Well, it was time to say goodbye to my trusty old Casio G-Shock, which I sold for a few bucks on Timezone. Here’s the old G-Shock:

It was a trusty watch, and always worked well. However, it didnt’ have any special features besides a Chronograph, Alarm and Timer. I wanted something a bit more high-tech, and the Suunto Core fit the bill exactly. I avoided the more fancy models like the Suunto Elementums, but I really like the all plastic and rubber Suunto Core. Doesn’t hurt that it looks great too! Makes me feel pro when I wear it with the Barometer graph on the main face!

I’m pretty darn happy with my Suunto. I think I will pick up one of the lugged straps and install that eventually. They are not cheap at $60US + Shipping, but I think it would add some appeal to the watch.

I should add that I am not very familiar with the multitude of Quartz multifunction watches out there, and only briefly looked at some Casio Pathfinder watches along with the more subdued styling of the Suuntos. I found most Suunto’s rather ugly except the Core line, and the Pathfinders were just a bit too flashy for me. I did like their Solar Polar feature, however. Would have liked to see that on the Suunto.

Dubey & Schaldenbrand is quite unique from most other Swiss brands out there, and in my opinion, seems to derive much of it’s inspiration from Chronoswiss (or is it vice versa?). According to the website, D & S is also the only Swiss Watchmaking house to have a woman in charge, Cinette Robert.

I’ve always loved Dubey & Schaldenbrand with their tonneau shaped cases and hidden lugs. They are reminiscent of Franck Muller’s cintree curvex, but still able to create their own identity. I purchased the Aerodyn Date, as the roman numeral dial really called to me. I wish I had bought this watch on a bracelet, as I grew tired of the strap.

The dial is beautifully guilloche finished, which is typical of many of D&S designs. The dials are almost always beautifully textured, and this one is no exception. The deep blue dial is easy to match up, and is a nice relief from the usual white and black dials. This one has no lume, but the Romain numerals are painted on, as are the logo and other markings.

The big date movement in the Aerodyn Big Date is the ETA 2892-A2 with Big Date module. This is a great choice for the watch as it places the big date at the 12 o’clock position instead of the 3 o’clock position that is had with the ETA 2826-2.

One thing I did not like about the Aerodyn Date, and is likely the case with many D&S models is the laser-etched logo on the crown. I would think for this price range a machined logo in the crown is minimum. Ther laser-etched logo is more in-line with watches in the $500 range found in lower-end department stores such as Guess and Fossil.

The back, unlike the crown, is nicely and deeply machined with the logo, model and the serial number. The back is screwed in with 7 screws, and flat satin finished, just like Franck Muller watches. The watch is mounted on a Blue, Crocodile-embossed leather strap with an aftermarket deployant. The Original band is a blue genuine alligator strap, on a D&S Deployany, but I found the original deployant uncomfortable for my smaller wrists. The deployant is positioned slightly too far over on smaller wrists.

Here is a shot of the 33 x 44 mm case on my 6 3/4″ wrist. As you can see, its a beautiful watch and wears wonderfully. You can see the Double-AR coated and curved Sapphire crystal shows the dial beautifully, as does the organically curved stainless steel case. Hope you guys enjoyed the review!

One of the many debated topics on the Breitlingsource Forums is whether or not it is appropriate to wear your Breitling watches on a rubber strap, particularly the Diver Pro rubber, especially when the watch is not one of the Dive or Professional models. In particular, I’m talking about models like ones from the Windrider and Breitling for Bentley series of watches.

I had been hankering for another Breitling Headwind since I sold mine, and was really hoping to get one with a white dial. So, when I saw a Headwind on Diver Pro Rubber, I had to snag it – even it was on rubber! My first Breitling purchase in quite a while, since I got married almost a year ago and had the matching Breitling SuperOcean Heritage watches engraved.

The beautiful white dial is probably one of the nicest I’ve seen in this price range. The technique used to create the Headwind dials, particularly the blue and white ones, is amazing. Patek Philippe of course makes superiorly finished dials 😉

I have always loved the precisely machined crowns on the older Windrider models like the Headwind. They are cut more sharply and the high quality is easily seen in the crown and much harder to duplicate. As you can see from these close-up shots, the Headwind shows quite well on the diver pro rubber.

