Breitling quietly introduced two Limited Edition’s of its popular B50 with black titanium ‘Night Mission’ cases and ‘Cobra Yellow’ dials. And one of them -being part of the infamous Diamondworks program- is fully set. With black diamonds.

Notwitstanding the fact that a diamond-set titanium case is a very rare sight – and much more so a black-coated titanium case-, I think it’s safe to say that this one (ref. VB5010AU.I525.155S) represents an acquired taste. Its diamond-less brother (ref. VB50105T.I525.155S) on the other and looks rather smashing – a 30th Anniversary Aerospace on steroids. It’s limited to 100 pieces, only available at Breitling boutiques, so rush if you’re interested!

Find our more details of the Breitling B50 Night Mission Boutique Edition and the Breitling B50 Night Mission Diamondworks on WatchBase.

Vacheron Constantin just introduced the latest member of its exclusive Métiers d’Art collection: the La Légende du Zodiaque Chinois (Legend of the Chinese Zodiac) Year of the Monkey.

The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Monkey is available in either pink gold or platinum; both are limited to 12 pieces only. The former features a bronze-toned grand feu enamel dial, while on the latter the grand feu is done in cool blue.

Find our more details of the Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art La Légende du Zodiaque Chinois Year of the Monkey in platinum or pink gold on WatchBase.

Our archive of Métiers d’Art watches currently holds 58 watches and is going strong!

Yeah guys – finally made it to 10.000!

It’s been some 8 months since the 3k update, so about 1.000 watches a month – that’s taking my holidays into account.

Few points worth noting;

• Vacheron Constantin current catalogue is (nearly) complete.
• Glashütte Original current catalogue is complete.
• A. Lange & Söhne full catalogue is slowly progressing. I’m adding rare references every time I come across a picture.
• Few smaller brands such as Defakto & Steinhart also have their full current catalogues online. These are including price lists. I will work on that for the others.
• There are now almost 1.000 calibers in our database – 972.
• I’m currently working on Zenith which is fun and should be done quite soon; then I’m planning on getting ready for auction season with a focus on vintage and next up SIHH and BaselWorld. Time flies.

That’s it for now – I’ll be in touch soon. And yes, the Spectre wristshot is completely random.

Yes, yes, YES –  we have all read the posts on each and every watch blog out there regarding the new Omega Seamaster 300 Spectre 233.32.41.21.01.001. And yes indeed, it’s a great watch.

But here’s a fun bit of information that I just found out and that I haven’t seen on any other blog – it seems that it will be delivered with a completely brushed bracelet. NO POLISHED CENTRE LINKS! The ref. of the bracelet is 020STZ003184. The regular Seamaster 300 in stainless steel is fitted with the 020STZ000768. For the sake of completeness, the reference number of the ‘007’ looped NATO strap is 025STZ003207.

Set to be released in September, we’l see soon enough if any of the above is true…

The dial we had seen of course, but here’s a closer look;

The logo is rather oversized – and it was not small on the regular version to begin with. But I’m sure we’ll now be able to tell it’s an Omega in every single scene of the movie 😉 .

Cheers!

Dale

This is fun.

Whilst batch editing a couple of Baume & Mercier watches this afternoon, I came across this little gem.

Baume & Mercier always flies under the radar for most of us into watches, but this is actually a pretty cool piece. I first noted it because of its price tag – quite a bit higher than its siblings like the 10029 and 10030. As I’m no expert on these, I had to investigate further. Listed as stainless steel – correct according to the Baume & Mercier ‘Master Line’ dealer catalogue. Than I noted the exceedingly small ‘Manufacture Movement’ under the pictograms. Whut? Double checking their website it says ‘Movement Designation: Self-winding, Manufacture Movement’ This can’t be right, can it?

No it can’t. Turns out the movement is supplied by JLC – a caliber 751 variation stripped of its running (small) seconds. Still a pretty cool watch though.

In celebration of the Gay Pride that’s taking place in our city of residence (Amsterdam) this weekend, we’re kicking off today with few G-Shock uploads to bring a bit of color to WatchBase.

