Longines Ladies Dolce Vita - ETA 980.153 Battery & Strap change

Time for another battery/strap change!

Longines Ladies Dolce Vita

This time on the Missus's Longines Dolce Vita. The Dolce Vita is an extremely popular watch for ladies, being fairly well priced (at the retail level) and it is a very elegant and classy watch, at the same time very versatile. You can dress it up or down and comes with many different dial colours and styles. Hers is the beige dial with black roman numerals, giving it a hint of Cartier...

Yes - Dick Smith battery. The size was common enough and I couldn't be bothered buying the battery on ebay then waiting for it to be sent over from China.

The Dolce Vita has a snap-on case back, so fairly easy to open with the right tool. It is very tight (as it should be) so best to leave one side of the bracelet on the watch, as the end link gives you some leverage to pry open the case back. (Otherwise the case back sits very flush with the case, and you risk damaging the case/scratching the case/deep gouges on the edges which are all big no-nos when it's the Missus's watch. Even if it is already scratched to buggery...)

Leave one side of the bracelet on to use as leverage

Once it's popped open, all smooth sailing from here. As most other quartz watches, there really isn't much to see. Simple plastic casing ring with a Longines L178 movement, aka ETA 980.153. What I do find interesting is that Longines has also signed the movement with name and calibre. (Tag Heuer didn't do this with their quartz movement) I'm pretty indifferent about this aspect. It's a quartz movement that in general consumers don't see, so... meh... Battery size fitted here is 379, but according to the manual a 317 will also fit. However you'll find that the 379 is much, much more common...

Very basic movement with plastic casing ring. Nothing to write home about.

The movement is again very common. If you see a ladies watch with 3 hands, small seconds at 6:00, More likely than not this would be the movement. Haven't heard anything bad about it, so I'm going to assume that it's reliable enough. As a smaller movement it is not much cheaper to replace, a quick glance over the interwebs prices the movement at around about USD25-35.

Snapping the case back in place takes a bit of pressure but easily done. The Dolce Vita unfortunately has a less-common lug width (outside the norm of 14mm, 16mm, 18mm 20mm, etc) at 15mm across, meaning it can be a little more difficult to find aftermarket straps to fit. As the watch is quite small, a 1mm difference can be quite huge (unlike, say, squeezing a 24mm wide strap into a 23mm lugth width which would be ok...)

The versatility of the watch comes into play once again with straps. You can fit almost any colour strap to the watch (provided you can find them in 15mm width) Here it is with a lovely white strap to give it that summer feeling.

Yes- again, this is not taking into consideration the water resistant ability of the watch after the battery change. But it's not really a watch you'd stick in water anyway, and as it is, a bit of rain will not cause damage. 

Ladurée Macarons Vs Generic Macarons

Now, I have a Confession. Going into writing this I was hoping to reach a controversial conclusion.  Akin to saying something like a Toyota is better than a Porsche. No. For those who can't be bothered reading (why are you here?) the result is as expected. The Ladurée macarons are better than the el cheapo generic ones. No surprises there. I was hoping, really hoping that the generic ones would shine through, but that hope diminished the moment I saw the generic ones in the counter. (made the mistake of buying the Laduree ones first).

Laduree Macarons

Another confession. I ain't never heard of Ladurée until I saw the lines in Westfield. Yes I have heard of macarons (thank you mr/s cynical - I won't even go into macaron vs macaroon...) Tasted them even. But I'm not what you would call a connoisseur. So I'm looking at these little overpriced sweets from a layman's point of view. As in, would someone like me tell the difference between an 80 odd cent macaron and one costing $3.20? Sadly the answer is yes. And the difference I would dare say is more than $2.40 worth. Not that I think $3.20 a macaron is worth it. But bear with me.

No one expected the lines at Ladurée to last forever but the fact that there's a line at all us somewhat of a miracle in this economic climate. There is a great article here about masspiration. And these macarons, like your LV bag and Rolex watch is an aspirational purchase. It makes you feel good inside to enjoy a little bit of "luxury". And if you look at it this way - $3.20 in exchange for say, 30 seconds of luxury? How do you price 30 seconds of bliss? (well, actually that would depend on the flavour but we'll come to that. ) but enough with the philosophical thoughts and let us get into the actual macaron comparo. I did want to include zumbos but there was no easy way for me to get them...

