Top Gear Season 18 Finale

This was a great episode for watch brands to flaunt their wares. Really. Top Gear should really do more of these open top car stories, and have the in-car camera set up directly in front of the watch on the left wrist. The only thing that is perhaps lacking is the camera should be filming in full HD, so that we can see the watches more clearly.

But here's a quick recap:

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean (Seriously if Jeremy is STILL wearing this watch next season I won't be giving that watch any blog time, as much as I like it)

Richard Hammond and his ever classic Breitling Navitimer

The Hamilton "something something" - this was the one watch I could pick from the first episode "Season trailer". I think that it's also partly because Hamiltons aren't really available here down under (there may possibly be one dealer), so it's not something I see everyday (and I don't flip through watch magazines/forums as much as I would like).

Yet another classic Jaeger dashboard instrument...

... which was fitted to one of these jet engined powered 'cars'...

Top Gear Season 18 Ep. 5 Breitling Love-in

As the title suggests, we begin the episode with a Breitling love fest. The branding took up about 70% screen time for the first segment. How convenient that it just happens to form part of the story? In fact, it's received more screen time than the main protagonist. In this case, the Skoda rally car. (I say main because it is a car-based show).

All good natured sarcasm/ ribbing aside, we did get to see quite clearly the Breitling watch on Yves' wrist. However, it looks as if it was put on the wrist for the "shot"... Have a close look and see if you can figure out what was wrong with the way the watch was worn...

Yves Rossy wearing the Breitling Chronospace

So dear Breitling... Hope you're reading this. This is a heck of a lot of brownie PR value eh?

Now… to the watch. We'll concentrate on the special guest's watch, since, well, there is nothing much to report from the regular hosts. Clarkson is still stubbornly unwavering in his choice of wristwear, and we've already talked about May's Rado and vintage Omega (both of which we caught glimpses of again this episode) and Hammond appears to be wearing his Rolex (as mentioned here)

Richard Hammond wearing his Rolex- the paragraph on the dial gave it away...

The watch is the Breitling Chonospace, a quartz analogue digital watch. You will notice that ALL Breitlings are subjected to the chronometre certification process COSC (as mentioned on the dial) and I know what you're thinking - Of COURSE a quartz watch is going to pass the chronometre spec right? Well.. there is a separate test for quartz watches, with different parametres and tolerances. Obviously the accuracy tolerance isa little stricter than -4 to +6 seconds a day. It's actually +/- 0.07 seconds a day. See below table for the differences in the COSC standards between mechanical and quartz

COSC Standards
Mechanical	Quartz
Average daily rate: -4/+6	Average daily rate at 23 °C: ± 0.07
Mean variation in rates: 2	Rate at 8 °C: ± 0.2
Greatest variation in rates: 5	Rate at 38 °C: ± 0.2
Difference between rates in H & V positions: -6/+8	Rate stability: 0.05
Largest variation in rates: 10	Dynamic rate: ± 0.05
Thermal variation: ± 0.6	Temporary effect of mechanical shocks: ± 0.05
Rate resumption: ± 5	Rate resumption: ± 0.05
n/a	Residual effect of mechanical shocks: ± 0.05; 200 shocks equivalent to 100 G (981 m/s², 3,217 ft/s²)

Although Breitling does put every single one of their watches through the certification process, at least they don't feel the need to write a paragraph on the dial about it. Unlike certain other brands we know.

Different people feel differently about the COSC process.

Some say it's a way for watch brands to jack up the prices, and that non-COSC watches are just as accurate. All we know is, it helps sell watches.


[o]

Top Gear Wrist Watching Season 18 Ep.4

And… for episode four we continue our focus on James May's wrist. Well ... the other two need to step up their watch game if they want to be featured more prominantly in the Tarts blog.  It's actually a very special episode today, and for once we'll actually look at something that's NOT on the wrist, but more about that later.

James May's choice of watches seem to match his wardrobe...

May continues to impress with his wrist presence and it seems like he's a bit of a vintage buff as well, although he's never shown off his vintage collection till now (at least on Top Gear). I suppose they match his wardrobe…

So we all know that Jeremy's Seamaster never seems to leave his wrist these days, but he's not the only one out of the trio that sports a Seamaster. May also has a Seamaster. Just not as we know it. 

Really.

