The occasional oddball
While most car brand-related watches - apart from Porsche's affiliation with IWC and some other exceptions to the rule - are disposable, cheap fashion accessories (basically a Daniel Wellington + the respective logo of the brand), this hasn't always been the case. Yesterday my father-in-law, a now retired chef, gifted me this curious piece from the late 90's/early 2000's, which he received back in the day from a local BMW retailer (he did the catering for an event they held, I guess).
While this isn't the type of watch I'd usually wear (it's a chunky Franck Mueller-lookalike, very much period correct), I'm still intrigued to know more about this thing. The dial features an annual calendar with a pointer date, day and month, as well as a 24-hour sub-register. Can anyone tell what type of movement this is? Something ETA-based with modules on top?
Classic menswear enthusiast, shoe aficionado, collector of vintage perfumes and colognes... Oh, and I love watches. Preferably sub 40mm.
Looks like a cheap Chinese movement.
I wonder if BMW is aware of this thing.
WTF is "Made in Swiss"???
Looks like a cheap Chinese movement.
I wonder if BMW is aware of this thing.
WTF is "Made in Swiss"???
Yup, that's what I thought: "Made in Swiss" sounds dodgy af. 😄
I have the same watch. I purchased it at a BMW dealership back in 2001. As I recall it wasn't that expensive and was probably around $50 at the time. It is definitely NOT a Swiss made watch, and seems like a typical cheap Chinese automatic since the "automatic" function only seems to have a one hour power reserve. But it still works as long as you are willing to hand wind it.