Bell & Ross Vintage BR WW1 Grande Date Reserve de Marche

Zodiac ZMX 03 Chronograph Diver Watch Is Kinda Chronograph, Kinda Not - Kinda Interesting, Kinda Bland
It is easy to see how this watch came into existence. Zodiac is part of the uber-mediocre Fossil watch company. Think of a committee sitting around together. Maybe only one or two of them knows anything about the technical side of watch making. The rest are product designers, hipsters, and marketing people who like to gauge market trends. Someone blandly comments, "Zodiac has a deep history with diving, let's create something bold, that fits in the existing product line." The non-technical designers go to work, basically ignoring most of the functional elements, and only focusing on pure form, or what their teachers awarded them on in product design school. They take into consideration the memo that big watches are in, they look at other diving watches, and have some idea of the materials they can work with. Oh, and watches tend to look more 'legitimate' when there are lots of instrumental looking hash marks on the dial. Who knows what odd impractical thing they came up with initially?

Buying a used rolex?
As some of you who may have read my threads, you will recall I threatened to begin collecting Rolex watches. Being a neophyte at this I have some questions.I came across a watch on the web being offered by a seller in Canada who has a lot of used Rolexes in inventory, some of them seem nice. I saw one that interests me. It is a very old watch that appears to be in very good condition, currently in the possession of another collector. Its not cheap but its not expensive either and might be a good first effort at accumulating more Rolexes. But I have questions:1. How does one assure they are dealing with a reputable business? If the business is stateside it would be worth just flying there. What the heck, if you¡¯re going to plop down several thousand dollars for the watch, why not fly there for a few hundred dollars, get some eye contact, and check the merchandise before purchase. But if they are, say, in London, it might be a trade-off to do a trip?2. Concerning the purchase o

Design your own. . .
It is safe to say we are not thrilled with the 2008 new models so let's offer our 2 cents to Hamilton as to what we would like to see, in case there will be some 20081/2 watches introduced.For me, I would love a 38-40mm US release Piping Rock.

Vintage Longines box.
I'm pretty sure this is older than the watch I bought it for (a 1961 12.68Z), but how about this for a spanking gorgeous box?VINTAGE LONGINES WRISTWATCH BOX / WATCH CASE UK

Another Sad Day
I have a watchmaker friend, a Vietnamese immigrant who has been in this country for over 40 years. For the last 15 years he has worked in a Rolex store and earned his living mainly on the repairs of Rolex. In the past, Rolex has trained him and even gifted him with a $1000 Swiss watchmaker¡¯s bench.Earlier this year, Rolex pulled their line from his store- one of the first 10 doors they opened in this country over 70 years ago. No explanation, just a form letter. Shortly afterwards they closed the parts account. And no parts effectively ends the repair business. My friend is a good watchmaker, but he¡¯s in his mid-sixties now and will likely struggle to reestablish himself in a different business. He will likely have to take a pay cut and may not be able to use his specialized Rolex talents.On the flip side, this is a wonderful business maneuver for Rolex. It benefits them in two ways. First, by limiting the repair options for Rolex owners, they can fix the price at as much as they wish