Where have all the good watches gone....

I have always wondered what happens to watches that are not sold or not popular. Take for example my Tutima 768-01 'Field Chrono' watch. I have searched the Internet and there is hardly any information on the watch. 

The Tutima 768-01, the one on the right.

A closer view of the watch.

I am sure that this watch was made and sold by Tutima for a number of years. I am sure that some would have been sold. Yet information is very forthcoming. So I guess the watch is not popular. What happens to the watch if it is not sold? 

I do know that some watches are on consignment and some are bought by the watch shop. For consignment stock, if the watches are not sold, the shop just returns the watch to the distributor. For watches that are bought by the shop, if it is not sold, after sometime, the shop would (but not always), sell it off at 'cost'. 

So what happen to the watches that are returned to the distributor? 

Take the Tutima 513-01 for example. The watch was made and sold by Tutima from 1992 to 2004. That is twelve years. Yet information on the watch is also hard to come by. Assume Tutima makes 100 pieces a year (very conservative perhaps?). That would be about 1,200 pieces. So where are all these watches? Anyone?

The Tutima 513-01.

Photograph: shamelessly borrowed from the Internet

Omega Lifetime Digital magazine

How cool is this, the Omega Lifetime magazine is available free for those who has the iPad. The digital edition of the magazine has the same content as the print version but with enhanced interactive features. It is easy to navigate. I know, I downloaded it. The experience is just awesome. There are videos, stunning photographs, short films, illustrations, interviews and many many more. 

Currently Issue 6 2010 and Issue 7 2011 are available for download. The application is available on iTunes and here is a video or trailer of the application.

Omega Lifetime Application Trailer

The Omega Lifetime Digital magazine.

Photographs: Omega

DaLuca Straps

DaLuca Straps, based out San Diego, Ca in the US was founded in 2009 and creates 1 of a kind, handmade, individually named watchstraps for Panerai and other high-end watches. The company offers an alternative to the original strap that comes with your watch and also to other strap available in the market.

They can turn custom watchstrap orders around in 1-2 days. DaLuca Straps use vintage ammo pouches from Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and many other countries. Many of the ammo pouches they use, dates back to the early 1900s.

They have also started to create Croc watchstraps. Best of all DaLuca Straps are constantly looking for unique sources of leather in the shape of belts, jackets, boots and other leather based products to create their standard 1 of a kind watch straps.

The watch straps they produce comes in the standard 22, 24 and 26 mm and are based on the Panerai design. They also offers straps for B&R watches.

In a natural progression, they are proud to introduce their newest products in their belt line, which use the finest strap leather in the world, which come from Sweden. The leather belts are completely handmade as are the alligator, croc and lizard belts.

For more information:

DaLuca Straps 

A sample of their watch straps. You can see that the design is based on the popular straps used on a particular Italian/ Swiss watch brand. 

Neuchatel.

Silver Wings.

Smokehaus.

Sylgon V.

The Orb.

I do like some of the straps that they have for Panerai watches as shown below:

Belp

Cognolivo

Spontagio

Photographs: DaLuca Straps

A sample from their Belt Line. I guess once you are tired of the belt, you could send it back to DaLuca Straps and they can turn it into a watch straps.

Photographs: DaLuca Straps

Panerai PAM00367

Looks like I was late for the party (yet again). Anyway Panerai has released another Special Edition watch for the Asian (Chinese) market. This time it is the PAM00367. The Panerai PAM00367 is the same as the earlier released PAM00366 (Fu) model, with the difference being the 'Fu' at the 6 o'clock position has been replaced with the Arabic hour marker. It has the same 'faux patina' like the PAM00366 or like all the boutique edition watches minus the 'pig' on the dial. 

The watch is a special edition run of only 500 pieces and will feature a painted dial. I understand the font used on the dial is pretty close to the font on the PAM0001A. The watch will be fitted with Panerai OPII movement and such will not have the display back. The watch will come in a normal box and there is no extra strap or screwdriver (as it does not feature the new quick release lug pins). It will also come with the black leather strap with the 'orange' stitching. It is retailing for about USD 4,600. That is pretty good value for a special edition watch.

Basic specifications:

Functions: hours, minutes and seconds (sub-dial at 9 o'clock)

Case: 316L stainless steel, 44 mm diameter

Movement: Panerai OP II

Crystal: sapphire

Water resistant: 30 ATM

The watch is currently available (if not already sold out) from Panerai boutiques in Shanghai, Beijing, Macau and Hong Kong. I heard a few (very little) will be making its way to the Taiwan boutique. The expected retail price here in Taiwan is NTD 137,000.

The watch.

Photograph: Panerai

C60 Trident GMT Automatic

The people at Christopher Ward has decided to introduce a 'new' model within the C60 Trident GMT Automatic collection. The watch is now available with an orange bezel insert and a full black bezel insert. True that the black insert was available with the old collection, but now it is matched with the White Super Luminova dial. 

The watches is currently on pre-order and is expected to be shipped sometime in April. The watch is again offered in a choice of either leather strap or steel bracelet. The watches are expected to cost between USD 670 to USD 875 dependent on the choice of strap or bracelet and if you are buying within Europe or outside. 

The watch is still fitted with the ETA 2893-2 which offers the GMT and date complication. The 42 mm diameter case is still made from Marine grade stainless steel and is water resistant to 30 ATM. Not many GMT watches offers that level of water resistance. And it still has that 4 mm thick sapphire crystal.

All the watches will be individually serialised.

For more information:

C60 Trident GMT Automatic

The watches.

I like the leather strap on the orange bezel version. It has orange thread stitching and sits well with the watch.

The case back. Very nice and well done.

Photographs: Christopher Ward

More macro photography

More macro photography, this time the model is the MKII Stingray 50 MOD 2C.

