The Breitling Watch Blog

For once, an watch company that embraces their Asian movements! Usually we find watch companies try and hide the pedigree of their movements when the origin is not Swiss, but Sean Wai of moVas Watches is here to change that. He spent over two years tweaking the design for his first watch, and each watch will only be produced in a limited number of 100 peices.

The first series of watches based on the first case design are simply called the GMT, Regulateur and Chronograph. This first watches have been released and are priced between $430-$670US, but many eagerly await the release of the divers that will be out soon. The price point feels a bit high to me, but for a in-house designed original watch with a quality finish on the case the price is reasonable enough. From the few reviews I’ve seen, the watches seem to be well made.

From the renderings, the new divers look like they will have sandwich dials and a horizontal power reserve… a little bit of Panerai influence in those designs it appears! But many of the watches and straps appear to have Panerai influences here.

Video review of the basic Tissot T-Touch in Stainless Steel on the bracelet. Good beater watch, and they look pretty good. Only problem is that everyone and their dog probably has one of these. Good size and it can take a beating so its a good watch. Swiss made by Tissot to very acceptable standards.

Another Dive Watch Company has launched a few months ago by the name of Red Sea Watches. Their watches are attractive dive watches machined from 316L Stainless Steel and feature Miyota Automatic Movements. The style of their watches reminds me of Marathon a bit, and the price range is similar as well albeit with a Japanese instead of Swiss movement.

Both watches they are currently accepting pre-orders for are $565 in stainless steel and $595 in PVD steel. 44mm Cases are also standard for both the Holystone and Six Poinder models. On the upside, each watch includes Bracelet, Rubber and Nato straps.

Nice looking pieces, but maybe a bit pricey IMO. Only the market will tell, however!

Dievas (pronounced “D-Ah-Vas”) is a Singapore based watch company that produces Military inspired timepieces which are mostly mechanical automatics. Some of the models such as the Vortex are made in Germany and I’ve been told uses the same cases that Kobold uses in their watches. They probably came to fame because of their Panerai Homage watches, especially the California dial ones.

The one I’m looking at today is the Dievas [Z]eta watch, which uses a Japanese movement, unlike most of their models which use Swiss movements. The Zeta is a cheaper model, but gives outstanding value, given the multitude of features. I ended up disliking the Camo-green dial, so ended up selling this one.

The large military-style dial measures a healthy 44mm in diameter, 52mm lug to lug, and is approximately 14.5mm thick. The dial has a criss-cross texture to it. Notice the Tritium tubes mounted on the dial, which are all manufactured by MB Microtec in Switzerland. These are the same tubs you will see on Ball Watches.

The chunky 22mm bracelet is solid stainless steel and has no taper, making it a bit uncomfortable but not unreasonably so. It has the standard flip-lock stamped clasp, and works well. The movement is the Japanese-made Miyota 8215, which has about 42hr power reserve and 21 jewels. Rather unremarkable, but at this pricepoint, the watch is very nicely made. The only downsize is the lack of hacking.

Here’s the head-on wrist shot. It fits my 6 3/4″ wrist quite well, I think. I find that 44mm watches work really well for my wrist size, and this Dievas [Z]eta is no exception. The watch lugs curve, and while it is a well made and sturdy watch, the case finish is much less refined than most Swiss and German made pieces.

Signed crown, with a deep machined “Dievas” printed on it. Screw down as well, with holes in the lugs for releasing the pins. Nothing to complain about here. Water Resistance is an impressive 300m.

And finally, the angle wrist shot. Elaborating more on the features, the watch also has the requisite Sapphire Crystal, abeit without AR coating. The bezel, believe it or not, is Ceramic too! Quite the bulletproof array of features if you ask me. Overall an outstanding value, but I would stick to the more conservative dial colors as the Green/Yellow started to bug me after a while.

Brand New Video review of the Ocean 7 LM-6c Automatic Chronograph. Impressive 44mm case diameter in a heavy solid stainless steel case and robust automatic Valjoux 7750 Chronograph movement. Unidirectional diver’s bezel and solid stainless bracelet as well as a leather Ocean 7 strap is included.

Who says Doxa’s are unique? Well, Irreantum Watch, a new watch company based in Maine, USA, has put out their first watch: The Magellan. The watch is due to hit the streets summer of 2010, and is available for pre-order at $150. The full price of the watch is $545.

The 316L Stainless Steel case features a massive 45mm diameter and 13.6mm thickness. The crystal is sapphire and the movement is an ETA 2824-2, presumably unmodified. Throw in a C3 SuperLuminova and 500m Water Resistance and you have quite the package at $545 retail.

While I’m sure many Doxa fans are screaming “Copycat!”, the Magellan isn’t really a copy of Doxa’s watches but more a copy of the style of watches from the 60′s that Doxa has continued to produce to this day. Magellan’s watches are offered at a much lower pricepoint, and probably uses cases constructed more affordably. The dials are quite nice, and they are available in a few different colors, all of which you can check out on their website: http://www.irreantumwatch.com/, and more on their blog: http://ordinaryhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2010/01/irreantum-magellan.html

This Pirelli watch is kind of an ugly watch – in the sense that it has a similar look to many cheaper watches out there, but at the same time, the craftmanship is much better than those types of watches and it is Swiss Made as well, with an ETA 2824-2 movement. The rubber strap is very nicely crafted and looks okay on the wrist. At the time I shot the review I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep it, but I ended up deciding that I would and have since cut the strap to fit. Its a great rubber auto that is lightweight and easy to strap on. The watch has a cool matte dial and a decent 40mm width, so its not too small when worn.

Here’s the Laco Flieger Watch Video review that I posted to Youtube, as a follow up to my previous written review of the Laco watch here, around a year ago. Its taken me a long time to get some of these video reviews up, but I will – I promise! Enjoy the video.