Dezza

Was it totally a coincidence that Michael Sonsino has just posted reviews of the latest offerings from Breitling and Omega for their latest dive watches. Anyway, maybe I am biased because I do own a Breitling (1960's dress watch rather than a diver style watch) but don't own an Omega of any sort. I'm with Michael in terms of the Omega and his style preference for the mono colour variant rather than this latest green and bronze gold variant. But, what possessed them to use aluminium as the base material for the bezel insert, - aluminium oxidises, so one scratch to the coating and hey-presto, disaster. And with a cost of £10k. Now, to the Breitling, pared back styling harking back to their Superocean 1004 from 1957 (which for me, still remains a winner), the new Breitling uses ceramic (for it's anti scratch properties) on the bezel, and, at half the price of the Omega, wins hands-down (no pun intended). And, looks better. No doubt this will have the Omega officianadoes and Bond types seething, but opinions do differ on all topics, not just watches.

An interesting review of the Oracle Time awards 2024 (voting by Oracle Time readers, as opposed to staffers) a point noted by Sam. From my viewpoint, it was good to see watches from JLC and Longines listed, as these are two of my preferred manufacturers (as may be noted by my personal watch ownership from both of these). Interesting to see the category split and where the votes went for each. - I guess we collectors come from all demographics, so not really surprising to see very complex watches and very expensive watches being listed. Maybe it's just me but for most of us, having to consider selling one of our kidneys as a down payment on some of these watches or even used as a month's salary for the personal protection operative that would be needed to wear one of these watches in public, does skew the voting a little. The Vacheron Constantin Patrimony (in my opinion), deserved the best dress watch category, as it fits the criteria beautifully - minimalist, easy to read and stylish, however, at £25k illustrates my argument. My vote for the best travel watch would have gone for the Carl F Bucherer Heritage World Timer rather than the Longines Spirit Zulu Time, but I would have given the award to Longines for the best Field / Pilot watch for their Pilot Majetek. Best integrated sports would go to the Farer Endeavour Titanium. Having argued about the cost / demographics, all of the watches that I have listed are in the sub £10k area rather than the mega-cost bracket or even POA. Sadly, I can't expect to see any of the above watches being delivered to me by Santa this coming festive season. Carry on with the great reviews, despite my somewhat "Grinch that spoiled Christmas" post.

Yet another stylish watch from Farer, (the limited edition Endurance in gunmetal and jade green). I do personally like the look of the Farer range in general and have a personal favourite, (not yet in my ownership), but this new edition does fit into their range nicely. However, I do think they should have made a little more of the jade green features on the leather band. Whilst the jade colouring to the underside to the strap does provide the colour link, this is lost when being worn, I would personally have used a little jade on the outer surface, either by stitching or possibly a very subtle jade green stripe feature. Just a personal viewpoint. Otherwise, a very nice watch.