A happy 2006 to all of you!!

2005 was the year of exclusive watches from relative new watch manufacturers, extension of (existing) collections at almost every watch manufacturer and ofcourse the birth of several new watch blog websites. Even in Dutch

I hope 2006 will be a good year for watch collectors and connoisseurs!

Thanks for visiting this site (again) in 2005 and hope to see you back in 2006…

Since their introduction of the ‘Open’ models, at least this seems to be the case, Zenith is adopting a new image of some kind. I loved their Zenith El Primero Rainbow model. Functional watch, cool colors and great movement. A no-nonsense watch. Same thing with their Elite models. I still love the Reserve de Marche model.

However, this new image ruins it all. It is not the great chronograph fast-ticker pioneer it once was (to me). The brand is losing credibility because of their new style of image. They seem to sponsor and walk on these Milionair Fairs and other celeb parties & cocktails. Their watches are getting ridicilous with all those ‘open’ works and diamonds everywhere. Is Dubai the only country of their interest? Or are they using the bling-bling hype?

Even worse is their advertisement campaign. Who can identify himself with this Zenith advert for example? I can’t. It is ridicilous.

Zenith sold its soul. As many other brands ofcourse, but Zenith had a good thing going on.

About a year ago, on the 22th of December 2004, I posted about the official Kobold Forum at WatchUseek.com. Since April this year, the forum isn’t ‘official’ anymore. This means that the forum still exists, but not with the official support of Mike Kobold. I couldn’t find an explanation for this anywhere, but this has probably something to do with image and the aim for a higher-segment in the market. At least, this is the impression I got from the reactions on my former post on the Kobold Forum.

Anyway, besides Paneristi, there seems to be Koboldi. According to the Kobold marketing machine, James ‘Tony Soprano’ Gandolfini is among them.

Picture by Elizabeth Cacatian, moderator at WatchUseek

The pictured model is $3850 (in Titanium with bracelet) or $2450 (in Steel with bracelet).

The official Kobold Watch website ships these watches directly to the customer. Also, they have a load of merchandise (including shirts, straps, bracelets, buckles, advertisements(paying for these?) etc.) for sale on their website. At least the Koboldi are getting served a bit better than the Paneristi when it comes to merchandise. Paneristi have to scrape it of eBay.

The good thing about forums, is that when someone posts a picture of his new (or vintage) watch, there is always someone who has a somewhat ’special’ version of that same watch. In the Omega Forum at TimeZone.com, AaronJK posted a picture of his new Christmas present:

A Seamaster Chronograph with caliber 861 (based on Lemania caliber 1871). I love this model btw, with those colored sub dials.

Not long after AaronJK’s original post in the forum, ‘quatre_temps’ posts his version of this vintage 1970 Seamaster Chronograph with ‘roulette wheel’. I had never seen this one before. Very nice!

And before rounding up this post, I will add in another vintage (and ‘rare’) Omega watch today. JBagnall posted the following text on the Omega Forum at TimeZone:

“This watch has been in my family for 36 yrs. Originally purchased for my Father in 1969 is a true World Traveller. With the possible exception of South America it has been on every Continent. It has taken a ride on a Yak in Nepal, been on Safari in Africa, survived 4 Monsoon seasons in India, by Motorcycle has traversed the North American continent no less than 5 times and travelled through all of Western Europe. It has survived Fog, Rain and Snow on numerous Motorcycle trips, all told somewhere in the region of 200,000km’s. The watch carries a 930cal (modified 861cal)that dispenses with the 12hr counter in favour of a Date Window. “

Although it seems that the bracelet and case do not match (case is probably doublé or at least not 14Kt gold, and the bracelet probably is 14kt gold), it is a marvelous watch! Although I am not a fan of gold, I would wear this without a doubt. Probably on a nice brown croco leather strap! The best thing ofcourse, is the story behind this watch that makes it so special.

For the watch lovers amongst us who have to wear a suit every (working) day, this might cheer you up:

I saw these at the Public Forum at TimeZone.com. I don’t know where to get them, but if you do a quick search on eBay or Google, you might get lucky. Have seen a few cufflinks with a working watch inside, but not with this moonphase feature

Anyway, at least leave the tie bar at home. Unless you drive a bus.

