A few of ours Top left-Bernhardt Top right-Shinola Bottom left-Epos Bottom right-Steel Dive My wife is especially fond of the Shinola as it's American and she's very patriotic! It also wears massive on her petite wrists as she loves big watches. She always says "the bigger the better" to her girlfriends even when not talking about watches but I can't recall hearing my name mentioned in those overheard conversations. I suppose she just likes that saying?
Little heads-up on a really cool limited release via Revolution magazine… Some may have seen the Jacques Bianchi JB200 from about a year ago… launched on Kickstarter and was a huge success… a re-issue of a watch from the 80’s by the same French watchmaker. I’ve been trying to acquire one for months but the asking prices for them on Chrono24 are ridiculous. The model is not being produced again… Well, they’re now issuing a run of 150 through Revolution that goes on sale on the 15th… Almost identical to the original except now the diver is lumed (in blue to contrast against the green lume of the hands, indices and bezel), which I think is really cool. You can register your interest via the Revolution website. Caveat to know is that the movement is a Seiko NH35, which some may have an issue with at the price-point, but for me the gorgeous case, fully-lumed bezel make it worth the money. A great alternative if you’re into CWC divers. Here are some pics from the release page:
I just can't understand some of these European companies launching remakes of European watches and refusing to go the few extra bucks to use a Swiss movement, yet have the gumption to charge big prices for their pieces. I can understand a watch like my wife's Steel Dive using the NH35 as the watch can be bought for less than $200 and is basically a Seiko 6105 clone, but hundreds or even 4 digit prices for European remakes with Seiko or Miyota movements? Come on.
A few that I have Jack Mason WMT Baltic Brew Maen (got for my step father but I gave him some of my vintage Bulovas instead. Vintage was more his style he said) Weiss
I wish they would do bigger batches. The green and gold gmt they did looked especially fantastic to me, but they seem pretty impossible to source. I don't see them coming up used much at all.
I can understand that sentiment. There are times when I care about the movement inside, but there are more often times when I’m simply willing to pay for design and aesthetics. At the end of the day, for watches that are going to slot into a part of a large rotation, the movement inside is at the bottom of the list of priorities for me. As a quick note, this isn’t the standard re-make by a holding company that has acquired the rights to the watch brand’s name… this is headed up by Jacques Bianchi himself, which adds to the appeal of the piece for me personally. All that said, I would definitely prefer to see at minimum a Sellita inside this watch, but I love the quirkiness and character of the design enough that it’s not a deal-breaker.
After seeing the post by @kov I did a bit of a deep dive on Laventure because I really did fall in love with that gold dial. Sounds like there has been some negative feelings following recent releases due to the watches being essentially sold out prior to launch… seems to be the way so many of these releases are handled and it is definitely deflating.
Indeed. Same with unimatic - I get why smaller companies do these hyped small batch releases, but it really plays into the grey market dynamics that we're all constantly complaining about.
Its weird to me that Weis is considered a Micro. Every blog, publication or list has them here. In my mind they were an independent.
Speaking for Baltic, the the finish and material quality is amazing for the money. I’ll take a reliable Miyota for the price point. The Seagull Venus in the BiCompax is just OK. Their ventures north of a grand are all swiss movements.
Great point, Larry. I think the line between micro and independent has begun to blur a bit… especially as the newer brands become more established. I changed the name of the thread this morning to include both sides that are producing watches under $5k. I often categorize watches by lumping in the various alternatives to a given watch and brand at the same price point.
Well, there are only 99 watches made and sold per year. You might have a feeling that some are being sold prior to the official release as they all get sold within less than one hour on the launch. I can understand that. On the other hand it only takes some minutes to 99 folks to put a watch in their cart and finalize the purchase. It is true that the secondary market is very speculative on those since most of them are being listed at 2x-3x the price folks paid.
My newest addition to the collection… very happy with it, especially on the bracelet. It was very easy to size and the micro adjustments are amazing. Great buy for $950 USD! And lume that lasts all night long! Cheers everyone!
This is the second time you have tortured me with that meteorite dialed beauty. Now all I gotta do is find the $950...