The IWC Top Gun booth is an incredible looking display. I watched the timelapse video of the booth’s assembly on the IWC site, and its very cool. Hope you guys enjoy IWC’s booth videos!

Here is a video of the creators talking about how they created the booth, it includes cool CGI video of a fly-through of the booth as well. :

And here is the Timelapse video of the booth’s creation:

As many of you know, SIHH 2012 official opened today and there’s always tons of beautiful new timepieces to drool over at this time of year. With Basel just around the corner as well, its probably the most exciting time to be a WIS!

This year IWC brings some new Pilot watches to the table. Its been a while since IWC has done something creative with their Pilot’s watches, with the last big introduction being the Big Pilot a couple years back. A few of this years offerings are the IWC Big Pilot Top Gun Miramar 7 Day and Chronograph, and the Pilot Worldtimer.

The Top Gun Miramar watches are very cool. Both measure an imposing 48mm in diameter!! In beautiful Ceramic cases with Titanium case backs. Both feature in-house movements, with the Chronograph model showcasing the new Calibre 89365 Flyback Chronograph, and the 7 Day movement using the 51111 movement with Pelaton winding system.

The Pilot Worldtimer features a large 45mm steel case, and a new 24 hour timing system that allows you to see the time in 24 different timezones at the same time! Reminds me of my Seiko World Time clock in my office, but in Watch form. Very cool, and very useful for those that travel everywhere.

Overall a nice few offerings that caught my eye from SIHH 2012.

I’ve had this guy for a while, but never really wrote up a review on it. I did post a video review of is a ways back, but never got around to posting the real deal. I shot some photos of it with my dSLR and just ran into them while sorting my photographs this morning and figured this would make a nice Sunday Morning post.

The color is a bit off on these first two photos, and isn’t a correct representation of the true color like the last two photos are. I generally do prefer the Stainless models but the Titanium is quite slick with its darker color and its not every watch you see that’s available in both Titanium and Stainless so sometimes its good to get something different.

The case measures a healthy 42.5mm, and has non-standard lugs, so only bracelets and straps designed for the Ingenieur specificially will fit on it. The thickness is 14.5mm, so it does have good wrist presence. The watch wears quite large for its measurements in my opinion, and feels similar in size to a Breitling Chronomat 44.

Another shot of the pusher side of this watch shows the unique pushers which are hinged on one side so only push in near the middle. A nice subtle touch. The watch also features an IWC Calibre 79350 movement, which is a modified ETA (Valjoux) 7750 movement, with the seconds moved to the 6 o’clock subdial and the date removed. The Chronograph measures seconds and minutes only. This watch keeps excellent time, within 1 second per day and is anti-magnetic as well.

From the size you can see IWC’s bracelet removal system for the Ingenieur, which allows the bracelet to be removed with two toothpicks if you wanted to. Very nice system. The AR coated sapphire crystal is flat, and provides fantastic visibility in bright light. Lume, on the other hand, is nothing to write home about.

Clasp is a fold-over style with hidden button release on the side. A very nicely articulated titanium bracelet, very smooth and comfortable – so comfortable that I would say this is possibly the most comfortable bracelet I’ve ever worn and I’ve worn a lot. In general this watch is an absolute joy to wear and put on. While lighter because of the titanium, it is not as light as many titanium watches such as the Breitling Aerospace. This one is a keeper!

On my computer, I have a photo temporary folder where I store my photos initially after downloading them from my camera. Its like an “unsorted” temporary folder before I have decided what to do with my pics. Because I am busy (or lazy, can’t always tell which), photos often sit there for months. Looking through my temp folder now, I see lots of wrist shots, and figured I would throw them up on here for kicks. Seeing lots of wrist shots in a row is kind of a cool thing, so Here it is!

Up First: Rolex GMT-II Ceramic

Next Up: IWC 3717 Spitfire Pilots Chronograph

Eterna 1935 Automatic

Panerai PAM90 Power Reserve

Sinn 857 GMT Tegimented

Panerai PAM320 GMT

Wyler Geneve Code-R Chronograph

JOA 249 Homage

Graham Chronofighter Classic

Just posted a video review of my Spitfire Pilot’s Chronograph from IWC. This is the 42mm model ref 3717, which is a current model. This watch is unique in that its mounted on a Doppelchronograph bracelet, with different endlinks to make it fit. They give it a really cool somewhat more vintage look. The Spitfire Chrono is one of my favourite understated watches on the market, with the ability to dress up or down. Looks especially good with a suit on crocodile.

Wow, talk about rejuvenating one of what I felt was IWC’s more boring and dull lines… The Portofino line is refreshed with a brand new 8-day in-house movement, called the 59210. This is a beautifully crafted watch with the type of movement complications that I like the most: Simple, yet creative solutions to horological challenges that a collector and user of watches can benefit on a daily basis. An 8 Day power reserve is always useful, and the Power Reserve indicator also useful. The Date of course is something that I bet I read daily as well. No need for Chronograph or annual calendars here, as the efforts are put into more subtle areas of the watch.

