Stand alone boutique...

Spotted this recently. A Patek Philippe stand alone boutique. If I am not mistaken, the place use to be a Bovet Boutiue.... 

The store, I believe is operated by Yung Hsin Watch Co. The address is No. 82, Sec. 1, Jhongcheng (Zhongcheng) Rd., 11148 Taipei.

The danger? Pretty close to where I live.....

Starting them young...

One of my friends sent me this.... 

This was taken from one of books from the local school syllabus.... Talk about starting them young.... Military dial? 

Directions....

It has been a busy couple of days with me focusing on other things. Basically playing with some old technology Polaroid Instant Camera and also the FijiFilm Instax Mini 8 camera. It is also at this time that I was looking into my collection of watches and my focus. 

With regards to my collection, I figure another round (proper and painful) of rationalization is needed and also if I should change and refine and maybe even move up the food scale. The call of modern Rolex (with the ceramic bezel inserts) is interesting. Moving up and playing with watches from the holy trinity is tempting. These are things that I will need to look at and come up with a decision soon. 

The other thing I am thinking about is actually something I am interested in but am not good at. It photography. I want to improve. I want o learn to do it properly, knowing I lack the 'eye' for composition and what to take. :( Maybe it is the call of new camera...... :) Anyway, we will see....

Cat watches....

My cat does love her watches.....

Don't you dare take my Ennebi...

Pelagos and nap time...

Cheap and colourful....

Spent the day walking around in shopping malls when I spotted these.... Cheap and colourful... some cheaper then expected.

Angry Bird watches. This one shoots the Angry Bird discs from the top of the watch. 

The discs....

Same watch, different colour...

I believe this watch projects an image of the Angry Bird characters. Could be wrong...

 And it costs RM21.90 or about USD 7.

More colourful watches. These are even cheaper at RM5 each or less then USD2 each. Cool...

Full Circle....

One of the regrets I have is that I traded my Bell&Ross BR01-92 for another watch. While I like the watch I got, I still liked the BR01-92. So when opportunity presented itself for me to get another BR01-92, I had no choice but to jump in....

The watch....

The watch is an early BR01-92, back from the days where the set comes with the little box with extra lug screws. 

I always liked the watch.... maybe because of my aviation background, reminding me of the cockpit instruments, perhaps because of the design, simple and clear and easy to read. 

Anyway, after a simple strap change... happy I am.

Strap from Cheergiant...

Omega X-33 Clasp...

I was planning to wear my Omega X-33 when I realised that something was wrong. The clasp would not lock. It would latch but if you shake the watch, the clasp will undo. So I decided to take a closer look at the clasp and what was wrong. 

My Omega X-33. It is the Gen 1 version. 

The clasp in question. It would not lock. The locking is provided by a 'wire' within the hole that lock the pin on the clasp. 

The hole where the pin goes into. You can see the wire in the hole. Normally you would be able to see two wires in the hole. 

You can just about make out the two wires in the hole in the picture below. As you can see from the pictures below and above, the wire is moving from left to right and the release buttons are moving to the extremes, indicating something was wrong as there is no tension on the button. 

Time to strip the clasp and see what is wrong. First remove the end of the bracelet.

The removed bracelet. 

Push put the pin that holds down the plate with the locking hole. You don't have to remove the pins from the clasp. Just shift it down. You will need to remove the clasp links.

The plate with the locking hole removed. 

The clasp. You can see the locking wire. It is a simple spring steel wire. The two ends of the wire sits in the release buttons providing tension. The middle part of the wire provides the locking.

The release buttons removed. You can see the 'cut-out' on the clasp where the locking wire sits.

The locking wire. 

The problem? The wire is broken at the bottom, where it is twisted into a circle to provide the 'spring' feel. 

The clasp itself. The part number is 1998-998. I have checked and the clasp is about USD 220. I am not sure if you can buy the wire itself. 

The parts list for the bracelet. 

Photograph: Omega X-33 Owner Club and Fans Facebook.

Assembling the clasp so that I can send it to Omega. The reverse process in the next couple of photographs.

The X-33 now without the bracelet. The question is what to fit the watch with....

Magrette Leoncino

Magrette will be releasing a new model and it is very different from past Magrette models. The Leoncino or Little Lion is expected to be ready sometime in November 2014 and is expected to retail for about USD625. 

This new watch takes its design inspiration from the 60s, known for its creative design and can be seen in the cars, motorcycles and even films and architecture from the period. 

