Jaquet Droz The Charming Bird Automaton Watch Sings And Dances
Museum objects produced by Jaquet Droz and his contemporaries (seen here) in the 18th century often take the form of automaton birds geared to emulate in eerie detail actual birds complete with movement and sound. Bird songs were produced by moving a piston style tube in and out of a shaft rapidly. A small air hole would whistle, sounding remarkably like a real bird. The mechanical bird figurines were designed to often have moving heads, wings, and even beaks. These machines were often parts of ornate clocks.For the first time ever, Jaquet Droz has produced a miniature automaton bird small enough to put into a timepiece. The Charming Bird watch features a bubble in the sapphire crystal for the bird, and a mechanical bird call to reproduce the sounds of a bird song. The remarkable movement developed by Jaquet Droz is exactly what the brand should have been working on from day one. Jaquet Droz smartly designed The Charming Bird with an open movement architecture so that the entire mechan

Looking at a cool million bucks
had to drop by the AP boutique in Bal Harbour to get a replacement strap for my watch and couldn't keep my eyes away from these. very impressive stuff.

speedmaster strap question
I'm completely new to Omega. Lately I've become interested in the sapphire sandwich speedmaster, either 3573 on a bracelet or 3873 on a strap. Love the watch itself, but having trouble getting excited about the Omega bracelet. Its probably just because its different than the Rolex oyster bracelets I'm used to, but its pretty likely that it will end up in the strap drawer. The croc strap seems nice, but I have some kind of phobia about single deployant buckles. I've never found them particularly comfortable or desirable.I see that 18mm Omega thumbnail buckles are readily available. Could I put a thumbnail buckle on the strap that comes with the 3873? Or would it be better to order a different croc strap that doesn't thin out at the end to accommodate the deployant? Does Omega make a strap for a thumbnail/tang buckle or has anybody had luck with another type of strap with a speedie? Thanks!

Seamaster ranchero
Here is an interesteing watch i picked up on ebay, a seamaster in the ranchero case. Some semasters from the 1950's where made with the same movement and encased in the same case as the famous ranchero. This particular one seems to be in excellent condition , with its case never having been polished.. it does need an omega crown, as often the crowns were replaced during service and where reoplaced with generic ones.here is some information onthe omega ranchero for those interested:home.xnet/~cmaddox/omega_ranchero.html

Sell to invest again...
am new to this site - so opinions would be superb!thoughts to selling IW503203 to invest in 5205r (black dial), 5130g or 5146g..