WATCH BLOG

Casio Digital MTG's

2010-01-02T12:51:00.005+01:00

My next watch: Suunto Core

2009-06-02T12:16:00.004+02:00

The Suunto Core Alu/Brown will be my next watch after a lot of days of meditation. Just wanted to say to anyone that reads my blog (if there is anyone...) that if you are also planning in buying a Core. you should check it's serial number. It should start by 907xxxxx or further, the previuos models showed some issues with the software.

I've already got a Black/Orange Core s/n 746xxxxx and it just shows two problems: it drains batteries pretty fast and it doesn't show the low battery symbol. But it's not a big issue for me, I can live with it.

I will post pictures of my Suunto Core B/O when I have time of taking some good pictures.

When I get the new Core, I will also take some pics comparing both Cores.

Wishlist updated

2009-06-01T12:18:00.008+02:00

I've updated the wishlist. My thoughts have change a bit as you can see at the wishlist. I will post some pictures of the new models added.

Suunto Core

Suunto Elementum
Suunto X6

Casio GW-2000B-1AJF

Casio GW-2500

Suunto X10

Casio GW-6900

Hamilton Khaki X-Wind Limited Edition

2009-03-23T14:35:00.006+01:00

As I promised, here is the review of the Hamilton Khaki X-Wind Limited Edition. This is one of the few limited edition watches that I have, so I'm very proud of it.
For the Swatch group (which Hamilton belong's to) it's positioned as a medium range brand in their scale of valors.
For me it could be positioned further above than medium. It's true that it's case isn't elaborate with precious materials, but it's the only feature of the watch that I would think why they don't consider it a higher level range.

The machinery of the X-Wind is a Valijoux 7750 which is a common machine for top end chronographs. It has two rotating bezels in the interior which enables you to calculate the cross wind. If I have to tell you the truth, I don't know how to do it, and as I'm not a pilot, it will have to wait in my list of things to learn, I have other priorities...

The level of detail of the watch is incredible, when I first saw it in the display of the retailer I knew that it had to be mine. I love the contrast of the orange graphics on top of the black. It's legibility is nearly perfect. As far as I have seen, this is one of the best chronographs in that aspect, even it's superior to some diver's chornographs.

The lume is ok, it could be much better. The way I would improve it is applying the lume material to the numbers indicating the hours. By now it has lume on the dots that are just beside the hour numbers.

When your eyes get used to the dark you can read the hour perfectly, but just until then, if you do a quick change of light, forget it.

The rubber strap with it's unique orange stitching is very comfortable and I think that matches the watch perfectly. If they did a leather strap as the other X-Winds but with black metallic clasp and rivets it would also be great.

The back case has on the half of it a diagram which I supose is the angles that the plane can achieve when landing or something similar. The other half you can see the machinery through a saphire glass.

Well, hope that you enjoyed the review, if you hae some questions don't hesitate to ask.

Orient WL FH04-CO

2009-02-19T14:25:00.003+01:00

Just a few pictures of my Orient pilot watch. A review will come soon!

Lately i'm having a crush on these watches...

2009-02-04T10:18:00.008+01:00

This are the watches I'm pulling my trigger on, but the problem is: NO MONEY AT ALL!!!

Seiko SBDX001

Seiko SBDB001

Seiko SRP031K1

Seiko SKX007K-P

Seiko Orange Monster

MKII Sea Fighter

Stowa Prodiver

Baume & Mercier Capeland Diver
Ocean7 LM2

STEINHART "TRITON schwarz"

Next month: Hamilton X-Wind Limited edition!

2009-02-02T15:17:00.004+01:00

Just introducing my next month's review: Hamilton X-Wind Limited edition.

