IWC Pilot's Watch Mark XVI mini review

This is the first "serious" watch that I have purchased for myself. To date, the only watches that I have bought and still keep today are my 18yr old G-Shock.. (amazingly, I have never changed the lithium battery on that watch and it is still keeping decent time), a couple of Swatches and a Seiko Black Monster I bought recently over Ebay.

Looking at the watch (its on my wrist as I am writing this), I feel that I am owning a slice of history. The International Watch Company or IWC is one of the watchmakers that has stayed true to its origins, mainly as a maker of classic dress watches that are slim and imminently wearable. I shot the picture to the right in B&W as the watch is black and white, it has a beautiful matt black dial with striking white hands.
It is a stainless steel watch equipped with an automatic mechanical Calibre 30110 movement with 42-hour power reserve. Apparently, it runs at 28,800 v.p.h. (this stands for vibration frequency, wiki it to find out what it means), convex sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating and secure against drop in air pressure, water-resistant to 60 metres and most importantly, it has IWC's classic antimagnetic characteristics due to its soft iron core. For more specs, check out https://www.iwc.com/collection/collection_detail.asp?l=en&mid=408.

The watch itself isnt too big - about 39mm and it feels very light on the wrist. Some people might say that this is the poor man's Big Pilot and they are right! The Big Pilot is too big for most people to wear as an everyday watch at a whopping 47mm!! The Mark XVI is nice & slim too, so it can fit well under long shirt sleeves. The crocodile strap that it comes with is the only slight disappointing thing about the watch - it is too thin and some of the stitching has started to come out! Besides that, it is a great watch and a piece of horology. How many people can boast of wearing a true "pilots watch"? Make sure you get a catalog when you buy the watch. It is a great read that describes IWC history and how their great watches came about. Hmm.. that Portugese 7 days on pg 170 looks quite appealing... haha!!

Seiko Black Monster SKX779 mini review

 

My very first automatic watch was a Seiko Monster. Its a fairly cheap watch (I bought it for less than USD 150) but it does not feel cheap e.g. the bezel operates very smoothly, the metal bracelet that came with mine had strong and beefy links and has a divers extension. It has a very attractive face with the large hour indicators swathed in lume. The drawback to the lume is that it does not seem to stay bright for as long as other watches e.g. watches using superluminova.

 

Another drawback to this watch are the fact that it uses a Hardlex crystal face which hardly is a drawback as I have had this watch for some time and there isnt a single scratch on the face. The 7s26 movement is a fairly robust movement (most Seikos are) and it is a non-winding (winding is achieved by shaking the watch) and non-hacking movement i.e. you cannot stop the movement once it gets moving.

 

In the picture below, you can see my watch on the rubber strap (which I actually prefer to the metal bracelet). Sometimes, I put a 20mm NATO strap on it and it looks great on that too.

Even though it is a great watch, I never end up wearing the Monster much. The main reason is the size of the watch - its around 42mm in diameter. I am not much of a big watch fan as I typically wear a long sleeved shirt during work and it just sticks out too much. The huge bezel which allows one to operate it wearing gloves is in no way as slim as the ones on the Submariner or the Seamaster. I feel that it is more of a tool watch - to be used on days where you are working or playing outdoors - chopping wood, diving etc.

My new, err old Panerai PAM 104

What a watch! Have been contemplating getting an automatic Panerai or a Rolex Submariner for a long time but after comparing the two - the PAM looked cooler, simpler and much much larger! Getting it second hand from the Paneristi Forum made much more sense as well. Going with the trend of large watches, I guess anything smaller than 40mm is really passe. Anyway, even being such a large watch, it still feels more comfortable than a smaller Rolex (it has a very smooth watch back with no sharp sticking out bits..). Looking forward to some straps soon... maybe a brown tan strap with a tang buckle... should be slightly easier to put on than the existing deployant buckle ;)