The elegant watch (5)

Another three elegant models that have caught my eye, not necessarily new by any means but still around. The first is the wonderful Swiss Grovana Day retrograde

This is a 40mm diameter Double Date aperture @12 Date watch with a retro Day indicator @6. Sweet face in optional colors such as silver, blue or black and the 50m Water resistant case is either stainless or pink gold. with a sapphire crystal. Looks like a mechanical model but actually is powered by a Swiss quartz Ronda 7003L movement. This is a very easy to read model and certainly a dress watch that not many of your friends will know – but they’ll love it when they see it!

My second is an automatic mechanical Swiss Longines Master chronograph model L27594783 from 2011 and you can’t get much more classically elegant than this one. A 42mm diameter case, 30m Water Resistance, sapphire crystal plus a neat Date window between 4 and 5 plus a deployment leather strap – there’s always something about Longines that just shouts quality and style and never disappoints.

Third elegant offering is the Baume & Mercier Capeland World Timer.

Lovely Swiss automatic mechanical movement in an elegant 18ct case at 44mm and featuring direct reading of 24 cities under a sapphire crystal. Blue hour and minute hands matched by the blue World Time ring and the blue of the high quality leather strap.

To show the local time you select the name of the city matching your time zone then rotate the 24-hour ring to make the number representing the current time, face the city. You then move the hands using the crown.

Even the back of this model has an elegance and through the exhibition back you can see the automatics at work.

So another three genuine classics almost you could say and probably no surprise that they are all Swiss, as I think it fair to say that classical and elegance are watchwords for many of these makers. Whilst they give that almost old worldly look they in fact do feature subtle functionality often within their elegant looks and not so much “in your face” as so often the case with mainstream watches.

Whether mechanical or quartz these watch brands seem to take a much more traditional account of the exterior appearance of their creations and that certainly works for me.

What price the world?

It never fails to amaze me some of the basic, yet amazingly well specified watches that come out of Casio and because of this I’m always on the lookout for value models and this one is exceptional.

This is the World Traveler AE-1000W-1AVEF and it’s about as cheap and as tough as you need and is of excellent quality. It is also pretty well specified for a model I’ve seen costing less than £19 – which is a crazy low price for such technology. Quartz accuracy wise it’s not high end at +/-30 secs but beats mechanical movement watches hands down.

Basically it’s one of a series of low priced models with different versions, each similar functionality and all representing great value and certainly if you like watches you really must have one or two of these in your collection. As a holiday watch they’re just about perfect.

Water Resistant to 100m these are plastic resin cased and 46mm x 44mm(dia) x 14mm and weigh only 40 grams and have a 10 year battery life (CR2025). Full auto calendar and displays the time in over 48 cities and 31 time zones with quick select multi 4 city display of your favorites. Stopwatch and countdown timers, 5 alarms, 12/24hr switching, LED back light and mineral crystal glass. Very easy to set and use with an excellent and clear positive display it probably, if we’re all honest, provides everything we actually need from a watch. In fact I wonder sometimes why I bother to collect other models at all!

Not a lot to dislike about this model, though I would probably change the strap (I don’t like these rubber/resin “wave” straps as they hurt my wrist) for a silicon deployment – I’ve done this on others as it’s easy to change and then it’s about perfect.

Solid performer – Enforcer

I love it when someone tells me they’ve just seen a powerhouse watch – so I check it out – And this is what I found –

The Invicta 13681 Reserve Corduba Enforcer.

This is an Automatic chronograph in Titanium and a great Kevlar strap. Now this is what I call – eh – solid! The round 48mm wide x 19mm deep Titanium case hides a Swiss 25 jewel ETA Valjoux 7750 Automatic Chronograph movement. The outer titanium unidirectional bezel has a textured edge for grip and a luminous Tritnite Diver scale in orange. Assisted lever pushers on the right side and a large well figured large screw down crown complete the exterior, apart from the Helium release valve which is almost concealed on the left side.

The dial is very black and features large Tritnite numerals @12, 4 and 8 with dot markers on the hour with chronograph sub dials plus a full Day and Date aperture @3. A centre sweep orange tipped second hand compliments the large broad hour and minute hands which are each coated with Tritnite luminous compound. The crystal has what’s called Flame Fusion treatment which is a high heat and pressure application plus Aluminum Oxide creating the impact resistance of mineral and scratch resistance of sapphire – apparently . . .

The strap is Kevlar and is 10″ long x 24mm wide and the Water Resistance is a huge 1000m or 100 ATM, which doesn’t surprise me at all . . . and this solid timepiece comes with a 5 year Manufacturer’s Warranty.

