WWR #1: Hamilton Khaki Field Officer H70615733

For the first weekly watch recom its model number H70615733 Khaki Field Officer Auto from Hamilton. The american watch brand who now belongs under the Swatch Group umbrella continues to provide us with offerings that are still true to the American style it was created and being under the powerful Swatch group, means you can't go wrong with quality, durability and class. Specs of the watch are as follows.

Dial window material type: Scratch-Resistant Sapphire Crystal
Case: Stainless-Steel; 44mm;
Case back: Exhibition Caseback
Lug width: 22mm
Band material: Black Leather Band w/ Rivets
Dial color: Black; 24hr Subdial
Calendar: Date
Movement: Automatic ETA 2824, Handwind and Hackable
Water resistant depth: 330 Feet

Why buy this watch? If you don't have a military inspired watch yet, this is a good starter. Aside from lots of offerings from Japanes watch brands, if you want something with a 'Swiss Made' badge and has an ETA movement that hacks and winds, this one will definitely do. This won't break the bank. I've seen some shops offering this at around $600. The design is simple, modern and will hold on for a long time. So surely it will be a keeper.

What I love about it, the big hour markers with inner military hour markers and outer minute markers, a sure military look. The hands, simple and effective. Brushed case finish for that rugged look. Decent leather strap, thick and sturdy (thanks to the double buckle hole system) to compliment the whole watch. Will definitely look good on natos or zulus! And it's fathers day today, buy your dad one, or if your one, treat yourself!

                     Here is a screenshot of Ryan Reynolds sporting the watch in the movie "Buried"

View the watch at the Hamilton site:
http://www.hamiltonwatch.com/en/gents/khaki/field/officer-auto/H70615733

TV Series: Outsourced

Usually, we have lots of TV shows capturing the usual story lines that either blows up your tubes with gun fires and explosives, fogs up the screen with steamy and cheesy stories, saddens us with drama, or the popular tickles from comedy. In the new comedy TV series Outsourced, it's plot begins when an American is sent to India to manage a call center. That statement alone brings lots of interest.

And so as the story progresses with comedy as major in lines of love, indian/american culture, jokes, jobs, singin/dancing, sex...and everything that goes with life. It's quite nice to see a new show that grasps the reality of life right now. Recession, global outsourcing, the difference in cultures and its possibilities all bottled up in one comedy show.

Be sure to watch out for Gupta!

Weekly Watch Recom

Starting this week, I will try to publish a new watch every week that I would recommend for any watch lovers or watch seekers to buy. I got the idea since mostly, the only WIS in my circle of friends, they frequently ask me about what watch to buy, where, and most importantly WHY. And it gives me one of the highest fulfillment that they eventually buy the one I recommend or by just the fact that I was able to impart to them any new knowledge in the world of horology. And one of unique things the way that I recommend watches to them, is that I look into the person and somewhat fill their shoes, and analyze what watch is right for them. I don't recommend to them my favorites, I give them the watch that would match their personality, style, taste and if possible their pockets. So now, I'm sharing it to the rest of the world.

And if you ever find my future posts helpful, drop me a note, I'd be glad of the news.

Cheers!

Timex Ironman 100-Lap T5E231 Review

It takes a lickin and keep on ticking...That famous line from the watch brand that started way back 1854 with their 1 dollar watches. Well, you can't have those watches on that price scale in these ages but Timex still offers the affordable watches around the world. Timex, is one of the few brands that really have diverse styles in their watches. It's like there is always a timex for every kind of person in this earth. Sports, Dress, Quartz, Mechanical, Casual, Outdoor, you name it, they have one for everyone. And one of the most popular line is the Ironman. Ironman watches are designed for athletes in triathlon and marathon.

The unit that I will be bringing some thoughts to day is the Timex Ironman T5E231. It is one of the current models today in the 100 Lap category and currently has like 200+ user comments on the amazon website (yes believe me, check it out).

The case:
Case is made of resin plastic with stainless steel caseback. Diameter is at 40mm. It has a black plastic painted bezel up front and about 18mm lugs. This watch doesn't have the shock resist features unlike other ironmans. It's really a standard case design with 4 buttons on the sides and one top button for the convenience of start/split. I had quite bad experiences with their buttons on previous ironmans, they just fell off for no apparent reason, so I hope it doesn't happen to you.



Dial:
The lcd dial is protected by mineral crystal. LCD display is big and easy. Like you can read the time even if the watch is on the other side of the room or even other side of the road. Which is one of the biggest points considering you are targetting runners and marathon athletes who would never want to waste an extra amount of effort for just reading the time. ANd yes, the bright and effective Indiglo is on.



