manual wind Archives - Watchisthis

18Juin 2018 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Stowa Flieger Verus Sport 43

News

Stowa has been producing mechanical watches in the Black forest since 1927 – uninterrupted until today. From July/August they will offer another complement of their popular Flieger series. The Verus Sport 43 (43mm case) based on the Verus 40 (40mm case). As the name implies, this watch has very special sport features. For example, the metres waterproof cas with extra thick sapphire glass. On request, a screwdow crown. Inside the watch, they use the famous ETA 2824-2 movement in the good basic version. If you want the TOP finish movement, you can choose this optionaly. Later, a massive caseback should be available as well. With the Stowa Flieger Verus Sport 43 you get an extremely sturdy Fliger watch, which has been modernized by design, but still keeps the Flieger DNA…

04Juin 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 15 Comments

A Soviet Design Classic – The Raketa Kopernik

Vintage

When it comes to listing famous watchmaking countries, most people could name Switzerland, Japan and maybe Germany or France, if they had only a passing interest in watches. However there is one region that arguably surpasses those in terms of the level of fanaticism of its collectors, and that is the former Soviet Union. Russia and the USSR have a rather rich horological history, with a large number of manufacturers in operation over quite a long period of time. What most of the brands lacked in high end mechanics and expensive hand-finishing compared to their European counterparts, they made up for with an astonishing array of unique designs, robustness and hearty doses of utilitarianism. Soviet-era watches scored wins for the USSR during the Cold War too, as it was a…

14Fév 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 3 Comments

Winding Back the Years

Vintage

The vast majority of wrist watches, from their very conception, have a crown on the right hand side of the case, at 3 o’clock. Most crowns protrude from the case, where they are grasped for setting and winding of the watch, if the watch is of the mechanical variety. However in 1953, Jaeger LeCoultre released the Futurematic, with the technically impressive calibre 497 bumper automatic movement. What was different about the Futurematic, lies in how the watch was set – there was no crown to be found at 3 o’clock. This watch was the first ‘back-set’ wristwatch, a true innovation where the tiny coin-like crown was located flat against the back of the case, in contact with the wrist when worn. The crown would slide one way to be rotated…

06Déc 2017 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

The Boldr Expedition watch

News

Here at Watchisthis ?! we have the chance to see and try a lot of watches and what came to the HQ some days ago is really really nice. This piece is the new Boldr Expedition Fuji. Boldr is a small watch brand from Singapore selling watches primarly through Kickstater. Once again they had a great success with the launch of their new models. For the record the campaign will end on the 9th of December 2017, so hurry up if you want to pre-order this pretty cool piece. The new Expedition watch is available in 6 colours variations. We tested the Fuji… A grey-on-grey watch with beige indexes and numbers, and a touch of orange on the second hands and in the top crown at two which controls the…

06Sep 2017 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Kickstarter – The Jubileon Superellipse

News

So now this is your last chance to get this pretty cool automatic watch. Indeed, the Kickstarter campaign of Jubileon will end on the 8th September. For the moment, they have not reached their goal ... Well, no matter, they will be able to try again later and I am convinced that it will be a success. Honestly I don’t really understand why this campaign is not a big success right now... Because the watch is affordable, it has good specs and more than this, it has contemporary and classic design suitable for everyday use. I had the chance to try one and seriously the piece is really cool and it fits perfectly any wrist thanks to it size of 41 mm wide and 11.9 mm thick. The case is…

04Sep 2017 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Presenting the Brellum Duobox Classic Havana

News

The Duobox Classic Chronometer collection was officially revealed in December 2016 and it was a directly a great success. It's the start of a new school year here, and Sebastien Muller (owner of the brand) decided to propose us a new version of the already iconic Duobox. This time the Duobox adorns the Havana style with brown hues whose finish is done using a sunshine pattern. One may say this colour reminds them of Havana’s cigars, some other may compare it to the rich colour of a whisky or a bourbon. Brellum’s team thinks that it reminds correctly the beautiful colours of Jura’s forest in autumn. For this piece the ingredients are still the same than for the other versions: a high-performance movement, a vintage design, quality finishes, the whole…

10Juil 2017 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Calvin Jr – Commander Series Watch

News

Crowdfunding has become a primary source for new watch products and Calvin Jr is not at his first attempt. Indeed, the brand based in Hong Kong has already achieved two campaigns with great success. (You can discover them here : Velocita and Airspeed. Today they are back on Kickstarter with a new outstanding timepiece inspired by aircraft. Before I start to describe the piece I must confess something to you ... I'm a fan! I love its design and I really love having it on my wrist. This is, I think, a watch with originality / sportiness / quality and price ratio that is excellent. So now let’s have a look the watch. The Commander series offer you the possibility to get a statement watch without breaking the bank as…

19Juin 2017 by Andrei Kluska No Comments

From Texas with passion – DuFrane Bergstrom

News

You might ask yourself what have in common a pilot, Austin Texas, war heroes, history and watches. The answer is simple: a watch passionate and collector, Steven Lee decided to fulfil his hobby and a dream. His dream was kept safe from the outside world in a notebook. All of his drawings and notes were not intended to become a real watch. Till one day… in this way the Bergstrom watch was born. [caption id="attachment_3178" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] DuFrane Bergstrom has a matte finish that fit perfectly the Pilot themed watch[/caption] DuFrane Bergstrom watch is dedicated to a WWII hero, Captain John August Earl Bergstrom - the first native Austinite killed during the war. He was stationed in the Philippines at Clark Field during WWII. Captain Bergstrom was killed by the…

07Juin 2017 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment

Watch I Love : Pangaea Day Date by Meistersinger

Opinion

In the Westphalian city of Münster, Germany, there is a small watch manufacturer - MeisterSinger. They are best known for their single-hand watches which are based on the idea of the very old watches with only one hand and antique solar watches. From the MeisterSinger Collection, I really like the Pangaea Day/Date. These watches have not only the charm of the single hand pieces but they are also really practical thanks to the day and date display. My favourite one from the Pangaea Collection is the reference PDD908 with a sunburst blue dial. I love the whole dial of this one with its white printed indexes and Arabic numerals. It really gives a nice contrast and a perfect visibility of all the informations. Interesting thing about this piece is that the date ring turns clockwise and the day…

24Mai 2017 by Andrei Kluska 1 Comment

From an Autosport legend to modern watches – Direnzo DRZ_Type250F

News

Founded just two years ago as an homage to family and vintage race cars, Direnzo Watches promises exquisite design and excellent quality. The story of Direnzo starts years in the past in the small town of Bomba near the Abruzzo, in the province of Chieti, Italy with the grandfather of Sergio Godoy Di Renzo – Founder of DIRENZO watches. Sergio honors his name and the family’s heritage by creating a legacy. The Type 250F watches has a deep root in the race cars of the ‘40s and ‘50s that made history: more precisely the exceptionally automobile that was the Maserati 250F driven to the victory of Formula 1 Grand Prix race of Nürburgring by Juan Manuel Fangio. With such a muse, these timepieces can only have an elegant look. Packed…

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