The Manometro watches have been around for a couple years now, but recently, Giuliano Mazzuoli has been aggressively advertising their Manometro line of watches, and they have caught my fancy. Sporting large 44mm cases made from various precious metals, steel and carbon fiber, these watches resemble a Formula 1 race car speedometer.

The Manometro line of watches starts around $4000US, and are made in Italy from Swiss Components. Some of the same roots as Panerai and Anonimo, with unique styling that only the Italians could conjure up. The Manometro has been on my mind since I saw it, and I figured I would share some pics and specs with you guys. The Carbon Fiber Manometro S has a case completely composed of Carbon Fiber, 40 layers in fact, layered and compressed in epoxy resin and polished until it takes on a beautiful luster and also has a matching Carbon Fiber dial. It has a large crown located at the 2 o’clock position, which almost makes it look like a race timer.

The Carbon Fiber Manometro S comes on a Rubber strap, but some of the steel Manometro models come on leather, which I personally prefer. The difference between the two is that the Manometro S has Carbon Fiber case and Dial and thicker arabic font.

As you can see, the straps attach via screws on the back, preserving the uniquely round, lugless watch case. Whether you like the Manometro or not it is without a doubt a unique timepiece that will not be mistaken for anything else.

I want one. A lot!

Since the Economy has not recovered, I will continue to review some more affordable watches!

WWII style Pilot watches are a popular style of watches these days, with IWC coming in at the top of the price range, with a dozen or more other Swiss and German brands coming in anywhere under them. Some of the major Pilot watch producers include Steinhart/Debaufre, Archiemede, Ollech & Wajs, Damasko, Tourby, and Laco. What many may or may not know is that Laco was one of the five brands selected by the German military to produce watches for them during WWII along with Wempe, A Lange Stowa, and IWC. So if you want an authentic, yet affordable WWII style Pilot watch, Laco is definately your best bet.

Now, this is an automatic pilot and 42mm in diameter, which makes it different from the originals which were 47mm, and manual winding. They were large so that they could be worn around the outside of a flight jacket and still be easily seen. You can get the 47mm version from Laco, but the one I have here is 42mm, and has an ETA 2824-2 Movement, etched with the Laco logo on the rotor.

Its a very nice watch, with a mineral crystal (it can be ordered with Sapphire), and sits very well on my somewhat small wrists. The lugs have a interesting shape as they stick straight out from the case, rather than curving down. The Lume on the watch is okay, but not fantastic.

There you can see the air-cooled perforated strap, but it is only perforated on the back and sides. It remains solid on the top, which is a nice feature. It makes the watch very comfortable to wear, and even comes with the same strap in black in case you want to swap.

And finally, a wrist shot. More and more I am finding I like the 42mm size, and though I do enjoy the 47mm pilot, I find the 42mm more suitable for me, and really in the end looks better, regardless of wrist presence.

If you like the Pilot watches, do yourself a favor and check out Laco. They are one of the original suppliers for WWII pilot watches, and they continue to make a great product for a great price today. This 42mm Pilot sells for about $450 new.

In my conitnuing search for good Budget watches, I got my first Glycine watch and it’s a very cool watch. I had seen a friends Glycine Airman D24, with the three separate hour hands and decided it was time for me to get a Glycine and see what the fuss is all about. While the Airman is not quite as fancy nor as desirable as the D24, it does have a similar feel with its large flat face and easily readable dial.

The Glycine Combat 4 is available in four or five different dial lume colors, all with a black dial. This one in particular has the yellow/green numbers and is my favourite. The other options include White, Blue, Red and I believe Orange though I’m not sure. The information online available for Glycine watches in general is very limited. Maybe it’s time for a glycinesource.com?? haha.. maybe not.

The Combat 4 has a nicely decorated Swiss ETA 2824-2 movement, and of course the entire watch is Swiss Made. It does not have a specification as to whether or not the crystal is Mineral or Sapphire, and the information available online is limited, but I am assuming that it is Mineral, as Glycine does use a lot of mineral crystals.

It is a bit strange seeing a watch that retails north of $800 with a Mineral Crystal (I am assuming), but it is a very nice watch. The dial is a very large one, with a case diameter of 43mm. This watch wears large for it’s size. The bracelet is also a very nice one. It feels really loose when you move it around, but it sits and molds to your wrist very nicely. When I strap this watch on, I want to look at it.. the dial just jumps out at me.

