Website: SEIKO 5 Finder

Internet browsing yielded another watch related website which looks good and potentially useful.

SEIKO 5 Finder (link to site) is, as far as I can see, an enthusiast website on Seiko Fivers.

It offers info, search tips, pictures, advice, probably customization.

I am adding it to my collection of WWW watch related links which is on the right hand pane, scroll down to see.

My own Seiko 5 out of the year 2001 is here: ten years after: my seiko 5

It was after viewing the site that I realized that the "5" in Seiko 5 allegedly stands for 5 qualities:

1. Automatic winding
2. Day/date displayed in a single window
3. Water resistance
4. Recessed crown at the 4 o’clock position
5. Durable case and bracelet

As regards current Seiko 5s, they are certainly on my radar.

What I don't like about them is that they are much pricier now than they use to be, also seem to have round or rounded cases whereas I prefer the 1970=80s look - square, angular cases, faces etc. 

But what I definitely like about current Seiko Fivers is their display case backs.

My Seiko 5 ca. 2001

Seiko 5 movie

A Collection of Russian Watches

Another fine collection of Russian and other watches with excellent photography that I found on the net -- Paul Delury's.

Capturing Time: Russian Watches

Also from Paul Delury:

Watch Photo Collections -- Russian and other watches

Watch Photography with Paul Delury, including Photographic Basics.

I am going to study it myself (God knows I need to) and am adding the links to my watch links collection, see the side bar on the right.

Fakewatchbusta

Meet the Anonymous Instagram User Dedicated to Calling Out Rappers with Fake Watches

Funny stuff

Quote.

FakeWatchBusta calls himself “The Horological Batman," a vigilante out there policing these internet streets keeping everyone safe from the scourge that is fake high-end timepieces (“Horology” = the study of watches and keeping time; it comes from the same Greek word from which we get “hour.”) Armed with only an eye for detail and a smartphone, FWB puts anyone flossing a replica watch on blast. He’s had his accounts canceled, legal threats, and a lot of pissed off ballers, but he will not be stopped!

 Thanks also for explaining what horology means. No doubt some get wrong ideas.

BBC - Capital - Is that watch on your dresser valuable?

Britain's government-run official (biased) news and entertainment provider, the BBC, on watch collecting.

BBC - Capital - Is that watch on your dresser valuable?

Some pearls of wisdom:

Eric Fleming, a residential real estate broker in New York City, got turned on to watch-collecting six years ago when a client gave him some timeless advice. The client, who worked for jeweler Harry Winston, told Fleming he would never be able to sell a $4m apartment wearing a cheap watch.

Fleming, who was wearing a $400 Tissot sports watch back then, listened — and then some. The 37-year-old has since amassed a collection of 11 watches, ranging from a $250 Luminox sports watch to an $11,000 Rolex Yacht-Master Platinum. 

On the history of watch collecting

Vintage watch-collecting — which began in earnest in the 1980’s in Italy and Germany — is now a global phenomenon, 

I have a feeling that it started much earlier than that.

This is more or less true:

You don’t have to be a jet-setter to buy a watch worth collecting. Watch enthusiasts can go to a neighborhood flea market or local dealer to scoop up an early Swatch that is now highly collectible, such as limited-edition models designed by artists like Keith Haring, which can go for as much as $1,000 at auction. Other reasonably-priced models to look for are mechanical Omega and Heuer watches from the 1960s and 1970s. They could be purchased for as little as $200 only five years ago, and now go for $2,000 on eBay.

Yes, prices have gone up across the board. 

So called “complicated” watches, or those that display more than hours and minutes, are among the most collectible. That is because collectors, who are predominantly male and often in their mid-20s to 40s, are drawn to the watch’s mechanism. “It’s similar to car collecting, there’s a strong technical appeal, with over 400 parts put into something the size of a postage stamp,” said Joe Thompson, editor-in-chief of WatchTime, a US-based watch enthusiasts’ magazine. “Guys find it fascinating to know what’s going on under the hood.”

Business tips

For those who simply want to invest in the trend, there is a watch fund, Precious Time, which buys the best vintage watches, in the rarest configurations, from top brands such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and Breguet. The fund — started by a Milan-based collector, Alfredo Paramico, who has amassed what some experts consider one of the finest collections in the world — holds the watches, then sells them at an appropriate time to collectors for a profit.

Then it goes into some really expensive (and overpriced) stuff.

 

G-Shocks Website

A large website on G-Shocks -- g-shock.jp -- looks like an official Casio website.

Lots of data, pictures, links, functions, models, series, everything  

Home page of g-shock.jp (link).

