional ref. BA 145.022. He also brought the original box which is a relief...
Oh, shoot me. This Panerai Forum is something I set-up with the help of some Panerai enthusiasts. The Dutch Forum is quite popular, so I wondered if there would be space for a Dutch Panerai Forum as well. Panerai is a brand that I have the famous love – hate relationship with. I had this wonderful PAM 113 and sold it because I thought I could do without. Boy, I was wrong. I really missed the whole Panerai experience.. being a Paneristi, buying and changing Panerai straps once in a while (or too often). So, about a year after I sold it, I ran into this great looking Panerai 000. As good as new. And the enthusiasm was immediately there again. Anyway, as a result, I started the Dutch Pan...
