Watches

When I think of IWC watches, I usually think of their pilot watches and I’m not the only one, most of my friends think the same thing.  The IWC Schaffhausen Portofino watch line rarely gets mentioned, although it has been in production for over 25 years. This year IWC plans on making it the star of the Baselworld 2011 show (SIHH).

The latest edition Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days (ref. 5101) is an extremely beautiful watch with classic looks and a clutter-free modern design.  The watch dial is very clean-looking with gold hands and markers, featuring a date window at the 3 o’clock position, a small sub-dial for seconds at the 6 o’clock position, and a power reserve indicator between the 8 and 9 o’clock markers.  As the name would suggest, the watch comes with an eight day (192 hour) hand-wound power reserve.

Swiss watchmakers Urwerk are known for making some of the most complex watches in the world (i.e. UR-110 Torpedo), for Only Watch 2011, they are bringing back the Urwerk UR-103 from the dead.  The watch was originally introduced in 2003 and there have been various versions of it produced over the years.  In 2010, the company announced the UR-103 will not be produced anymore.

The watch has been resurrected for the charity event, rising from the ashes like the Phoenix, and is a one-off.  Appropriately, a phoenix has been engraved on the watch case by engraver Jean-Vincent Huguenin, who has worked with various watchmakers in the past.

The engraving gives the UR-103 a new look and it looks pretty good, it should fetch a good price at the 2011 Only Watch event to raise money for DMD.  If you want to own the very last UR-103, head on over to Monaco in September, don’t forget to bring your check book.

The Casio G-Shock line of watches is very popular with outdoor enthusiast and watch collectors; the watches come with lots of useful features and can be put through some tough conditions without skipping a beat.  While they are rugged looking watches, one could always use a little bling and the new Casio G-Shock GA110GB-1A doesn’t disappoint.

Don’t worry, the GA110GB-1A comes with all the bells and whistles one would expect from a G-Shock but it adds a not so subtle gold highlights to set it apart from other G-Shocks.  The watch comes with a high-gloss resign case and band, the “G-Shock” lettering on the case and the inner parts have been finished in a gold color, which looks quite tasteful.

Breitling’s Superocean line of dive watches has been around for quite some time, these dive watches look good and perform well under water.  Now Breitling has introduced a limited edition called the Superocean Chronograph II Red, only 2,000 pieces will be produced.

The Breitling Superocean Chronograph II Red watch features a striking red rubber rotating bezel that makes the watch really stand out and look even sportier.  The same red theme is found on the chronograph sub-dials, the large seconds hand, and around the date window at the 3 o’clock position.

We’ve written quite a few posts on Maximilian Büsser & Friends (MB&F) watches over the last couple of years; I personally really like their eccentric watches and think Max Busser is a really cool guy.  The latest offering from MB&F is the limited edition Horological Machine No. 3 (HM3) Poison Dart Frog watch inspired by the very dangerous yellow-banded poison frog.

The poison dart frogs (scientifically known as Dendrobates leucomelas) are found in the northern parts of Venezuela and in rainforests in the surrounding countries.  The frogs have toxic skin; the poison in the skin is produced by eating various poisonous prey.  These colorful but deadly frogs are quite small, measuring around 4 cm and weighing around 3 grams.

A true work of art is one way to describe the incredibly beautiful and complex Jaquet Droz Bird Repeater watch.  This watch doesn’t come with fancy chronographs or tourbillons; rather it’s made with an emphasis on art.  I was pretty impressed with the Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute watch I wrote about last year but the Bird Repeater blows that watch out of the water.  This watch is now officially my favorite high-end watch, a watch that will only be worn on very special occasions (if I owned one).