I've been getting into photography like crazy over the past few months and was generally browsing around for camera stuff when I cam across this:

(Pic taken from cdn.photojojo.net/)

It was amusing enough for me to think of ordering for a moment there. For $35, its pretty neat :)
If you want it, its available here.

Another wallpaper

Here's another wallpaper, this time for the Omega fans. Hope you like it!
(Click to view the full sized image)

Interesting piece of news

For those of whom, who're from Mumbai, have probably read about it. The following made headlines in the tabloid(Mumbai Mirror):

Pratapgarh royals’ antique watches go missing

Iconic Fountain watch dealer in royal theft scam

• Domestic help, store hand arrested after treasure worth crores was sold for less than a lakh

(1Crore = $210,000 and 1Lakh = $2,100)

The demand for high-end watches has got one of the city's most famous shops embroiled in a case of theft of royal heirloom.
An employee of Apsara Pen Mart at Flora Fountain and a domestic help at the Breach Candy residence of the prince of Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Jaisinh Sisodia, have been arrested in connection with the theft of antique watches, jewellery and coins worth a few crores.
The stolen goods, taken out of the Sisodia house over a period of time by the family servant Sachin Kanojia, were sold for way below their value at Apsara Pen Mart. An antique Patek Philippe watch, easily worth over Rs 1 crore($210,000), was sold for Rs 33,000($700); an Omega Constellation was sold for Rs 15,000($312); and a Tag Heur for Rs 10,000($210).
While the cops have been able to recover almost all of the stolen stuff, two wrist watches — the Patek Philippe and the Corum — are yet to be found.
While the loss of the two watches – the Patek Philippe was custom made for Jaisinh's maternal grandmother, the Rajmata of Navanagar (now Jamnagar) 85 years back -- has caused great distress to the prince and his family, the deceit of the domestic help, who was with the family for 15 years, has hurt more.
The Patek Philippe watch, is just one of two such watches ever made. The watch has a hand-crafted platinum bracelet by Cartier. "The only way you can describe this watch is priceless," said a family member who did not wish to quoted.

The guy who stole it would probably be kicking himeself for not knowing the true value of the watch :D Though I do hope the retrieve it!

Yet another watch photograpy attempt

Of late, I've been meaning to get serious about photography. I recently bought a couple of flashes and a new DSLR and been waiting to get some free time to use them. Since watches are one of my favourite subjects, I thought I'll make a new wallpaper for my laptop. I'm still learning as much as I can in my free time. The result of yet another of my attempts at watch photography is below.

When you think you know it all...

I'd like to start off by apologising for not posting anything for a while now. Both CF and I, have been terribly busy with a personal project and been hard pressed to find the time to do anything else. This also meant that we were spending less time with our better halves. So when CF asked me to come along to help him buy a watch for his girl friend, I took the opportunity to get my wife a little something as well.
While on the way to the store, we debated about what to get. We had a budget of around 10k($222) each, so we had our work cut out for us. The biggest challenge was to get a watch that's available locally, which meant that we couldn't take our time ordering something online. Plus with the increase in import duty there was no telling what the customs officials might fancy adding to the price.
The first two options that came to mind were 'Seiko' and 'Tissot', so we started deciding which ones fall within our budget. We were feeling confident with our decision but then CF suggested that we get some confirmation. Now, the only way to do this was to call up the others better half and have them suggest a look or design and then end up buying the same watch for them, while asking them to stay mum, so as to not "ruin the surprise". Interestingly, the conversation on both our ends went something like this:
Me (to CF's girl friend): Hey, I wanna buy a nice watch for the wife, and needed some inputs.
Her: Sure! Just get her something with some bling!
Me: Err...I was thinking of a nice entry level Tissot.
Her: Does it have diamonds on it?
Me: You mean crystals?
Her: Yeah, same thing.
Me: No, not in my budget, but it's still a nice Swiss Made watch from a 'real' watch company and...
Her: Yeah, but bling is in, so she won't like it. Just get anything with diamonds.

The conversation between CF and my wife went the same way. No matter how much we tried pointing out the importance of a good watch making brand, it didn't really make much of a difference. In the end we gave up and made our way to a Guess outlet. There, CF picked up the one on the left:


Since my wife already had to Guess watches, I ended up picking up a Swatch Irony:


The cost? The Guess was for around Rs8,000($178) after a 15% discount, while the Swatch cost Rs6550($145)

Usually, CF and I are the 'go-to' guys for any watch related queries and suggestions and being a WIS it's easy to overlook the so called 'fashion watches'. But the guys in the marketing department for the various fashion houses, know what their customers want. Looks like we have a lot of learning to do!

Incoming!! Orient Mako Pepsi!

