IWC - International Watch & Co. Ingenieur in Stahl Special Auction for Unicef

The $150 Bulova Hack Military-Style Watch
While watches don't seem to generally be affected by seasonal trends, I do, for whatever reason, associate summertime with military-style watches. I guess it's just the color schemes you often see, as well as a sort of rugged utilitarianism that lends itself to traipsing about in the outdoors.While you have all of the usual suspects for affordables in this category, there's a new one that came across our radar that we thought was worthwhile bringing to your attention. That model is the Bulova Hack, by Bulova. At first glance, it's easy to see that this fits into the military theme for a watch - and it's just not some styling exercise. This actually has ties into their archive - a much earlier iteration of the Hack was issued to the U.S. Army during World War II. So, not quite a trench watch, but definitely in that lineage.Why even mention trench watches? For me, those have a particular look to their dials and handsets - and the Hack definitely follows in that tradition. The font used h

What constitutes, a 'Rare' tag?
Last night I won a very exciting, interesting and 'rare' wrist watch. OK, I thought, this is pretty 'rare' then after a bit of research, I got thinking is this 'rare' or is it 'very rare'?After much deliberation, I came up with following definitions:1) 'Ultra' RareThis would be a watch, that is so 'rare' either for its scarcity, or its 'horological' importance, like design or who made it.'Ultra' rare means maybe maximum, one or two exist, it MUST BE, of huge instrumental importance, to the progress in 'horology'And would probably be a 'Museum' piece.A, '1 of 1' would not necessarily fall into 'Ultra' Rare if it was not of immense 'Horological' importance!Ike's father has pieces like this, that Museums are begging for.2) 'Very' RareThis would be a watch, that is fairly rare, maybe a few pcs exist, but in (say) 35 yrs of collecting you (personally) may come across two pieces.I would put The Rolex Didactic (1933) in that league. Why? Because, I have found only one other, and the man wh

$300-400 budget
Hi,My friend is asking me to get a watch for him with a budget not to exceed $400. Ideally he would like an automatic with a stainless steel bracelet. I was first looking at the Tissot Le Locle line but was told by an AD that it's not a good brand for the money, and that a lot of watches are being currently shipped back to the manufacturer. He wouldn't say exactly why.Can anyone be kind enough to provide me with some brands/suggestions?Thanks

Chopard
Anyone have any feedback on Chopard watches for women? I'm particularly interested in the Chopard Happy Sport Mini Square. I'm confused as there seem to be various versions of the same title. Anyone have any info on purchasing pre-owned watched from private watch dealers? Words of wisdoms, things to look out for etc. Any help would be great! this is my first real big purchase!

Truth in Rolex advertising
Here's a little something to steam Ed's tail (and also the rest of you GMT lovers). The following is a 1973 Rolex ad for the Red Sub 1680, supposedly featuring Thor Heyerdahl and his Ra II expedition. However, the guy in the photo with the sextant is not Thor, it's Capt. Norman Baker, Thor's navigator, and Norman wasn't given a Sub, he was given an engraved GMT 1675 (which he showed to me in March). What gives? Did they have Photoshop back in 1973?