WatchUseek, considered to be the No.1 interactive watch portal, is having a Grande Finale 2009 event! This means that WatchUseek, in combination with its sponsors, will celebrate the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 by giving away a number of watches to registered members of WatchUseek that enroll for the contest!The instructions are quite simple! Ernie Romers, director of WatchUSeek, wrote a small FAQ for all attendees.How can I participate?Simple, enter the competition as soon as it is published in here.What else should I know about this Grande Finale?The Grande Finale 2009 is for WatchUseek s members, moderators and sponsors only. Not yet a member? Register here!What does WatchUseek need...

I have to be honest, I don t like the new Sea-Dweller Deep Sea very much. It is not that I dislike the inner ring that everybody is talking about, with the Sea-Dweller subscription, it is the size of the watch and the rather ‘small bracelet attached to it. Perhaps the watch has to grow on me, like the GMT-Master IIc (ref.116710) and the Milgauss (ref.116400(GV)) did in the meanwhile. I happen to like these last two a lot actually. So who knows, I might be able to like the Sea-Dweller Deep Sea in the (far) future as well.However, I do not seem to be alone with regards to the new and [technically] improved Sea-Dweller Deep Sea 116660. The former Sea-Dweller ref.16600 (pictured above)...

About a year ago, I wrote about Mondani s book ‘100 years of , which is a must have if you are a (serious) passionate. Now, especially for the iPhone user, Mondani Editore created an iPhone app (Apple users like to use this shortcut for ‘application ) that contains 182MB of information about wristwatches. Since , and especially vintage , is booming – this might be a well-aimed shot from the creators of this iPhone [killer] app.For a fraction of the price of the book (which is around 299 Euro), you will buy your own electronic copy of 100 years of , which contains over 500 high quality pictures, updated prices and enables you to search models on model, production year, r...

More than half a year ago, I posted this blog about the Sea-Dweller Deep Sea Jacques Piccard edition, a Dutch initiative from Philipp Stahl (Steiner) and Jerrel Manbodh (Manbodh Watches). Just today, Christie s had one of the 86 pieces on auction, number 60 of 86. When still available, these watches changed owner for 12.900 Euro. The official Sea-Dweller Deep Sea Jacques Piccard website is www.singlereddeepsea.com, which is still on-line and contains some more background information regarding these watches.Number 60/86 is not a coincidence…???? Number 60 stands for the successful deep sea diving mission in 1960 and 86 is the age of Jacques Piccard, who passed away last year. The auct...

For most of us watch freaks, big part of the fun is in the mechanical movement. Handwound or automatic, doesn t matter, as long as it has a mechanical heartbeat instead of a battery operated electronic circuit (exceptions aside). Most brands use movements built by companies such as ETA, Soprod, Lemania etc. Other companies, the so-called in-house manufacturers, develop and produces their own movements. Sometimes, they even let other watch brands use their movements (like Jaeger-LeCoultre for example, Piaget or Girard-Perregaux and there are much more examples from the past).Besides functionality, complications or materials used, what (can) make them special or even stand-out, is the level of...

A few months ago, I got an e-mail from Michael Clerizo, telling me that he had written a book called ‘Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking . I hooked him up with Ernie Romers of WatchUseek to see if there was something possible with regards to the watch event WATCH2009 in Maastricht (on the 14th and 15th of November).Two weeks ago, I received the Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking book by Michael. The book contains coverage on a lot of brands, the so-called independent watchmaking brands so to speak. Michael spend a lot of time listening to George Daniels, Svend Andersen, Vincent Calabrese, Philippe Dufour, Antoine Preziuso, Franck Muller, Aniceto Jiminez Pita, Alain Silberstein, Marco...

