2013 - The Year in Review

The year of 2013 is almost coming to an, and with 2014 dawning upon us in a matter of days from now, I think that a look at what happened in 2013 would make for a nice post.

What a year it has been; we've been through the inception of the The Watch Post, its near closure during the August period, and of course, a whole lot of watch-related content such as arrivals, departures and reviews.

This year, The Watch Post has seen the arrival of the Steinhart Ocean Two, the Kemmner Turtle, the Getat Luminor homage, a submariner homage, as well as a Seiko SNDC87P2. A few of these arrivals have for better or worse, departed the stable, and they are the Seiko SKX009, the Steinhart Ocean Two and the submariner homage, which I just sold off last week. It was quite nice, but sadly it never saw much wrist time and therefore I've let it go.

I want to give a big thank you to all readers of The Watch Post, for all the support you have shown, be it in the form of an email, a comment or simply just having passed by and deciding to read a post or two, thank you so much for passing by.

So what lies ahead in 2014? I did mention in a previous post that my love for watches is not quite what it once was, and that I would be bringing more non-watch related content into this blog. That still remains true, but at the same time I promise that there will still be quite a lot about watches as my interest has seen a small rekindling in the months of November and December.

I've managed to successfully go through the ordeal of ordering a watch from Getat in 2013, and managed to receive it in good order. Today it remains as one of my favourite watches. I think I may just order another another one from him as I think they are worth the trouble, in spite of the growing consensus on various fora that Getat is becoming increasingly unreliable. That's one thing you might want to look forward to in terms of updates next year!

As this post comes to a close, I'd like to thank you all readers again. Wishing everyone happy holidays and a happy New Year!

Catching Up - Covering Releases in my Absence

Welcome to another update on The Watch Post and today we shall be catching up on some rather exciting releases in the watch community in my months absent. I've been rather inactive since August and in the short few months that I've laid low, some rather brilliant watches have finally come to fruition. Today, we shall be looking exactly what we have been missing out in the last few months.

Let's start off with the offerings that Timefactors have put forth this year. It's been a very exciting year from Timefactors indeed, with the release of some five different models of watches alone this year. Eddie Platts of Timefactors is well known for deliberating a rather long time before each release, therefore the fact that we have seen five releases from him this year is a very rare occurrence indeed.

We shall start off with the Precista PRS-82. If you may recall, I did cover this watch before in one of my previous posts which can be found here.

(Pictures credit of various members from TZ-UK)

Inspired by military issue British dive watches of the 80's, the Precista PRS-82 features new old stock ETA 2781 movements, the PRS-82 exudes a vintage charm which is further accentuated by the use of vintage colored lume. Eddie usually interprets his homage watches with a twist of modern; a domed sapphire crystal in this instance. It measures in at 40mm in diameter and 47mm lug to lug, a nice size that stays faithful to its roots. I think Eddie hit the ball out the park here, this watch looks very retro which makes it quite a unique piece, excellent release overall. The PRS-82 goes for GBP 380 and can be found here. We move on to their next release, the PRS-21 Dreadnought Voyager GMT.

(Pictures credit of various members from TZ-UK)

I wrote about the upcoming release of the PRS-21 Dreadnought Voyager GMT here some months ago and yes, the GMT iteration of the Dreadnought was finally released in November! Of course, it's too late to get a brand new one from the Timefactors website itself now, it sold out within minutes of release for both the first and second batch. If you wish to pick one up you would have to scour watch forums for one now, just like you would the PRS-2 Dreadnought.

This is the watch everyone has been waiting for, having been in the making almost since the original was released. Featuring an ETA 2893 of Elaboré grade, anti-magnetic protection, and weighing in at over 250 grams, this watch is a complete beast, be it in terms of specs or in weight. I don't quite agree with the bright orange color of the hand outlines as it doesn't look quite as nice as the yellow of the original Dreadnought but well, that's how it was decided upon. Unfortunately, there is no longer any of it in stock but just for the record it can be found here, retailing for GBP 875, a marked increase in price over the original (GBP 475).

Precista did come up with the PRS-68 Smiths diver, the PRS-30 and the PRS-20C as well this year but the two I covered above were what I thought to be the highlights of Precista this year.

Moving on, we shall cover two releases from Dagaz; the Thunderbolt and the Aurora.

(Pictures credit of various members from WUS)

Let's start with the Dagaz Thunderbolt, which can be bought here. It goes for USD 375, which is tremendous value, considering the specs of the watch (Miyota 9015, double-dome sapphire, solid end links), plus the fact that it's on a bracelet! This is really a massive effort on Jake B's part on how he manages to balance quality and price. You will struggle to find any watch with similar specs going around this price range.

Of course, a watch is more than just its specs. Being impressively specced may not guarantee a watch looks nice. Fortunately, the Dagaz Thunderbolt does look as good aesthetically as its specs look on paper! Taking with it some Sinn-ish vibes, such as the H-link bracelet and visual cues from military field watches, the Dagaz Thunderbolt looks good indeed. I think the dial might have been better off without the tinge of red in the form of the logo and text but that's just me.

We arrive at the final watch in focus today, the Dagaz Aurora.

(Pictures credit of various members from WUS)

The Dagaz Aurora can be found here retailing for USD 495. This puts it quite a bit behind the Thunderbolt in terms of value for money but it's still a competitive price compared to other microbrand offerings. Like the Thunderbolt, the Miyota 9015 can be found ticking inside this watch. The Aurora is similarly impressive in terms of specs, double-dome sapphire crystal, solid end link bracelet with H-links.

While the Thunderbolt draws parallels with Sinn and military field watches, the Aurora does so with Doxa. The case shape does take inspiration from Doxa dive watches. Meanwhile, Jake B has added his own splash of color to the Aurora in the form of a colored ring consisting of red and white, reminiscent of roulette wheels. The Dagaz logo is not working for me as it a little small, leaving large empty spaces like as though something is lacking in the top area of the dial. Other than that qualm of mine, I do think that the Dagaz Aurora is a fine watch indeed.

So that wraps up today's update, thank you for reading as always, I hope you've enjoyed this post and be sure to come back to The Watch Post soon for more!

OMEGA Seamaster Bullhead - Love at First Sight

I've never traditionally embedded videos of watch presentations in this blog, but we shall have to do away with tradition today. I've seen a good number of presentation videos before, showcasing fancy contraptions such as tourbillons and minute repeaters but I never really felt compelled to post them here, impressive as they were. Today instead I choose to present a video of the OMEGA Seamaster Bullhead. Granted, it's not anything fancy at all if you were to compare it to something from HYT or MB&F, but still it remains as one of the slickest watch presentation videos I've seen; slick enough to deserve a place on The Watch Post. Enjoy the video and stay tuned for more updates, and as always thank you for reading!