SIHH 2012 pieces are out there and interestingly enough... PAM is in the lead!

Of course the different brand lines focus on different customer segments and try to attract different consumers to purchase their pieces but for this watch enthusiast, looking at the releases from IWC, Panerai, JLC(some nice issues), Cartier, Harry Winston, Greubel Forsey, Zenith, AP etc(wide range of price points there) that are shown on the sites to date... Panerai is in the lead and releasing more good pieces this year.

the reissuing of old popular releases with in-house movements and faux aged tritium lume will continue and that has happened this year. 2 pieces in ceramic and none in the composite. for me i don't really fancy ceramic or composite as a case material so it's cool. there wasn't any bronze too so it will keep the bronzo owners/fans happy.

as noted in my earlier post, the 422(regular) is great but for me the 372 owns it so i won't talk more about that. the 449 is a vintage-y piece but i was never crazy about that dial so the best releases this year from Panerai for me are...

the PAM 399(SE of a 100) rules but only 50 available and another 50 in a set with the PAM 398 in rose gold. will be tough to get this one but there may be another version of it down the line perhaps? let's see this has the minerva movement so the future version will have an in-house p3000 movement? or a 9 on the dial instead of the seconds[base like the 372] or one with both these changes... hmm one can hope :) it has a big crown similar to the old rolex 6152 model but doesn't have the rolex crown on it of course, its got a pam logo

minerva movement under the hood...

comparing to a 6152 big crown rolex...

a great old ticker :)

and the 448(SE of 500) which is a new 249 with an in-house movement instead of the eta in the 249. only other difference is the vintage on the case instead of opus facere... which means it's hardly much difference... it's kinda like issuing 500 new 249s without calling it that of course :)

hmm will we see a 232 with faux aged tritium lume next year? maybe a matter of time... set it aside for now, let's see what the next couple of days bring. cheers, raph

these guys are damn cutting edge lah... [boyz & grrlz @ MB&F & Revolution]

translation for folks who don't understand that little bit of Singlish... just drop the lah at the end and maybe replace damn with really and voila "these guys are really cutting edge" :) so who do i mean... first up you have the folks at...(drumroll please...)

MB&F! Applause please! they have opened a madhouse...DOH! a M.A.D. gallery in Geneva! for all the info clicky HERE & for some raphmeister-ised pics look below... not just a retail space yuh... a gallery ;) "a creative platform that hosts not just our own Machines but also all sorts of other Machines from around the world, by creators who will amaze and amuse you in many different ways" I LIKES!

Next Up... DIGITAL REVOLUTION! Take a bow Revo team. I LIKES IT A LOT! no heavy revo to lug around and kill your house pets(or lil uns) with and all the goodness in an iPad friendly format (keeping with the times!)

[note: the images that follow are taken straight from my iPad's Zinio and just resized down a little, except the 2 from my desktop yuh :)]

i can skip advertising fluff and other product pitches for stuff i am keen on... i am a serious haute horology lover of course so the high brow stuff if you please...

ooh er what do we have here... i really like what i see...
not because of scantily clad and bound ladies of course, did you not notice Msr Journe's Resonance? "What watch you say?" tsk tsk

i love me some fine exposed... movement images too...
Overall a winner in digital format!

you can also read it off your pc (if you really have to) WIN!

and zinio has some other cool publications to check out too... for example, i got my juxtapoz fix on it.
as a new user to zinio they also gave me $25 worth of free digital magazine goodness. SOLD!

for other cool stuff... check this out... SISTINE CHAPEL (thanks George!)
view every part of the Michaelangelo's masterpiece, click and drag your arrow in the direction you wish to see. signing out

Panerai... The Good The Bad & The Ugly

First the Good and there's a lot of good things going for it :) Community and cool GTGs! good food, drink and merriment, bonding with cool dudes (they must be yuh they wear PAMs) and of course some very nice watches!

dinner is served! Makan time!

fellowship of the pam... one 47mm to rule them ALL!

the usual watch giveaways ;) ok it be the table shots

interesting watches and interesting folks who pop by wearing 3 different kinds of watches(i heard this guy gets off on inanimate objects based on his nick). 2 real pams and another italian make mazzu-somethin or other(ok ok its a mazzuoli)... hey if it ain't a PAM ;)

some interesting things on the menu for sure... look what i had for my main :) yummy 5218-202/A [this costs a pretty penny same as the 201s i've fondled before)

and my 372 finally arrived! (in my dreams...) still waiting... waiting... but deliveries are happening. I think people can get it for about US$11+k or about S$16k on the secondary market if they can't wait but you can pay the round the US$10+k / S$13+k list if u have patience since there are like 3500 pieces that will be making its way to the market...

