Curious to Relate

So this will no doubt come as a shock to many, but despite my railings, I do quite like the Hublot Big Bang, and despite the fact that Jean-Claude Biver had a full head of hair before he started reading Tempus Fugit and is rumored to have had a Henki voodoo doll on his desk... I honestly feel that it is a pretty cool watch, and he is probably one of the smartest people in the watch business, EVER. I stand by both statements.

And if I had the money? If I picked the lucky six numbers and Lotto changed my life financially? I'd honestly plop down my money for this one -

Courtesy of Hublot

Now a few things about me -

1. I live under no illusions that I am on the A (or some days, even C) list of "noted watch writers".

2. I do not charge brands to appear on Tempus Fugit and I do not typically have advertising (there have been a few short-term exceptions for advertising). Writing about watches is not my vocation. I am a social worker. The organization I work for provides support and help to people who would otherwise fall through society's cracks. If you live on the North Shore and need help with heating for your home, you are homeless, you have an elderly parent who needs help in their home, you need training to enter or re-enter the workforce or you have recently arrived in the US and you need to learn English so that you can get a job and begin your new life here? We are here for you. We are not flashy, we run on a shoe string.

3. While I cannot get behind some decisions that Hublot has made in terms of PR (the less said about Floyd Mayweather the better), they did support Lang Lang's efforts to combat the poaching of endangered animals, and they continue to do some positive things - including their support of Sorai.

Some more about me - back in 2003 I was particularly good at selling Hublot watches at Tourneau in San Francisco - and this was before Mr. Biver came along and (if we are honest) really made Hublot as big and successful as it came to be. It didn't just happen by accident. But it also is a brand clearly positioned to people who enjoy a certain lifestyle. And honestly? There is nothing wrong with that.

So truthfully? I am not Hublot's demographic. And I suppose I can live with that ; )
Ultimately, we should all simply like what we like.

When you write about watches, you frequently get "typecasted". But in fairness, when something speaks to you, it speaks to you. And the Big Bang Unico Titanium Blue speaks to me.

Now if like me, you are planning on how to spend your Lotto winnings and want the specs, here they are -

CASE
REFERENCE
411.NX.5179.RX
DIAMETER
45 mm
CASE
Satin-finished and Polished Titanium
BEZEL
Satin-finished and Polished Titanium with 6 H-shaped Titanium Screws
WATER RESISTANCE
100m or 10 ATM
CRYSTAL
Sapphire with Anti-reflective Treatment
DIAL
Matte Blue Skeleton

MOVEMENT
MOVEMENT
HUB1242 UNICO Manufacture Self-winding Chronograph Flyback Movement 

with Column Wheel
POWER RESERVE
72 Hours

STRAP & CLASP
STRAP
Black and Blue Structured Lined Rubber Straps
CLASP
Titanium Deployant Buckle Clasp

Urban Day Date “Edition Today”

 From Meister Singer -

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

I NEED this watch! Time and how we measure it has taken on some pretty wacky twists this year, and while I will not be so presumptuous as to dictate what it means to you, I can tell you that I tend to relish it more.

Those of you older readers out there will remember a watch offered by Alain Silberstein known as the "Smile Day" which (curious to relate) predated the whole concept of emoticons and modified the date function with different emoticons.

Well, as the old saying goes, TODAY IS THE DAY!

MeisterSinger opted to modify their Ubran Day Date to have the day aperture at 12 o'clock always be "TODAY".  Now as a practicing Buddhist, I'm not going to lie, this speaks to me, and my desk mate  ; )

My understanding is that this is a fairly limited edition of 100 pieces that will be offered in 7 different languages - English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Esperanto.

Here are the pertinents -

Model Movement Diameter Case

Urban day Date TODAY Edition
Miyota 8285, automatic; 42 hours power reserve
40 mm
Stainless steel, exhibition back, water resistance 5 bar, sapphire crystal

Wrapping Up Seven Days With The Ollech & Wajs P-104

So a week has now come and gone, and it is time to sum up my feelings about wearing the P-104 for a week.

By by now, if you've read through enough reviews on Tempus Fugit, you have realized that this is not the place to come for highly polished "sales-centric" photography.  It is also not the place to come for technical minutiae.  Having manned the DOXA discussion forum for three years I have come to the conclusion that everyone has an opinion, and there is nothing more tiresome than listening to "my opinion as fact". So I am definitely going to give you my opinion - but not as fact, and I will be writing about the P-104 not just from the perspective of a watch enthusiast, but from someone who worked for a somewhat similar company - DOXA/Synchron. And lastly? I'd like to consider the P-104 from the crazy perspective of a typical person - someone not necessarily a "watch guy".