Even Laduree Macrons aren't perfect... But I'm nitpicking here...

Appearance wise the Ladurée macarons are much more consistent in look, feel and size. Although they are by no mean perfect. Some fillings are thicker on one side making the macaron look lopsided. Some crusts are also cracked but I suppose they've come a long way (from Switzerland) so that's to be expected. The colours are vibrant but I'm not sure if that's a good thing health wise. However the vibrant colours does make them look much more appealing.

The generic macarons. Much more inconsistent

The generic macarons are anything but consistent. You get a variety of sizes and thickness. You kinda wish they would pick out the thicker ones as you get more filling! The colours are softer as if they been through the wash once too many. Advertised as freshly baked on site but you'd be hard pressed to see the difference.

Side by side comparison between the Laduree and the generic

Taste really comes down to what you like as some flavours of the Ladurée macarons appealed less than others. But majority consensus seem to agree -salted caramel is da bomb. I didn't much care for the strawberry nor the chocolate but thoroughly enjoyed lemon, coffee and pistachio. The filling is amazing. Even more so when compared back to back to the generic macarons. The texture is smooth, thick and chewy, and tastes like what it says on the signs (as opposed to the generic ones which is more just a sugar hit with colouring. You can Jussssst taste what the flavour is but not much difference between the various flavours). The Ladurée crust also holds together better than the generic which tend to crumble with each bite.

Incidentally we passed by Pattison cafe and they were also selling macarons at $2.50 a pop. These are very close in quality to the Ladurée ones. Minus the fancy packaging. Which would run towards a dollar at least. From a layman's perspective the $2.50 Pattison ones are more than adequate. Plus they also make the all important salty caramel flavour.

Pattison special - 2 for $4. Not too bad at all

So it comes down to this. I wouldn't get the generic ones again. Ladurée and other name brands are just that- you're paying extra for the name. Or if you want to impress someone. I think you can easily get really good macarons freshly baked well in the $2 to $2.50 region. Practically speaking. But at the end of the day it's more than just simply the macarons. Isn't it?

Although the macarons by themselves are pretty good it's more about the whole experience in which you enjoy them. Eating by yourself next to a dumpster and they won't taste quite as nice as if you had great companions seated in a gorgeous cafe looking out into the sea with soft Spring breeze caressing your skin. It really is about the experience and that is something which cannot be priced. But it's yours for $19.95 plus tips.

The experience is priceless and that is ultimately what you're paying for. And that little bit of luxury escape before waking up to reality once again...

Bond 50th Anniversary - Christie's Charity Auction

Bondmania is well and truly alive.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Bond movie franchise, Christie's held a charity auction, offering up memorabilia from the Bond films from Dr No to the latest blockbuster Skyfall releasing this year.

Notable results from the auction? The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean as worn by Craig Daniel in the movie Skyfall went under the hammer for a smidgeon over a quarter of a million dollars. (157,250 pounds) You might think this is a lot to pay for a second hand watch that just tells the time! Its hammer price is even higher than that for the BMW Z8 as featured in "The World Is Not Enough" (albeit a pre-production replica), which went for "only" 70,000 pounds.

The Omega Planet Ocean as worn by Daniel Craig in Skyfall - image from Christie's

However, if you read the fine prints, this particular Omega is a one-off (piece unique) made for the film, in titanium (regular production models are in stainless steel). So I guess this makes it a better value than that second hand piece worn in the movie Casino Royale, complete with dirt, which went for 250,000 CHF ($260,000) at the Antiquorum Omegamania auction a few years back... and it's only on a rubber strap...

The Omega Planet Ocean from the Antiquorum Omegamania - image from Antiquorum

If you want a piece of Bond timepiece, you have the choice of the Skyfall limited edition Planet Ocean, or the Bond 50th anniversay Seamaster Professional, or, if you just want the look without the Bond connotations, there are also regular Planet Oceans and Seamaster Professionals available at your local authorised Omega retailer...

