Gruppo Gamma Venturo Field Watch #2 - A Standalone Design, A Review (plus Video)

One genre of interest in my collection is military style watches (see here for the set of military watches in my collection). One of the more striking vintage military style watches (as well as rare) is the Rolex 3139. In 2020, Gruppo Gamma has decided to scratch-the-itch of military watch collectors by offering a close reinterpretation of the 3139 with some modern tweaks. The Gruppo Gamma Venturo Field Watch #2 is the design the brand came out with.

This is the second Gruppo Gamma watch in my collection. The first was a model from a collaboration of 50 pieces made for the Malaysia Watch Forum Group (or MWF) which was delivered in December 2013 (see here). I just realised that 2013 was also the year of establishment for Gruppo Gamma. I am very happy to note that the manufacturer MWF chose for that special project has grown into a proud brand.

I booked the watch when a pre-launch announcement was made for an introductory price of US299. The 200 meter water rating, the box sapphire crystal and the use of the SII NH35 automatic movement makes the introductory pricing look like a steal!

Casio G-Shock Square Titanium Camouflage GMW-B5000TCM-1JR - The Ultimate Practical G-Shock Square, A Review (plus Video)

I have in my collection two Casio G-Shock squares. The all resin GWM5610BC-1JF and the all stainless steel GMWB5000GD-1ER. You can read a review I wrote on a head-to-head comparison between the two here. It was a long wait for me before I got the metal G-Shock due to the overwhelming demand.

While waiting, in February 2019, Casio announced the ultimate G-Shock Square, the 18 Karat Limited Edition Gold G-Shock 'Pure Gold' G-D5000-9JR. Only 35 pieces will be made and this has an MSRP of YEN7,700,000 or USD70,000. I was definitely interested but the pricing definitely it out of contention.

Around the same time news came out that Casio will also be coming out with a titanium model. What got everyone talking was the expected price point of the new model which has been estimated to be three (3) times more than the standard stainless steel unit. Immediately, a lot of not-so-nice comments were made on social media platforms complaining about this (no one commented much about the price on the Pure Gold version though). Since the pricing is not too exorbitant, I decided to hunt for this as well.

Seiko Recraft Series Automatic Green Watch SNKP27 (Similar to SNKP23, SNKP25) - Welcome Home Beautiful, A Review (plus Video)

An interesting series coming out of Seiko's factories is the "Recraft" line. These are modern watches with vintage design cues at an affordable price point. Akin to a Seiko 5 series but not necessarily so. I believe Seiko found that the current level of quality required of a Seiko 5 with the 4R winding and hacking movement will require them to price it to a level that would not make Seiko 5s the 'cheap value-for-money' watches it used to be.

To solve the affordability issue, Seiko created the 'Recraft' line that firmly puts the brand in the hands of the masses. I have collected a number of watches under this more affordable line and they are truly value-for-money works of art.

The latest into the collection is the SNKP27. This is a square shaped watch which is seldom seen in the realm of Seiko. It has a MSRP of USD275. Made out of stainless steel, it is 40 mm horizontally and 46 mm vertically. It also has a thickness of 12 mm thick. Lug width is 22 mm. The watch is paired with a leather strap with a signed buckle.

Powered by Seiko legendary 7S26 caliber workhorse, it creates a package that is hard to beat when it comes to capabilities at such a low price point.