New IWC Big Ingenieur - Functionality Expressed through Generous Size

It is appreciated as one of the most impressive drive mechanisms found in a wristwatch.The new Ingenieur developed in 2007 is presented in a stainless steel case. The watch's case is provided with a soft iron cage that offers protection against the magnetic fields that badly effect the timepiece's accuracy. The IWC watch is secured to the wrist with an integrated stainless steel bracelet, with an amazingly low weight of under 210 g. For those customers, who are not afraid of magnetic effects, the IWC developed one more version of the Big Ingenieur also crafted in stainless steel but without the soft iron inner case.In 2007 IWC introduced new models of its famous Ingenieur family. The newly developed timepieces have been provided with technically advanced in-house calibers. The revised Ingenieur watch powered by the 80110 calibre manufactory-produced movement initially appeared in 2005. It served as the engineering platform for a really robust generation of movements. Its remarkable characteristics won the iconic status for the new IWC watch.The new IWC Big Ingenieur watch is worth special attention due its improved functionality and signature design. The timepiece is housed in a 45.5 mm case. It incorporated large 51112 calibre movement providing a seven-day power reserve.

Seiko Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie

The Seiko watch-makers provided the movement with a 'fail-safe' mechanism to prevent the chiming in case of some mistake caused by inappropriate actions.The Seiko Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie displays the strike hammer seen through the dual su***ce curved sapphire crystal. The case of the Seiko watch is produced from 18-K pink gold, just the right material to reflect the movement's value and improve the chiming sound purity. Real aesthetic lovers will appreciate a Japanese bellflower cutout on the mainspring barrel of the bell mechanism. The flower is drifting down on a river, as a symbol of the continuously flowing time. It is possible to set the hour-striking function to three modes that are selected by changing the mode indicator: 'Sonnerie' mode (the number of hours is counted automatically by chiming every hour) 'Original' mode (a three-strike chime announces the time as every three hours pass) Silent mode (the chiming is switched off).As for the hour-repeating function, the Seiko watch's owner has to press the button positioned at 8 o'clock, and the watch will chime every hour, thus keeping its owner aware of the current time. It is possible to mute the chiming by activating a silent function - it is necessary to press the button at 8 o'clock halfway down.

Seiko Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie

The ideal bell sound was based upon the combination of a bell system that comprised a newly developed governor and the exclusive sound escape system required to let the chime sound pass through the watch case.The governor mechanism uses the air viscosity to make the chime sound at exact intervals with not a single sound interfering with the pure bell striking. The entirely silent Tri-synchro regulator guarantees the complete silence of the whole movement and the purity of the chining sound. The mechanism applies a special spring with the watch mechanism's barrel to power the hour-striking function.It is easy to operate the movement with the crown found at 3 o'clock and a mode indicator featured at 6 o'clock. The movement of the Seiko watch consists of over 600 individual parts that were meticulously hand-assembled and finished.The exclusive 'sonnerie' mechanism of the Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie has an hour-striking function. It resembles Japanese hanging bell sound opted for due to its matchless lingering sound symbolizing the natural flow of time. The greatest challenge for the creators of the Seiko watch was to reach the purity of sound.

Seiko Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie

The sound of the bell resonates with the Japanese cultural heritage and well-maintained traditions.The Seiko watch is based upon the revolutionary Spring Drive movement 7R series that offered glide-motion hands and power reserve of 48 hours. The Seiko watch-makers incorporated the 'sonnerie' mechanism into the Spring Drive movement. The 'sonnerie' mechanism itself is provided with over 40 hours of power reserve due to its own separate barrel. The power reserve is displayed with help of a second indicator positioned at 2 o'clock.The Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie, the iconic Seiko watch, was presented to the horology world at Baselworld exhibition in 2006. The new model became the successful successor of the Seiko Spring Drive, a timepiece created to offer the pure and natural motion of time.With the Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie, the Seiko watch-makers wanted to express the time passage not only by the smooth movement of the hands across the watch's dial but also through the purest sound ever produced by a timepiece.The Seiko Epson elite team of watchmakers created a unique watch provided with innovative features. The Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie marks the time by chiming a softly tinkling 'hanging' bell.

