The Chanel J-12 Becomes a Diver’s watch for Basel 2010

Chanel, has hit a homerun with their oh so trendy J-12 the last 5 years and made it their icon in the watch industry. They have shown that their atelier can be just as powerful and taken seriously with watches as it has with haute couture in fashion. For this years Basel Fair 2010 , Chanel has decided to make a divers watch. This is a seamless transition that should have been executed years ago, before the tourbillon and using AP movements in certain models. To build a brand you can’t go from pedestrian movements one year to super complicated haute horolgy the next minute, unless you want to be laughed at. Because Chanel is a brand of integrity and one of the few family owned companies left around, they command respect and were never subjected to that kind of scrutiny.

The watch is known as the Chanel J-12 Marine Diver and comes in two varieties of black and white ceramic in 38 or 42 mm on a high-tech ceramic bracelet. They have been smart to adopt the Rolex Maxi dial for legibility and timeless function. The watch comes with an additional catouche rubber strap and is water resistant to 300 meters water resistance. I like that the hands are bigger and blued with luminous material in the middle for great contrast. If your wondering the AP calibre movement is not available for this watch just yet, I am sure we will see a J-12 minute repeater before that happens.

Watch Out For Spice Market

I fuckin hate night clubs. I think they’re meat markets that serve the underbelly of humanity. Being in Melbourne these last 10 days has opened up my eyes to real night life. So there is this amazing bar lounge called Spice Market, located in down town Melbourne, on Beaney Lane off Russell Street. This is owned by my dear friend Geremy Lucas. I met Geremy on New Years Eve and partied with him at the SLS Hotel in LA. Geremy is a flamboyant savvy businessman with a heart of gold who owns two restaurants besides Spice Market. Momo in the Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne and Rosati which is a full on Italian restaurant around the corner from the other two venues. These are very upscale places that are all individually different. When I met Geremy his watch of choice was Panerai PAM00104 which is his daily wearer. We started talking watches and we became good friends.

Going to Spice Market, twice on this trip, Geremy has treated me like a brother and given me first class treatment all the way.
This place is located in a very cool alley way which is sort of dark yet extremely ambient with lines of people going on for days to get into the club. The inside is fully decadent, reminds me of a cross between the movie Blade Runner and the glam of Studio 54. There are industrial elements mixed with opulence, Steel bird cages are suspended from the ceiling surrounding the bar, where one side is a sea of humanity dancing drinking and raving to the most hypnotic current and old school music. While the other side of this bar is the VIP section surrounded by all these really interesting lounge rooms with the most amazing couches draped in the most extravagant skins and fabrics with a plethora of pillows.

The finest watches in the world can be spotted from various places in the club ranging from pedestrian brands like Omega Breitling and Rolex fame to the most exotic unusual watches like Richard Mille, Urwerk, and Harry Winston watches. The finest liquors in the world are served especially 666 Vodka which Jeremy and his brother will launch in LA in mid April. IF your in Melbourne and looking for a great place to chill, drink watch spot and be horny then go to The Spice Market ask for Geremy and tell him Johnny Flyback sent you!

Girard Perregaux Pledges to Go Green to Save The Earth

WW.TC Tourbillon with three gold Bridges
Cat’s Eye Tourbillon with three gold Bridges

In an effort to commemorate Earth Day’s 40Th Anniversary, Christies Auction House will hold a Green Auction ” A Bid To Save The Earth” to raise money and awareness. Proceeds of this auction will be used to represent leading non profit organizations such as Oceana, Conservatism International, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Central Park Conservancy.

Historic Manufacturer GP has jumped on board and decided to donate two timepieces for this occasion. These timepieces will Haute Horologie masterpieces that will showcase their legendary tourbillion with Three Golden Bridges.

The first piece will be the ww.tc Tourbillon with three gold Bridges for Green Auction, platinum, No.1
New York highlighted in green on the city ring, 43mm Platinum case. Girard-Perregaux GP098G0 mechanical movement, manual winding with world time indication and tourbillon.

The Second piece will be the Cat’s Eye Tourbillon with three gold Bridges
White gold case set with 84 baguette-cut diamonds ~2.12 cts. Girard-Perregaux GP9700.0A mechanical movement, manual winding.

This auction will commence April 22 and boasts the participation of an array of cultural, business and environmental leaders from Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Redford to designer Vera Wang, activist Robert F. Kennedy and Queen Noor, the widow of Jordanian King Hussein.

“It’s a game-changer to have so many passionate and talented people link arms on behalf of the environment,” said Susan Cohn Rockefeller, who is co-chairing the event with husband David Rockefeller Jr., philanthropist and environmental activist.

Even celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Christina Aguilera, David Duchovny Harrison Ford, Ed Norton, Tobey Maguire, Brooke Shields, Salma Hayek, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin have all signed on to the host committee.

This is will be a momentous moment for an incredible cause and Girard Perragaux has really aligned itself with something really special by donating two timepieces to save the Earth.