Seiko Sportura SPC003

2009-02-02T12:41:00.005+01:00

Today I'm going to review the Seiko Sportura SPC003. This watch was a gift for my 26th birthday and until now it had a lot of wrist time. It has a quartz movement, which I'm not very fond of, with a battery life of approximately 3-4 years. The reason I don't like quartz movement is basically because they are not planet friendly due to the batteries, and when this ones dies it's a hassle to change the battery, you know, go to the retailer, they have to send it to the technical service which they can spend 2-3 weeks to change the battery, and finally go again to the retailer.
But even though the drawback of the battery, I had this watch on my wishlist. Why? Because it's design. The case, dial and the leather strap are in perfect communion with each other. This watch look's fast. The dial represents the tachymetre of a car, where the minutes with a retrograde counter of the chronograph looks as it´s indicating the speed of a car. The seconds counter of the chrono are in the centre with a flashy orange and the centiseconds and miliseconds are in the subdial placed at 12 o'clock. You should see how smooth turns the hands of the centi-miliseconds when the chronograph is on, it's incredible.

The subdial placed at 9 o'clock represents the seconds at normal time. One more detail that I like is the bee nest pattern at the background of the dial, it makes the watch more racing!

You can also see that this watch attachs the band with the case by four CNC'd pieces that looks like if they were taken of a F1. One more detail that enhances the sporty character of this watch.

What I liked a lot about this watch is that it is very thin. I'm used to thick watches (G-Shock's and automatic watches) and it's more comfortable to wear thins watches than thick ones. There are few mechanical movements that are thin, and the ones that are their design is too classic for me, as far as I've seen.

I think I should mention another drawback that I didn't realized before I got it. The lume of this watch could be much better. Not for the material they use for the lume, but for how many markers has with lume. The markers that have lume are 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10 & 11 o'clock, not much in case you wake up in the middle of the night and you look at your watch to know what time is it. The last drawback I have realized is that it's not the easiest watch to read the time, it's fine but it's not the best.

In conclusion, I think that is a watch that sacrfices some of the watch lecture principles in favour of an attractive design. So, if you like the design and like quartz movements, go for it. By the way, it looks way better in flesh than in pictures. But if you prefer mechanical movements or don't like to change batteries every now and then but you like the design, better go to a retailer first and try out the watch, then decide.

Citizen Promaster Aqualand JV0000-28E

2009-01-12T12:35:00.005+01:00

Hi!

Lately this watch has been on my wrist nearly all the time. I've been wearing it since the mailman deliver it, back in october '08. Although it had a great competitor to beat, the GW-9200 aka Riseman, which arrived to my collection nearly at the same time. I wear this watch for my day to day life, only swapping it for the GW-9200 when I go mountain biking or doing any other outdoor activity.

I love Citizen's attention to detail and their good quality products. Since a while ago, I had an automatic watch fever, but this Promaster model caught my attention and made me look with attention all the Citizen collection.

I'm looking forward to use this watch where it's meant to be, diving. Let's see if this summer I can go snorkeling in a good place such as Corsica or Sardegna. I'm really hoping to.

One of the many features that I like from this watch is it's lume (sorry, no picture of it) which is blue. I've read in some forums that the lume from Citizen doesn't last very long. In this watch the lume last all night. I don't know if my watch is an exception for this problem...

The digital display is great, it has a dot matrix which makes the numbers much nicer than the most common digital displays. It has an EL backlight which is reversed (the numbers and letters are the ones that get lightened).

In conclusion, it's one of my favourites for everyday wear, as it's stylish and also sporty enough for casual wear. It's a huge watch so those who have a small wrist might try it before purchase it.

The Eco-Drive it's supposed to be maintenence free for the rest of your life (let's see if that's true), so you don't have to worry at least for your watch.

I'm looking forward to post some pictures in the water when it gets hot here in Spain.

Such a long time...

2008-12-14T12:37:00.002+01:00

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote my last thread. As you can imagine, I've been pretty busy with my business. Even I didn't had much time to mess around in the forums or navigate through the brands websites.

