It seems like only yesterday that I spoke about the last ultra luxury camouflage timepiece that will never (ever) be worn in a dangerous combat environment by a soldier. Maybe by the high profile guy they are escorting while he is wearing his weekend commando gear. Plus, I totally see an 80's era Arnold brandishing this watch on his sweaty wrist while lighting a cigar on the set of Predator. That would have been sweet.

Hublot's latest Bang is this Commando Bang watch that will come in a brown and green style of camouflage. You could also call those desert or khaki and jungle camo styles. The patterns are the old school style camo and are present on the dials and straps. The cases (probably around 44mm wide) are in some fancy type of wear and fire resistant material that is black. Probably a lot of matte ceramic and fancy metal alloys, also Kevlar (per the standard Big Bang watch case material list). The straps are fiber and something called NOMEX. Even though these are clearly just more derivative Hublot Big Bang watches, they are cool! Very neat to look at, and I think that most guys would have no problems wearing them around. The layered look of the camo on the dials is particularly neat looking.

Inside the watch is likely Hublot's standard adoption of an ETA 2894-2 automatic movement. The Commando Bang line will be a limited edition (not sure of how many pieces or the the price). Cool looking watches yet again from Hublot - that Big Bang style just refuses to age thus far.

Via Watch Happening.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

This is the very first pocket watch from Swiss Angular Momentum, and continues along the trend I have been predicting that pocket watch releases are becoming popular among luxury Swiss watch makers. These releases aren't meant for large volume sales, but there seems to be an "image" rationale for releasing these more traditional style timepieces. As always, Angular Momentum chooses to do this in its own unique manner - so you have a very non traditional pocket watch here.

They call it the Freehand Pocket watch, from their Freehand watch collection. The term refers to the fact that the watch makers chooses how he wants the watch to look as it is being made, as opposed to having undergone lots of pre-design work. You get a really organic feel that appears to stem from the emotions of the designer themselves.

The pocket watch is an evolution on Angular Momentum's newer Tec/500 diver watch. Both share the same style dial and hands, and also have the same wonderful enamel based luminant in two colors that make up the dial. The 46mm wide case features a Staybrite steel case with an intentionally unpolished side. There are sapphire crystals on the front and fear of the watch with a uniquely designed view into the Swiss automatic movement. Also of interest is the fact that Angular Momentum decided to make the crown a separate structure than the ring of the pocket watch - as often times these elements are integrated. This is easily one of the most unique Swiss pocket watches of the year.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

About to be released from all American watch maker RGM (based in Pennsylvania) is this new Reference 400 watch. With a mixture of traditional watch styling and classic muscle car looks, this new chronograph model will also feature an array of dial options. While it is a bit hard to tell in this image, the 42.2mm wide steel case enjoys a combo of brushed and polished surfaces (the bezel is nicely brushed) and displays really classic sport watch lines (just check out those cool retro rectangular pushers!). Looking at the dial I ponder RGM's suggestion that design influences from America's most popular classic muscle cars went into the design. I begin to easily imagine how the dial designs (given all the possible colors options) would fit well into the look and feel that used to accompany the inside and instrument gauge readouts from the greats that owned the 1960s and 70s. There are also hints of classic diving watch in the design.

Lucky for us, RGM places inside of the Reference 400 watch the newer Swiss ETA Valgranges A07.211 automatic mechanical chronograph movements. The seconds dial has been removed for a more traditional bi-compax look on the dial. Color choices for the dials include black, gray, orange, blue, white, and some combos thereof. No word of pricing or specific availability yet, but the Reference 400 watch is coming.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

New watch brand Xetum has just gone live and presents two models to start - the Tyndall and Stinson watch lines. Both timepieces share a 40mm wide steel case with a combination of brushed and polished finishing. Various dial colors are available. The large crown is crafted to resemble the hexagonal logo of the brand (you can see it in green on the dial). Pictured is the Tyndall watch, featuring Xetum's brand of "accessible modern design." The watch features an automatic ETA 2895-2 movement visible through the caseback window. The dial is clean and legible without having the overly sparse look that many minimalist watches have.

Both of the watches also feature a lugless case design. Meaning that the leather strap is fitted directly into the case for a cleaner, more seamless look. The second model is the Xetum Stinson. Both the Stinson and Tyndall watches are named after places in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Xetum is located - though the watches are all Swiss made. The Stinson model is equipped with an ETA 2824-2 automatic movement and has a centrally mounted seconds hand versus a subsidiary seconds dial as seen in the Tyndall model. Prices for the watches range from $995 to $1,395, and are available direct from Xetum's website.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

It has not been an easy holiday season for mega super athlete Tiger Woods. After news got out about his possible extra-marital affairs and the resulting fiasco surrounding it, the squeaky clean celebrity now has a new angle to his personality. Still, I think he handled the media conference aspects of it much better than others have in the past.