The Citizen Attesa GMT (ATD53

I like the clean and readable face since I find that jet lag reduces my comprehension, and I get very grumpy about unreadable watches online while traveling internationally. This Attesa has the sort of clutter-free face and clean, distinct hands (plus nice little touches like anti-glare sapphire crystal) that make for a great travel companion.There aren't a lot of affordable (i.e. quartz) GMT watches out there, so I'm pleased so see such an attractive new entry from Citizen. If only if were 5-band atomic like the new Oceanus 5 Motors, I think Citizen would have one of the best looking affordable travel watches out there.One of my favorite watch complications is the GMT hand: a separate (typically fourth) independently settable hand marking 24-hour time. It's extremely useful for people like pilots, travelers, and businesspeople who not only need to be able to switch between different time zones easily, but who also need to be able to keep track of two time zones simultaneously.The addition of the GMT hand came in the mid-1950s when Pan Am worked with Rolex to create a my gifts jewelry for pilots flying transatlantic flights. You can read more about the history of GMT watches in Christian's review of the Rolex GMT Master II. But for now, back to Citizen.I recently learned that Citizen has added several new GMT models to their Attesa line of high-end quartz watches. I was particularly struck by the unique, stark, and tough look of the Attesa ATD53-2903. Of course, as is typical of most of the coolest Japanese watches, it's only available in Asia, but since shoes online know no borders, I was still able to find plenty of information:List price is ¥68,250 (about $600 USD as of 12/21/07).39mm in diameter, 10.9mm thick, and 47g heavy.24-hour indices on the chapter ring.DLC coated titanium case (read more about Diamond Like Carbon).Eco-drive (solar-powered quartz).100m water resistant (about 330 feet).Atomic Radio-set (but only receives the Japanese time signal — bummer).±15 seconds per month (with no radio reception).Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating.Calf skin band (would really love to see a matching DLC titanium bracelet option).I really like the look of the Citizen Attesa ATD53-2903.

The New Seiko Mechanical Line (SARB027, SARB029, SARB030)

They are based on the new 23-jewel 6R15B movement with both hand-winding and hacking, and are known as the Seiko Mechanical line.Features of the new Seiko Mechanical line include:6R15 23J Automatic movement with hand winding and hack function.Accuracy of +25/-15 seconds per day.50 hour power reserve.19mm drilled lugs.Sunburst dial finish.Water resistant to 100m (330 ft) with a non-screwdown crown.Mineral glass crystal and display caseback.125g on the bracelet, 65g on the leather strap.12.5mm thick, and 36mm wide.Pricing between ¥50,400 and ¥52,500 (about $465 - $485 USD). The Seiko Mechanical line is an interesting collection of web gift. Their extreme understatement, 1950s classic styling, and Seiko brand mean that no one will look at them twice on the wrist, which is exactly what some men want.The past few years have seen steady growth in the diameter of men's watches. In the 1950s, a dress watch was expected to be slim and small, the normal size being somewhere between 32 and 35mm wide. These days, anything less than 38mm is considered dainty, and even 50mm and beyond isn't unheard of.However, not everyone wants such a large watch, or for that matter, the bold styling that often accompanies it. These more traditional men seem to be the target market for Seiko's recently introduced line of four mechanical dress gift for man, all with classic styling and very conservative 36mm cases.

Review of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1300

There are things I like about the PAW1200 over the 1300, and if I had enough real estate on my wrist to accommodate it, I'd probably go with the PAW1200. Being that I am a buy ugg lover cursed with relatively narrow wrists, however, I find the PAW1300 to be a much better fit without any compromise in functionality.The PAW1300 series is available in black (PAW1300-1V), green (PAW1300-3V), and with a titanium bracelet (PAW1300T-7V). Retail for the plastic versions is $300, and $350 for the titanium version, however as Sam points out, they are almost always discounted.Additional Resources: The Casio Pathfinder PAW1300-3V picture gallery. But I quickly got used to thissmall limitation.The small ring is also used by thebarometer to indicate falling or rising pressure.One other small difference is that the stopwatchand the countdown timer mode now have the hourcounter in the top window (which is not such abig change if you remember which mode you're in(you lose the mode indicators "STW" and "TMR"after about a second and they are replaced by a"0H" which if fine unless you confuse it with"OH!"). The stopwatch mode also moved theone hundredths counter to the top window aswell. This is small and a bit harder to see, but it'sa sacrifice I gladly made to have a smaller luxury gift.I live in RTP, NC andthe radio receiver seems to pick up the ColoradoSprings atomic clock without any trouble about90% of the time (usually on first try at 12:05am). In thepast couple of weeks, it has missed syncing onlytwice and that is most likely due to my placing itnear some electronic equipment overnight.I found it very difficult to sync the watch duringthe daytime and if you ever listen to shortwaveradio you will understand the reasons for this:it's almost always easier to pick up a weak shortwavesignal at night. Casio probably knows this and thisis why the watch is programmed to attempt syncingat 12:00am and for the next 4 hours on the hour.All in all, it's a great watch. I got the titanium ub gift band since I tend to wear out leather andrubber watchbands fairly quickly. It's a bit moreexpensive then the other bands (I paid $239) but I think it will be worth it.Thanks, Sam. I couldn't have said it better myself. All I have to add is: The PAW1300 has additional markers outside the outer LCD ring which are used with both the compass and the barometer. They are highly reflective and almost sparkle when the light hits them right. The buttons on the PAW1300 are squared off as opposed to the rounded buttons of the PAW1200. The flat su***ce allows the labels (mode, comp, baro, and alti) to be printed directly on the buttons rather than on the case, which, in turn, allows for a smaller case. The PAW1300 has a smaller resin band than its predecessor, and has a single pin buckle rather than a double pin.