Band:
The rubber band is quite normal with other timex watches, but still on the doubt if the quality and durability of the bands have improved. I have other rubber bands from timex before, all of em breaking within a year or two, and I'm no ironman athlete, just a normal watch freak who has a daily job and jogs like 2 or 3 times in a week. So don't expect to much on the band. I advice you check em regularly like every month for some signs of wear and tear, you don't want your watch to just fall out of your wrist suddenly without any warning. When you check, don't just look at it, try to bend the band opposite from its usual form, and if you see some cracks or so, stop wearing em and replace em immediately.



Features
Well you have the stopwatch. Which has the Lap time, memory recall up to 100 Laps. Yes 100, and that's more you would need for a serious sportsman. Timex beats everybody out on this junction.

Then there is the interval timer. 9 of which from the product descriptions. I can't say much bout it since I was only able to handle the watch for a couple of days, but I think it is capable of having a timer with intervals like cycles for possibly doing some reps on the gym or so. Pretty neat really. Another plus.

Of course you have the alarm modes.

Water resistance is 100M. Swim with it, just don't push the buttons underwater.

The flix system, where just by flicking your wrist, the indiglo night light activates. I still don't see any use to this feature as I find the button pressing a lot more easier and more normal. Good thing about the indiglo feature is that when you activate the indiglo button, and start operating the modes and the functions, the indiglo night light continues to light up, up to the point when there are no more button operations going within 3 secs interval. Very neat and useful.



In summary, its a good watch for the price. If you just want a dependable watch to accompany you in whatever sporting hobbies or professions you have, this Timex will definitely do the trick. Well the design maybe to much of a triathlon look for me, so I would only wear one when in the gym or pool or jogging. When I take-off my running shoes, I take this off too. I mean, you don't wear running shoes or shorts or spandex casually right? I hope not. As any gym bag or locker should have an ironman in it. On durability, some swore theirs lasted for many many many years, others just died for a couple, I can't really say since I haven't owned digital Timex watches that long, but truth I can say that it is an understanding that when the battery of your timex goes out, people just buy another one. Like its consumable, not the right term but you get the point. It's not a collectible watch but it just gets the job done.

Casio G-Shock GD-100-1ADR

It's been 28 years that the world has experienced the ruggedness and durability of G-Shocks. Attributed to the need of a shockproof watch after his watch got damaged upon falling to the floor, Kikuo Ibe, an engineer in Casio went to his lab started experimenting on a shockproof watch. Testing it by dropping the prototypes out the window of the 3rd floor until one survived. By it's humble beginnings, the G-Shock line has garnered huge success and has now hundreds of styles to choose from.

For this post, I can present to you one of the latest models in the market. Officially released in Japan last September 2010, this watch is part of the Classics line and is more of a spin-off of the X-Large Combi Series of GA-100.

My review of the all digital Casio G-Shock GD-100-1ADR.

Case:

Dimensions of the case is 50mm in width, 52mm from lug to lug and 17mm in thickness. The durable plastic resin casing protects the watch from shock and water resistance up to 200 meters. The stainless steel case back is screwed to the case with markings of where it was made, model no., module no. and G-Shock trademark logos. What I love about the case, quite possibly one of the selling points of the watch is the large size for that modern hey my watch is bigger that my wrist look but hey not that ben10 comic look. The crystal is nicely guarded by four indices in the case that serve as bumpers. The buttons are safely secured under the case guards to prevent the plastic buttons from damage or being pushed accidently. Buttons are also big, that allows for easier operation, not convenient but effective. The case also has that large markings of G-SHOCK PROTECTION which I love. It's like a constant reminder of it's main feature or a tattoo of Superman on Shaq.

Movement:

Module no. 3263 Casio Quartz movement. Battery lifespan is estimated to last for 7 years considering normal watch operation.

Strap:

The rubber strap is attached through screws and a spring bar. Width of the strap is 28mm from the case, then tapers to 21mm at the ends. The thickness of the straps thins out from 2mm to about 1.5 mm at the tip which then allows it to be flexible and comfortable. It also uses the two hole buckle design for added lock and fit.

Dial:

The dial is an all LCD display that has two eyes on the 3 o'clock side and connects to 3 indicators all the way to the 9 o'clock position. The indicators divides the LCD into two. Upper portion displays the day, date, milliseconds, modes and settings. While the lower portion gives you mostly time keeping information. Another selling point of the watch are the 2 powerful LED lights that makes the watch face glow in the illumination feature. The neutral face with the LEDs make this a watch easier to read than other Gs.

Features:

For the timekeeping mode, it's pretty standard. What you see is what you get. The numbers are medium size, not an easy grandpa read but will do. And it comes a setting of four multi-timezones for timekeeping that's a basis from the world time function.