You can select your region in the lower right corner, including, say, Europe in English, but you can also stay on the Japanese website which has a lot more information while all models and navigation buttons are still in English so no problem navigating the site. 

Products page, including new models, model search, etc. (link)

G-Shock catalogs - downloadable G-Shock catalogs (link)

G-Shock Perfect Search - a power search engine for all models in all series.

And also other information for G-Shock lovers.

Choosing a G-Shock

An excellent and very useful WUS forum thread on choosing G-Shocks, especially for first-time buyers or collectors wishing to expand into Casio G-Shock collecting -- START HERE -- Choosing your G-Shock (link).

Lots of useful information:

Explanation of lettered prefixes - the most important, such as: DW, GW, G, as well as all the others. 

Classification by series: 2300, 5000 (5600), 6900, 7000, 8900 and

Master of G

And the discontinued Masters of G.

Very handy... for me too as I am thinking of buying my first G-Shock, I need to have at least one. at the moment leaning to something out of the 30th anniversary edition.

Shared: Wie spät ist es, Kosmonaut?

An article in German by Markus Boehm in der Standard.at about the first wristwatch in outer space which happens to be a Russian watch -- Yuri Gagarin's watch.

Link to the article:

Russische Uhren: Wie spät ist es, Kosmonaut?

Picture of said watch, borrowed from the article.

Shared: Can Stopped Watches Really Help Determine Time of Death?: Detective fiction, or forensic fact? - Washington City Paper

Some reading on the subject of stopped watches from the Washington City Paper

Can Stopped Watches Really Help Determine Time of Death?: Detective fiction, or forensic fact? - Washington City Paper

It goes like this:

In detective fiction, a common plot device is the broken clock or watch that tells the time of the murder. Does this ever happen? Has a broken clock or watch ever been admitted as evidence in a murder trial to show the time of the crime? —Oscar Colombo, Maryland

 

This is one of those tropes future consumers of vintage whodunits are going to find unintelligible. It’s not like we don’t use timekeeping devices anymore; on the contrary, I’m still waiting for clothing manufacturers to resize that little pouch in a pair of pants to fit the pocket watch known as an iPhone. However, the day will surely come when someone reading Agatha Christie’s 1963 novel The Clocks (the murder victim is found surrounded by clocks stopped at 4:13) is going to say: A clock with stopped hands? What the hell is that? 

Be that as it may, we found many real-life murder cases where a stopped timepiece had been used to determine the time of death. In 1867 Joseph Humphrey was found dead near Yuba City, Calif., having been attacked by an unknown assailant with a hammer. The time of death was fixed by a silver watch with a broken crystal in the victim’s pocket, showing about 11 PM. 

In 1919, taxi driver Dosylva Cote was waylaid and beaten to death while en route between Worcester and Clinton, Mass. Although his automobile was taken, his money and watch were not. The watch had stopped at 3:30 AM and restarted when shaken, thus likely indicating the time of death. 

And in 1935 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Coleman of Spotsylvania, Virginia, were murdered and thrown into a well. One clue left behind by the killers was an antique eight-day pendulum clock stopped at 8:20, apparently when the cabinet door was opened to search for money. 

In other instances, a stopped watch figured in a murder trial: In 1857, Charles Littles of Rochester, New York, was murdered by his brother-in-law Ira Stout for allegedly mistreating his wife, Stout’s sister Sarah. (The fact that Littles had discovered his wife and BIL were having an incestuous affair may have been a contributing factor.) Sarah and Ira lured Charles to a nearby riverbank one night, where Ira bludgeoned him with an iron mallet and shoved his body into the water. When Ira was tried for the murder, a piece of evidence against him was Charles’s broken watch—stopped at 8:40 PM, the time of the killing. 

In 1954 not one but two damaged watches were involved in one of the most famous murder cases of the 20th century: that of Dr. Sam Sheppard, accused of beating his wife, Marilyn, to death. Watch one, which belonged to Marilyn, was initially reported to have stopped at 3:12, presumably indicating the time of death; later, though, one investigating officer said it had read 11:30, and a police evidence photo showed it reading 8:05. Watch two, belonging to Sam, was covered with blood and found in a green bag on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie, near the Sheppard home. This watch had stopped at 4:15, apparently when water got into it. Sheppard claimed this had happened innocently prior to the murder, and that he then got blood on the watch (which he evidently was still wearing in the middle of the night even though it was broken) while checking his wife’s pulse. The alternative theory seems to be that after killing his wife, Sheppard threw the bloody watch into the lake, then thought better of it. Sheppard was convicted and imprisoned but acquitted years later after a second trial. 

