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Citizen Pixar Lamp and Ball – $200
New watch alert! Citizen and Timex are going full Marvel, Disney and Peanuts, luring buyers with otherwise dull watches festooned with characters from well-loved comics and movies. The Citizen Pixar Lamp and Ball also features an iconic (if obscure) cartoon character: Luxo. That’s the desk lamp featured in the first animated short from then Apple-financed, now Disney owned animation studio. It’s an odd image for sure . . .
This Jewish blogger wants a caption reading “Show me your papers!” Anyway, the 40mm Lamp and Ball is an attractive timepiece in its own right. The edge-to-edge crystal – complete with a bold blue outer ring – gives the watch an upmarket feel, complemented by red and yellow-tipped hands and a navy blue leather strap with yellow topstitch. Even so, Citizen Eco-Drive watches are genuine everyday beaters. If you “get it,” get it.
MING 27.02 – $5,555.49
From Disney to . . . Disney. Specifically, Tron. That’s the gestalt of MING’s minimalist marvel (not Marvel). The 27.02 features insanely legible skeletonized hands on a “Gradient Guilloché” dial with a stamped blue Clous de Paris guilloché ring. [Quick translation: oo-la-la!] If that’s not enough to win your horological heart/warm-up your credit card, the MING 27.02’s attached to a baby’s bottom-smooth calf blue-grey leather strap by Jean Rousseau Paris.
The 27.02’s powered by a modded ETA 7001, admired under double AR-coated sapphire. Buying one of these beauties is a bit of a bother. Make that a crap shoot. Go online on 22 January at the specified time and hope it’s your lucky day. Disappointed enthusiasts have taken to calling the Malaysian-based watchmaking collective MING the Merciless, but that’s the price you pay. Just another product of today. Semoga berjaya! Good luck!
Harry Winston Project Z14 – $26,400
What is it with these “dial within a dial” dials? I understand the Electricianz Cable Z; the design leaves room for wires that make the watch look like an IED. In this [Zalium] case, the bits surrounding the inner dial are thoroughly distracting – especially the retrograde minutes and seconds fantail, inspired by the arch above HW’s NY boutique (or any arch or an elevator floor indicator). The Winstonian timekeeper looks odd. Complicated. Overwrought. And this Z is cleaner than previous Z’s. Mind you . . .
This is clearly a render of the Z14, not a photograph. Moving in closer, we can see the renderiffic splendor that makes the Harry Winston Project Z14 the third cartoon watch in today’s New Watch Alert. Question: given that this is a highly manipulated image, why are the screws misaligned? “An iconic model intended to redefine the genre of luxury sports watches,” the Z14-less Project Z webpage proclaims. No it isn’t and no it didn’t. Next?
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Surprisingly tasteful use of primary colors on the Citizen, but I hate the lug arrangement. Presumably this case was made for a bracelet?
I like the looks of Ming watches till I realize they are modern sized and not 34-36mm. Not to be lug obsessive, but they seem to flare out on this one. I picture them catching on things. Those hands and the odd/even indices should get copied.
I like it, but the date complication needs to go.