independent watch projects

OceanicTime is currently giving away Dwatch discount vouchers. Within a year, Oceanictime  editor TLex singlehandedly became a reference  in the niche market of professional and saturation diving watches; and this voucher is a result of the many contacts TLex now has with the industry.

Through this special offer, Dwatch is promoting their new Numeric dial with fat Arabic numerals (I suggest to call it “jumbo“), which is either available on new pieces or can be obtained as a replacement part. Their custom watch building interface shows that the numbers can either have an Azure blue edge or a white one. The date window has been put at six o’clock to create a symmetry, but I feel the missing number “6″ leaves a visual gap.

I never picked it up before, but their Reef hands set is reminiscent of that of a Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk, which itself uses a case design reminiscent of a vintage Tudor. Like many companies, Dwatch tries to pick the best ideas to implement them in something new.

Check out the OceanicTime post to see preview shots of the new models and to find out about benefiting from the discount voucher.

Based in France, the Mer Air Terre (Sea Air Earth) watch company produces collections for civilians and limited editions for special forces. They took the 1980′s Bund watch design and updated it.

Spanish-speaking forum www.hablemosderelojes.com features a long post about San Antonio, a Spanish watch company founded in 2004 by José San Antonio to release military-themed watches. The SAWC Albatros was chosen to equip the EADS CASA test pilots (Spanish branch of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company).  Their Web site is experiencing some problems as I write (Dec. 1st 2009), but you can access it here (http://www.sawc.es/marca/marca.htm) to see the range of their collection and their pricing.