AP Video

I just love this video. Biased as I love the watch. Maybe one day....

Video: Audemars Piguet

More about the Pulsar G10

I finally got some good photographs of the post 1999 Pulsar G10. I can show the difference between the two watches. The Post 1999 Pulsar (a 2001 Pulsar was used) has longer minute hand and if I see correctly, a longer seconds hand. The luminous triangle of the seconds hand seems to be the same length from the centre but the tip extends to the minute track. Additionally, both the minute and hour hands have the hand balance on the other side of the hands.

The 1999 Pulsar. 

The post 1999 Pulsar.

Photograph: Andysquirrel (MWR)

The case back is also different. The post 1999 model does not have the Pulsar serial number (6 o'clock position) and the legend seems to be etched. On the 1999 model, the legends is engraved.

The 1999 Pulsar.

The post 1999 Pulsar.

Photograph: Andysquirrel (MWR)

Everything else looks the same. Interesting. Well the hunt is on for the post 1999 Pulsar.

Watch Shopping in London Part 3

I finally made it to The Burlington Arcade. It is not very far from where I stayed in London, walking distance in fact. There are a number of shops here in the arcade, mostly dealing with vintage and pre-loved watches. We start with David Duggan Watches. For the life of me, I can't seem to find any photograph of the place. I guess I did not take a photograph of the place. 

David Duggan Watches.

Photograph: David Duggan

The shop carries many lovely watches. I was very tempted to get few (yeah right). They carry Rolex, PP, Cartier, VC, JLC, A. Lange & Sohne, IWC and a number of other brands. You could actually spend a long time here at the shop.

The next shop is called Armour Winston. This shop also carries a number of high end brands like Rolex, PP, Cartier, JLC, Omega, Panerai and others. I do like the Panerai collection there as they do have a number of nice Panerai pieces. 

Next we have Rapport. This is not really a watch shop. They are more known for their winders and watch cases. Have a visit. The watch cases and boxes are very very nice, as are the winders. 

Next we find The Vintage Watch Company. This shop is known for its large collection of Rolex watches. Here you can find Rolex watches from 1920s to 1970s, even 80s. In fact you might be able to find a watch for your year of birth there. 

Lastly we find Somlo Antiques. Somlo carries many fine brands like Breguet, PP, Cartier, Piaget, Rolex and VC among others. But they are known for their vintage Omega collection. I was so tempted to get the Omega RAF watch that they had. 

You can find more information on the Burlington Arcade here:

Burlington Arcade

The usual caveat applies when you want to buy vintage and antique watches. Know what you want, do your research and know what is the value of the watch you are looking for and have fun with the hunt.

Marvin Watch Sebastien Loeb Special Edition watch

Marvin Watch in collaboration with 7 times WRC Champion Sebastien Loeb will be launching their Sebastien Loeb Special Edition Watch in Paris on the 4th of November. The watch is designed by two well known watchmakers, Jean-Francois Ruchonnet and Sebastien Perret with inputs from Sebastien Loeb. 

I will bring more information on the watch once it is available, but for now a teaser of what the watch will look like. 

Renderings of the watch. Have to say that it looks good.

Photographs: Marvin Watch

A video on the collaboration between Sebastien Loeb and Marvin.

The Watch.

Pulsar G10 small update

I brought the Pulsar to my friendly watch guy and have him look at the watch and to see what he can do about the watch fogging up. He took apart the watch and cleaned everything. He also lubricated the winding stem gasket. After everything was done, he put the watch in vacuum test machine to test water resistance. I told him the watch has a very low water resistance rating of only 3 ATM. He says we will try and see how far it will go. Anyway, the machine he had at the moment can only do 6 ATM.

The watch in the test machine.

Guess what? The watch did 6 ATM with no leak. How cool is that. We tried it again. In fact we did it 3 times. All 3 times, it passed. So to update, the Pulsar is water resistant to at least 6 ATM. He put everything together again and tested the watch again. Passed. So, no need to change the crystal or anything. He suspect it was dirt around the winding stem.

