Linde Werdelin offers a unique opportunity for potential customers. You can test one a watch for 5 days and decide if you like it. I’ve never heard of any other brand offering such an opportunity.

The first time i saw a Linde Werdelin in the metal was during Baselworld 2009. I immediately fell in love with the SpidoLite, Linde Werdelin’s top model. Since Baselworld we stayed in touch and as a result they borrowed me the 3-Timer for my Chronicle about the perfect vacation watch on Worldtempus.com.

Linde Werdelin 3-Timer

In my Chronicle i came to the conclusion a perfect vacation watch does exist. The combination of a rugged, waterproof watch with GMT function and the Land or Sea Instruments Linde Werdelin offers fulfill all particle desires. So when i told them my next vacation is backpacking in India for almost 4 weeks, they immediately asked me which watch i was going to wear….

The truth is i don’t have a watch with multiple timezones or a GMT function, which is in my opinion one of the essentials for a good vacation watch. At least, if you plan your vacation on the other side of the world. Linde Werdelin suggested i put my conclusion to the test and offered a 2-Timer for the duration of my vacation!

The photo above of a Linde Werdelin 2-Timer was shot during a Watches & Espresso meeting earlier this year and could well be the first Linde Werdelin in the Netherlands.

Now back to the ideal vacation watch. For me a second time zone or GMT hand is a necessity for a vacation watch. And since i’m not the person to spent a vacation in a luxury hotel, my vacation watch must be able to deal all aspects i might encounter. Almost four weeks backpacking in India means getting aquatinted with the Indian public transport (trains and busses), hiking, driving around on an old Enfield Bullit i plan to rent and probably some diving as well.

Linde Werdelin was still not shocked when i told them more about my vacation plans! I’m really looking forward to my trip of course, but i’m also very much looking forward to testing the 2-Timer. When i’m back i will write a long review about the hardships the 2-Timer had to endure

Test you favorite Linde Werdelin

Linde Werdelin offers (almost) the same for any potential customer. The test period is limited to 5 days. This way you can really get an idea of the watch, how it feels on your wrist and how it looks. Isn’t that amazing? I have never heard of any other watch brand offering this kind of customer service.

Linde Werdelin’s Test Set option is a hassle free way that ensures the trial of a Linde Werdelin watch, for five days, from the comfort of one’s home at no obligation. Models available on the Test Set are the Elemental steel (black  and silver dial) from the original collection. From the new collection the following watches are available and so is the land instrument The Rock.

• SpidoLite all Titanium
• Oktopus Titanium
• The One steel (black dial)
• The One steel (silver dial)
• 3-Timer steel (black dial)
• 3-Timer steel (silver dial)
• The Rock natural aluminium

The models are of course subject to availability. Linde Werdelin will ship the chosen watch model plus the Rock to be experienced and enjoyed for five days. There is no obligation of purchase and the return of the set has been made hassle free for the recipient.

Check the Linde Werdelin website!!

One of the biggest watch-forums in the world, Watchuseek, has a quiz and the prices are lots of watches! All you have to do is answer a few questions.

Sometimes you can win a watch when a watch forums has a competition. Like summer last year, when Horomundi offered the opportunity to win a Glashütte Original Sport Evo Perpetual.

The Watchuseek Grande Finale 2009 quiz runs from December 1st until December 31th. This means time enough enter the quiz. There are thirteen prices to be won, all watches. The idea is to answer questions about the watch you would like to win. Click on the picture below to visit quiz on Watchuseek.

The winners will be announced in the 1st week of January. If you win… it’s an excellent way to start the new year

The Laco Pilot Handwinding is one of the 13 watches you can win. The movement inside is a Unitas 6498 manual winding movement. This makes it an affordable pilot style watch with matching leather strap.

The stainless steel case is 42mm in diameter, 13mm thick and has a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. The Unitas movement is visible through a sapphire crystal in the case back.

Laco Pilot Handwind

Independent watchmakers and the ‘BIG name’ brands are very different. Yet they all aim for the same goal, which is making (and selling) beautiful watches. In a series of articles i will share some observations and thoughts.

In my first chronicle about Independent Watchmakers & the ‘BIG name’ brands I wrote about the difference in reputation and the role of marketing. The ‘BIG names’ usually have a name that is well known to most people, especially among watch collectors. Not only a long history plays a role in this, also huge marketing budgets helps relatively new-comers to build a reputation very fast.

Just take a look at these ads of Omega and Patek Philippe. They look familiar, don’t they? You have probably seen them in numerous magazines. And advertising in print media is expensive!

Omega advertisements

Patek Philippe advertisements

Independent Watchmakers don’t have huge marketing budgets, get almost no media-attention in print media and marginal attention from online media. They have to be innovative in their ways to communicate with potential customers. Some Independent Watchmakers use social media like Facebook and Twitter and instead of the institutionalized media, they use online media like weblogs.

In part 2, that has just been published on Worldtempus.com, i’ll share some thoughts about the differences in how a new watches grows from idea to final product.

Feel free to share you thoughts on this matter, by posting a comment or sent me an email. Stay tuned for part 3.

The Grönefeld Boutique opens it doors on December 19th and is the first boutique representing Independent Haute Horlogerie brands in the Netherlands.

Tim and Bart Grönefeld already made name with their own highly complicated wrist watch, the Grönefeld GTM-06. On December 19th they will open the doors of their new boutique, representing Independent Haute Horlogerie brands like Kees Engelbarts, Sarpaneva, Speake-Marin, S.U.F. and of course their own watches!

Grönefeld Boutique - Kees, Speake-Marin, Sarpaneva, S.U.F., Grönefeld

Usually when you’re interested in a watch or just looking for something new, you can go to a local or nearby AD. Independent watch brands already get much lesser attention in media, both online and in print. This makes it much harder for watch collectors to come across them and get to know these watches.

That’s why i think it was very good news when the Dutch watch magazine Watching asked me to write a series of articles about Independent watch makers. And that’s why i think the opening of the Grönefeld Boutique is great news! Finally a place where watch collectors and aficionados can see and feel these beautiful hand-made watches.

The Grand Opening of the Grönefeld Boutique is on saturday December 19th. Take a look at the website for information and register for the opening. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about Independent Haute Horlogerie.

The Grönefeld Boutique is located in Oldenzaal, in the east of the Netherlands. This location makes it possible for watch collectors and aficionados from the Netherlands, northern Germany and even southern Denmark to visit the Grönefeld Boutique. Time for a road trip