Had to Post it simply as I love the look of it – though personally it’s not really for me as I doubt I have the strength to wear it. Seriously I quite like this model as it’s remarkable easy to read and the large date and day window is an added bonus not seen too often on 1000m watches.

However a case thickness of 19mm will really make a mess of my tuxedo and shirt cuff . . . well James Bond does it so why shouldn’t I? 😉

On a critical note I would get rid of the superfluous writing around the dial – Corduba Series and 1000 Meters are simply distracting from a decent dial. Also the Invicta Reserve above the Day and Date window could also be smaller. Clean that up and it would look much better in my opinion.

Dive to be seen!

Another Casio G Shock “in your face” style is this professional Divers model (not camouflage this time!) the GWFT1030E-9 30th Anniversary FROGMAN ISO certified 200mm Titanium.

Casio G Shock 3oth Anniversary FROGMAN Titanium

This is a dive specialist model which features ISO Certified 200M Water Resistance and a titanium case wrapped in tough yellow colored resin, screw-lock case back and Tough Solar power, so no battery issues.

As usual with many of the Casio models this has a very comprehensive feature set – Auto back light, Tide Moon Graphs, Data memory up to 10 logs and World Time for 48 cities, 1/100 sec Stopwatch, Countdown Timer etc. Unusually this case is an asymmetric design and the offset case and larger than usual band allows much better fit against the skin or over a wetsuit, especially in swimming situations.

Multi-band Radio Control is also included, so is very much a world traveler style watch, with dive times and surface intervals measurement by use of the multi-timers within the digital function set.

I suppose being a bit of a purist still, I tend to think of a divers watch as one that has broad luminous hands and absolute ease of clarity underwater in poor light situations and I sometimes wonder about any digital only display in these circumstances. Casio however have addressed that issue certainly in part by the Full Auto light feature, which means that by turning your wrist towards you, the dial should light up – hence the value of Solar power! But is that as clear as bright analogue hands? For me the jury’s out on that one, but also it might be I’m too old fashioned and set in my ways and this is the way forward and just brilliant . . .
The G Shock toughness however I do accept with Casio’s G Shock testing clearly showing just how good these are in any given and specified circumstance and with that in mind here is the Water Test as done by Casio –

One thing is certain is that even at most depths with this vibrant yellow case color on your wrist, you should be easily spotted by your fellow divers and that’s always a good thing.

Note – whilst this is a big watch at 58.3mm x 52.8mm x 18.0mm it’s only 115g in weight – I have to say I’m really impressed with it. I like the asymmetric case and the whole look of the watch – it’s a winner for me – and I don’t even dive! 😉

Fashion and Design 2

Another small selection of the best design and fashion influenced models around, though the first one, the Raymond Weil is actually a few years old now –

Rayment Weil 7730-STC65021 — Raymond Weil 7730-STC65021

Interesting silver dial with it’s sapphire anti-reflective coated crystal, with a Day and multi-date aperture ‘3. Blue sub-dial hands and the center sweep seconds hand set off a neat color scheme and a well balanced dial layout. The case is stainless steel and 42mm x 14mm with a calfskin 20mm wide strap. The movement is automatic and Water Resistance is 10atm or 100m.

The second choice is from the Parisian jewellery house Chaumet is the Dandy dress watch Big Date with it’s interesting chocolate brown sun-ray dial.

The Chaumet "Dandy" — The Chaumet “Dandy”

The blue small seconds hand is complimented by the blue stitched brown strap and the brown shade duplicated by a matching cabochon on the crown. As a dress watch it is in the same mold as the Briston I reviewed a few weeks ago, though a difference price range obviously, but it has that modern man about town look that seems to be favored by today’s young business set.

The third model is quite different and reflects the retro look of a 1940’s Observers watch – this is the Bell & Ross WWII Régulateur Heritage.

Unusual dial layout and I love the large center minute hand which for me is so reminiscent of a stopwatch, which of course it basically once was.

Sometimes called a “scalloped” case or “pastry cutter” it is so shaped to make it easier for a gloved hand as is the large onion crown (though for me this is on the wrong side) unless I wore it on the right wrist. The case is in stainless steel with a smart gunmetal finish.

As noted the hand layout is a little unusual as it is a “regulator” style where the sub-dial @6 shows the hours and the main sweep hand, the minutes. Seconds is the sub-dial @12.

I also particularly like the articulated lug arrangement that makes for easier wearing from large to small wrists.

