WWR #33: Orient Flight ref ER2A003B Pilot Watch

Looking for your first pilot watch?  One of our favorite watch brands from Japan, Orient, has just release a new Pilot watch. And this ain't like the previous "Aviator" watch where it didn't look nearly anywhere in the cockpit of a flying machine.  This is actually the first Japanes Branded Pilot watch that is very true to the original Beobachtungs-uhr which meant Observation Watch of the Germans way back in World War II.  It even has the dial Type B of a B-uhr watch.

When I first saw this, I just couldn't believe it had an Orient badge on it.  One would assume it to be photoshopped but no, this appears on Orient's website under the model number ER2A003B.  I then did a fist pump as I have dreamt for a bang for the buck pilot watch for years and Orient has answered my prayers.

The watch comes with a 48743 in house movement which I would suspect to be a workhorse automatic watch that will have no winding or hacking function.  This is the same movement as their popular Bambino.  Honestly, I never felt the need for a winding/hacking function especially Orient watches were the second hand instantly runs even as I pick-up the watch.

Another great thing about this watch is YES it has a date window at 3 o'clock marker.  Usually, B-uhr inspired watches don't have this, and is the deal breaker for me for not purchasing them.  A big plus for Orient.

And, for collectors, this comes with lots of colors to choose from.  Personally, I liked the classice black dial stainless steel version, the PVD black dial version and the blue dialed stainless steel version (a great first blue dial watch if ever you don't have one yet).  The blue dial seems to come with a brown leather strap, contrasting but matching color combination.  

Here are some specs from Orient's site.

Mechanical Movement : ORIENT caliber 48743 Made in Japan
Self-winding movement
21 jewels
21,600/hour vibrations
Date indicator

Stainless steel case
Crystal glass
Screw caseback, Screwed-down crown
Genuine leather strap
Water resistant to 100m
Diameter 42.00mm
Thickness 11.65mm


I haven't seen this watch in the metal yet nor have I seen any live pictures of it.  This was just practically released just a few weeks ago and I believe SOT featured this first.  I have no word on pricing yet and haven't found any for sale yet but I'm pretty sure this will be around $150-$200 price range which is pretty affordable.  Will update you guys if I have further information on this, for now, this is SOT's Weekly Watch Recom #33.

Recent updates everyone, Orient Flight has now landed in Long Island.



Available for $159 here.

WWR #27: Ball Trainmaster One Hundred Twenty

When I was at my local tailor shop the other day to have my suit done, I was flipping the pages of this fashion magazine and admiring the sweet models and nice suits in its prints.  While quickly turning the pages for boring features, an small glimpse of something familiar caught my eye at the least focus area of my natural lenses.  It was a watch.  Gold case, brown leather strap, grayish dial, well don't see that quite often I said.

I thought it was from the usual big Swiss brands that offer fine haute horlogerie and nothing less.  But I was surprised that it was from the hardcore (well that's my personal perception of the brand) Ball as the matter of fact. Those tough anti magnetic water resistant gas power lighted watches has come up with an elegant dress watch to celebrate 120 years of the brand.  And, hence its name the Ball Trainmaster One Hundred Twenty.  I love the name.  Simple and meaningful.

Here is the gorgeous watch.

 The case is rose gold at a perfect dress size of 39.5mm. An anti-reflective sapphire crystal protects the grey sunburst dial that is nicely complemented with gold markers that have gas powered lights that will illuminate and eliminate all non luminous dress watches.  Its powered by an ETA 2892 movement that gives you the standard automatic movement with date function and over course hacking and handwinding capabilities.

With the gas lights on...

Well I really can't say anything about this watch but pure absolute drooling praise.  I mean the reason dress watches aren't so popular as dive watches or chronographs, is for the fact that they are so refined looking and doesn't offer anything more but elegance and formality.  While for this, at $6000, you can still get that elegant classy look plus a 120 year heritage of a tough watch brand that simply gives you legibility at night when most evening affairs are done.  And its not from the usual suspects.  Its not mainstream.  For me its one of the most underrated brands that exist today.  And this watch is their cream of the crop.  Get this while you still can.

Get a Ball for your next ball.

WWR #21: Orient Star GMT Star Seeker DJ00001B

Yes yes another Orient, the most recommended brand since I ever started WWR.  But how can I resist when they churn out one of the most affordable watches around in various styles and designs.  And now, has offered I would say the most complications at price it is being offered.  I challenge anyone to come up to me and tell me another timepiece that has a GMT function, power reserve, and date complication that can beat its price of the Orient Star GMT Star Seeker under reference number DJ00001B.  And I have seen that around $450 price range.

