The Breitling Watch Blog

When these Retrowerk steampunk watches came out a few years back, I blogged about them and how funky the Steampunk designs were a bit off the wall for me. Well, I ended up finding one for a good deal so I bought it! I never thought I would have ended up buying one of these, but I did.

And there she is, in all her antiqued, worn brass finish. The watch is actually considerably better made than I thought it would be, especially for the kind of money these go for these days. I am seeing them being liquidated for around $500 for the automatic models, which is a significant step down from their original $1200 MSRP. At $1200, its a bit of a stretch, however.

There’s a big, juicy piston driven crown protector, which reminds me a little of the Espresso machine style levers that Graham is so fond of with their Chronofighters. The Graham Chronofighter levers are much more refined, however. This is a bit cruder, like the U-Boat canteen covers.

I have a gripe about the way this was designed, however, and that’s because it is so difficult to hand-wind the crown due to the location of the protector when it is unscrewed. I can only manage about 1/4 turns when handwinding, and its a bit frustrating!

The piston is hollow on one side, and has a spring inside that pushes it to an open position when the crown protector is removed. As you can see, there is a lot of attention to detail in the finishing and imprinting on the case to create the steampunk style.

The caseback is not brass-finished like the rest of the case, but rather a bead blasted stainless steel, but is very well finished nonetheless. They didn’t cheap out on the case back, and in fact has each one individually serial numbered – a nice touch. This one is numbered 36. I wonder how many they made? Since there are three digits, probably not more than 999 of each model. That’s a pretty scarce production run – maybe they’ll be worth something in the future!

There’s the headshot. The arabic numbers are lumed, and the domed crystal is sapphire. When these were first announced, they were going to have mineral crystal, but it seems they got upgraded. I think they did a fantastic job with the brass finishing on the steel case, but while I like brass, I’m not sure if I like the steampunk. I’ll probably keep this watch for a little while, but I don’t know if it will be a long term keeper. I’ve got it mounted on a vintage ammo NuboStrap right now, and it looks great on there.

The one place on this German made watch where I felt they skimped a bit on the quality is the dial. The Lume isn’t the brightest, and the Retrowerk Logo is kind of shiny and rounded on the edges.. not as clean and crisp as I would prefer and gives it a bit of a cheaper look to it.. but the case details are fantastic and it has a great worn look to it.

Here’s a wristshot of the 46mm watch, which wears quite decently for such a large watch. The smaller face/crystal attributes to the slightly more digestable wrist presence. Most larger crystal 46mm watches like the Navitimer World have much larger wrist presence, and they don’t even have a gigantic brass piston on the case!

At any rate, really a novelty watch for the steampunk enthusiast that appreciates quality Swiss and German engineering. The watch is constructed well and keeps good time. It wears on the wrist well and really accomplishes what it sets out to do in my opinion. Is this watch for everyone? Certainly not, but I think it will definately be right for some people.

Next in the string of video reviews that I did not have the chance to upload. Here is the now discontinued Dievas Zeta diver. Fantastic value from this Singapore-based company who is now making higher end watches using German-made cases and Swiss movements now. No more of this value stuff!

I picked up my second JOA Homage model recently. It is a PAM249 homage model, the black dial California dial 47mm Radiomir. I’m a big fan of the JOA Homages as they are very well done and have great dials and lume, quality cases and crystals, and can be fitted with great ETA movements. This one is no exception, and comes exactly as advertised.

As you can see above, the 47mm Radiomir Homage features a black Cali-style dial with blued steel hands. Lume is fantastic, though unfortunately I did not capture a shot. The dial also has the words “Swiss Made” on it, not sure if the dial really is Swiss made, but it is very well made and has great detail under a 5x loupe.

Watch features a slightly domed Sapphire Crystal, without front AR coating. I think there might be AR coating on the inside as it appears to have some degree of AR. Crown is an unmarked crown, not a Brevet-marked crown.

Back is solid and without any markings. I kind of like having the solid caseback on this model as it feels a bit nicer on the wrist, and gives a bit more sense of strength to the case. The stock Unitas movement in the back isn’t anything especially pretty anyway!

The case is fully polished, and slightly thicker and has a higher bezel than the original. Not something I am too concerned with as I am not trying to pretend… just like the style of the watch and enjoy the large, clean dial.

Finally, the wrist shot. I think the 47mm sits nicely on my wrist, but there are many that feel it too large. To each his own, I say.. otherwise we’d all look like lemmings and carry iPhones. Better every one have their own sense of style and preference!

Yet another new addition to the world of Online-based specialty dive watch companys.. enter Armida Dive Watches. Armida watches is a Hong Kong based designer of Dive watches that features both Swiss and Japanese movements. The choice is yours! The Swiss costs more, of course.

Currently the company makes two watches, the A1 and A2 Divers. The A1 is a more unique product with a very cool domed sapphire crystal and 1000m water resistance, whereas the A2 is more of a Submariner clone in a larger 42mm size and 500m water resistance. The A2 is also available in PVD black.

While there isn’t a whole lot here to excite me personally, there is some potential. Many of these boutique online-only companies put out some pretty cool stuff like Korsbek and UTS… but many fall into oblivion. I wonder which category Armida will fall into?

The MontresGB, or MGB Diver, is a German Made watch made for BMS Jewelry in Scottsdale, AZ. Interestingly, their website has less info about them than their eBay site. They also sell other watches by brands such as Tag Heuer and Breitling.

