Rolex New Explorer 1

Well, not really new but rather the Explorer 1 has been upgraded. One of the news coming out of Basel 2010 which is currently on, is that the popular Explorer 1 from Rolex has been upgraded. It now spots a 39 mm case, up 3 mm from the older 36 mm Explorer. It also has a new movement, which has the Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock absorbers. It will also have the new Oysterlock bracelet with the Easylink comfort extension link clasp.

The basic specifications:

Reference: 214270

Case: 904L steel, 39 mm diameter

Movement: Calibre 3132 Automatic, 28,800 A/h, COSC, power reserve - 48 hours

Crystal: sapphire

Water resistant: 10 ATM

I have to say that from the photographs, it does look good. Not too sure of the hour markers at the 12, 3,6 and 9 o'clock is luminous but I am sure it is. Anyway here are the photographs.

Photographs: Rolex

For more information:

http://www.rolex.com/en

Hardigg Storm Case Update

I finally gave in an got another Hardigg Storm Case. This time I got the yellow version. I wanted to get the orange one as well but evidently, they only have black and yellow. I have to say that the case is just awesome. It give great all round protection.

Both the cases.

Before I forget, I did fill up the one empty slot in the black case with the Revue Thommen Airspeed Chronograph Classic Titanium.

The model number for the yellow case is iM2050-20001, which means it is yellow case with black handle, latch, button and Vortex Valve and comes with the Multilayer Cubed Foam.

I forgot to state in the review of the black case that the case is water tight and dust proof. Also the hinge is very robust. You can see this in the photograph below. You can see the grey seal in the lid.

Anyway, the watches that are in the case, well protected by the foam and robust HPX resin are, from the top, Precista PRS-5 Chronograph, Rolex GMT Master (1675), MontBlanc Timewalker Big Date and on the second row, Panerai BlackSeal PAM00183, Panerai Luminor Marina PAM00003 and PAM00111. That is just awesome, three 44 mm watches side by side.

The other reason I like the Storm Case is that it is stackable, a real space saver. I am just loving it.

Hardigg Storm Case

I was planning to get a new watch winder when I had a change of plan. Why? I was surfing the Internet when I came across the popular Pelican cases. I have seen these cases before (not in person) and have read about it. I wanted to get one but could not find it here in Taiwan. I believe it was due to the fact that I did not know what the brand was in Chinese, thus limiting my search capabilities.

Anyway, I tried again and almost gave up (keep getting a local shipping company) when I tried a local auction website. Found some and manage to track it to a shop here in Taipei. Change of heart. It is cheaper as compared to the winder and I wanted one. So it was off to the shop.

Sadly when I got to the shop, I found out that although they had the Pelican cases, they did not carry the internal foam, both the hard foam or the Pick N Pluck foam. I asked the shop if they had any other case that came with the foam. They offered me the Hardigg Storm Case. The model I got is the smallest case they had which is the iM2050.

A bit OT, I do know that Pelican also have the iM2050 Storm case, but I do not know the difference between the two. They look the same. The only difference in that the Hardigg comes in 5 colours while the Pelican only comes with 3. A little search revealed that Pelican owns Hardigg.

Back to the case. They only had the yellow or the black version. I took the black. Some basic specifications of the case:

Model: Hardigg iM2050-00001

Interior measurements: 241 mm (l), 191 mm (w), 108 mm (h)

Exterior measurements: 299 mm (l), 248 mm (w), 119 mm (h)

Weight: 1.2 kg (empty)

MAterial: HPX Resin

Features:

Two Press & Pull Latches

Double-layered, Soft-grip handle

Two Padlockable Hasps

Vortex Valve

Powerful Hinges

Watertight

Dustproof

Colours: Black, Yellow, Gray, Orange or Olive Drab

Interior foam: Multilayer Cubed Foam

I like case. It feels well made (Made in USA) and well finished. However after a closer inspection, there is an issue with the finishing. More on that later.

