To pick up my Amazon package. For 50$ I like it. Strap is one I already had, the strap it came with was pretty ugly.

Wanted to share my 2 watches and get some recommendations on a 3rd watch.

Rolex GMT II ‘Batman’ 126710BLNR

Cartier Santos Medium W4SA0005

Which 3rd watch should finish up my collection? What type of watch? Maybe a diver?

When has the “X” sales model gone too far? I guess there is an audience for everything…

Today, I got to visit the Windup Watch Fair and experience Atelier Wen for the first time. I was genuinely shocked by their overall fit and finish and their incredible level of execution at a reasonable, affordable price point.

Their Inflextion series was by far their most interesting piece, with a gorgeous enamel dial and a case and bracelet made of Tantalum, an incredibly dense, gummy metal to work with. Most brands have only been able to produce the case from this material, yet Atelier Wen was able to produce a whole watch from it, which is shocking, considering they’re a young brand.

The Ancestra model was also incredibly impressive, with a beautifully hand-hammered grand feu enamel dial and a caseback displaying a movement with a Chinese poem engraved on the back. Honestly, this is the most unapologetic Chinese motif I’ve ever seen on a watch, and it really shows how confident the brand is and how they’ve decided to take a completely different approach to their designs.

The last model I got to experience was the Perception series, with a masterfully crafted dial by a master dial maker who uses a rose engine for 7 hours to create it. This is a technique I’ve only really seen on older low-production timepieces from Switzerland, but here it is on a watch that’s less than $5k, around the same as a Tudor diver. They’ve really opened my eyes to being more open to Chinese models and brands in the future, especially considering the value these watches deliver relative to how much manual labor goes into each model.

This Seiko was a complete surprise from my wife for my birthday. She knows how much I've been into watches lately and somehow managed to pick this one out without me knowing.

However I loved it. It's beautiful.

She nailed it completely. Best birthday gift I've gotten in a long time. I got this today and I've already been wearing it. It still makes me smile every time I look down at my wrist.

A few months back my grandfather unexpectedly passed away. While going through photos I found this awesome picture of him. Any ideas on what kind of watch he was wearing. He was an industrial arts teacher and tradesman.

Hey guys, I am considering these three models.
Which one would you get from these models? (Seiko Alpinist green vs. Seiko sre020j1 Jamaica coffee vs. Bulova Jet star grey). Pictures included.

Bulova the cheapest one (530eur, than Seiko Jamaica cca. 550-600eur and Seiko alpinist with 800-900eur).
I find the Bulova probably the most elegant, and Jamaica is good as well. The alpinist with the metal breacelet seems a bit dull, looks more attractive with a brown leather bracelet.

Thanks

I don't mean hype brands like brew Christopher wards etc but brands that exist for 20+ years with an established design language who are not part of the zeitgeist right now

I bought this Hublot 1 year ago used because I really liked the design. But almost every watch enthusiast I’ve met has told me it’s garbage or overpriced. After watching a lot of videos, I was honestly shocked by how much people dislike Hublot. I still love the design, but all the criticism has made me second-guess my purchase and feel like I probably should’ve bought a Rolex Oyster instead.

First real watch purchase. Could not be more happy with it! Picked it up today at my local Fink’s.

Receiving this next week, new watch by Formex, the Aria. Titanium, 7mm thin, nice looking movement.

Reading Note: Some readers on the Android Reddit app report seeing these posts as unformatted run-on text. The fix: it happens when you tap the image—just go back and tap the title of the post instead.

It's Friday and have a nice weekend everybody, and keep your eyes on your inbox for the second edition of The Caseback, a weekend magazine with longer writing I made for paid subscribers.

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1/ Seiko Takes Inspiration From Blue Glow Of Bioluminescent Plankton For The Blue Tears Samurai

You probably won’t find this Samurai at a dealer in Europe or the US, but it's such a good looking watch it might be worth it to employ a few workarounds to get this thing. The new Seiko Prospex “Blue Tears” HBB006K1 was made with Thong Sia Group and is sold in only five Asian markets. Its theme is the blue glow of bioluminescent plankton at night. It’s a colour variant of a watch you already know, and a very good one.

