Interview: Georges Kern Of Roger Dubuis
Just like 2011 was a strong year for Zenith, this past 12 months marked a return of sorts for Roger Dubuis. The manufacture refocused its efforts on producing handsome, highly finished watches such as La Monegasque Collection, which we showed you here. Also, 2011 marked the return of the brand's founding father, Roger Dubuis himself, to the brand that bears his name.   1 OF 1 But what does Georges Kern, the man behind the rebirth of Dubuis have to say about all this? Well, Blake sat down with him in Monaco to chat about why he think Dubuis is a special brand, and just much more money goes into the finish of an RD movement than into a standard mechanical watch. Also, Kern says Roger Dubuis is the only manufacture in the world that is completely in-house from top to bottom, and marked with the Geneva seal. Because of this, the standard Dubuis movement costs around $5000, while many competitors' movements, he says, cost a fraction of this. Since the filming

AP RO Chrono
I purchased a RO 39 mm chrono in white gold. Maybe you can help. After I stop chrono within minutes the watch stops working. I have to shake watch to start. Took to my watchmaker, his dx: one of the coupling wheels was broken. He said it was a F Piguet movement that was also used by Omega. He could order the part from AP for $600 or Omega for $140. What should I do? All this is on to of the $1200 service. I love the watch, its a keeper, but if I do sell do I disclose this? Your thoughts please. Sorry I am not good at reference numbers

Omega Apollo XVII 40th anniversary in the flesh
I was at the Omega boutique today snooping around (with Snoopy on my wirst) and the sales woman noticed it and asked if I'd like to see one of their newest Limited Edition Speedies. I said sure, being a Speedie nut, and it happened to be the Apollo XVII 40th Anniversary Speedy. Now I hated the look of this watch in photos and most of the people on TRF have also said it's quite ugly, so I was a little surprised to find that it looked a little bit better in the flesh. Don't get me wrong, it's not gorgeous and I wouldn't sell a limb for it but I experienced a solid 10 minute internal monologue where I tried to figure out whether it was alright or if I was losing my mind. Then my wife walked in and out came the following Hey, that's a pretty distinctive looking watch but how do you tell the time at all?!So yeah my wife thought it looked cool, and I'm still on the fence about its looks. What does everyone else think? Sorry for the bad photos was in a bit of a hurry after the monologue ;).

SMP 300M Chronometer 212.30.41.20.01.002...blue or green lume?
Trying to get confirmation on the lume color for this model.Thanks in advance!

Another 5146G cream or slate dial thread...
Hi everyone,I've pretty much decided on getting a 5146G sometime next year and am currently stuck between the cream and slate grey dials. I really like both equally but feel that the slate may not be as legible as the cream. Also, I am taking into consideration that I am more of a casual dresser (no suits or dress cuffs for me) so I would prefer the dial that can be dressed down easier. Lastly, I'm also considering the make-up of dial colors in my collection at the moment. I have two black dial sports watches, a blue Nautilus, and a white/opaline Calatrava. Any thoughts would be much appreciated...thanks and season's greetings to all!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk