Tutima Field Chronograph

Latest addition to my collection. I had to get this as it was offered to me at a very very good price. I have to say a big thank you to the people on the MWR Forum for their help in providing me information on this watch. I was very lucky to get the watch.

The watch is the Tutima Field Chronograph (according to a Japanese website) model reference 768-01. It is a watch that is not often seen. The watch comes in at 39 mm in diameter and have the MoD style case design. It is unused and comes with all the papers. Sadly, according to the owner, the box is damaged and he has thrown it away. I will write more about the watch when I review it.

The watch.

The watch with its original Tutima strap.

The watch is now fitted with a Taikonaut NATO Grey strap.

The 'split' second and minute hands like the Lemania 5100.

The movement, ETA 251.262.

The movement is robust and have 27 jewels.

Tag Heuer Popular Diving Spot Limited Edition 2010 Watch

Tag Heuer in Japan has released the 2010 Limited Edition watch in this Diving Spot Collection. This is also the 10th Anniversary of the collection. As usual, there will be a Gent and Ladies model. Again the Aquaracer is used for the series. This time, the popular diving island of Maui is celebrated in the series.

The Gents model: WAF2012.BA0818

Basic specifications:

Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, day and date

Case: stainless steel, 41 mm diameter, 11 mm thick

Movement: Caliber 5 automatic movement

Crystal: sapphire

Water resistant: 30 ATM

Limited Edition: 700 pieces

Price: USD 2,900

The Ladies Model: WAF141W.BA0823

Basic specifications:

Functions: hours, minutes, seconds and date

Case: stainless steel, 27 mm diameter, 9 mm thick

Movement: quartz movement

Crystal: sapphire

Water resistant: 30 ATM

Limited Edition: 500 pieces

Price: USD 2,100

Both watches will feature a black Mother of Pearl dial and graced by a silhouette of a whale at the 6 o'clock position and as with the rest of the collection, the case back will be engraved with a map of the island of Maui.

Photographs: Tag Heuer

Perhaps the wife and I might get a pair when we visit Japan later in the year.

Bond Exhibition

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) Museum in Columbia, PA will be holding an exhibition called "Bond Watches, James Bond Watches". The exhibition will run from June 18, 2010 through April 30, 2011.

Among the watches on exhibit are the Ian Fleming's Rolex 1016 Explorer and a number of watches that are representative examples of watches seen in the Bond movies. These include the Breitling Top Time (Sean Connery - Thunderball), the Hamilton Pulsar LED (Roger Moore - Live and Let Live), the TAG Heuer Professional Night Diver (Timothy Dalton - The Living Daylight) and the Omega Seamaster (Pierce Brosnan - GoldenEye).

Photograph: nawcc

There will also be watches from SWATCH licensed Bond collection like the Omega Casino Royale Seamaster Planet Ocean Big Size, the SWATCH Villains collection and a limited edition Fossil watch.

Beside watches, there will also be lots of Bond memorabilia like the original manuscripts, papers, movie posters, props and print advertisements associated to the movie and the watches.

Mr. Dell Deaton of www.jamesbondwatches.com will be the guest curator. For more information:

http://www.jamesbondwatches.com/

and

http://www.nawcc.org/

My Omega Speedmaster misadventure

Last Thursday turned out to be a very interesting day. I am currently slowing down on my watch collecting and am actually looking to 'close' my collection and stop buying watches. I have most of the watches that I want and I suddenly realised that I only have two hands. I will be cataloging my collection on this blog soon.

The 'missing' piece from my collection is a watch with the tri-compax chronograph dial layout. I have the 'other' layout, the 6, 9 and 12, with the ETA 7750 and Lemania 5100. What I am looking for is the 3, 6 and 9 layout design. The watches that would fit this craving would be the Omega Speedmaster or the older Zenith with the El-Primero movement. It would be nice if I could get either the Rolex Daytona or the Breguet Type XXI, but budget is limited.

