Sometimes, you just have to go with the tag that the marketing campaign uses, and I will admit, “Back into the blue” is lifted straight from Oris’s press kit. But it fits, doesn’t it? This pretty diver, with retro cues and a light blue chapter ring pays homage to the original Oris Divers Sixty-Five, while staking itself out as a modern diver.
Most crowd funded watches I see are start-ups that are trying to get going, and they are portraying their watches as a value versus what is on the market. Sometimes, you see an established brand going the crowd funding route for something really different, like when Bathys wanted to make an atomic wristwatch. With the Pellikaan Timing Diving Dutchman, I am seeing something else, an existing higher end brand looking for a minimal commitment to get tooling going on an expensive watch.
Thanks for stopping by on a (hopefully) lovely Sunday for our regular feature, Watch Video Rewind. This is where we take a little time to share watch related videos we are able to track down across the interwebs. This week, it is all about MB&F. If you follow the upper stratosphere level of high end watches, you are probably aware that the MB&F Legacy Perpetual Calendar was unveiled, and, of course, our friends over at A Blog to Watch have a hands on review.
I left the family at home and waded into deep, German-watch waters recently. I almost drowned. I attended the WatchBuys.com road show in Atlanta and learned three uses of technology that are worth remembering the next time you buy a dive watch, all demonstrated by the Sinn UX EZM 2 B Hydro.
There is just something appealing about a good sport watch. Sure, there are plenty of other styles to choose from – classic or otherwise – but a sport watch has that great capability to work for a variety of situations. While a dive watch may not look right with a suit, and a dress watch looks odd on the trail, a sport watch can manage to bridge that gap quite nicely. Throw in some ceramic surfaces and the Germanic attention to detail, and you have the new Junghans Spektrum Automatic.
I recently had a chance to check out the line of Sinn Watches at a WatchBuys Road Show, and the first watch that caught my eye was the new T1B in titanium. Sitting next to it was the T2B, a smaller version of the watch, also in titanium. Depending on your size preference, the Sinn T1B and T2B are really attractive with the new blue dial, are very light, and have a hidden feature to make that bezel especially secure.
Mokume-gane is a traditional Japanese metalworking technique where different metals are fused together in order to create a billet with a layered look, which is then worked into whatever shape is needed. This 17th Century technique was developed for ornate Samurai swords that were decorative status symbols. Now, this layered look is being used as a watch case in the H2O Kalmar 2 Mokume Gane Watches, available for pre-order on their web site.
WatchBuys is an on-line retailer of German Watches, where the watches they represent have a limited or non-existent retail presence. With limited ability to go into a store, it is tough to really get a feel for the quality and, frankly, beauty of these watches. Hence, a road show. The events are invitation only, but all you have to do in order to get an invitation is ask. There are no sales whatsoever at the WatchBuys road show events, it is all for watch lovers to check out these smaller brands. This past weekend they were in Los Angeles (Pasadena to be exact), and I checked out the wares.
When it comes to American (or at least American-designed) watches, Xetum is one of the first brands that I recall coming across. They designed the watches in California, and then had them built in Switzerland. So, you had that Swiss reliability and accuracy, with a sort of American influence on the design. Xetum is now owned by the same folks that own Torgoen, but the designs have not been meddled with. Today, we are going hands-on with a new iteration of the Xetum Stinson.
Tag Heuer is not a brand that I have given a lot of thought to, nor have we really featured them here on these pages. Of course, I am guessing that many, if not all, of you are aware of the brand as I am. Just recently, they came out with a new version of their dive watch, and that’s what we will be discussing today. So, on with the show – it’s time to take a look at the Tag Heuer AquaRacer Ceramic.
