A while back I took a look at the Mr Jones Watches Sun and Moon Miyamoto, which was a limited edition watch to honor the creator of the Super Mario games. At that point, we had covered more than a few Mr Jones Watches, but neither Patrick nor myself had been able to check out one in person. Well, a few emails later, a Mr Jones Watches Sun and Moon Miyamoto, now part of the regular collection, was on its way for me to check out. The bottom line: it is fun, well finished, and colorful.
Overbuilt dive watches are not very rare. Inexpensive dive watches, even ones with automatic movements are not super hard to come across. But an overbuilt diver for less than $250 (currently on sale), those are not all that common. But this is what we find with the Deep Blue Sun Diver 1K dive watch. Patrick has looked at a couple of Deep Blue watches previously, but all have been north of $500.
Chronographs are one of the more popular complications for watches, though their actual usefulness can be debatable. I have one chrono which I wear quite often, though I use the chronograph function fairly infrequently when it is on. As a timing device, I find that a rotating bezel is usually good enough to time when I put the meat in the smoker, when I need to get back to the parking meter, or how long I have until the laundry is done (have I missed anything?). But if you want a chronograph to actually time things, the bullhead arrangement, where the pushers are located at top of the watch, is a useful arrangement. Which brings me to the CJR Watches Velocita currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. CJR was nice enough to lend me their two prototypes for a hands on review before the funding period ends on August 20.
The times are changing with how people exchange their ideas, money, and products, with the luxury watch…
“Driver” watches fill out an interesting style for me. Many of them look like divers, without the rotating bezel, or maybe aviators without some of the classic handset or marker cues. They are frequently loud, and they often times have racing stripes, for whatever reason (how many of us have cars with racing stripes?). But maybe because of the blend of styles, they do get my attention. On Kickstarter, the Straton Vintage Driver has already picked up a lot of attention, getting funded and blowing past their first two stretch goals in just their first weekend on line (with a Friday launch no less).
Are we officially in the dog days of summer with the start of August? Where did the summer go? Regardless, we are at a weekend, and that means we have our Saturday post, Watching the Web, where we look in on watch related posts on other sites, and take a look back at our own most popular recent posts. This week, Slate (a news site) ran an article on the surprising watch it thinks will revolutionize the Swiss Watch Industry, Worn & Wound’s looked at the Seiko X Nano Universe collection, and ABTW’s featured a write up of the Rpaige Crash of 29. From our own pages, the Orient Mako, Redux & Co Courg, and the Æther Watch Co. AE01 were all top reads.
Prior to be contacted for this review, I was blissfully unaware of Æther Watch Co., which is surprising, given the level of quality that I saw in my time with the watch they sent over. Hailing from Phoenix, AZ, Æther Watch Co. started up shop in 2012, designing watches here in the USA, with assembly happening in Pforzheim, Germany. While they only have two models currently on offer (and one is a limited edition), what they have created for their entry-level piece is certainly an excellent first outing. Without further ado, let’s dig in to the Æther Watch Co. Æ01.
I do sometimes complain about the lack of real individuality in crowd funded watch projects, so when something unique comes across our Tips line, I want to cover it, even if it not something I could see myself wearing. The Thirsty Watch Co. Vintage Soda watch on Indiegogo is exactly that type of project. It is unique, it will probably appeal to a fair number of people, but it just isn’t for me. But that does not mean it is without merits.
Once again, it’s time that those of us in the US of A commemorate the birth of our country with barbecue, beverages, and good ol’ blowing stuff up (aka fireworks). Since it’s a holiday a good chunk of us are observing, there’s really no watch post for today.
Crowd funding a project can be hit or miss. There are a lot of watch projects out there, and it is tough (even for us folks who look at a lot of projects) to predict which ones will make it, and which ones won’t. I know of a few watches that I thought were sure fire hits that never made it, and others that I thought were just average that blew up (no names in the latter), and then even more that either deserve their success or obscurity. Lionstone has tried to launch a couple of times, and never quite hit the mark, in spite of what I think is a pretty intersting campaign. They are at it for one final go, with the Lionstone SuperSlim and Ceramic Watches, currently on Indiegogo.