Review of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1300

The 1300 nowhas a small ring just inside the solar collectorring which functions as a second-hand sweep(a small rectangle at the edge moves around the dialto indicate seconds). The compass also uses thisring and indicates north with three small rectangles(as well as one rectangle for the other directions).I think the ugg overlay would have been easierto see, and also would have had a more intuitive"compass" feel.View the Casio Pathfinder PAW1300-3V picture gallery.When I reviewed the Casio Pathfinder PAW1200 about a year ago, I referred to it as "one of the most advanced digital timepieces in the world" Of course, it is also one of the biggest. The new PAW1300 takes all the same features and technology of the PAW1200, and fits it into a significantly slimmer package.How much smaller is the PAW1300 compared to the PAW1200? The PAW1200, weighing in at 83 grams, is 64mm long, 48.9mm wide, and 14.4mm thick. The PAW1300 is a comparatively diminutive 60 grams, and 56.9mm long, 47.4mm wide, and only 11.5mm thick. Yes, we're only talking millimeters here, but with respect to something as small as a sale uggs, every millimeter counts. To have taken almost a full 3mm off the thickness is really very significant.I don't want to spend a lot of time going over the features of the Pathfinder PAW1300 since I've gone over them in detail in the review of the PAW1200. Rather, I'd like to defer to Watch Report reader Sam Tannous who related his experiences with the new PAW1300 in this email: About the PAW1300: I've been wearing it forabout a week now and I really like it.From what I can tell (after re-watches onlineing your video andre-reading your review of the 1200), it seemsto be just a smaller version of the 1200. The fewdifferences that are easy to spot are the lack ofthe LCD overlay for the compass.

The Ultimate Casio Pathfinder: the PAW1200T

Barometer. Barometric altimeter. World time with support for at least 30 cities pre-programmed. Stopwatch. Countdown timer. 5 daily alarms. I have all of these features already, but unfortunately, they're spread across multiple buy Ulysse Nardin. I've been waiting for Casio to squeeze them all into a single timepiece for a very long time.It looks like there will be three variations available: the PAW1200T-7V with a titanium bracelet for $380, the PAW1200-1V with a black resin strap for $300, and the PAW1200-3V in green resin, also for $300. These prices are MSRP, so expect to pay a little less after discounts. I expect them to be in stores and online in March, but I don't know for sure. I will post here as soon as I have confirmation that they're available. Additional Resources:Review of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1200Review of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1300-3V. I was going to wait and write about the new Casio Pathfinder PAW1200T-7V once it was actually available, but I've been getting so much email about this Ulysse Nardin replica watches that I figured I'd better go ahead and break radio silence. Last summer, I made a post entitled The Ultimate Casio Pro Trek (Almost) which described a watch I've been waiting for for a very long time: a solar atomic Casio Pro Trek (called Pathfinder here in the US). The "Almost" portion of the title referred to the unfortunate fact that it was only compatible with Japanese atomic clocks. Casio has finally come through for us Yanks, however, and according to this press release, the PAW1200 series will not only work with the US atomic time signal, but it will actually be sold here in the US, as well. Good for me, bad for my Japanese connection who won't make any money off me this time. I haven't seen the final specifications on these Ulysse Nardin gift yet, but I would expect the following features: Atomic timekeeping (obviously). Solar powered with at least a 20-month power reserve, maybe better. Thermometer which will actually convert the temperature into fahrenheit. Compass.