 

Specs of the beautiful watch.
Power Reserve: 40-Hour Power Reserve Indicator
Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflection coating
Movement: Mechanical Movement : ORIENT caliber 40P51 Made in Japan [22 jewels | 21600/hour vibrations], hacking and handwinding
Clasp: Fold-over with Double Push Button
Water Resistance: 100m
Case Material: Stainless Steel
Case Diameter: 41.50mm
Case Thickness: 13.75mm
Lug size: 22mm 
Dial Color: Black, also available with white
Calendar: Quick-set Date
Band Material: Solid Stainless Steel

Pics of the gorgeous watch.  

The crown at 2 o'clock is a screw down and adjusts the GMT hand.  The crown at the 4 o'clock is a non screw-down and adjusts the time as well as date and is the crown for winding.

pic of the simple but slightly decorated movement.

And normally, as what sometimes adds excitement to collectors of Japanes watches is that similar to Seiko, Orient too releases different kinds of version of  their watches.  And for this one, we have the WZ0011 with slight changes to the hands and crystal and some other markings in the dial.  Here is a pic below.  Well normally,  rarer versions are more exclusive and retail a higher price later on, well might be a steeper price compared to the common version.  If you were to ask me, I like the DJ00001 version better, the spacing on the hands and not really a fan on cyclops lenses on the date aperture. And

here is the other or first version.

  

Pics courtesy all over the net.  Thank you!

WWR#20 Doxa Sub 300T Sharkhunter Vintage Dive Watch

So many ask why people collect vintage watches.  The terms old, used, outdated, faded etc etc are not the preferable adjectives to put prior an item in a sentence in an ad.  But yet they don't seem to apply to watches and everything horology.  So what is it? Some say its the history and heritage of the brand and the watch.  Definitely true, and as I way I would put it, imagine a piece, that goes way back when technology of the quartz was still a dream, and a ticking movement of gears and springs is all it took to help man keep track of time.  Especially for divers, time was crucial.  And now imagine that in your wrist, that very same batch of watches, telling you that its time for your important appointment.

And with the love of vintage watches, my 20th WWR is the DOXA SHARKHUNTER 300T.  Now what makes this particular watch special?  For one, its a vintage dive watch that dates from the 1967.  Where were you at that time?  Well I was probably a sperm swimming around and listening to Beatles and Hendrix tunes that ran across the radio waves.  This particular model was used from one of the famous diving teams way back, who was lead by their master the late Capt. Jacques Yves Cousteau.  Mr, Cousteau and his team introduced SCUBA diving to which they called it 'AQUALUNG', to which were the watch dial bears that logo.  Third, just take a look at this dive watch, its iconic design seem to never fade. The 42mm cushion case fits very well in today's sizes and won't be called a grandpa's watch.  Look at that bezel, doesn't copy the usual submariner homage, but its a dual purpose bezel that's engraved on the bezel itself and not an insert.  It shows an Non Decompression Dive Table too which is I believe Capt. Cousteau wanted in the partnership of designing the watch with Doxa. 


Here is a pic of that watch on a sports strap.

 

Case back with the Doxa Sailing Ship logo

The Sharkhunter 300T with its original bracelet and other newer Doxa models including the popular Orange faced Professional.

The 17-Jewel ETA 2852 movement that is automatic and hand winding capable.

A U.S. Divers Co. ad featuring DOXA, Capt. J.Y. Cousteau and Aqua Lung

And a picture of Capt. Cousteau wearing the watch himself.

This watch would be quite hard to find now, some would take them years to hunt one down that is in good condition and at reasonable price.  If it ever finds your way, get it, before you regret it for passing one by.

WWR #19 Citizen Promaster Titanium Divers Watch NY0054

 Looking for your first titanium watch? Well here's the most affordable diver's watch that is cased in Ti.

Ironically, I have never considered about the dive watches by Citizen. They just did'nt fit bill on the perspective of my taste.  But for this specific model, did.  It sung to me.  It looked mean but not overboard unlike the Seiko monster, its case, dial and hands are roundly soft like designed after water dynamics.  This design I won't get bored after a few years.

here are some specs at $190-200 price range.  Talk about bang fir your buck!

Specs:

Cal. No: 8203, automatic, handwinding, hacking
Black dial with super luminous hand and dot markers
Full titanium back and case
Screw back case
Black rubber strap
Sweeping second hand with luminous features
Stylish traditional uni-directional rotating sporty diver bezel with 60mins scale
Screw-down Locking Crown at 8 o'clock position

Water Resistant 200m (20 bar)

N.D. Limits table(No Decompression limits table) imprinted on the wrist band, this table indicated the permitted time limit without decompression according to the depth.