Skyfall limited edition

Bond 50th Anniversary limited edition

James Bond was first issued the Omega Seamaster Professional Quartz in the movie Goldeneye. He then was upgraded to an automatic version in the subsequent missions. When Daniel Craig took over Bond duties for Casino Royale, he wore both the Omega Seamaster Professional and the Planet Ocean. In his latest assignment Skyfall he upgraded to the latest Planet Ocean model powered by the Omega's inhouse movement calibre 8500.

1st Omega Bond watch - screencap from Goldeneye

Lewis Hamilton F1 - The Important Questions... (UPDATED)

The biggest news right now in the F1 paddock at the moment is Lewis Hamilton. He has left Vondafone Mclaren Mercedes and move to Mercedes AMG Petronas for 2013 onwards. But the following important questions remains...



1.What’s going to happen to his character on Tooned? How are they going to write him out of the story? I quite like the characters they have at the moment on Tooned… Maybe Perez will have a new starring role in the show? and



2.How will the IWC Ingenieur look on Lewis’s wrist? (because we know IWC has signed up to be the engineering partner for the team, and Ingenieur (French for Engineer) just happened to be a line of watches from IWC, AND the range is due for a refresh… more speculations...)



And to a lesser extent,

3.Will Jenson be the one telling us a fascinating story about a perfect watch born more than 150 years ago?

Only Time will tell. Pun intended.

On The Wrist - Longines HydroConquest Chronograph XL

The HydroConquest is part of Longines's renewed push back into the sports watch arena. They were very well known for their sports watches and sports sponsorship in the past but had taken their focus off sports watches in the 90s and 2000s for some reason. This doesn't mean they completely neglected the sports line. They'd just made a half arsed effort… if that.

The decision to get back into the game for sports watches in the middle of the noughties was a very welcomed move and they went all in, launching with a number of lines: Conquest, HydroConquest, Grand Vitesse and Admiral. Some of these names you've seen before while others are new lines.

Longines Grande Vitesse

Longines Conquest

I like the fact that they've come up with very classy ad distinct styling to separate the lines. They have also priced the watches extremely well, making the sports line excellent value for money when you compare them to the likes of Tag Heuer, or even their in-group offerings from Omega.

We need to keep in mind that Longines, prior to becoming part of the Swatchgroup family, was a proper watchmaking house viewed in the same vein as omega. They manufactured in-house movements and were highly respected. Not that they're not respected nowadays but the intra-group structure kinda dictated their positioning…

This particular HydroConquest is rarely seen, possibly due to its size but I'll get to that in a minute. This line is in my opinion the sportiest in styling out of all the Sports collections, but having said that it is still quite versatile, as Longines has managed to add elegance to their sports, which makes sense in keeping with the whole “Elegance is An Attitude” thing.

The HydroConquest Chronograph XL - those two letters at the end gives the game away doesn't it? One would say that 47mm doesn’t warrant the XL tag any more, but this is also quite a chunky watch, and if you fit the non-tapering stainless steel bracelet to it, you could almost use it to tone your muscles. But size aside the overall proportion of the watch is excellent. This is also partly due to the use of the Valjoux 7753 movement, (a tri-compax version of the 7750) giving the dial much needed balance. And the way the lugs are shaped it sits very nicely on smaller wrists. It will look big, but it won't feel like you've strapped a clock/dinner plate onto your wrist.

Speaking of 7753 movements there are a couple of gripes I have with this movement. One, the crown to hand turning ratio is not very high, (setting the time, for example) even compared to the 7750! It’s like riding a bike on the highest gear. You get calluses on your thumb and forefinger from winding the crown so much and yet the hands don't seem to have moved any closer to the desired time.

Two, the external pusher needed to change the date at 9:00 position. Why? What's wrong with 2 positions on the crown? Surely moving a subdial from 12:00 to 3:00 position doesn't warrant that many changes? But, to be fair, you'll only notice this if you don't wear the watch every day... If it's a daily watch then none of this would've mattered... Other than that, it's an extremely reliable movement. It's tough and will last a lifetime provided you take good care of it. I also have no doubts regarding its accuracy. From experience even the cheapest versions of the 7750 are ridiculously accurate. If not, any good watchmaker will be able to quickly regulate it to a very high level of accuracy.