James May with the Omega Seamaster Chrono-Quartz

As I write this I find myself contemplating the average age of the Top Gear viewer. Given the merchandising efforts from them I've seen so far, it might appear that many of the target audience could in fact be quite young. In which case, a good many viewers of said program will have never ever seen anything like what May has on his wrist. Except … perhaps fromsome really dodgy recent efforts from Diesel and Police watches. No. I will not dignify them with an image. There's always THIS.

Now if you want a proper analogue/ digital watch with street cred, there are two ways to go about it. You either get a Casio G-Shock or you can go the vintage route. These were all the rage back in the '70s when the quartz crisis hit, and the Swiss watchmakers were trying to hold their ground against a Japanese onslaught. I think it was almost a case of "if you can't beat them, join them". So here we are - an Omega Seamaster Chrono-Quartz.

The Omega Seamaster Chrono-Quartz - image courtesy of Antiquorum. Amazing to see that "quartz" is actually a selling point back in those days- seeing how it's placed so prominently on the watch face... Even more prominently than the brand!

According to our good friends over at Hodinkee it's the 1st anadigi watch and they also talk at length about the identity crisis of the Seamaster name, but I think many brands, Swiss ones in particular, went through the same in that period. Some simply ceased to exist cuz they can't make up their mind about who they are… but that's another story for another time. I won't go into too much detail about the watch as you can read it all over at Hodinkee. But identity crisis or not, there are some gems to be had from this period and this is definitely one of them. This watch was actually designed for the Montreal olympic games in 1976.

It's a chunky watch with a chunky bracelet (in keeping with the sport styling of the day) and it has plenty of wrist presence. It's a well balanced watch and sits on the wrist nicely, due to its 'widescreen' design. It's also one of the very few quartz watches that commands quite a bit of a premium in the secondhand market.

There's nothing on Clarkson or Hammond this time round, but we did get a close look at the wrist of Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC ,who was a 'guest' of sorts on this week's episode. What we see is a fairly typical rock star/ celeb wrist wear - the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph of some description. There have been so many limited editions made of this watch that I think even AP's lost count…

Audemar Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chrono on Brian Johnson's wrist

Now, for something quite different…

1928 Bentley

This, according to James May, is a 1928 Le Mans body Bentley something or other, and back in those days, Jaeger (of Jaeger-LeCoultre) makes the dashboard instruments for many car brands, including Bentley, MG and Bamford & Martin (the latter would later on become Aston Martin, with whom Jaeger-LeCoultre has a modern day partnership, producing watches inspired by Aston Martin styling in their AMVOX range, and car key - in the form of the AMVOX 2 Transponder).

Jaeger dashboard instruments - Modern day Bentleys had to make do with Breitling clocks and "Breitling for Bentley" watches

Car key you say? well.. not quite. it doesn't start the car … yet, but I reckon James Bond would be better off with one of these on his wrist than that other brand... He can 'find' where his Aston Martin is in a sea of 'similar looking' cars in the car park, and open the doors to jump in for a quick getaway all by pressing on the crystal (it works in a similar way to remote car keys).

The Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX 2 DB9 Transponder

Let's hope we'll be able to talk about Clarkson or Hammond's wrists next time, and don't forget that all our other Top Gear watch spotting posts can be found by selecting the 'Top Gear' tag below…


[o]

Top Gear Wrist Watching Season 18 Ep.3

It's only the third episode of the season and already we've seen four different watches on May's wrist, as you can see from our previous two posts … I guess we can assume he changes watches more often than he changes his outfits (I'm not sure if you noticed, but I think that Freddy Kruger stripey jumper is one of his favourites…).

We see in the film clip (screenshot below) where he test drives a hot hatch, that he's wearing a Rado Ceramica Jubile. I won't delve into which model exactly, since well, it's a bit hard to tell, but contrary to popular internet opinion, Rado was using ceramic as a watch case/ bracelet material long before the J12 was conceived.

James May with Rado Ceramica Jubile

Not quite the model James May wore, but you get the drift... 
Didn't realise it was so hard trying to find a good picture of this Rado...

Rado, believe it or not, were almost neck and neck with IWC in being the first watch brands to use ceramic- see our post HERE. IWC was first, but Rado has consistently had ceramic watches on range since 1986. What May is wearing is perhaps one of the most iconic ceramic Rados made - all black and futuristic looking. Especially back in the mid to late 80s. If there was ever a watch to feature in the 'future' in Back To The Future, I reckon this would be it. It goes really well with the hovering DeLorean.

Another good thing about ceramic is that it doesn't scratch easily, and will always look black and shiny, so it'll always hold that blingy look - as long as you don't drop the watch. But then again you shouldn't drop watches. Unless it's a G-Shock. In which case, drop away!

