Watchisthis

20Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Christian Valentin: How Low Can You Go?

News

$52,- for a watch on Kickstarter. Needless to say that it made all my alarm bells go off. Because a watch at this price point is usually ordered in bulk from Alibaba, stamped with a logo, and sold as the next big thing through crowd funding. But not this time..... $52,- buys you this time a charming watch with a wooden dial and a case crafted from bamboo. Personally I am a big fan of bamboo. It grows very fast, it is environmentally friendly, while you still get a natural product that is also very strong, and it also happens to have a unique texture. $52,- worth of watch, doesn't mean that there isn't a designer behind it. In this case it's Christian Valentin. Normally I am not a fan…

19Juil 2016 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Be a Tennis Champion with Pulse Play Smartwatch

News

Wither you are a tennis amateur, office ping pong champ, squash aficionado, or badminton weekender, until today when you played with your friends you had to keep the score in the head or write everything on a piece of paper… But stop, Here is Pulse Play ; An innovative approach of a successful newcomer on the sport technology market. Pulse Play developed a smart watch that is an all-in-one wearable for racket sports. It offers complete game history, an accurate ranking system, live scorekeeping announcements, a social community, and opponent matching, and all with just an easy click between points. Pulse Play is made specially for racket sports. It has three main functions : 1.As a scorekeeper and announcer that doesn’t interrupt gameplay, it helps players stay on track…

18Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Why Isn’t This A Success On Indiegogo?

News

There is currently a watch offered on Indiegogo and I am trying to figure out why it is not a success? At time of writing it has 3 backers with 13 days to go, and raised $291,- of a $15.000,- goal, so it does look grim for this campaign. Of course this is not strange by itself, not every Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaign succeed. However, we are talking here about N plus ONE designs customizeable watch, which is not only highly original, but also very affordable. $95,- buys you a well designed watch with three different bezels that you can switch out by screwing them on and off. The watch is powered by a Ronda quartz movement, comes with a…

15Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Hamilton Khaki Frogman: The Original Diver

News

The Hamilton Khaki Frogman is a prime example of the Swatch Group excellent strategy of keeping their affordable watches interesting and original. We see this with Certina, Tissot and definitely also with Hamilton. Am I exaggerating? Maybe, but try these days to make an original divers watch. There are so many out there, that this is actually a hard task. What is even harder is to make it stand out as well, and the new Hamilton Khaki Frogman does both. The new Frogman comes in two sizes: 46mm and 42mm. The 46mm has its case crafted from Titanium, is water resistant until 100 bar (1.000 meters) and features a helium escape valve. The 46mm model comes with a black dial…

14Juil 2016 by Martin Green 1 Comment

Zion Apollo: The Kickstarter Tourbillon

News

Soon the Zion Manufacturing Company is launching its very first watch this month on Kickstarter. The interesting thing about it, is that it's a tourbillon. But before we get there, I was very surprised to find out that the Zion Manufacturing Company was located on the Great Ocean Road in Australia. Their explanation of using "Zion" in their name, is that its it describes the ‘Holy land’ or ‘perfect place’. For the people behind Zion Manufacturing Company, this perfect place is Surf Coast Australia, their home town and its heritage. In all honesty I would have avoided a religiously charged name like Zion since it has the potential of making people turn away of the brand, and that is always a pity. Zion has named their first watch Apollo, and…

13Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Kicked @$$ on Kickstarter…..then what??

Opinion

Kickstarter has lately been a great nursery for startup brands. The amazing success story of Klokkers, and more recently Straton and CJR, says a lot about the power of the this new medium as a watch outlet. So will this mean that the market will be joined by many new and innovative brands? Will this development cause sleepless nights in Switzerland and Japan? No, it won't. Let's be clear; when you did well on Kickstarter, you did do your homework. Many watch projects on the platform fail, and for the right reasons; designs don't add anything to the current market, perceived quality on the watches is lacking, branding is off, or the marketing approach is not sufficient. There are a ton of…

12Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Zelos Hammerhead; More Than Just A Diver

News

The new diver by Zelos watches is far from subtle. But that is exactly what is so much fun about it! Zelos named the watch "Hammerhead", and although I get the reference, the watch is far more attractive than the shark it's named after. The diver looks large and bulky, and does not apologizes for that. If it was a dress watch that would be unforgivable, but with a diver like the Hammerhead it would have been like Sylvester Stallone apologizing for his muscles. Quite frankly, the dimensions of the Hammerhead are not even that monstrous. The case is 44mm excluding the crown, and the height is 17mm. However, crafted in a 1970's fashion, does the Hammerhead almost completely fill up these measurements. The cut angles on the case, make…

11Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Stranger Ocean Predator Diver: Who Is Top Dog Now?

Advertorial

With their headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it was bound to happen: Stranger Watches just introduced their first collection of diving watches on Kickstarter! They immediately went for the top dog position with their Ocean Predator Diver Collection, which consists of four models. The four different models are all named after the ocean’s top predators: Bull Shark, Barracuda, Leopard Seal, and Orca. They share the same hardware, but it’s their looks that makes the difference. Most striking is actually the dial, which has a hammered texture that reminded me actually a lot of shark skin. The design of the dial is very balanced: number 12 dominates the top of the dial, with matching orange hour markers at three, six, and nine o’clock. The remaining hour markers are round indexes…

08Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

Tissot Updates NBA Shot Clock

News

As timing partner of the NBA, Tissot has given the shot clock a long due overhaul. For those of you not familiar with the came of basketball, the shot clock is a very important timekeeper. In 1954 the league introduced a rule that a team must hit the rim of the basket within 24 seconds after they gained possession of the ball. This was initially done to prevent the team that was ahead of keeping the ball in their possession for a long period of time, just to get to the end of the game and keep their lead. The result of this rule was a much faster and enticing game, but also required the need for a shot clock. [caption id="attachment_1101" align="aligncenter" width="632"] NBA's first shot clock[/caption] With the…

07Juil 2016 by Martin Green No Comments

It’s Time For A Time Tote

News

A tote bag: we man probably only know the ones the women in out lives use. The same tote's we tend to borrow when we are going to a watch get-together, visit your watchmaker or want to swap out some of your collection at the bank. But although you are instantly recognized as a true fashionista, there must be a better, and safer way to transport your prized possessions. There is, and its called Time Tote. See Time Tote as the humvee of watch cases, add a generous dose of the Expendables and you are right on the money! It is the brainchild of Michael Sanders, who wanted his watches to be safe when the apocalypse starts. Of course I am kidding here, but when you see the results of…