Breitling has announced the replacement for the Chrono Avenger M1, and it is a steel SuperOcean with the same Magentic pusher technology with an added bonus of being water resistant to 2000M named the SuperOcean Chronograph M2000. It has some interesting strap options as well as the new Professional III bracelet.

From Breitling:
The first chronograph water-resistant and operational at a depth of 2,000 m. Breitling has created a new champion of abyssal depths, equipped with an exclusive magnetic pushpiece system. Within this patented system, the chronograph controls are operated via the metal of the case. This means that the Superocean Chronograph M2000 may be used in water to the fabulous depth of 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) without any risk of water seeping in. The 4 mm-thick sapphire crystal guarantees exceptional sturdiness, while the original appearance of the black dial is enhanced by red, black, blue or green-ringed counters.

Another automobile inspired watch company from Italy: Enter Meccaniche Veloci. Whenever these companies release a bunch of watches that just don’t sell too well, there are bargains to be had. Its not that there’s anything wrong with the watches, but without the proper marketing, its hard to command the same prices at brands out there that just have better recognition.

I picked up an Ace Cafe from Meccaniche Veloci (say that 10 times really fast), and for the money, not too shabby. Read more to find out what I think 🙂

I really didn’t like the textile strap that came with it.. the white stitching didn’t look to great since the highlights on the watch are red. I ended up switching it to a Hirsch Croco pattern strap which also doesn’t really look all that great – that’s the strap in the photos. I ended up picking up a Black Calf Rally strap with red stitching that works PERFECTLY with this watch. Maybe I’ll post a photo some time later.

The arabics at 3, 6 and 9 look to be Panerai-inspired, and the open visible movement is .. well, not my favourite. Unfortunately I think the open movement on the front makes it look a bit cheap because the movement isn’t decorated. We’re talking bone-stock ETA 2824-2 here, not Patek Philippe. The hands are lumed, but not the dial on this guy. While I might not agree on the open movement, there are other details that warrant some applause. The red line aroudn the crystal gives it a neat look, as do the alternating brushed and polished parts – which we will see more of later.

There are those alternating brushed and polished parts I had mentioned. Even though they are PVD coated, they did a nice job creating more interesting textures with the alternating finish. The lugs also have some semi-skeletonization which is a very nice detail and overall adds to the value of the watch. These are the kinds of details that set it above the rest.

Visible caseback showing the stock ETA with slightly decorated and signed black rotor. Nice touch to make it match the case. Now if the whole movement was black that would be even cooler. Also a nice touch was the contoured caseback that lets the watch sit more snugly on the wrist.

Here is a closeup of the dial showing the aluminum dial ring, and the visible date wheel. The raised indices look like a translucent plastic or rubber, which is a very interesting choice of materials. Overall its a very creative and different looking watch. The company seems to have focused all its efforts on the Meccaniche Veloci Quattrovalvole, which is a watch that derives its design from a Four-Valve Engine Cylinder.

Here’s a look at the rather large 44.5mm diameter Ace Cafe on my 6.75″ wrist. It wears pretty nicely, and doesn’t look to big in my opinion. The watch is on the thicker side due to its shape and how it is a flat cylinder, and measures 11mm thick. Overall a lovely watch for the money – so long as you can get it for cheap. I would say quality wise it is better built than Hamiltons, and probably up there with Newer Oris watches in build quality.

Specs:
Diameter: 44.5mm
Thickness: 11mm
Movement: Swiss ETA 2824-2
Case: Stainless Steel PVD
Strap: Textile

Christopher Ward, a British maker of affordable watches, launches their unlicensed tribute to James Bond’s 50th Annviersary and new movie, Skyfall. We all know that this right belongs to Omega, but that didn’t stop Christopher Ward from jumping on the gravy train!

The watch is dubbed the C60 Trident-PRO Automatic SKBRG22, and looks like a Rolex Submariner Homage. The watch features an automatic Selitta SW200-1 movement and is mounted on a Striped nato strap. Watch is Swiss made and will be priced at £350.

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.

Egard Watches has officially launched their first model, the Shade. I don’t have too much info yet, besides what the specs have been provided. I love the look of the layered dial, but without some information on the location of manufacture of the dial components it will be difficult to guess how well put together the dial is. Hopefully it is as impressive as it appears it might be. Also, I do not have pricing yet:

43mm case
15.7mm case thickness
22mm lug width
316L stainless steel case (2 versions one IP/PVD black)
Miyota 8n24 skeletonized movement (2 versions, 1 gold plated)
lightly domed sapphire crystal top with AR coating
Sapphire crystal bottom AR coating
water resistant to 20atm / 660 feet
Thick leather strap with butterfly buckle
comes with spare brown leather tang strap