The Vintage Watcher

Here’s a watch I’ve never seen before, the Longines Comet. I love the 70’s styling of this watch: with the square case and rounded corners, and the big earnest dial in red.  Usually called a mystery dial because instead of centrally mounted hands, the indicators are mounted on clear disks which move “mysteriously.”  Usually there is a dot for the hours and another dot for minutes, but this Longines has a very large arrow which acts as the hour hand.  The minutes “hand” is the smaller dot moving on the outer track. There is something in-your-face about this dial that makes me smile.  The hands and hour indicators look well lumed, and like any vintage watch of this era, you need to make sure that it is not radioactive radium. However, the small “T“‘s by “SWISS MADE” at the 6:00 o’clock position, tells us that the lume is tritium, non-radioactive. It is a manual wind movement, with a nicely marked Longines crown (always a plus).  The thing I really like about this watch is the bracelet, called a “coffin” bracelet for all the little links that look like coffins, basically. The handsome bracelet and smartly makred clasp go well with the his 35mm watch.  Something I would wear and like to have in the collection.  Price is a little high at $1995 but still decent for this model in this condition WATCHESTOBUY.COM.

This Universal Geneve Unisonic-Sub (whew, what a name) is a macho looking watch in fantastic condition. Interestingly, this is not a mechanical automatic watch, but an Accutron Tuning Fork movement, pre-cursor to the ubiquitous quartz watch.  The Tuning Fork was once touted as the most accurate watch in the world and produces a very distinctive hummmmmm, which is like catnip to the fans of this movement. In reality, this movement tends to consume batteries. Anyway, this is a rarely seen watch in this condition, defintely collector’s quality.  At a case size of 43mm, it is also a good wearer and with it’s masculine styling, will look almost contemporary on the wrist. The dappled brown dial is a hint to it’s vintage origins, and I particularly love the hour markers—especially the slight difference at the hour marker at 12:00.  Even the white bezel and orange minute hand appeal to me.  I really like this watch and am thinking about getting it, for a pretty reasonable (not too much of a markup over ebay, say) $995 at WatchesToBuy.

Why do people throw good money at fake watches? This Zenith is clearly a fake, yet the “winning” bidder paid over $407 for it.  Just looking at the dial, you can see that it is fake.  Let’s just list the offenses:  Zenith never used numerals like that on their dials, why would Zenith put a 24 hour markers in small yellow paint on a non-GMT watch, look at how imprecise the round minute markers are, and I won’t even talk about the garish roulette wheel, dice, and poker chips.  If that didn’t give it away, the inside of the case with it’s shiny, blemish-free back should have.  Even if the hallmarks are correct, look how that number is stamped onto the back.  Lastly, the movement is supposed top be nearly 100 years old.  Look how new that movement looks.  The screws totally give it away, they should be tarnished.  The movement should show signs of age.  I won’t even go into how wrong the regulator is, how Zenith movements of this period have more refined regulators and adjustors.  *sigh*  Even if this watch wasn’t from a seller in the Ukraine, all of the above should be obvious to someone trying to buy a vintage watch.  Just another example of how ebay can bring out the worst in people.

(Source: ebay.com)

Another watch skateboard deck: A Rolex deck from Skate Mental. Obviously a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date (President), with the fluted bezel and diamonds embedded in the case. Nice deck actually, with Rolex becing the mark of success, but I can’t help thinking of the Day-Date as an old man’s watch, or salesman watch.  The gaudy show of success.  Anyway, I also included another deck by Skate Mental featuring E.T. and Michael Jackson that made me laugh.

Something for the G-shock collector: Two skateboard decks with Casio G-Shock graphics. Okay, not exactly Casio G-shocks but close enough to create Cease and Desist letters from Casio Corporate, I’m sure. The first white watch graphic is clearly a Casio DW-5600C model G-Shock, one of Casio’s earliest designs from 1987.  The second yellow watch graphic is clearly a Casio GW-6900 model G-shock, a later design from 2009. These clean decks are from Speed Demons, and are called “Time Shocks”.  I love when skateboard companies “appropriate” from companies and culture like this. Much cheaper than real g-shocks, these boards are on auction from pimpskate090 on ebay, at a Buy-It-Now for $30.   

