Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

Today, Steef notified the Dutch RolexForum members about a website that covers diving watches and diving stories. The owner of the website, Michael OLeary, military and commercial (COMEX) diver, is also a watch aficionado. Most interesting is his story about the Rolex COMEX ref.16600 Sea Dweller and the fact that he dives with his Double Red Sea Dweller (ref.1665) from 1972. It all started with his Rolex Submariner ref.5513 that he got for his 21st birthday in 1978, and from there on, he built this impressive collection of (vintage and COMEX) Rolex watches.Be sure to visit Michaels website at: [...]

It seems to be some kind of accepted spin-off hobby by Rolex collectors world-wide, spotting Rolex watches on the wrist of famous actors, singers, models, presidents, sports people, and soccer players wives (see picture below). This spin-off activity can therefore be pretty exhausting, as most famous personalities actually wear (gold) Rolex watches. I wonder if not spotting a Rolex on a movie stars wrist isnt going to be a better challenge.Results of this spin-off hobby can be found on the German Rolex Forum (also known as Das Rolex Forum or www.r-l-x.de). They have (currently) 189 pages of pictures with famous people wearing a Rolex. The Dutch Rolex Forum has only 26 pages, but remember tha [...]

James Bond nowadays wears an Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m, but in the past he had all kinds of watches, among them a number of Rolex watches. The famous James Bond Rolex is of course the Submariner, although Ian Fleming wore a Rolex Explorer himself and was probably referring to this Explorer as well in his books. Dell Deaton wrote an excellent article, including some nice photographs of Ian wearing his Explorer, for the US based magazine WatchTime.However, it seems that Daniel Craig doesnt take this Omega sponsorship (for EON movie productions) too seriously, as he has been repeatedley spotted with Rolex watches from his personal collection. Besides his vintage Rolex Submariner 6538, i [...]

Just two days ago, I received an e-mail from Dell over at www.jamesbondwatches.com telling me that he is in the progress of creating the most comprehensive list of timepieces used in EON Productions (by Albert R. Broccoli) a.k.a. the 007 movies. His website is all about timepieces in Bond movies, so youll find the known big brands like Rolex, Omega, Seiko, Pulsar and Breitling, but there are also a lot of unknown watches used in these movies. If you are able to identify the unknown watches or can be more specific about some of the used timepieces, please participate!Picture of this Omega Seamaster Professional 2531.80 by Antiquorum.comYou can find the complete list at: https://www.jamesbondw [...]

My longtime watchfriend Bas van Dorp informed me that he just ordered the Stowa Airman. Stowa was also present on the Watch 2008 event in Maastricht, but I must admit that I skipped this brand because I dont like their bauhaus style watches. They remind me too much of Nomos. And I prefer Nomos if Id wanted a Bauhaus style wrist watch.Stowa is a brand founded in 1927, by Walter Storz. After their factory was destroyed in Word War II (February 1945), Herr Storz immediately started building a new factory in Pforzheim. During the war, there were only five companies that made official/original pilot watches. These were IWC, Lange S???hne, Laco, Wempe and Stowa.Just like the other brands, Stowa i [...]

The German R-L-X forum has this populair Welche Rolex habt Ihr im Moment am Arm?-topic. You dont have to understand German to know what it says I guess. The most exotic Rolex watches come along in this thread, as can be seen below. One of my favorite vintage Rolexes is the Explorer II, a.k.a Steve McQueen Rolex, a.k.a Freccione. I dont recall seeing Steve McQueen wearing this watch (he did wear a Rolex Submariner though), so I dont know why this watch is being called the Steve McQueen Rolex anyway.Anyway, the ref.1655 Explorer II I found in this thread is a handsome looking watch and I really could live with this vintage time piece if it wasnt for these crazy prices they are asking.Even thou [...]