Friend of the show, Maximilian Busser, just introduced the HM2.2 ‘Black Box . A redesign of the famous Horological Machine No.2 that he did together with watch design icon Alain Silberstein.Maximilian Busser wrote in his e-mail that In fact my first encounter with an Alain Silberstein watch dates back to my student years over 20 years ago: I was driving down a German Autobahn and overtook a BMW Z1 with its doors down and the driver wearing first world war pilot jacket, goggles and leather helmet and a Silberstein Krono on his wrist. A sight I have never been able to forget? . So, a little more than a year back, I asked Alain if he would honour me with a redesign of our HM2. Well, he no...

600 pieces only, a weight of 12 Kgs and 600 pages telling the story of 130 Daytona watches in prestine condition, dated from 1960 and on. Pucci Papaleo Editore did an amazing job on describing these watches with this level of detail, delivering it in one book that is entirely bound by hand with a leather lined 8mm wood binding. The team of Pucci had some help from only the best vintage horology specialists, who consist of collectors, watchmakers and retailers.For photographing all these time pieces, the most advanced photography techniques have been used and in the end (it is about the result) it has been printed with the highest resolution possible.This said, it perhaps gives you more unde...

You merely look after it for the next generation. With this slogan, Patek Philippe seduces you to take the plunge on one of their magnificent watches. It creates some kind of justification to spend a tremendous amount of money on one time piece that could have bought you half a dozen other Swiss quality watches.One of my favorites is the Patek Philippe Nautilus (ref.5711/1A) in its purest form: stainless steel and with hours, minutes and date only. However, Patek Philippe also manufacturers the 5712/1A, which is basically the same watch in terms of design or look & feel, but it features a moon phase, date and power reserve indicator. These complications make it the ultimate luxury sports...

For IWC, 2009 is the year of the Aquatimer relaunch. IWC s first Aquatimer saw daylight in 1967 and I doubt that one of these first models ever saw some water, because they didn t look very water resistant. However, looks might be deceiving because IWC claimed it to be water resistant to 200 meters. Anyway, between 1967 and now, IWC has had several sports watches (GST, Ocean, Aquatimer) suitable for use below the surface.The new line of Aquatimers have been presented at SIHH 2009 and a number of jewelers organized introduction events for their customers (click here for the Ace Jewelers presentation earlier this year). One of my personal favorites this year, is the IWC Aquatimer Chronograph E...

A few months ago, I wrote about the non-fitting NATO strap on James Bond s watch in the Goldfinger movie (click here for the article). I also stated that I really don t like NATO straps on watches.Still from GoldfingerIn one of the comments by Dell Deaton (THE James Bond watch authority), he more or less wrote me that I shouldn t be so harsh on NATO straps Live and let live. Perhaps he was right, as I got a few NATO straps a few days ago from UK Watch Strap and I am slowly getting used to wearing such a strap on my t-dial Sea-Dweller.The straps start at 5.99 UKP (add one pound for the striped models) and are of excellent quality. Attaching them is a piece of cake and they feel quite comfor...

Nick Faldo (b.1957) was one of European s best golf players in the 1980s and 1990s, and recently honored with nighthood (Sir Nick Faldo) in recognition of an incredible sporting career by the English queen. What most golfers probably do not know (with the exception of the watch connoisseurs amongst them), is the long time partnership between Nick Faldo and Audemars Piguet.Audemars Piguet, King of special editions, created three different Royal Oak watches to honor golf legend Nick Faldo. The first model showed up in 1992, with reference 14790. A rose gold Royal Oak, limited to 325 pieces. In 1997, Audemars Piguet introduced the Royal Oak Nick Faldo edition ref.15090, limited to 150 pieces in...

Tom Mulraney, of The Watch Lounge website, makes it very easy for you to win this RED8 wrist watch by Christian Bedat. With the RED8, Bedat & Co created something entirely different from their normal collection of watches. I actually like the RED8, because it is a fresh looking design with a self-winding eco-quartz movement, as we know it from the Omega Seamaster QMatic (the watch is powered by a capacitor that is charged by a spinning rotor). This would make a nice watch suitable for sports, big crown, large dial and hands.Anyway, the only thing you need to do is go to Tom s website and follow the instructions. You either have to sign-up for his Twitter feed or sign-up for his newslette...