This Piaget wristwatch is a true classic, from those halcyon days of the 40’s and 50’s. The design of the dial and hands alone indicate the amount of thought that went into the design.  The hands are long enough to touch the appropriate hour and minute markers, thus telling the precise time is possible.  The gold dauphine hands and hour markers are proportionally sized correctly, so easy to tell time at a glance.  The movement is appropriate for the time, I would have thought that a Piaget movement would have more decoration, though.  This may have been a lower priced model, however.  But the watch has aged well, with a pleasant patina on everything under the crystal.  A nice collectors watch, which if maintained can probably run another 50 years.  There are only two luxury houses that I really like for watches: Piaget and Cartier.  Tiffany has been sort of erratic in their watches, and a lot of guys I know enjoy Bulgari’s hyper-masculine styling (especially of late) but for pure class and timelessness, it’s hard to beat Piaget or Cartier.  And for this Finer Times website, this model is priced reasonably at $2,137. I don’t think this one will last long.

hellokittykittykat:

The Zub Zirc Hello Kitty Watch by NOOKA via karmaloop.com

Price: $130.00

This thing made me laugh so hard I had to repost it. We have 1/2 of two ears, a nose, and a bow, and it is still so recognizable.  Not  my cup of tea, but I’m sure some people would die for it. I like the Karmaloop site, though.

(via shopkarmaloop)

Callista Gingrich! The GOP candidates’ “Miss Thing.” More fun than looking at Newt, no? After the Rick Santorum deal, I got sick of looking at politicians’ pictures. There are few things more nauseating. So instead I decided to look see what kind of watch Callista Gingrich is wearing. She’s so fun with the big Southern Belle hair and Tiffany Jewelry and that frozen (girl, don’t you dare say Botox) expression on her face that veers between Southern Sweet Tea and ice cold scorn, bitch.  I thought for sure she would be wearing a Tiffany watch, but that distinctive bracelet is not a Tiffany design. So, we learn that Callista is also amenable to wearing Cartier. I believe she is wearing Cartier Tank Americaine (God Bless Americaine!) small (of course, for the petit 3rd wife of Newt) in 18K white gold with what appears to be an ivory dial, and quartz movement (because only the wretched wind their own watches). Now, I’m sure she has the round-cut diamond encrusted bezel version (one feels positively naked without diamonds) at $39,300 MSRP (because Callista don’t buy discount. You know she went to the boutique so she could receive some proper sucking up.) I hope she didn’t buy the version with the diamond encrusted bracelet at $101,000, because that would be positively nouveau riche. 

Ahh, Mitt Romney is a clever one. At least with his watch choices anyway. Romney is clearly the richest candidate in the field, so you know he could afford the best watches in the world, and he clearly fits the Philippe Patek profile. But what does he wear on the campaign trail? The bracelet of his watch clearly shows the distinctive Tag Heuer Link bracelet. In the pictures above, it is clear to see that the watch has a white dial, gold subdials, and a gold bezel. I think Mitt wears a Tag Heuer Link automatic chronograph model #: CJF2150.BB0590. The best part of this watch is that it looks like stainless steel but is really 18K white gold, along with the yellow gold 18K highlights especially the small hits on the braclet.  A good masculine size at 42mm, and the layout of the dials suggests a Valjoux 7750 movement — a reliable workhorse. Kinda like what Mitt would want us to believe?  Anyway, a wise choice for a man that wants to show off some of his wealth but in a way that does not seem too beyond the reach of the common man: A Tag Heuer Link that can be bought at any Macy’s, with a model that looks like stainless steel but is acutally white gold, but with a model most Macy’s probably wouldn’t stock because of the MSRP at $4,000. My bet is, that if Romney makes it to the White House the Tag will go back in a drawer and the Pateks or the Audemars Piguets will see the light.