Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph Silver Dial NIB

Checking Out the Mir¨® Automatic
There are many articles on w&w about cool looking, well priced quartz watches that end with the same, perhaps repetitious sentiment: "I love it, but I would love it more if it were an automatic." Often the comments on these posts support that sentiment too. One such watch was the blissfully simple and stylish Mir¨®. It was a pleasure to wear, a pleasure to look at, and if it had just had a beating heart, which frankly doesn't matter to a lot of consumers, it would have been hard to take off. Well, until now, there has not been a brand that has taken this call to heart. Not until the Mir¨® Automatic.Staying nearly 100% true to the original design (it's a drop thicker at 11mm), the Mir¨® Auto adds a Miyota 9015 and a domed Sapphire crystal into the mix, adding a lot more watch cred, without adding a lot more to the price. In fact, it comes out to a very affordable $259 (price without VAT), making it one of the best values out there for 9015, let alone one with a? sapphire crystal. This

Popularity of Cartier Ballon Bleu
Cartier just announced that the Ballon Bleu is its best selling line. The CEO said it was because in difficult economic times consumers are looking for more discreet timepieces.I completely disagree with his explanation. I think they're popular because:1. They look great2. Celebs are wearing them, giving them more exposure.Thoughts?Blog here: Cartier Says that the Ballon Bleu is its Best Selling Watch

Omega Basel display
Went to the Basel event at the local boutique this evening. Lots of cool stuff.Event was good. Not many people there but it was kind of come and go. Bent the ear of one of the sales guys for nearly an hour who I think was tired of getting watches out for me by the time I left.Some things I learned:The Deep Black is amazing, and I WILL be getting one.The new PloProf doesn't do anything for me.Omega changed it up a bit and now all POs that are orange/grey are Titanium (not sure I ever saw that as part of the announcement). In the past, the blue variants were always Ti. And they now have a blue PO in stainless steel. The 18kt PO on rubber strap (that looks like alligator). This is blue, although hard to see in the pic. This has now taken the droolworthy place on my list over the 18kt/Oysterflex Yachtmaster.The new Speedmaster Moonphase is pretty sweet.

Tried on some Speedmaster and pleasantly surpirised
Afternoon All,I had a Daytona a while back but sold it as I never really got on with it very well. I found the dial a bit hard to read and just generally never really connected with it.I thought I was done with chronographs but I've been looking for something that I can wear on a strap and have been looking at Panerai but i've seen a lot of you guys wear your Speedmasters on bracelets as well as straps so thought i'd take a look and see what's what.All my other watches are Rolex and have been thinking about trying something new so thought I'd check out a few Omega's at my local AD as never really looked at the brand before.I tried on the Speedmaster Pro manual wind as well as the new Apollo 17 anniversary addition plus the relative new co-axial Speedmaster with the in house movement.The new Apollo 17 Speedmaster is bonkers! Totally illegible dial but does look kind of cool. Can't imagine they'll sell very many though.The new Co-Axial speedmaster I found a bit on the big and bulky side

New Magnum P.I. GMT
As discussed elsewhere in this forum (especially here), Thomas Magnum sported a 16750 matte dial for much of the series in the '80s.It was recently announced that the show is being rebooted and producer Peter Lenkov just posted on Instagram that the character will be wearing his personal Rolex GMT. Lenkov says he got it years ago because of the show. The new one has a coke bezel instead of a pepsi. Can anyone tell what reference is it from this image alone?