When it comes to chronographs there are two schools of thought. One school focuses on the platonic ideal, the watch the catapults you to the moon, dark-faced and simple. The other school loves the idea of the chronograph as robot, full of odd dials, weird movements, and four more buttons than needed. The Mercer Brigadier Chrono sits firmly and handsomely in the first camp.
This watch has a delicate dial design with concentric rings pressed in the aluminum dial from the center of the watch to the outer chapter ring. Its use of small numerals contrasted with its larger, 42mm case.
You know who we haven’t heard from in awhile? Projects Watches, that’s who. Late last year we had a good spate of coverage on different watches they’ve released, and we even ran a giveaway for a Michael Graves-designed Newark (LINK to original writeup). Well, they are back again with another Graves design, but this time this is a watch definitely intended for the fairer sex. Let’s have a look at what the Projects Watches Scallop Watch has in store.
I have been aware of the Minuteman brand for some time now, but the watches they were creating really never piqued my interest. Sure, the concept behind the brand – using watch sales to assist veteran’s charities – is admirable, and now they finally have a watch that I think merits some discussion, regardless of whatever other good work may be done by the brand (just consider it a bonus). So, with that, let’s see what the Minuteman Independence has to offer.
We here at WWR like to focus on a wide variety of watches, and we certainly enjoy when we get to showcase something that is built in our neck of the woods. One brand we have not focused on as much, for whatever reason, is Ohio-based Lum Tec. They just recently announced their new-for-2016 models, and there was one in particular that caught my eye – the Lum Tec Combat B33 GMT.
Though it seems to have lost some of it’s luster and momentum lately, there is no denying that steampunk styling is an active, well, “thing”, for lack of a better term. This is an aesthetic that I had some interest in some years ago, and I still look keenly upon steampunk reimaginings of things. Today, we have a pocket watch – the Starling Watch Inception – that goes for a steampunk feel with an interesting bit of very modern technology hidden under the dial.
Moto Koure MK I offers an automatic and mecha quartz.
The brand gets its name from the British horologist, Thomas Earnshaw, who made improvements to chronometers in the late 1700s. This is a polished, stainless steel chronograph powered by a Swiss quartz movement.
When it comes to the connected watches, we often see that they bundle in some sort of step tracking, as quantifying our lives has become all the rage (myself included). The Wellograph I looked at did get more into the realm of monitoring more things relevant for fitness (including a heart rate monitor), but it was not something that would feel particularly right on the wrist at the gym or out on the trails. For myself, I have found myself spending more time in the gym, and my Fitbit – while a tidy little tracker for daily use – was not giving me the full picture I wanted. That then brings us to my new workout companion, the Garmin Forerunner 920XT.
Sometimes, a brand will want to branch out into new designs – this happens quite a bit, across many industries. If there is some concern that the new direction might dilute or otherwise confuse what had already been built, a new brand will be created, allowing some other avenues to be explored. Of course, all the expertise and history travel along from the sister brand, which makes what we have with the Belmoto Timepieces an interesting proposition.