As can be seen from the photographs, the case is well made. It is made from HPX Resin. It is all black. In fact the model number reflects the colours of the parts. iM2050-00001 can be broken down as follows: iM2050 is the model number, for the 00001, the first 0 indicates the case colour. The other options are as follows:

1 - Grey

2 - Yellow

3 - Olive Drab

4 - Orange

5 - Coyote (sand?)

The second 0 is the latch colour, 0 being black. The third 0 is the colour of the button and the forth 0, the colour of the Vortex Valve and the last number indicates the interior foam, with 0 - no foam, 1 - Multilayer Cubed Foam and 2 - Padded Dividers. Hence 00001 indicates black case, button, latch, Vortex Valve and Multilayer Cubed Foam.

The bottom of the case. Here is where the finish fails. You can see two scrub marks at each end of the box. I know it is at the bottom and normally you will not see it, but it is still a 'defect'.

The case have two latches. Unlike normal cases, the latches are located at the sides. The latches are of the Press and Pull design. I like the positive locking of the latches. At the side of the latches, you will find a hole. This is the Padlockable Hasps. You can see it in the photograph below, it is the hole on the left of the latch.

The latch in the open position. The latches are well made and strong. The latches are held in position by a 5 mm (diameter) metal pin.

A photograph of the latch locking tab. You can just see the metal pin.

The automatic Vortex Valve. This valve automatically adjust the air pressure within the case to the outside without letting in water or dust.

A closer view of the valve. There is a manual valve available as an option.

The lid of the box (inside view). We can see the convoluted lid foam. This helps to protect the items placed within the box.

At the base of the box (with the Multilayer Cubed Foam removed) we find a removable piece of foam. This provides additional protection to the items if it is thicker as compared to the Multilayer Cubed Foam.

The Multilayer Cubed Foam. Here we can see that I have removed some of the foam to make holes for the watches to sit in. The foam is divided into many individual cube foam pieces that can be removed individually. Each individual cube measure 1 cm by 1 cm. The foam is 5.5 cm thick. The holes measures 3 cm by 5 cm.

I would suggest you remove the entire foam from the box when you are 'cutting' the holes. It makes it easier to punch out the pieces. The removed pieces are shown below. The block measures 3 X 5 x 5.5 cm. There is no need to remove the cube individually.

The foam back in the box.

What to do with the removed pieces? Well you can either store it away (don't throw it away as you can reuse it to fill in the hole or make other cut-outs). You can reattach the pieces with common rubber cement. In my case I use it as the backing foam to hold the watch in place (also not to lose the pieces). If you choose not to use it as such, you can purchase pipe insulator (the black rubber tube you find on air-conditioning pipes) and use that as the watch backing.

The watches in place.

As you can see, I have plug the 6th hole as I am not using it. A closer view of the watches and how well they sit in the foam.

Another view.

Oh the watches; top row - my homage to the original Omega Seamaster 300, Stowa Airman No date No Logo COSC, a home assembled watch (parts sourced from Germany powered by an ETA 2801). The bottom row, The Omega Seamaster 300 Professional Chronograph and the Longines Legend Diver.

As you can see the watches are held very snug in the case.

Overall I have to say that I am happy with the case. It is well made and it meets the airline Carry-on Regulations, so I can use it as a watch transport case as well.

A final view of the case.

For more information:

http://www.stormcase.com/index.htm

Il Valore Delle Ore

One of my favourite books from Panerai is this book, Il Valore Delle Ore or The Value Of Time. This book was printed in 1999. It is a book by Antonio Guccione (Art Director) who worked together with Panerai to issue this book for WWF. This book is in aid of the International Mediterranean Programme to protect the Mediterranean and its biodiversity. It is only natural for Panerai to be involved, based on its Marine Heritage and that it is an Italian brand.

This hard cover book measures 30.5 X 25 cm and is 1.6 cm thick. It has 112 pages, covers not included. It is a well made book with may beautiful photographs on its gloss pages. Basically the book is filled with photographs of people whose life and work are examples of great POSITIVENESS, the main idea behind the selection of who to photograph.