In 2004 Ivan Camacho was found dead in a remote part of southern California with multiple stab wounds and other injuries, wearing a smashed and bloody wristwatch stopped at 3:19 AM, which investigators took to be the time of death. Camacho had last been seen alive at 2:45 AM with his friend Ricardo Machuca, and Machuca was next seen at about 4 with a fresh cut on his finger. Machuca was found guilty of first-degree murder. 

In the aforementioned cases, the broken timepiece wasn’t pivotal in convicting a criminal. But we found one where it was. 

In 1941 Merrill Joss was tried in Maine for the bludgeoning death of his wife, Luverne. Witnesses testified that Merrill said he’d left the house at 8 PM and returned at most 12 minutes later to find Luverne dead. But her watch, broken and bloodied, was stopped at 8:16. What’s more, Merrill didn’t call the police until 9:03, 47 minutes after the watch had stopped. He was convicted and sentenced to prison. 

Despite advancing technology, dramatists still resort to the stopped-watch gambit. In a recent episode of the TV series Criminal Minds, for example, a serial killer places a watch stopped at 6:22 on victims’ wrists. This seems a bit musty. Surely in an era of ubiquitous metadata and mobile devices with accelerometers, a modern Poirot might determine not just the time and place of a victim’s death, but the force of the fatal blow. 

—Cecil Adams

Horological Dictionary

In this post on a Russian watch forum, there is a link to a large multilingual horological dictionary of terminology and component part numeration, Horological Dictionary, Edition 1976.

Slava Watches Catalogs 2013

Slava watches catalog -- the 2013 collection

Personally I don't find Slava's current models very appealing but they look better in real life. All Slava mechanical movements, except the cal. 2415, are used.

Spetstnaz watches catalog 2013

Mechanical movements are represented exclusively by the ST1612 and the Miyota 8215.

Konstantin Chaykin – It’s Russian Time!

Konstantin Chaykin – It’s Russian Time!

About Konstantin Chaykin, an independent watchmaker based in Moscow, Russia, with pictures of his unusual watches, from Dream Chrono. 

PTS Resources Catalogs 2012 and 2013

PTS Resources Limited is a Hong Kong-based supplier of watch movements. The company offers Chinese movements -- pretty much everything from hand-winding movements, to automatics, skeletons and to movements with various complications, including tourbillon movements, as well as movements from other countries.

More information about PTS Resources is on the Chinese Watch Industry Wiki website, including a recent review and an explanation of their caliber designations.

PTS Resources-supplied movements are used by many watchmaking companies around the world, and here in Russia I have certainly seen their movements in watches made by some Russian companies (usually the cheaper ones, the cal. 2650S skeleton is, you can say, ubiquitous). 

PTS Resources Limited website.

Two catalogs can be viewed from the company website:

PTS Resources 2012-13 Catalog

PTS Resources 2013-14 Catalog

Nika Commercial

A Nika youtube ad.




Nika of Russia makes watches in gold cases, with gold bracelets etc., utilizing imported quartz and mechanical movements, Swiss and Japanese mainly... Now if only they made a watch with, say, a Vostok movement...

Link: Seiko Catalog 2011-12

Seiko Catalog Australia 2011-2012, link opens a large PDF file.

Many Seiko models, some info, product matrix and even instructions for some models, 90 pages, many pictures and... funny prices too!

Volmax Watch Catalogs 2013

Mechanical alarm wristwatches - Poljot 2612 movement, Open Outer Space series.

Mechanical alarm watches -Volmax 2013


Sturmanskie watches, quartz and mechanical, series Sputnik, Arktika, Gagarin, Outer Space Pioneers, Open Outer Space, Ocean (Okeah), Traveler, Mars.

Sturmanskie by Volmax 2013 - a large and picture heavy PDF file, 45 pages.

Link: Guide to Seiko's Main Collectible Wristwatches

An excellent Spanish watch forum thread on Seiko's main models (google-translated into English here).

With pictures, listed are Seiko watches with their own unofficial or semi-official (sometimes even official) names, not just letters and numbers, and they may even be arranged in alphabetical order, top to bottom. But official Seiko designations are also given, so you can easily find them, should you want to do so.

I find these "named" Seikos more interesting -- what with names like "monster", "tuna can", "alpinist", "alien", etc. Well worth a read and a look and in fact can be used as a reference, hence this post. I am definitely going to add some Seikos to my collection some time soon.