Approximate measurements
Bezel diameter: 40mm, Case diameter:44mm including crown
Case thickness: 10mm

Here are some explosive pics of this not so common watch...

 

 

A blue variant of the watch which I have to say brings good old blues to you...

WWR #15: Ball Engineer Master II Aviator 46mm

I came across Ball in one of their magazine ads showing some free diver breaking a record dive.  Then I saw another one with the Wright Brothers then another feature for another astronaut.  Aside from that, I knew Ball as one of the first watches who used titrium gas lights for illumination rather than the usual luminous paint.  Most stores I visit who sell Ball watches have this display where the watches displayed have their lights dimmed so that people can see the gas lights working.  First impression would be that their brands would cost an arm or leg, but no. I mean for it's basic features, you can't get better value than that.

My Weekly Watch Recommendation #15 is the Ball Engineer Master II Aviator 46mm.  Model number is NM1080C-L1-BK.  What I like about this watch is that it got the classic edges and hues of an aviator watch but added some design in dial, hands and indices that would make it a Ball Watch.  It is powered by an ETA 2836-2 movement that is protected from shocks of up to 5,000 Gs, magnetism to up to 4,800 a/m, water resistance to up to 100m by a wide 46mm stainless steel case.  The hands and hour indices are all applied with self-powered micro gas lights that they say light up 100 times brighter than luminous paint for 25 years.  You won't expect some patina like a rollie on this after the lights go down but hey, 100 times, thats more than a justification.  And the next best thing is that the watch retails around $1,600.  I bet if these were stamped with other Brands, the prices would sky rocket a couple of times over.

Ball also has another smaller version of the watch at 44m, for those who like to keep it down low or with smaller wrists.

WWR #13: Nomos Tangomat GMT

From a little town in Glashutte, comes my WWR no. 12.  which is the Nomos Glashutte Tangomat GMT.  Now one of the things that prompted me to choose this brand is that now in our world of complexities and somewhat chaos, a site of simplicity for me is beauty.  And that characteristic is visibly clear in all Nomos watches.  I chose the Tangomat GMT is that i breaks a way from the normal three handed watch and comes away with the GMT function through a window calendar and its one of the bigger models that Nomos has which is at 40mm.  The white dial face is also a sure damn killer.  You can pair it with Jeans, or casual long sleeve shirts and jackets, or a tie, fits everywhere. Those blue hands complement the dial so much adding to it the small seconds that really makes everything fit and clear. 



The backdrop of this model though is since the GMT function is done through similar to a calendar day ring, the date function is sacrificed.  Well whatever works for you, there is a Tangomat Datum that has no GMT function but a large date display on the dial.   



This clean minimalist watch is not screaming for attention but gains a lot of respect to where it is due.  Just look at the back.  Seldom do you see in-house manufactured watches these days.

WWR #8: Orient Power Reserve Dress Watch DJ0200

What of the things that I look for when choosing watch brands is the way how they are able to meet the demand of the consumer which is me of course. What I mean is, we as watch idot savants or watch consumers have needs. We have specifics that we want a watch that has an inhouse mechanical movement, perpetual calendar, chronograph, power reserve indicator, tourbillion, platinum casing, etc etc..blah blah blah. But of course, most of the time, those needs are not met because of the constraint of our capacity to pay our credit card bill after a month's purchase. And it surprises me when there is a product our there that meets my needs, and at the same time I can demand (I can afford I mean). And this is one example that I will recommend for this week. The New Orient Power Reserve Dress Watch.




Mostly, low to middle-end watches that come from the land of Japan have basic automatic movements and features non decorated movement which some do not hack or wind. It may feature day-date and thats it. For this watch that I recommend, it has that, plus a real GMT hand function, a power reserve, and a winding and hacking function to complete a jetsetter yuppie's demand of a classical timepiece. To add to that, it has a Sapphire Crystal and a see thru exhibition caseback for the view of the decorated new movement.



Here are the tech specs of the watch from Orient's site.
Mechanical Movement : ORIENT caliber 40P51 Made in Japan
Self-winding & Hand-winding movement
22 jewels
21600/hour vibrations
Power reserve indicator, Date indicator
24hour hand (Dual-time function)
Second hand halt mechanism
Stainless steel case
Sapphire crystal
See-through caseback with crystal
Stainless steel bracelet
Water resistant to 50m
Diameter 40.40mm
Thickness 11.98mm



The thing though is, I haven't yet seen one in the wild so I cannot validate the price and the value, but with the experience with the brand and its value and affordability always in mind, I'm sure it will meet my demands and expectations.

If you have this actual watch, please send me a message on your thoughts about it and pictures of it, I would gladly update this post with your shared pictures for everyone to see.