I promise that I will write some reviews in this christmas holidays about the Seiko SPC003 and my new Citizen Promaster Diver. I add two pictures as a teaser.

See you soon!

Seiko 5 Sports SNZ391

2008-09-15T20:46:00.007+02:00

Hi everyone!

This is my first and only 5 Sports series. What I love about this watch is it's simplicity and elegance, that is a lot to say for a watch that is rather affordable. It's a good day to day beater if you don't want to get extra scratches to your other watches from your collection that are way more expensive.

It has the 7S36 movement, an automatic movement with 23 jewels that is +/- 15 seconds per day of loss of accuracy. Not bad for an affordable watch.

The bezel is an element of this watch that I like pretty much, it only lacks of the lume in the start of the countdown marks. The numbers and the lines are machined on the bezel and painted with black. I prefer this than the entirely painted bezel as it can be worn off if you use it in outdoors activities.

The lume is as always in Seiko excelent. It can last all night after being exposed to a bright light or day light. It's legibility is perfect in yhe dark, I have to try it snorkeling to see how it can be read under water.The bracelet is the same design as I've seen in a Rolex model. It's not a flsahy design, but it's elegant and it feels comfortable.
The watch is very light despite it's made of stainless steel. This is because the watch is a medium size. I find it rather small for my wrist, but that's ok if you want a shy watch.
Lately this watch is having a lot of wrist time just because it's looks are elegant and as it is a cheap watch (and also as a Seiko, very reliable) it can take a beating without watching out too much.
The Seiko's 5 Sports are watches with an incredible relation between quality and price. So if you want to have an entry automatic watch, the Seiko 5 Sports are the ones to choose.

G-9100TC Gulfman Triple Crown of Surfing

2008-08-13T10:12:00.008+02:00

A few days ago Sjors from "G-Peopleland" and "50 Gs" posted in his blog a review of the G-9100 Gulfman. It's a great review were he describes and explains the features of the watch perfectly. I'm telling you this because I would like to show some pictures of my G-9100TC Gulfman, as Sjors has already done the review and the features are exactly the same, the only differences are aesthetical, I will add the link of his great review.

The Gulfman Triple Crown of Surfing is a limited edition watch conmemorating the surf competition with it's name. The main differences are the colour of the band and case which as you can see is this metallical light blue the back case, which the logo of the Triple Crown competition is engraved and some details of the display.

The colour chosen for this edition is... somehow special. For my taste is kind of mixed feelings, depending on how is my mood I like it or not. I'm keen on black with a touch of colour, but that blue suposes sometimes too much colour for me. Judge yourselves.

There are things that I would like to crticise. Firstly the strap is not the same colour of the band, it's a matte blue as the inner part of the band. A detail that Casio should have cared about. Secondly and also lastly, the manual should explain much better how to calculate the lunitidal interval, I'm already used to calculate this things as I've sailed for many years, but for a newbie it can be a pain in the ass to make it out.

I have to say that as always, G-Shocks look way better in real life that in pictures. Photographs are not able to show perfectly the delightness of it's shapes and angles. If you ever like a G-Shock in a picture, for sure that when you take a look in first person you will like it a lot more!

GW-225A Frogman Dawn Black

2008-08-06T21:26:00.006+02:00

Ohayogozaimasu!

Recently I've been in Lanzarote to visit a friend of mine and also to do some windsurf, a sport that I'm getting little by little more addicted. You can see some pics at the right column.

I wanted to take with me two G-Shocks, the Frogman and the Gulfman Triple Crown of Surfing G-9100TC. But I finally decided to just carry with me the Frogman, I didn't want to warry about the other watch when I wasn't carrying it with me.

It was a great decision, as I gave as a gift to my friend the Gulfman G-9100-1. He is a windsurf freak, so this watch suits perfectly to him, the tide levels are very important in this sport.

The cool features of the Frogman are the Dive log, but I didn't use it as I wasn't scuba diving, the ID card, blood type and all the info that you can save in it's memory in case you suffer an accident and you aren't concious or something worse.

