Tudor Heritage Chrono Pt. II- Size Comparison

This lovely small subdial 6234 came into the office today, so I thought i'd take a quick snap side by side with the Tudor.  Talk about size difference.  Its really unbelievable!

RIP Nicolas Hayek

A visionary, and the savior of the Swiss watchmaking industry.  THE icon of the industry, he will be missed.  Click here to read about this amazing man.

AT&T microcell and new iPhone 4 not playing nice?

The new iPhone 4 seems to have problems connecting to the AT&T microcell towers.  At my house, I get full bars on my other AT&T phones, but "NO SERVICE" from my iPhone.  No amount of soft/hard resets seems to fix this!  Tres annoying!

A recent acquisition for "The Collection"

When I saw this box, I knew I was in trouble..... 

 
Opening the box, this was inside: 

 

This nice little guy was smiling at me. 

 

First impression: "Nice bezel!!" 

 

Second impression: "Wow, look at the case, really unpolished!!" 

 

I took the watch out, and checked the bracelet clasp. 

 

Under the watch cuff, were original papers from Artland in HK. 

 

Even an original polish cloth from the store!! 

 

Looks good on the wrist, i'll take it!! 

 

To me, this is what it's all about. Truly a find, imho. The watch was completely unmolested. MINT case, no wear on the back of lugs, super tight bracelet, nice original dial with greenish 6 oclock lume, big bubble gilt hands, etc..... Even the crown is the original "+" one, and the movement looks brand new. 

I paid perhaps a world record price for a watch like this, but I am truly happy. =) 

A week of new things....

This week saw the release of two very hotly anticipated things- the iPhone 4 and the Tudor Heritage Chrono.  Thanks to Bernhard, I was able to be one of the first to get one of these hotly anticipated watches.  

Bernhard did a great job in his write up for the watch, so I didn't bother taking a million photos- for that, please click here.

Overall, my impressions are positive.  However, there are several things that bug me about it.  First off, the size is a bit too big and bulky.  I'm all for large watches like Panerais etc, but something about the size was just a bit "off".  As others have indicated, the lug holes are awkwardly positioned, which make the watch look really funny when one wears it with the supplied nato strap.  You get used to it after a while, but it still seems odd.  Also, the lug width of 22mm seems a bit overkill.  I would have liked a more faithful homage.  Despite these gripes, I'm sure Rolex/Tudor has a winner here with this new watch.  Priced at ~$4200 USD worldwide, make no mistake.  This will be a hot seller.  

The Wrist Shot

Interesting to note, the S/N and Ref. Number of the watch are engraved on the lower lug, similar to the Rolex Oyster Quartz models discontinued in 2000.  Like the Deep Sea, there are no numbers between the lugs.

This is probably the biggest collection of original Black Homeplates ever assembled.  

The other hotly anticipated release of the week- the iPhone 4 is truly the most revolutionary iteration since the original bowed 3 years ago.  Featuring a stunningly crisp screen, new industrial casing, and a bevy of upgrades, this is one serious device!  In fact, with the exception of the black Homeplate montage, the pics in this post were all taken with its new 5mp camera.  Not bad for a phone!  In fact, I feel it almost negates the need to bring along a camera for most simple point and shoot uses.

So far, no big minuses.  The battery lasts much longer, and the inclusion of 512 megs of RAM make this a very snappy little device.  Two thums up!!

FIts perfectly in this limited edition LV camo case designed for the original iPhone

A few iconic Subs from the 1970s.

Not too many posts of late, but here's a quick and dirty of two gorgeous icons of the 1970s. 5517/13 double reference milsub on the left, and "big number" 5514 on the right.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.......Part II

I guess somehow I should be flattered, but......

This is a screen capture of a competing website's T&Cs page.

Does this look familiar to you? It should, because its taken word for word from the T&Cs page of 10PastTEN.com

An old favorite...

I've been wearing my Panerais more and more lately, and I'm really glad that I resisted the $$$ temptation to sell this one when I got it. The PAM 195 was made in 2004 in a limited edition of 200 pieces. You had to "apply" at one of the OP boutiques to get one, and they engraved your name on the back. Once in a lifetime! The wallet in the background is a new purchase....a very nice vintage croco Bottega Veneta.

A few cool and not so common pieces have landed!

No the usual Rolex stuff, but here is a new 5980 "Tiffany & Co." I was lucky enough to obtain this piece brand new. It is very uncommon for Tiffany to put their name on non-Calatrava Pateks these days, so this is an exceedingly rare find!

This is a Bamford edition customized Daytona. Finished in DLC, this one has a refinished homage to the Paul Newman dial. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it!

Black Friday is coming.......

Stay tuned to VRF for a very exciting announcement Friday!!