Ferrari and Panerai Finally End their Partnership

April 1, 2010 will be an amazing day. Not because of April Fools Day, and NO, this is not some sort of Joke. Finally, Ferrari and Panerai will call it quits after a long five year relationship. It’s amazing, because they are both individually amazing products, but together, it’s too much Italian for one product. They are two brands that have serious heritage and stand for technical excellence wrapped with the passion of being Italian seemed like a smart move, but to be honest, it was over before it started. I know Ferrari has licensed it’s name from shoes to thongs and are label whores, but Panerai doesn’t really do this sort of thing and shouldn’t. What a valuable lesson!

It shows you how smart and apprehensive the Italian watch brand was from the beginning, because they didn’t put their name all over the watch, only on the inside of the deployment clasp. This was intentionally done just in case the partnership wasn’t a success. Every other Panerai watch holds it’s value to some extent, and having these god awful Ferrari watches in the mix, even though they were treated separately from Panerai, temporarily tainted the image of the brand. For the last 5 years Panerai lost some credibility and weren’t taken as seriously, because you could buy Ferrari Panerai’s at 40% off from a dealer. Thank God the fucking bleeding has stopped and sometimes aligning yourself with one of the hottest brands in the world doesn’t necessarily mean you have struck gold!

Is It a Good Idea to Buy watches In Australia?

Hey People,
I am currently in Melbourne Australia. I love this fucking place. It’s a combination between the US, England, India and Spain and god knows what else. The only problem is that women are impossible to talk to and Wifi is a four letter word that is taboo and is impossible to get, unless your at Mcdonalds and when you leave you smell like a monkey’s balls. In any event, I am being treated like gold.I have hit all the hot spots for dinning, lounges and clubs. They are fantastic! Which leads me to the obvious, watch stores in Melbourne. Well, I didn’t have the pleasure of visiting my mate, the legendary Michael Tay’s watch establishment, The Hourglass, but I did visit another establishment located in the Crown Casino Hotel.

This store is known as LK Jewelery. I have never heard of it. The store is dark and small with that shop in shop concept that was popular like five years ago. Although the important brands are very much available like Patek Phillipe and Rolex. These are the brands that most people want when staying in international hotels, boring sods! They also have Chopard, Bulgari, Vertu and Puke Bucheron! The people working in this retail environment were reasonably nice like Ralph this super cool Asian guy and this super pissed off Asian women who I was too scared to ask her name. I was surprised that they had Vertu and not IWC or Panerai or any Richemont brand. I suppose Hourglass has that relationship locked down tight. I guess in a world where Richemont is cutting back and focusing on opening their own boutiques, it makes sense.

I was also shocked to see that the price on a Rolex green crystal Milgauss was $9,000 retail which is about $2,500 more expensive than America, which is a complete fuckin rip off, but they tax the shit out of everything and their costs are higher to import. It just makes you think. who the fuck is going to buy watches Down Under in Australia?, but then again if your from Australia, it’s not like it’s easy or economical to travel to another country on the fly, because it takes too much time and it’s expensive. This raises the question, Is it A good Idea to buy watches in Australia?

What an Honor!

Peter Speake-Marin

I get email requests all the time to write about various watch brands and things going on in the watch industry. I am very choosey about who and what I write about, because not just anyone or anything is worth mentioning. I am proud to report I received and email in the last couple of days from Olivier Marguerat, who came on to produce his first book with legendary watch maker Peter Speake-Marin “A Passion For Watchmaking”. Olivier asked me if I would mention this book and various other projects of Peter Speake-Marin on http://www.johnnyflyback.com, and I was thrilled to oblige his request.

For those of you who are not familiar with Peter Speake-Marin, he is truly one of the last important independent watch maker visionaries the world has seen in the last 20 years. Peter is an Englishman, who worked on masterpieces like Dent, Frodsham, Nielson, Breguet and Patek Philippe in London, which became the segway for his passion creativity and technical knowledge. He was recruited in 1996 by the illustrious manufacture Renaud & Papi (now Audemars Piguet Renaud &Papi) in Switzerland to develop high complications. During this time, he began acquiring his own machinery and constructed by hand a tourbillon pocket watch with two power trains. This timepiece became the Foundation Watch for his own independent atelier, established in 2000 in the picturesque village of Rolle, between Geneva and Lausanne. He has since been in demand by various watch companies such as MB&F, and Maitres du Temps where he was one of the three masters to develop the critically acclaimed Chapter One. He has also been asked to design and construct watches that are technical, prestigious and one of a kind.

Peter’s new book ” A Passion For Watchmaking” is a celebration of 10 years of Speake-Marin watchmaking, as well as an introduction of the brand new Marin 1 timepiece & in-house SM2 calibre. So go and buy your copy now at http://www.watchprint.com to get what could be one of the next biblical watch books ever written! I would like to congratulate and thank Olivier and Peter Speake-Marin for thinking of me to write this article, What an Honor!

