The Blog Has Been Moved!!!

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The Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44 Goes Sailing

I was sitting on my couch trying to decide what I was going to post on Monday, and finally it hit me.  Since the Corum is a nautical / sailing watch, I figured it would make for a great photo.

I’ve since thrown the rubber strap back on the Corum since I like the black rubber strap contrasted against the white dial. I’ve seen that Corum makes a brown gator strap for these watches, so I may try to get ahold of one of those to add another strap option for this watch. Stay tuned!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Alpina Avalanche Extreme Regulateur PVD 48mm

It’s been quite some time since I got rid of this watch, but there isn’t much out there written about this watch, so I thought it would be a good idea to give my thoughts on this particular piece. The watch has a very sporty look with the PVD finish, the rubber strap, and the red accents on the black dial.

At 48mm, this is a large watch. However, the case only sits 12.5mm tall, so it is relatively thin. The rubber strap is contoured to hug the wrists, but since the case is so broad, the strap tends to bow outward if you don’t have broad wrists to match. The dial has a great triangular pattern texture on it, and there is an hours subdial at the 10 o’clock position, and the seconds hand subdial is at the 6 o’clock position. Reading this watch takes a little getting used to at first, but it’s a cool complication and a great conversation piece.

The caseback features a very large viewing window, which showcases the nicely decorated ETA 6497 manual wind mechanical movement.

All things considered, this is a pretty cool watch, but I ended up getting rid of it because the 48mm case just never quite sat right on my 7″ wrist. I hear that Alpina recently released a 42mm version of this watch, so I may have to grab one of those sometime soon.

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Panerai 104 Luminor Marina Automatic on Vintage Leather

I no longer own this piece, but I wanted to put this picture up since I think this watch/strap combination looks fantastic. The strap is from Vintage Cuts by JC, and is vintage Hartmann leather taken from an old travel bag. The golden honey brown color looks great with the polished case, and I love the way the combo looks in the bright sunlight. The strap has aged nicely since I first picked it up and has great character only found in aged leather. You just can’t seem to get new leather that looks this cool!

Stay tuned for more photos of my PAM 243…I’ve got some great “in the wild” shots that I am going to post early next week!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Swiss Army ChronoPro

This is the watch that started it all for me. It was a little over two years ago when I came across a pre-owned Swiss Army ChronoPro for sale online. It was love at first sight!

I no longer own this particular watch, but have seriously considered snagging another one many times. This watch is a great value at an MSRP of $1495. It has a nicely decorated Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement, a see through caseback, a saphire crystal, and a screw down crown and pushers.

The bracelet is very comfortable, and able to be adjusted perfectly because of its small, medium, and large removable links. This is a great watch at any price, but because it is such a great value it is fantastic as a first “nice” watch. It got my foot in the door!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Panerai 243 Luminor Submersible 1000m

I’ve owned quite a few Panerai watches in my relatively short career as a watch collector, but so far, this one is my hands down favorite. That’s not to say that there aren’t other Panerai watches that I would trade this for, but in this price range, this is the one! The Luminor Submersible 1000m is a serious watch, and has an all business look to it. The thick, chunky bezel makes it abundantly clear that this is a heavy duty piece of equipment.

This watch is also outfitted with a 5mm thick crystal and a helium escape valve to help it withstand the incredible pressure at depths of up to 1000 meters. My favorite thing about this watch is the 1950 style case. There is just something about the shape of it that I love.

Today I am wearing it on a vintage ammo leather strap that has a sew in buckle with pig submarine on it. Stay tuned for an incredible collection of 243 photos “in the wild” later this week. You won’t be disappointed!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44 with Stainless Bracelet

Well, the stainless steel bracelet finally showed up and I slapped it on for a change of pace. The chunky construction of the bracelet compliments the oversized case of the watch. The center links are polished, with a brushed finish on the outer links.

The bracelet has fairly wide gaps between links to help with the breathability factor, and in spite of its thickness, the bracelet wears very comfortably. I’m not sure how I feel about all that metal combined with the white face since I think it washes the face out a little bit. I think the black rubber strap provides some much needed contrast. But, you never know how it’s going to look until you slap it on your wrist!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Invicta Speedway 9211 Chronograph

I bought this watch completely on a whim because it was so cheap and looked like a great watch that I wouldn’t have to worry about wearing anywhere.  Once it showed up, those suspicions were all confirmed.  This watch is by no means a high end watch.  But, in my opinion, it looks great, keeps time accurately, and can be found online for less than the cost of most Panerai straps!

The subdial on the left totals minutes, the middle subdial shows seconds, and the subdial on the right is a 24 hour hand. This is a nice little feature when setting the watch. Both chronograph pushers, and the crown are screw down. There is no date function on this particular Speedway, but it is an older model and the date function has since been added to the Speedway. The mineral crystal is not as scratch resistant as a sapphire one, and the fact that the watch has a quartz movement bugs me a little bit, but for the money, this was a great pick up!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44: A Pictorial

The previous owner of my Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44 has been so gracious as to let me post his photos of this amazing watch, so enjoy!

A dial unlike anything else:

The rubber strap is perfectly contoured to hug the wrist:

No detail was overlooked, including the caseback:

One of the best looking deployant clasps I’ve ever seen:

A very balanced dial:

Gotta love those nautical flags:

What looks like the crown guard is actually the chrono pushers. VERY nice design:

The inside of the deployant is perfectly shaped for comfort:

One last parting shot:

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!

The Steinhart Nav B-Uhr Pilot Watch

I’ve always liked the IWC Big Pilot watch, but the 47mm size has always caused doubts in my mind whether or not it would wear very comfortably. I’ve tried it on a few times, but it is almost impossible to determine how a watch wears from trying it on for 10 minutes in the store. Because of that, I decided to pick this watch up as a test watch because it is very similar in size and shape to the Big Pilot. Once I logged on to the Steinhart website www.steinhartwatches.de I quickly located their line of pilot watches, and found the Steinhart Nav B-Uhr. This watch comes available in many different finishes such as brushed stainless steel, rose gold, and black PVD. I decided to go with the black PVD for a different twist on a historic look.

During the ordering process I was helped by none other than Gunter Steinhart himself which I thought was pretty cool. How often does the owner of the company help you with your watch order these days?!?!? Anyhow, Gunter was very helpful, and even let me customize which strap came with the watch since I liked a brown strap instead of the black one that was offered.

Once the watch showed up, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality given its very reasonable $500 (ish) price tag. The machining on the case is very nice, and the PVD coating looks great. Even the strap leather is nice and supple and has great texture to it. I’ve purchased watches for 3-4 times this price with worse straps! The oversize dial is very easy to read, and the Swiss made Unitas 6497 manual wind movement winds smoothly.

The only things I didn’t like about the watch are the not very powerful lume, and the fact that the movement is a little on the loud side. I’ve owned manual wind watches before but this one seems just a little louder than some of the others I’ve owned in the past. All in all this is a fantastic watch for the money, and answered my question that yes, a 47mm pilot watch can wear very comfortably!

I have changed over to a self hosted blog, so check out my wordpress powered blog at www.justhideandwatch.com for tons more updates, pictures and reviews. Thanks for reading guys!!!