Sub & Rubber B : Perfect Match

Well, we were all packed up and looking forward to another nice beach holiday in a few hours- only this time, the island was relatively more isolated and less commercialised. I'm sure that there would be spots of sea activities as per the norm, and what better watch to have with me but the Hulk matched with Rubber B. It wears comfortably on my wrist, and I am sure that it would perform flawlessly in its domain.

This was a shot from a Rolex fan, Martin and it was simply too good not to be shared.

Mondaine Stop2Go : Swiss Railway Clock Now On One's Wrist

Selamat Hari Raya Haji  and happy holidays to all my fellow readers! I wrote about an impending Mondaine Stop2Go piece @ http://andywristwatches.blogspot.my/2016/07/the-next-addition-mondaine-stop2go.html; and just as how accurate Swiss railways were on the dot, the overseas shipment arrived at my doorstep in time for my blog entry during this long weekend.

There were 3 main models in the Stop2Go line-up as per the following :

a) Silver case/White dial with leather strap and signed buckle;

b) DLC case/Black dial with rubber strap and signed clasp.

I decided to go for the classic design with the modern twist i.e. DLC version, as I do not currently have a DLC watch in my collection. The last DLC watch that I had was also for the railway industry i.e. Ball DLC Night Train, which I had since flipped.

For a medium-cost Swiss quartz watch that cost some RM3,500 inclusive of GST and delivery cost to Malaysia, the watch was rather well-made. The packaging was acceptable for its class with inner and outer boxes, and it further came with the standard 2-year warranty atypical of Swiss watches. 

For around the same cost i.e. circa RM3,500, one could have gotten a mechanical watch from other entry-level brands e.g. Mido, Certina, Glycine, etc BUT the special part about this Stop2Go was in its unique caliber.

Travellers whom had utilised Swiss railways would have seen Mondaine clocks peppered all over its railway stations, and the second hand typically complete the 60 second round in 58 seconds, with the additional 2 seconds used for syncing all the clocks to exact time vide an electronic pulse. Therefore, the second hand would looked as though it had stopped for 2 seconds before the minute hand moved. And due to the quicken second hand revolution, it looked as though it was an automatic movement rather than the typical tick-tock-tick-tock quartz movement. For the Stop2Go watches, Mondaine created a one-of-a-kind caliber in order to emulate the Stop2Go clocks that it was famed for. You won't find any other watches with such an interesting function elsewhere.

I matched the Stop2Go DLC with a carbon fibre strap with white threads, that seemed to match the watch to a tee and brought out its simple beauty even further. The watch wore nicely on my wrist, and the 58+2 second mechanism was very engaging and I often found myself looking intently for the second hand to reach its full round. It was truly a fun watch in every sense, with a cheeky disposition 

And in place of a regular crown, the watch utilised an electric switch that was a norm for railway controls, which required special turning as detailed in its manual. This was such an interesting watch that I would say that it would make a great addition in my watch collection.

Jenga With My Watches

I have been overseas for the last week plus, so am real glad to be home to look at 'em babies in my watch winder this Saturday. My spouse had brought the Speedy Panda out for a spin (to the moon and back?), so I took out the rest of the watches to re-adjust the time in-sync with the Atomic Time and polish them to a shine. Let's see how they stack up to the fun...

Yonger & Bresson : Incredible Details at an Incredible Price

Like clockwork, the shipping arrived from Europe bearing 2 French-made timepieces i.e. Yonger & Bresson, which I wrote about the other day. I have not come across this French brand prior to this, so I was pretty excited to see what would the watches be like. At an RRP : RM2,010 per piece excluding  GST and shipping (all-in added up to slightly less than RM2,500 per piece), it was literally a steal of a price as you could only get a Seiko Prospex locally at this type of price bracket.

The box was pretty solid, and it revealed the YB piece seated daintily in the box. Removing the cushion revealed the manual, warranty card, and watch tag.

Reading the manual, it was a pleasant surprise to actually find that not only was the watch made in France, the movement also belonged to the Ambre Group and was entirely designed, developed, and made in France too. An in-house movement, and a pretty one too with lots of details as you would be able to gauge shortly.

