The image above is not a Longines Heritage Military 1938. It’s the original watch. You can see why someone would want one – the dial is as clean, uncluttered and elegant as an Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39. You can also understand why someone wouldn’t want one. Eighty-one years later, reliability, accuracy, parts and service are a thing. Now, here’s a pic of the Longines Heritage Military 1938 “re-issue” . . .
Timex sells millions of cheap Chinese watches. Of course they do. China’s labor costs are a fraction of America’s. Timex competes on price. Do the math. But don’t buy the watches. China’s Communist dictators have imprisoned over a million people in “re-education” camps. The Party “harvests” organs from political dissidents, pocketing over $2b per year. But do buy the Timex American Documents watch . . .
The Rolex Submariner is a damn fine watch. At $10k it damn well ought to be. And again, it is. But ten large is a lot of money and let’s face it: the Sub’s been done. So what’s a dive watch aficianado seeking Rolexian quality to do? Here are three no-compromise Rolex Submariner alternatives that won’t melt your credit card as much . . .
Over at Hodinkee.com, Jack Forster ponders The (Almost) Inexplicable Popularity Of The Diver’s Watch. While the journalist can’t pronounce time-of-death for the dive watch – his boss sells sells thousands of ’em – Mr. Forster acknowledges the fact that dive watches are the horological equivalent of the buggy whip. The writer then lists three reasons why dive watches are so popular . . .
The $1500 Nubeo Satellite Automatic Pioneer Black is one weird watch. Here’s how it works: “Two wandering hour marker ‘satellites’ rotate in orbit across the dial face. A complex jigsaw of gears, wheel and precision-engineered parts culminates in the journey of each satellite. As they do, the correct hour aligns with the semi-circular minute calibrations. Where the satellite and minute hand meet, the present time comes together.” Got it? Me neither. Moving on . . .
“Titanium was a material no one had ever made a watch with because it’s difficult to machine,” Porsche Design Director Roland Heiler reminisced re: the IWC Porsche Design Titanium Chronograph. “It’s a material that gives you a lot of headaches, but it has very good properties – it’s anti-allergic, it does not corrode, and it’s half the weight of steel with pretty much the same strength if not more.” Uh, no . . .
You gotta hand it to Stowa. The German watchmaker famous for fliegers – the most conservative of watch genres – is kicking out the jams with the Stowa Onehand 44. It’s about as faithful to their 1927 pilot’s watch design as the camp remake of The Stepford Wives was to the deeply unsettling original. Look a little closer, though, and it’s clear there’s method to Stowa’s minimalist madness . . .