Tiger is a very wealthy guy thanks to years of unprecedented sponsorship and endorsement deals. Suddenly advertisements with his iconic image have all but disappeared - especially on television. Sponsors are worried about possible negative associations with the star looming in the public at this time. Of course, none of this is a surprise.

Like most scandals, this will likely more or less blow over in a few weeks or months. Whatever ensues in Tiger's personal life, is his own business. From a sponsorship standpoint, things won't be quite the same, as some of the more conservative advertisers will likely shun Tiger, although he was once the boy-wonder of conservative image athletes.

One of Tiger's most popular sponsors is watch maker Tag Heuer - who has recently announced their dedication to sticking with the man who has likely been good for their business. Tag Heuer, while a Swiss watch maker, is French owned (by LVMH). While they may pause or delay advertisements in the immediate future, expect to see lots more Tag Heuer ads involving Tiger Woods, a baseball cap, a golf club, and a watch in the near future.

Via World Tempus (in French).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

It was Rolex that likely made the "day-date" watch famous. Able to show the day of the week (completely) spelled out in its own window a long with the date. These are the two most important pieces of calendar information that most business people need on an "at a glance" basis. Since then, tons of other watch makers have developed their own day-date models. The most popular mechanical movement to feature these indicator is the Swiss ETA 2836-2. However, most of the time the day of the week is abbreviated into three letters, and is placed right next to the date at the 3 o'clock position on the watch face.

Watch maker Paul Picot decided to get a big creative with the ETA 2836-2 movement. It increased the day of the week disc size to allow for the entire day of the week spelled out on it (here in Italian). Not only that, but Paul Picot has color coded each day by giving it a different color. Hoping that it will make reading the watch easier... as well as making days like Friday more "red." The name of the watch "Arc-en-Ciel" actually means rainbow in French (so why are the days of the week in Italian?) - not sure if an English day version is available.

The Paul Picot Gentleman Arc-en-Ciel watch is available in a white or black colored dial (with matching crocodile strap in brown or black). The steel case is 42mm wide and has a sapphire crystal. The dial design is modern and classic at the same time. On the white dialed version I like the blued steel hour markers. Paul Picot places a curved plated with the "Gentleman" name to help preserve symmetry on the watch. Price for the timepieces will be about $2,450.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Another Antiquorum auction and another world record amount for the sale of a specific Patek Philippe watch. Just recently a Black on black Patek Philippe Ref. 3974 perpetual calendar watch in white gold sold for a whopping $1.2 million dollars. The watch is just 10 years old, and others like it have been auctioned off more than once in the last few years. Meaning that while this is not so rare a Patek Philippe watch that it does not come up for auction often. In recent times the depressed economy has somehow been a boom time for Patek Philippe collectors watches at auction. It seems that in almost every new Antiquorum action where a special Patek Philippe watch available, a new record is met. Pretty much any Patek Philippe watch they offer goes for an amount above $100,000.

In this instance, the Ref. 3974 watch is of the most desirable modern Patek Philippe watches and was last made in 1999. The watch features an automatic Patek Philippe movement with the time, perpetual calendar, moon phase indicator, and a minute repeater complication. All that and the watch is small at just 36mm wide. The over one millions dollar amount is truly stunning and reflect the tenacity of the market as well as the collectible nature of the Patek Philippe brand.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Omega is borrowing from themselves in the design of the new De Ville Co-Axial Chronograph watch. The horizontally arranged overlapping subdials were first introduced to me in their Speedmaster 2008 Summer Olympics limited edition watch. Looks like both watches have the exact same movement, but it has been displayed differently here. For example the centrally located day of the week indicator is now a disc viewable through a window, versus a small dial. Omega has also adopted the style to fit in to the "De Ville theme" rather than the Speedmaster look. Movement is of course an Omega Co-Axial automatic that has been COSC Chronometer certified.

