Arnold & Son TB88 "Inside Out" Watch
Now, here is an interesting new watch that I wasn't expecting from UK based Arnold & Son. The concept is that the movement is "inside out," well sort of. Basically what you see on the dial is typically what you would see on the rear of the watch. Arnold & Son isn't the first to offer a watch that applies this concept, but their new TB88 does that and has a few more tricks up its (exposed) sleeve."TB88" sounds like some super mutated version of tuberculosis. I don't want to contract TB88! There should have been a better name. TB actually stands for "True Beat," which is Arnold and Son's way of saying dead-beat seconds. This complication has been given a lot of names over the years. It refers to a seconds hand that ticks, but is part of a mechanical, not a quartz watch. Ticking seconds hands have been around for a long time, but since quartz watches came around people began to associate them with cheap timepieces. So any mechanical watch that wanted to use a ticking seconds hand

I was stupid enough...
I was in Tysons Corner, VA area for meetings, stopped by the Mall for lunch and walked into to the only AP AD in the area. I know the sales people very well and they take good care of me. I really wanted to try on the 39mm Explorer one more time before pulling the trigger on one, but there I was drifting towards the AP case instead...I got to try on the new 44mm carbon chronograph in black, very nice piece, especially the weight in relation to the size, but then sales guy - knowing me - insisted that I try on the classic 42mm rose gold chrono. And I was stupid enough to agree... Wow! Just wow! I'm totally blown away by that watch!I never see myself dropping $55,000 (regardless of what the discount might end up being) given how many kids I have (and yet to put through college), but if I could spare the change I would surely strongly considering awarding myself of of these pieces.What a wonderful piece of horology![photo cred: AP's website]

OMEGA Boutique in-store service
Just an FYI: The OMEGA Boutiques are instituting on-site technicians who can pressure test, rate check, and regulate watches in the store. The Beverly Center (Los Angeles) location already has theirs. I had my Aqua Terra 8500 rate tested last month when I went for the 2014 Basel previewing.I just got back from there this morning and had my Seamaster Pro 300M 2220.80.00 regulated because it was running fast (+10 sec per day in my rough testing; +7.1 sec per day according to the machine).Not all boutiques have a tech right now, so call first. I was told that most of the US boutiques will have a technician on staff by early 2015.

new shoes for my SM300
NOS vintage SM300 on a Gunny strap. I have this thing for distressed leather.

324 SC movement issue - question
A few times in the past month my watch with the 324 SC movement has stopped around 11:45PM, despite having been worn all day, as though the movement doesn't have enough power to get over the hump of changing the date. After it stops, even after I wind it manually, the watch stops a few minutes or seconds later, short of midnight. If I reset the time to after the date change, the watch runs perfectly normally again. Does anyone know what is causing this? Does this just mean it needs a normal servicing?This used to happen once every few months and is now happening once a week or so. Most days it still works perfectly. The watch is worn at least 10 hours per day.