So, the timing of your watch is off? Why is a professional overhaul so very expensive, I’ll just have Clickies Clocks service it for half price, right? Check the pic above and see one small jewel in the watch. This Cap Jewel ( known by many names) can wear with time leaving an indenture on the jewel piece. This in turn can cause a position error in the Dial up and Dial down position of the timing test. A good watchmaker may miss this, a great one will replace it during the overhaul of the timepiece. Lesson: It pays to have the best work on your watch. CTWG
Swatch group has announced an agreement with liquid Metal Technologies for an exclusive use of their alloy! What you never heard of liquid metal? Ohh. Sorry, it’s as if Steel and Titanium made a baby and it was a super metal, check the stats.
“Liquidmetal®: seamless bonding, remarkable hardness
“The Liquidmetal® alloy is an amorphous metal – a metallic material with a disordered, non-crystalline atomic structure. Its fusion temperature is half that of conventional titanium alloys but when it is cooled, its hardness is three times as great as that of stainless steel. Its amorphous structure allows it to bond seamlessly with the ceramic bezel.
A bulk metallic glass like Liquidmetal® can, by virtue of its low critical cooling rate, be formed into a structure with a thickness of more than a tenth of a millimetre. Zirconium is an important constituent part both of the Liquidmetal® alloy and of the ceramic material which is made of zirconium dioxide (Zr02).
The final, perfectly smooth bezel is particularly resistant to scratching and corrosion because of the hardness of the two components. ”
Got it! Cool, stuff. The industry is pushing the envelope on a number of cool metal structures. Stay tuned! CTWG
The good folks at Mont Blanc have struggled in the American Market, but maybe this is about to end? People acknowledged the Villaret pieces and some collectors embrassed them, overall they were not in the price range for most serious collectors. Now with the launch of the Nicholas Rieussec movement (In-House) from M.B. there seems to be some serious watch construction here! The Rieussec is a single button chronograph that takes your watch jones to a new level. Launched in conjunction of the Breeders Cup it plays homage to a box posted Chronograph in years gone by used to time horses at the race. Check the picks, nice size 40′s with similiar bracelet construction to old models, still the dial and exhibition are on point to make this a winner by a nose. The movement looks outstanding and I will have to dive in to check timing and functionality. It appears to have what it takes, hats off for the beauty M.B. CTWG
So you have just purchased the new 8500 series from Omega Watch Co. and you love the look and the feel of the Aqua Terra sporting the new Proprietary movement. Well, excellent, I love the watch and new movement series also! The question of the day is, why is the vibrations per hour lower on the new series being 25,200 A/h to the standard automatic watches at 28,800 A/h? I found this odd and decided to ask a watch making expert Chris Travelstead. “Chris said it is true that often times more vibrations per hour will produce better accuracy, but the proper handling of vibrations is of the utmost importance. If your balance is too fast for your escapement you can run into problems.” So, that what has been done with the new Co-Axial and the 8500 blend, it works in perfect harmony, enjoy!
Thinking of a nice watch to drop a hint for the Holidays, but don’t want to break the bank? Hamilton GMT model Khaki Air Racer is the ticket! Retails $1075.00 and has many bells and whistles needed for the watch jones. The hours for the second time zone are inside the center of the dial and the cities can be turned and rotated to adjust timezones. Really, really good buy!
So you just purchased the new Green Submariner and you thought the warranty card would have LV on it, the old Lunetta Verde. Well, it just has a V folks so don’t worry. It is all Verde! Still, the description has the L. Who cares? Watch nerds that’s who!
(Front: Fake Planet Ocean 45mm. Back: The real deal!)
This Orange Bezel Planet Ocean came across my case the other day ago and I had to take a second close look, before knowing it was a FAKE! Be very careful with second hand purchases, the Omega fake products are outstanding (In a Bad way). Look at the overall appearance of the piece, not your average junk fake. It appears these are still produced in China, Thailand etc., but they have pushed the bar a bit! Have an authorized watch guy look at a purchase when second hand, you may take the plunge on some of these new Planet Ocean fakes! CTWG
Pictured Tag Monaco “Calibre 12″ Really a plain Jane ETA 2892-A2 movement!
Often times you see Panerai Caliber whatever, and Tag Heuer Caliber whatever and it rings as the truth to the customer purchasing the watch. Wow, I just bought and extra special mechanism and it is going to be the envy of all the watch fanatics I run into. Then, the lid is flipped you see upon close inspection that the “fine” watch making company has popped a good old ETA movement in the back and changed the oscillator! This is common practice the renaming of movements and taking them as their own in the watch business. Masters of this game include Breitling, Tag, and Panerai. Just keep an eye on the product and ask the watch salesperson whats under the Calibre/Caliber! Chronometer grade, yes, fine product and should be used, yes. Special, no. CTWG
Sometimes it appears that you have the world by the tail on a down hill haul and then it backfires on you? Panerai watches case in point, had one of the hottest watches on the market for years and now has taken a huge plummet down the watch scale ranks. Why? First, production, scarcity sells watches. The fewer watches you have out on the market (that have desirability) the better. From it’s meager beginnings till now Panerai has probably quadrupled its production. Secondly, change, it can be good and bad. New bracelet styles and mass production techniques brought about by this brand really have hurt them. Thirdly, collect ability, aspects of the line that made Panerai special are still there, but a solid 18k gold watch with a ETA 6497 display back do not make things special. So what we have learned, less is more, don’t cheapen your product and make limited pieces just that “Limited” CTWG
Are you a lover of James Bond and the watches he wore for the acclaimed movies? Well, your in luck! Our friends at National Clock and watch Museum have a display up until April, 2011 highligting that very thing BOND WATCHES! So if you make rounds in the central Pennsylvania area, stop by.
“James Bond is a fictional character, but his wristwatches are real.
With a continuous history dating back to the early 1950s, Agent 007 is an ideal center for a collection that includes several different brands, first-of-a-kind technologies, and an examination of the style trends that often define who we are by what we wear.
Gadgets aside, these timekeepers also make for fantastic storytelling. Consistently, they pit hero against the most unrelenting adversary of all: The clock, fate of the world hanging on mere seconds left before mission success.
James Bond watches are invariably at the center of Ian Fleming’s original literary thrillers, continuing today in the movies of Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions.” Excerpt from National Clock and Watch site.CTWG