As luck would have it, one of the shops that deals with pre-loved watches had an Omega Speedmaster for sale. And not just any Speedmaster but the 35th Anniversary model. Yeah, the white/ silver dial model 3569.31.00 and at a great price. So I decided to get it.

However the shop only opens after lunch. I was out early, so to pass the time, I went to the 24-hour bookshop, Eslite. This is where the misadventure started. One of the tenant in Eslite is an Apple reseller. I wonder around the shop and had a look at one of the 15 inch MacBook Pro. The sales person came and we started talking. Hook, line and sinker. I ended up with a 15 inch MacBook Pro. The deal was just too sweet. SIGH!!!!

Looked at my budget and realised that I could still get both, the MacBook Pro and an Omega Speedmaster. How is this possible? Well, they also had the normal Speedmaster version on sale. The model 3570.50.00. So paid for the MacBook Pro and went to the shop.

I guess that sometimes, somethings are not meant to be. The Speedmaster was beautiful, but two things held me back. First was the price. It was OK, but without box or papers. A tad high for a watch with no papers. Second and more important, the chronograph second hand was a bit bent at the tip. So with the chronograph reset at zero, the tip pointed at the first second. Sigh!!!!

I guess the people there know that I was interested in getting a Speedmaster. So they offered me another watch. The 'Michael Schumacher' Speedmaster. This is the one from the 90s with yellow dial, model 3510.12.00. This is the Speedmaster Reduced. This watch is fitted with the Omega Caliber 3220, which is an automatic movement. I prefer the Omega Caliber 1861, which is a hand wound movement. I have to say that I do like the watch but did not get it.

Photographs: Omega

Well I guess it was not meant to be. We will have to see what happens in the future...

Limited Edition Casio G-Shock for Taiwan

Well I hope that this news is not too late for Casio G-Shock collectors here in Taiwan. Casio in collaboration with SMG and Devilock has released the SMG Devilock DW-5600 G-Shock watch. The watches will be available at the SOL (SENSE ORGAN Lab) stores here in Taipei and Kaohsiung. I understand that there will be about 100 pieces.

The Taipei Store:

No. 66, Lane 187, Section 1, Dunhua South Road, Daan District, Taipei.

The Kaohsiung Store:

No. 16, Lane 235, Ziqiang 3rd. Road, Qianjin District, Kaohsiung City.

I don't have much information about the watch. It is different from the version released earlier this year in Singapore. The watches will come in the standard G-Shock black box.

The watch.

Not too sure if it is my eyes but the photographs seems to be showing the G-5600E as there seem to be three bars on the lower left hand side of the LCD and a single bar on the lower right.

Photographs: Casio

How to make a strap

Firstly I have to thank the people at DaLuca Straps for sharing this video on how to make a watch strap. It is interesting to watch. For more information:

http://www.dalucastraps.com/

The link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAelAHcT7LA&feature=player_embedded

You can view the video on their website as well. Just click on the Watch Strap Video tab on the header.

Ulysse Nardin Taiwan Specific News

We are back. All repairs to the house is done and I have full Internet connection again. Well I just heard that Ulysse Nardin will be opening a boutique here in Taipei Taiwan soon. I understand that it will be in the Tienmou area. Will keep you guys updated in this.

Watch shopping in Taipei

Was at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel the other day. This hotel is located along the Chung Shan North Road. In the hotel, you can find a number of watch boutiques. On the main lobby, we find the Breguet Boutique. Also in the main lobby you will find Harry Winston, Franck Muller and Boucheron.

The Breguet Boutique.

The Franck Muller Boutique.

The Harry Winston Boutique.

I forgot to take a photograph of the Boucheron Boutique. It is located next to the Franck Muller Boutique.

Go down to the basement levels and we find the following boutiques;

The Cartier Boutique.

The Paiget Boutique.

The Bvlgari Boutique.

The Chaumet Boutique.

There is also the Chanel Boutique, which I forgot to photograph. We also have the DFS Galleria in the basement level. They carry the more popular Swiss brands like Omega, Oris and Longines among others. It was closed when I went there, thus no photographs.

