Welcome back to our weekly installment, Watching the Web, where we have a quick look at some interesting watches and articles that have popped up over the last week (or so), as well as taking a second look at what some of our more popular articles this week were. Today, we’ve got one crazy homage build, and another very clever “from scratch” steampunk build. After those, we’ll highlight (as usual) some of our more popular posts from the last week. Read on to see what we’ve got in store for you.
When it comes to homage watches, we all have seen them, and very likely own at least one. These tend to take the form of pulling inspirations (or even very closely copying) popular designs, such as the Rolex Submariner. Until now, I have never seen an Urwerk homage. While I am certainly no expert on the brand, or even the UR-202 model, it is something that is instantly recognizable as being from the brand. Karel, a young guy (and an engineering student) from California fell in love with the watch, and decided to put his education to work to “scratch an itch”, so to speak. In this article over at aBlogtoWatch, he walks us through the painstaking processes he went through (such as watching videos frame by frame to figure out how the UR-202 worked), and the many 3D printing hurdles he had to overcome. It is definitely worth a read, as it shows what sort of things even a regular guy can end up coming up with, especially in this age of rapid prototyping and manufacturing.
As that previous article showed, there is no limit to what creativity (and being handy) can create. This next creation certainly reinforces that claim. I have long been a fan of Nixie tube clocks and watches, and the whole style of VFD-tube equipped timekeepers. My buddy sent over this latest one that he ran across, and it is something very different from what you and I have seen before. For starters, it is flat, rather than round, meaning it takes up a bit less space. For a full rundown of the other advantages, as well as how it got turned into a steam-punk juggernaut, check out the writeup here.
Now, lets turn our attention back to our own pages. First up, we’ve got a writeup from Matt on a brand I never quite thought we would feature here on WWR – Michael Kors. In this article, he takes us through the finer points of the new Jetmaster Automatic. Is it the best affordable mechanical watch ever? No, not likely. It is, however, head and shoulders above some of the stuff you may see in a mall or a department store. Perhaps we will call it a gateway drug to better watches.
Of course, if you have a spare $400 or so to spend, and you are a discerning consumer (which you would be, as you read this site), you may instead prefer something a bit cleaner in styling, with a movement that will be more robust. If that is you, then perhaps the Prometheus Piranha will be more your speed. We have liked everything we’ve seen from the brand before, and this looks like another solid entry. We’ll know for sure once we get our review sample in, and can give you the nitty-gritty details.
At this point, I would normally plug our giveaways. As it is the start of the month, our most recent one just wrapped up, and the new one has not kicked off yet. So, I’ll still give you a plug, but it will be to encourage you to come back on Monday to check out our new giveaway. With that, we’ll wrap things up. 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.
Pictures courtesy of the source site