A truly stunning gift from my girlfriend, this one came just in time for my birthday (10th July)!! I wanted one for a long time now and as you can probably imagine, I'm very ecstatic! :)
The rubber band that came with it was replaced by the matching Pepsi coloured NATO within a minute after I opened the box. Shout out to Marc from ISLAND WATCH for taking some time off from his vacation and getting this shipped in time :)

Increase in import duty on watches!

I just came back from the customs office and I was alarmed to hear that the import duty on watches has be increased to 40% from March. It doesn't end here - if like me, you are a private collector and don't have an Import Code (used by companies who import stuff all the time), there is an additional 20% slapped on you as a fine plus 2% for some other crappy fee. So essentially , you could be expected to pay a whopping 62% duty on your watch! If you do have an Import Code, then the total duty is just 20% or so.
Of course, if you are good with your 'persuasion skills', you can get away for less. Whats weird is that I had to pay a duty of only 22% ( when compared to 60%) when I got my Laco via FedEx just a week ago :s

New e-mail address: indiawatchblog@yahoo.com

We get a lot of e-mails from you guys, and we love answering them, so we thought that it would be better to have a simple & easy to remember e-mail address for the blog, rather than the complicated ones we normally use. So for all future communications kindly send all your questions to our new e-mail address: indiawatchblog@yahoo.com

Laco Pilot 42 Type A Automatic - Ref: 861692 "Bremen"

Originally termed 'Beobachtungsuhr' or 'B-Uhr' for short, these type of watches were specially crafted for the German Luftwaffe pilots by A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, Wempe and the Pforzheim brands Laco and Stowa. The primary concern for these types of watches was the ease of readability even when the pilots were up in the air. For this very reason, a black dial with white luminous hands and numbers and a specially marked 12 o'clock denoted by a triangle with two small circles on the sides. Thus the Flieger, also commonly know as the Pilot or Aviator watch was born.

Laco Pilot 42 Type A Automatic - Ref: 861692 "Bremen"

Packaging: This watch come with a smart black leather zipper pouch which is pretty tough from the inside to protect it from any external damage. This leather case itself comes inside a nice cardboard box. Both the leather pouch and the cardboard box have 'Laco/1925' written on them on the bottom right corner, which in my mind looks pretty elegant.



The watch comes along with an additional black leather strap and a small manual which tells you how to set the time for all the different kinds of movements used by Laco.


First Impression: This watch is quite stunning in its own simple way. Definitely something that catches your attention. The leather strap with the rivets goes really well with the dial and enhances the overall look of the watch.



Case: 42mm wide and 12mm in height, stainless steel with a beautiful matte finish to it. It has "FL23883" engraved on the left and some more stuff on the back. The quality seems really good and has a nice feel to it. This one comes with a domed and anti-reflective sapphire crystal. and waterproof up to 5 ATM, which is good enough for your daily wear. Just like the original, this one comes with an 'onion crown' which looks great on a Flieger.



Movement: The Bremen runs on the ever dependable Swiss automatic ETA 2824-2. It has 25 jewels, does 28800 bph and has no date complication.

Dial: This model has the Type A dial, which excludes the inner circle as compared to the Type B dial. I prefer this one as its got a nice clean look to it. The hour marking have Arabic numbers and the traditional triangle for the 12.
The hands hands are nice and wide for easy readability, which was a very important factor while constructing these kinds of watches back when they were first produced. The hands also have a beautiful blue outline which gives the watch a very classy look. Both the hands and the hour markings have Superluminova C3 on them which is pretty bright once charged.



Strap: The watch comes with a nice thick brown calf leather strap with a couple of rivets on either side of the case, which look great, just like the original Laco Pilot. As mentioned above, this watch comes with an additional black leather strap, which I think is pretty sweet. The buckle had Laco engraved on it.


Overall Impression: This watch had been on my wish list for quite a while now and I can truly say that it doesn't disappoint at all. It really a stunning timepiece with very nice build quality. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, although the case is 42mm, it has the presence and the look of a 44-45mm case, but somehow doesn't appear over sized. It looks just right!
There are lots of companies that produce Fliegers, but not all of them are a part of its history. I think Laco has done a wonderful job recreating this stunning and classic timepiece, with great build quality and at an affordable price.

Surprise delivery

Some of you might be aware that a while back, CF and I had taken an online course in watch repair. Unfortunately, we soon ran out of watches to practice on (or destroy?). To add to it, work at our workplace also increased, and the course came to an abrupt stop. We'd always discuss about resuming it, but never got the time or inclination to do it.
A few days ago, I got a surprise delivery from a WIS friend from Delhi. It was a box containing six 'guinea pig' watches for me and CF to practice on. Along with it was a letter which encouraged us to "experiment on" the watches and basically do whatever we felt like with them, and if we wanted more, there were many more from where they came from!
If there was anything that could motivate us into completing the course, it was this!
Here are the six 'guinea pigs':


I have to confess though. While, I'm pumped about being able to work on the watches, I really can't bring myself to fiddle around with the Enicar.


