Nordic Watches (Taiwan Specific)

Well for those who are interested in Nordic watches (Scandinavian?), have a visit at the Takashimaya in Tienmou. They are carrying the following brands:

Skagen

Noon

Rosendahl

I don't know if there is a strong following here in Taiwan of Nordic watches, but I have seen Skagen being sold in a number of places. Other options include visiting the following website:

http://www.nordic.com.tw/

The website is in Chinese, but for those who are interested, just click on the 'Wearing' tab and you will see the watch brands that they carry.

Rolex Submariner Story Digital book

Thank you to who ever created this. The Rolex Submariner Story by Franca E. Guido Mondani and Lele Ravagnani is now available on digital format. Here is the link:

http://pageflip.dpsonline.it/book/view.asp?id=179

Inside there is much information on both the Rolex Submariner and Sea-Dweller. Just awesome.

Shop for pre owned Rolex watches at Mayors.

Casio GA-110F-2

Suddenly I feel like watching Austin Powers. Why? Well Casio is launching the very very colourful GA-110F-2 Hyper colour watch and a very colourful character to come with the watch, the Hyper colour G-Man. It is all very psychedelic, very much Austin Powers don't you think? The colours are very rich.

The watch and the G-Man.

Photograph: Casio

It seems that every part of the watch is rendered in a different colour. I understand that it is a limited edition run for Japan, but we will wait and see. I believe the watch is fitted with the Module 5146 and feature the following functions:

G-Shock

Anti-magnetic

World time: 48 cities in 29 time zones

Stopwatch

Timer

Alarm

I have to say that I like the standard GA-110B-1A2 which has black body with blue dial or GA-110B-1A3 with green dial, but the GA-110F-2 is a different watch all together. The watch is expected to retail at around USD 210.

Omega Seamaster Chronograph Professional lugs

About a year ago, I decided to change the bracelet on my Omega Seamaster 300 M Chronograph Professional into the rubber strap. What did I find? Well there were 2 holes on each lugs. Now that is something I have not seen before. There were only 1 hole on the lug on my Seamaster 300 M Professional.

I posted and asked on an Omega forum and could not get a conclusive answer. Why were there 2 holes on the lugs? Was there an error? Did the watch get passed over during the quality check?

My watch the Omega 300 M Chrono Diver from 1996, Model No. 2225.

The holes on the lugs. Note there are 2 holes per lug.

The 'star' on the lug is an Omega internal production monitoring system to mark watches that has had some work done on it. On my watch, according to Omega, it has had a new generation winding stem tube installed (new generation back in 1996).

Anyway this was always troubling me, but I put it on the back burner. Until a couple of days ago, when I was at my friendly neighbourhood watch guy. He was about to take apart an Omega Seamaster Professional 300 M Chrono. This is the newer model, Model No. 2594. Guess what? It had 2 holes on the lugs as well.

So I figure, the holes is there to accommodate different straps for the watch. One set of holes for the metal bracelet, and the other maybe for the rubber. I am still guessing here. I guess I could write to Omega and ask. We will see....

Chapter One Round

The Chapter One watch from Maitres du Temps is now available in round case. The watch was introduced in the recent Basel 2010. Now the Chapter One is available in both Tonneau and Round case. I have to say that I personally prefer the new round case of the Chapter One. Why? Well it looks more robust or more muscular as compared to the Tonneau case. I like the way the rectangular forms of the two roller windows merges into the round case. It looks very industrial and bold. At the same time the rectangular forms seamlessly integrate the straps of the watch.

As with the earlier Chapter One Red Gold Limited Edition, the Chapter One Round is a Limited Edition watch of only 11 pieces. Hurry if you want one. This watch is again developed by two well known Master Watchmakers, Christophe Claret and Peter Speake-Marin. As with other Chapter Ones, this watch will feature a number of complications: tourbillon, chronograph, retrograde date and GMT and the very beautiful rolling indicators indicating the day of the week and moon phase.

Basically let me bore with one final detail and let the photographs do all the talking. The basic specifications:

Functions: one-minute tourbillon, mono-pusher chronograph, retrograde date indicator, retrograde GMT indicator, day of week, moon phase, hours, minutes and seconds

Case: 18K red gold, 62 X 59 mm and 22 mm thick

Movement: 58 Jewel hand wind mechanical movement, 60 hours power reserve

The watch.

The dial is just awesome. We can see the central coaxial hours, minutes, and chronograph 60-second counter; tourbillon and day of the week roller at 6 o’clock; retrograde GMT at 9 o’clock; 60-minute chronograph counter and precision moon phase roller at 12 o’clock; and retrograde date at 3 o’clock.

The case back with the octagonal display window.

The movement. This is the dial side.

The case back view of the movement.

Exploded view of the movement, all 558 components.

For more information:

http://www.maitresdutemps.com/

Project Watch update

Finally the replacement crown arrived. So off to my watch guy for some work and testing. Am very happy with the result. I do like it, wish I could afford the real one. There is one available in Taiwan for USD 12,000. SIGH!!!!!

The new crown.

The watch with 'local' made leather strap with crocodile print.

With the new crown water resistant to 6 ATM (tested).

I might polish the top portion of the crown. We will have to see.

The lume is not great but not that bad. I was pleasantly surprised.

The basic ETA/ Unitas movement.

The next modification on the watch is to replace the blue screws as the blue finish of the screws were slightly damaged. Note the damage on the ratchet mechanism and also the transmission wheel screw.

Overall, I am happy with the watch and will become part of my daily watch rotation. Review soon.

Toy Watch Army Jelly Collection

Toy Watch has released a new watch collection under their Jelly range. This new range is called the Army Jelly collection. The collection consist of 5 watches. I have to say that it is pretty cool. All the watches have the same basic specifications and features the Pop and Swap technology.

The Pop and Swap is where you can select the basic watch module and 'pop' it out of the strap and 'swap' it with another strap. That is just cool. You can see a couple of video of the Pop and Swap here:

http://toywatchusa.com/content/Jelly_Video.htm

Here are some photographs:

You can see the module and the strap.

Anyway back to the Army Jelly collections. The watches:

Jelly Army Black and Green.

Jelly Army Hunter.

Jelly Army Pink.

Jelly Army Sandy.

Jelly Army Blackout.

Photographs: Toy Watch

All the watches features the camo theme except for the Blackout. If you are wondering where is the crown, it is protected by the rubber/ silicone cover at the 3 o'clock position and can be accessed from the back of the watch. The interesting aspect of the watch is the Pop and Swap capability and the lightning design second hand. The other interesting aspect of the watch is the use of Tritium on the hands and dial as the luminous material. Most watch companies are now using Luminova or Super Luminova.

The basic specifications:

Functions: hours, minutes, seconds and date

Case: coloured plasteramic, 44 mm diameter, screwed case back, uni-directional bezel (plasteramic)

Crystal: mineral crystal with cyclops

Movement: basic 3 hand quartz movement

Water resistant: 5 ATM

For more information:

http://www.toy-watch.it/