Knight Industries Two Thousand, or K.I.T.T, the car driven by Michael Knight in the 1980s hit TV-series ‘Knight Rider’. Michael Knight communicated with his fabulous car (based on a Pontiac Trans Am) via his wrist watch.

A guy over at the Dutch ‘DeZinVanLuxe‘ watch forum, asked for a replica of this K.I.T.T. wrist watch. It seems to be a Nelsonic or Advance Digital Radio Watch.

Someone in the forum replied that there is this Japanese site, with full instructions on how to build your own K.I.T.T wrist watch. The only thing you need, is a car to communicate with. Click here for the Do It Yourself page.

However, if you prefer a more up to date wrist watch with similar features :-), try the CamCo system. They offer a Car Security system, including a wrist watch, for 239 Euro.

This set contains:

Click here for more information!

More on K.I.T.T over at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KITT.

It seems that I am on some Tag Heuer mailing list. I wonder why they mail it as ‘the latest news’ on the 27th of July while the press release says the 6th of June…  Anyway:

“Carrera Cal 360 Timekeeping Experience!”
 

JUNE 06 - TAG Heuer celebrates the excellence of the Carrera Cal 360: the first ever 1/100th of a second mechanical chronograph has been tested with F1 racing cars.

During 2 days and at the ‘’Avant-Garde’’ and prestigious racing track in Le Castellet, South of France, 10 top European watch journalists became Official Timekeepers for Team McLaren Mercedes and tested the Carrera Calibre 360 in real situation. A unique opportunity for them to experience LIVE not only the accuracy but also the precision of the revolutionary TAG Heuer Cal 360 movement. 

 
Using the legitimacy of F1 history and long term partnership with Team McLaren Mercedes, journalists were given unique access to the backstage of F1, and enjoyed the manual timekeeping of McLaren Formula 1 cars on the race track. 

The contest organized between journalists was a testimonial to the interest of the 1/100 of a second in manual timing, and to the unique accuracy of the Calibre 360. The 2 winners were at 5/100th from the official electronics timing system!
The unbeaten 1/100th precision of the Calibre 360 has been accomplished by watch experts, as well as the strong TAG Heuer heritage innovation skills and leadership in motor racing.

A thrilling experience for a day in the heart of the action!”

Since this guy called Valentine E. Balmat spams my mailbox with it, Tag Heuer probably doesn’t mind putting it online here as well

On the 22nd of July, FratelloWatches celebrated its 2nd birthday. It all started on 22 july 2004. Like WristWatchReview, who also celebrated its birthday on the 26th of June, I will post some statistics for the interested people:

229,400 unique hits measured since 3 October 2004,
491 posts since 22 july 2004,
736 comments since 22 july 2004,
Post with the most comments is “Another Scam” with 102 posts,
I bought and sold about 13 watches since 22 july 2004,
DutchWebHosting.nl did an excellent job hosting this site with almost no flaws,
I upgraded twice to a newer version of WordPress,
Since 22 July 2004, I have had 1 BMW 3-er Touring, 2 Alfa Romeo 147s, 1 Peugeot 206,
I wore my Panerai Ref.113, Rolex Sea-Dweller or GMT-Master II most of the time,
Am busy with my 3rd job, 2nd time as an IT Auditor,
Earned absolutely nothing with this web site which is fine to stay ‘free of speech’,
Used only 1 PC since (a Dell Dimension),
Switched from being a Moderator at the Watch U Seek Omega Forum to the Rolex Forum,
Totally worn out a pair of Tod’s loafers,
Travelled to 13 different countries for pleasure or business,
Watched tons of movies, downloaded tons of music while working on this site….

..the list continues, but for now..

Until the next (at least) two years!! Happy Summertime!

RJ

Holiday season has already started and before you leave to your favorite destination, make sure your watches are safe. Actually, your watches should always be safely stored. A few days ago, I read on Das Rolex Forum that someone came home from a short holiday and noticed his watch was missing. The horror.

If you don’t want your watches to be stored in a safe at the bank, you should consider having a safe installed. Make sure it is fitted by a bolt to a brick or concrete wall. This will stop them for a while

If you have a watch winder (battery operated), make sure it will fit in the safe. This means you have to look at the inner dimensions of the safe You wouldn’t be the first one that came home with a safe that is too small for your watch winder.

Also, make sure you have a proper insurance for all your belongings and have the proper locks installed in your house on all outside doors and windows. It might be interesting to take a look at an alarm system as well. This can be a requirement for the insurance anyway.

Glycine introduces a re-edition of the Airman SST 06 wrist watch. The original version of the SST 06 was released in the 1960s. The first Glycine Airman ever was released in 1953.

This watch features this orange 24-hour bezel. Also available in black or blue. The movement is based on an ETA 2893-2 movement, which is a 2892 based movement with GMT (extra timezone) feature. The diameter of the watch is a stunning 44 mm and is water resistant to 200 metres. Buyer can choose between a leather strap or a stainless steel bracelet. Prices vary between 1600 and 1800 Swiss francs.

This watch has been topic of discussion couple of times at the Glycine Forum at WatchUseek.com watch portal. I have been told by the way, that the Glycine Airman was a very popular watch in the Vietnam war by helicopter pilots.

Source: Europastar

Desmond started a blog for Constellation enthusiasts… A very nice and helpful blog if you are on the look-out for a vintage Constellation. I have had several, and I agree that they are very nice and ‘classic’. However, too small for me (around 34mm) and spare parts are hard to get. My last Constellation had to wait over half a year for a stupid ‘gear’.

Anyway, enjoy the Omega Constellation blog by Desmond.

Above Constellation used to be my own and is dated approx 1955, Omega caliber 501, rosé gold hour markers and stainless steel case.

Back from Finland. We did get back a ‘little’ earlier, because it is probably the most boring country on earth. We should have known

Anyway, at least Robat at Das Rolex Forum (www.r-l-x.de) showed some very nice photos of his latest purchase while I was gone… (pictures below are Robat’s)

And even more good news…  Das Rolex Forum is having a joint venture with La Martina (official polo gear) to produce a few dedicated R-L-X Team La Martina shirts. They will be available in a short while. Keep an eye on the www.r-l-x.de site for the next couple of days for ordering information.

I also finally managed to get a decent Patek Philippe brochure (not the small thingy) at the (I assume there is only one) Patek dealer in Helsinki. Impressive.. I had seen it before, but never got one.

Since I am still having 2 more weeks ‘off’, expect some more postings soon. Especially beware of a nice in-depth review of a brand that almost never get any attention here but which I really do like. Some people will be surprised

A quick hello from Finland. I haven´t posted much here last days, and now you know why… my holidays!

Anyway, I will be back shortly and post a few new items asap!

p.s. Zeger, congrats on your AP RO Jumbo!