The Watch Fanatic

Next up on my want list

2011-05-11T12:08:00.000-05:00

other than the seiko I posted about a few days ago, this JLC is up on my want list.

Called the Duomètre-à-Quantième-Lunaire (don't ask me what that means, I'm not french) this thing is an absolute testament to human engineering. Just look at the detail work paired with the partial skeletonized face.....

My Next Watch

2011-05-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

A fellow buddy of mine posted some pictures of this thing and I just had to buy one. I am someone who goes for something a little higher end but this thing is eye catching and an icon. I'll be putting it on a rubber strap for sure though.

It's a seiko snzf45k1, a.k.a the white baby monster, a.k.a the seiko 5 sport diver

A. Lange & Sohne's newest watch: Zeitwerk Striking

2011-03-14T00:31:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I am the biggest Lange fan in the world.

These guys really broke the most last year when they introduced the world's first analog automatic watch. By analog, I mean instead of having hands that move like on a typical watch, it has numbers and DOES NOT run on a battery. Wild right?

Below if a picture of their new Zeitwerk Striking which plays a chime from "the famous Leitmotif from Beethoven's Symphony No.5". Wild right?

Highlights of the upcoming Antiquorum

2011-03-08T01:52:00.000-06:00

Antiquorum will be having their March auction in two days and some of the pieces they have up are stunning.

Christiaan van der Klaauw, Astrolabium 2000

Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar, Ref. 3940P

Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2

Audemars Piguet John Schaeffer Minute Repeaters

I'm back

2011-03-07T11:36:00.001-06:00

I'm backkk guys

School has been a drag but we need to get back to watches asap. Antiquorum is up next this month with some big time pieces up for sale.

Just a friendly reminder guys about my other blog

2011-02-12T14:48:00.001-06:00

As stated previously I am upkeeping both my blogs but for those who like guns, I started a gun blog. Follow it if you wish :)

www.thegunfanatic.blogspot.com

Longines Master Manual Wind: Classy Piece, Affordable Price

2011-02-10T14:55:00.000-06:00

Anyone ever heard of Longines before? Some may have not but they are an extremely well known swiss manufacturer of high end watches. They make many different models ranging from your dress watches in steel, dress watches in gold all the way to sport watches. They basically have you covered from all different points.

The Longines Master Collection Manual mind, model L2.640.4.78.3, is a manual wind watch that is based off of the ever so common ETA Valjoux movement. Measuring in at 47.5mm, it is not exactly the smallest watch in the world but the general trend recently has been toward larger watches. The internals contain Longines rebranding L512 movement that beats at 21,600 BPH with a 54 hour power reserve on a full wind. Longines in most well known for the text of the numbers on the watch, and the picture below shows a prime example of how eye catching their pieces are as a result of this. The face contains that beautiful lettering, classic blue hands and an off centered center hand at the 6 o clock position. It also comes with a display back to view the movement.

The best part about this watch is the price. You get all this for about 1000-1100 brand new online. how can you beat that?

New blog, still keeping up this one

2011-02-10T00:55:00.000-06:00

hey guys,

I have started another blog but I will be updating both simultaneously since I love writing about both anyway. Add it if you wish.

http://thegunfanatic.blogspot.com/

Bought another gun. Oh noez

2011-02-09T11:44:00.000-06:00

Alright this is my last non watch related post and may just start a gun blog as a result...

Anyways I picked up a Springfield Armory Loaded 1911 45 acp in stainless steel on monday afternoon. It basically has all the bells as whistles for the most part such as a skeletonized trigger, skeletonized hammer, front and rear slide milling, 3 dot sights and textured wood grips.

The one negative thing I have with the gun is that it is extremely heavy and the slide feels almost a bit too snug. All full size 1911s are heavy which isn't really that big of a deal but hopefully after breaking the gun in at the range, things will loosen up.

Would anyone here follow a gun blog?