The Frogman worked flawlessly through the five days that we were windsurfing. Every day we sailed 3 hours as a minimum, and I can tell you that I have no complain about this watch. I could read the time perfectly meanwhile I was on board.

There was a matter that I was a little bit worried about. The clasp that closes the resin strap has a goldish finish as you can appreciate at the pictures. Normally they apply this gold by a bath of a material that looks like gold or by anodizing the material. Either of them are just superficial covers and if you do a scratch on it, the original material will appear, which makes it look much older than it is.

But surprisingly not a scratch, or at least, the gold bath stood any scratches that I made. I can assure you that I gave the watch quite a beating, but is new as the first day.

With all, I can say that the Frogman is a really tough G-Shock that can stand any rough treatment that you can give, plus the looks of the watch and even more the dawn black edition with the black and gold colour combination gives you a stylish look.

It's not the cheapest G-Shock, it's more, it's quite expensive comparing with it's brothers, but you will have an instant classic G that will make some heads turn around.

Hope that you enjoyed my review! See you!

Casio Protrek PRG-40

2008-08-05T12:12:00.006+02:00

Hi!

Today I'm going to talk about the Casio Protrek PRG-40. It's a relatively old model of the Protrek's series, but I think that the design stands pretty well the pass of time.

If they asked me to choose a Protrek model above all, one of my candidates would be the PRG-40, but maybe it wouldn't be the winner, as it hasn't got the features that the newer Protrek's have, I'm talking about the tough solar and the atomic timekeeping.

The design I think that kicks ass, at first glance it looks like a G-Shock, but it isn't, but it can take some beatening up. The display has super big numbers and it shows the complete day and date and year, not many Casio's show them.

The design of the case is like it was thought by a character of Mad Max, with the green cover that runs from the light button through the compass, barometer and altimeter buttons.

I also like the colour combination, with the khaki green, grey, black and yellowish of the light button. It's kind of camouflage colours, except for the yellow, but it gives the colour touch. If it wasn't there, maybe the watch would look knd of dull.

One more feature that I like is the reverse backlight, where the numbers lightened instead of the backround. I find it cool and different.

As you can imagine by what you have read, I like a lot this watch, just a pitty about the tough solar, the atomic time keeping is a feature that I can live without, but to have a rechargeble battery makes me feel that the watch is more reliable.

Hope that you enjoyed this review and the pictures. See you soon!

Casio G-Shock GL-160-3

2008-07-22T14:40:00.002+02:00

The GL-160-3 was my third G-Shock. After 6 years with my unbeatable DW-6900 I thought it was time to make a change and let have a well earned rest to the DW-6900.
I made my way to a mall to see what new products had Casio released. And when I took a look at the G-Shock’s display I saw the GL-160. I felled in love immediately and I knew it had to be mine. What caught my eye was the polished stainless steel bezel which enhances the watch. The case and bracelet are like 2 in 1 made of blue jellyfish resin. The back case is protected by more resin, but in this part the material is more solid and is purple which matches very well with the blue jellyfish.

The bracelet has a nice detail with a lip and the end of the band so it won’t slip out of the ring easily. It has a feature that I love and not all G-Shock’s have, but personally, I find it’s a must. I’m talking about the illuminator button placed at 6 o’clock of the bezel. I think that they look more authentic with this button.

Ok, enough describing the watch itself, anyways, you can check it out yourselves with the pictures. Let’s talk about the different modes that has. Firstly we have the time mode, after pressing the mode button once you have the moon age and tide time interval, when you press it for the second time you have the time the sun rise’s and set’s, pressing again you have the count down timer, pressing once more the stopwatch appears and lastly 2 alarms, snooze and hourly signal.