This was the result of the Korea Panerai GTG! Amazing…

More on this Korean GTG here and here

Watch companies seem to open boutiques of their own brand more and more. Europastar posted on the 20th of December that Carl F. Bucherer has opened the first shop to sell Carl F. Bucherer watches exclusively.

Brands like IWC, Cartier and Omega have their boutiques popping up like mushrooms these days. This must be a real pain in the butt for the dealers who are located near these boutiques.

Picture taken from the IWC website

Why would someone go to a dealer and buy an IWC from them when there is this all nice dressed up IWC-only store only a street away? Unless you have some kind of relationship with a specific dealer. As a result of this, dealers probably will throw out these brands from their collection. Another option which is more likely (if the brand is part of their best selling brands in their collection), is to obtain these watches through different channels and offer them with some serious percentages off the retail price. I am talking gray import here ofcourse. Why would you, as a watch shop, release a good selling brand? I think brands with their own boutiques aren’t very respectful to their own dealer network to be honest.

Anyway, although this boutiques have all the fancy stuff inside, I prefer a watch shop (authorised dealer or not) to buy my watches from. In the end, it is about the watch. And if I can get the same watch for some decent %’s off with a warranty card and with the same good service, why not?

Steve S shows his 5970 in white gold on the Paneristi Forum.

Congrats on the watch Steve!

This morning I received an email from Art. Art writes:

“Hi,

-a.”

Since I have a few days off, I read the ‘observation’ by Art. Although I don’t think you will ‘benefit’ from it watch wise, it does give an interesting perspective on Swatches through the eyes of Art.

TCStraps always used to be a great source for Panerai straps, however… I just discovered that they have a great selection of Panerai watches now as well. Maybe I am just late, but I never saw so many watches for sale before on their web site.

If you are in the fortunate situation to be able to purchase a (or more) vintage Panerai, definately take a peek over there.

For the people who are longing for some White Dial Love, TCStraps (TC stands for Time Connection) also has this one (PAM3B) for sale for 4150 USD:

Happy Christmas everybody! Although there haven’t been much postings lately, the last thing to cause this was inspiration! There is a lot of news in the watch business and watches, but I simply didn’t have the time to sit down and post about it. Expect some more traffic here next few weeks!

In the meanwhile, have a great christmas!

..this fabulous Omega Constellation of the first generation (thus with automatic bumper movement). I sold my own caliber 501 Constellation (first ‘regular’ automatic movement model) a while ago, and these pictures make me almost want it back. However, these watches are just a bit too small for my wrists, so it would (and it didn’t) never get any wrist time

The first Constellation saw life in 1952, and was considered to be Omega’s flagship model for a long, long time. Until recently, the DeVille Co-Axial models took this role from the Constellation line. Personally I would prefer the caliber 55x movement, because of the availability of spare parts. The production of these caliber 55x models was a bit later though, late 50s to the 60s. Anyway, great watch!!

Per K wrote a small review on this watch here.

..which I can understand, when I look at the watch Tom S. is talking about at the Public Forum on TimeZone.com.

As he writes:

“Remembrances of things past….

I have been out of this game for the better part of a year now (or thereabout, I’ve lost track). But tonight, as I settled down with a nice Pinot Noir and a good cigar, I decided to thumb through the Kenjo catalog I still receive at this time of the year.

All the usual suspects were there, including a number of new models. While I’m still mildly interesting in looking at watches, I found I had no real desire for any of them. In fact, looking at the various design features, I was reminded of how, when I was afflicted with the watch disease, I’d actually have opinions about minutiae such as lug width of this new model, or the choice of hands on some other. It all seemed a little absurd, and a little amusing. No offence meant to anyone, it’s just that when you step away for a while, most of these issues seem almost incomprehensible in hindsight.

Anyway, as I was turning the last pages, I came upon a watch listed in their “preowned” section. Seeing that watch did bring back fond memories. So here is a small homage to that watch, and I almost wish I still had it: “

I have seen this watch a couple of time in the flesh, and I have to admit that it looks great. The dial is far from perfect as the Speedmaster Professional dial is for example, and the watch is a bit small if you are used to 40mm watches and upwards. To me however, there is some magic in this watch.