Bought my first gun today

2011-02-05T15:12:00.000-06:00

Not watch related, but IjJust got back from the gun shop and I bought my first gun today. It is a H&K USP P30L with night sights. For those of you who played counterstrike as a kid, this is H&K's new updated USP.

If you are pro gun, get in here!!

Apologies for not writing as much

2011-02-03T20:01:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, I am a college student so I can't update this blog like I use to. Before school started, I was writing multiple times a day but the workload is creeping up on me.

I intend on keeping up with this once a day or every other day and checking out your blogs. Keep it up guys and thanks for the support.

Sincerely,

The Watchman

A Few Famous People and Their Watches pt. 3

2011-02-02T19:59:00.000-06:00

part 3 guys

1) Don't know who this is but she is bangin'

2) Danica Patrick (Tissot): man she looks good.....

3) Kanye West: (Bape Casio Gshock): nothing more to say

4) Nicholas Cage (Montblanc): Manufacturer just produced their special edition Nicolas Rieussec chronograph which I will blog about later.

A Few Famous People and Their Watches pt. 2

2011-02-02T09:37:00.001-06:00

Here is part 2 folks

1) Bratt Pitt (Tag Heuer): Just to clarify a few things folks, it isn't pronounced "hue-er". It is pronounced "hoy-ay". Here is brad in a advertisement for Tag but he has been seen in overseas Rolex ones as well.

2) George Clooney (Omega): There was a huge advertising campaign where he actually went into the factory for a tour. I am sure you guys can google stuff about it and I think there is even a video of him when he went for an interview after leaving the factory.

3) Tony Parker (IWC Portuguese Chrono): Tony......with all that money you make, all you can get is an ETA based porto chrono? All kidding aside, it is a great watch but it does have a non in house modified ETA movement.....

4) Sylvester Stallone (Panerai): Probably the biggest ambassador of Panerai in the world. Ask anyone.....

A Few Famous People and Their Watches

2011-02-01T13:05:00.000-06:00

Ever wonder what watches some celebs wear? For my next few posts, I am going to post what watches some well known celebs wear on a daily basis

1) Jay-Z (Audemars Piguet ROO): Guy is quite possibly the biggest AP fan in the world, no joke.

2) Roger Federer (Rolex 18K GMTII Ceramic): The guy is the face of Rolex

3) Jennifer Aniston (Rolex Day-Date): Contrary to popular belief, the watch is not called the presidents. You know how people call it the "Presidential Rolex" or the "Rolex Presidents"? It is actually a slang term and something I will cover on a future article. Back to Jennifer though, I don't think I have seen a picture of her without a mens 36mm day date on.

4) Shia Labeouf (IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar): In my opinion, of the best bang for the buck watches out there but it will set you back a huge chunk of change

Sturhling Original: Saw One for the First Time Yesterday

2011-01-31T12:04:00.001-06:00

I had a buddy come over yesterday and he showed me a new watch that he purchased. To my surprise, it was a Sturhling Original Skeleton which is something I have blogged about in the past but I have never seen one in person.

The one he purchased was the one above but instead of arabic numbers along the outside, it had roman numerals. I was quite surprised because for $150 dollar watch, the movement appears to be decenly made (knock on wood). I have heard of a lot of issues with these watches in the past but the movement looked well done and the watch kept time very well.

He told me he purchased it through chronoshark.com for $70. For those of you who are interested in affordable watches at discounted prices, chronoshark basically scours the internet for the best deals of the day and posts it. I would highly recommend that you check out that website. Just as a test to see if you are actually reading my article, what did my last article cover?

History of the Tourbillon

2011-01-29T13:22:00.004-06:00

Perhaps the most talked about feature, the tourbillon has its place in history as one of the most admired pieces of engineering in watchmaking.

Who created the tourbillon?
The God, a.k.a Anton Louis Breguet. Aside from creating and innovating a lot of things, the tourbillon was his crowning achievement in 1795.