Others will say that the date window at 4:30 is neither here nor there, but this, surprisingly, doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s not an ideal place for it, but definite not the worst.

Ok, back to the watch itself. Case construction is simple, but solid and robust. Love the raised numbers on the bezel, giving it a premium look and feel. The whole watch reminds me of a Rolex Yachtmaster on steroids. The chronograph pushers are flush with the crown guard, which is a big plus, but the way they’re angled does make using them a little tricky. The screw-in case back features a giant medallion-like hourglass-with-wings logo, which reminds me of the Omega Seahorse medallion case back of the planet oceans. Love it. The hands are well balanced and the lume is good enough.

The watch is rated to 300m, and it does have a screw-in crown. However, the pushers aren't and I have my doubts about the 300m. I'm sure it's fine but I'm not game enough to try.

Overall it’s not a watch that will appeal to everyone, but if you like your big watches, you could do much worse. It is striking and attention grabbing. Its 24mm lugs makes it perfect for perennial strap changers as this is the same width as Panerais and the choices of straps for this size is as numerous as the sand on the beach. A fat, thick strap goes especially well with the chunky case, and stops it from being overly top heavy. The watch is shipped with either the steel bracelet or the rubber strap (which is extremely long) but personally I feel a nice aftermarket dark brown strap suits best. At a list price of $3300 AUD it’s extremely great value (yes even at full retail), given the amount of watch you get, regardless of the brand.

SPECS

Reference: L3.665.4.76.2 (on black rubber strap)

Case: Stainless steel case, Sapphire crystal with a single layer of antireflective coating on the underside; screw-down case-back and screw-in crown.

Diameter: 47.5 mm

Water-resistant to 300 metres (1000 feet)

Movement: L696 self-winding mechanical movement at 28,800 vph, approx 46 hours of power reserve.

Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds at 9 o'clock.

Chronograph: central 60 seconds, 30 minutes counter at 3 o'clock and 12 hour counter at 6 o'clock.

Dial: Silver "sunray" Big "12" Arabic numeral at 12 o'clock and 11 Superluminova luminescent dots. Silvered hands with Superluminova luminescent material.

ETA 955.112 (as fitted to TAG Heuer Link Quartz)

Battery Change on TAG Heuer Link Quartz - ETA 955.112 movement

I find that as watchnerds we tend to neglect quartz movements, even though they power the vast majority of watches out there, and there aren't really all that much information on them either. Previously I quickly posted about the ETA G01.211 as fitted to a CK watch and the response has been better than expected, confirming that people out there do want to know about quartz movements. So, here is a post on another popular and widely used ETA quartz movement, as fitted to a TAG Heuer Link watch.

The watch in question, and brand new battery ready to go

This watch is about 10 years old now, and this will only be its 2nd battery change. That's a pretty good run averaging 5 years on one battery. Although I must admit I'm not sure when the watch stopped! This particular model is powered by the ETA 955.112 quartz movement, which features an end-of-life indication. What this means is that when the battery runs low, the seconds hand will jump every 4 seconds rather than every second, thus telling you it's in need of some fresh juice.

All the tools I need to conduct the battery change...

I prefer to remove the bracelet on one side to have better access to open the case back. I've removed it from the lugs as it is a spring bar. You could also do it from the clasp, but in this case it was a friction pin and I couldn't be stuffed hammering it out...