There are many people who were photograph over the duration of the day, artists, sportsmen and women, actors , people in the arts and many many others. The common denomination amongst the photographs is that all the people are wearing the PAM0001 (I believe).

Among the many people photographed for this project, 42 in total, the ones that stands out is of course Madam MariaPanerai and Mr. Emilio Bianchi.

Madam Maria Panerai is the current owner of Orologeria Svizzera watch shop in Florence and is the daughter of Guido Panerai.

Mr. Emilio Bianchi is one of the people involved (Decima Flottiglia Mezzi d'Assalto or 10th. Assault Vehicle Flotilla) in the action against the British Navy in the port of Alexandria in Egypt).

Other famous people in the book.

The complete list.

Hands....

I got these watch hands courtesy of the people at Motor City Watch Works. It is a set of hands that can be fitted on to the ETA 28XX movement. The hands are based on the popular Snow Flake Hands design found on the Tudor Submariner.

I have to say that the overall finish of the hands is pretty good. It is polished and the polish is even throughout the hands. The edges are nicely finished as well. The mount holes are just as well finished.

The hands are sized 150/90/25 and measures 8 mm for the hour hand, 12 mm for the minute and 12 mm for the second hand. This is measured from the center of the hole to the tip of the hands.

The luminous material used is the C1 Super Luminova. The application is even throughout the hands and looks good from the top. However, if you look at the hour hand, there is a portion missing. This does not have an impact on the overall lume of the hands and it is just a little bit along one of the edges. The application of the luminous material is nicely rounded off at the mount hole.

The lume is good. Just look at the photographs below.

The hands are well packed within 2 pieces of clear plastic set inside 2 pieces of hard backing paper cards. I believe this is sufficient protection for the hands.

Overall I think the hands are well made and finish. Now only if I have a watch with square hour markers on the dial.....

For more information:

http://www.motorcitywatchworks.com/index.html

Adjusting the bracelet on my watch

I do not normally use watches with bracelets. For watches that comes with bracelets, I change the bracelet to either leather, rubber or cloth strap. However on my Ice Watch, I decided to keep the plastic bracelet.

I adjusted the bracelet but did not do a good job of it. I only realised the other day when I decided to wear the watch. The watch kept 'riding' around the wrist as the clasp was not 'in-line' with the watch. You can see this in the photographs below.

The clasp not 'center' on the wrist.

So out with the tools to correct this mistake. The tools; pin punch set, hammer, strap adjustment tool and the link bracelet holder base.

The first step is to disconnect the bracelet from the clasp. This is not necessary but it does make the job much much easier. Careful when you remove the bracelet from the clasp. Do not lose the spring bar.

Next check the under side of the bracelet for the orientation of the pins and which way to push the pins out. Normally there is an arrow to indicate the direction.

The link bracelet holder base. Note the holes at the bottom of the base. This is where the lock pins will drop into when you push it out of the bracelet links. Remember to align the pins to these holes so that you don't damage the base or the bracelet.

The bracelet is aligned to the hole. Remember to check the direction which way to punch out the pins.

Select the correct size push pin to push out the lock pin from the bracelet link. Too fat and you damage the bracelet and too thin and you could damage the push pin. Slowly tap the pin out.

The lock pin. Note the serrated portion at the top of the pin. This is to lock the pin in place. In metal bracelet, you could find the split pin version being used. Remember not to lose the lock pin.

I need to shorten the bracelet, hence I need to remove another lock pin. The removed link.

Now to assemble, just reverse the process, careful to insert the lock pin the correct way and tap it back in. Use the Teflon side of the hammer so that you don't damage the finish of the bracelet. The end result as shown below. The clasp is now more 'center'. If you look at the photograph below, you will notice that the lock pin is still sticking out. Basically I am checking that everything is OK before I tap the lock pin in place.

Put everything back together and it is all done.

The extra link and the lock pin. I store the pin this way as I will not lose the lock pin.