MIH Annual Calendar - Complication for Less

The Musée International d'Horlogerie or The International Watchmaking Museum, as one can imagine houses all things associated with horology. And to their credit, developed the MIH Watch - proceeds from the sale of the watches are then channelled to the museum to fund their activities. This is my Feature of the Month.

The watch is created jointly by the curator of the museum Ludwig Oechslin, master watchmaker Paul Gerber, industrial designer Christian Gafner and Lucerne watch specialist EMBASSY. Probably the most affordable Annual Calendar watch and possibly the most minimalist in design, the MIH watch is great for one's collection.

On top of an annual calendar, the watch also comes with a mono-pusher chronograph. But that is hardly used as the chrono display is at the back of the watch. The watch comes encased in titanium.

Originally, the watch comes with a rubber strap but I had Jason of JnS customize a black calf with red stitching to match the chrono sweeping hand tip.

A perfect match - watch and strap!

For those not in the know, the MIH looks like a normal watch. But a closer examination of the display at the 3 O'Clock position reveals a little more. You will observe the presence of the Date, Month, Day and a am/pm indicator.

The two red dots represent the am/pm - one dot indicates morning (am) and two dots indicates afternoon (pm). The base movement for the watch is the ETA-Valjoux 7750 complemented by the annual calendar module developed by Paul Gerber. Other than the month of February, the watch does not need to be adjusted for the right date regardless whether the month has 30 or 31 days.

A close up shot of the black dial. Hands and markers are luminous.

My only peeve about this watch is the sweeping chrono seconds hand. After some usage, it does not reset to 12. I know it can be easily fixed if you bring it to a watch repairman but I rather keep it the way it is - unique I guess.

For more information about the watch, please visit MIH http://www.mih-watch.ch/index.php?langId=2

Traveling with my Grand Seiko

My Grand Seiko SBGM003 is my trusted traveling companion especially when I am traveling to a different time zone and in need of Two Time Zone timepiece.

A discrete timepiece to travel with as not many know the value of a Grand Seiko and it really is a pretty looker! So every time I travel to the US, it is my timepiece of choice. Here taken on a flight to San Francisco. First off, pre-dinner snack - posing with the satay.

Then the starter - a nice salad.

Followed by the main - a grilled red snapper.

And to round it off, mango mousse!

And whenever I am in San Francisco or on the West Coast, my favorite breakfast is always at iHop.

And what is America without Pizza? Here with my pizza at SFO Airport.

And on this trip, I also got me some nice US peaches.

And my GS will continue to travel with me for awhile to come. Stay tuned for more.

Seiko Moon Monster on Strap

So I had the bracelet changed to a strap. I went to Jason at JnS and he suggested the black alligator over the yellow with yellow stitches.

The results are exactly what I wanted - a customized strap to go with the black yellow combo.

Looks a little softer than bracelet. Here's another look with the JnS Strap.

You can read the original post on the Moon Monster. But I like this one more!

MoVas - New Releases

MoVas is a Singapore brand and the owners are proud of that fact. They openly tell their fans where their watches are made and what movements go into their timepieces. Specializing in diver watches, MoVas recently re-launched the Oceaner line and also introduced the Prodiver II line.

The launch was held at the Fullerton Hotel in a private suite and some friends were invited to the party. The collection in a trunk.

Amongst all the watches on display, I liked the Oceaner II in red the most. The final dials for the Oceaner is still not confirmed as Sean is still trying out a few others. The Oceaner is rated to 30 ATM.

The Oceaner in red is still a prototype as Sean wants to make some changes to the markers. The date window is at 6 while the day indicator is at the 3 O'clock position.

Coming is three variants, the Oceaner also has a blue inner bezel. In this version, the dial is a sandwich dial as opposed to red version which uses appliqués. According to Sean, he is still not satified with the blue bezel so some changes to the colour will be forthcoming. And it will also be likely that the blue will be launched next year.

Notice how the day display is in Chinese? Interesting as not many watches has this feature except Seiko.

Then there is the regular black version. Although the picture shows crowns are not fully flushed, I was told by Sean that the final version will have them identically flushed to the crown guard.

The open case back reveals a China made movement from the Seagull Watch Company - ignore the Shanghai Watch Company rotor. The movement is pretty well decorated - perlage. The Oceaner was supposed to be launched earlier but Sean had issues with the case so it took him time to fix those issues before he re-launched the Oceaner. I can say that it is ready!

