The partnership between the bladesmith Johan Gustafsson and watchmaker Patrik Sjögren aims to provide truly unique watches with inspiration from the cold north of Scandinavia.

GoS proudly presents Blizzard and Aurora, two new designs based on an dramatic explosion Damascus steel pattern. Both dials are etched to enrich the contrasts but while the Blizzard is uncolored, the dial of Aurora has been given a lustrous green-orange color to resemble northern lights, Aurora Borealis. Traditional Lappish techniques has been used to make the reindeer strap of Aurora, which leather has been naturally tanned without any chemicals.

The watches are equipped with a beautifully finished Unitas/ETA 6498 pocket watch movement. The finishing has been done by the swiss company Soprod, that also have further improved the movement to chronometre grade standard with a screwed balance.

Specifications Blizzard – GoS 010:
– Case: 44mmx12mm
– Lug width: 22mm
– Glass: Flat sapphire glass (case back mineral)
– Movement: Swiss manual movement ETA 6498-1
– Modifications by Soprod
– Cote de Geneve finishing
– chronometre grade adaptations, screwed balance
– Dial: Hand forged Damascus steel with a hand shaped chapter ring in grade-5 titanium
– Crown: Oversize in Damascus stainless steel with large gold fitted diamond
– Hands: polished steel finish
– Polished stainless steel mesh strap

Specifications Aurora – GoS 009:
– Case: 44mmx12mm
– Lug width: 22mm
– Glass: Flat sapphire glass (case back mineral)
– Movement: Swiss manual movement ETA 6498-1
– Modifications by Soprod
– Cote de Geneve finishing
– chronometre grade adaptations, screwed balance
– Dial: Hand forged Damascus steel with grade-5 titanium index markers.
– Crown: Oversize in Damascus stainless steel with large gold fitted diamond
– Hands: Polished and blued
– Handcrafted and naturally tanned reindeer strap with traditional Lappish tin ornamentation

Find out more about these watches here:
http://www.urmakare.eu/pressrelease/GoS-watches-Blizzard-Aurora.pdf

As some of you might have already known, I had purchased a U-Boat Flightdeck CAS 50mm watch, which many on the forum kept saying was “Cheaply made” and they felt that the metal was cheap and that the crystal was cheap. I had a totally different experience and felt that the case machining was on par with anything in the price range, and that the only part that was neglected was the finish of the movement. I’ll elaborate a bit more here.

There is a general shot of the U-Boat, atop the U-Boat box. As you can see, the lines on the bezel are crisp and sharp, an indication of high-end finishing techniques, usually executed partially by hand. The strap on the other hand, while made in Italy by hand, is ugly. The preforated inserts on the strap serve to cheapen the overall look of the watch, and I immediately put it on a StrapLuxe grey leather strap with white stitching which matches the watch perfect in my opinion.

A close up of the dial, and you can see the crisp lines of the bezel in this photo as well. The dial lume is applied meticulously and precisely. While this watch is made in Italy, I have no doubt that the quality of the painting on the dial is up to the standards of similarly priced swiss watches. While the overall style of the watch probably does not ooze class, it is a well made watch in my opinion. The crystals are Sapphire, and the case steel is 316L, the same type as most high-quality Swiss watches.

It was told to me that the quality of this watch was no better than the Nixon watches out there. While I might agree with this statement if it were applied to Hamilton watches or Swiss Army Victorinox case finishing, I would not agree in repect to U-Boat. I would put U-Boat solidly along the lines of Tag Heuer’s Carrera line for quality of finish.

The movement finish on the other hand is sorely lacking, and not up to the quality standards of even Tag Heuer. The U-Boat movements are definately in the same quality range as Hamilton. The extra canteen hardware is very well machined and made as well, given a quality feel when unscrewing and using the canteen cover.

The Plain Jane Valjoux/ETA 7750 is visible on the caseback as can be seen, and is mounted reversed for a left-crown configuration, an obvious necessity given the size of crown and 50mm case diameter. The watch is quite heavy and does not feel light for its size in my opinion.

Not seen in the photos is the U-BOAT deeply engraved on the side of the case, which is deeply sunken and bead basted in the deep parts, given the case an extra level of finish. I purchased this watch from a friend, after I had handled it and felt that the quality of the finish was at an acceptable level. I have since sold this watch, mostly because I found the 50mm size a bit inconvenient. It makes the watch somewhat impractical for daily wear, and sometimes the size makes it look a bit tacky IMO. This is the “mid-sized” U-boat, with a larger 55mm size and smaller 43mm version available.

There’s the proverbial wrist shot, mounted on the stock strap and shown on my 6 3/4″ wrist. While it is large, and somewhat saucer-like in appearance, it is not entirely out of the question, and much more manageable than I would have thought 50mm would be. Now, the 55mm version would be totally out of the question for me, but I could see a guy with an 8″ wrist pull a 55mm U-Boat off no problem…

Noticed there is much less interest this time around.. maybe people have forgotten about the free stuff? AMOC members, remember to make your entry for the raffle!!

Prizes are cool this time too!

1 – Breitling Swiss Wenger Pocket Knife
1 – Breitling Lanyard
1 – Black Hirsch Liberty 22x20mm Strap – Donated by mah (thanks to forum member mah)

Link to Forum Page:
http://breitlingsource.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=13481

My first Solid Rose Gold watch, a 18K Rose Gold Louis Erard 1931 manual winding watch. I really like this one, and its about 40mm in diameter, with a Peseaux/ETA 7001 movement, a manual winding workhorse like the Unitas 6497, albeit quite a bit smaller. This movement is used by many brands out there and some that modify movements such as Nomos, Blancpain and Chronoswiss.

Louis Erard is a more affordable brand out there, that still makes some beautiful watches more in the dressy/classy line-up. The 1931 series is a very sensibly sized line with refined dials and solid build quality, especially the precious metal versions.

The 18k Rose Gold case is beautifully crafted, but simple. The lettering on the back is laser etched presumably to save money, and has a sapphire crystal display back. The gold markings are stamped, not etched.

The dial is an interesting matte/bead blasted black, with Rose Gold indices. The subdial uses a large chapter ring in order to give the dial balance due to the small size of the movement. The 12 o’clock index is the only one in arabics.

As you can see, the small seconds subdial is sunken with light guioche pattern. I put the watch on an aftermarket Gucci strap made by Camille Fournet in France. It is one of the many that are available on Ebay at discount prices. I feel the Gucci straps are the best bang for buck straps available if you have the right size with Crocodile and Ostrich straps made by Camille Fournet in France for around $30 a peice.

There is the Peseaux movement with geneva striping. It is niceley finished, and shows well. The movement is signed as well, and as you can see, is quite small compared with the size of the watch.

The requisite wrist shot. The 40mm size actually measures closer to 41mm, and works great for my wrist size (6 3/4″). I love this watch for wearing with suits or any other dress-up occasion. The standard Louis Erard watches are very nice looking watches for the money, and these Gold models can be found for a song on the secondary Market, making them a great choice for an affordable modern gold watch.

First time this has ever been compiled. I have been working on this on and off for the past year because I have been busy, but its finally done. I’ve compiled all the Breitling models from 1996 until now with their MRSP in US Dollars only. This will allow you to track when a model was released in the pricelist/chronolog and what the US MSRP was during the entire model run. The pricelist includes Strap and Bracelet prices, and lists watch MSRP according to the value of the Head Only.

Download it here:
Complete Breitling Pricelist Grid 1996-2009