Casio G-Shocks have long been my favorite watches for sports, especially the iconic ‘squares’ like the 5600 and 5000 series. The collectors community behind these is very much alive and thriving too, and theirs a wealth of information to be found online. Two of my favorite resources are the WatchUSeek ‘F17’ G-Shock forum and the 50 G’s Blog by my friend Sjors.

As much as I love (vintage) mechanical watches, I’m very much looking forward to adding more G-Shocks to our database!

There are 96 handwound Speedmasters listed on WatchBase today and we’re nowhere near finished. Still a pretty cool overview though. One of my favourites is the 3593.20.00 pictured above, created as a limited edition of 500 pieces in 1997 for the Italian market to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Speedmaster. That off-white dial is just stunning!

With the aim of creating a better oversight with all the Speedmasters on WatchBase, I have now made a distinction between the handwound models and those with other movements; automatic, quartz and tuning fork.

At the moment, there are 809 815 movements in our database. Many high-end with spectacular functions. But have you ever heard of the ETA 2825-2?

This caliber first appeared in 2013. Taking the popular 2824-2 as a base, this movement uses a clever module which allows for the seconds hands to be fitted at 12 different locations. The hour and minute hand can also be fitted at the center, giving 13 different options for these two hands. This allows the brands using this caliber (Hamilton, Tissot, & Certina are the ones listed for now) to create some cool off-center and regulator style displays at an affordable price. Which is rather cool I think.

While BaselWorld is already a good number of months behind us, there’s still information trickling in that previously either was not available or just plain escaped my attention. While today I’d like to focus on these four new additions to our Omega Watch Database, you might notice that I’ve uploaded quite a few more..

First up: the Omega Seamaster Bullhead Rio 2016 reference 522.12.43.50.04.001. This limited edition of 316 pieces is created in honour of the 2016 Rio Olympics and features the colours of the Brazilian flag, but blue taking a lead. It is said to be sold out already though.

Then there’s this: the Seamaster 300 in yellow gold reference 233.60.41.21.01.002. You might’ve not been aware, but previously ‘Sedna’ was the only option if you were looking for a gold faux-vintage diver. I actually like this classic yellow gold version more though. It’s also available with a leather strap – as are all other Seamaster 300’s.

This one I LOVE, saw, noted, but had no decent picture of: the Omega Speedmaster First Omega in Space Sedna Gold reference 311.63.40.30.02.001. It’s so stunning! This watch uses the same case as the regular FOiS, with the signature straight lugs and lack of crownguards. It’s now done in ‘Sedna’ gold though. Just like its stainless steel brother, this one is said to be numbered though not limited.

Last up – the Speedmaster Mark II reference 327.20.43.50.01.001 in stainless steel / Sedna. I vaguely remember seeing this one at BaselWorld but it seem to have forgotten about it. Two-tone is an acquired taste but this one actually looks quite restrained. Probably a fun watch for the summer.

BOOM! You’re looking at the first full overview of the 2015 ceramic Speedmaster collection – at the time of this post, it is not even available at OmegaWatches.com…

While most of them were uploaded to our Omega watch database around Basel, the two diamond versions were not as we we’re waiting on the final reference numbers and ‘soldier shots’.  The first (and most surprising) one, reference 311.98.44.51.55.001, features a white ceramic case, a mother-of-pearl dial with diamond-set markers and a diamond-set bezel and its fitted with a white alligator strap. Controversial? Sure. I’m pretty sure it would look very cool on the wrist of the right lady, while it would take quite a confident man to pull this one off…

Another one that’s new to our database is of course the reference 311.98.44.51.51.001, a Speedmaster with a black ceramic case with diamond-set bezel and a deep black dial with diamond-set markers. It’s wrong. It’s weird. But somehow, I kinda dig it. Don’t judge!

Smaller news comes in the form of the Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon reference 311.93.44.51.99.002 and Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon reference 311.92.44.51.01.003, both of which are identical to their earlier counterparts in all but the buckles; the new ones are fitted with a folding buckle in a mix of titanium and ceramic.

The four other additions we’ve covered before, but here are the links for the sake of completeness: Sedna Black, Pitch Black, Black Black and Vintage Black. That’s all folks!