..and for starting watch collectors in general. Most private web sites on watches are about brands or certain genres, this one is generic but very usefull if you are just starting out collecting (vintage) watches.

Tips on getting parts, watch makers tools, links to watch repair shops, value of watches and a FAQ make this website worth bookmarking. There is also an overview of history on the major brands (some of them don’t even exist anymore) with a rich history. The owner, Kevin James, has really put a great effort in this site.

Visit www.thewatchguy.com and enjoy!

Update 22 July 2007: There is an update on this message, including new prices, available at http://www.fratellowatches.com/archives/2007/07/22/updates-on-the-steiner-limited-watches/

A while ago, I posted about Steiner in Maastricht. A few days ago, I received a newsletter from Steiner about their own watch to honor the founder of their shop, Mr. Steiner, who passed away a while ago. There are 24 watches available since the 24th of November, to honor the store which is 24 years old.

The watch is available in rose gold and platinum. The case has a diameter of 42mm and is 12.5mm thick. The movement is based on valjoux caliber 7751 (which features a moonphase complication). More specifications and the prices can be found on the Steiner Limited Website. All watches are numbered and include a handwritten certificate and a leather traveller’s case.

Click here to visit the Steiner Limited website.

In the past, I posted about Van der Gang watches, a Dutch watch brand that gains in popularity here in The Netherlands, but is too much inspired on the IWC Portugieser watches. A shame, because if you can produce quality watches like those, you might want to spend extra money on your own design department as well.

Anyway, besides Van der Gang watches, there is another watch brand in The Netherlands, which is there for quite some time now, but never got much attention on this blog. I am, ofcourse, talking about Christiaan van der Klaauw watches. Christiaan van der Klaauw is a watch maker in the northen part of The Netherlands, which is famous for its clocks (Frysian). Christiaan van der Klaauw started as a clock maker as well, but also started making wrist watches. Personally, I am not very attracted to its design, but at least it is original and very nicely finished. Check out his website and look at the watch animations (per model!) on your screen. If you are into classic watches, with very nice complications, it might be something for you! Because the number of watches Christiaan van der Klaauw makes every year is quite limited, it is possible to have your watch customized a bit.

Click on http://www.klaauwwatches.nl/ for the (also available in English) website.

In the Netherlands we have this website called ‘Marktplaats’, which is as much as ‘MarketPlace’. It seems to be the source of all evil when it comes to fakes and replica things. I really don’t understand that Rolex or some organisation with the task to chase illegal activities like breaking copyright laws, does not seem to care about these kind of websites.

Anyway, today I did a search for (Rolex) Submariners and I got this… which made me speechless for a few moments:

The owner/seller claims that he bought it in Dubai for 750 USD and that he is selling it because he ended his collecting hobby

Available as per january 2006 and will cost you about 1900 Euro. The official Seiko site on this watch can be found here.

Thanks Gadget.nl. Otherwise, I still would be able to tell people I liked Seiko for being innovative (Seiko Spring Drive).

Btw, also via Gadget.nl, this clock that can bring you your voicemail messages…

I have just received the following email from the Koony Sun company:

Hello Robert,

We have learned your watchblog at http://www.fratellowatches.com/ which is interested to us.

you are invited to visit our amazing aero site at www.koonysun.com which has been a mostly welcome one in the world for our Pro Pilot Watches, There is many Dutch vistors coming to visit our website everyday. Please check the following results of search engines about us as;

http://de.search.yahoo.com/search?p=pilot%2Bwatches&prssweb=Suche&ei=UTF-8&fr=sfp&fl=0&vc=&x=wrt&meta=0

http://images.google.com/images?q=pilot%2Bwatches&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=wi

http://search.msn.de/results.aspx?x?cp=1252&q=pilot%2Bwatches&x=12&y=5

Awaiting your kind response, Robert.

Sincerely Yours,
Colin Sun
Sales Department
Koony Sun & Co.

So I have checked the amazing aero website. Aviation and pilot watches don’t do much for me in general, so many things on the website were not of my interest. However, if you are into pilot watches, it might be worth the visit. :”-)