We also get a clearer look at the Breitling Navitimer on Richard Hammond's wrist during the news segment. He has some of the best expressions…

Richard Hammond and a nice close up of the Breitling Navitimer

No prizes for guessing what Jeremy is STILL wearing…




[o]

Top Gear Wristwatching Season 18 Ep.2

Following on from my look at episode 1 of season 18 of Top Gear, it would seem that there are different watches to talk about in episode 2 of the 18th season.

No... this is not a watch, but the rev counter in the Mercedes SLS Roadster...

We start off by revisiting a favourite and one of mine, actually, from Jeremy Clarkson: the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean.  As I have mentioned in the previous post, he has been wearing this watch almost non-stop on Top Gear (and one would assume, during off-screen times as well). I reckon this is one of my favourite watches that I have yet to own. One day I will.

Jeremy Clarkson with his Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean

It is a very classically styled dive watch. The design is based on their Seamaster 300 model from the late '60s/ early '70s. It is a tool watch first and foremost, but it's also kind of dressy, meaning you could possibly pull it off combining it with a suit or a tux. Yes I know what purists will say, but some people don’t havethe dough to have a watch for every occasion. Hey, if it's good enough for Bond and Clarkson… (even if Bond does get paid to wear it…)

The Bond version of the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean

The piece Clarkson wears was superseded in 2011, when a newer version of the Planet Ocean was released, powered by the in-house Omega Calibre 8500. However, as with an in-house anything, the price was seriously jacked up. I mean, sure it's nice to have the newer in-house movement, but if you get your hands on the slightly older version, it's powered by a tried and tested Omega calibre 2500B/C/D which is a co-axial version of the venerable ETA2892-A2. It is, however, quite a small movement, so if a small movement in a big case bugs you.. well… just be glad it doesn't have a see-through case back (whereas the newer Planet Ocean with the inhouse 8500 does).

Top Gear Wrist Watching Season 18 Ep.1

Our Top Gear wrist spotting posts are amongst our most popular, but it has been awhile since we've done one (this is our third). Apart from none of us having had the time to pause and zoom in and decipher what watch is on whose wrist, there's actually been little activity in their choice of wrist wear.

Until now.

A cool shot from Season 18 episode 1

Clarkson may have had the upperhand in being the 'major' host of Top Gear, the one that gets to interview the "star in a reasonably priced car" and the one that usually gets to drive in supercars whilst the other two settle for some sort of public transport on major races, but May and Hammond are certainly 'winning' the wrist war, if there is one.

Jeremy either really loves his Omega Planet Ocean, or he just can't be stuffed changing watches, but he's been wearing that watch non-stop (at least on Top Gear) for the past few years. May and Hammond, however, do seem to change watches a lot more often.

Jeremy Clarkson and his Omega Planet Ocean

I got really excited watching the first episode of this latest season, No. 18, as I spotted quite a few watches not seen on Top Gear before. So to quote each and everyone of the host on the show - here we go!

James May seems to have the most diverse collection out of the three hosts in the watch department. He's been seen wearing everything from a dinner plate Omega to a ceramic Rado, but his latest one took me completely by surprise. I must admit, though, that this watch suits his persona quite well. It's a vintage Omega Dynamic from the '70s.  From the looks of it, it's the automatic one with date.

James May with Omega Dynamic 

A bit about this watch:

More Top Gear Watch Spotting

A little while back we did a post on watches spotted in Season 13 of Top Gear. What we didn't realise, was that there is more curiosity about the wrist candy of James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson than we had expected, as we seem to get regular visits to that page via Google searches.

Because of the popularity of this topic, we thought we'd do another post. You can see for yourself whether any of them have new watches, or whether they are wearing old favourites.....!

Season 14 - Episode 1

Rolex Sub Date

(likely to be the 16610 due to reflection from the flat sapphire from a certain angle)

 Omega 49mm Railmaster XXL

 

Omega Planet Ocean on rubber strap

Season 14 - Episode 2

Rolex Sub Date

Clarkson is confirmed to be wearing an Omega Planet Ocean on rubber strap

Season 14 - Episode 3

Rolex Sub Date 16610 

Omega Railmaster 49mm XXL

Omega Railmaster 49mm XXL

Omega Railmaster 49mm XXL

Season 14 - Episode 6

 

Breitling Avenger Chronograph

Season 14 - Episode 7

Omega Planet Ocean

Rolex Sub Date 16610

JLC Reverso Squadra Chronograph

Omega Railmaster 49mm XXL

Season 14 - Episode 8

Jeremy Clarkson : Omega Planet Ocean

James May : IWC Portuguese 3714

IWC Portuguese 3714

Omega Railmaster 49mm XXL 

It appears so far from the current season that Richard Hammond has a more diverse watch collection than Clarkson and May.