Now this shot really shows the rubber and headwind combination. I used to be anti-rubber on my Breitling watches, but I’ve really warmed up to this one, and have seletected it as my Vacation watch for my upcoming trip to Asia. This means I will have to use this same watch every day for over two weeks! This is not an easy task for me!

As you can see, it has the newer Diver Pro with the raised logo on the buckle. I often prefer not to use the keeper that is built-into the buckle, as it makes the watch harder to remove and put on, and usually the extra security isn’t necessary. I do use it when I am swimming with it.

Overall, a very good presentation on Rubber, at least in my opinion. I don’t think I would wear my Breitling for Bentley on Rubber, but this Headwind does seem to work for me!

This article is about my search for a suitable aftermarket Omega deployant, and my negative shopping experience with wholesaleoutlet990, the ebay seller that I purchased it from, and my conclusions that I have drawn from the experience.

The Shopping Experience

With the multitude of aftermarket deployant buckles out there, sometimes you want one that will work with your existing straps, whether is a real strap or not a real strap because you might not want to change the buckle every time. Thing is, deployant buckles are expensive, costing like $200+ from any of the major Swiss brands!

So, in my journey to find a suitable Omega deployant for my other Omega straps, I sought to find one on ebay since it seems to have the most variety. At first, the search began with looking for the terms “omega buckle”, which turned out huge amounts of buckles that “fit omega” watches, many of which are just regular buckles. I narrowed my search down to “omega deployant buckle”, and this helped tremendously. In searching for a direct replacement, I could not find any that looked almost identical to the Omega Deployant that I currently own, so I started reading descriptions and deciphering photographs to try and determine which ones might be functionally identical but aesthetically different. I finally found one where the picture might suggest that it works the same way but didnt’ show enough that it could be determined either way. This was our friend wholesaleoutlet990.

After reading the auction description for what seemed to be an esteemed seller of aftermarket watch parts such as rolex bezels and aftermarket buckle replacements, I came upon a few very prominent lines in their advertising:

“Q: Will This Item Fit My Watch Without Any Modifications?
A: Yes, All Items We Sell Are Made To Fit Your Watch Perfectly, We Guarantee It.”

As far as I understand it, so long as I ordered the right size, they guarantee that it will fit my watch perfectly without modifications. I proceeded to order my 18mm buckle for my 20-18mm Omega strap, confident that such a company would be helpful and courteous, and afterall, its a $12.40 buckle, what could go wrong?

Receiving the Buckle and Disappointment

I opened up the package, happy to install the new buckle on the brand new Omega Crocodile strap that I wanted to mount on it only to find out that the buckle does not work on the Omega Deployant Strap that i purchased. This was disappointing. I promptly emailed wholesaleoutlet990 and ask them what they would do.. they said they would refund me when I shipped it back. Since tracked shipping back to them would cost as much as I paid for the item since Canadian Shipping sucks, and I did not want to ship it back without tracking in case they claimed not to receive it, I asked that they reimburse my shipping expense back since it was their fault.

They refused. They claimed it was my mistake and that you could tell from the photos that it would not work the way they claimed it would, as a fitting my watch perfectly without modification. Obviously their gurantee means nothing. Now, a $12.40 buckle is very small change, but I don’t want anyone else to get duped by their policy, and its always nice to know what kind of people you are buying from.

They continued to deny that it was in any way their fault, even with their misleading titles. And the best part, his final email to me indicating that he wasn’t going to take a return and cover shipping was “for $12.95 worth you will be hero”. Whatever that means??

Now if it was my mistake, and not a misrepresented item, I would have ate the cost.. but these guys are misrepresenting items and deceiving people.

What I’ve learned from this is that eBay doesn’t protect anything for you, and lots of dealers on there regardless of feedback amount and rating are not good to deal with, no matter how much they say they care about customer service. Buyer beware, and I hope this helps other potential omega deployant clasp buyers from getting duped.

Louis Monet introduces the Jurassic Tourbillon, which measures an imposing 47mm and has a dial made of authentic fossilised dinosaur bones. The watch is a limited edition of 50 pieces and made of 18kt white gold.

The movement is hand-wound and exclusive to Louis Moinet. It features:
-Tourbillon
-19 jewels
-21,600 vph
-lateral lever escapement
-winding mechanism with “octopus” spring visible on the back
-72-hour power reserve.
-Stingray Strap