Anyway he showed me another 'trick'. He had another watch with had the same fogging problem. The watch has stopped working. He said some watch maker will not change the battery after drying out the movement. He put it under a heat lamp and 30 seconds later, the watch started moving. He then remove the battery and put in a new one. He said some don't change the battery. Interesting. 

Pulsar G10

This is not a review of the Pulsar G10. I did a review earlier, refer:

Pulsar G10

However what I would do here is to post photographs of my recent acquisition and also update the earlier review. I got this watch at the Portobello Road Market. I nearly got the civilian Pulsar chronograph, but that is another story. This watch is the same as the other Pulsar I have, save the case back markings have not been removed. So in the photographs below, you can see the markings. 

What I have learnt since I had the first Pulsar is that the 1999 issued Pulsar have a shorter minute hand as compared to the later issued Pulsar. I have not seen any Pulsar issued before 1999 (but stand corrected on this). Also I notice, from my Pulsars and other Pulsars on the Internet, the colour of the minute hand differs from the hour hand. Why? I don't know. I also found out that the watch has a very low water resistant rating of 3 ATM and they are fitted with mineral crystals. Sadly the crystal on the new watch have to be changed as well as the watch does fog up as with the old one. 

Both the Pulsars.

The watch.

You can just see the difference between the hour hand and the minute hand. Perhaps the difference in the colour is to differentiate the hands as the hour and minute hands are about the same length (?).

The wabi on the watch. The crystal has many light scratches and many deep ones as well. The crystal will be changed.

Wish the crown was bead blasted as well.

The nice and simple dial. The L in the circle denotes the use of Luminova as the luminous material on the hands and hour index.

You can see the military markings.

The Pulsar has the NSN 6645-99-6052627. This watch was issued in 1999. The other Pulsar I have is a close relation as the issue number is pretty close. The watch is made in 1999 as well as shown by the Pulsar serial number (assume it uses the same serial numbering system as Seiko).

Nice bead blasted case. Note the straight lugs. Does not effect wear comfort.

The movement. It is a Seiko Epson V732C quartz movement.

The movement is held in place by the green movement holder.

The case back. You can see the teflon gasket (white) on the case back. The case back and the case (I suspect) is made in Hong Kong by Seiko Epson.

I do like the Pulsars. Now to look for the long minute hand version....

Toy Watch

I would be lying if I were to say that I was not looking at getting a watch when I was in London. But it was not a priority, more of if I came across it, I will get it. I was looking at getting a watch from Toy Watch Chrono PN collection. 

The watch I was 'looking' for is the Toy Watch, reference 6001BKP. This watch looks a lot like the Rolex Daytona reference 62XX, the main reason I was looking for the watch. The watch is made of Toy Watchs' plasteramic material. The case is made of clear plasteramic. The case measures 39 mm in diameter and is water resistant to 3 ATM. It is a quartz powered watch. The bracelet is clear polycarbonate. 

The watch offers the following functions; hours, minutes, seconds and chronograph. I like the watch as Toy Watch has decided to 'keep' some of the classic aspect of the design by opting to use Tritium instead of Luminova as the luminous material on the hour markers. 

The watch.

A closer view of the dial.

Photographs: Toy Watch

Sadly I did not find the watch. Was not really looking. Most of the High Street Stores do not carry the brand. They do carry the Ice Watch brand. I did find a store selling Toy Watch in Terminal 3 (Heathrow Airport), but they did not carry the Chrono PN collection. The shop did have this watch.

Photograph: Toy Watch

This watch is from the Fluo collection and features a coloured MOP (Mother of Pearl) dial. It is slightly larger at 40 mm and has a better water resistant rating at 5 ATM. It is also quartz powered. The reference is FL40BK. Oh well, maybe Tokyo at year end.