ETA 955.112 is a very common quartz movement found in gents' watches. It is also one of the most reliable quartz movements you can get on the market today. The movement is easily replaceable, and a quick glance through the interwebs will net you one of these movements for about 25 bucks. So don't worry if your watch dies on you. Just drop a new movement in and you have a brand new watch again! (provided you've looked after the aesthetics side of things, ie, no scratches and dings and what not)

"Friction ball" used to open the case back. This way I won't leave nasty scratches/gouges on the case back in case I slip. BUT, the downside is that it doesn't have enough 'torque' to really fully tighten the case back

The ETA 955.112 is relatively svelte, so it looks small in the case, needing a fairly thick plastic casing ring

Another thing to keep in mind is that to be honest, not many watch companies will "sign" a quartz movement at this price point, especially since you don't see it anyway. So don't be alarmed if you just see a generic ETA movement inside. This is perfectly normal. There are also some smaller companies out there that fit a see-through case back to show a generic mechanical movement anyway, so it's nothing to be alarmed about. An unsigned movement does not a fake watch make. You'll probably find the opposite will ring true for some, as fake watches will try to convince you of their "authenticity" by "branding" the movement and everything else around it...

Movement is ETA stamped, but nothing else

Now, officially the correct battery for this movement is 371, but I have fitted a 395 battery, which has the same diametre, but it is a bit taller. For the movement the 395 will work and it won't damage the movement, unlike many people seem to think. 395 is also a much more commonly used battery compared to 371. Of course if the watch is very thin and there is not much spare "space" best to go with the 371. Other than that you won't find any issues.

395 battery fitted

Obviously the watch is not tested for water resistance since I don't have the tool, and the "grip ball" I used to loosen/tighten the case back doesn't really offer enough "torques" to properly tighten the case back. By right, I  should also change the glass seal and the back rubber seal to guarantee the watch will resist water again to 200m, but I know it's not going anywhere near water, so this doesn't bother me.

Other than that the watch should be good for another 4-5 years before needing the next battery change.

Tech Specs of ETA 955.112 Movement: (=955.114)


Movement Dimensions: 11 1/2 Ligne = 25.60mm
Movement Height: 2.50mm
Number of Jewels: 7
Minute Hand Fitting: 0.70mm
Hour Hand Fitting: 1.20mm
Second Hand Fitting: 0.20mm
Battery: 371/395

This movement is available with centre seconds (3H), or without (2H).
The position of the date can be at 3:00 or 6:00.
The date ring can be changed on this movement.

Different heights may be available.

Approx. US$25

[o]

Hublot Atelier "courtesy" Watch

My 2 cents on the Hublot loan watch...

The announcement from Hublot of their new “courtesy watch” offering has sparked heated debate amongst the watch community. I believe this is one of the missions accomplished for Hublot. Keeps people talking about their brand, thus keeping the brand front of mind.

However, after reading through various points of views, mostly from learned watch enthusiasts and the like, mostly expressing the view of “I wouldn’t wear a cheap plastic quartz watch as a loaner even if it’s free”, I think most of the enthusiasts are missing the point.

For me the critical part of the press release from Hublot is the very last sentence: “This  delicate token of attention remains naturally at the discretion of the management of each Hublot boutique.” Let’s take it back a few steps. The loan watch is available ONLY at the Hublot boutiques. And as we all know, the boutique clientele generally speaking, is one of the most- how shall we say it- pedantic clients of them all. They want to be pampered. Attended to. Treated like a VIP. (Keeping in mind that this is a vast generalisation and there are of course exceptions to this.) In my humble opinion, although the loan watch is just that- a loan watch, but believe you me I know people whose ego will still find a way to show off with the loan watch, (as long as the boutique staff manages their choice of vocab towards the client – just like that very last sentence). Now I said “show off” not “wear”.

I have no doubt that every single person that brings in their Hublot into the boutique for a service will receive the loan watch offer. Whether or not they take up the offer, is of course, another story entirely. But let’s also keep in mind that Hublot is still very much a growing brand, and much of that growth will have come from nouveau riche, especially in *cough* middle kingdom *cough*  meaning quite possibly the Hublot IS their first expensive watch, and unlike watch enthusiasts, they don’t have that trusty ‘69 Speedy or ‘74 Datejust to fall back on.

This brings us to another question. Wouldn’t the nouveau riche of the dragon people simply buy another Big Bang Ice Kachang? Only their ego can answer that question.

Just as an aside- swatchgroup offered Swatch watches (in some cases) as a courtesy watch to the most demanding  clients. To keep. And you’d be surprised how many take up the offer.