We received the P-104 last Monday and it has been making the rounds here at Tempus Fugit HQ for the past week -

It is important to try and have a sense about what Ollech & Wajs was, and what it is today.  O&W is a bit of an anomaly - it is not really old, being founded in 1956.  But as that is more than 60 years ago, that means it is not exactly young either. Albert Wajs and his partner, Joseph Ollech joined forces to open a watch shop in Zurich. They then shifted to assembling and selling their own watches under the name OWZ Ollech & Wajs. 

OWZ eventually became O&W and through magazine advertisements build a strong mail order business, finding their way to US servicemen (Army Navy, Air Force, Marines, etc.). So strong was the connection that distribution was extended to offering pieces directly through PXs.  

Inevitably, O&W did go dark going during the quartz crisis, but a small light was kept on, albeit under the name Aviation (chronographs).  However they were brought back to life in 1995.  And in 2017 a new owner (previously the French distributor) took the helm.

Now my first brush with Ollech & Wajs was back in 2003 visiting the West Coast Time website which carried (and still carries) what we could maybe refer to as the (now) previous generation. I nearly purchased an O&W several times, but for whatever reason I never did.  

So that brings us up to the present. Let's get to the review!

Now ordinarily I don't really give a toss about packaging. Just being honest, it doesn't really serve any function other than temporarily housing your watch before you put it on your wrist.  So to that end, I have nothing but praise for Ollech & Wajs's approach.  When you open the shipping package you are presented with a small cardboard box stamped to look like the original packaging that was used "back in the day" to fulfill those mail orders.  

Open that box, and you have another small box enclosed in a black fabric drawstring bag -

Slide that one open and you will find the watch wrapped around a cushion (pillow) -

Now I realize that is a lot of space to talk about packaging that seems so basic, but think about this for a moment - watch packaging is perhaps the most superfluous and (if we are honest with each other) wasteful aspect of watch sales. Lots of wood, metal, paper, etc. that ultimately sits in a garage, attic, basement or landfill doing exactly NOTHING. I like this packaging approach on 2 fronts -

1. It is kinder to the environment

2. It is very true to the way these watches were originally packaged and delivered.

So when I compare that to my old running partners at DOXA during the Marei era, I think this is a very big improvement. The DOXA SUBs were packaged in metal tubes that were meant, I suppose, to appear like scuba tanks on some level. This added substantially to the shipping weight (and I assume, rate). Unfortunately these tubes were frequently scratched or marred and more than just a little bit of time was spent replying to customers who wanted a "new" one. And this is understandable, but it points back to the golden rule of selling stuff - you have to manage expectations, it makes it much easier to exceed them ; )

Now I am, admittedly, a bit late to the O&W review party and I do not expect that I will add anything earth shattering to the bon mots that precede this.  The fit of the watch is (at least in my experience) quite good and this is down to longer lugs used by O&W. Visually, I realize that these are not everyone's baby. But I tend to take the more pragmatic view about look and therefore - feel. 

When worn with a NATO, or the RAF style strap that comes standard with the version I reviewed, this extra length allows for a much more comfortable experience and the strap has just the right amount of space to accommodate a strap going under the watch head and up through the lugs.

Now in fairness, I have not tried it with a leather strap or the bracelet version, but I suspect that for the majority of folks out there this is not going to be a comfort issue (because, in fact, the extra lug horn length allows for a more comfortable fit. 

The case is smooth and well-finished, no sharp edges or pointy bits to catch your sweater on. 

And no, the cuts and abrasions on my hand are from yard work ; )

The crown screws down to ensure water resistance, which in this instance is warranted by Ollech & Wajs to  300 meters.  Nice and clean engraving, not cheesy as you will see with even more expensive brands.  As mentioned, the fit for me is good. I would say in the DOXA comparison scale it is in the realms of the 1000T re-edition in terms of fit and feel. Keep in mind, that this is not what I would call a highly technical comparison or analysis, it is very much a personal observation. Or put in Tempus Fugit review terms - I would put the size as very nearly Goldilocks - just right. Is it perfect for my particular wrist? No. Is it reasonable to assume that unless a watch is perfect for my personal wrist that the size is wrong? Duh...

