Ulysse Nardin (Taiwan Specific)

Good news for collectors of Ulysse Nardin watches here in Taiwan. The boutique is now open. The boutique is located at Lane 178, Zhong Cheng Road, Section 2, Tienmou. Looks interesting.

On a side note, there is another watch shop beside the Ulysse Nardin Boutique. The shops sells a number of brands. The brands available includes Glashutte Original, Omega, AP, VC and JLC (among others). I suspect the Ulysse Nardin Boutique and this shop share the same owners.

A secondary collection

One of the joys (or not) of collecting Panerai watches is the secondary and tertiary collection that you end up with. What you ask is the secondary and tertiary collection you? Well the strap is the secondary and the buckle is the third. I am guilty of having a secondary strap collection. I don't have the third (yet).

Most of my straps are from the following brands (I have yet to 'graduate' to those specialist straps made by enthusiasts and others) Morellato, Banda, Louis Rine and local brands (made in Taiwan, China etc). You can see the straps below. 

The straps. These are for the Luminor Marina, so the straps have a 24 mm width. 

These are for the Radiomir, so they are 26 mm wide.

These are the original straps. The one on the left is for the Luminor and the right for the Radiomir.

First a bit about how I use my straps. I do not use the original straps that come with the watches. I usually change the strap to a 'local' strap. This applies to the buckle as well. Even if I use the original strap, the original buckle is not used. For example the buckle on the original strap for the Radiomir is not original. This does not apply to the Luminor strap as the buckle is the type that is sewn into the strap. That is the reason why some of the straps above do not have buckles.

Anyway I picked this strap the other day at one of my local hunts here in Taiwan. I got it pretty cheap. I was told by the shop that the strap is original Panerai but the buckle is not. I suspect that the strap may not be original because of the price.

The strap is of the de-stressed type or finish. I like it. The strap measures 75 mm on the buckle side and 125 mm on the other. It is 26 mm wide, so it is fitted on the Radiomir.

The strap has white stitching and makes me like it a lot. It is very soft and supple. The strap is very comfortable when worn.

The de-stressed finish. It looks like it has been around for a long time.

It has all the 'necessary' Panerai markings. Maybe it is original. It is marked 'Officine Panerai' and "Italy'.

The Panerai logo at the tip of the strap.

On the buckle side, it is signed 'Officine Panerai' and 'cucito a mano' or hand stitched or hand made? Near the buckle, there is the legend 'COH'. Original or not, I like it.

Two strap keeper, one fixed and the other floating.

Now on to the buckle. The buckle is not original. The buckle is made by WotanCraft Atelier. This company is based in Taiwan and the owner/ maker (he also makes straps) is a Panerai collector. The buckle you see here is based on the Pre-Vendome design buckle. Etched on the buckle is the 1950 Flottiglia X M.A.S. Special Forces marking.

The buckle is made from 316L stainless steel and is highly polished. It is held in place by a screw. The buckle is well made. On the back of the buckle, you find his signature and the material used to make the buckle.

I find the strap and buckle combination nice. It is comfortable and the de-stressed leather gives it a worn-in feel. 

For more information about WotanCraft:

WotanCraft

Something old, something new...

I was shopping with my wife at Costco today when we went to a shop which we have long thought sold electrical and electronic items. To our surprise, they actually sold clothes, surplus and last seasons. So we decided to give it a go. I did not expect much in terms of watches and was correct. 

There was a Swatch shop and another shop selling cheap watches. Gave the place a glance and left. However my wife wanted to get some clothes so I went back to the shop. This time, since I had time, I took my time. What a surprise. I found some interesting watches tucked in a corner. 

This watch caught my eye. Cool watch and at 70 % off the retail price....

Here is a teaser on the watch. More about it over the weekend. It is made in Germany, has a hand wound movement with hacking and I just love the inner dial. 

The super large crown.

LACO New Website

Cool that LACO has a new website. I think the new website is an improvement over the old. I like it. I wish LACO all the best and hope that it is back on its feet.

LACO

The new site.

Photograph: LACO

Prometheus Watch Company Summer Promotion

The people in Prometheus is celebrating summer by giving its prospective customer a discount. Use the coupon code SUMMERTIME during the checkout process and you will get a 10% discount. So if you want to get a Prometheus watch, this is a good time.

Prometheuswatch

Precista Italian Full Lume PRS-20

Timefactors in UK has launched the PRS-20, Full Lume Dial Italian. It is an initial run of 50 pieces but more is expected. The watch is similar to the earlier normal Italian. The watch has a large 37.4 mm sandwich dial. The top layer is coated with Super Luminova C3 and the bottom layer is matte black. This is the opposite of the construction of that popular Italian brand. The hands are blued steel and is filled with Super Luminova.

Basic specifications:

Functions: hours and minutes

Case: 316L stainless steel, 44 mm diameter, 11.2 mm thick, 24 mm lug width

Crystal: sapphire with AR coating (inside)

Movement: ETA/ Unitas 649X hand wind with modification (sub-second removed)

Water resistant: 10 ATM

Price: USD 582

For more information:

Timefactors

The watch.

The lume shot.

The beautiful case back.

Photographs: Timefactors

L.E.D. watch

I first laid eyes on this watch on my last visit to Hong Kong. I liked the watch but it was a choice between this watch and the ice watch. The ice watch won. However, I still like the watch and would probably get it when I visit Hong Kong again later in the year. 

The watch is the L.E.D. watch L69-072WT-BSR (Tough Square). Here is the watch.

Photograph: L.E.D.

I understand that L.E.D. is a watch company 'based' in Germany but its products are manufactured in Asia (China) using the LED module developed by Cimtra Labs in Germany. Anyway, L.E.D. stands for Life Evolution Design and its watches is designed by Adolf Indermanur (a famous automobile designer). You can read up about the company and its history on its website.

L.E.D.

The watch that I like has the following specifications:

Functions: Hours, minutes, day, date , month, stopwatch, alarm and the ability to keep 5 messages

Case: 316L stainless steel, 44 x 48 mm

Movement: L69 LED module

Crystal: Mineral

Price: USD 170

What I like about the watch is that it can show time the normal way or via a Dot Matrix system. Look at the photograph above. The first dot indicates that it is PM. The second row indicates the hours, in this case 2. The third row shows the minutes in multiples of 10, so it is 50 minutes and the last 2 rows shows the minutes, 7. So the time is 2:57PM. 

The case back. It is made in China. The silicon cap provides access to the standard CR2032 battery.

Photograph: L.E.D.