However in regards this selection the design of the first is quite classic and on the second, modern and clean. The third Bell & Ross is less about fashion and more about the influence of the original observers watch, but I would never get used to wearing it on the right wrist and so that nice onion crown is wasted. But maybe that’s just me.

Something different (1)

Always on the lookout for “something different” and this week it’s the turn of two rather standout models from Android.

The first one is the rather unique “Rotator” 50 Auto AD739BKR, which as you see wears it’s rotor on the outside and pretty stunning it is too. Every turn of the wrist sets the brightly red colored Rotor spinning around the gray dial and the broad Hour and Minute hands are infilled with Superluminova.

The large 50mm diameter watch case is of IP coated brushed stainless steel with a Japanese SII NH35 automatic 24 jewel movement. The crystal is hardened mineral and screw down crown means a 10ATM 100m Water resistance.

The second model from Android is just about as stunning as the first choice, which is the “Impetus” Double escapement Automatic AD546AS, which being part skeleton has a similar “mobile” feature which is quite eye catching. Smaller case this time at 41mm diameter (mid size) with mineral crystal and a genuine Lizard strap with push/pull clasp buckle band. This model features the Shanghai SHS Automatic 21600, 40 jewel movement.

No doubt that Android produce some interesting models and I particularly like the ones that feature “movement” which certainly gives added interest to what can often be a dull business of telling the time. The gold colored escapement wheels once again give this model a real “visual” something different, which lifts it above the normal.

Band Genuine Lizard Movement Shanghai SHS-05 automatic 21600 vph 40 jewels movement Crystal Mineral Crown Push/Pull Clasp Buckle Band Measurements 9.5″L x 22mm Case Measurements 41mm Water Resistance Function – See more at: http://www.android-usa.com/product-p/

Seiko Premier Classic

It’s almost unbelievable that when the name Seiko is mentioned by some of the modern kids today (and many adults I might add), there is almost a dismissive shrug of the shoulders – as if the Seiko brand was just another Japanese run of the mill quartz watch maker, when to do so couldn’t be more wrong.
They’ve certainly been around a long time and I remember back in the early 1970’s when on the Far East, these were the thing to have. That amazing quartz concept for example and then later the incredible LCD watch and I’ve still got my AGS Auto Generating Quartz of 1988/9 – and today – well they’re as inventive as ever.

Seiko - modern classic retro Kinetic! — Seiko – modern classic retro Kinetic!

But often as not we only see a fraction of the models they produce, so many are country specific, but without doubt there are many wonderful models out there. This is one such model that I’m not too familiar with – the SRX007P1 5D88 a perpetual Kinetic Direct Drive Moon Phase. A little retro perhaps but with a very cleverly designed presentation area allows the wearer to (like mechanical watches of the past) as an added feature, to wind and add power and see the reserve. And within another unique sub-dial @6 it also shows the Day and 24hr time very clearly. The Date is shown more conventionally on a sub-dial @3.

Also the dial has conventional analogue Hour and Minute hands plus a center seconds hand, plus of course the wonderful Moon Phase @12.

The Kinetic Direct drive of course means this model is powered by the movement of your wrist, so about as Automatic as you can get. So no batteries to think about. It has a 1 month Power Reserve (and that hand wind capability too), a Sapphire Crystal, 12 jewel Quartz movement with 100m Water Resistance and a black leather strap with fold over push button clasp, it’s pretty much got it all and so much more than the “standard” common quartz watch.

So the best of all worlds as they say – Automatic, no battery worries, tells you virtually everything you need to know in one view – Time, Day, Date, 24hr indication (am & pm) the Moon Phase and the Power remaining – certainly NOT a brand to take for granted.

To illustrate this very point – take a look at their achievements web site HERE – it’s impressive to say the least.

Old style Classic

There’s always something comforting about many of the watch models from the German manufacturer, Junkers.

A classic Junkers G38 6944-4 Quartz Date date.

Something classic and almost old worldly that just seems to say, this is a decent old fashioned piece of quality that’s still available today – and at reasonable cost. Not that these models are old fashioned at all, but they do give an air of respectability that’s often lacking with modern timepieces.

This Junkers model G38 6944-4 quartz Date & Date watch is one such watch.

It has an excellent and reliable Swiss Ronda Cal. 517 movement within a nice sized 42mm diameter round stainless case, which very commendably is only 10mm high, so a neat and elegant watch indeed. Good luminous markers and numerals on a clean uncluttered dial with a Day and Date aperture @3, plus broad luminous infilled hour and minute hands edged in black for clarity and a black center seconds hand.

A hardened mineral crystal, 100m Water Resistance and a classic high quality leather strap, there’s plenty to like about this particular model.