There it is on my 6 3/4″ wrists, and it really fills it out. The lume on this watch is one of the best I’ve seen. It starts glowing immediately and holds it longer than most watches I have. This guy is water resistant to 50M, and does not have a screwdown crown. A very simple watch, but it has that simple, but not too simple style to it with a touch of Pilot watch and a touch of sport watch. It looks simple, but it stands out, and looks great.

I think I need to get another Glycine now!

When we think of affordable Swiss Made automatic chronographs, one name that keeps coming up over and over again is Hamilton. With what seems like dozens of Valjoux 7750 Chronographs to choose from, they have one for everyone’s budget. The Hamilton X-Wind is one of the higher end Chronos that they carry, and of course uses the workhorse ETA Valjoux 7750 movement with a exhibition caseback to view the inner workings of the watch.

Ever since I saw the X-Wind I wanted to buy one, and when I tried one on in the Caribbean I really wanted it. I finally got a chance to get one at a decent price and here it is up for review. Big beefy 44mm peice.

The watch has two crowns in addition to a bi-directional rotating bezel that allows you to calculate complicated cross winds and things that pilots might need to calculate. Beautiful black dial with silver subdials and guiloche patterning on the subs.

As you can see, the watch has a left crown and pushers, with the day-date complications on the left side as well. This takes a bit of getting used to initally, but its not that hard to do.

Exhibition caseback has a uniquely shaped crystal, and a degree chart of some sort also for calculating complex pilot things that us layfolk will never need, but its cool to have! This X-Wind is on a bracelet, which I like, but felt that the rivet strap looked better on my wrist. Possibly due to the watch looking larger. I believe the rear crystal may be Mineral as the marking only states Sapphire Crystal in the singular. Either way, Hamilton’s watches are still a great bang for buck.

Nice machined press-lock clasp. The links are pinned, not screwed, but the clasp is a nice one. I’ve always liked the way the Hamilton clasps are made, and it just finished off an already very nice watch.

Next up in my search for the ultimate sub-$500 watch is a Wilson Watch Works Navi, which I briefly talked about the other day.

The Wilson Watch Works (WWW) stuff is not very known, especially outside of ebay, but very impressive. I stumbled upon Wilson Watch Works when I was browsing through ebay at various watches using the Swiss Unitas 6497/6498 movements. These are hand made peices from the US, made from German crafted cases and dials, with Swiss luminova. Front crystals are all Sapphire, double AR coated, with rear exhibition crystal made from K1 Mineral.

The model I picked up is the Navigator, or that’s what I call it at least because of the navigator dial, as Chris at WWW does not have model names yet. Dials and cases are totally sterile. This one is 42mm, and bead blasted stainless steel. They are all available with any combination of cases, dials or movements. You can choose to have a seagull movement installed if you prefer, and will save you $150 or so.

As you can see, the semi-gloss black navigator dial is very nicely crafted, with expertly applied Swiss luminova on the all the outer markers and outer arabics. Hour and minute hands are also both illuimated.

I put mine on a German Pilot strap with rivets in a dark chocolate brown, and I think it looks fanastic. Chris offers them on either vintage or bund straps, but I am partial to the double rivet pilot strap so I sourced mine elsewhere.

The crown is very nicely crafted of solid stainless and finely bead blasted as well. The movement is nice and slack-free, unlike those chinese seagull unitas copies. The cases are manufactured by a company in Germany that also manufactures cases for Tourby watches and Lum-Tec, which sell nearly identical watches for almost twice the price, which is probably fair market value. Wilson Watch Works doesn’t have the same exclusive dial and case designs, but the quality is the same, and thus you save money.

This case uses lug screws, not spring bars, which is kind of nice. The screw threads are very strong and well threaded, and not likely to strip. They are polished, which gives a nice contrast to the blasted case.

Exhibition caseback showing the swiss made eta unitas 6497 movement, undecorated, but beating strong. Did not really check accuracy, but it was within seconds of my Breitlings that I synched it to over the course of a day. Of course the Unitas doesn’t have a date complication, but most days I can do without it – doesn’t stop me from looking for it though.

On my wrist, the 42mm case is fanastic. Probably the perfect size, though the spikey diamond crown digs into my wrist sometimes. But I love the watch and love the case. Everything about it screams quality… and at a price of $459, it certainly is worth the price and very close to the perfect $500 watch for me. I’d been eyeing the Tourby peices as well, but at $800+, they would really have to offer me something that WWW doesn’t. And until then, I’ll stick to my WWW Navigator.

Take a look at his ebay store here: http://shop.ebay.ca/merchant/wilsonwatchworks