Watches - another OCD problem
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Barely 5mm thick and titanium? That has to be crazy lightweight. And the more I look at it, the better it gets.
The movement on that Mont Blanc is lovely. Too bad the front of the watch is so much less so.
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Hodinkee have a very cool 1963 IWC Ingenieur in their store. The best thing about this model is its reference number: 666.
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Hodinkee have a very cool 1963 IWC Ingenieur in their store. The best thing about this model is its reference number: 666.
I find it funny that they went from that Watch more and more monstrous and now since "Vintage" is "trendy" the Ing looks almost like 1960 again. Besides that this is an insanely beautiful watch.
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And now for something completely different…
This is the Breitling Colt Skyracer. It's got a
plasticBreitlight composite case, which is believed to be a carbon reinforced plastic, and a thermocompensated ETA quartz movement that's accurate to within ten seconds a year.
The composite case means it's really light. In Hodinkee's writeup it weighed in at 55 g. The strap has a ruler scale moulded into it.
It's meant to be the entry-level piece, and is priced at $3,000 in Australia ($2,000 in the US). I'm not sure if it feels premium enough to justify that, and I'd be tempted by something like a Casio G-Shock MR-G, which are around $3,300 Down Under.
That said, I do like it. The watch has a certain amount of personality, and most WIS seem to hate it. That's enough to endear it to me.
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I have a Reactor Gryphon that's also polymer. It's super light.
Polymer has it's own charm and character when you wear it. It's so light that you can barely feel it's there, unless you gouge it it doesn't scratch, and it has a "warm" feel to it.
It cracks me up when ppl complain about how it's not strong enough though. The firearms community went through the same thing decades ago with the Glock. Luddites were saying "it'll break" and "it has no soul", now polymer firearms are ubiquitous. I wonder what happened to the ppl that said the sky was falling.
I'd consider the polymer Breitlings if they were 42 or 43mm
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It's not as ludicrously busy as most Breitlings are, so that's a plus. However, it does have the mismatched fonts that the company seems to love doing. That's always irritated me about their offerings.
Still hard for me to consider a 2k watch "entry level" when you can buy lots of really nice things (even other Breitlings) for similar prices on the secondary market.
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If it doesn't tick-tack, it's not a watch imho.
Looks good though
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@DougNg I think that most people are conservative. I don't doubt that a polymer can be as tough as steel. And given that Breitling use Breitlight on some of their high-end pieces, it's not necessarily cutting corners.
@Chris I agree that it's a lot for an entry-level piece. Manufacturers have been jacking up prices for years.
On a more traditional note, aBlogToWatch has reviewed the LUC XP. It's a simple, steel, two-hander, and a lovely piece.
The finishing on LUC watches is first rate, some consider it up there with the likes of Patek.
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Oooh, that one is pretty. I'm a sucker for blued hands and numbers, and the brushed silver dial is wonderful.
I've really been drawn to simple watches lately.
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^ love the steinharts. i have the navb-uhr model after the big pilot. makes me lust after a 5002 everytime i put it on..
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Continuing the Chopard love, here's the LUC XP Skeletec. It's the same movement as the steel watch, above, but it's been skeletonised, and in a gold case. It's also about twice the price. I saw one a couple of months ago, and it's a beautiful thing.
There's a write-up at aBlogToWatch.
Meanwhile, I've got a bit of Chopard anti-love.
About eighteen months ago, the Chopard store emailed me to say they have an LUC 8HF Power Control in stock. They followed me up in March or April this year saying that it was still there, but a price-rise was coming.
I checked the prices online, and it's gone up around £1,000. So a limited edition they haven't completely shifted in the last few years has had an above-inflation rise (probably due to Brexit related weakness in the pound).
Furthermore, the Chopard Superfast Power Control has just been released. It's £3,000 cheaper, has a similar 8 Hz movement, and is in a limited edition of 100, making it rarer than the 8HF…
A few of the watch blogs criticise the industry for being clueless. I can see their point.
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Anyone here who owns a Sinn U1?
Would like to hear some experiences…..