The YB logo was repeated throughout the rotor and caseback, and made for some stunning looks. The lettering was smooth to the touch and one could gauge that the watch had gone through real quality checks to be released in such a manner.

I winded the movement and it was smooth like butter. Again, I was like, totally blown away as I wasn't expecting such high-end quality at the price that I paid for the watches. 

The other parts of the watch oozed with high-quality workmanship too. The second hand with the YB crown logo was another nice touch of design. The leather strap, the butterfly clasp with engraved logo, etc all simply worked together to portray a watch that would have easily cost three times its RRP.

The customary wrist shots followed suit, and I have no doubts that these French-made watches with genuine French-made movements were excellent purchases. Not only was YB selling them at an incredibly affordable price, the amount of details in the watches were incredibly detailed for a watches at such a price bracket. What's more, despite the Japanese-type of pricing, the warranty was decidedly Swiss with the standard 2-year warranty.

When something was this good, it made sense to have 2 pieces instead. I am thinking of sharing these really nice watches with some good friends of mine, and I know that they would make great gifts. Cheers.

I would have no hesitation recommending this French timepieces to fellow watch collectors. At the end of the day, they simply offered so many plus points that it was simply incredibly awesome! 

Yonger & Bresson : Fabriqué En France

Truth be told, I have not heard about this brand i.e. Yonger & Bresson until a get-together encounter with a royalty family member whom used to reside in Europe. He informed that he liked the brand as it was an old low-keyed brand (established in 1975) with a royal crown as its logo. He liked it that only those in the know, knows about Yonger & Bresson's crown. Everyone else only knows about Rolex's crown.

Ummm, may I add that other smaller brands like Glycine and Steinhart also uses variations of crowns as their logos, but I digress.

I started researching about this brand and found that it had a niche following. It's pricing was actually rather affordable for what it has to offer. Since I was more of a mechanical watch fan, I looked at such an example and found that for circa RM2k+, you could get an in-house movement, made-in-France watch, and backed by a 2-year warranty. The second hand with a crown at the end, was quite attractive. All-in-all, this was a pretty disposition and for monies that could only get a Seiko-equivalent, one would be getting a lot more watch for the monies spent.

I asked a couple of watch shops and most of them were not convincing in that they could get me an example. So I popped online like the way I normally would do, in order to get to the bottom of things.

Amazon had lots of selection for the models offered under this brand; and so after a couple of clicks, I was expecting the arrival of a Yonger & Bresson piece by the coming Monday.

Add in the GST, clearance fees, and shipping fees, at about 15% additional cost to the purchase price; and you would have a nice piece at your doorstep for less than RM2,500. Still a good bargain regardless of the additional charges. Given that it's a real bargain for a made-in-France piece, I would be ordering 2 pieces together to keep the shipping fees low; as the watch would make a good gift really.

I would update with additional photos after the arrival of the Yonger & Breton piece. If it was a worthy piece, I would lobby to the boss of a franchise that I knew, to bring in this brand under his franchise. But I digress.

2 Of Each Please : Sea, Air, Land, and Hulk

I was choosing which piece to wear, and it struck me that after years of consolidation and addition, my collection was pretty balanced and wearable at the interim moment.

There were 2 watches for Sea :

1) 2016 Rolex Sea-Dweller 116600;

2) 2013 Rolex Submariner 116610LV;

The Sea-Dweller was dressed in its renown bracelet and has a good heft to it, while the SubLV was paired with Rubber B which was very comfortable to wear for outdoor activities. 

There were 2 watches for Air/Space :

3) 2015 Omega Speedmaster Panda;

4) 2015 Archimede Pilot 42 Heritage;

The Speedy was renown as the first watch on the moon, while the Flieger A was a renown war watch for pilots/bombers. Both were watches with real pedigree and history behind them.

There were 2 watches for Land/Railway :

5) 2016 Ball Engineer ii Genesis LE;

6) 2016 Mondaine Stop2go;

Both Ball and Mondaine were known for producing watches (Ball's wristwatches and Mondaine's Stop2go railway clocks) for the rail industry, and it was great to have pieces that commensurate their core design and function. While the Stop2go was still in transit, I have no doubts that it would make a nice addition to my collection.

