Rowing Blazers Pop-Up

One of my favorite online stores will make a limited brick and mortar appearance -

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

Once you are done with your World Cup viewing, I highly recommend that should you be in NYC, you head on down to the corner of Grand and Centre in Little Italy/Soho.  The 2500 square foot space is at 221 Centre St. and 161 Grand St. There you will find Rowing Blazers and a very welcoming environment. You might even get in a game of ping-pong!

The pop-up will run from June 15th through September 15th.  A rotating lineup of brands will join Rowing Blazers in the space, starting with streetwear brand Eric Emanuel.

There are some pretty cool new things including some truly bitchin' rugby shirts -

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

As well as other dope items that the sartorially aspirational will appreciate -

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

 And seeing as this is a blog about watches -

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

Well, the folks at Rowing Blazers have got you covered!

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

You can scratch that horological itch while you up your wardrobe game.

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

So should you be in the neighborhood and your teams have finished their opening round match, come check them out!

Courtesy of Rowing Blazers

The Monaco Gulf 2018 Special Edition

From Tag Heuer -

Courtesy of Tag Heuer

Here are the pertinents, straight from the source -

Technical details 

Reference 

CAW211R.FC6401 

Movement

TAG Heuer Calibre 11
Automatic chronograph with Date Window at 6 o'clock 

Case

Dimensions 39X39mm. Steel, in three parts, closed with 4 screws.

Dial

Sunray blue PVD with one light blue and one orange stripe
Chronograph minute counter at 9 o'clock and Current Seconds counter at 3 o'clock Rhodium-plated indices with red dot detail and white Super LuminovaTM 

Water-resistance
100 metres

Strap

Blue perforated calfskin with orange top stitching. Deployant buckle in polished steel with HEUER shield

Some Borrowed Time with TAG Heuer

Okay Pals and Gals, sometimes you get to slip behind the "velvet rope" and get a slow dance with a "super-model".

This past week TAG Heuer sent over what their PR office described as a prototype of a new version of their Monaco chronograph.

You may well note that this watch is not currently on the TAG Heuer website, but I got an "out of town preview" so without further delay, fasten your seat belts and start your engines!

This Monaco measures 39 mm and is powered by TAG Heuer's Calibre 11.  This is a self-winding (automatic) chronograph movement offering hours, minutes, seconds and date.  The main second chronograph counter is centrally mounted.  The sub dial at 9 o'clock is a 30 minute counter, the sub dial at 3 o'clock offers the "running" seconds.

The fit of the watch is quite good. In all honesty, anything larger than 39 mm is a bit of overkill unless you have a wrist of "Ahnohld" proportions.  The specific measurements are 39 mm x 39 mm.  The case is fine brushed and polished stainless steel with the bezel being fine-brushed.  Sapphire crystals front and back.  It is warranted to be water resistant to 100 meters.  No, I did not test rating ; )

The crown is on the left-hand side with the pushers on the right. I will be honest that this is not my "ideal" set-up and I was not sure how the feeling of the crown on the left side would feel. In fact it was not noticeable at all.

The pushers are clean, tactile and they functioned flawlessly.

As I mentioned, the movement is Calibre 11.  

The time keeping was first rate, the counters accurate and re-set perfectly.

The strap and clasp combination were very well thought out.  The strap is black calf leather that is perforated in deference to the "racing motif" of the watch.  It was comfortable and the underside was smooth and extremely well finished.

 The clasp is PERFECT.  One of my pet peeves about deployment clasps is that they NEVER work well and are SELDOM at all comfortable.  Not so with the TAG Heuer clasp!  It is smooth, comfortable and secure.

It is important to bear in mind, this is a prototype, so the final product will maybe look a little different - I suspect that Calibre 11 will appear on the dial of the production models.  It is due out in the next month (October is my understanding), so will see when the official press release comes out.

I do think that this will be a good model for TAG Heuer, it keeps to the traditional look and feel and it offers the Calibre 11 movement.  All good things.  The price and FINAL details are yet to be confirmed, so stay tuned.  But for now, you get a bit of an idea.

Heuer Pasadena redux - it is for sale!

A quick unofficial post  - this Heuer Pasadena is for sale - $1,500.00 US payable by PayPal.

US sale only.  Watch can be viewed in person in Santa Barbara.  If you are interested - shoot me an email and I will put you in touch with Ali.

Watch has been serviced, and comes with a one-year warranty.

Heuer Pasadena

I love hanging out at Ali Athari's in Santa Barbara - but it can be a dangerous place because he always seems to have something interesting to show me.  And my lunch break yesterday was no exception -

This is a Heuer Pasadena that Ali recently acquired that is looking for a new home. The Pasadena, not unlike the Montreal and other Heuer watches from the 70's - early 80's came at a time when the quartz boom was starting to flex its muscles on mechanical watches - the whole concept of precision took on entirely new meanings.  But to me the Pasadena, the Montreal, the Monza and others - these are the real Heuer - and by all that is right - these are the real Tag Heuer.  I realize that the Pasadena is not as popular in the mainstream as the Carrera, the Monaco and others - but this one just speaks to me.

And by the way - this watch is for sale.  If you make it to Santa Barbara you can view it in person, alternatively you can contact Ali through his website - www.aliathari.com

or shoot me an email and I can get you his contact phone.