The new launch was for the Diver VI Bronze. What was on show were two variants - an all bronze case and one with black bezel.

Featuring a green dial and a similar layout as the Oceaner, the Diver VI Bronze is as chunky as it looks. Definitely a diver's watch. First the all Bronze Diver VI.

Then the black bezel version. So which one you like better? Well, I was told the black bezel version may or may not happen as Sean is still trying out various colour combinations.

Personally, I prefer the one with the black bezel. A little more contrast lends a totally new look and feel to the watch. Coupled with a matching green strap, the watch is rather pretty. More watches to come and another the Prodiver is also in the works. Stay tuned when I have more.

Fore more information, visit Sean's website at MoVas.

Precista Czech Air Force Watch

Every now and then, you come across some interesting watches and I found one in the Precista Czech Air Force Watch is one such find.

The Longines has a version of the Czech Air Force watches which this watch probably replicates. A cushion-shaped military watch with rotating bezel and a red pointer, the Precista is close to the original.

The Precista PRS-9 is a manual winding timepiece with the AS1130 movement underneath. According to the brand, the movement is a New Old Stock, Swiss made with 17 jewels and beats at 18,000 beat per hour. The movement has a power reserve of 41 hours. In true military style, the strap comes with rivets and is made of padded leather.

The front crystal is acrylic and that gives the watch a more authentic "old" look of the past. The Squelette hands are coated with super Luminova. The dial is matte-black and the case stainless steel. At the back of the case is a well engraved case back.

The Arabic numerals are well coated and the dial is legible. Watch is water proof to 30m. Oddly enough although it houses a Swiss movement, the dial says Great Britain and the brand says the watch is made in Germany.

Comes with a nice presentation box.

Shall be slapping on a nice brown leather Nato Strap soon!

Picnic or BBQ? This is Nomos

For all the publicity they have as a brand, Nomos does not have an authorized retailer in Singapore. So when I went to Hamburg some time back, I had to seek them out. And what a pleasant surprise it was - well at least for my wife.

Nomos probably has one of the most varied range of Limited Editions many of them for the Germany company Wempe. So when I was in Hamburg several years back, I walked into a Wempe store and what greeted me were the last few pieces of some Nomos Limited Edition pieces. Oddly enough, the LEs are priced cheaper than the regular range Tangente!

The three pieces available were the BBQ, Rosemarie and the Picknick. BBQ because the checkered patterns resemble that of a table cloth used for outdoor BBQs. The two BBQ and PickNick look nice as a pair.

The Rosemarie has an intricate rose motif and the blued hands lends a nice contrast to the pinkish dial.

The limited editions come limited to 100 pieces and are engraved at the case back. But I understand that Nomos is willing to do limited dials in as small a quantity as 20. Nomos changes the dial and hands colors to create different LEs.

The open case back reveals the Tangente Manual winding Calibre Alpha. Featuring the Glashütte three quarter plate with Glashütte ribbing. The Alpha is an in-house developed movement.

One feature of all Nomos watches is the strap - they all come with Shell Cordovan hand made straps. And the buckle is also engraved with the brand name.

Nomos also makes automatic pieces they call Tangomat. I am particularly taken by the grey yellow combo of this piece. So three for my wife and one for me - fair right?

The dark grey dial with the contrasting yellow numbers and markers is outstanding. Clean. This version is called Tangomat Ruthenium. The watch measures 38.3mm across. As with the Tangente, the watch comes with a Shell Cordovan leather strap.

At the back houses the in-house Epsilon automatic movement. As with the Alpha movement, the Epsilon comes with the Glashütte three quarter plate, Glashütte ribbing and NOMOS perlage. The movement features a bidirectional automatic rotor.

Nomos makes honest watches - they don't charge an arm-and-a-leg for their watches. I consider them reasonably priced especially when they are developed in-house and the level of finish is better than many Swiss brands 3-4 times more expensive. I recall the outrage (for most except the hardcore supporters) several years ago when a particular P-brand fitted an unfinished UNITAS movement into their Limited Edition piece and sold it with a closed case back hoping no one will be none the wiser. Well, all I can say is that Nomos stands far higher than the P-brand.

And in recent years, they have develop some more interesting pieces like the Tangomat GMT, Zürich Weltzeit (world time) and lately the Lux and Lambda range. For more information, please go to Nomos website. And for the limited editions, here is somewhere you can check out Nomos Limited Edition.