Busy busy

Apologies for the lack of postings for the past few days. Have been busy with the contractors doing up the house. Lots of work. Everything should be back to normal next week.

Some Tudor news... Taiwan specific

A little just told me that the Tudor Heritage Chrono watch will be coming to Taiwan late 3rd quarter or early 4th quarter this year. I will be monitoring this and will bring updates once I have more news (as I am also interested in the watch). No news on the price. I have to say that it is a nice watch.

The Tudor Heritage Chrono.

Photograph: Tudor

IWC

I was at the IWC boutique today (Taipei 101). Went there to look at getting another strap for the Mk. XV. It is currently fitted with a black NATO strap, but I will change it to another black leather strap that came with the watch. This black strap is not original. The unique aspect of the Mk. XV is that the lug width is 19 mm. That does limit the choice of straps.

I wanted to get a thicker, more robust looking strap for the watch. So had a look to see what the IWC boutique had. I have to say that the people there are very nice. They were very friendly and helpful. They showed me a number of straps, via their catalogue, what could be used on my watch. I could not decide if I should stay with the original black leather strap or go with the one fitted to the Mk. XV Spitfire. The difference being the Spitfire strap has white stitching along the edge. It does look more 'robust'.

The staff there said that they will order both and let me see which one I liked. How is that for customer service? The only down side is that it will take sometime to get the straps in as they don't have stock of the strap. After all that was over, they even gave me their latest catalogue for me to peruse. And the best part? The catalogue is in English. Trust me, this is important as my Mandarin is not really great and most of the other brands don't have English catalogues here in Taiwan.

The IWC black strap.

The curved spring bars. This is the first time I have seen curved spring bars. How cool. It fits the curved ends of the strap. How is that for detail.

Casio Module 328

Recently I was asked what Casio watches were fitted with the Module 328. This module is fitted in one of the rarest Casio watch, which is the MQD3000 series.

The MDQ3000 watch.

Photograph: Borrowed shamelessly from the Internet.

Well other watches with the same module:

MQ503-7

MQ503G-9

MQ550CWS-1

MQ551CWS-1

MQ900GW-9

MQD200W

MQD200WS-7E

MQD3000CW

MQD3000WS-1E

MQW30

MQW30-1E2

MQW40

If anybody have photographs of the above watches and would like to share them, please drop me an email.

My Flieger watches... well sort of

In recent years, I have been interested in Flieger watches. A bit of history. Flieger watches are pilot's or aviator's watches. There were 2 basic designs, Type A and Type B. More on this later. The watches were made by these 5 companies; IWC, STOWA, LACO, WEMPE and A. LANGE & Sohne. These watches were also known as Beobachtungsuhren or B-Uhren watches. They are also known as Observation watches.

From my readings, these watches must meet the specifications laid out by the RLM (the Imperial Air Ministry) or Reichs Luftfahrt Ministerium. The basic specifications are:

Case diameter of 55 mm

Equipped with a crown that can be operated while wearing gloves

Long straps so that it can be worn over the flight jacket, although I have read that some wear it on their thighs

Hacking movement

Highly legible dial

Marked with FL 23883, FL for Flight, 23 for Navigation

There were 2 designs, basically the same watch but 2 dial design. The first is the Type A (Baumuster A) which was issued between 1940 to 1941 and Type B (Baumuster B) which was issued from 1941. I believe the type B replaced the Type A.

Anyway on to my watches. Well I wish I could collect the original watches that were produced by the companies mentioned above. However I did the next best thing.

The STOWA AIRMAN AUTOMATIC NO LOGO. This watch has the Type A design dial. It is a classic dial with Arabic numerals (1 to 11) and a triangle at the 12 o'clock position with 2 dots. This watch is 40 mm in diameter and is powered with a COSC certified ETA 2824-2 movement.

