The year 2015 is almost at a close, and we’d like to help wrap it up with an aBlogtoWatch watch buying gift guide – done, once again, a little bit differently. As a publication that tends to help consumers make choices about watches they want to purchase, we dislike the idea of arbitrarily limiting your buying options to a few timepieces that we feel just narrowly beat out others in any given list. So for that reason, we try to stay away from more randomly assorted gift guides that, frankly, also bore us to create.
What we’ve done for this holiday season’s gift guide idea was to ask various members of the aBlogtoWatch team to mention the first watch that comes to mind when presented with a particular question. For example, we asked the question, “What watch would you wear to impress Vladimir Putin?” (a known watch buff and all-around leader of Russia). Each of the questions we asked called for a different type of watch, and we included some of our favorite responses from the aBlogtoWatch team. It’s just a little way of getting into our watch nerd heads and having fun during the holiday season (where, apparently, rest and relaxation is but a myth).
Whether your budget for watch buying is modest or prodigious, you’ll find some interesting timepieces here in each (perhaps unexpected) category that the aBlogtoWatch team feels are worth mentioning – from those suitable for very ordinary occasions to those which might only occur in our fantasies. Please offer your own choices in the comments below if you feel you have some watch choice responses to compliment our own.
Beater Watch Worth Wearing
Let’s start with the trusty everyday watch, something you can knock around and not worry too much about because it isn’t that expensive. With that in mind, it’s also got to be designed well, reliable, and say something about the wearer. Here are our top picks for the “beater watch” category.
The Montblanc Watches Battery Replica 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter Limited Edition 100 is a monopusher layout, using a single pusher integrated into the large aviation-styled crown to start, stop, or reset the chronograph. The choice to go with a monopusher layout instead of the functional two pushers appears to be one of historic accuracy. The first Minerva chronographs this version is motivated by predate the invention of the double pusher chronograph in 1934 by Breitling. This is not the first Minerva-inspired monopusher chronograph Montblanc has introduced recently; a more modern version in steel with a blue dial was released in 2016, and a bronze variant with a champagne dial followed lately in 2017. This latest restricted release brings a new dial colour and the accession of blued hands to the mixture, improving general legibility and adding a unique touch.The dial is sunray-finished in a salmon colour, yet another historically apt Minerva touch. The fundamental hour and minute hands are quite large for a chronograph and include a “cathedral” layout, full of Super-LumiNova and plated in 18 karat red gold. Using large cathedral hands here may be an attractive one, however this could also affect chronograph legibility when the hands partly vague counters involving 10-20 minutes past the hour, 40-50 minutes past the hour, and between 2 to 4 o’clock and 8 to 10 o’clock. The running seconds counter is located at 9 o’clock and includes a blued and arrow-tipped hand. The chronograph function uses a blued central second hand with red tip and Minerva arrow counterweight, along with a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock with another blued and arrow-tipped hand. The comparison of the blued hands against the salmon dial should be great for legibility, at least when those cathedral hands are not in the way.
Ariel Adams: Magrette Manoa Pacific Professional (Reviewed here)
Matt Smith-Johnson: Seiko Spirit Smart SCED035 ‘Aliens Ripley’ Watch (Reviewed here)
Victor Marks: Orient Symphony (Feature article “Orient Dress Watches: The Best Budget Option?” Hands-on here)
David Bredan: Casio G-Shock Rangeman Camo
Watch That Would Impress Vladimir Putin
Moving on from an everyday beater watch, we take a look at 4 picks for watches that even a massively wealthy oligarch would give a second look. Vlad’s a well-known watch collector, and we think he would happily add these to his shiny, fabulously ornate watch safe.
Ariel Adams: Jacob & Co. Astronomia (Hands-on here)
James Stacey: MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual Calendar Watch (Hands-on here)
Patrick Kansa: Greubel Forsey GMT Watch In Platinum (Hands-on here)
David Bredan: Montblanc Collection Villeret Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco Da Gama Watch (Hands-on here)
Flamboyantly Designed “Grandly Complicated” Timepiece
There is no shortage of flashy watches and there’s no shortage of highly complicated watches out there. What if you want both, though? Well, we decided to think up 4 watches that we think will get you both attention and horological admiration.
Ariel Adams: HYT H3 (Hands-on here)
David Bredan: Richard Mille RM 26-02 Evil Eye (Hands-on here)
Bilal Khan: Antoine Preziuso “Tourbillon of Tourbillons” Triple Tourbillon (Hands-on here)
Mark Carson: Ulysse Nardin Freaklab (Hands-on here)