2011: The Year in Review Quiz, Part II
This week it's time for Part II of our 2011 Year in Review Quiz. Have you been taking notes? Celebrate the end of 2011 with this little quiz, where we present 12 questions about news stories from the past year. As always, the answers appear at the end. And remember, your term papers are due next week. Good luck!   1. Who flew with the Breitling Jet Team without using an airplane?A. Ian GroomB. Yves RossyC. Hannes ArchD. Markus Feyerbend 2. Which watch won the Aiguille d'Or Grand Prix award?A. De Bethune DB28B. Urwerk UR-110C. Zenith Christophe ColombD. TAG Heuer Mikrotimer 3. Which brand will supply watches to Oracle Racing as it defends the America’s Cup?A. CorumB. HublotC. TAG HeuerD. Audemars Piguet 4. Which company was the first to open its watch store on Facebook?A. Bell & RossB. HublotC. Jacob & Co.D. Suunto 5. Which watch company created a unique pen with Visconti?A. Greubel ForseyB. Bell & RossC. Ulysse NardinD. DeWitt 6

LIP Watches Rediscovered And Rereleased On Watchismo: Iconic Retro Future Cool
Watchismowatches-dealer, the very popular and influential watch website and blog now offers us some very special watches. For a long time, Watchismo was adept at telling you about great watches, but you'd be lucky to find them anywhere. Luckily, you can now find some right there. Watchismo offers timepieces from his personal collection, along with retro cool watches from a variety of makers. My favorite in particular are the LIP watches.LIP watches have been around for over 100 years, but you probably haven't heard much of them. They belong to the design orientated French crowd of watch makers, who always have interesting and artistic offerings. LIP's claim to fame was their clever contracting with popular designers of the day to create watch designs totally unheard of before. At that time during the 1960's and 1970's the world seemed bent on traveling to the future with greater haste by designing everything to be "futuristic." Utilizing new materials such as plastics and other synthet

Introducing: The IWC Big Pilot's Heritage 55 And 48 Limited Editions
It has been widely rumored that 2016 will be the year of the pilot's watch at IWC, and it turns out the rumors were true. The full lineup's not going live just yet (though once the SIHH starts, of course, everything's going to be revealed). However, IWC has shared a couple of new limited editions of their Big Pilot's Watch. They're behemoths, in the Big Pilot's Watch tradition, but they're also faithful in many respects to the history of the navigator's watches from the 1940s on which they're based. Let's take a look. 1 OF 5 The IWC Big Pilot's Heritage Watch 55 reference IW510401. Let's start with the big boy. This is the Heritage Watch 55; it's a 55 mm watch, which according to IWC was the diameter of the original 52 caliber TSC (Tirette Seconde Centrale) made for the German Air Force in 1940. Exactly 1,000 of the original watches were made, according to the lot notes from Christie's that accompanied the sale

Incoming: New (Old) Addition
Saw this for sale and could pass it up. 1980's Colt M50035 military.It's a beater and that's part of what I like about it. It's got 30 years worth of character. Works beautifully.

New today
I've been agonizing over upsizing. The choices were a 372 or a 449 because I like their historic references and clean looks. I started with 40mm and worked my way up to 44's and 45's. Maybe when I've worn this awhile I'll want to go up again? Funny how the blue is so light sensitive.