on to the bad... the 372 was givin the people what they want but panerai then issued the 390 and 422 and it's more milkin pam dna for all its worth. and i don't think there's any signs of stopping which IS the scary thing. the 422 though is a very nice watch so maybe the bad thing of issuing many many many many many many many releases (wif recycled nice bits) to please the ristis and the masses, ain't so bad? :)

nice and nicer

seconds instead of the 9... for folks who need the second hand on the dial. there are actually quite a number out there who do

movement has a PR indicator for the 3 day PR

and finally THE UGLY and i mean that literally... Panerai for some reason put in unfinished fugly eta movements in the pam 318 or brooklyn bridge special edition. it was special alright!
i haven't heard the official word if they did it knowingly or it was a genu-wine mistake but my view is that they didn't think to care about putting the usual lightly decorated etas for this batch coz they figured the folks buying it would never pop them open themselves(or wouldn't know what they were lookin at if they did) and would always send it in to a pam service centre. and people who buy closed caseback pams don't care about the movement ANYWAY right? its just the dial and the looks and thats it.

The big joke is this. some of the AAA replicas out there actually use better quality/finished eta movements in them and look close to 100% the same as the pam issues and cost a lot less than the real deal so why bother with the real deal if they're gonna shaft you if they can? again if you are only goin for the dial and the overall case/looks than the replica has got you covered no? [Sigh... it should never come to this... i advise folks not to buy replicas as it is just not the way to go]

Ok it's not that bad (cognitive dissonance [LINK] kicking into gear as i am STILL gonna recommend u buy Panerais :) u could look at it another way... never buy a closed back pam and buy an in-house movement pam if u can't bear the thought of what u're about to see ticking in your pam... i heard that other closed back pams don't have this crappy movement innit but it is sad to see it happening at all in a watch priced as it is from a company that should have a little more pride or respect for its clientele in what it's issuing out

NOTE the following pictures are not for the faint hearted...

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

and that's it. apologies for the girl like blood curdling screams...

for me, i do still want to buy A pam. thank goodness it's a clear back piece. so i'll focus on the good and gloss over the bad and the ugly (and suggest u do too if u want to buy PAMs) or be a haute horology ignoramus like some in the legion of fans the brand has garnered the world over, which is not a wrong thing at all and may not even be a bad thing ;)

cheers, raph

Got time on my hands :) A Quick Look At Lange's Upsized Up Down Datograph

So thoughts? It's better that they increased the diameter to 41mm as it was a bit thick for 39mm. at the same time though, they didn't make it any thinner so its gone from 12.8 to 13.1 which isn't much but i'd have to feel it in the metal to see if it feels proportionate or a tuna can. weight distribution while it sits on a wrist may be a consideration too. the original felt like a plat ingot on the wrist at times.

AB/AUF = Down/up = power reserve(PR) is upped from 38 hours to 60 hours and there is a new power reserve indicator at the 6 o'clock position which wasn't there on the original. i like more PR, the new PR indicator is a question mark still, especially the red on the dial... the roman numerals II, VI, X on the original are gone which visually makes me feel the new dial is a bit more sparse where my mind believes these romans to be, being used to seeing the original, but if i only saw this watch by itself and not do a side by side i would say this dial is cleaner, less 'packed' in a sense. oh and the date display has been increased by 4% :) its still a flyback and maintains most of the aesthetic cues of the original which means its a very handsome piece.

what u can be assured of too is the extremely fine finishing from Lange, probably the best movement finishing in a production watch, gorgeous multi-layered movement in German silver, the chaton settings, similar as the original with added PR stuff of course.

for this watch lover, the original will always have an important place, being birthed in 1999 and under the watchful gaze of Gunter Blumlein but this new datograph is a great evolution of the piece and both are wonderful and worthwhile acquisitions in any fine watch collection. if u can't get both it might come down to size(relative to your wrist size), price(a factor since u can't get both. the old can be had for below S$50k for the plat. not sure about the new ones pricing as yet), and feel of both on your wrist and how u feel with them on. i hope to do an in the metal review in time, the only issue i think is that i may not want to give the watch back if i have it in my hands ;) cheers

i have some live original dato pics here

2011 exit stage left... 2012 enters...

Another year is coming to an end... Christmas is here for all the Christians out there to celebrate and most of the world has the day off (except Japan and a couple of other countries. I still can't believe India doesn't take 1 January off ;) the thing is, what's most important comes into focus at this time of year. it comes down to family, friends and good folks in your life. people who mean you and yours well.

its not about the watch you can't score or the toy u r yearning for. these things are material luxuries and don't really mean much of anything. u can live, survive and thrive without them. its all in your head/heart... what u can't do without though is health. love. hope. so my wish for u, is u and your loved ones have good health, have lots of love, and have hope for better days ahead... coz the times, they are a changin'

Merry Christmas, Blessed New Year and happy holidays to all!

damn... this watch is nice... scratch what i said above. anyone looking for healthy body parts, drop me an email ;) hehe.. may you acquire your dream watches in the year ahead