WWR 7: Seiko BFS SNKF09

Hello everyone, apologies for the unannounced hiatus i did on this blog but now I'm back and have much to catch up.

For the pas few years, the big watch industry has been a new fad and lots of rival entries coming up with bigger and badder models. From the most popular Panerai, to squaris aviator bell and ross, to the evreythng is big TW steel, and to the italian bad boy Uboat, they size up from 44mm to around 55mm. With the hug fad and market follwing such, almost everyone from the industry wants to join the wagon. Seiko, for entry level offering has their SNKF09. Dubbed by WIS in forums as BFS (Big Freakin Seiko). This actually is an old model from Seiko and I just couldn't go without recommending this watch. This one is kind of hard to find nowadays and I think Seiko has already stopped its production, thus making your own personal search more challenging.

The case of the BFS is 42.5mm without the crown and has the bigger 24mm lugs from the usual 22's from Seiko Diver's. The first time I saw this watch, I was quite confused to which it belonged to, but from my opinion, it would rather fit on the Pilot watch category with it's big lume arabic numbers, large distinct flight style hands, thick leather options, big white dial face. I believe all compliments to a person airborne.





The movement is bulletproof 7S26, 100 meter water resistance, all stainless steel case, day-date features, and a very affordable price. I'm sure you can find one not more than $150.





*pics are borrowed from Seiko Watch Forum. Thanks!

WWR #5: Steinhart Nav B-Uhr automatik F0304

It will come to a point in time when your watch wearing purpose is to tell time and to match the suit you wear or to the even you are about to go. This time will be when you are more knowledgeable about the world of horology, the industry moving it, and the addicted drug called watch collecting. And with that, one will come familiar different types of watches depending on what it was made for etc etc.. And indeed, the Pilot watch is one of them. Dig into google and you'll get tons of these models lying around. And so my 5th WWR is a pilot watch. There is one very particular style of pilot watch comes from the Beobachtungs-uhr design from the war era. Big bold and a defenite classic.

Now Steinhart is a German Watch brand that has quite a collection of watches and why I chose this one? Aside from loving the design of classic timepieces, it is because Steinhart watches are value for your money watches. It's equipped with an ETA movement, wide at 47mm, superluminova, sapphire crystal, at a price of $500 or less....and not to mention a sterile dial, truly a classic timepiece.














Here are the specs from Steinharts website

Model: Nav-B automatic
No.: F0304
Movement: Swiss ETA 2824-2 automatic
features
Jewels: 25 rubies
Hour and minute hands with white superluminova C1
Central second hand
Case: Brushed Stainless Steel
Rear: stainless steel screwed (with engraving)
Diameter: 47 mm
Height: 14.2 mm
Weight: 112 g
Dial: Black
Glass: domed sapphire crystal, interior anti-reflective coating
Bezel: Stainless Steel
Indexes: white superluminova C1
Band width 22 mm
Band: brown calf leather, with double rivets
Clasp: screwed Stainless Steel buckle

WWR #2: Citizen Automatic Dress Watch NP3000-54A

Citizen has been popular these days with offering numerous models of their very successful Eco-Drive watches, which are quartz watches powered by solar technology. But for my Weekly Watch Recom for this week, it's from their mechanical products which is simply stunning as a dress watch with a very reasonable price tag. It's the model number NP3000-54A. This watch has that clean white face dial with small 24 hour time dial on the 9 o'clock position and 3-day view date at the 3 o'clock. Now prior to giving my reason why to get this, here are its features:

Metal : Stainless Steel
Movement : Automatic
Citizen Gents Automatic.
Caliber: 4166 - 21 Jewels
Sapphire crystal.
Made in Japan.
Stainless steel case & crystal caseback.
With matching bracelet with DB buckle.
Water resistant 100m
Lugs width 21mm
Case width including crown: 46mm
Case thickness: 12.5mm







You should get one of these since first, it comes from Citizen, a very reputable watch manufacturer and a true in-house movement. Aside from the lots of quartz watches they have, Citizen long before has been making mechanical watches which are at par with Seiko. And with this dress watch, you get a clean looking white dial, elegant and uncluttered, a reliable made in Japan movement that is decorated to allow a more craftmanship rendition of the view from the caseback. This watch also looks better with a black leather strap, to match your ties and suits. The case width of 46mm may be a bit bigger than the usual dress watches but it doesn't look that big in actual fitting. The movement is also handwindable and hackable, a very usual feature for watch rotation geeks. And one of the best bargains is the price, at around $400-$500, it's a sure winner. A definite win from Citizen.



Pics grabbed from this forum thread:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f21/citizen-np3000-54a-some-photos-445289.html