WWR# 9: Orient Ray Diver Watch EM65009D

You may think that I have any link with Orient or anything but I just can't help but recommend another watch from the brand after finding this over the net and just stuck with me to share it to rest of the public to know.

Another thing Orient is popular with from the views of WIS like me is the cool names that they name their watches for easier identification for watch fans. Their most popular watch I have to say is the Mako. It's a diver style watch with a 40mm diameter, auto movement 46946 and is available with quite a range of dial/bezel colors, blue being the most popular. By 2010, the Mako was upgraded to it's bigger brother and named it Mako XL which is by far one of the best sellers to date from Orient. I also did a review of the Mako XL in my previous post (check it out). And just last night, while hunting the net for horological species, I found this. It's the new diver watch called 'Ray'. And by the looks of it, it's another upgrade from the Mako.



The bezel and case is very similar. The hour and minute hands are upgraded and I like the ones on these better from the Mako. By far the best hands I've seen from lower end Orient diver watches. The other thing I like are the round indices that are inspired from their pro-saturation divers. The bezel insert is a mix fusion with the Mako and Mako XL, and has remained the lume pip on the 12 marker. The bracelet now is slightly decorated with polished lines which gives it a classier look. The specs read it has a 41mm case diameter and 22 lugs. The price is at $215 (same with the Mako). Below are the pictures from Orient. If you are looking for your first or next affordable mechanical diver, look no further.





for comparison sake, the Mako, Mako XL, Pro Diver and the Ray in order.

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.

Revelator by Tedeschi Trucks Band

There is something about collabs that spike interest to aficionados of any kind or following. For music, it has been that case. From MJ and Paul, to Aero and Run DMC, to P.Diddy and Sir Jimmy, they fuse what they have and create something, not entirely new, but a mixture of something. Now, does it work? Well not always. Really not all of em. But for the collaboration of Trucks and Tedeshchi, what will it do? Let's find out.

The Revelator album came out last May of 2011.



The union of Susan and Derek in an album was inevitable. Aside from being married together, they collaborations was so perfect that its like it didn't need any practice. It was like they could go straight at the studio and record a week's session and you'd get good tape out of it for sure.



Midnight in harlem is smoothly mellow but Susan's Voice didn't mix well, i dunno

Bound for Glory is too predictable and standard. It's like you know what happens after the next riff.

Ball and Chain's partial riff sound's like an excerpt from the Meter's "Yeah your right".

These Walls starts with an indian inspired tune in slow tempo waiting for Susan's claim on the lyrics. I dig this track, it's the most right mix in the album so far.

Mike Mattisons voice is amazing and simply powerful and unique, its explored again on love something else to say.

The album is called revelator. I can't connect. And most tempos are too dreary and similarly sound the same.

TTB is a great idea. It has proven it's formula in various live performances and features in each albums, but for this one, it has that lesser blues and jam strenght versus their own albums. It's too mellow, the crunchy soulful voice of Susan doest reach the pivotal piont. Derek's limitless slide tones are like trapped in a musical box, not hitting one's soul. Why do I feel this way. Why do I feel sleepy after listening to the album. I've listened to these guys for years and they've rocked my ears down straight hitting the hunger in my musical soul. They're a rare gem to music today. Is it possible I have set my expectations to high for them to reach. Or are they premature amidst the vast experience and talent they have. They still have to work on. Don't hurry up ttb to produce one. Wait. Let it come to you. And of course I see you must enjoy. Yup recording maybe fun, but the music you made is lesser that your potential. You have so many talented people working on this, thus we really expect something spectacular. But really thanks for the music as always, this is way way lot better than the norm right now. Awaiting your follow-up album.

My thoughts.

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 #6: J. Crew X Timex Andros Watch

The Timex and J. Crew collab has been very successful with the military watch model that you can see it in most fashion magazines or websites or simply people buying it aside that it has quite a hefty price for a Timex.

And with its new piece from their partnership, the Timex Andros Watch is our 6th Weekly Watch Recom. When I first saw this watch, I didn't expect it to be a Timex, well to think that Timex really doesn't have a consistent design, they adapt to the market, and upon seeing the Timex Logo upfront, guessed it right, it was another J. Crew. And boy does it look good. It has an matching ocean blue color for the dial, rotating bezel and the neat nato strap. With matching explorer style markings and a pilot inspired hands, this is a sure winner.

Now the price of this piece is a bit high for a Timex ($175) at this level, but I do believe that brand and exclusivity add another value that is hard to find these days. Fully justified you think? If you have the funds, I think it is. Timex is known for providing dependable, robust and quality watches that will take a licking, add that with a classic uniqueness and simple class from the J. Crew group, I think that is a good back-up for your fashion getaway.

There aren't too much info on the J. Crew site except for the obvious 100meter WR rating from the 330ft indication on the dial. A quartz movement and a functional rotating bezel. I would assume it has luminous hands, but for indiglo, I doubt. But none the less, I'm pretty sure this watch will serve a proud owner for many many years and will become a collector's classic in the future on.

And from this on, we'd only hope that Timex and J. Crew to continue what they are doing.

Pictures from the J. Crew Website.

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# 4: Seiko Automatic Watch SARB071

Seiko is well known over the world for their cheap auto dive watches, and their kinetics too. But little do only know that Seiko was truly the first to bring to the market the quartz wristwatch way back in December 25, 1969. And aside from that, Seiko also does manufacture middle to high end mechanical timepieces which are of majority offered only to JDM (Japan Domestic Market). And so my WWR for this week is from the latter. It's a mid-range JDM Seiko, which is the SARB071 Automatic Dress Watch. Why this watch? well from browsing along Seiko's offerings, this one's look sung out to me. For me it's got that vintage japanese design similar to the world's first quartz watch and commemorative edition...

Seiko Astron 1969


Seiko Astron 40th year Commemorative Edition 2009


...powered by the mid-range 6R15 movement which can also be found in the popular Seiko Sumo diver's watch. That sleek and lean design of the hands and hour indices enclosed on the semi cushioned case is something truly Seiko design. The crown has that "S" logo and the exhibition case back marvels you with the robust and dependable automatic movement. And yes, apart from the low-end Seiko movements, this one hacks and winds.

Here are some pics of the SARB071 (courtesty of www.seiyajapan.com)









Here are the specs:

Made in Japan
Case: SS
Dial: Black
Crystal: Sapphire
See-through back: Hardlex
Diameter: 38 mm (without the crown)
Thickness: 11.2 mm
Weight: 77g
Movement: 6R15 23J Automatic (with Hand winding and Hack function)
Accuracy: +25/-15 sec/day
Power reserve: 50 Hour
10 ATM water resistance

Need I post more details? Oh yeah I almost forgot, it's tagged at $454 in SeiyaJapan.com website. A definite win from powerhouse watchbrand Seiko!