The German based R-L-X forum has a number of excellent authors aboard. One of them is Percy, also known by his initials PCS. Percy wrote a great review on three (later on four) Rolex watches that are priced just over 7000 euro in the current Rolex catalogue.The Cosmograph Daytona is only marginally available. Although the waiting lists arent as ridicilous anymore as a few years ago (when you had to watch 6 years to get one, if you could get on the list at all), you still have to wait for one a few months at the authorized dealer (7200 Euro). In the grey circuit, you can get one for approximately 8000 euro. The Sea-Dweller DeepSea has been introduced during the last Basel Fair, and its availa [...]

Sigh. Another watch forum?. Yes. Although Perpetuelle is more than just a forum on watches. On Perpetuelle youll find a nice on-line library containing a lot of watches with their technical specifications. It is like having your Armband Uhren Katalog online. The forum part consists of a number brand forums, but also a generic watch forum, a forum on vintage watches, a diving watch forum, a ladies watch forum and a forum for watch techies. The atmosphere is very refreshing to be honest, at least when you compare it to the big watch portals where reading the disclaimer before you post is mandatory.Another great feature is that you can fill a virtual watch box with the watches you have or want [...]

Today, there was a watchfair in Houten/Netherlands. There is currently nothing on my shortlist, but it is only a half an hour drive from the city where I live in, and its always nice to meet up with some other watch fanatics. It seemed that the whole Dutch Rolex Forum crew was there. I also shook hands with a few of my forum sponsors, including JK of JK Watchstore.He showed me this new Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea, a.k.a Rolex Dipsy (ref.116660). Although Rolex is catching up with the orders of this watch, it isnt a watch that youll see often for the coming months. The watch is BIG. At first sight, a lot bigger than my regular Sea-Dweller (ref.16600) and my fairly big IWC Ingenieur (3227-01). H [...]

Rolex doesnt seem to make too much noise about their 100 year anniversary, but Guido and Franca Mondani do Yet another great book from the famous publisher Mondani is this 100 Years of Rolex-book, written by himself and his wife.This book covers the Rolex-story (about founder Hans Wilsdorf and the Heiniger-family who are running the Rolex organization since 1963) from 1908 till now, including the introduction of the Rolex Deep Sea-Dweller during the Basel fair of 2008. The book covers all important Rolex watches of the last century by publishing great detailed photographs of these watches, where Mondani also favors Rolex collectors by putting much effort in capturing details of bezels, brace [...]

Last week we (my gf and I) returned from my vacation in the United States. Going from GMT-7 to GMT+2 (daylight saving time included) resulted in that I still am a bit off-beat. During my holiday, the Rolex GMT-Master proved itself to be very useful when making phonecalls to The Netherlands.Rolex is also the brand that I spotted the most in the US, both in shops and in the wild ?? Especially in the watch shops in Las Vegas, they had large collections of them. One of the stores that impressed me the most was the Tourneau store in Ceasars Palace. Besides having enourmeous displays full of Rolex, they also had Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, IWC, Jaeger LeCoultre, Jaquet Droz, Cartier, Omeg [...]

I remember being very enthusiastic about the re-invented Rolex Milgauss watches in 2007. I am a regular visitor of several Rolex forums, and most active on the Dutch Rolex forum, as writing/reading posts in your mother language still works best. It occured to me that only few forum visitors/members have a Rolex Milgauss in their collection (or as their only watch). When I just visited the sales corner of das R-L-X forum, I noticed quite a few for sale, including those with the green saphire crystal called Rolex Milgauss GV.Although the odds were different one year ago, the Milgauss doesnt seem to be an immediate hit as I expected it would be. The period where prices were over the list price [...]

Today, I noticed an Omega LED wrist watch on someones wrist in an interior store. Now, if I would be in a watch shop or perhaps in a bar or something, I probably asked him more about this watch. Is he a collector? Is this his only watch? How did het get it? What about the history of this watch? Is he aware that he wears something special? Does he have box, papers and the original receipt? You know the drill, these questions need to be answered if you encounter someone with a nice watch.Now, back at home, I still dont know anything about this man and his watch. I think I will manage to sleep well, but it would have been nice to interact with someone who has a nice time piece. At least when he [...]

