Panerai Novelties SIHH 2015
For 2015, Officine Panerai goes back again to its roots as a historic supplier of instruments for the Italian navy and releases a quartet of new iterations on popular models as well as one reissue from the heritage collection. Coverage of the first model, the most complicated one: Radiomir 1940 with equation of time, deserved separate coverage and can be found in a separate post. The remaining model iterations constitute three Panerai Luminor Submersible watches, one Panerai Radiomir, and one special novel reissue. First, three new models of the Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 with flyback chronograph function. These maintain the large 47mm case size that somehow still wears small due to short lugs. Being built in titanium reduces the weight and so does using a flexible rubber caoutchouc strap. Both models have rotating bezels but one, like the PAM389, uses a scratch resistant ceramic insert.Instead of using the typical subdials for minute counters, Panerai opted to use two central ha

Watch Winner Review: Swiss Army Officer's Day/Date Mechanical
In March 2014, watches-dealer gave away a Victorinox Swiss Army Officer's Day/Date Mechanical watch. The winner was Lee M. from San Francisco, CAand this is his watch winner review of the timepiece.If I'm honest, Victorinox Swiss Army had fallen off my radar until recently. I've always had a soft spot for the Swiss Army watches: they are well made, dependable watches with nice feature sets at very reasonable prices. The problem was that I didn't find them particularly exciting. They were maybe too plain, or too conservative with some models; in other models the cases were huge, and the fonts were chunky. I thought they looked good on other people, but never looked right on my wrist.A few years ago, Victorinox did a bit of re-branding and came out with a number of very handsome mechanical watches. Still conservative, yes, but really well-finished, and not as utilitarian as some of their quartz offerings from before. When I found out I had won the Officer's Day/Date Mechanical, I was tru

Cecil Purnell La Grande Date Tourbillon Watch
The market for really expensive toys isn't what it used to be. Don't get me wrong, that market for luxury play things comes and goes, but these days it is hard to promote a several hundred thousand dollar watch from a newer brand that looks like it was meant to appeal to fans of traditional watch making who are also weekend militia members. That is the case for this sportier version of the Cecil Purnell La Grand Date Tourbillon watch called the "Pit Lane V12."Cecil Purnell is a brand that is really trying to legitimize itself, but they only probably need to sell a handful of watches each year to stay alive. According to them they ONLY make tourbillon-based watches, and subscribe to the "true values of haute horlogerie." Now that sounds like a BS marketing statement if I ever heard one. To be honest, I would take them much more seriously if their marketing copy didn't sound like it came from a kid who was really desperate to fit in on the playground.Cecil Purnell's website is a joke and

Winding Question
Hey everyone I was wondering if I need to send my AP for service. I fully wind the watch manually (around 40 times) the night before I wear it again in the morning. However, 8 hours within the day the watch stops even though I have been wearing it. I have to re-wind it twice in a day usually for it to continue to run. So this is my question, shouldn't the watch be able to continue to run without the initial winding due to movement of my hands, or is something wrong with my watch. Please let me know all about the winding responsibilities for the AP royal oak 15400 because I might be doing something wrong. Thanks!

New Arrival - PAM00425 S.L.C.
It's good to have a Panerai back in the fold This one's been on my radar for a while but at 47mm I thought it would be far too big for my 6.75 wrist I tried it on yesterday in my local AD and well, how wrong was I! Yes it's big but because my wrist is flat, the wired lugs sit well within the edges of my wrist, so for me that's perfectly acceptable.The watch is just amazing! It's just what I want in a Panerai - big, simple dial, in-house manual wind movement and of course those fabulous gold hands. And yes I like the Pig!! I've had a 111 before and we had a bit of a love/hate relationship. Sometimes it would be on my wrist for a couple of weeks, other times it would'nt last a couple of hours. I think it was the hands I couldn't get on with, at least they'll be no problem with the 425, gold hands rock It's been a busy and expensive last few weeks and with the watch fund completely depleted they'll be no more in-comings for a long while. But I can honestly say I'm very happy with where t