Dipples | Blog

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Service please!

It is seemingly little known that watches require servicing. While this is an accepted fact with almost every other type of complex machine containing moving parts, watches are often left much longer than they should be with no maintenance, despite the fact that they are generally being used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. On average a watch should be serviced every 5 to 6 years, occasionally sooner. Sometimes quartz watches will have longer service intervals, but not always. As the cost of a service can... Read More

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Bremont – Now Available at Norwich

It’s not very often I get to announce a new watch brand, but guess what? Dipples have a new watch brand. Introducing Bremont watches, now available at our Norwich store. As you can see from the images, these are no ordinary watches. So what do you need to know about Bremont? First things first, they are an English company. Very English in fact (the surname of the two founding brothers is English – you couldn’t make this stuff up…). Based in Henley-on-Thames, they are in the business of making high... Read More

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Ticks and Springs

“What’s one of the most interesting things you have in the shop?” I hear you ask. Well, I’ll tell you. (Ok, maybe you didn’t ask, but I’ll tell you anyway…) Enter (to tremendous fanfare and applause) the Comitti Meridian clock. My initial impression was that of a very cleanly designed, sleek looking clock with a beautifully engineered visible escapement, but it actually took quite a long time before I went back to it and realised the immense significance of this deceptively simple piece. The first thing I hadn’t really taken... Read More

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It’s like Christmas morning here…

Quick heads-up for the watch collectors, with several new pieces from Baselworld arriving this month. Firstly we have the Seiko ‘Save The Ocean’ special edition watches in-store which I mentioned in a previous post (these look even better than I remember!). We also have several new ladies and gents Seiko Presage pieces and the new Premier Kinetic Perpetual in steel with rose batons. Also in this week (and sending my nerd circuits into overload) is the Frederique Constant Hybrid 3.0 in steel. As mentioned a while back, this is a truly amazing piece, combining... Read More

Watches and crockery are not the same thing

Ceramic is pretty amazing stuff. According to Wikipedia, the definition of ceramic is as follows: “An inorganic, non-metallic, solid material comprising metal, non-metal or metalloid atoms primarily held in ionic and covalent bonds” It all sounds a bit Sci-Fi, but there is an important underlying fact to this, which is that there are many different types of ceramic. The watch industry has been using it for many years, but even in that context there is still a great deal of variety. not all ceramic it seems, is created equal. Let’s... Read More

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Longines Railroad Pocket Watch – now in stock!

Just a quick post to announce we have now received (after an exceptionally long wait…) the very smart looking Longines Railroad Pocket Watch. Limited to only 250 pieces worldwide, this beautiful vintage inspired watch is now available from our Norwich store, don’t miss your chance to own a very exclusive piece of Longines history! RRP: £2,330.   Ian Palmer – May 2018

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Baselworld: Home of Fine Watchmaking (and biscuits apparently…)

I’m not joking about the biscuits, but we’ll get to that… For those unfamiliar with the name, Baselworld is a very large international trade exhibition held annually in Basel, Switzerland (I imagine the name took a long time and many meetings to come up with…) Over 6 days the world’s largest and most prestigious watch and jewellery brands showcase their latest collections (along with an increasing number of smaller, independent manufacturers). For the last few years I have been lucky enough to visit the show with our director, so we get to see... Read More

Monsters, Turtles and Paddy the Samurai

Everyone seems to be making special edition watches at the moment. A question I’m often asked is “are they really worth buying?”. The answer to that depends very much on one’s expectations. If you’re buying a watch in order to sell it on at a profit, then the answer is probably no, as in most cases this will require a lot of luck and/or time. If you are a collector and want something unusual and exclusive to enjoy and talk about, I think the answer is yes. There are so... Read More

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Review – Michel Herbelin Inspiration 1947 Limited Edition

I’ll be honest, this watch completely escaped my notice until it arrived in the store. Michel Herbelin are not generally known for doing limited editions, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box and saw it for the first time. The Inspiration 1947 is a celebration of the French manufacturer’s 70th year, and is a re-imagining of one of their earliest watches. My first impression was one of simplicity; This is not a complicated looking watch. It definitely has that retro feel, and has the look of a... Read More

How smart is a smartwatch?

Innovation is a word which is – I think – very overused in the watch industry, and often incorrectly. For example, you will often see high-end watch manufacturers waxing lyrical about how their latest watch ‘pushes the boundaries of innovation’ whereas in fact the watch in question may use a mechanical movement, and despite being made in an unusual way, or to an unbelievably high standard of workmanship – will still not keep time as accurately as a watch with a quartz movement that may cost a fraction of the... Read More