The case is the familiar Samurai shape: 41.7mm wide, 12.3mm thick, with the sharp lugs and flat facets that set it apart from Seiko’s rounder divers. The unidirectional bezel has a navy insert and a knurled edge. Water resistance is 200 meters with a screw-down knurled crown, and the lugs are drilled, so strap changes are easy. The crystal is Hardlex, Seiko’s toughened mineral glass which is really becoming annoying. It's really not that much of a step up in price to give the watch a sapphire crystal.

The dial is a dark blue sunburst that goes from almost black to bright blue as it moves in the light. The bezel matches it closely, so it all appears as one unified color. The only accent is the seconds hand in a brighter blue. Applied markers and wide hands are filled with lume, and there’s a date at three.

Inside is the Seiko calibre 4R35, an automatic running at 3Hz with 41 hours of power reserve. It’s a reliable workhorse and nothing more. The watch comes on a three-link steel bracelet with faceted links and a folding clasp, and a rubber navy strap is included in the box.

The Seiko Prospex “Blue Tears” HBB006K1 is an edition of 1,200 and is priced at SGD 953.80 (about €665) before tax. It’s available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Brunei, but I'm sure there has to be a way to get them to your home country easily. See more photos here and the watch on the Seiko website.

2/ Yema Adds A Star Map To The Tourbillon For The 2026 Edition Of The Millésime

Every year Yema picks one watch to call its Millésime, a French wine term for a vintage year. It’s the most complicated and most limited thing the brand makes that year, built by hand in Morteau around its own movements. Last year that was the Superman Tourbillon CMM.31, a titanium dive watch with a tourbillon, limited to 100 pieces at €12,000. Nobody asked for it, and a few people bought it anyway. This year’s Spacegraf Heure Sidérale Tourbillon Volant drops the dive bezel and adds a sidereal time display to a flying tourbillon. And it's even more expensive.

The case is made out of grade 5 titanium, 42mm wide and 12.15mm thick, with vertically brushed flanks and lugs and a circular-brushed bezel with polished edges. That’s a smaller footprint than last year’s 43mm Superman and a reasonable thickness. On top sits a 1.60mm thick double-domed sapphire crystal, the crown is a titanium push-pull, lug width is 21mm and water resistance is 100 meters.

The dial is black, sandblasted and PVD coated, with brushed minute and seconds tracks around the edge. The disc at 12 o’clock is a very interesting complication, most seen on much, much, much more expensive watches. It completes one rotation every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds, the time Earth takes to turn once relative to the stars, so it gradually drifts against the hour hand and shows you the sky overhead. It sits under a sapphire cover tinted smoky at one end and clear at the other. The tourbillon takes up the lower half at 6 o’clock. Indices are raised 3D rings of Super-LumiNova BGW9 Grade X1, and the numerals, hands, tracks and the star disc are lumed too, so the whole map glows in the dark. My one question is which latitude the map is drawn for, because a single disc can’t show the correct sky everywhere you might wear it.

Inside is the CMM.32, made by Yema in Morteau. Accuracy is rated at -3/+7 seconds a day and the power reserve is 105 hours from a single off-centre barrel supplied by Générale Ressorts. The escapement parts are made using LIGA, the hairspring is non-metallic, and Yema rates the movement to 2,000 Gauss and 5,000 Gs thanks to Kif shock absorbers. Those are serious numbers for a tourbillon, which is usually the most fragile thing in a watch. Through the caseback you get blue bridges engraved with constellations and a flame-blued ratchet wheel with a map of the Earth. It comes on a black leather strap tapering from 21mm to 16mm, closing with a titanium pin buckle.

The Spacegraf Heure Sidérale Tourbillon Volant is limited to 150 numbered examples, with a price set at €14,500. See more photos here and the watch on the Yema website.

3/ Laco Brings Back the Full-Size Observation Watch With The 55mm Replika

One of the funniest watches I've ever put on my wrist is a 1940s pilot navigator's watch made by Laco. The thing was a chunk of steel that measured 55mm and even on my wrist it looked hilariously huge. However, as the good folks at Laco tell me, there's a significant number of collectors that want this original watch. Some even wear it on a semi permanent basis. So, it only makes sense for Laco to release exactly what the people want. And what you get is the new Replika 55, a 1:1 copy of the 1940s navigator’s watch.