Wow – I love that exhibition back. Quite possibly my favourite display back I’ve seen in a while. Love the large plates.

From IWC:
“Thanks mainly to its technological sophistication, the Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days (Ref. 5101) has established itself as the flagship of the Portofino family. Its reputation is founded not so much on outward appearances but internal values: ticking away inside the case is the new IWC-manufactured movement from the 50000-calibre family. With its 37.8-millimetre diameter, the 59210 calibre is the same size as a pocket watch movement, but its design is incomparably more modern. The contemporary movement design, with its large bridges and plates, is highly robust and reliable, and designed to meet all the exacting demands of watch devotees in the 21st century. Despite its undisputed elegance, the Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days is a watch designed for everyday use, not least because of its incredible stamina: it will run for precisely 192 hours – that’s 8 days – without any external help. Just how long the watch will continue to run before its owner needs to wind the movement can be read off from the power reserve display on the dial. IWC’s designers have remained true to the classical Portofino style, not only in the circular case with its smooth, flowing strap horns, but also in the design of the dial. The placing of the displays – small seconds at “6 o’clock”, date at “3 o’clock” and power reserve between “8″ and “9″ – ensures that the dial layout is finely balanced. The red gold Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days comes with a slate-coloured dial, which likewise features indices made of solid red gold. There is also a choice of two models in steel, with either a black or silver-plated dial.”

Among many others.. including IWC, Kobold and Omega. Very cool.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin has been lighting up the WWE stage for years before he retired in 2000, and began collecting watches after his wrestling career took off. His main article is featured in this month’s WatchTime Magazine. Some of the watches in his collection include: IWC Aquatimer, Zenith Defy, Rolex Yachtmaster, Omega Seamaster 300m Chronodiver, Kobold Arctic Diver, IWC Big Pilot and a Breitling Super Avenger Blacksteel. He’s planning to add a Panerai to the collection soon.

I highly recommend the article in WatchTime magazine as he seems like a very cool guy and the article is a good read. I was never a huge wrestling fan, but this is good stuff.

While most automobile brands that associate themselves with watch brands tend to be exclusive in their partnerships, Mercedes seems to suprise with every new watch venture they embark on. Some of the brands that Mercedes has associated themselves with: IWC, Graham, Tag Heuer, Fabien Cacheux, Ulysse Nardin, and their own Brand created with Tourneau. There are very possibly others that I have missed too!

Most recently is the addition of Graham to the mix to celebrate the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 Team. The Mercedes watch they introduced is kind of ugly in my opinion. Designed more in the style of Graham than Mercedes, and features lots of discord with the mix of design elements making a watch that is overall not too tasteful.

While Mercedes has chosen to associate themselves with so many brands, they have for the most part made tasteful watches. However, unlike Ferrari by Panerai and Breitling for Bentley, the watches have very little association with each other.

Personally, I think the most successful and tasteful Automobile and Watch team-ups would be Breitling for Bentley and Jaeger LeCoultre and Aston Martin. The most Epic Fail Automobile Watch brand would be Tonino Lamborghini. Why would you license your brand out to a company that cannot market your product properly? Didn’t the 80′s and 90′s teach companies anything about licensing your brand – now we see Tonino Lamborghini products fill the shelves in discount stores and ebay.

Here is a gallery of some of the Mercedes collaboration watches out there:

Woo! I love this new Portuguese from IWC.

Beautiful thicker 45.5mm Case, with 14.5mm Thickness. Sapphire Crystals front and back, with a 60m Water Resistance. The sapphire back gives a beautiful view of the IWC Caliber 89360 with pellaton winding system, and finally a Date on the Portuguese! Only thing I’m not sure about is the Rubber strap, red second hand and Yacht Club written on the dial.

The IWC caliber 89360 is designed completely in-house with 40 jewels and a 68 hour power reserve. The Caliber 89360 puts the hours and seconds counters for the chronograph on a single subdial at 12 o’clock for easier reading. Date is at 3 o’clock

IWC has released their newly re-designed Aquatimer in a solid Rose Gold version, and it looks stunning. While not a fan of the new Steel Aquatimer, I really like this rose gold offering, with their in house IWC Caliber 89360 movement. This is the superb movement used in the Da Vinci Chronograph which features IWC’s signature Pelaton Winding system, and Chronograph hour and minute counters both on the subdial at 12 o’clock. Chronograph second counter is central, and second dial for the time is located at 6 o’clock.

Beautiful display back shows off the nicely finished movement and pelaton winding system. The watch measures a healthy 44mm in diameter and 15.5mm thickness.