The Rolex Bubbleback 3131 watch was one of the first automatic watches produced in the 1930’s, as well as one of the earliest Rolex models manufactured.  While Rolex was not the first to create an automatic movement, the company patented its first successful self-winding wristwatch in 1932 and introduced the Bubbleback one year later.  Despite the well-known nickname, Rolex never officially called their Reference 3131 the “Bubbleback.”  It earned this.. Read More

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but sometimes we come across watches that make us want to gouge our own eyes out, or at least wonder what the designer was thinking. It’s just difficult to understand how something like these watches can make their way out of someone’s head to a drafting stage, into production, then to a display case and finally on to someone’s wrist. Someone along the.. Read More

Some of the early solar watches of the 1970s had innovative and unique designs to accommodate the array of photovoltaic solar cells needed to power them. In the 1990s, Citizen started to sell light-powered watches under the Eco-Drive series name. Since their introduction, solar devices have greatly improved their efficiency and thereby their capacity. Watchmakers have developed their technology such that solar-powered watches are now a major part of their range of watches.   Some.. Read More

One of the most difficult watch complications to produce, a minute repeater transforms a watch from mere timekeeping device to miniature music box. Pioneered by master horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet at the end of the 18th century, the minute repeater was always thought of as being the pinnacle of watchmaking design. To put it quite simply, a minute repeater watch can chime the exact time with the push of a button. Invented.. Read More

In this weeks blog post, I thought that I would go over some simple questions and answers on how your watch works. I have a lot of  customers that are getting a mechanical watch for the first time, so they are a bit confused on the “care and feeding of their new watch” . I hope this info is helpful. Can you wind an automatic watch? Yes, you can wind.. Read More

Today we take for granted that a watch can tell time, have an alarm, able to check your email, act as a phone and a whole host of other cool features.  Back in the late 80’s most of these ideas were still in the “science fiction category”.  Then along came Casio and they introduced watches that were way ahead of their time.  With the introduction of the Calculator watch, we.. Read More

When energy is stored in the mainspring, by winding, the train wheels begin to turn. This energy is carried from the barrel through the center, third and fourth wheels to the escape wheel. Considering the escapement as a unit, it can be seen that the escape wheel supplies the power, whereas the pallet transfers the rotary motion of the escape wheel into a back and forth motion of the pallet… Read More

Watches with “Complications” are some of the coolest timepieces sold today. I thought that this blog post would look over some watches that do a bit more than just tell time. Most of the complex tasks done by these watches are done with the Bezel.  A Bezel is the outer metal ring surrounding the watches crystal. This ring would have various numbers or markings and can rotate in one or.. Read More

There’s an indicator in your car showing when the fuel is about to run out and it’s time for us to head to the gas station. The power reserve indicator has a similar function in mechanical watches, showing the amount of power still reserved. In 1948, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced a power reserve indicator designed for production in a series of watches called the Powermatic which utilized the LeCoultre Caliber 481. Thus, Jaeger-LeCoultre was  the first watchmaking company.. Read More

Some people travel a lot and need to keep tabs on different time zones at different hours of the day. A world time watch accomplishes a similar task to the GMT or dual timezone; it shows the wearer a time zone in an area of the world other than home. A  GMT watch can only monitor one other selected time zone, the world timer shows the time for the main 24 time zones.. Read More