The movement is ETA's 2824-2 -

Courtesy of Ollech & Wajs

with an Ollech & Wajs customized rotor -

Courtesy of Ollech & Wajs

Now you will have to take this on faith, as it is a solid case back -

The time keeping was solid, no real deviations of note to mention.  More and more brands are moving to date apertures at 6 o'clock which does seem to lend itself better to dial layout. Rather than obscuring parts of the 3 o'clock marker, it allows each to be balanced, a lone triangle marker at 12 o'clock, and then the date aperture.

The dial is well laid out, very legible and has (for me) a wonderful contrast of withe and orange markers. This extends to the minute hand with its alternating orange lime filled holes with plain cut-outs.  This probably appeals to me for a few reasons. First and foremost, I am 52 years old. While that is certainly not "vintage", it is not NOS (new old stock).  Legibility is becoming more and more important to me. But having said that, I am also the son of a fashion designer/artist - and I LOVE color! I really appreciate bold differences, including the color way chosen for the strap -

Now in the "keeping it real" category, let's be honest with each other - the majority of us our not going to pilot a plane. The closest I ever came was the rubber-band propeller planes we made in either Boy Scouts Cub Scouts - I am pretty sure it was Cub Scouts. So for me the rotating slide rule bezel is merely ornamental, but it is a pretty cool detail. I do appreciate the screw down crown and 300 meter water resistance as I am more likely to go for a swim than pilot anything beyond a kite, but again, it is a nice detail.

In regards the dial, and this is something I am not particularly "digging" about any of the current Ollech & Wajs collection - I am not dippy about the model name printed on the right hand side of the dial

right next to the 3 o'clock marker. Now I realize that brand owners across Switzerland hang on my every opinion ; ) but my one suggestion is that in terms of the printing of the dial, I would remove the word "AUTOMATIC", and replace it with the model name - in this instance P-104). 

Just one guy's opinion.

But one other thing that I feel is worth considering is that Ollech & Wajs is more than just one thing. For better or worse, DOXA sold dive watches, on bracelets. That was pretty much it. Invariably, there are only so many customers out there who want an orange dial dive watch. Yes, I realize that there were variations and different colors (black, yellow, blue and silver), but it was a product range limited to one particular type of watch.

In many ways I think that O&W are really taking a straightforward path that represents a hybrid of DOXA and Tudor - reinvigorating a slightly under appreciated brand (DOXA), and drawing inspiration from, but not blindly copying (no matter what you call an homage, when you come right down to it, your are copying on some level) previous models. In other words, you're getting something original from a brand with some history.

Finally, I have to talk about price. Part of the challenge for us selling DOXA SUBs in North America prior to 2020 was that there didn't always seem to be a clear pricing standard and prices were often impacted by what economists refer to as price elasticity of demand - that the price was oftentimes not reflective of what the real price was, but rather an indicator of how urgent some quick sales might be. This created confusion in the market because the price was often listed as: Retail (i.e. what you'd pay in a store) and then the highlighted "Direct Price". The bottom line, as a customer it was frequently challenging to understand what the "standard" price was, because in the general sense, there was not what could really be called a retail network. So insofar as Ollech & Wajs, you go to the site, you see one price. No special language or notation to create a false sense of FOMO (fear of missing out), just the price.

And let's talk about that price - for the P-104 on the RAF strap the price is 1,056 Swiss francs. Now under now Jenny managed DOXA SUB collection, the entry level for the SUB 200 is less money - $990 US on the bracelet, but it absolutely does not speak to me on any level. If it's your jam, then go with God ; ). It does bear mentioning that DOXA's entry level dive watch has a less robust water resistance rating than O&W's pilot's watches.

To sum it up, I really enjoyed wearing the P-104.

It ticks a lot of boxes - a brand with a story, a pilot watch that doesn't make you feel like you need to throw on a flight jacket, and real value for money.

Courtesy of Ollech & Wajs

Here are the pertinents -

REFERENCE: OW P-104
YEAR: 2019
DIMENSIONS: 39.56 mm X 12.5 mm
CASE: brushed 316L stainless steel, screwed back, screw-down crown, and circular slide rule bezel, manufactured in Jura, Switzerland.
GLASS: sapphire with anti-glare treatment
DIAL: hands and indexes in Super-LumiNova®
WATER RESISTANCE: 300m/ 30atm
MOVEMENT: automatic ETA 2824-2 OW3P, 25 Jewels. 28,800 bph, with a power reserve of +/- 38 h. Mainplate engraved Ollech & Wajs Zurich 1956, and OW machined rotor
ORIGIN: over 90% Swiss Made, excluding strap and packaging
STRAP: 20mm wide, RAF extra strong nylon, origin Great Britain

A Few Minutes With MeisterSinger's John van Steen

While we are roughly at the half-way point of our 90 day essay on time and MeisterSinger, I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a few minutes with one of the key people behind the brand, the Director Sales and Managing Director, John van Steen -

Courtesy of John van Steen

Tempus Fugit - What was your first watch? Was it a gift? Is there a story behind it?