So what exactly is a tourbillon?
It is quite simple to explain really. If you guys look at traditional automatic watches and observe the oscillator, it just moves back and forth to provide energy for the watch to tell time. I am sure you guys have seen this many times before. A tourbillon on the other hand has the entire assembly that holds it together moving freely.

So what exactly is the point of this?
The point of this is to improve accuracy and to counter the effects of gravity. Lets say you have the watch face up if you have your wrist flat on a table. By the force of gravity that oscillator and housing are biased downward, thus causing torsion and reducing the frequency at which the oscillator moves back and forth. This is the same thing as if you had your wrist on the side. So by moving the entire cage, you can counteract this because the cage is never in the same position for more than a fraction of a second at a time.

Sounds expensive......
You got it. Tourbillons are extremely hard to assemble. There are a bunch of chinese manufacturers who sell knock off tourbillons but the watches would be lucky to last more than a month. A quality tourbillon in the watch would starts at around $100,000. Nowadays, the feature is really for watch manufacturers to show off who has the bigger dick.

What does a tourbillon look like?

Tokyo Flash: The Weirdest Watches in the World

2011-01-27T19:54:00.001-06:00

I am going to go off on a slight tangent for this one folks.

Tokyo Flash has generated a buzz recently due to their awkward watches, or at least I deem them as awkward. The watches hail from Japan and there are a ton of different designs and styles that the watch comes in. From what I have seen, you must purchase them directly from Tokyo Flash and have it shipped from Japan but it seems the transit time is extremely fast.

You don't tell time like you regularly do on a normal watch. Instead, you read the time based upon a series of lights based upon a certain theme. For instance you have nuclear warning themes, road themes etc. This is actually very hard to understand unless you watch the video below (trust me it is well worth the time). Below is both the video and examples of the watches that they offer. For around $150 bucks, you can pick one of these up from www.tokyoflash.com if you like something really weird and eye catching.

The Cartier Tank: The Watch JFK Made Famous

2011-01-26T13:58:00.000-06:00

True story folks.....

The Cartier Tank was introduced by Cartier in 1917 by Louis Cartier of the world famous jewelry company. His inspiration for the watch was the tread pattern of Renault army tanks in Europe, thus providing the namesake of the watch as "The Tank". Although the watch does not have anything particularly special about, it has a storied history because it was John F. Kennedy's watch of choice while he was alive. As seen below, you can see him wearing his 18k gold tank on a black leather band.

There are many versions of this watch today but the classic Cartier Solo will always be the one thought of when people think of this watch. The newest version called the Tank Française is the most up to date model that Cartier offers but all models are still available. Seen below are the main variations with both the leather version that JFK wore and the bracelet version which gave the watch its name.

Today is my birthday

2011-01-25T10:34:00.000-06:00

I turned 23 today. hooray

The Panerai Luminor Composite: Panerai's New Product for 2011

2011-01-24T21:21:00.000-06:00

This is a quick follow up to my previous post earlier today about the Panerai Monopulsante. SIHH 2011, which is one of the world's largest product showcases beside Basel had Panerai Showcasing one of their new products for this year: the PAM386 Composite.

So what exactly is this watch? Looking at the pictures, it looks like your typical luminor style case but with a slightly brown tone case and watch. Panerai decided to follow up on one of their most popular products last year (the PAM339) with this little gem this year. The 339 was the radiomir version (seen below), which is a slightly different case without the crown guard but the watch carries over some of the design elements onto the new watch.

Don't ask me what composite means because in reality I have literally no idea, but since it is a "composite", I am willing to guess that it is a blend of ceramic with some other metal most likely being steel. The case measures in at 44mm and has that old school dirty desert type feel. The face is extremely clean with a basic second hand function at 9 o clock and a date at 3 o clock. The watch will carry Panerai's in house caliber P.2000 movement with a display back, so it will carry a premium over a basic second and date luminor. Price estimates should be around $10,000-$11,000 upon release.