At time mode, if you press the forward button, you can change the display view from the classical mode, which shows the time at the center with big numbers, at the top the date and at the bottom the day of the week, to the tide graph display, where at the center of the display appears the tide graph and on top there is the time with smaller numbers. You can see all that at the pictures.

I prefer this way to show the tide graph than the new Gulfman. It’s easier to read and you still have the time and date. The new Gulfman has the tide graph too small in my opinion, and it’s a very important feature if you are surfing, windsurfing or any other sport where the tide level is very important.

I’ve been using this watch while I was windsurfing with a friend. I always had the tide graph display switched on so we could know when they were going to be good waves.

With the reverse button in Time mode you can change the site. Pretty useful if you travel a lot.

The last thing I have to say about the display is the two tone colour display, which I find very cool. It helps you distinguish between the time and date. A feature that I now realize that I missed is the circular window that’s in the display. This window shows the lunar age.

Well, I think that’s all I can say about this incredible watch. I’ve been using it for 5 years more or less and I have changed once of battery, never had a problem with it and when I still take a look I like it as the first day I saw it.

Hope you enjoyed the review! See you soon.

Casio G-Shock DW-5900C-1

2008-07-08T19:21:00.005+02:00

As I promised at the previous review, here I go with the DW-5900C-1. I got this watch as a present from my grandmother for my birthday, so you can figure out that I have a sentimental attachment to the watch. I got it at 1993 (more or less) and been using it for two years. I was a pretty active kid by then so it took a rough treatment, and it stood it pretty well. As you can appreciate at the pictures, it is pretty worn out.
I find that the design of the interface of the watch is one of the best that Casio has ever designed. The only thing that I would change is the display of the time, that maybe I would make it a bit bigger.
At the bottom part you can find a window with the time and just above it there is the month-day date.

There are three circular windows on top of the window time. The left shows you the time as an analog watch. The centre one shows you the mode which are you in and if the alarm or signal is activated. The right window shows you a second’s display.

It would be great that Casio updated this watch with the tough solar and the atomic timekeeping, without changing the design. Maybe one day I recreate a possible GW-5900 with Photoshop or in 3D.

In conclusion, a great classic that has a few drawbacks but that in my opinion kick some ass to newer G-Shock designs. It lacks of illuminator, one thing that you can really miss, but we have to remember that we are talking of one of the oldest G-Shock designs and technology.

As always, I hope that you enjoyed this review!

Goodbye.

Casio G-Shock DW-6900BD-1T

2008-07-03T16:55:00.011+02:00

I’m a big fan of Casio G-Shocks, they’ve been my companions of adventures for many years. I can actually remember when I had my first G-Shock, a DW-5900C-1, in 1993 more or less, I’m not really sure. But, around 1995, when I saw in a shop the DW-6900BD-1T I felled automatically in love. By then I was 14-15 years old, it was a very active stage of my life. By then I started mountain bike downhill, which is a rough sport, and also many other adventure sports.

This G-Shock took quite a beating as you can appreciate at the pictures. I’ve been wearing it around 6 years, and I didn’t alternate with any other watch. One feature that by now is a sine qua non for G-Shock’s is the back light, but when I first saw it I was totally amused.

Furthermore, to activate the illuminator, you had to press the front button with a G on it, which I found a perfect place to locate it, as it is very intuitive to activate the light. In addition, the nylon strap gave a beefy look to the already sturdy G-Shock. This strap is totally comfortable, with just a drawback: the Velcro that adjusts the strap sometimes went loose when swimming or if you accidentally drag it somewhere.

The watch came with two additional straps which are mid nylon mid resin, in colour black and the other in red. A nice detail from Casio in case you didn’t feel comfortable with the Velcro band.

The features of the watch are the most common for a G-Shock: Time, stopwatch, timer, 5 alarms and hour signal.

There is not much more to say about the watch, it worked flawlessly through all the years that I've been wearing it, and it only took two changes of battery through 6 years of intensive use.