Linde Werdelin s 3-Timer is almost ready for production. Since the introduction during BaselWorld last March, the 3-Timer probably has become – together with the SpidoLite – their most popular model of the collection.With only a limited run of 22 timepieces for the brown dial version, this is probably going to be an instant hit. I have ordered one after seeing it during BaselWorld 2009, and opted for the brown dial version right a way. About a week ago, I received Linde Werdelin s prototype brown dial watch and will share some of my experiences and opinions with you.Since this is a prototype watch, I don t want to write a full review yet. Anyhows, below you ll find some of the th...

Today, WorldTempus put my latest Chronicle on-line. This article (or Chronicle, as WorldTempus calls them) is about Bremont watches. I wrote about Bremont before (here and here), but in this Chronicle I wonder whether people are going to choose for a Bremont over a watch of one of the established brands. So, is this Bremont ALT1-P for example the new Flieger Chronograph in town?Bear Grylls, wearing his Bremont chronograph!Click here to read ‘Bremont – a new Flieger over at WorldTempus.com...

When you own a Panerai, it is a simple job to get a decent custom made strap for it. When you own an IWC Ingenieur (ref.3227), it is a bit harder…the IWC soft strap of the AMG version will fit perfectly, but IWC doesn t make a leather strap for this model.Jacob from Spain creates leather straps for all types and makes of watches. Including a strap for the IWC Ingenieur. I heard about it via e-mail, when a reader of this blog noticed that Jacob was making these straps and did know that I own a 3227 as well ?? The writer of the mail also sent me a link to a short review of the Jacob strap for the IWC Ingenieur on Watch Talk Forums (click here).Before I clicked, I wondered if Jacob had ma...

What the Speedmaster Automatic ref. ST376.0822 (also referred to as the Holy Grail Speedmaster) was for Chuck Maddox, is the Speedmaster Professional Moonphase (ref.3689.30.31) for me. This white gold Speedmaster Professional (yes, labelled ‘Professional ) was introduced during BaselWorld 1999 by Omega. In the same year I bought my first serious watch, which happened to be a Speedmaster Professional (caliber 321) as well.The 18 carat white gold Speedmaster Professional Moonphase was only available for a limited time and commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Apollo XI landing in 1969. The caliber 1866 movement is based on Omega s caliber 1861, which you probably recognize as being th...

I just finished an article for the WatchUseek blog about the joint venture between ejection seat builder Martin-Baker and Bremont watches.So, what has this ejection seat to do with Bremont s watches? Click here to read the blog post over at WatchUseek!...

In Basel, I had the pleasure to meet with Thierry Oulevay (CEO and co-founder of Jean Dunand) and one of his watches, the Jean Dunand Tourbillon Orbital. This tourbillon watch features a one-minute flying tourbillon that orbits the dial once per hour. Furthermore, it has this cool power reserve indicator in the case band and moon phase on the caseback. You really need to take this watch off your wrist if you are planning to show it off properly.One of the things that struck me most, was the beauty of the dial and hands. I am not very much into tourbillons, so I focus a bit more on the dial and hands in these cases ?? The sky scraper hands are one of the nicest pair of hands I d ever seen on ...

Imagine you are a cardiologist, and you take your family on a transatlantic voyage in a sloop sailboat without any navigation or any modern electronic aids. With waves 12 meters high, a dramatic storm incident, a broken mast, and a huge freighter running against you, it is anything but a leisure cruise. But tolerance and the general perception of danger were completely different in the 1970s. What was an ordinary summer for the protagonists in this story would, by today s standards, be deemed unimaginable individual heroism, perhaps even madness.Jim s fatherA Gallet Yachting in my inboxI believe my father was given this watch in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but I am not sure, reads the first ...