For you Panerai bandwagoners, this may be the perfect watch for you. Check it out a bit more in detail if you wish. It is an eye catcher to say the least.

The Panerai Luminor 1950 8 Day GMT Monopulsante Chronograph

2011-01-24T11:48:00.006-06:00

I know what you were thinking when you read that title. Is he really being serious? Did I just spent 10 seconds of my life reading all that? The answer to all that is yes....

I have seen a bunch of requests for squared faced watches, so I will put some focus into that the upcoming week or two. Today, I will blog about the Panerai 1950 Monopulsante, which is one of the few Panerais I like and is one that is high up on my wish list.

If you are unfamiliar with Panerai, let me give you a brief 30 second run down of the brand. Panerai was founded in 1860 by Giovanni Panerai, at italian watchmaker. As the sole supplier of watches to the italian navy, the brand gained prowess in the watch world for both their use and eye catching design. As I have said in the past, there are only two watch brands and people can spot just by looking at: Rolex and Panerai. The brand has since been acquired by the Richemont group, who owns a conglomerate of high end watchmakers and a few other luxury brands but the roots of the watch have remained intact. The company is still headquartered in Italy, but the watches are now manufactured in Switzerland.

The Monopulsante, model PAM311 is a special watch. Panerai runs the tables in a way similar to IWC where many of their cheaper watches contain the ever popular ETA movement that is pre-made, but the higher end watches that demand a premium are all in house and something special. This watch is mind blowing because it contains a GMT function (capability of telling time in two time zones), a chronograph (essentially a stop watch) and an eight day power reserve (can run for 8 days on a full wind) all wrapped up in a 44mm case.

The watch comes in three different styles: steel with a black face, titanium with a brown face or black ceramic with a black dial but the one above is the stainless steel model. At the 9 o clock position, you have a subdial that measures seconds as a watch normally would, but it also has a smaller hand that indicated AM or PM time in the second time zone. The GMT hand is not shown in the picture about because it is probably hiding behind another hand, but you essentially set it like you would any other watch that has a main pin GMT hand. The 3 o clock position contains the second subdial which measured seconds up to 30 if you have the chronograph running. At 6 o clock, you have your 8 day function, which tells you how much time you have left on the power reserve. Panerai uses a three barrel main system on their calibre P.2004 in house movement (seen below). It is beautifully finished and masterfully shown through the display back case. The last design feat this watch contains is the monopulsante function, which is the name sake of this watch. If you look on the side of the case at the 8 o clock position you will see a button. This button serves as the all in one button which starts, stops and resets the chronograph function each time you press it. This is very unique from a traditional chronograph that uses two buttons where the top starts and stops and the bottom resets. Retail on this watch is a hair over $20,000 for a stainless steel watch but for what you get in return, it is well worth the price if you want something incredibly unique and hard to find. Panerais also have incredibly high resale value. So for those who care about that sort of thing, keep that in the back of your mind as well.

Thanks for your time guys.

Long Weekend

2011-01-23T22:32:00.000-06:00

It has been a very long weekend for me and unfortunately I have been unable to blow very much. I am pretty exhausted from this weekend but I will make sure to get back to writing next week. There were some requests for some square watches to be posted and there are a bunch of routes I can go there with your Panerais and Vacherons but we'll see.

As of now, I am going to bed because I feel like the disney fellow in the picture below. Quite a haggard old chap isn't he?

Blancpain Villeret Moonphase: Another Watchman Favorite

2011-01-22T17:07:00.000-06:00

I greatly apologize for the lack of activity on my blog but I am current at the lake having some fun :)

I am going to follow up my previous article about the Breguet moonphase with another one of my favorites: the Blancpain Moonphase. For those who are unfamiliar with the brand, it is a very well known swiss manufacturer who is probably most well known for its 50 fathoms sport watch. The Villeret is one of Blancpain's dress lines.