Chronoswiss is Bad In Black for Basel 2010!

The Chronoswiss Opus has always been a watch that is aesthetically orgasmic. As much as I don’t care too much for the brand I have always appreciated this watch for it’s beauty, and most watch collectors I know would agree. For this years Basel 2010, Chronoswiss has evolutionized this watch by adding a little black magic. What do I mean by Black Magic, well I don’t mean some crazy fucking Haitian curse that’s for sure. What I mean is that Chronoswiss has changed the aesthetic of this cool timepiece by adding the powerful color of black DLC coating to make this once dressy ornate timepiece Bad In Black, which can be worn in any situation.

The new Chronoswiss Opus Black Magic will come in both varieties of the regular size and Grande Size. The only thing funky is that they are calling this DLC coating Dianor, which is there Magnum as if they were fucking Zoolander. Who Cares? Coating is Coating. Sure some coating is harder and better than others, but to develop a name around the coating is kind of trivial. My thing is focus more on the watch and less on the coating because let’s face it, the whole black watch thing has been on it’s way out for a while and no one is going to remember that over other proprietary coatings, because it’s old fucking news at this point. I love the fact that all the hands on this watch are red for ultimate contrast. I would totally wear this watch and depending on the price might even recommend you to go and buy one, we will just have to see how far up their own ass Chronoswiss is.

Breitling does it right with the new Super Ocean For Basel 2010

For this Basel 2010, Breitling has amazed me with one particular model. Maybe it’s because I am a huge fan of yellow when done properly. The new Breitling Super Ocean, is a modern sports divers watch with balls, creativity and the core of what bretiling is all about. I am happy to report it reminds me of the Breitling of old. The new stuff in the last 10 years has really been a visual nightmare because they have taken a very simple concept of aviation and taken it to a world that I really haven’t been happy with because its really confusing. The key to any good brand is to be able to convey even through the most technical of information in the most concise way. The numbers on the bezel and dial are really big, iconic and striking. You definitely know what time it is and the inner yellow ring gives it character.

Here are the specs
Movement: Breitling Caliber 17, officially chronometercertified
by the COSC, selfwinding, high frequency
(28,800 vibrations per hour), 25 jewels. Calendar.
Case: steel. Water-resistant to 1,500 meters (5,000 ft).
Screw-locked crown. Unidirectional ratcheted bezel.
Cambered sapphire crystal, glareproofed on both sides.
Diameter: 42 mm.
Dials: Abyss Black, Abyss Silver, Abyss Blue, Abyss Red, Abyss Yellow.
Straps/Bracelet: rubber Diver Pro or Ocean Racer/steel Professional.

If Breitling can cut out this Breitling for Bentley Bullshit and focus on the models in their arsenal that have been part of their heritage like this Super Ocean, then they are on their way back with a vengence.

Bell & Ross Go Green Ceramic For Basel 2010, But it should have been Bigger

I am totally digging the new B&R Instrument in green ceramic. The only thing is, it belongs on a women, because it’s 42 mm. The whole instrument thing works best in 46 mm. That’s the whole point! I wont hold it against them because green ceramic is an amazing military looking asthetic and I am sure it will be available bigger if they actually want to sell watches. If you look at what dealers are stuck with in Bell & Ross inventories as far as instruments go, it’s usually 42 mm.

Here are the specs
42mm green ceramiccase, eta 2892 movement, dial, rubber strap also available.

Rolex Makes It official For Basel 2010

Steel Rolex Submariner Black Dial

Steel Rolex Submariner Green Ceramic Bezel Green Dial- Oh Puke!

Steel Rolex Explorer 1

It’s official. The official Rolex roster is out. Finally. Well, I was right. The 40 mm Steel Submariner has been upgraded with all the trimmings, with a better bracelet, black maxi dial for ultimate clean legibility, and ceramic bezel for longevity. This was expected and an important move For Rolex. For those of you who doubted me, you can all suck it hard!

Then the kermit got greener. Why? I don’t Fuckin know. To add insult to injury. A 40 mm steel submariner with green ceramic bezel and green maxi dial. Besides Rolex promoting the corporate colors on their watches to throw us all off, it’s just not enough to have me convinced, at least pretend and say that we are a green company or anything. This watch is hideously shiteous in my opinion. The sad part is it will probably sell out.

The Curveball thrown by Rolex this year was The 39 mm Explorer 1. I wont lie I was expecting a new Explorer 2 for this years Basel 2010. The Explorer 1 is a fucking legend and this year the watch got bigger from 36 mm to 39 mm and was upgraded with the better bracelet, the dial stayed the same, black arabic with luminous hour markers and hands. There use to be a cult following for this watch 10 years ago in Japan which sent the value to the moon, I have a feeling that this new modification will reignite the same fire worldwide for this watch. Up until two years ago with the introduction of the new Air King, The Explorer 1 was the only Rolex watch to be certified a chronometer without a date.