DMH, or Dingemans Mechanische Horloges (Dingemans mechanical watches) is a brand you probably never heard of before (although you might have seen it here and here). It is a very small Dutch watch manufacturer, with a maximum of 12 timepieces per year.

Fred Dingemans, owner of DMH, mailed me pictures of his latest creation, a DMH Jumping Hour timepiece. As you can see below, an odd looking fellow with those screws in the dial and this water resistant crown-concept you might see for the first time.

I did a small write-up on DMH and their Jumping Hour timepiece for the WatchUseek Blog, the no.1 interactive watch portal lead by Ernie Romers. In the heat of the latest SIHH and GTE news, this might be very refreshing!

Click here to read the article.

Since over a year, Gerard and I decided to do something similar as Cars And Coffee, but for watch aficionados. It is more or less a ‘local’ thing and at best we are with 12 persons every first sunday of the month, enjoying a cappuccino or espresso in the first half of the day. However, since November and December are pretty busy months, one of the guys decided that we at least should have a nice End of Year meeting. So we did, last Thursday.

One of the attendees was Fred Dingemans, of Dingemans Mechanische Horloges, he was handing over a dmh time piece to Victor. dmh is a Dutch brand, operated by one guy – Fred Dingemans – who is creating a maximum of 12 time pieces a year. Fred Dingemans uses his own machinery and tools to create a mechanical automatic time piece using his own design and being able to offer them for a fair price. Anyway, Victor got his custom made watch from Fred last Thursday, and as you can see in the pictures below, he was totally happy with it. Frank (of Monochrome), who is also a monthly attendee, organized the special guest-surprise for Victor, who still thought his watch wasn’t finished yet.

Other attendees were wearing: dmh watches (2x and 3x if you include Victor’s new watch), 2x AP Royal Oak 15300 (white & black dial), 2x Linde Werdelin (One and 3-Timer), Rolex OysterQuartz Date-Just 17000, Omega Speedmaster Professional pre-Moon of 1967, Glashütte Original Senator Moonphase and a few Favre-Leuba’s (new models). Only few watches made it on the pictures..

Above you see Fred and Victor and Gerard’s elbow. Victor just received his dmh time piece out of the creator’s hands, Fred. Below you see (from clockwise): John, Fred, Victor, Gerard and Hessel. I took the picture

Although the pictures were taken with bad lightning and camera settings, they should give you an idea on the dmh time pieces.

Above you’ll see the transparent case back of the watch. The watch itself is made out of 316L stainless steel, is water resistant to 30 meters and always uses a mechanical movement (as the company name implies). Most used movement is a TD movement, however, it is perfectly possible that Fred is going to use other movements in the future as well.

Below you see the customized dmh watch of Victor, with white dial.

To prevent this diner from becoming a total dmh party, I captured John’s and my own Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15300ST. Except the number of links in the bracelet and dial colour, exactly the same watches.

Two days later, I attended the opening of the Grönefeld boutique in Oldenzaal. Grönefeld became – besides being a watch manufacturer – a boutique for a few other independent watchmakers, such as Sarpaneva, McGonigle, Peter Speake-Marin, Kees Engelbarts and Cornelius & Cie. More about this happening later on this week.

Sometimes, I notice that I don’t look anymore at certain < 1000 USD (or 750 Euro) watches. Not that I think they aren’t properly made or that these watches are inferior to what is in my collection already, but I just overlook them. Aside from being in the credit crisis and bonuses aren’t being spend on expensive watches, I think some of these < 1000 USD watches can be mighty interesting. For both the starting and the advanced collector.

Like one of my watch friends recently said, it is very easy to be critical (or negative) towards the quality of cheaper watches, but look at it this way: it is quite charming to get a watch that you know of that it could be done better, but not for this kind of money or not by the people behind it. They did the best thing they could do (in their powers) to create a watch, and for this kind of money.

1. DMH

First of this top 5 is a watch that was introduced to me by HorlogeNieuws.nl, a Dutch website for watch adepts. DMH stands for Dingemans Mechanische Horloges, which is Dutch for Dingemans Mechanical Watches. This one-man show is the work of Fred Dingemans, he works from his home in a small village in The Netherlands. He uses all kind of tools, but makes sure he does as much by himself as possible. Only 12 pieces per year and approximately 800 euro. A bit above budget perhaps, but it also depends how the USD>EUR conversion is today Not a lot of money for a hand crafted watch like this, using a mechnical Swiss movement, original design and produced in very limited numbers.

2. Sinn 656

This 720 Euro Sinn 656 is a serious option for both serious collectors as the starting collector. Or the guy that just wants one decent watch for a very fair price. It has an ETA 2824-2 movement, a very legible dial, a date feature and a nice soft leather strap. I have written a lot about Sinn in the past and at one point, I even owned one (the ST142St.S). Sinn is a relative small watch manufacturer from Frankfurt am Main in Germany, creating highly functional watches. Function over form, so to speak. The 656 is highly anti-magnetic (80.000 m/A), has a sand blasted case, sapphire crystal and comes with either a leather strap or stainless steel bracelet. The picture is from Horloge Platform Nederland btw.

3. Junghans Max Bill Automatic

Another watch from our German watch friends, who are especially known for two of their models. The Mega1 radio controlled wrist watch and the Max Bill watch. Max Bill was a designer (Bauhaus) and designed a bauhaus style watch for Junghans (since 1861) in 1962. Lately, Junghans has been re-releasing this watch up to current standards. The 38mm automatic version is 695 Euro and comes on a mesh bracelet. This is a typical watch that works for almost anyone who is in the need of a classic time piece.

4. Stowa Airman

Loyal readers might recognize this picture, as I have been blogging about it before (click here for the coverage on this watch). Stowa is owned by Jorg Schauer, known for the time pieces made under his own name. For 590 Euro (approximately 780 USD), you can have this original flieger uhr (pilot’s watch). No branding on the dial, as legible as it can come, automatic ETA 2824-2 movement (same as the Sinn 656), blued hands and a 40mm watch case. This size is considered to be the maximum again by some watch fans. This watch can be ordered directly from the Stowa website. A watch like this is probably not for everyone (including me), but I know for sure that a lot of you will like the ‘raw’ flieger thing.

5. Seiko Monster SKX781

I am not joking. For less than 200 USD, you are the owner of this Seiko Monster watch. It is a respected watch amongst divers and collectors, water resistant to 200 meters, has an inhouse automatic movement (caliber 7S26, for what it is worth), 42mm in diameter and for a few bucks extra, you can attach a rubber strap to it as well. I’ll be the first one to admit that this is a bit of a strange choice, but it is here to show you that even for as little money as 200 USD you can have a nice (and original) automatic time piece of great quality. Although I think the bracelet might be a bit sharp edged, with a rubber strap it should be comfortable. The production of this watch started in 2000, and its name ‘Monster’ is of course not official. Officially, Seiko just uses the SKX781 reference. The stainless steel bracelet has a diver’s extension, which is there to use with a diving suit. The mechanical movement is automatic, and the strange thing is, it doesn’t handwind. You really have to ‘use’ the rotor to wind it.

To sum it up, these are 5 more or less ‘unique’ (each in its own way) time pieces that can be had for less than 1000 USD. Of course, there are a lot more, and my top 5 will probably change along the way. But for now, I definately would choose from these 5, probably number 1 (DMH) or 2 (Sinn 656).

What would be your top 5 of < 1000 USD watches? Leave your ideas in the comments!