The case is 55mm wide and 19.5mm thick, in Laco’s dark sandblasted steel, with straight lugs and a large onion crown. Lug width is 26mm, and the whole thing weighs about 217 grams. It's really not subtle at all. There’s a double-domed sapphire crystal on top, 50 meters of water resistance, antimagnetic protection, and the “FL23883” code engraved on the case flank as on the wartime watches. The matte finish was originally there to kill glare for the navigator, and I guess it still works.

You get two dials, as you would expect.. Type A is the simple layout, with large numerals and the triangle at 12. Type B puts minutes on the outer track and hours on an inner ring. Both are matte black with no logo. The hour and minute hands are thermally blued steel, the minute and seconds hands have curved tips, and everything is filled with Super-LumiNova C3. Type B is the more authentic choice, but A is simpler and easier for everyday use.

Inside is the hand-wound Laco 97, an ETA 6497.1 that Laco converts in Pforzheim from small seconds to central seconds. It beats at 18,000vph with roughly 46 hours of power reserve, and has Incabloc, a swan-neck regulator and hacking seconds. The serial number is engraved on both the movement and the caseback, and the inside of the caseback has period correct markings. The 26mm brown leather strap is riveted directly onto fixed bars, so you slide the watch over your hand to put it on. It’s awkward and you can’t swap it, but it’s also period correct.

The Replika 55 goes on sale in late October, with a price of €3,950. There’s also an Erbstück version with a hand-aged case, dial and strap for €5,490. See more photos here and the watches on the Laco website.

4/ De Rijke & Co. Makes The Fantastic Capri Permanent With Three New Frosted Dials

Last December, De Rijke & Co. released its first dress watch, the Capri, in three dials limited to 50 each. It was one of my favorite watches of the year. The Capri is now a permanent part of the collection with three new dials (champagne, salmon and silver) and no edition limit. Ant it's still a fantastic watch.

This is a small watch, but it's proportions are near perfection. The Capri is 28.5mm wide, 6.5mm thick and 38mm long. The sapphire crystal covers almost the whole top of the watch and curves down at the edges to meet the caseback, so there’s no bezel. There are no lugs either. The strap goes straight into an opening in the case, which looks retro and modern at the same time. The crystal is anti-reflective coated on both sides, and water resistance is 30 meters, which is all a watch like this needs.

The new dials have a frosted finish over nickel silver plating, and like before, they curve along with the crystal toward the back of the case. The original dials had no markers, but these get applied ones. That makes the Capri a little more conventional, but they still look good. All three have a small seconds subdial at six. The salmon has a blue seconds hand and a matching blue strap. The silver dial is almost monochrome and has only a red seconds hand for color. The champagne is the warmest of the three, with silver hands and the same red seconds hand.

All three watches use the La Joux-Perret calibre D100. At launch, only the Capri Blue used it, and the other two used the D101 which doesn't have a small seconds. The D100 is a hand-wound movement based on the Peseux 7001. It beats at 3Hz and has a 50-hour power reserve. The calf leather strap tapers from 24mm at the case to 18mm at the buckle.

The De Rijke & Co. Capri Permanent Collection is priced at €2,495 without tax, which is €300 more than the limited launch editions, but very much worth it. Deliveries are expected in March 2027. See more photos here and the watches on the De Rijke & Co. website.

5/ Hublot Brings Back Their Icon, The Classic Fusion, Now Called The Tributo

In 1980, Carlo Crocco put a slim gold watch on a black rubber strap, lined the bezel with 12 screws and sold it under the MDM Genève name. It did well enough that the watch’s name, Hublot, became the company’s and an icon was born. Now, whatever you may think of Hublot now – and I love them for the most part – there's no denying that this watch, which later became the Classic Fusion, is one of the most iconic watches in the business. Over the years, Hublot has reissued that watch many times in many configrations. There was a chunky 45mm variant with six bezel screws and a variant that came in at 42mm and 38mm with Sellita movements. This one, however, is a bit different. Because it's really good. The new Hublot Classic Fusion Tributo measures 38mm, it has the original 12 screws on the bezel and it has a pretty good movement inside.

