Review of the Skagen 697XLMLMB

This picture shows what you can win: the watch, new in box and still plastic-wrapped, an Orient ID ribbon, box, manual and international guarantee. Pretty nice, eh?Since we're giving this one away, I didn't wear it or remove the plastic, so I don't know how it'll be to wear, keep time, etc. This gives you 132 characters, which suits our short attention span.In two weeks from this post, the WR editors will read all entries and decide who wins. I need this watch to win the girl of my dreams as I contest on a game show. I quite like how it looks, though. The blued hands, Roman numerals, stamped guilloche face and rectangular shape work very well together. Hopefully Orient will produce a similar model for the rest of us. So, you ask, how do I win this lovely watch all for myself? Well, we debated this and decided to try mixing it up with the question of 'How to use social media for WatchReport.' To wit, James has started Twittering as 'watchreport,' and we're not sure how useful it'll be. Here's what we came up with:To enter the contest, write a single Tweet tagged with 'wr-orient' describing why you should win.The decision will be arbitrary and final. Please ensure that your Twitter profile includes an email address so that we can reach you to arrange shipment to the winner.Our thanks to Orient USA for this gift to the WR community!Example tweet: "

Interview with Charlotte Jorst of Skagen

Most are dress-type watches that make good all-around wearers, and are very well priced at under $200. As such, they seem excellent candidates for Watch Report.Their PR firm has also loaned a couple of watches for review, so please keep an eye out for those here on WatchReport.Can you tell us a bit about the history of how Skagen watches came to be?My husband and I started pounding the pavement in New York City with watches that companies could add their logo to.  The Orient brand is one little known to those outside of Asia, though they've been in business since 1901 and are majority owned by Seiko. Since 1950, they've made over eighty million mechanical watches! I've owned one myself and quite liked it. (It was a pilot-style mechanical with power reserve, sold to fund another purchase.)Orient takes a different approach to mechanical from the Swiss movements most people have seen: their movements rarely handwind or hack, and almost all have a power reserve indicator. The PR, as it's known, is kind of a signature on their dials. Calibrated in hours, it shows how long before the movement needs to be wound. The CFDAC004W0 has a 40-hour reserve, with the PR at 12 o'clock on the dial.Specs for the CFDAC004W0:Mechanical, 21600 vph (3Hz), 40 hour reserve, non-handwinding and non-hacking.Stainless steel case and bracelent, signed non-screwdown crown.35mm across, 39 with crown, 43mm lug to lug.

Review of the Skagen 233XXLSLB

Although I'm still a diehard Japanese-market Casio G-Shock fan, I now regard Citizen watches with the exact same level of respect.A great deal of my interest in Citizen watches comes from the Attesa line which I consider comparable to the MR-G line of Casio G-Shocks. Both lines represent some of the most advanced, durable, and certainly coolest quartz watches in the world.The first Attesa to really grab my attention was the ATV53-2832, but it was the extremely unique look and functionality of the ATV53-2933 that finally inspired me to do a full review.Let's start with a detailed rundown of an extremely impressive (and lengthy) set of features: Solar powered with a 3.5 year power reserve, two levels of power-saving (the first for the LCDs, and the second for the analog hands), battery power indicator, and a low-battery warning. Light-weight titanium case and bracelet with a highly scratch resistant DLC (Diamond-like Carbon) coating. Not only does DLC shrug off all kinds of abuse, but it helps give the watch a very cool stealthy look appreciated by those of us who aren't so much into bling.Sapphire crystal (virtually scratchproof) with AR coating. Atomic calibration compatible with time signals in Japan, US, Germany, and China. Calibration occurs at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., and 4 a.m. The 4 a.m. calibration can be moved to any time of the day which is great for people who work nights. While calibrating, the second hand turns into a signal strength indicator.

Review of the Citizen Attesa ATV53

If the watch's battery ever dies completely, it's even smart enough to automatically calibrate once sufficiently recharged. World time. 43 cities are pre-programmed, and there's room to add one custom city (the time can be set in increments of 15 minutes which can accommodate pretty much any time zone on the planet). DST can be individually toggled for any of the 43 cities, and each city can be hidden if you'd like to remove it from the list (to make scrolling more efficient). And finally, you can swap your home and world time zones by depressing the two buttons on the right simultaneously. This is a great feature for people who frequently travel between the same two cities. Two world time alarms. Each alarm can be set to individual cities, and each alarm sounds a distinct tone. The alarms have a test function so you can try them out without actually having to set them and wait for them to go off. Countdown timer with a maximum time of 99 minutes.Stopwatch with a resolution of 1/100th of a second and a maximum time of 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59.99 seconds. UTC subdial at the 12 o'clock position, 24-hour subdial at the 2 o'clock position, mode subdial at the 6 o'clock position, and battery power subdial at the 10 o'clock position. Internal timing bezel for analog timing. This is an extremely unusual feature typically only found on dive watches.As you might have guessed, I'm a big fan of the Citizen Attesa ATV53-2933, and of Citizen watches in general. Citizen's closest competitor is probably Casio, and while I'm a very big G-Shock fan, I think Citizen has continued to innovate and distinguish itself by producing some extremely impressive timepieces.

Viewthe nTren MP3 watch photo gallery

Viewthe nTren MP3 watch photo gallery.The nTren MP3 watch is a welcome addition to the rapidly growing world of wristMP3 players. Ironically, what sets the nTren MP3 watch apart is not its prowessas an MP3 player, but rather its surprisingly good looks. Just when most watchgeeks had resigned themselves to having to strap hideously conspicuous devicesto their arms in order to get their constant technology fix, nTren subverts thestereotype with what I think is a pretty darn elegant looking MP3 watch. If you'reinto MP3s, and you're also into not looking like a geek, the nTren MP3 watch couldbe your next new toy. Features of the nTren MP3 WatchQuartz analog timekeeping. In other words, the watch actuallytells time in addition to playing MP3s. Since the emphasis ofthis watch is obviously not on precision timekeeping, I didn't rigorously measureits accuracy, though I did notice that it only gained a fraction of asecond over a 24 hour period, *** it a very adequate and standard quartz watch,and plenty accurate for anyone who would want to store MP3s on his wrist. Built-in MP3 player. The nTren MP3 watch stores and plays 128MB, 256MB, and soon, up to 512MB of MP3s at compression rates of between 32kbps to 256kbps. USB data storage. Not only can you store and play MP3s, but you can use the nTren MP3 watch to store other types of files, as well. You can use the watch to back up important files, or as a convenient way to transfer files from one computer to another. 10 hour battery life. That's what nTren claims, anyway. My tests indicated they are actually selling themselves short since I was able to get 10 hours and 11 minutes out of a single charge! Very impressive. The battery takes about 3 hours to fully charge, and has a life expectancy of about 3 years. Water resistant. The instructions say the watch is water resistant to 3-10 BAR. I've never seen a pressure rating expressed as a range before, so I'm not sure whether it's 3 or 10, but I strongly suggest assuming that it's 3. 3 BAR is the equivalent of 30 meters or 100 feet, so that's plenty, and actually very impressive for a watch like this.