Watch Rave: Zenith El Primero Rattrapante

Last Thursday my wife and I went to Shangri-La to attend my sister-in-law's 30th birthday dinner. We arrived about half an hour early and as any watch idiot would do, I quickly excused myself and headed off to Lucerne.

Lucerne is probably the single biggest carrier of luxury watch brands in the Philippines. Patek Philippe, A. Lange & Söhne, AP, Panerai, Rolex, IWC, JLC, Zenith, Omega and many others are carried by Lucerne. It's the closest thing to horological heaven here in the Philippines.

I was only able to browse the Zenith and JLC cases and I have to say that for that night, my personal eye candy was the Zenith El Primero Rattrapante. Unfortunately I was not able to take a wrist shot but boy was that piece a real piece of work. Pictures over the net tend to give it a much sportier look, but in person in exudes elegance and sophistication.


I promise to take a wristshot next time. Even better check it out for yourself at Lucerne, Shangri-La. List price is PhP670k.

Ennebi Fondale Vintage Base and Cali Watches

Ennebi is another independent watch brand that traces its heritage to the Italian Navy much like Panerai. The company's history can be traced back to the 1980s when in 1985, Alessandro Bettarini created prototype professional diver's watches and presented it to the attack divers of the Italian navy for evaluation. One of the prototypes presented, the Fondale was never produced because of insufficient orders even as it passed every requirement of the Italian Navy.

A quarter of a century later, the man from the original team of Pre-Vendome engineers who engineered the prototypes, Alessandro Bettarini, set up Ennebi and brought the Fondale back to life.

2011 Tag Heuer Link Collection

Except for the Monaco line and some vintage pieces (when it was just Heuer), I haven't really looked at Tag Heuer that much. In fact I don't own one. Nonetheless, the news is that the 2011 Tag Heuer Link collection is out and would soon be hitting the market.



Picture from

http://www.ablogtoread.com/

I havent seen an actual piece, but the pictures scattered around the net shows that the Link retains its understated design, targeted towards those seeking a simpler more formal sports watch. Of course the most distinctive feature is still the link bracelet. It wouldn't be called Link for nothing. Gone are the curves that have previosuly dominated the Link  and I think this is an improvment of the design. The bracelet looks to be edgier, more sporty but still understated. From what I see from pictures, all the models seem to be sporting brushed link bracelets.

I won't be going into further details because I don't really know much about this line and this release isn't really something that makes my horological heart beat faster. Somehow I've managed to associate Tag Heuer Link watches to corporate loyalty/milestone awards in the Philippines. So maybe when I celebrate my 15th year as an employee with <employer>, I'll be a proud owner of this watch.

Mr. Ariel Adams of aBlogtoRead.com has some of the pictures available in his website and has a better more detailed write up about the latest line. Chek it out here.

Congratulations to the would be owners!

My Grail Watch #7: Doxa Sub 750T GMT Sharkhunter

Back in 2008, one of my friends Gary showed me an IWC Portuguese Chronograph and I was in awe of the it's aesthetics and being a mechanical engineer, was more in awe of the makings and windings of the watch. This started in me a passion  for looking and reading, not necessarily owning, watches, and the rest as they say is history.

10 watches into this hobby, all of which I really love, I still have in my head a list of what I believe would make my own perfect collection.  Read complete list of my favorite watches here. As my taste evolves, and as I spend more time (and limited resources) into this hobby, it is noticeable that a few watches from my list have come and gone but there are still a handful which I consider to be my favorite watches.

In this series I try to share what makes the following watches so desireable (according to me and only me)

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Doxa Sub 750T GMT Sharkhunter

picture from rlewisk of http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/sold**
-doxa-sub-750t-gmt-sharkhunter**sold-487684.html

Doxa was probably one of the first smaller watch brand that I knew about. The brand's cult like following and its image as the originator of orange watches (whether this is true or not) makes it impossible not to know the brand among watch enthusiasts.

Goodbye Patek Philippe 5980R Nautilus

This watch looks amazing! But the price is also amazing. Amazingly expensive at approximately USD50k.

Thus I decided to take it off my bucketlist because I think that no matter how much I earn in the future, I cannot justify to myself the amount of money required to buy this watch. It's like wearing a small condo unit on my wrist. LOL.

After feeling this pang of guilt, I decided to revisit my bucket list and made the decision  to put only watches that my conscience could afford to buy, even if my wallet would still have the first say of course.

Thus I have to say goodbye to you 5980R. Maybe if I become the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi or something similar, then I might revisit this decision again.

But having removed the PP from the list, I managed to sneak in a couple of watches in

• JLC Reverso Grande GMT
• Glashutte Senator Navigator Automatic
• Credor Spring Drive Moonphase GCLL997
• Seiko SBDX011

4 for 1 trade looks good, especially when the cost for four the watches in total is only about 60% of the price of the PP.

Thank goodness for the ability to day dream.

Sly, Arnie and a Filipino!

What does Sylvester Stallone, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one Filipino watch collector have in common? No, it's not that all three have herculean physique, but that may be true as well as I haven't really seen the Filipino in person. But the watch-aholic answer is that all three are proud owners of PAM 341 more famously known as the Egiziano.

Sly with his PAM 341

from http://flickr.com/photos/joelbetancourt/3914430650

Governator with his PAM 341 

from http://www.network54.com/

Wrist shot of fellow Filipino with his 341

from http://www.philippinewatchclub.org/

From the photo that I found at PWC, it is quite obvious that this beautiful limited (to 500pcs) watch is HUGE. It's got a 60mm brushed titanium case and it's powered by an in-house made Panerai P.2002/7 calibre. Just look at the size of that watch relative to the wrist! It even looks big on Sly's wrist. And we're talking about Rambo/Rocky here. Good thing it's titanium, which is lighter than steel.

But even if it might seem to require the strength of Rocky and the Terminator just to strap it up, who says you have to be Rambo or Conan the Barbarian to own an Egiziano? Though I won't ever own a watch like the Egiziano (can't afford it and wrist can't handle it as well), I'm gald that there is at least one Juan Dela Cruz that owns this LE PAM.

Go kabayan!

Ceramet from AP

I just read from a link in PWC about AP's new material called ceramet. It's a composite made up of ceramic and metal and based on the article looks like cross between titanium and tantalum.

I particularly like the story where the AP CEO Philippe Merk hacked away at his prototype ceramet watch with a butter knife to show its scratch resistant properties. I can totally imagine Steve Jobs doing something like that during one of his product launchings.

Here's a picture I lifted from Paul Boutros of Timezone

from http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&th=1528639&rid=47448

By the way, I originally saw this news from PWC. Thanks to Plasticman!