Welcome to Watching the Web for July 16, our mid-July foray into watch related articles and watch reviews we find across these inter-webs. This week, I wanted to point out a Prometheus diver, a “value” dress watch, and an interesting woman’s watch, all excellent articles hosted on other watch sites (yes, there are other watch sites). We also get to crow about the articles we write which are popular, is I will point you to our posts on the Timemachinist Naval Destroyer, all that is wrong with watch payola, and the Steinhart Ocean 1 in bronze.
I have been interested in the watches that Prometheus builds for a while, they are attractive and interesting divers and are priced well within the range of folks like me, who’s desires run beyond the reach of our wallets. In cooperation with Oceantime, a dive watch blog, they built the Prometheus Poseidon 350ATM Oceantime SE, and Oceantime (of course) has some nice shots of No. 1 /30. If you want one of these 3,500 meter rated watches with an ETA movement for $950, head over to Prometheus’s web site.
In addition to dive watches, I like attractive and reasonably priced automatics, and Monochrome is highlighting the Fronmanteel Pendulum, a Dutch designed and Swiss made automatic. The value, € 999, which is a decent price for a solid Swiss made watch from a small company. If you are the kind of person who wants to wear something distinctive without standing out, this is a nice option.
Finally, A Blog to Watch is taking a look at the Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Ronde des Papillons. Yes, it is fussy, ornate and has too many diamonds, but it is also very interesting mechanically, which is rare for a woman’s watch. The minute had is represented by three partial dials with three indicators that move in and out of the clouds on their own orbits, while the hour hand is the bird at 6:00 moving along a retrograde dial.
Our top post of the week was Patrick’s look at the Timemachinist Naval Destroyer. I don’t think the watch is for me, but I can definitely see a market for a watch like this, and the box that it comes in (if you want to pay for it) is definitely the most impressive bit of watch packaging I have ever seen.
Taking second place this week, and popular for the second week in a row, in John’s take on watch payola. I started writing for this site covering Kickstarter watches, and I know that our take has always been that if we like a watch, we say we like it, and if we don’t we say that we don’t. There are brands that we like, but that just ends up being reflected with more coverage, not better coverage.
Lastly, there is Patrick’s take on the Steinhart Ocean 1 in bronze, a solid diver with an ETA automatic movement for under $500. I am in agreement that the first look is a little too much like yellow gold, but with a nice patina, this would be a very interesting option for a solid watch with an excellent movement.
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.
We are now 1/2 way through the month, so you still have time to enter our give-away for this month’s watch, the Alvieri Firenze. As per usual, there is a two-part entry process, so follow the directions and enter for a chance at this crowd funded dress watch If you want to know more about it, check out Patrick’s review.
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.
Finally, let me toss a plug in for the Watchbuys Road show that is headed my way, into Orange County, CA. I would say you have a chance of meeting me there, but I am actually out of town for that weekend. I have been to one before, and it is a great way to see a whole bunch of German watch brands and talk to some very knowledgeable folks. There are no sales at the show, and it is simply a lot of fun. I wish I could go, but I will just have to look out for the next show in the area. If you don’t live near the OC, check out the site and see when they are headed to a city near you.