You have the World time, which covers 48 cities in 31 countries which includes UTC and the very useful daily savings time.

The timer, which is capable of counting down from 24 hours. Pretty neat.

The Stopwatch function is still the same as with other G-shocks. Elapsed timing, split time, and the 1st and 2nd place times. Still lacking is the Lap Timing and Memory recall for those runners and anybody timing laps or cycles. That's one wish I'd definitely like Casio Genie to have bestow on this watch.

The Alarm has 5 independent alarms that can be set to daily or one time only. That's it, no setting of weekends or weekdays only or anniversaries and others. The volume of the beep of the alarm is medium, not loud enough to wake me up, just able to let me know that it's time for kitkat.

Then there are the Flash alerts which you could set for you alarm or hourly chimes and all.

The watch also has that Auto Light Switch where the Super LEDs light up every time the face of the watch is tilted to more than 40 degrees or the viewing angle. It's a cool feature but I tried using it while driving or just doing the normal things, the watch lights up everytime of course and I could only guess when the battery will run out. Pretty useless I think, same with Timex's Flix system. Only useful if you're like paralyzed from the neck down and the only thing you can move is your wrist.

Price:

Stated 89$ on the gshock.com

In summary, the watch has its strengths and weaknesses. Bad news first, no lap time memory recall (Timex IM +1), useless Auto Light Switch, and Alarm feature has no weekend/day setting. Good points or I'd rather say great points goes to of course, the tried and tested gravity shock protection, extra large case that enables larger buttons for easier operation without sacrificing durablity, built like a tank, strong materials, super LED illumination, world time, 200m WR, affordable and of course you'll get a lot of respect from the fashion, music, sports, celebrity, military and WIS following all over the world.

This G-Shock GD-100 is not the jack of all traits, but what ever it provides, it's the best at it.

This is blue95.tumblr.com

I am formally introducing blue96.tumblr.com. This is a new blog I created where I post anything that catches my attention and so must you. It could be a must have, an art, fashion, collectible, something interesting. All in photos, videos, links, audio, quotes and anything else. This blog has fewer write ups though as I want to present directly what it is and just give you where I found it. Hope you enjoy.

http://blue95.tumblr.com/

Podcasts about Watches

Podcasts....made popular from the ipod that you can download streamed audio or video of various sorts of what not that it is about now has come to the topic on wristwatches. Yes those time telling devices that tick away in your wrist. And to my knowledge, I have come across two streaming and downloadable podcasts that offer this. I shall then give slight details on each, my thoughts and how they compare.

The first started in November of 2009. Its HourTime from hourtimeshow.com.

Hosted by popular blogger of watches Mr. Ariel Adams of ablogtoread.com and a writer at luxist.com and askmen.com and his partner Mr. John Biggs who as hosted couple of sites like crunchgear.com and wristwatchreview.com and even has a written a book about IT. Now on its 62th episode, the guys are going stronger day by day to providing a meaningful, straightforward and sometimes funny discussion about our beloved hobby and passion.

They have gone through various discussion and topics of almost every brand you can remember. From Casio, Seiko, swatch up to the big guys like AP, PP, RM, JLC, VC, MB&F and of course the popular Rolexes and Omegas. But what makes me stick and follow every episode of this show is that they provide us listeners with the right out comment about watches. How they like em, how they dont, how this watch is like a good buy or how ugly the watch is. They are not afraid what to say, how the brands may think or who anyone else thinks. They're like Top Gear of watches with a combination of Clarkson, Hammond and May. Sometimes, they do disagree on some thoughts about the watches. It's really like listening to two expert WIS and their opinions on the watches and everything that happens around them which includes industry news, trade shows, awards etc. To add to that, their podcasts are of very good quality thanks to some sponsors.

The other choice is What Time Is It? from blogtalkradio.com or whattimeradio.com.

The show is hosted by Jerome Peneau, a social media strategist and who now works for Marvin Watches. Well for this one, its basically just an interview session with the industry movers and shakers of the watch industry. Starting from Max Busser, Stephen Forsey, Hublot's Jean-Claude Biver, Morten Linde and Jorn Werdelin and even Hodinkee himself - Ben Clymer. It's great listening to see how these greats in the world of horology tell stories of how they came about and how they got into the industry. How they strategize, conceptualized and created their thing. Its like listening to business news and just that its filtered all on the watch industry.

In summary, Hourtimes is a podcast about watches, by watch geeks and for watch geeks. Whattimeisit is a podcast for the who's who in the business. I for now am more of a watch geek and have listened to all 62 episodes. Now you know my pick.

Till the next blogcast.

Links:

http://hourtimeshow.com/

http://www.whattimeradio.com/

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/whattimeradio