WATCH BRAND IPHONE APPS

With an ever increasing number of brands launching iphone apps, here is a list of the ones that we know of. We're not going to put reviews of each of these, as that would increase this post to mammoth proportions, but the amount of information and interactivty varies greatly from brand to brand. Some are very minimalist and only focus on one watch, whilst others do regular updates from the brand's website, with the Rolex one being particularly useful.

1. Bell & Ross

2. Breitling B01

3. David Yurman Timepieces

4. Dewitt

5. Dior Chiffre Rouge

6. Glycine

7. Hermès Grandes Heures

8. IWC

9. Jaeger Le-Coultre

10. A.Lange & Soehne Zeitwerk

11. Piaget Polo Forty Five

12. Perrelet

13. Rado

14. Red8World

15. Rolex

16. Stepan Sarpaneva

17. Stowa

18. TAG Monaco V4

19. Van Cleef & Arpels Charm watch

20. Victorinox

21. Vogard

And the final one, which is not from a brand, is Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie


Happy downloading, and please tell us if there are any that we've missed.


18.1.2010 additions - Thanks to The Watch Lounge for Red8World info, @nickorloff for Vogard, and @Felixosaurus for Hermès.

iima at Mr B's Hotel (the old Mandarin Club).

iima
Mr B's Hotel
396 Pitt St (cnr Goulburn St)
Ph : (02) 8080 7727

Situated within Mr B's Hotel (previously the Mandarin Club), iima is an unexpected sort of an eating place, especially for a pub. The menu is divided into separate Japanese and Thai sections, with the kitchen similarly partitioned, and with only one item which seems to cross this divide. 

I have eaten at iima a few times, and at the end of each visit I have been left pondering what to try next time.

Iima Fried Rice ($12.90)

This was I had on my first iima visit, when I was in dire need of basic comfort food. Described as "rice, eggs, crab meat, bbq pork, shallot and onion in light soy seasoning", this is a simple dish that gets it just right. With the combination of the sweet tartness of the lime juice, this was pure simple tasty comfort food. The photo is somewhat deceptive, as this is a large plate and generous serving, perfect for those days when you are in need of the comfort of fried rice, but want one that stands out from the usual Sydney City/ Haymarket fried rice crowd.

Mizuya Restaurant [水屋]

Mizuya Karaoke Restaurant [水屋] 日本風居酒屋 シドニー

Basement
614 George St

Sydney NSW 2000
Ph : (02) 9266 0866

 

Walk downstairs to Mizuya and you’re faced with a world away from the hustle and bustle of George St.

It’s like wandering onto a set of a post modern industrial film set, the place is filled with delightful shades of grey, with some purple, to add to the contrast. The whole restaurant set out is very… geometrically shaped. It’s all right angles and sharp edges. Which I suppose is a good contrast with the fluid shape of Japanese food. And yes I have no idea what I’m talking about. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Mizuya is what you’d call an Izakaya. In essence, a place where the food accompanies the drink. So don’t expect any fancy schmancy Japanese. What you will get, however, is some of the most authentic Izakaya style food I’ve ever tasted this side of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately they weren’t able to replicate the atmosphere and the feel of a traditional Izakaya, and I don’t think they set out to do so either, what with the Po-Mo décor and all that.

I remember my times in Izakaya in Japan with great fondness. It’s a great place to go at night after all the major department stores have closed and you’ve heard your last, nasal, high-pitched “Irrashaimase” from teenage shop assistants in mini shorts and knee-high socks. It’s a great place to catch up with close friends and catch up with people you haven’t seen for ages. It’s also a place to run up a massive bill at the end of the night/early morn. Even in Japan, Izakayas aren’t cheap, and obviously, Mizuya is no exception.