The MontresGB watch is a 1000m Diver designed by BMS Jewelry, and is actually a pretty nice watch. They are currently selling them for $600 on their eBay site, and claim the retail pice is $1500. Given the specs of the watch, there are many others out there selling for that kind of price with similar features, but stronger pedigree.

As you can see, the watch is fairly attractive as Divers are concerned, and features similar minimalistic design as Kobold watches, the arctic diver in particular. The MontresGB is actually quite feature rich for its $600 price tag:

1000m Water Resistance
Swiss ETA 2824-2
Sapphire Crystal
41.2mm Case Diamter
German-Made 316L Stainless Steel Case
SuperLuminova

Nice matte black dial with what looks to me like a Kobold-inspired look, with a bit of Rolex Sub thrown in. Of course everything these days seems like a derivative work, but so I’ll just leave it at that, but it is a nice looking, balanced dial with great lume. Easy-to-read, and nothing to distract you from telling the time.

The German-Crafted case is indeed very nice, and exceeds the quality of more entry level luxury Swiss watches such as Hamilton. The “GB” signed crown is rather uninspired, but I suppose is better than nothing. Unidirectional bezel is easy to turn and use. Sapphire Crystal is flat and no AR coating is present.

Case back is quite nice, with everything deeply laser etched into it, giving it a quality look and feel. The lugs are interestingly only 20mm, which to me looks a bit odd sometimes. Its probably my biggest complaint with the watch as I would really have liked to see 22mm lugs, especially since the lugs themselves are somewhat puny. The watch would look much more substantial with a bit more lug width.

Bracelet is very nice for the price point and appears to be a variation on the all-popular Watchadoo bracelet.

Finally the money-shot. Great wrist presence and in the end what I would call a poor-mans Kobold. Very happy to keep mine as a beater, and will probably use it for a while at least. The 1000m water resistance and quality German and Swiss craftmanship sold me on this watch and I was not disappointed.

Tendence watches has created a special edition watch to help support the Japanese People in wake of the 9.1 magnitude earthquake. The watch runs a very affordable $300, with half of the proceeds going to Japan. Here is the message from Tendence:

“Following the devastating 11th March earthquake and tsunami in Japan many thousands of people have been left homeless and in critical need of aid and support. The incredible strength, energy and determination Japanese people have shown in the aftermath of this atrocious natural disaster could have been misinterpreted by some as a sign that Japan is coping on their own and discourage aid from the rest of the world. But there should be no doubt that Japan is a country in urgent need of help!

Tendence decided to find a concrete way to contribute as much as possible to the relief effort in order to help the Japanese people.

From the new Tendence Gulliver Sport line a special edition watch has been created: “Tendence for Japan”.

Tendence will donate 50% of the proceeds from every watch sold to the Japanese Red Cross, in order to help provide a concrete and ongoing support to those people who need it most.

This special watch will be sold exclusively through the Tendence website in order to enable the maximum proceeds to be donated from each watch sold. For every Tendence for Japan watch bought, the purchaser will receive a certificate in recognition of their support and contribution.”

Been loving the Dievas Vortex since it came out two years ago, and this new Vortex Professional Diver is even more awesome! The Dievas Vortex Professional adds several new features over the original Vortex.

A few of the new features of this Dievas Professional include a DLC Black Rotor, even though its hidden beneath a solid caseback; the same German-made titanium Fricker case, but this one featuring a scratch resistant Plasma Finish; and a killer off-white fully SuperLuminova’d dial!

Specs:
Caliber: ETA 2824-2 automatic w/DLC Rotor
Jewels: 25
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Case Metal: titanium w/scratch resistant Plasma treatment
Diameter: 44mm
Height: 14mm
Finish: Waterproof: 50 atm/ 500m
Crystal: sapphire with anti reflective coating
Dial: off-white with Full SuperLuminova
Lug Width: 22mm

Before I bought the Panerai Black Seal PAM 183, I bought this RXW MM25 Poseidon. Its a Japanese company, but a Swiss Made watch made by Ken’s Trading. While it looks similar to the 183, its quite different in person and on the wrist. The watch came with two 26x26mm straps, quite different from the 26x22mm straps that come with the PAM183.

Here is the watch shown with the lizard pattern 26x26mm strap that came with it. The watch has fixed lugs so straps need to be screwed in with Rivets, making aftermarket straps very difficult to find in variety. Most will have to be custom made or have Rivets in them, which is not the best compromise because sometimes a guy just doesn’t want rivets in his strap! As you can see, it has a great sandwich dial and it glows like a torch.

Caseback is of the Solid Variety, hiding the Swiss Unitas 6497 movement inside. The caseback does proudly annouce the movement inside, as well as the 1000 Gauss Anti-Magnetic rating and 100m Water resistance. Also written on the back is “Luminova Plasmir Dial”, which means that it has a Luminova Sandwich dial.

Crown is a screw-down variety, just like the 183 but is a Brevet Swiss Crown. Its a great crown and feels good when winding. As you can see from the sideview shot, the Bezel protrudes out from the cushion shaped case a fair bit.

Here is the ever-important wrist-shot. When I got this I really really liked it… I thought it was a great looking watch and I couldn’t believe I didn’t like Radiomirs before. It wears quite a bit larger than my 183, but I have to say that after owning the 183, the RXW MM25 has lost a bit of its luster. I just did not want to wear it after getting the Black Seal, so I sold it! Bye bye MM25, but it was a great experience owning it, and I’m glad I did as it motivated me to buy the Panerai 183 Black Seal.