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.
Surprisingly, it was not the Apple iWatch that Slate.com thought was going to be the most important recent development in the watch world, but rather the Swatch Sistem51, a machine built automatic. The article gives a nice history lesson on how the Swatch Group came to be, and also discusses how this new watch is putting Swiss Made automatics on more and more wrists.
If you want something a little different, and you don’t want to spend a lot of money, Seiko has teamed up with the Japanese clothing brand Nano for this watch collaboration. Housing an automatic movement and a 10 bar water resistance, they are more than just fashion pieces, and they are not expensive at less that $300 (though they are only available from Japanese based retailers).
I was going to review the Rpaige Crash of 29, currently funding on Kickstarter, but since the two creators are contributers to A Blog to Watch, I figured that I would point you over to their post on the collaboration. Personally, I like the design a lot, though I probably wouldn’t wear the retro-styled piece very often myself.
Orient is always near the top when we discuss quality watches you can pick up on a budget, so it is not a shock that the Patrick’s review of the new Mako was the top post of the week. I like the styling more than some of the other budget divers, but the lack of hand winding would doom this for me, and is one of the elements that Patrick found lacking. Still, for the price, it is a compelling option.
Next up is a watch that I hope I do not regret buying. At 39mm, it is just a tad smaller than anything else I wear regularly, but I liked every other aspect of the watch. You can check out my review of the Redux & Co Courg and then click over to the Kickstarter page if you find yourself as intrigued as I was.
Finally, there is Patrick’s review of the Æther Watch Co. AE01. I was recently at an event and talk in my small group turned to watches, and one lady wanted a recommendation for a gift for her boyfriend. Her price was around $1,000, and she wanted something business friendly, and I instantly thought of the Weiss Standard Issue. Well, the Æther Watch Co. AE01 would now be right up there with it.
Did you know that John Biggs’ latest book, Marie Antionette’s Watch, is available as an ebook for purchase through the net, or you can buy a paperback from Amazon.
We are at technically done with July, but we are extending the July give-away through the weekend so we can start off with a new watch on Monday. So this is your last chance to get in on one of my favorite affordable quartz dress watches, the Rossling & Co. Super Slim quartz watch with a small second hand. Check out my hands on review, then click over to the contest page and enter.
We also want to put the call out for wrist shots of our reader’s favorite (or at least favorite of the moment) watches. Put together an email of your wrist shot and tell us a little about the watch and why you love it. If you happened to be introduced to it through our site (or won it through a give-away), even better. Just make sure the image is a JPEG and at least 800 pixels wide.
With that, I will wrap up this edition of Watching the Web. As always, if there’s something you think we should be covering, feel free to drop us a line. If you bring something up that we end up writing about, we’ll be sure to tip our hats (electronically, if not literally) in your general direction.