Etch Dining

Etch
62 Bridge St
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9247 4777
Open: Monday to Friday 12pm - late, Saturday 5pm - late

This watch may look familiar, but it isn't. It is not, in fact, this watch, but the "no date" version. This version of the reissued Legend Diver (L3.674.4.56.2) was produced earlier than the reissued date version, and I believe in smaller quantities as well, which means that it is now difficult to track down new.

Contrary to what some believe, the original Legend Divers came in both "non date" and "date" versions. Originals are difficult to find, and come at a premium, but the elegant contemporary versions, both of them, are value for money, equally versatile as a dress or sports watch, and sit easily on the wrist for their 42mm size.  It is a watch that I find myself liking more each time I look at it.

Also familiar was the location of our lunch this day, as P had dined here many moons ago when it was another establishment.

Etch consists of one spacious modern dining room, and was surprisingly empty when we arrived. I think that other than us, there were three or so tables, and this only increased by one table for the duration of our lunch.

The current menu, which is not the one that appears on its website at present, contains dishes noticeably lighter than the dishes I'd read about in blog reviews. It being one of the extraordinarily hot days that we've had this Summer, we both opted for fish.

Local sea bream (described as), crumbed scampi, fennel puree,

citrus a la grecque ($31)

Bream was not available on the day, and Mulloway was its replacement.  This slightly affected the experience of this dish, as bream would have been a preferred option, but the Mulloway was nicely cooked, and in totality, the combination of tastes in this dish enjoyed.

Operation Longines Legend Diver

Sydney - Avoca

One steamy overcast Summer's morn a small posse accompanied JH to Avoca for Operation LLD, aka picking up his new watch, which was in the care of ChrisL.

It's great being part of a posse where we're all chauffeured in a Merc. Even if we're being lead by a Navman which seemed to first take us on the scenic route, and then was 20m off our destination.

The SatNav- stuck in taxi mode... i.e. take the long route...

Making sure the watches are synchronised...

What's a PyroLume?

I came across this watch brand quite by accident actually. I was reading a post on what watches have the best lume, and someone posted a pic of PyroLume. And I was hooked. As you can probably tell from the name, PyroLume, the one thing that they do really well is the… lume!

After doing a bit of research thanks to the convenience of Google, I decided to plunge in and get myself a PyroLume. Sure, I like the lume and all that, but what really really sold me was the fact that this was a very inexpensive way to get into an “independent” watchmaker’s watch, made by .New Jersey anesthesiologist Pejman Foroush.

Here you have something that is entirely unique, with generously applied luminescent compound (or “lume”) in a custom made CNC machined dial, fitted to a proven, reliable workhorse movement and a solid watch case.

A close up of the custom made CNC machined dial

For those of you who are movement snobs you can pretty much stop reading here. The movement used is a skeletonised Chinese Seagull manual wind mechanical movement, which is entirely based on the Unitas 6497/98 movements. However, the advantage of this movement is its simplicity and robustness in design and that with some regulation, you could easily have the watch running to well within COSC specifications of -4 seconds to +6 seconds a day.

The Chinese have come a long way and the quality of their movements has improved dramatically over the past 5 or so years. So much so that I’m sure the Swiss are sweating in their little ateliers. I predict that once they start designing their own movements, (and not just with a pencil and some tracing paper) it will be the advent of the next watch-related crisis for the Swiss. (The first being the quartz crisis brought on by the Japanese).

Guylian Chocolate Cafe

Sydney Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café
91 George St
The Rocks
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph : +61 (02) 8274 7500

A sudden flurry of SMSs lead to three of us meeting up for an impromptu coffee. Two (G-Man and AP) had already had lunch together and parted ways to run errands, but P's unexpected availability lead to the triumverate meeting up at the Guylian Cafe. The location was chosen for no reason other reason that it was the nearest place to our meeting point.

Strangely enough, despite the fact that there were several people waiting, the Cafe chose not to open the upper area (which is in fact a more pleasant place than the lower one) until we turned up.

 Olympus E-P1

Two lattes were ordered.