The crown, the operation of which is buttery smooth.

The case back. I wish the engraving/ etching were a tad deeper.

The hands. I love that it is white and not polished.

The 12 o'clock marker. As this is one of the Swiss made ones (not personalised by Bill), I could not opt of the lumed bezel insert.

The 50 bezel. There is the 60 and 70 bezel, corresponding with the bezel on the original Fifty Fathoms according to the decade it was issued. The 50 is from the 50s and so on.

The discrete date display, white on black background. I like.

The collection is complete

For those who have been following my blog, knows that I am slowly but steadily completing my collection of watches. The piece I have been looking for is a chronograph with a tri-compax design dial. I finally got the watch I have been looking for. What watch is it? Well, I will post the pictures once I get. I got the watch (which I never in my life thought I would get) at a very good deal. I am indeed a very happy and at last my collection is complete. 

Macro photography

Trying out some macro (or micro?) photography with my Marathon SAR as the model. Next time I will try to shoot even closer. I have to say that the overall build quality of the watch is great. Added with the cost of the watch, lots of bang for the money.

The dial.

The crown. A tad long but very usable. 

Not really into the cyclops lens but I am getting old, so.....

The engraving on the case back. Very clear and well done.

Real rubber strap.

The finish is really good. 

Japan Earthquake

Our heartfelt hope and prayers goes out to the people of Japan at this trying times.

Cyma refurbished

I finally got the Cyma watch back from my 'new' friendly neighbourhood watch guy. I have to say that I am impressed. 

Basically he stripped down the movement and rebuilt it. Polished the case and straighten the crown tube. Redial the dial and repaint seconds hand. Polished the hour and minute hands. New 'croco' leather strap and spring bars. Retimed the watch and now running +2 seconds a day. All this for USD 110. Looks like I will be sending in my old Seiko and perhaps start a new hobby? 

The watch before.

The watch after. The only complain I have is that they missed out the minute markers. An easy fix. 

Note the CYMA and SWISS MADE print on the dial. 

The Seiko boys waiting for some TLC.

Coincidence?

I picked this up yesterday. It is the Bell & Ross BR 03-93 Steel Military Type. This model has since been replaced with the new BR 03-92 Ceramic Military Type (2010). As I understand it, the Steel Military Type came out in 2007/ 2008 and is limited in production. 

Anyway the one I picked up is NIB (new in box). The price was pretty good as the original owner lost the box of screws. Not to worry as I know where I can get some as replacement. 

The watch.

I find the colour of the dial interesting. I also like the '&' in red at the 6 o'clock position and the fact that the BR 03 legend is not there and has been replaced by 'Military Type'. It was suggested in another forum which I frequent that the watch would look better with a green strap. What do you guys think?

The watch, now with the Bell & Ross Olive Green Military Strap.

So what is with the coincidence? Well the owner bought the watch from a German AD, Juwelier Roberto, as shown on the Warranty Card.

Well I have another watch from Juwelier Roberto. 

Yes, the Sinn U1 Juwelier Roberto. How cool is that? What a coincidence.

Still looking for the perfect shot...

Still on the learning curve. Now I know how to remove reflection on the crystal and polished case (in theory anyway). But still looking for the perfect shot. More of my experiments.

Oh, the way to remove reflections is to put something black in-front of the crystal away from the view of the lens. As for reflections on the case, you can try moving the light source (if mobile), again something dark in front of the case so that the dark object is being reflected by the polished case or as simple as not being in the room and triggering the shot by remote.

The pictures...

I moved the back light source away leaving only the bottom right corner lit. The GMN51 (pink watch) looks like it is floating...

Difficult to remove the reflection as I was shooting straight and level (almost). Need to make some black screens to put around the camera. 

Iguzzini Watch Company

Today I will look at a company that has been under the radar by choice. I am talking about the Iguzzini Watch Company. But before we look into who and what they offer, a bit about the history of the company.

An Italian entrepreneur, Federico Iguzzini, established the brand in Shanghai sometime between 1902 and 1903. He, much like Marco Polo before him, came to China seeking his fortune and found what he was looking for in Shanghai during that city’s golden-era. Unfortunately the company had to shut down due to the Sino-Japanese conflict and when China closed itself to the world.

The company remained dormant until 2005 when two brothers, Stephen and Lander Michel revived the brand and established the Iguzzini Watch Company in 2007. They moved very fast and introduced their first product in 2009. But unlike traditional watch companies, the Iguzzini decided to keep a low profile and sold its timepieces via the word of mouth of their satisfied customers.

The Iguzzini Watch Company is very much a niche company, specializing in limited edition collections with innovative designs and concepts. Although it is based in Hong Kong, all the watch components and parts, including movements are made in Switzerland. It is further customized, assembled and detailed by them in their workshops in Hong Kong.

The other unique aspect of the company lies in their brand line, which is ‘Changing the World Through Time’. The company achieves this by donating a healthy portion of their profits to charitable organizations that are helping to make the world a better place. They are currently working with the PRASAD Project and The ERDA Group. They also actively encourage their clients to participate in activities related to them.

Their product lineup is based on three concepts of what they believe to be important pillars of what we as people are today:

Civilizations Line: A celebration of civilizations of the world, their cultures and heritage.

Spiritual Line: The connection of our senses to the universe; a reflection of our soul and inner-self.

Passion Line: One of the deep components of our essence; a key driver of inspiration and determination.

and their Ultra-Limited Editions. The timepieces within this collection are limited to only 10 – 50 pieces. The collections under the Ultra-Limited Editions are the Space Explorer Line, the Black Line, The Independecia and the Dream Watches.

For more information:

Iguzzini Watch Company

A sample of their timepieces.

Photographs: Iguzzini Watch Company