Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Incoming Poljot Strela

When I came back to work from lunch, I was informed by the security guard that a parcel was waiting for me. My Strela had made it's way from Germany to my office, in Mumbai, in just 5 days! Fantastic time, considering the shipping was free!

Here are some un-boxing pics:

Well packaged :)



It came with a stock black leather strap, but the quality wasn't to my liking, so I swapped it with a brown one from my old Lorus.
This Strela was a re-issue of the watch worn by Alexei Leonov during the first ever space walk on 18th March, 1965. It has the proven Poljot 3133 caliber, which replaced the old 3017 caliber, present on the original watch.
As you can see, this is a limited edition series, with mine being no 93/500 :)
The quality of the dial took me by surprise. I've heard stories of poor quality control on Poljot watches, but I have to say, the dial seems really well built. The case is 38mm across, which is the perfect dress watch size for me.


The literature that came with it mentioned that the accuracy is about -10 to +20 sec a day, but I'll only be able to comment on that once it's spend some time on the wrist.
It's sad that Poljot is no longer manufacturing watches, but there are still plenty of new old stocks out there to keep watch enthusiasts like me happy.
For more info on Poljot, here's a link to their wiki page.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Dissapointing trip in quest for some HMT watches

A fellow member on a watch forum wondered if I could help him find three HMT watches - a black Kohinoor, a white Sona and a white 'art deco' Janta. The Sona wasn't a problem as I already have a BNIB lying around, so I thought I'll visit a small watch shop from where I've purchased a couple of HMTs before. Its normally the smaller shops that stock HMT watches as the others don't bother stocking anything below the usual Titan, Citizen and other quartz ones.
I got there and the guy instantly recognized me. I asked him for the watches and he started looking for them. He had a few HMTs lying around and I was expecting the Kohinoor to be available easily, but there was none to be found. At least he assured me that he would definitely manage to get me one in a day or two, however he mentioned that the prices have gone up for these manual HMTs by about Rs.80-90 ($2 USD). I'm not sure if he was really being honest or just trying to pull a fast one at me. Regardless, I told him to get one for me and left to check out a few other shops nearby.

I checked out 5 more shops, but none of them had any HMTs. They all told me that the company no longer makes these manual watches and besides, not many people buy them. This was the second time I was told this. Most people really don't care for these mechanical movements anymore and just go for quartz which means bad news for the company and us watch lovers. Its sad knowing that it isn't going to be very long before they completely disappear from the shelves.

So unfortunately, I couldn't find what I was looking for, but I did see a few el cheapo TAG Heuer, Rolex knock offs or some might call them homages (as the names were different).

Friday, July 9, 2010

Pyrolume got spotted

This is a first - I was stopped at a red light, when I heard a voice say "Excuse me!". I didn't react much until I heard another 'Excuse me!'. I looked at the vehicle besides me and there were two girls in there -
Girls (together) - Wow!! Which watch is that??
Me - Pyrolume
Girls - What??
Me - Pyrolume - P-Y-R-O-L-U-M-E
Girls - WOW!! So Cool!!!
Girls - Where can we get one??
Me - Search for it on Ebay
Girls - Can we find it in Google search??
Me - Sure!
Girls - Thank you so much!
Me - Cheers! :)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

From Russia with love! (on the way)


Well, it's being sent via Germany, but I'm sure you get the drift :p
It's been quite a while since I got a new watch, and even though I promised myself to hold out until I save up for a grail, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. You'll know why when I get it!
(thanks to Russ from Russ/Russian Watches for all the info on it!)
I'm so excited!! (Just hope they aren't any hassles with the customs department)

Hello Google 2


Woohoo!!! We are finally on the top! Just a few days ago me and Bio were wondering how long it would be before we can see this blog as the first result in Google search for "India watch blog'. Never realized the day would come so soon!! :D

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Singapore trip pics

I was just flicking through some old threads of mine when I came across one about our trip to Singapore from November last year. I also got my grail (the Sub) from there :)
Singapore was awesome and I was blown away by the number of watch shops I saw. Most of them have Pateks, VC and AP. And the women!!......well, I'll have to start a new thread about that



This was taken at the Mumbai Airport. It was a nice surprise to see this there
I love the crowns on them. Its the first time I've seen them on clock.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Singapore was get my Sub. A quick wrist shot:

My Sub alongside Bio's Seamaster GMT
On the way to a RSC to get it authenticated - People crossing the street
Here it is, The BIG ROLEX building
This was a really cool place. It had a glass wall through which you could see the staff working on/checking your Rolex . I wasn't sure if they allowed cameras inside so I sneaked this shot
The Hour Glass - they have lots of them over there and you can find a lot of top brands in there

First time I ever saw a PP in person!
The TAG Heuer Carrera Singapore Special Edition
A Raymond Weil Clock outside a mall
Bio checking the time
It was time to leave. We were at the Singapore airport when I spotted this -
That made my trip complete

Hope you guys like the small WIS tour of Singapore from my camera lense.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Great animated video showing how a watch works

I was helping a fellow member on WUS by trying to find an animated video showing how a 7750 movement works, when I stumbled upon this. Its video showing how a simple automatic watch works. Its beautifully animated and explained. I founded in one of my subscribed channels on Youtube. For those who are interested, the channel is called HouseOfRam and its got a lot of nice watch related videos.