If I had to give a grade to this watch I would give him a 9 out of 10. I would give him a 10 if it had the tough solar and the atomic timekeeping as modern G-Shocks now have.

I hope that you enjoyed my review and next week I will post a review of the DW-5900C-1.

Goodbye!

Seiko 8M35-6010

2008-06-25T19:44:00.013+02:00

This watch was my first "serious" watch. I know that Seiko hasn't got the same brand reputation as Rolex, Tag Heuer and so on. But Seiko builds top quality watches, super reliable and with a price-quality relation that not a lot of brands can match. This is why I considere Seiko as a serious watch brand.

When I was 8 I started racing sailing boat's. At that age the only boats that we could handle where a class called Optimist. My grandparent's made me a present for my good results at the races, the seiko caliber 8M35-6010.

Firstly, it's a small watch, although when I was 8 it fitted me pretty well. The case has a diametre of 36 mm exluding the crown. It's thickness is 9 mm. Were are talking of a watch that was created in the early 90's, I got it in 1993.

It has a quartz movement that's pretty accurate. I haven't been able to calculate it beacause it lacks a second's hand. But approximately it lost 10 seconds in 3 months looking at the minutes hand and comparing it to an atomic timekeeping watch.

This watch was clearly designed for yachting racing. In the backgroung of the display there is a picture of a rose of the winds sorrounded by a gold ring. At 6 o'clock is the navigation menu where a little caliper finished in blue steel points out the selection you are in.

The menu consists in 6 paremetres: 5 minute countdown, 10 minute countdown, 15 minute countdown, Time, Timer and Match.

The countdowns are the standard timing for yachting racers. They are perfect for racing as they beep every minute it passes and when just they are just 5 seconds left it beeps every second with a different tone. It's awesome!! It helped me a lot to have good starts.

The time mode it's obvious, it shows you the day time.

The timer mode is a normal chronograph.

The match mode I never figure out what it does, the minutes hand and the hours hand point 12 o'clock. I press all the buttons but nothing happens. I'm trying to find a manual of this watch so I can find out what this mode does. If anyone knows please tell me.

I like the way that the display is designed. It has a easy lecture. Nothing disturbs the lectur when a function is activated. The gold finished hands highlight on the white background and on the rose of the winds picture. With a quick glance you can know which time is it.

I also like the design of the bracelet that's made of stainless steel. I haven't seen any bracelet like this one. Although it's made of steel, the watch feels superbly light, is as if you didn't wear any.

The clasp is also out of the ordinary, instead of having the common 2 buttons opening it has just one. A nice detail is a rose of the wind engraved at the case of the button system. This one button system is quick to activate, but it is also easy to activate it accidently.

In conclusion, I find it a great watch, that has a great design and it's much less overelaborate and easier to read than it's new brother the SPC007.

Judge yourselve.

Hope you enjoyed this review!

Starting out

2008-06-25T18:52:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone,

My name is Modest, I'm an industrial designer appasionate of mountain bikes, motorbikes, sailing and obviously watches. Although I have my own site (http://www.mgdesigns.es/) I can't review watches and other stuff just because it's mainly a site for my business. At my site you can check out some of my creations.

So this is why I decided to create a blog to review my favourite stuff.

Besides reviewing watches, I will also review bicycles and projects that I'm working on.

This blog maybe could be classified as a favourite stuff diary, although the huge part will contain watches.

By the way, I apologize for gramatical errors or any other mistake that I will make writting. It's been a long time since I last wrote in this language. My mothertongue is Catalan (the language of Catalonia, Spain). In Spain their is a cultural richness that not many countries have, we have 6 different languages (if I don't forget anyone!), which are: Català (Catalan), Spanish, Euskera, Galego, Valencià and Mallorquí. I'm able to talk Catalan and Spanish, and I can understand Valencià, Galego and Mallorquí. Euskera is a non romanic language that I would like to learn some day, but it's so tough to learn!!!

I hope that you enjoy my blog!!