Just when watches with a >40mm case diameter are considered to be normal sized, I took my vintage Rolex Date-Just ref.1601 with me for a meeting last Friday with a small number of watch enthusiasts. Although I consider 36mm the bare minimum of millimeters for my wrist size, the watch stayed on all weekend and Monday during my work day. The other people who were present on the meeting also had fairly modest sized wrist watches strapped around their wrists. Among them a vintage Glash??otte (G.U.B) from the 1960s, a Cartier Tortue Mono Poussoir, a vintage Rolex Day-Date (ref.1803), a Girard Perregaux Richeville, a Patek Philippe Nautilus (5711/1A), a Breguet Type XX and my vintage Date-Just and [...]

A watch company that uses the same e-strategy as Dell computers and Amazon.com? 121TIME.com is the first Swiss Made quality watchmaking company that use this direct sales and customization model. Each watch can be personalized with an engraving of text or a logo in the case back of the watch. Before that, you have to make a choice which type (or as 121TIME put it: theme) of wrist watch you like to have, which kind of bezel, dial and hands you want your watch to have, which type of movement you want to have and of course, which type of bracelet. Either stainless steel, rubber, carbon or a number of leather options. However, you can also start from scratch and start by selecting a quartz, quar [...]

The Atmos clock by Jaeger LeCoultre always has intrigued me. I really love the later models with a moonphase and in rhodium plated steel.These clocks do not need a power plug or a winding key. Atmos clocks get their energy from temperature changes in the environment. The following explanation is grabbed from the Atmos wikipage, as I couldnt say it better (in English at least):Its power source is a hermetically sealed capsule containing a mixture of gas and liquid ethyl chloride, which expands into an expansion chamber as the temperature rises, compressing a spiral spring; with a fall in temperature the gas condenses and the spring slackens. This motion constantly winds the mainspring. A vari [...]

As promised (to Martijn, see the comments of the GP post below), I hereby post a few pictures of a watch that I bought a few months ago, from a fellow Dutch collector. It is a Titus Geneve chronograph from the 1940s (ca.1946-1948) with a Landeron 48 handwound movement. It is a 38mm watch, which was quite big for those days, in a 18ct red gold case. The case is very light and has a metal ring inside, to make the thin 18kt red gold case a bit of solid. I was told that these watches were quite populair for US ex-soldiers from WWII to bring home, because these were one of the few gold watches allowed for them to import. I am not sure, but I think there were some kind of restrictions for the impo [...]

Today, Roger Ruegger pointed out to me that The Crossing is being presented by IWC on their website. The Crossing has been played in front of 1700 guests during a gala night organised by IWC at the SIHH watch fair earlier this year.The text below is a short summary of the official press release by IWC:IWC presents the short film of a multimedia performance by the Sydney Theatre Company, interpreting the story of how the watch manufacturer was founded and starring Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes. The watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen is celebrating the online premiere of ?e??? ?Minutes of a Separation?e??? , with the lead roles played by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Hollywood actor Jo [...]

About seven years ago, in 2001, I had this Bulova Accutron Spaceview wrist watch. I wrote a review on that watch and posted it here.I bought it off eBay and wore it for about a year or so before I traded it again. I remember that I was too afraid of damaging the movement, which would result in having a useless watch in my drawer. Repairing an Bulova Accutron is expensive and time consuming. Good spare parts are hard to find. However, there is hope. The Watch and Clock Forum created an Accutron forum. Perhaps I should have kept it and wait until there was this Accutron community ?? The nicest Accutron Spaceview Ive ever seen is a triangular cased 14ct white gold version on a leather strap. Be [...]

As most of you probably are member of LinkedIn, please join the Passion for Watches-group If you are not a member of LinkedIn, consider signing up.. its a great (free of charge) platform to stay in touch with business partners, former colleagues, to search for people (either recruitment or subject experts) and for business opportunities.Anyway, lets get together in the Passion for Watches-group and see what other watch enthusiasts are doing. Perhaps you have more in common than your passion for watches!Click the LinkedIn logo above or the URL below to join the Passion For Watches-group!https://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/56533/4DEF84174391 [...]