The case is 38mm wide and 9.5mm thick, 2mm bigger than the 1980 quartz original. The yellow gold version mixes polished and satin surfaces, while the white gold is all polished. The 12 bezel screws are H-shaped, made out of titanium and still work as hour markers. On the gold model, the screws are black plated. On the side is a screw down crown that gives you 100 meters of water resistance.

Since the screws on the bezel have traditionally been used as hour markers, there are no indices on this variant either. The yellow gold model gets matte black lacquer with a gold MDM signature at six. The white gold gets polished black onyx with the signature in silver. Both have a date at three in white on a black disc, plus an H-shaped counterweight on the seconds hand.

Inside is the calibre HUB1711, built by Zenith on its Elite 670 base. It beats at 4Hz with a 60-hour power reserve. Through the sapphire caseback you see an openworked H-shaped rotor in 22k gold on the yellow model and black tungsten on the white. The strap is ribbed black rubber with a folding clasp in gold and black-plated steel.

The Hublot Classic Fusion Tributo isn't limited and it's priced at €30,200 in either metal. Quite a lot of money, yes. See more pictures here and the watch on the Hublot website.

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Watch Worthy - A selection of reviews and first looks from around the web

• A review of the Straum Jan Mayen Stormy Seas
• Hands on with the Louis Vuitton Monterey

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Hi peeps, long time lurker and watch fanatic.

I have acquired a few watches over the last 4 years, slowly and steadily. But now due to having so many, I don’t really wear a few of them. They barely get much wrist time. It’s not that I don’t like them, there are so many that a few suit multiple occasions and are much easier to grab than others. Some watches falling under this category would be the pink lemonade studio underdog, the alpinist, the presage cocktail time and the mr. Jones a perfectly useless afternoon.

I was thinking if I should sell these along with the timex (still not sure about it as I like how it looks and I wear it at least twice a week to office) and just get a new watch. Eyeing a few like the formex essence, longines zulu time 1925, longines monopusher, etc.

At the same time, the pink seiko and the moonswatch polar lights were gifts by my partner and and the xlys was my dad’s old watch which I got with me when I came to Dubai, so those ain’t going anywhere. The tissot is my partner’s watch.

I feel I am in that phase of my life where I don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking and have a clear watch for every occasion plus one gada watch. I feel the timex is a great dress watch, moonswatch is a casual one, pink seiko and timex being the ones I can wear to the office and blue studio underdog being the gada.

Another reason to sell is that I also want to go up the quality rather than quantity now. My grail is the Grand Seiko Spring drive (not sure about the dial atm) and Rolex day date rose gold presidential, those are way beyond my budget for now. Not sure if I should sell more and just save for the grail (gonna be a looong wait) or get something like the Longines for now.

Any inputs from someone who went through the same would be highly appreciated.

TLDR; looking to downsize my collection to one watch per occasion and want to focus on quality rather than quantity.

I got into watches about 3 months ago after watching a YouTube video of James from Speeed. Next thing you know, I’m watching everything to do watches in my free time. Like a few other things watches quickly become something that I become obsessed with the more I learnt about them.

I saw the Max Bill first on Teddy’s channel and didn’t really think much of it, until I started reading about its history and the concept of the Bauhaus design. In no time I grew a liking towards the straight forward uncrowded design. Right after that I went to try it out at the store and I knew this was it.

Would love any tips & tricks for a first time watch owner and also other Junghans owners on how to take care of this baby! Would also love to know about how fast or slow it runs for others along with any good strap ideas to dress it up. Thanks!

Watch Details -
• Junghans Max Bill Automatic 027470002 38mm

I traded my own "Rainbow" Daytona for the chance to wear this watch for seven days. Although I rarely wear Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces I generally lean toward Rolex I fell for this watch the moment I saw it. So, a friend and I swapped watches for a week. To be honest, it felt a bit strange when I first put it on it was incredibly light perhaps because I’ve spent so much time wearing Rolexes.

Got into watches recently and decided to get this Promaster Automatic since I liked its pufferfish inspired bezel and the full loom dial. It was a pain in the ass to find but I was lucky to score this one online.

Timekeeper for today! Classy, understated and trusted comrade for nearly a decade - a keeper. By the time I saved up nearly enough to buy the original cocktail time, it was discontinued. I then bought the model closest to it - notwithstanding the different movement, etc. And it makes me happy every time I see it, to this day. What else can one ask for?