Nothing fancy, but it does show the time, Day and Date clearly and eloquently, day or night and does it well – AND it does it all at a very reasonable price of around €179 Euros.

What else can you say? (I’ve probably talked myself into getting one now . . . .!)

Special Diver Aegir

I love it when a watch is born out of a need by someone in the business – and this is such a one. The Aegir CD-2 Diver Watch.

The specifications are as follows –

A German manufactured 316 stainless steel case, brushed finish with a Helium relief value and well protected (shrouded) 7mm screw down crown. The movement is a mechanical automatic Soprod A10 Swiss caliber with 25 jewels. The dial has applied hour markers, filled with Superluminova BGW-9C1 and the dimensions are 42mm diameter, 50.5mm lug to lug and 14mm height. The crystal is sapphire, domed and anti-scratch with inside anti-reflect coating. Strap width is 24mm, the bezel is unidirectional 60 clock with engraved minute markings in black and the Water Resistance is 701 metres.

What else can I say – except to quote directly from Aegir’s web site –

“Ægir Watches CD-1 concept was born in the mid 90′s on a quay in Fort William Scotland, on a rainy summer’s day, but at the time I never realized it. It stayed in the back of my mind, and it was not until early 2007, that I decided on the design while waiting in the dive bell for the divers to return. And refined the idea over subsequent dives and many long hours of decompression before eventually handing it over to a designer.”

Fashion & Design 1

Always a fascination, this Fashion and Design business especially when you consider that without either one, not only would the watch world be a dull place, but so would much of the rest of the planet. I put the two disciplines together intentionally here, as one without the other often doesn’t work and regarding watch models I think that’s certainly true.

The design concept is important here – some new designers go out of their way to produce a “new” way of reading time itself, though in my experience this rarely works. The results invariably clash with what I call the basic “law of the watch”, which is – you have to be able to read the darned thing – at a glance!
So I’m not going to feature these (in another Post perhaps), but concentrate on those Designers and Brands that often use the most basic digital or clock displays, but add around them a design or fashion statement of their own. The price point can’t be too high, as the technical aspect of the watch is quite low, though that said, they can command a “designer” premium, which like reputation can often see surprising prices.

Projects watch (Fredi Brodman) - Folly — Projects watch (Fredi Brodmann) – Folly

The models I’ve featured here are in what I consider the low tech, high design category and I like each of them. They also meet my simple criteria of clarity, pleasing form, sensible cost and versatility too, perhaps of color or style.

Take the Digital Grande from Normal Timepieces. Designer Ross McBride has produced a rather elegant plain round watch with a simple stainless almost seamless case incorporating a simple digital one line display. The difference here from say Bosch who produce a similar minimalist piece, is that the display black ground is indistinguishable from the black dial background, which shows the reverse digits perfectly. The glass is also quite non-reflective, so clarity is guaranteed. It’s also a good size at 38mm diameter so fits all as it were and is fitted with a black plain leather strap. The price in the UK is around £125

The second model is this time is using the conventional clock with hands style, but reminiscent of the Art-Deco age with it’s choice of hands, number fonts and colors. The Project watch designed by Fredi Brodmann. The Folly.

Here the designer has incorporated touches that appeal to his love of art-deco and aviation – the dial set up is reminiscent architecturally of old clocks and that red second hand with it’s large overlap is matched almost suddenly by the red button which when operated lights up the dial center so it can be seen in the dark. I particularly like the inner chapter and white dial space that reminds me very much of the old clock era. I also like the fact that the stainless watch case measures just 36mm diameter and is only 7.35mm thick, so is much neater then it’s image. A suede leather band is fitted and the watch has a Water Resistance of 3 ATM. The price is £115 here in the UK.

The third model is a more mainstream brand – the Nixon Atom – a model that’s been around for a while, but has a certain design flair that incorporates a fairly basic digital movement with a very modern yet stylish case and strap combination. This model comes in many different guises, colors, materials and prices, so much so that it can match most occasions. From high quality leather double straps to steel bracelets and so on.

Here we see two versions which show the versatility of the model range quite clearly.

Also with a 50m Water Resistance, 9mm thin case and 37mm or 39mm case width (it seem to vary according to some sellers), and around 45mm lug to lug it should fit small wrists. The wide band is 32mm band and features a double pin buckle, which makes sense owing to the width. I understand there is also a back light for the display.

Being mainstream it also can be available for around £50 in the UK, though I note there are various prices being offered, some of which are considerably higher.

So just a taste of fashion and design and how these two disciplines don’t have to mean silly almost unreadable models or over the top prices.

I hope to feature more in future Posts.