John van Steen - My first Watch was a Seiko Quartz when I was 12 or so. It was a gift from my parents upon leaving primary school.


TF - When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?

JvS - I grew up in the town of Hoofddorp which is a suburb of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Up until I was 12, I wanted to be a professional soccer player (like most boys) until the moment I realized that I wasn’t good enough, and after that my goal was going into business.


TF - Where did you go to school? What did you study?

JvS - I went to school in the city of Haarlem (which is, by the way the inspiration for name of the neighborhood in NYC Harlem, like the Dutch City  Breukelen which is the origin of Brooklyn) where I studied Wholesale Business at the Business school. After that I started working at the age of 20, I regret till today the fact that I didn’t go to University.


TF - How did you get involved in the watch business?

JvS - More or less out of a hobby. I wanted to start my own business back in 1999 and my hobby/ interest was watches.


TF - What brought you to Meister Singer in the first place?

JvS - As said, I started my own company in The Netherlands back in 1999 distributing brands like Eberhard & Co , Titoni and Nomos-Glashütte. I remember quite well when I was at BaselWorld 2003 I saw a German watch brand in a small booth which had watches with a single hand. That intrigued me, it intrigued me so much that I wanted to know more and started a conversation with the Founder Manfred Brassler. From that moment I became the distributor in The Netherlands and 10 years later in 2013, I became Sales Director of the brand. In 2019 I became Managing Partner. By the way, the original Dutch company (Time Company) btw is still in business and I still own it.

TF - I might, in fact, have been the first MeisterSinger customer in San Francisco when I bought the cream dialed one-handed Unitas model from Seregin's back in 2003. Obviously a lot has changed since then. What have been some of the biggest challenges for MeisterSinger?

JvS - Congratulations with that purchase and thanks for the trust. You must be one of the first US customers for our brand. Of course a lot has changed in the world for us as well. I think in terms of quality we moved from amateur level to professional and we’re now represented in 39 countries all around the globe. Our biggest challenge is getting our story / philosophy to the final consumer. Having said that, once that story is told, it hits the heart and we’ve got an ambassador for life. It seems that every single MeisterSinger wearer embraces our way of looking at time, which seems extraordinary, but is in fact the only logical way to do so, especially in these current crazy times we live in. So in order to get more and more connected to the final consumer for our message we invest in videos on YouTube for instance and invest in training methods for our retailers. We’re a small company so it doesn’t always go as fast as we want, but we’re getting there step by step.

TF - I realize that it is hard for a parent to choose their favorite child, but what is your favorite MeisterSinger model?

JvS - That is not hard for a parent, it's impossible! However although they are all my babies I must honestly say I’ve got some favorites - 

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

the No.03 since it’s the pure MeisterSinger.

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

The Perigraph for the extraordinary date function.

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

The Lunascope with one of the biggest Moon phases in the industry. 

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

And of course the Circularis with our own movement with a power reserve of 120 hours. 

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

If you would force me to mention only one it will be the Circularis with our own movement since it combines watch making skills with the purity of a single-hand watch.

TF - What other watches/watchmakers interest you?

JvS - I hold many brands in esteem, but will mention Mühle-Glashütte for making daily beaters with a real high quality for affordable prices (btw did you know we did a mutual project with them; The German reunification watch in early October this year?), Eberhard & Co since that was the brand I started with and which put me on a good path and taught me a lot about the business, and Armin Strom since I like the way that  both of the owners Serge and Claude are standing in life and doing their business.


TF - What is the best market for MeisterSinger?

JvS - The best market is our local market Germany followed by The Netherlands, France, Belgium , Austria and overseas USA, UAE and India.


TF - As you are from Holland originally, any tension in the office when the Dutch take on the Germans in football?

JvS - "Don’t talk about Football with a German" is something I learned quickly ; ) 

They think Franz Beckenbauer -

Courtesy of fcbayer.com

was a better player than Johan Cruyff, can you imagine? 

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide info-web

But honestly what I admire about German football is the fact that they always fight till the very last second and that’s something we all can learn from.