The LACO PILOT B AUTOMATIC. This watch has the Type B design dial. It is a classic dial with the minute index (5 to 55) on the outer side of the dial and the hour index on a inner circle. The 12 o'clock position is marked with a triangle with a line on top of it. The watch is 42 mm in diameter and is powered by the Miyota 8215 movement.

That basically covers the two dial design type. The last watch in this collection is a watch that I have long wanted but never got. I, somehow never got to getting this watch. However this changed in the past 2 weeks. I was presented with an option to get either the watch in its latest guise or the model just before. What is the watch? Well it is the IWC Pilot watch.

Like I said, I found both the Mark XVI and XV pre-loved. Both were selling at about the same price and both were in brilliant condition. Both came with leather straps but the XV came with the deployment buckle while the XVI came with the pin buckle. Both watches came complete with box and papers. The XV was from 2002 and the XVI from 2007. Both watches were from the early edition of the respective issue date. The XV came out in 1999 while the XVI in 2006. Mind you there were also the Mk. XI and XII on offer but they were double the price of the XV and XVI (out of my budget).

It took me a long time to decide between the two. The XVI was newer and has the streamline look of the current IWC Pilot series. The XV was 'closer' to the original but older. Both looked like they have never been worn. Decisions decisions.....

Anyway, I finally took the dive and got the watch. I finally had an IWC, a watch that I have always wanted. But which one did I get?

The IWC PILOT Mk. XV. Why? Well to tell the truth I liked the hands and dial of the XV better. The watch is 38 mm in diameter and powered by the IWC modified ETA 2892 movement, the IWC C 37524 calibre.

The boys together. 3 out of 5 company that issued the B-Uhren is not all that bad I guess.

New Blancpain Boutique Taiwan

The new Blancpain Boutique in Taipei 101 is now open. Great. The boutique is nice and has a fine selection of Blancpain watches. Sadly I forgot to take a photograph of the new Boutique. The sad news is that the prices of Blancpain watches will be going up tomorrow. The price is expected to go up about 7%.

My G-Shock T-Shirt Give Away

The nice people (Riley) at My G-Shock is giving away a G-Shock T-Shirt designed by Rush DNM. All you have to do to respond to the blog entry and you stand a chance to win one of the two T-Shirts available. Look at the photographs below for the T-Shirts. It is very nice and I especially like the DW-6900 design on the front and back of the T-Shirt.

The link:

http://mygshock.com/

The T-Shirts.

Close up of the beautiful art work.

Details, details, details.

Photograph: My G-Shock

Rosendahl Watch V

As reported earlier, there are a number of Scandinavian brands here in Taiwan. One of the more interesting watches in the offering is Rosendahl Watch V. This watch (or brand) is the brainchild of Flemming Bo Hansen. He is famous for the fact that his watches have a permanent place at MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. How cool is that.

Anyway back to Watch V. This watch is unique in that the design aspect of the watch is based on the Golden Ratio. Yes, the Golden Ratio, the 1.618 that was made popular in the book about the code of Vinci. Did you know that other names for the Golden Ratio was a boring and unromantic Extreme and Mean Ratio? But I digress...

With the Golden Ratio in mind, what this means in Watch V is that the sides of the case are equally distributed with a constant addition of 1.618.

What I like about the watch is the simplicity, a minimalist approach. As with other watches designed by Flemming Bo Hansen, the Watch V, part of the Watch collection, displays time. However Watch V features the date display as well as the time, a change from other watches in the Watch series. It also offers the following functionality, stopwatch, countdown alarm (timer) and alarm. And as with previous watches, all the functions are controlled via two buttons.

The other reason I like the watch is the broad ellipsoid shoulders. It gives it a robust bold look. It also looks good as it 'merges' with the rubber strap.

Basic specifications:

Case: steel, 30 X 48 mm

Crystal: mineral

Movement: Rosendahl IC-03

Water Resistant: 5 ATM

The watch itself it polished and brushed steel with a choice of 7 different coloured rubber straps. The watch retails for about Euro 200.

The watch.

Photographs: Rosendahl

For more information:

http://www.rosendahl-watches.com/