Rotary is renowned for its Swiss heritage and celebrates over 120 years of watchmaking expertise. This legacy was brought to life by Swiss watchmaker Moise Dreyfuss in 1895 in the Swiss town of La Chaux de Fonds - a family passion that carried on for four generations. Rotary Les Originales embraces the brand's Swiss.

Mechanical Watches Filter by Category: Also See: 6E/50 Observer's/Navigator's watch: 6E/50 is not a manufacturer but a military code assigned by the British Air Ministry during World War 2 to a type of pocket watch issued to observers and navigators in the Royal Air Force. These watches are very similar to the GSTP watches issued to the British Army (see examples below) except that they lack luminescent paint on their dials and hands. Accounts suggest that such watches were more practical than wristwatches as they could be laid on the maps and charts from which the airmen were working and be more easily read at a glance.. Accurist: This 9ct. Gold Accurist belonged to my paternal grandfather.

It has a 21 jewel movement but I've never dared to have a closer look for fear of scratching the case. Robin Armstrong from recently posted a neat about Accurist watches of this vintage that contains some pictures that really show off the super-slim case. Accurist MS906S: This stylish, modern Accurist from the range uses a solid and reliable workhorse from Japan. I haven't bought a watch for about a year and a half but, having spotted this on Amazon for crazy money I felt that it would be rude to not buy it! Normally retailing at £200, Amazon are currently (Christmas 2013) selling this for £45. That's seriously a lot of watch for the money.

[UPDATE] Here's taken on New Year's Eve of of this cracking watch. A week after purchase it's losing about 1 second per day which is better accuracy than my Chronometers costing ££££ achieve.

Alpha direct read: Alpha watches are made in China to an impressively high standard given their modest price. This one (which cost about £20 including delivery from Hong Kong) is reminiscent of the 'direct read' digital watches of the 1960's/1970's. The watch is powered by a mechanical, 21 jewel automatic movement. Harrison M400 Lathe Manual Cnc. Alpha Jump Hour: Perhaps not a true 'jump hour' as such, what they've done here is replace the hour and minute hands with dials that are numbered anti-clockwise. As the dials rotate clockwise, the time can then be read off against an index mark printed on the viewing window - an interesting addition to any collection I think. The watch is powered by a mechanical, 21 jewel automatic movement. Alpha 'Reverso' / Reversata: OK, so whilst this isn't a true JLC-type Reverso, it's a double-sided watch that can be worn one side up or the other.

To reduce the overall thickness of the final watch, the rotors at the bottoms of two automatic movements are removed. Thickness is further reduced by relocating the second hand from the centre position of one movement to a subdial located at 6 O'Clock and then removing the second hand of the other movement but exposing the balance wheel to serve the function of a second hand instead. The two movements are then fused together to form a double-sided, hand-winding watch with hands independently adjustable on each side giving dual time zone functionality. Alternatively, the hands on each side can of course be set to the same time and you can then just wear the watch whichever way up you like. Alpha Skeleton: Another little marvel from the Chinese Alpha stable. This time a 17 jewel manual wind skeleton watch in a 'tank' style. Benarus Bronze Moray: In 2011 there was a significant upsurge in the number of bronze-cased watches made by so-called 'micro' watch companies that produce watches in very small numbers compared to mainstream brands.

Bronze watches are produced by the likes of Anonimo, Helson, Kazimon, Magrette, Olivier and Zenton not to mention Panerai, although the latter can hardly be called a micro producer! Bronze is resistant to salt water corrosion so naturally lends itself well to maritime applications, including dive watches.

For those of us that don't dive but just love the dive watch look, bronze is very attractive because it will naturally develop a layer of oxide on its outer surface over time giving it a unique. Crack Am Gangsters 2 Iso. This bronze-cased dive watch is a Benarus Bronze Moray produced in August 2012. It has a titanium crown, helium escape valve and case back and a double-domed sapphire crystal.

Although it employs an ETA 2824-2 movement (the standard (and very good) workhorse movement employed by many Swiss watches) the overall fit, feel and finish of this watch is really quite remarkable. It certainly wasn't cheap, especially when you factor in that I had to import it from the US, but it was far less expensive than my Rolex and Breitling models and yet performs equally well and feels rather superior, like something massively over-engineered from Victorian times! It comes in a lovely travel case, has both leather and rubber straps and a screwdriver and spares for the screwed bars. At 44m wide it's quite a big watch and yet the case design with short, sloping lugs, suits even my slender.