TF - If you weren't doing this, what do you think you might be doing?

JvS - I really don’t know, but one thing I know I would be an entrepreneur. Perhaps something with bicycles since that is my favourite hobby nowadays.

TF - What advice do you have for the next John van Steen out there?

JvS - Enjoy whatever you’re doing since life is too short to waste on something you don’t like to do. What a lot of people forget is to enjoy the little things in life; they are always hunting for something and once they reached it they start hunting for something new without enjoying the moment. Enjoy, be happy and live.

Something To Look Forward To

Like probably every single person out there suffering from insomnia and therefore reading Tempus Fugit, I am tired.  Like you, I am tired of COVID and the startling way it has somehow become a political issue. Let's hope we all live through it. 

I was thinking about something that I said at the second annual (and final) gathering of the "Watch Expert's Network" at BaselWorld (the less said about that ill-fated effort, the better), where I asked the absolutely crazy question - "Do any of you actually remember why you got involved in writing about watches in the first place?"  Well, imagine a vacuum sucking all of the air out of the room at a startling rate.  More than a few feathers were ruffled, but Robert-Jan Broer, to his credit, understood that I wasn't trying to pick a fight with anyone, but I was a wee bit exasperated by the waste of an hour and a half listening to a lot of hot air during Sunday (the busiest day at BaselWorld back then).  But to Robert-Jan's credit, he understood what I was driving at - "What was the trigger."  In other words, what drove us all to be interested in something like watches in the first place?

Well, I remember my first SWATCH, the Calypso Diver. I could go into all sorts of crazy details, recount the story, but essentially I hopped into my 1978 Toyota Corona and drove to Midway Mall.  There in the May Company's jewelry case they had the Calypso Diver and the Yamaha Racer. It was back and forth between the two of them, but in the end I opted for the Calypso Diver.

Anyway, that is a long way of saying that I actually really miss those particular SWATCHs. Last week a reader forwarded me this website -

Paulin Watches

And once there, gentle reader, my eye fell on this time machine -

Courtesy of Paulin Watches

So I selected he black cordovan strap and solid case back option -

Courtesy of Paulin Watches

And I ordered!

As a side note, I do not think that they engrave case backs, but I will do that when it arrives.  I will keep you posted ; )

I am not one for hyperbole - I have not held one, worn one or spoken to anyone who has owned a Paulin Watches watch. But some things you gotta take on faith, and I am ready to place mine here.

For those of you who are curious, here are the pertinents -

Movement: 

Seiko NH35A (Automatic)

Lens: 

Hesalite box section PVC

Water resistance: 

5ATM

Case: 

316L stainless steel

Case diameter: 

38mm

Case thickness: 

11.6mm

Strap width: 

18mm

Warranty: 

24 months

The 417 ES

From Hanhart -

I was noodling around on Facebook this morning and discovered that there is a new chronograph from Hanhart.

This is the 417 ES.  It is a very handsome throwback to an iconic piece.

Courtesy of Hanhart

The 417 ES is a hand-wound, bi-compax chronograph. The case is of stainless steel and it measures 42 mm in diameter.

Courtesy of Hanhart

The movement is from Sellita, noted as the SW 510 M.

Courtesy of Hanhart

Hanhart has, over the past 8 years Hanhart has thrilled and disappointed in equal measures. A few bumps along the way, more than a few sets of hands on the wheel, and a few hops back and forth across the Swiss/German border. 

Courtesy of Hanhart

And hopefully this latest piece is going to be successful for them.

It is competitively priced at 1,744 Euro but you cannot order direct if you are from the US. Should you be in the US you will need to order from Hanhart's US distributor/sole retail partner.

Here are the pertinents -

CASE -

DIMENSIONS

Diameter 42 mm
Height with glass 13.3 mm, height without glass 11.55 mm
MATERIAL
Stainless steel, satined/polished
BEZEL
Fluted rotating bezel, continuously rotatable, with red marking

GLASS
Anti-reflective convex sapphire glass
High-domed sapphire glass
CASE BACK
Screwed-down stainless steel case back
Continuous serial number
Engraving of the historical logo on the case back
WATER RESISTANT / SHOCKPROOF
Water resistant to 10 bar/10 ATM
Shockproof

DIAL
Historical logo and bicompax layout
NUMBERS
Historical font
Super-LumiNova® coated
HANDS
Super-LumiNova® coated