The watch is screaming for a restoration and I hope my watch guy can do a good job with it.

A special shout out to Sumer, who took time out to collect the watches and ship them out to us. Both CF and I truly appreciate it! :)

HQ Rolex wallpaper

Was playing around with the camera and took this shot. Thought I'll share it here. I think it makes a nice wallpaper. Notice anything unusual ? ;)

Click on the pic for the full resolution (1600x900)

Incoming 1 - Laco Flieger 42 Typ A Automatik

So this the first of the two watches that I spoke about in my last post. I should be ecstatic, but things didn't go exactly as I had planned. The customs department really put me in a foul mood in the morning. FedEx sent me an invoice for the total duties and taxes I was required to pay. Its honestly quite a pretty penny and over that, I was required to pay octroi. All in all, its about half of what I paid for the watch. To make it worse, the customs totally disregarded the price of the watch mentioned in the invoice (and honestly that what I paid for it). They instead thought they knew more about watches than the company itself and valued the watch at 75% more than the original price!! So not only was I pissed that I am having to pay more as customs duty, I am more appalled at how they chose their own price for it.
However, I really wanted this watch for a long time and the original price + shipping (without the discount I was offered) is quite close to what I eventually paid for it, so i thought I'll take it anyway. Moreover this was supposed to be an early birthday for myself and I couldn't see it go away.

Having cleared that of my mind, I preset to you this truly gorgeous timepiece with a history dating back to WW II - the Laco Flieger 42 Type A Automatik - "Bremen"

Specs: ETA 2824-2, Stainless steel case with "FL23883" engraving Ø: 42 mm, height 12 mm, domed and anti-reflective Sapphire crystal, solid case back with engraving, 5 ATM

I'll let the pics do the talking as I will be doing a review on it soon enough. One thing I have to say, although it has a 42mm diameter, it appears larger than that. Its good for people who want to go for the 45mm, but are in two minds if it will look too big on the wrist. This one looks just right! :)
Apologies for the quality of the pics, I had o rush home and take some quick shots during my lunch break. Some of the pics have been shot on my camera phone. As always, click on the pic to enlarge it.








I forgot to take the blue plastic off the rivets, so took another wrist shot -

An attempt to capture the lume on my camera phone -

That feeling is back!!

Its been almost two years since my last purchase (Rolex Sub) and this dry spell was really depressing for me. Finally I have not one, but two watches incoming as I type, all thanks to my (and Bio's) birthday thats around the corner :)

Will be taking lots of pics and perhaps a review too. So excited!!

Spotted in the wild - Rolex

Well, not really :P , but was on the way to work when Bio noticed the guy in front of us on the bike had a jacket on with 'Rolex' written on it. Thought it'll be fun to share it here :)

Omega serial number and year list

I had been looking for this for sometime now. I was curious to know which year my Seamaster was assembled in (2006). I had e-mailed Omega a couple of years back but they replied saying that they couldn't provide info on it for "security reasons". Click on the link below to access the page:

Game on!

It was another day at work, nothing eventful really, until I got a call from my brother-in-law. He managed to get four passes for the IPL semi-final match between Mumbai Indian (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Though I am not too much into cricket, I really like watching these 20 overs a side matches and since neither Bio or I have seen an IPL match live in a stadium, we agreed instantly. Also there seats were one the best ones in the stadium and it was pretty close to where the players were sitting, so that was even better. So it was my brother-in-law, my dad, Bio and myself. Both, my brother-in-law and my dad are huge cricket fans, so I guess they were much more excited about it than us.

Since this is a watch related blog rather than a sports website, I'll keep it short and simple. We arrived at the stadium about 45 minutes early and after going through a number of security checks ( I think there were 5 of them), made out way to our seats. The players of both teams were still doing their warm-up exercises at this point and It was fun to spot your favourite players in person.

Thought I'd snap a quick wrist shot at the entrance

Players doing their warm-up exercises

Soon enough the cheerleaders were out entertaining the crowd and we happened to have seats right behind them :)


The stadium was almost full and the atmosphere was electrifying as this is a country of cricket lovers. Also, since the match was being played in Mumbai, there was a LOT of cheering for the home team. A guy in front of us tried to get the attention of any player on the field that was closest to us, but couldn't. There was also a Mexican wave from time to time which got a lil too much in the end and most of the people didn't bother about it by that time. I think we even got to be on TV when the ball was smashed in the area right where we were seated. You have to really watch out for hits like these. A kid sitting close to us narrowly avoided being hit by the ball that came our way. He was lucky that it only grazed his left arm.

My fav batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar on strike :)

Time for another quick wrist shot!

All in all, the experience was better than what I had expected. It turned out to be a great match which went on till the very last over and we (MI) won by 4 wickets :)