German GPW Military Titanium Automatic Watch (by Arctos Elite) - Tough, Accurate, Simple and Cheap, A Review

My interest in military watches was ignited when I happened to see this particular model from Arctos Elite under their GPW Infantry line. While searching online about this company, I found out a few very interesting facts that is worth mentioning.

On 1 April 1923, Philipp Weber founded the WEBER & AESCHBACH watch company in Pforzheim, Germany. Due to the devastation of Pforzheim in World War II which saw the destruction of the factory, the company was reborn on 21 October 1947 and renamed ARCTOS-UHRENFABRIK PHILIPP WEBER.

In 1982, based on the need for a watch of highest reliability, the German Department of Defence comissioned ARCTOS to produce and supply a chronograph for pilots and submarine commanders. ARCTOS watches became official standard equipment of NATO and the German Armed Forces under the NATO reference and supply number 6645-12-194-8642. Unfortunately, due to intense competition, ARCTOS went out of business in 1994.

However, which financial banking from Dorothea Bachmann, a retired business woman and passionate watch collector and Mr Hans IIg, in 2004, ARCTOS Präzisionsuhren e.K. was re-established in Aarbergen, a small town close to Pforzheim. The rest is history.

The watch that caught my eye was the GPW Infantry automatic titanium watch. Saw that it was available on Amazon and I put in an order. It was priced at USD249.95 (retail price was USD425.00) and courier charges was an addition USD49.95. Total cost in Ringgit was RM1,109.24

Article: The movements that power the collection

There are a few movements or mechanical watch engines that power my watch collection. Generally, these can be aggregated into a few manufacturers. I shall now now give a list of movements that I have as part of this collection. These are:

This movement is a specially skeletonized version of the ETA 6497-1

1. ETA 2824-2
2. ETA 2892.A2 
3. ETA 2893-2
4. Sellita SW200
5. Miyota 8205 - Japanese
6. Miyota 8215 - Japanese
7. Miyota 82S5 - Japanese
8. Miyota 9015 - Japanese
9. Sii NH15 - Japanese
10. Omega 3220
11. Omega 2500
12. Omega 8500
13. Rolex 1575
14. Rolex 3131
15. Rolex 3132
16. Rolex 3135
17. Rolex 4130
18. TY2807SV - Chinese
19. IWC 80110

Despite the fact that this collection only covers watches made in Western countries, quite a number of the brands use Japanese and Chinese made movements to power their creations. As the quality of Japanese and Chinese made movement improves over time while maintaining a positive price differential over Swiss made movements, it is very likely that the use of non-Swiss movement will increase in the near future.

OCEAN7 LM5 GMT - A perfect gentleman's watch in every sense, A Review

If you have been following my collection journey especially on the Ocean7 Watch Company, I already have three of its offerings (The LM8, Airnautic Early Bird and the LM3 V2). This latest acquisition will be the fourth. The LM5 GMT has been touted to be one of the most beautiful diver given the use of sapphire not only as a material for the crystal covering the dial but also as the base material for the bezel itself.

I like doing business with Ocean7 Watch Company. The owner, Mitchell Feig, keep close connections with the people who have bought, and will eventually buy, his watches.

Head to Head: Omega Seamaster PloProf Reference 224.32.55.21.01.001 Versus The Oyster Perpetual Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller Reference M116660-0001

It is the clash of titans. This is how best to describe when this two giants from the houses of Omega and Rolex go head-to-head on a no-holds-barred comparative review. What is the prize? To be crowned as the better deep diver.