MOVEMENT -

CALIBER
Manual wound chronograph
Sellita SW 510 M
Symmetrical button arrangement
28.800 A/h, 4 Hz, 23 jewels
POWER RESERVE
58 hours after full winding
FUNCTIONS
Small second
30-minute counter
Bicompax Chronograph with central stop-second

STRAP
Calfskin strap with Alcantara on the inside
Lug width 21mm
COLORS
Black with white stitching and underlay
Dark brown with optional underlay
Light brown with optional underlay
BUCKLE
Pin-buckle with historical logo

Repeat - The Trolley Problem

So I had an interesting phone call with a brand owner this morning.  He first thanked me (I think sincerely) for the recent post about the pervasiveness of payola in the watch media.  He then asked (I also think sincerely) "Do you enjoy making enemies?"

Well, I don't expect my phone to ring with the COO of Outlet X begging me to join up anytime soon, so in for a penny - in for a pound.  Here gentle reader, is a repeat on one of my favorites -

The Trolley Problem

The Trolley Problem - As it applies to watch journalism.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

It would seem that the words watch and journalist are becoming more and more incompatible in the same sentence.  Brands work feverishly to sanitize who will receive their release and then monitor closely to watch the "Barium Meal" that is the press release that they sent out to see which "news" outlets will clap and bark like seals, and which ones will experience gastro-intestinal distress. For the watch journos out there who are members of the "clean plate" club and can swallow it all down and reveal the picture of Mickey Mouse etched across the top of their dish? They get a gold star, guaranteed access, paid travel and gifts of various description and best of all?  Advertising revenue!  For those that spend the time after disseminating a particularly foul smelling press missive with a visit from "Cardinal Chunder"?  

Courtesy of the BBC

Well, let's just say they will not find themselves on this year's Christmas list.

But let's get back to the topic at hand - the Trolley Problem.  The trolley problem is (at this point) an age old conundrum conceived to help inform and instruct on moral and/or ethical behavior.  If Wikipedia is anything to go by, it might have first been utilized by Frank Chapman Sharp at the University of Wisconsin to help instruct on moral or ethical thought.  Essentially, imagine that there is a runaway trolley (or streetcar, or tram if you are more familiar, or even a train).  Further down the line there are five people, very much alive, but immobilized and unable to move, and are directly in the path of the trolley, streetcar, tram, or what the hell, even a train... well you get the idea. BUT WAIT! Hallelujah! There is a switch lever, and you are standing right by it! Hooray! You can save the day!  

But wait -

If you choose to divert the trolley, tram, street car, train (you get the idea) to this other line, it will then head down the track and run right over your infant son who you left in his stroller on what you believed to be a disused stretch of track while you went to grab a six pack at the off-license.  Yes, this is why your partner does not trust you alone with the kids ; )

So now you have a real dilemma - do you act, and by acting sacrifice your son for the greater good of the 5 strangers?  Or do you do nothing?  I mean, it's not like you put those five people there on the tracks in the first place, you just wanted to get some beers.

In the "normal" world, and I use the word normal cautiously because we are living in very abnormal times, but in the normal world, if you report on fact, or offer opinion (not slander, defamation, or falsehoods) but fair and balanced opinion, you should not be afraid to do so.  But we are not living in normal times.  And curious to relate?  The watch and luxury business has been trying to run a somewhat authoritarian press bureau for some time.  Step out of line, you are left in the cold.  And in all fairness, there are a fair number of people out there trying to make a living, and not necessarily willing to throw that switch lever and watch their child (or in this case, their media outlet) get mowed down.

Recently with the triumph in court of Vortic, there was a real opportunity for several owners of large press outlets to do the right thing and actually speak up. These are outlets with deep staffs, and a fairly secure revenue stream (at least by comparison to others), with truly large readerships. They all chose to remain silent publicly.  And this is a shame. Because in trying to stay on the "good list", they collectively took a shit on a very deserving, very sincere brand that has struggled nobly forward for many years, and frankly? Deserved a hell of a lot better than what they got. And what I find so frustrating in all of this is that I KNOW these media outlet owners. They were once in the very same spot as the brand owner. They were not always so "mighty", and I have shared more than one dreadful lunch at BaselWorld with several of them over plates of over-aged open faced liverwurst sandwiches and tap water trying to conceive of an alliance of our then much smaller blogs and outlets to come together so that we all might make some money.  
Editors note - the alliance never really fully materialized.  2 of the outlets became big time, one of the bloggers now runs a magazine, I chose to remain a solo act.