Stay tuned for future Top Gear watchspotting, and click on the 'Top Gear' link below for all TG watchspotting posts.

[JH]

Tokonoma Shochu Bar + Lounge Launch
490 Crown St
Surry Hills
Sydney
NSW 2010
Ph : (02) 9357 6100

Stunning Akira Isogawa collection as modelled by some mannequins

So… you ask… what’s it feel like to be on a PR list? Yes – I know you’re thinking it. If not you are now. I’m not sure if I want to be on a PR list. Not unless I can bring along an entourage with me. I don’t do so good in these sort of events/ functions/ launches. I’m not like those socialites who will go to an opening of an envelope, and just drink/ eat themselves silly. I’m the kinda guy that will stand by myself in the corner with hands in the pocket looking down on the floor.

Working on it. Seriously.

More from the Akira Isogawa Collection.
Before going, I thought that they were going to be modelled by live models. Guess I was expecting too much...

And it came to pass that somehow I managed to get myself onto the list for the launch of Toko’s latest venture - The Tokonoma Shochu Bar + Lounge. Positioned next door to Toko restaurant on Surry Hills’ premier eat street, Crown St, Tokonoma Shochu Bar + Lounge features an extensive cocktail menu including the ama mizu “literal translation: sweet water” (fresh watermelon, shaken with hakutake shochu, Belvedere vodka and rose petals) and lychee & jasmine mojito (lychees, fresh mint and lime juice stirred with Havana anejo especial and jasmine tea soda).

The mojito is simply divine. I must’ve had like six of these. Couldn’t stay away. Didn’t even touch the beer/ wine/ champagne. Ok. I had one sip of the champagne, which wasn’t bad either, to be honest, considering it’s a Chandon.

ama mizu being prepared

lychee & jasmine mojito being prepared

THAT Mojito. Better than the classic mojito.
That shrub in the background caught fire later on in the night...

I love the decor of the lounge bar. The lighting and the atmosphere are very relaxing and welcoming. There were meant to be a lot of confirmed celebs attending the launch, and I must admit that we weren't really on the look out for them, but I have a feeling not many of them actually showed up. We did see Justine of Masterchef. She was quite petite but just as pretty in real life. We also spotted Geoff Huegill as well as the designer of the day - Akira Isogawa. I believe that Eamon O'Sullivan, swimmer and recent winner of Celebrity Masterchef, was also there.

Moody shot of the lychee & jasmine mojito

Now, this wouldn't be much of a watch blog if we didn't talk watches right? Akira Isogawa was wearing a white ceramic Rado True Chronograph. The good thing about these watches is that they are very distinctive and easy to spot. You can tell them apart from a mile away.

Geoff Huegill, on the other hand, was wearing an Omega Seamaster of some sort. I could tell that it was definitely of the Seamaster "Bond" range, thanks to the bracelet style. I could only see the bracelet, so I can't confirm whether it's the time-only, the chronograph, or whether it's the blue or the newer black dial version.

Akira Isogawa with a white ceramic Rado True Chronograph on his wrist.

Here's a close up of the Rado

The Rado is quite nice. very simple in its design and I really like the "True" case. It's smooth and just very classic. Although if I had the choice I'd go with the dark grey version with the matte finishing...

Now, onto the food part of the evening. At first I was pretty hungry and got so busy stuffing my face that I'd completely forgot that I should actually take some photos of the food that was being served as well. So, it was with some reluctance that I took the camera out and took photos of each plate that came before us before eating...

Agedashi Tofu stuffed with eggplant or avocado 

Err... a variety of sushi rolls.

Tuna tartare

Battered fish with aioli (I think - didn't try it)

The majority of the food was really good. Much better than I'd anticipated, but I guess that given the reputation that Toko has. the food quality would be right up there. Some of the items served on the night are from next door (Toko) and some will be on the menu at Tokonoma.

Expensive imported Norwegian VOSS water. Yes. Norwegian.

The watches in attendance: a LIP Mach 2000 and a JLC

A final big thanks to the folks at Tokonama and Fiona Wood for a fun night!

[Text : Onomatopia. Photos : Onomatopia & AP]