Pictured watch is in steel, there may also be a gold model in the works. The style is conservative and attractive. While it may fall short of "modern classic" it is an approachable and visually interesting men's watch. The best part of course is the functionality and arrangement of the subdials. Functions include the time, chronograph, day, and date. There is an unusual window for "recorded days." I am not sure exactly what this is, but it looks like Omega upped the chronograph from measuring up to 12 hours, to measuring up to 7 days. For keeping tract of really long times! "Better check back on this Turkey next week."According to Omega this new De Ville Co-Axial Chronograph watch should be due by Valentine's Day. So I guess they expect mostly women to buy it for men, and not men to buy it for themselves.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

For once, a concept watch that is actually a concept. In the auto world we know that "concept" means "not for production." In the watch world, "concept" is often just a name stuck on a model to make it sound more exotic. Here "concept" actually means just that. So why all the to-do over this concept watch? Well because it is further proof that Cartier is serious about making not only nice looking watches, but mechanically sophisticated ones as well.

The ID One Concept watch takes a Ballon Bleu shaped case, makes it 46mm wide and constructs it out of a spacey sounding material called Niobium Titanium. It is apparently a special titanium alloy (which is itself an alloy) that is even harder and more wear resistant that titanium. It also apparently has other special (magical) properties. The whole point of the in-house made automatic tourbillon movement was to require as little service and regulation as possible. Regulation refers to what a movement initially goes through to ensure that it functions properly and accurately. Service is continual servicing that is needed in mechanical watches over the years. This can be as simple and lubricating and cleaning part of the watch. The whole point of the Cartier ID One Concept watch is to reduce or eliminate the need for these delicate and time consuming needs. They are also quite expensive (but that makes the watch makers happy as servicing watches is an income source).

Still, there is a shortage of qualified watch makers out there, so Cartier is correct in forging into this needed area of innovation. For others, the "build once and never service again" watch is a holy grail of horological pursuits. Parts of the new Cartier concept watch are made in a material called carbon crystal. This crystal is very shock resistant and does not requite lubrication - adding to a significant decrease in the need to maintain these watches. There are other innovations as well, but I will wait until I meet with Cartier to learn about more of them. The hope for collectors is that such innovations will find their way into production watches in the future.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

My colleague Deirdre Woollard has been entertainingly chronicling former baseball star Lenny Dykstra's travails in bankruptcy court. Now it seems the hard-charging athlete-turned-entrepreneur is trying to raise a little ready money by selling off some of his prized possessions. Among the lots at Patrizzi & Co.'s Dec. 14th Exceptional Watchmaking Masterpieces auction in NYC is Dykstra's 18K white gold Patek Philippe (above) made in 2004. The fine and rare annual calendar timepiece shows the phases of the moon and has a power reserve indication. Estimated at $28,000 - $ 35,000, it comes accompanied by a photograph of Dykstra playing with the New York Mets. Also included in the sale are two major pieces of Dykstra sporting memorabilia: a 1986 New York Mets World Series trophy and plaque, estimated at $18,000 - $25,000; and a Silver Slugger Award from 1993 with a Louisville Slugger bat and National League Player of the Week 1990 plaque, estimated at $12,000 - $16,000.

I feel like this is watch industry musical chairs. First Yvan Arpa gets ousted by Romain Jerome as their CEO. He then sues them for wrongful termination and wins. In another room, Manuel Emch spends several years putting his heart and soul into building up and refining Swatch Group owned Jaquet Droz, only to later leave. Now Yvan Arapa is busy fighting in karate and not watch makers, and Romain Jerome appoints Manuel Emch as their new CEO. Is history doomed to repeat itself? Will the wild Mr. Arpa be the next unlikely CEO of an ultra conservative Swatch Group brand? Who knows.

Yvan Arpa made Romain Jerome what it is today - hands down. After unwisely letting him go, avant garde watch maker Romain Jerome was without good talent. They perhaps wisely attracted the younger and energetic Manuel Emch to their ranks who has just been announced to lead the company in hopefully more or less the same direction as Yvan Arpa was taking them (which is more or less good a thing). Emch will take his seat at the helm of the unique watch maker on January 1, 2010. It will be a good holiday season for him now that he is no long unemployed. I am curious to see what changes and new products he will bring.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Between Panerai and Ferrari, Breitling and Bentley and the countless other watchmaker-automaker collaborations, few are as convincing as Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin. The former's timepieces are every bit as alluring and finely-crafted as the latter's sportscars, but this has to be the finest yet.

The second of two special edition racing chronographs, the Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX2 Chronograph Racing Paris honors Aston's considerable Le Mans racing prowess. It features JLC's own 751E movement, just five and a half millimeters thick and an innovative system that allows the wearer to lock and unlock the doors of an Aston sportscar right from the watch itself. Pretty trick, and while there are many editions of the AMVOX2 available, only 24 examples of this particular one will be produced, available exclusively from the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique on Place Vendome in Paris.