So I’ve had this watch for over two years now, and I’ve fallen in love with it all over again.

At first, there was the usual excitement of getting a new watch. Then I gradually started wearing it less and less. I’m not really a “watch guy”, and I often wore a sports gps watch instead, or no watch at all.

I also started reading about all its supposed shortcomings: Hardlex instead of sapphire, the bracelet quality, no screw-down crown, “only” 100m of water resistance, etc. I even started regretting not buying an SKX back when they were still available.

Earlier this year, a friend of mine bought a new Longines HydroConquest, and somehow that sent me down the watch rabbit hole again. I had already shortlisted a few watches I was seriously considering buying, but I’ve also been trying to get my finances in order this year, so I decided to resist the temptation.

Instead, I figured I’d just start wearing what I already own, and only buy something new if I actually felt that my Seiko wasn’t enough.

Since then, I’ve been wearing it almost every day, even when I’m just sitting at home. And you know what? This watch is genuinely beautiful.

I don’t baby it either. It’s been wood working, moving furnitures, snorkeling with me and to weddings (yes, I know it’s not a dress watch, but I don’t care).

The funny thing is, when you own a relatively inexpensive watch, you worry about it less and actually end up wearing it more. My friend with the Longines is a bit too protective of his watch and is even afraid to wear it in a swimming pool because of the chlorine. With the Seiko, I don’t have any of those dilemmas.

Interestingly, the Seiko always gets a positive reaction from people who are into watches. And people who aren’t into watches have actually asked us a few times whether we were wearing the same watch, even though his Longines was a different color and on a mesh bracelet.

So, if you’re wondering whether the Seiko 5 is worth buying, I’d say go for it.

Or don’t. Sometimes the best watch is simply the one you already own and actually enjoy wearing :)

I'm looking for your recommendations on which of these watches to purchase and in which color. I am new to watch collecting and this would be my first mechanical watch. I intend to wear this daily to an office job and would also like to wear it occasionally on a dressed up outing with my wife. Thank you for your time and apologies if this is inappropriate.

Just wanted to share the love with you guys

Current lineup:

1. Stowa Antea Classic KS - A Bauhaus style, manual-wound dress watch. Got it almost by accident but ended up loving it! I don't have a lot of dressy occasions to use it though.

2. Oceanus T200 - Gorgeous, extremely versatile solar watch. This is the one I use the most for the office, weddings, everything.

3. Tag Heuer CAH1113 - Also got it almost by accident but I love how sporty it is! Much less serious than the rest of my collection. This is my "flashy watch", so I don't always have to rely on the more understated Oceanus.

4. Seiko 6138 "John Player Special" - My dad's watch. A mechanical masterpiece from the 70's. I love everything about it. Except maybe that it's a bit too delicate.

5. G-Shock GBM2100 - By FAR my most complimented watch. Both men and women have given me compliments about it. Once even a female stranger approached me to talk to me about this watch! It's the first one that I bought and it has very cool, easygoing summer/pool vibes.

6. G-Shock GD-350 - My tactical watch. Makes me feel like I'm in the a military unit. Also works really well with winter clothes

What do you think?

I love how it feels very personal, rather than full of expensive, viral or watch broey watches.
While also not overcompensating by having only obscure/impossible to get watches.
It is my collection and I love it.

Lovely Casio Analog watch. It has such great personality and has reintroduced analogs back into my routine after an 18yr hiatus. I will still favor digitals.

The sauna watch has a 12 minute stop-watch timer meant to be in-and-out of the sauna. For me, a person who has never been in a sauna, I'm timing mundane things. I will even time this post to see who will comment first, ha...ha...ha...?

• If <12 minutes: You Win and I lose.

• If >12 minutes: I win and you lose.

🥇🥈🥉 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place comments

The watch tells standard time and has a relatively small watch face which I like. I'm not a big fan of large watch faces. It's got a rubber coil band. Simple as can be.

There are (3) versions:

1. An orange-white with minute increments

2. An all-black version of the same design

3. A unique blue-white co-op partnership one avaliable in only Japan I believe (w/o minute increments)

Overall, it's a lovely analog that I'm looking forward to wearing and giving it as much wrist time as I can. New favorite!