The Villeret Moonphase is an annual calendar with a moonphase. The price is extremely affordable considering full 18k annual moonphases by a company like Patek Philippe start at around $60,000. Blancpain does offer this watch in stainless steel with an MSRP of $11,000 but in my opinion, this puts a dent in the companies image by offering it in stainless steel (pictures below).

As you can see above, the dial is a bit more busy than most dress watches but it is still extremely clean. The dial has a very unconventional layout with roman numeral markers along the outside and the date listed in a 360 degree circle along the edge. Just like the Breguet I blogged about before, the moonphase has a beautifully designed complication with the face on the moon (amazing in my opinion) with markers for the 29.5 day lunar calendar above it. The annual calendar function is listen right above the mid point in the 12 o clock position showing the date and month. All of this is housed in a case with a transparent back containing Blancpain's 6763 movement with a 100 hour power reserve. You can observe the movement below, which is a predecessor of the current 6763 movement but the movement is essentially the same.

The special edition 18k version is a whole heck of a lot cooler in my opinion. The model for the original one is the same design with a 18k case, but the special edition "Half-Hunter" Villeret Moonphase was released that has a out swinging 18k movement cover, blued date indicator hand and goulliching on the dial. Stunning to say the least.

I hope you guys have a great weekend but I am signing out to go spent some time out on the lake. See you folks later.

The Breguet 7337: One of the Most Beautiful Moonphases in the World

2011-01-21T11:30:00.000-06:00

This watch has been at the top of my want list for quite a while now. I still to this day still want one, but they are incredibly hard to find and there aren't too many Breguet dealers around......

For those who are not familiar with Breguet, let me blow your mind in about two minutes time. Breguet is one of the long time legacy swiss watch makers that everyone associates swiss watchmaking with. When I say the phrase "swiss watches", there should only be three names that pop into your head just because of the power of the brand: Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breguet. You could argue Breitling but for some reason, people think they are French.....

The 7337 is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful moonphase watches in existence. Below is a picture of the piece itself. The watch itself measures in at 39mm and is only set in gold and platinum like all Breguet watches except for their sport line. The face of the watch carries the traditional moniker of breguet witht he clean roman dial and guilloched face. There is a weekly calendar that shows the date at 10 o clock and a date counter at the 2 o clock position. The moonphase is centered at the 12 o clock position and has references for the lunar calendar on the outer portion for the 29.5 days of the lunar calendar.

The watch carries Breguet's in house 502.3 QSE1 automatic movement which contains 35 jewels and has a 45 hour power reserve as you can see below. With all recent Breguet models in their classique line, the watches not have a transparent caseback to allow you to view the movement. The predecessor to this watch was the Breguet 3330 has the exact same design except it contains an outdated movement, a solid caseback and the moon on the front of the watch does not have a face painted on it. Call me crazy but if you look back on the first picture, the moon has an awesome looking old school pocket watch face that is a big time selling point for me.

Thanks for your time guys and gals

The World's Most Expensive Watch

2011-01-19T22:36:00.002-06:00

Anyone here ever heard of Chopard? Yea...it was that 1.5 million dollar diamond encrusted monstrosity that rapper Birdman purchased. You may have thought that was expensive but that doesn't top this next watch made by them.This watch does not have a name and there is nothing listed online. How could you name something that no ones buys right?

This watch is an absolute beast. The watch has a total of 201 carats of diamonds and yes that is not a typo:

201 CARATS!

A woman would be lucky to get over a carat for her engagement ring if that puts something into perspective.....

The highlight of the watch are three main heart shaped stones. One is a 12 carat blue diamond, one 15 carat pink diamond and one 11 carat white diamond. All these stones put together actually engulf the face of the watch that is set in 18k yellow gold. So do you guys think this is a men's or women's watch?

PRICE? 25 million