The case (42mm) is squarish with a retro looking buckle and crown. The case enjoys the effects of not only a polish finish, but have a brushed and bead blasted finish to compliment. It has a thick double domes sapphire crystal ensure a water resistant rating of 20ATM. The cut out markers and hands enjoy C3 Super Luminova finish and the case back has a display back where you can look at the Miyota 9015 used to power the watch. I like the little subtle finish touches like the DLC case back and the laser etched 'Magrette' text around the rehaut.

The Leoncino...

Photograph: Magrette

For more information:

Magrette Leoncino

Richard Hammond...

I was watching one of my favourite shows when I spotted this watch on the wrist of one of the presenter of Top Gear, Richard Hammond. This is from their Middle East Special. 

You can see that the watch is an Oris, but I am not very sure of the model...

After closer inspection, I believe the watch is the Oris Williams F1 Team Day Date PVD watch. The reference is 635 7560 4754 RS. The interesting aspect of the watch is that there seems to be two versions of the watch.  One with the 'Williams' on the dial, just below the Oris name and the other just says 'Automatic'. 

The one with 'automatic'. This is the one that Richard Hammond wears. 

Photograph: Oris

Richard Hammond has been spotted wearing this watch on a couple of their adventures. Cool....

Scuba Diver watch

Well not really.... Spotted this toy at the COEX Aquarium in Seoul. It was interesting to see the 'detailing' on the toy and that the manufacturer have actually included a 'watch'.

The scuba diver toy...

And a closer view of the wrist. There you can see that he is wearing a watch with chronograph function. The buttons are pretty large, I guess to allow ease of use with diving gloves on. :)

Basel 2014

So Basel 2014 is over and there were a slew of awesome watches released. But the watches that caught my eye were....

The Tudor Heritage Ranger. The new Ranger is larger than the old, coming in at 41mm as compared to the original measuring a minute 36mm. To me personally, perhaps a tad to big, 40mm would be fine with me, but can't complain. I do like the watch. I like the fact that it has lug holes, vintage lume and that the minute hand actually reaches the minute markers. 

The original Ranger with the new Heritage Ranger. 

The Heritage Ranger, reference 79910 is available with the Bund type leather strap, a normal leather strap and with metal bracelet that looks like bracelets from the 60s. Cool.

The other watch from Tudor that caught my eye? The new Heritage Black Bay, now in blue. The watch now comes with a blue bezel insert, and silver/ white finish for the hands and dial markers. This instantaneously makes the watch more modern compared to the Red Heritage Black Bay with its vintage tones. 

The Red and Blue Heritage Black Bay. Both awesome watches. 

The Blue Heritage Black Bay, reference 79220B will come with the option of steel bracelet of the stressed blue leather strap. Nice.

So will next year bring the Blue Snowflake?

Tudor and its Heritage collection (thus far)...

Photographs: Tudor

On to Rolex. Yes it is finally here, the watch many have been waiting for, me included. The GMT Master II Ceramic Pepsi. Seeing that it is the 60th Anniversary of the GMT Master, this does not come as a surprise (?). Sadly, it comes in white gold, making this watch out of my reach. 

The GMT Master II reference 116719BLRO.

I can only guess why Rolex decided to produce the watch in white gold. Maybe it is to make the watch less common should it had been in stainless steel, thus keeping current collectors of the GMT Master happy? Who knows. Anyway it is a beautiful watch and not much else to say....

It is finally back, the reference 16600 and its 'upgrade'. I am talking about the new Rolex Sea Dweller 4000. The new Sea Dweller 4000, reference 116600 has the new Cerachrom insert in a 40mm case. Nice.

Photographs: Rolex

The other watches I found interesting were from Bell&Ross. The B-Rocket watches. Very cool looking watches. There are 2 watches in the new collection, the BR01-94 B-Rocket and the BR03-90 B-Rocket. Both watches are cased in the now iconic square case Bell&Ross is known for. 

The BR01-94 B-Rocket. It is a 46mm watch with a chronograph and date complication. 

The BR03-90 B-Rocket. It is a 42mm watch with a Big Date and Power Reserve complication. 

Both watches are very cool looking and very modern. Oh, I like the bike that inspired the watches....

This is another interesting watch released by Bell&Ross. It is the WW1 Guynemer. It is a watch issued to commemorate Georges Guynemer, a French National Hero who was an ace pilot during WW1. 

Photographs: Bell&Ross

I will talk more about this watch in another post as I find the watch and the logo, The Stork, very interesting. 

Anyway, for the moment, these are the watches that have caught my eye. I am sure there will be more as the days progresses....