Watches

Just in time for the 4^th of July, Casio has introduced the Red, White, and Blue pack of G-Shock watches.  The pack consists of three single color watches: red, white, and blue, and two with all three colors.

The first one, the first image below, is the G-Shock GA110AC-7A, is the most striking although, it’s not true “red white blue” because of the baby-blue color but it looks cool.  The watch features an ana-digi display and can be ordered from amazon (Japan import) for $350.  The second watch is the DW6900AC-2, which looks closest to true American flag colors; it comes with a rather simple dial with a digital display, available at amazon for $185.

Maximilian Büsser & Friends (MB&F) make some of the most unusual/interesting luxury watches in the industry, we’ve written about their HM3 Frog and HM4 Thunderbolt previously.  Now they’ve released the final iteration of the HM2 watch line, which started life in 2008, called MB&F Horological Machine No. 2 SV Final Edition watches.  Unlike their other watches in the HM line, the HM No 2 SV’s emphasis is on showcasing the inner workings of the watch.  The “SV” stands for Sapphire Vision, the entire face of the watch is covered with Sapphire and we get a good view (vision) of the watch movement.

Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute is the third watch out of the forty watches that will be auctioned off at the “2011 Only Watch” charity event for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) research.  The event will be held in Monaco in September 2011.

Although the watch boasts a very long and complicated name, the design is very minimalist with the most important features one needs on a watch; the hour and minute hands.  The dial is made out of ivory Grand Feu enamel and is adorned with a beautiful hand painted scene from Monaco’s hills overlooking the buildings on the beach.  It took a master artisan an entire week to complete the painting with one eye on the microscope to give him a better view of his intricate painting.

A couple of years ago, I went through a temporary phase of collecting Orient watches out of Japan. After five watches or so, I had to stop because the hobby can get quite expensive. I still appreciate a well designed watch but now I just look at them and nothing else. But that’s about to change ever since I stumbled upon Autodromo.

Although the Autodromo is not as elegant or expensive as some of my Orient watches, it is just as eye catching in its own way. What I like about the Autodromo watches is that the time pieces are inspired by instrument panel gauges of cars. If you are a car guy and have an appreciation for watches then this is one of those toys that you should own. Forget that crap about “wants versus needs”.

TAG Heuer has teamed up with Oracle Team USA for the 34^th America’s Cup boat race and is introducing two limited edition watches.  The watches are the TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500M Caliber 16 Chronograph 44 and the Aquaracer 500M Caliber 5 43.  The watches come with a hint of red, black, and white on the hands, pushers, and watch face – these three colors are the official colors of Oracle Team USA.