This was certainly a sticky situation for Tag Heuer, the details are a bit murky, but the situation is clear. Tag Heuer recently announced their "new, in-house made and designed" Caliber 1887 automatic chronograph movement. All seems well with the movement itself, but the problem is that Tag Heuer didn't design it. Nope, they sort of cosmetically altered an over 10 year old Japanese Seiko movement design (Seiko 6S37). So after 150 years, Tag Heuer's anniversary surprise was on loan from Japan. I do understand that this was arranged with Seiko, and that Tag Heuer will actually be building the movements in limited quantities themselves. At least Seiko isn't doing everything.

Tag Heuer got caught red handed by the watch lover community who noticed the similarities between the two movements. This qualifies us as true nerds, seeing details such as this. Tag Heuer would have gotten away with it to, if it wasn't for us meddling bloggers! That's right, thank the internet watch lover community, who is responsible for this situation being discovered. A powerful indication to the watch industry of what the internet can do for them, or against them. In good taste, as a response to the situation, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin himself went online to respond to the "accusations." He honorably admitted a "mistake" by Tag Heuer and that the movement was in fact "adopted" from Seiko.

The clear winner in this whole situation is first and foremost the power of the Internet watch lover community, second Seiko, and third Tag Heuer for responding to a sticky situation quickly and admirably. Seiko movements are pretty outstanding, and it is funny that here even the Europeans are rather tacitly suggesting that. Plus, Tag Heuer is a rather mainstream watch brand. Meaning that most people who buy their watches will never even know about this situation. Tag Heuer admitted wrong doing, hopefully a few heads will be caved in there in the marketing department, and they will go on their lives being good watch designers, not movement designers. Lastly, there are several watch forums and blogs that knew about this situation but refused to mention it even though they discussed the new Tag Heuer Caliber 1887movement. They lose the most in this situation for the destruction of valuable street cred among Internet watch lovers who simply expect more.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Another classic reborn - Jaeger-LeCoultre is due to release a brand new retro styled version of its famed Memovox alarm watch. In the 1950s the original Memovox was popular for being and alarm watch with an automatic mechanical movement. The new Master Memovox will also have an automatic movement - the newer Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 956. It has a power reserve of 45 hours, ceramic ball bearings for the automatic rotor that needs no lubrication, and the time, date, and alarm of course.

The watch itself will come in 18k rose gold or steel in a 40mm wide case. Styling is classic of course - maybe too much so. It doesn't feel "different" enough in the current lineup in my opinion. The alarm function is easy to operate using the a separate crown that rotates an inner ring. The alarm most likely needs to be pulled out for the alarm function to be turned on. I would feel very excited about the watch is the geniuses at Jaeger-LeCoultre were able to give the alarm a snooze function. Until then, you'll have to keep a butler around for that need. "Just five more minutes Alfred!" The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Memovox watch will be officially announced in 2010 at SIHH.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Wow, has it already been five years of deprivation from this awesome watch? Only in Japan can you (officially) get one of these very cool timepieces. This is the Galante Spring Drive watch. Galante is a Seiko sub brand, and has been spicing things up for Seiko in Japan for the "youthfully stylish - but wealthy" demographic. I understand that they are growing in popularity there.

The Galante watches are far from just image. These are extremely well constructed and designed, hand assembled watches that include the very impressive (and accurate) Seiko Spring Drive mechanical hybrid movements. They are the best of what Seiko offers and are considered by many to be a modern pinnacle of mechanical watch making.

I haven't handled this specific 5th Anniversary Special Edition model, but have handled very similar Galante watches on the metal bracelet. I was quite wowed by them, especially given the jewelry-like quality and feel of the steel bracelet. The design as I said is youthful and inspired, with unique decoration. As you can see, the rotating bezel is engraved with a form of floral decoration, and if you look closely on the dial, you can make out the forms for roses (as see from the side) that are part of the dial design.

The watch is nicely sized at 44.5mm wide, and houses the Seiko 5R66 Spring Drive movement that includes the time, power reserve indicator, date, and GMT hand. Seiko makes sure that each of its luxury watches are a complete timepiece package. Meaning they are well made, function well, and look good. Price is gonna be over $5,000 (not sure of exact amount) and as far as I know you'll have to contact a Japanese Seiko dealer if you want one.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.