Raketa Early Bitcoin Adopter

It appears that Russian watch manufacturer Raketa is an early adopter of Bitcoin currency and may even be the first watch company in the world to do so according this Bitcoin gets big bets from tech industry.

Quote:

While it's unclear whether regulators will sign off on the untested concept, Bitcoin is increasingly finding favour with merchants that range from blogging site Reddit to watch manufacturer Raketa.

Watchmaker Alexander Shorokhoff in the Jakarta Globe

In this article from the Jakarta Globe evocatively headlined "In the Land of Rubber Time, Watches Still Have Meaning", Tunggul Wirajuda introduces Indonesia's watch lovers and collectors to the watchmaker Alexander Shorokhoff and his watches.

The article starts by quoting Alexander Shorokhoff making some bold claims -- saying that he employs "no watchmakers but only watch masters", also saying that movements, fine engravings and parts in his watches are all handmade and that that is the reason why they only make 500 watches of all types annually, and also says that Alexander Shorokhoff himself designs his timepieces from the eponymous collection. 

Alexander Shorokhoff is also quoted in the article saying that while the Shorokhoff brand is obscure compared to Patek Philippe or TAG Heuer, wearing his watches is apparently more of a statement. The author then goes on to quote Alexander Shorokhoff saying that his is the only company in the world at the moment that makes true avant-garde watches.

The author then writes that Jakarta's watch buffs now get a chance to buy Shorokhoff’s watches, as Indonesia's retail chain Red Army Watches has added them to its collection of Russian products that already include Poljot and Vostok. The article says that, sold for an average price of between Rp 14 million to Rp 33 million ($1,300-$3,000), Shorokhoff’s watches range from the unassuming yet elegant chronographs to exquisitely crafted timepieces. 

According to the article Shorokhoff's watches are made in Germany and there is a bit of personal history behind the fact -- Shorokhoff first came to Germany in 1991, just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He  was among 20 or so managers sent to the West by Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, to learn about "free trade", which was in line with his (some would say misguided) policy of Glasnost and Perestroika, and Shorokhoff's been living there since. A year later he founded a marketing company to market and sell Russia’s most iconic watch — the Poljot — to the West.

Then in 1995, Alexander Shorokhoff started making watches himself under the label “Poljot International” to meet international demand after Poljot’s manufacturing center, the First Moscow Watch Factory, was, as he claims, unable to do so.

The article goes on to say that Shorokhoff started up Alexander Shorokhoff Watches, based in the small German town of Alzenau, in 2003 after the distinctive designs he made for Poljot International began to be in demand around the world.

Shorokhoff said the designs are inspired by his observations of watch lovers around the world, as well as his eye for avant-garde aesthetics and Russian traditions.

This is reflected in Alexander Shorokhoff’s Heritage collection of watches, a nod to his Russian roots. Named after iconic Russian cultural figures like Leo Tolstoy, Alexandr Pushkin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, they have a vintage, 19th-century feel combined with modern precision technology. Produced to a limit of 25 pieces per watch, the timepieces embody Shorokhoff’s notions of individuality.

In conclusion the article says Shorokhoff has plans to add to his line of watches, which currently numbers about 40 timepieces. What he has up his sleeve has yet to be revealed, concludes the author.

Alexander Shorokhoff in a picture from the article.

Design for Denissov Watches

Have you ever wondered who makes watch designs for Denissov?

Well I am about to tell you whether you have or haven't. It would appear that Katia Helwig and her design firm are responsible for most of the Denissov designs as well as most of the watch designs of other remaining Poljot offshoots.

Check out these links.

http://keyhelwig.com/en/portfolio/nautiulus.php

Not everything works on the site. To navigate, use pictures on the right, first navigate between projects on far right, then click for pictures in the other column. 

http://watchdesignconsulting.com/

It seems even a tourbillon was once on the cards. Picture from the site.

There's also this large PDF in the download section, which suggests that her most recent work is Mars for Volmax (opens a pdf file).

http://watchdesignconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/helwig08_2013.pdf

Link: Cameras disguised inside coat zips and bugs hidden in tree trunks: Fascinating insight into the crafty tricks and devious gadgets German spies used during the Cold War

A Daily Mail Online article on, as it says in the title, spy gadgets used by the Ministry for State Security of the German Democratic Republic.

Including this picture of what appears to be a Ruhla chronograph watch fitted with a tiny microphone.

On second thought, it may well be some Swiss watch from the 1950-60s or even from the 1940s.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2423361/Crafty-tricks-devious-gadgets-German-spies-used-Cold-War-revealed.html#ixzz2fHWzdNFN