There were 2 watches for Hulk :

7) 2015 Casio G-Shock Rangeman Wave-Ceptor;

8) 2014 Panerai Luminor Marina Logo Acciaio 00005;

These 2 bulky pieces were perfect for the Hulk. The Rangeman had been very useful in my outdoor and plantation endeavours with its built-in ABC (altimeter, barometer, compass) functions; while the Pam had a Stallone statute with its tough outlook and hornback strap.

The above would sum the status of my collection at the interim period.

Previously-flipped :

Vintage (prior to 1983) :

1)  1972 Rolex Datejust 1601;

Diver :

2)   2006 Omega Seamaster Chronometer James Bond;

3)   2007 Seiko Perpetual Calendar SNQ043;

4)   2012 Ball Hydrocarbon John Hembel Limited Edition;

5)   2012 Rolex Submariner 116610LN;

6)   2013 Seiko Monster Dracula;

7)   2013 Omega Seamaster Chronometer Planet Ocean XL;

8)   2013 Tudor Pelagos Ti5;

9)   2014 Citizen Eco-Zilla;

10) 2014 Citizen Eco-Zilla Suppa;

11) 2014 Seiko Diver Pepsi SKX009J1;

12) 2014 Orient Mechanical Force;

13) 2014 Steinhart Ocean Vintage Military;

14) 2014 Steinhart GMT-Ocean Ceramic;

15) 2014 Steinhart Ocean Forty-Four;

16) 2014 Oris Aquis Date;

17) 2014 Edox GMT-Class 1 Ti;

18) 2014 Glycine Combat Sub;

19) 2014 Tudor Heritage Black Bay;

20) 2014 Seiko Prospex Kinetic GMT;

21) 2015 Maranez Rawai;

22) 2015 Citizen Promaster DepthMaster Suppa;

23) 2015 Seiko "Bluefin" Tuna 50th Anniv;

24) 2015 Seiko "Dracula" Tuna 50th Anniv;

25) 2015 Seiko "Bluefin" Tuna 50th Anniv;

26) 2016 Prometheus Poseidon Bronze;

27) 2016 Magrette Vantage Bronze LE;

28) 2016 Seiko Turtle Pepsi;

Aviation :

29) 2013 Seiko Sportura Aviation Alarm Chrono;

30) 2014 Bell & Ross BR01-97 Reserve De Marche;

31) 2014 Seiko Prospex Field Monster Limited Edition;

Dress/Race :

32) 2012 Rolex Datejust Diamond;

33) 2012 Oris Artelier Date;

34) 2013 Tag Heuer Carrera Chrono Caliber 16;

35) 2014 Hamilton Vintage Chrono 3828;

36) 2014 Edox Les Vauberts;

37) 2014 Certina DS Podium GMT;

38) 2016 Moto Kuore Mk1 Burgundy;

Sports/Fashion :

39) 2005 Tag Heuer Kirium Ti5;

40) 2013 Ball Fireman Night Train DLC;

41) 2014 SevenFriday P3-01 DLC;

42) 2014 Casio G-Shock Riseman;

43) 2014 Casio G-Shock Riseman Wave-Ceptor;

44) 2014 Casio G-Shock Military Camo;

45) 2014 Casio G-Shock Digi-Analog;

46) 2015 Rolex Explorer ii;

47) 2015 Casio G-Shock Military Camo2.

Tudor Pelagos MK2

I chanced upon this advert of the Tudor Pelagos MK2, which the seller had taken patience to capture the brilliance of the infamous electric blue lume through slow shutter speed. This reminded me of the good times that I have with my Pelagos MK1 and I was tempted to make an offer towards the watch. But then, I looked carefully at those texts and realised that I would be left wanting for the clean dial in the MK1.

I would opine that Pelagos is a nice modern design and a good addition to one's collection, but it would be great if Tudor could bring back the cleaner dial as seen in MK1. If the blue Pelagos was released in such a manner, I may just find myself adding the Pelagos back into my watch collection.