Welcome back to Watching the Web, our regular Saturday feature where we explore a couple of interesting watch posts from across the web, plus highlight our most popular posts. This week, I have new (ish) watches from Cobra de Calibre, Panerai, andHamilton. From our site, you guys found the Steinhart Ocean 1 Bronze, the Oak & Oskar Sanford and the Jubileon Superellipse as the most interesting posts of the week.
I am a big fan of Cobra de Calibre. I think they produce really distinctive looking watches and present a good value in the micro-brand market. Now, John Lee has his first woman’s watch, courtesy of the Time Bum. It does not break any new ground, but it is something that looks unique, has a solid movement, isn’t expensive, and will definitely fit in with an edgy girl’s aesthetic.
I have to admit, I was not always a fan of Panerai. I don’t know why, maybe the cushion case took time to grow on me, but I am a convert now, and the Panerai Radiomir 1940 3 Day Automatic is a very pretty watch. Hodenkee takes an in depth look at what they call one the year’s best summer watches.
For the last of our external links, I wanted to point you toward ABTW with their take on the Hamilton Khaki Field Auto Chrono. Hamilton is a perfect brand for someone who wants to step up into a more recognized Swiss brand, but isn’t ready to lay out the cash for an Omega, or Rolex, or Breitling, or IWC, or, well, you get my drift.
Value pricing, a solid design, a cool metal, nice features, and a recognizable name, it is not exactly shocking that the Steinhart OCEAN 1 in bronze is watch is on our list of most popular posts 2 weeks in a row. I am with Patrick in his review, where he though it had a bit too much of the yellow gold look, but I expect it to age gracefully and develop an interesting patina.
Oak & Oscar is back for their encore, deciding not to mess too much with the winning formula of their introductory watch. The new one, the Sandford, gets a little smaller case (40mm) and adds a GMT hand, while keeping most of he styling of the first watch. I don’t think I am going out on a limb predicting that this watch will be a big hit.
Finally, we have Victor’s take on the Jubileon Superellipse, a crowd funded watch out of Singapore sporting a Swiss ETA automatic movement. It is an interesting looking watch, with a case very reminiscent of an instrument style pilot’s watch, but with a handset that is definitely outside the norm of that style. There is a lot of value in the watch package, so check out the review and see what you think of it.
Did you know that John Biggs’ book, Marie Antionette’s Watch, is free to read with Kindle Unlimited, or you can buy a paperback from Amazon. Oh, and even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can always read via their free apps or their cloud reader (check those out here
). The book is also now on Wattpad. You can even check out a snippet of the book.
Want to be more than just a visitor to our little corner of the internet? How about pledging some support for us over on Patreon. There are some compelling funding levels (including site redesigns and removing ads, and getting a copy of the Marie Antoinette book), but really, we just want to ensure we keep this lean ship running and the lights on. You can check out John’s latest post right here. This is a fun thing we get to do on the side, and we want to keep bringing you the content that you have come to rely on from us, and work to make it even better.
Is it August already? Wow, how does the summer fly by. Still, you can console yourself with a chance to win this month’s watch give-away, a Klaus Kobec Taj Mahal. As usual, we have a 2 step process, so head over to the contest page and get your entry going.
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. And 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.
