Today I decided to go with the Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44. I recently snagged this watch and can’t seem to stop wearing it. It is so different than any of the other pieces in my collection, and I love the glossy look of the heavily lacquered white dial. Combine the great looking dial with the colorful nautical flags at the hour markers, and the twelve sided sapphire crystal and you have a distinctive look that is like nothing else out there.

One of my favorite things about this watch are the chrono pushers. Their look is so well designed that I didn’t even realize that they were the pushers until I really took a second look at the watch. I also love the fact that you don’t have to cut the rubber strap to size it to your wrist. I also have the stainless bracelet for this watch on order, and will be publishing another blog once that arrives. The chunky look of the bracelet should compliment the oversize 44mm watch case and hard lines/angles found throughout. Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Today I decided to go with the Panerai Luminor GMT on a vintage leather strap. We’ll get into more detail on the leather strap later, but for right now, let’s focus on the watch. For those of you unfamiliar with the brand, Panerai is an Italian company that got its start in the second half of the nineteenth century making precision instruments for the Italian Navy. Later, in the 1930’s, they began producing watches that were oversized and highly readable for the Italian frogmen. The brand gained popularity in the 90’s when Sylvester Stallone discovered a Luminor in a shop window while filming in Italy. He liked the watch so much that he commissioned a quantity to be given to his actor friends as gifts.

This particular model is pretty different from the watches produced seventy plus years ago for the underwater commandos, but the spirit is still the same. It sports the same oversized 44mm case, as well as the same distinctive crown guard that helps ensure that the watch stays watertight even at the deepest depths.

This particular Panerai Luminor gets its GMT designation because of the extra hand that shows the time in any different time zone the user designates. This is a very useful function for those that travel a lot since it allows you to always know what time it is where you are AND what time it is back home. One other notable feature that I love about this watch is the skeleton hands. I love the cutouts of the skeleton hands as compared to the regular baton hands found on most Luminors.

Stay tuned for the upcoming strap reviews since my favorite thing about Panerai watches is that in less than two minutes you can change the strap, and the entire look of the watch in the process!