And on one level I get it - we all have to eat, we all have bills to pay, and fortunately for me, I am not dependent upon Tempus Fugit, and therefore not dependent on brands writing me checks.

But on the other hand, whether we all admit it or not, nobody needs watches. More particularly?
Nobody really needs watch magazines or blogs. We like them, we enjoy them. But the outlets should also all be willing to offer honest opinions without fear of losing advertising revenue.

Because ultimately? The watch press should be much more than simply an extension of a brand's pr and marketing office. Because when the line is as blurred as it currently is? It is no longer actual reporting. It is just candy floss.

The UR-220 All Black

From URWERK -

Courtesy of URWERK

URWERK UR-220 “Falcon Project”

All Black edition limited to 25 watches

Movement

Calibre:
Calibre UR-7.20, developed by URWERK

Winding:
Manually wound

Escapement:
Swiss lever

Frequency:
28, 800 v/h - 4 Hz

Hairspring:
Flat

Energy source:
Single mainspring barrel

Jewels:
59

Power reserve:
48 hours

Materials:
Baseplate in ARCAP P40, 3D minutes pointer in aluminium with bronze counterweight; central spring in steel. Hours satellites in aluminium; carrousel and screws in grade 5 titanium.

Decorative finishes:
Power reserve bridge and module circular-grained in black.
Power reserve subdial shot peened in black.
Vertically brushed satellites with polished bevels.
Carrousel and its cage finely sanded with a circular satin finish. Rhodium plated in black.
Satellite cam finely sanded with a circular satin finish.
Painted SuperLuminova markers: white glowing blue for the power- reserve indicator; yellow glowing green for the hours and minutes; red glowing blue for the 60 minutes marker and the end of the power reserve scale. 

Polished screws.

Indications
Wandering hours on a satellite complication ( URWERK patent).
3D retrograde minutes hand.
Double power-reserve indicator.
Oil change indicator on two rollers on the back showing the accumulated running time of the movement in months.

Case

Material:
Steel and titanium with black DLC.

Dimensions:
Width: 43.8mm; length: 53.6mm; depth: 14.8mm

Glass:
Clear sapphire crystal

Caseback:
Black DLC on titanium and sapphire crystal glass.

Water resistance:
Pressure tested to 30m/3 ATM

Decorative finishes:
Black DLC on shot-peened and sanded crown;
Matt sanded logo;
Black DLC on sanded crown guard;
Caseband in black DLC on stainless steel.
Back: black DLC on sanded caseback;
Pin: satin finished body with sanded engraving, polished hand; Tinted sapphire crystal;
Polished screws.

Bracelet:
Leather with a titanium buckle.

Price:
CHF 130,000. (Swiss francs /excl. tax)

The BR 05 CHRONO

 From Bell & Ross -

Courtesy of Bell & Ross

This is the latest release from the BR 05 collection.  This chronograph version is available in 2 color ways (black and blue), with either a stainless steel bracelet or rubber strap.

Here are the pertinents -

Movement: 

calibre BR-CAL.301. Automatic mechanical.

Functions: 

hours, minutes, small seconds at 3 o'clock and date. Chronograph: 30-minute counter at 9 o'clock, central chronograph seconds.

Case: 

42 mm in width. Satin-finished and polished steel. Screw-down crown. Sapphire case-back.

Dial: 

black sunray or blue sunray. Super-LumiNova®-filled applique numerals and indices. Metal skeletonised Super-LumiNova®-filled hour and minute hands.

Crystal: 

sapphire with anti-reflective coating.

Water-resistance: 

100 metres.

Strap: 

black or blue rubber or satin-finished and polished steel.

Buckle: 

folding. Satin-finished and polished steel.

Doing Good - Claude Meylan

Nice to see a brand taking steps to come up with ecologically friendly alternatives!

Courtesy of Claude Meylan

Here's the news, straight from the source -

CLAUDE MEYLAN contributes to a better environment by creating a fully eco- responsible and recyclable watch display.

Always concerned by a more ecological approach Claude Meylan introduce a new 100% recyclable display - a first in the field - and entirely made in Switzerland, in Clarmont (VD), in collaboration with Eric Dakkus.

Courtesy of Claude Meylan

After months of research and development, we are able to present our new window scenes!
We wanted to be local, we wanted to be able to trace all materials to guarantee a true and full recycling of our pieces.

Therefore, beech wood will be our main material as they line the forests of the Vallée de Joux and are carefully monitored by the Swiss Forest analysts.

