Other Watches / Other Brands

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The Cosmonaute would be my pick out of the Breitling releases. Another Zenith release that I liked was the Hodinkee collab with its salmon dial.
ZenithLE2-5_1_2048x2048.jpg
That’s pretty cool too, in fairness. Do like a Zenith. Love the carbon Zenith Defy, which I realise is a very marmite choice. It’s outside my price range anyway, even on sale recently, so academic really.
 
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Saw this in a Fratello article today.
Seems to think it might be coming this year.
Probably watches and wonders.

Polar pro is an obvious move but looks so natural I had to go check what colour the pro is. White dial could make me pull the trigger, I was indifferent to the black pro and then it surprised in the metal, it’sa tough call between this and a gmt. Now if they did a black bezel gmt or a ceramic gmt…
 
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So which "new 2022" release would be your pick for an Other Brand's WOTY? And also which watches would you give notable mentions?

My choice would probably be the Tudor Pelagos 39. With the Tudor Black Bay Pro being a potential runner up.
aws-original-image-2022-10-11T121318.663.jpeg

My notable mentions: I found the Omega 60th Anniversary James Bond Seamaster and Zenith "Lupin the Third" Final Edition to be very cool! Albeit a bit gimmicky as well.
OMEGA_210.30.42.20.03.002_gear_Caseback_ambiance.jpg
Zenith-Chronomaster-Revival-Lupin-the-Third-Final-Edition-2-1536x1024.jpg
I'm all in for the Seamaster Bond 60.
 
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Best two watches of the year, clearly (ignore the metal one getting the way!)…

Okay, I’m kidding - but I’m really surprised by how much I actually like these having written them off earlier in the year. They wear brilliantly, the dials are packed full of detail and I love the fact the range of models provide geeky references to various Speedmaster models.

I suppose they wouldn’t be quite so appealing to a wider audience if they were easier to get, but I really am convinced Swatch is onto something with these watches. When queuing at my local pop up store, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people around me were a) not existing watch nerds and b) were not flippers - they were genuinely there to buy a watch they wanted to wear and enjoy. I’m a bit jaded at this point by the skyrocketing prices of most ‘luxury’ watch brands - just look at Tudor up 10% this past week - so having something at this price point which is driving real enthusiasm for the hobby gives me a warm feeling inside.

There’s no question that Swatch could have handled the launch of these better in hindsight, and I understand that many have written them off for that reason. But I hope for 2023 that we might see a new model that’s sold exclusively online, or at least wider availability in stores, as I would like more people to experience these.

Which brings me back to another point…Hayek has commented that prototypes from non-Swatch Group brands have been made internally. How cool would a bioceramic Monaco be? 😀
 
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Best two watches of the year, clearly (ignore the metal one getting the way!)…

Okay, I’m kidding - but I’m really surprised by how much I actually like these having written them off earlier in the year. They wear brilliantly, the dials are packed full of detail and I love the fact the range of models provide geeky references to various Speedmaster models.

I suppose they wouldn’t be quite so appealing to a wider audience if they were easier to get, but I really am convinced Swatch is onto something with these watches. When queuing at my local pop up store, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people around me were a) not existing watch nerds and b) were not flippers - they were genuinely there to buy a watch they wanted to wear and enjoy. I’m a bit jaded at this point by the skyrocketing prices of most ‘luxury’ watch brands - just look at Tudor up 10% this past week - so having something at this price point which is driving real enthusiasm for the hobby gives me a warm feeling inside.

There’s no question that Swatch could have handled the launch of these better in hindsight, and I understand that many have written them off for that reason. But I hope for 2023 that we might see a new model that’s sold exclusively online, or at least wider availability in stores, as I would like more people to experience these.

Which brings me back to another point…Hayek has commented that prototypes from non-Swatch Group brands have been made internally. How cool would a bioceramic Monaco be? 😀
I’ve got the mission to Uranus and really like it. I’m going to try and Archer rubber strap with it as they get good reviews on the internet
 
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Managed to get hold of Mars as well 👍

would be cool if Swatch would make such iconic pieces for other brands maybe via some sort of license deal. But would Swatch Group be interested in strenghtening a competitor?
 
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Further reason why I don't trust a single thing about the vintage Rolex market
 
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A couple of bad apples indeed. Apart from the lugs nothing in that picture was original to the watch 😁
Wonder how the new owner now feels about having spent 6 million on it
 
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Don’t know if anyone else picked this up. Pretty hardcore stuff. Perescope exposes a couple of a listers, or should I say made men.

Thanks for sharing, scary and interesting story. If I was a counterfiter I would spend all my efforts in creating old trashy Rolexes in "untouched" condition to sell for really good money.
 
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Thanks for sharing, @Yago. What an interesting, and frightening, read. If I ever dip my toes into the vintage Heuer market, I am going to rely on you gents that are knowledgeable. Yikes.
 
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Thanks for sharing, @Yago. What an interesting, and frightening, read. If I ever dip my toes into the vintage Heuer market, I am going to rely on you gents that are knowledgeable. Yikes.

Wouldn't worry too much about fakes with vintage Heuer - there's not enough money in it compared with Rolex. One outfit in California tried for a while but it never took off
 
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Loads of shenanigans possible with any vintage watch brand including Heuer. We’ve seen fake Heuer shields applied to generic dials etc, however most references have been documented and a little research gets you a long way. Typical stuff I see is a mismatch between calibre and generation of dial for example. Or wrong hands or bezels, and sometimes this is hard to spot at first. Unsigned crowns and wrong pushers are also very common. Nothing like the absolute fraud described above.
 
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Another thing that is common are Monaco dials that have been reprinted. Once you know what to look for these are easily spotted.
 
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Best two watches of the year, clearly (ignore the metal one getting the way!)…

Okay, I’m kidding - but I’m really surprised by how much I actually like these having written them off earlier in the year. They wear brilliantly, the dials are packed full of detail and I love the fact the range of models provide geeky references to various Speedmaster models.

I suppose they wouldn’t be quite so appealing to a wider audience if they were easier to get, but I really am convinced Swatch is onto something with these watches. When queuing at my local pop up store, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people around me were a) not existing watch nerds and b) were not flippers - they were genuinely there to buy a watch they wanted to wear and enjoy. I’m a bit jaded at this point by the skyrocketing prices of most ‘luxury’ watch brands - just look at Tudor up 10% this past week - so having something at this price point which is driving real enthusiasm for the hobby gives me a warm feeling inside.

There’s no question that Swatch could have handled the launch of these better in hindsight, and I understand that many have written them off for that reason. But I hope for 2023 that we might see a new model that’s sold exclusively online, or at least wider availability in stores, as I would like more people to experience these.

Which brings me back to another point…Hayek has commented that prototypes from non-Swatch Group brands have been made internally. How cool would a bioceramic Monaco be? 😀

I still want a MoonSwatch, will just have to hope there's a good one in the shop when i visit.
 
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I still want a MoonSwatch, will just have to hope there's a good one in the shop when i visit.
I did want one, but have now decided against it. They look flimsy (seen several with the pushers broken off) and I probably wouldn't wear it much. The whole hype and difficulty of buying one also puts me off.
 
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I did want one, but have now decided against it. They look flimsy (seen several with the pushers broken off) and I probably wouldn't wear it much. The whole hype and difficulty of buying one also puts me off.

Its about the only way i can afford a Speedmaster-esque watch. 😁
 
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They’re becoming more available. 4 colours in the Antwerp store last week. No queus 😉
They’re not serious speedies but they are fun.