The First Annual Watchstars Awards: Here Are the 5 Winning Watches for 2014
Last week, the winners of the 2014 Watchstars Awards were announced, as selected by an international committee of experts. The Watchstars Awards are international watch awards, intended to honor the best watches of the world in different categories.?This was Watchstars' inaugural year. There were five categories, each with one winner.Watchstars was created by Ebner Publishing Group, a German company that owns numerous watch publications in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. (WatchTime is one of Ebner's holdings.)The Watchstars committee consists of 44 experienced watch specialists from around the world. Among them are Joe Thompson, Norma Buchanan and Mark Bernardo of WatchTime. More information on the jury is available here.Significantly, watch manufacturers are not allowed to submit watches to the competition: only committee members can nominate and vote. All watches are eligible, regardless of the brand, its size or its country of origin. Watchstars was established to

Mario Paci straps: a brief review
I ordered 4 straps by Mario Paci recently, and they promptly arrived today. I've installed 3 of them and snapped a couple of shots. The MP straps are fabulous! They're made of thick hides, rich in color and aroma. They arrived firm, but soften quickly as they're broken in (which I did all day).As I have small 6.5 wrists, I ordered all but one strap in 115/75 size. This fits fine, with the buckle fastened at the 2nd or 3rd hole, but it leaves a very short tail. Due to the thickness of the straps, consider ordering one size longer when ordering (125/80 in my case). MP makes this recommendation on their order page as well.All the straps I ordered came with sewn-in buckles that are very robust. I would have preferred to use my stock Panerai buckles, which are smaller, but as I said the buckles are sewn in; furthermore, the straps themselves are not tapered, so the stock Panerai buckles I own wouldn't fit anyway. That said, the buckles themselves are well built, nicely finished, and look

Hidden factors in picking the right Rolex.
Closing in on my first Rolex and I've not really narrowed down which reference I really want, if anything the references under consideration only keep growing!I know from some of my other interests (cars, clothing, even cookware) that sometimes what you THINK you want isn't actually the one that will give you the most satisfaction. So my question is: are there things in your life that you should consider that will impact the kind of Rolex you might like? For example I work a lot in offices, I'm a creative person, I dress with some flair but pretty casually -- does that perhaps mean I should consider X Rolex rather than Y? What are some factors that you hadn't considered that ultimately did affect your satisfaction?And just so you know, I'm actually kind of enjoying not being able to pick a Rolex. So many to choose from!!

HULK threads
If I see one more hulk thread, I'll be buying one also. That's also with wifes permission.

Saw this watch in the wild today
My wife has a good friend who has mentioned to me that her father is into watches. Today I got the chance to meet and talk with him at his granddaughter's birthday party (his granddaughter is the same age and friends with my son). Here's the watch he was wearing today. I'm relatively new to watches as a hobby (within the last couple of years), so this is by far the nicest one I've seen in person. It was truly beautiful.