The trays and pedestals composed of slats shaped in beech, will thus highlight the creations of the Sculptor of Time!

These elements are assembled with an ecological glue, naturally biodegradable. Two pediments, one in aluminum and the other, removable and in PET, respectively highlight the signature and the theme of the staging.

To complete the process beautifully, the writings which feature the brand name CLAUDE MEYLAN are printed using with water-based ink. The durability of the objects is thus protected by a water-based varnish to ensure full recycling.


These materials sourced locally and entirely traceable allow us to present the first perfectly recyclable display case stage, they allow a play of superposition between PET and aluminum that will animate the display case according to the subjects and themes decided throughout the year.

With this project, CLAUDE MEYLAN confirms its commitment to responsible and sustainable development.

The SUB 200 C-Graph

From DOXA -

Courtesy of DOXA

Okay, gotta' admit, I am a wee little bit conflicted by this one. Even during my time working for Rick Marei and selling the DOXA SUB directly, I was never a huge fan of the T-Graph.  I know, every desk diver and over-stuffed diving suit clad devotee of Watch U Seek feels emotional, well, swellings when discussing the T-Graph. Simply put? It just was never my jam.

Courtesy of DOXA

And with this new SUB 200 C-Graph, the Jenny family and their retinue have firmly thrown down the gauntlet.  It is now abundantly clear that DOXA is aiming to position itself on a different plane of perception with distributors and retail partners.

And in fairness?  It's not the worst idea out there, because if early rumblings from the DOXA community are anything to go by, the new team handling the phones in North America are not really wired the same way as the Marei team was. Therefore although you can purchase directly from DOXA, at least up until recently you can also purchase one from a retail partner. 

Courtesy of DOXA

Now given the reality of COVID-19, that might not have been the best thought out plan in hindsight, but in truth? Nobody really saw this coming.

One of the ongoing arguments I had with Rick when I was at DOXA was trying to drive home 2 important points:

1.  There are only so many orange dialed dive watch customers out there.

2.  Of those customers? They can only buy so many different versions of, for the most part, the same watch.

And trust me, this is not "rearview mirror sour grapes".  It is the same thing I have up until recently tried to make clear with every client I have worked with - if all of your customers are in New York, then you don't really need to keep hammering that market - they already know about you! It is time to spread the word in other parts of the country!

For the Marei era DOXA? That meant that while Watch U Seek and the official forum with evangelists like Peter Millar were going to reach a certain demographic, it was not necessarily the basket to place all of your eggs in.

But, back to the SUB 200 C-Graph.

Unlike the Marei era DOXA SUB, the Jennys have opted to release ALL of the color ways at the same time rather than drip them out over a 9 - 18 month period one or two at a time. 

Now the main difference is that the Jenny's can afford to produce the watches, market and sell them all at the same time, and are not dependent upon a pre-sale strategy to help fund the production.

So it seems that the Jenny's are committed, and ready to spend the money and at least on the design, manufacture and promotion of the new collections, they are doing well (the less said about the SUB 300 Aqua Lung US Divers the better). Now there is still some improvement to be made on their sales team in the direct portion of their business, but with the introduction of distributors? That makes that less and less of a pressing priority.

Courtesy of DOXA

Look, I know that we are all romantic about certain things in our lives. And it's hard not to be romantic about watches. But things can, and inevitably must change. And while my personal jury is still out on the new direction that DOXA is taking with the SUB, the boat seems to be sailing forward, so let's see where they go.

Courtesy of DOXA

The price is $2,790 

Here are the pertinents -

MOVEMENT
Swiss mechanical automatic, self-winding, Chronograph
Power reserve: 48 hours
Frequency: 28'800 vph (4.0 Hz)
27 jewels
Decorated by DOXA

CASE
Stainless steel
Diameter: 45.00 mm x 49.00 mm
Thickness: 17.25 mm
Crystal: Glass box sapphire
Unidirectional rotating bezel
Screw-down crown
Lug width: 20 mm
Water resistance: 20 ATM / 200 meters / 656 feet

INDICATIONS
Hours, minutes, seconds
Date
Chronograph

FEATURES
Sapphire box glass
Unidirectional rotating bezel

BRACELET/STRAP
Stainless steel “Beads of Rice" bracelet attached by screws to ensure a secure fit, folding clasp with wetsuit extension, exclusive
DOXA fish logo
FKM rubber strap with pin buckle, exclusive DOXA fish symbol on the pin buckle
Lug width: 20 mm