Very Interesting read

Great insight into how the economic downturn has affected the various players in watch industry by James Elsener, owner of Montres Edouard Lauzières. A must read!

The world of watches or watch on the world

I was getting bored...

... so I made a wallpaper of my Pyrolume Prototype #12 watch. The resolution is 1600x1200.

Click on the image for the full size.

Rolex vs Omega - second hand sweep

Just a quick video I took of the Rolex Submariner and the Omega Seamaster GMT together. Both have movements that tick at 28800 beats per hour, but is there a difference in the smoothness of the sweep? Yes, No or is the video quality not good enough? Do comment.

Another HMT in the house!

Yup, there is another HMT in the collection - the Janta. The thing about HMT watches is that they are so cheap that its almost impossible not to pick one up every time you step into a watch shop. My dad was visiting his hometown last week and as always, calls me up when he spots a shop selling HMT watches, in case I am interested. So as always, I asked him to inquire about the black Pilot and as expected, they didn't have it. The salesman then showed my dad the Janta with a red second hand and when I was asked if I want it (and although I never actually had in on my list), being so cheap, I couldn't refuse. So here it is now, enjoy the pics :)

For lack of a better background, I placed the watch on the keyboard of my laptop.

Incoming: Old school Casio

OK, so it doesn't really scream exciting, but it's one of those watches that you just need to have in your collection. I saw it on the shortlist of 10 Ultimate wristwatches and I instantly knew I had to have it!
I dunno what it is about these retro watches, but lately, I've just been really drawn towards them. Anyway, without further adieu, I present to you the Casio A164WA-1

Un boxing:






The watch:



Interestingly, its made in Thailand, and not Japan, as I had thought.




Obligatory wrist shot



All in all, I'm pretty happy with the purchase and even though this watch may or may not get much wrist time in the future, it's gonna be a keeper! Besides, for around Rs 1500 ($33) shipped, you can't really complain!

No watch tools? A Swiss Army Knife might help.

DISCLAIMER: Do this at your own risk. If you scratch/destroy your watches, don't blame me!

Lets face it - we love our watches, but not all of us are experts in fixing/servicing them. We ordered the tools online, but how much do we really use them? Most of us really use them for the following purposes:
1. Changing straps
2. Resizing bracelets
3. Opening case backs to take pics of the movement (we wouldn't dare touch the movement).

So out of all the tools out there, we would use the following:
Mallet, case back opener, springbar remover tool, pin punch, screw driver and a link remover.

Now I didnt have any of them untill I finally ordered a 16 pieces tool kit from eBay for $10, but I was still able to do most of the stuff without one. How do you ask? I did it all with a Swiss Army knife (SAK), a free strap changing tool that I got with a watch strap and an ordinary paper clip.


Let me elaborate:

1. Changing straps: Ok, here, I admit I was using a spring bar remover which I received for free with a strap I ordered and then got one in the tool kit. So really its the same. For screw bars, we can use this nail filer -

Screw driver from the took kit

SAK nail filer
See how thin it is? Perfect for changing strap on a Panerai or in my case, a PAM homage.

2.) Resizing bracelets: Not all of us buy watches directly from an AD and therefore at times we have to resize the bracelet ourselves. For that we require these tools:
a) A link pin remover

b) A mallet

c) A pin punch (seen at the other end of the springbar remover tool)

Now how can the Swiss Army knife help here?
a) Use your fingers to grip the watch and you a paper clip to push the pin out(link pin remover)


b) A mallet - see how we can improvise and use the SAK here as a mallet?

c) A paper clip can be used for a pin punch.


3. Opening Casebacks: Here is one of the the case back remover tool from the tool kit (for non screw down casebacks). The SAK too has a thin and sharp knife that can be used to open casebacks.

Who knew a SAK could be so useful for us WISes ;) ?

Lume comparison test

I've been wanting to do this for a while now and since there wasn't much to do yesterday, I decided to conduct a lume comparison test using 3 of the most 'lumed up' watches I have. I was quite surprised how it turned out. Read on to know how it went down:
The Competitors:
1) Pyrolume 43mm Prototype Watch #12


2) Seiko Orange Monster


3) Omega Seamaster GMT


4) Mossy Oak (MO.370.1.50.401)
Though the Mossy Oak has tritium tubes instead of lume on its hands and markers, I decided to add this to compare the efficiency of tritium vs lume paint.

Procedure:
I left the Pyrolume, Seiko and Omega lying on a desk, in a room with the lights on, for about a couple of hours. I left the Mossy Oak lying in the watch box since it doesn't contain any lume paint that requires charging.
The test was conducted over a period of 3 hours. Photos were taken after 60 and 180 minutes.
The photographs were taken using the 'bulb mode' on my camera and keeping the shutter open for 5 seconds.
To compare the result, I checked the luminosity in photoshop. Luminosity of 100 = pure white, where as 0 = black. This isn't necessarily the most accurate method, but it gives a pretty good idea nonetheless :)

Test: (Click on the image to enlarge them)
Here are the watches, just before the lights went out:


With the lights off:

Result:
Pyrolume : 83
Seiko OM : 89
Omega GMT: 81
Mossy Oak: 73



After 1hr:

Result:
Pyrolume : 17
Seiko OM : 17
Omega GMT: 18
Mossy Oak: 64



After 3hrs:

Result:
Pyrolume : 03
Seiko OM : 05
Omega GMT: 15
Mossy Oak: 67



Overall result:
The tritium, as expected stayed pretty much at the same level throughout the test. As for the other 3, I was expecting it to be a close call between the Seiko and the Pyrolume to take the top prize. Though the level of luminosity was similar in both the watches throughout, the Omega Seamaster was the most readable after 3 hours, thus making it the overall winner! :)