Watches are labeled “cult” when they have a certain history or status amongst collectors. Last week, MotoringExposure covered the Omega Speedmaster a.k.a Moonwatch as being a cult watch. This week, we decided to grab another cult watch and this is perhaps the most recognized cult watch of all: The Rolex Submariner.

Photo courtesy of SubGMT.com

Click here for my weekly Wednesday Watch article at MotoringExposure.

I haven’t seen this one before, a DLC Rolex GMT-Master. This neo-vintage Rolex GMT-Master with tritium dial has been treated with the famous Diamond Like Carbon coating by Time and Gems.

The coating on this timepiece is a mixture of polished and brushed parts, which is a bit different from the regular ref.16700 and ref.16710 models. The center links have been polished, as well as the lugs of the watch case. The anthracite colour on the brushed parts is a bit darker than the coating colour on the polished parts, giving it a bit of room to play with the light.

The cool thing about the GMT-Master in DLC edition is that the red GMT-hand stands out. I have seen the newer GMT-Master version (ref.116710LN) in a DLC edition somewhere else, but the green hand didn’t do as much magic as this red hand does in my humble opinion.

Time and Gems did a nice job on creating a militarized version of the well respected GMT watch by Rolex. What you can’t see on the pictures is the case back, which has been kept in stainless steel. The price tag of 6500 USD (or approx. 4800 Euro) is quite a bit away from the original price of a similar GMT-Master in stainless steel, but the DLC process is still a costly operation.

They have more DLC’ed Rolex models for sale on-line, like a Milgauss GV ref.116400 and a Sea-Dweller ref.16600 and more. I am thinking out loud how a Rolex Date-Just 116200 or a Rolex Yacht-Master 16622 would look like with a DLC coating.

Thanks to Jeff from Time and Gems for the use of their pictures.

When I think of Seiko, I think of all the people who couldn’t care less about watches and bought a Seiko just because of that. It tells time, and it does it cheap. Now, I know that this is not true in all cases. There are plenty of nice Seikos that I really like, but I (almost) never include them in articles. Actually, last few weeks I got a few mails (including hate-mails) from people wondering why I didn’t include Seiko watches in my buying guide articles over at Motoring Exposure (click here for the articles).

Picture by Stefan /  Molle Watch

My long time blog friend (a.k.a The Seiko Champion) Harry Bishop also wondered why I didn’t include a Seiko timepiece in my 1000 – 2000 USD buying guide article in his most recent blog post. What he actually writes, is the following:

“I would challenge those who exclude Asian (and other) high-end well known brands of watch makers from their lists. The perception of European dominance in luxury watches is actually just an example of successful marketing … it’s not true, and it’s a relatively recent perspective. Other countries including the US used to be considered the premier manufacturers of luxury watches, but that changed last century. Some of this changed for real, other parts of it just changed in belief.

I’m not talking about new Chinese firms with little heritage. I’m talking about something like a Grand Seiko, which has the heritage, quality, accuracy, and aesthetics to more than hold it’s head up high in this company. I guess this post earns me my “Seiko Champion” moniker.”

Why not turn it around? I believe this is the result of unsuccessful marketing by Seiko (and other Asian companies) that made me not include a Grand Seiko in one of my articles. I do not recall seeing a Seiko Spring Drive or (other) Grand Seiko model in a jeweller shop in The Netherlands, other than at Van Koningsbruggen in Zoetermeer (a city near The Hague). This is the only shop I actually saw one and held one in my hands. I’ve never seen them anywhere else in The Netherlands or in another European country. This, and this only, is the reason that I do not include Grand Seiko (Spring Drive) watches in my buyer’s guide articles or cover them at all here at Fratellowatches. I believe I would include them if they were widely available and when I had some hands-on experience with these watches. Because honestly, some of them just look marvellous!

Now, I have been looking around for Grand Seikos on the web, looked into dedicated Seiko forums at WatchUseek and TimeZone but one thing has become clear.. I am not the only one wondering where to get these Grand Seiko timepieces. Vintages models are the easiest to get here in The Netherlands. I have seen several on eBay listing for a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars but old-fashioned as I am, before spending over a 1000 USD on a timepiece, I would love to hold one in my hands and try one first.

One of the few nice ones I noticed is this one:

I guess I will keep following these eBay items for a while, just to get an idea about value and availability. As for the new models, where do I need to go? Tell me.

I thought it might be a good plan to introduce one of the most famous cult watches to this group of car lovers over at MotoringExposure.com. Every week, I try to feed them with interesting horological facts and articles and it took actually quite long (to my taste) to talk about one of my favorites, the Omega Speedmaster Professional.

Probably nothing much inside you didn’t already know about the Moonwatch, but you never know of course Click here for my article at MotoringExposure.

This is not only a book about watches. This is a book about the faces behind the watches made by horological master minds Philippe Dufour, Paul Gerber, Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, FP Journe, Kenji Shiohara, Kari Voutilainen, Vianney Halter, Beat Haldimann, Volker Vyskocil, Thomas Prescher, Roger Smith and Felix Baumgartner.

I own and have read a great number of books on watches: books about specific brands, specific uses, specific complications and so on. For this reason, perhaps, I’m not sure this is a book suited to people with no interest in haute horlogerie; it is a book that suits the desire of many advanced collectors and watch aficionados to have more information on the subject. 12 Faces of Time is a book at a whole new level that what is already in existence, providing insight into the creative and inspiring minds of today’s watchmaking legends. This masterpiece of watch literature is certainly more than just a coffee table book.

The authors of this book, Elizabeth Doerr and Ralf Baumgarten, did an excellent job capturing the personal stories and excellent (and most creative) photographs of these watchmakers in their own environments. The authors needed to travel to four different countries to be able to make that possible. If they hadn’t done so, the watchmakers likely could not have been portrayed in as they are in 12 Faces of Time, at ease and passionately speaking about their work.

This is a unique book in many ways, but one thing that really sets it apart is the choice of the twelve watchmakers portrayed. These were carefully selected by the authors of the book, without any influence of marketing from brands or luxury groups. As an avid reader of watch magazines, I thought I would be able to name them all, but some of the names were new to me. Kenji Shiohara, for example, is one I had never heard of before, even though he has created some tremendous timepieces for Seiko’s mini-department of high watchmaking. The book includes a few legendary names as well, of course: Ludwig Oechslin, former creative head of Ulysse Nardin, and François-Paul Journe with his impressive FP Journe timepieces.

Not only the interviews make this book worthwhile, the photos are also simply stunning. The interplay of double-page photograph spreads and smaller pictures is wonderful, and amazingly enough it doesn’t distract you from the text with its careful wording.

When I finished reading this book, I caught myself screaming ‘wow!’ out loud. This has never happened before, and I immediately looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody else was there. Just to be sure.

This book has a price tag of 79.90 Euro. More information through www.teneues.com.