[260712 New Addition]- [UHR355]- My 1st "iWc"...homage!

[Ed.YEO]

After long neck wait for 10days... finally just got this piece from the post office hands.
Just capture a wristshot...
so... u all temporary live with this first huh!

[Ed.YEO]

After long neck wait for 10days... finally just got this piece from the post office hands.


It was supposedly to be delivered to me on the last thursday on the 21st, but no idea why, it was dispatched on Monday from Germany... till Saturday still no updates from both DHL.de and SPEEDPOST. Perhaps it was still Summer holidayz in Germany, that there's no enough staff to handle the shipping, that it was delayed later to the following week? Whoa... How i wish the public holiday is so long in Singapore as well... hehehe...


The index are not white, or painted white as folks may have witness on UHR's catalog page. In a studio shot, reflections of light on indexes or any shiny surface may produce wrong impressions.

Anyway, some of you might ask, why did i place order for this piece? Because i can't afford a truely expensive IWC Portugese, hence i just settle on a homage? Or is it i'm takng chance to make another purchase of European piece while the x-change rate of Euro is at current bad stage? Or... There're many ors'... Some of he above doubts are true but played a little part in my decision making.

I've not seen a true IWC Portuguese at all, but according to most of he response gathered on the design, I could understand why this particular model is hated by IWC adorers.

1st impressions-

Slightly domed crystal and classic case design... this will be one of my dress watch as well.

The watch is about the same size as my 1st Chrono... from the same maker, UHR-261, @ 44mm, lays on my wrist without having it's lugs hanging too far over my fat wrist. The slightly domed crystal, under reflection of certain light conditions, seems to be slightly cloudy in clarity, but i doubt that there will be any AR coatings on the crystal given @ such an affordable price. The casing is typically classic, round and with some contours, sits on my wrist with a certain height, but of course, when compared to UHR-461 the diver's chrono, it's slimmer. Onto the dial. Initially before i open the box, i was expecting to receive what i had witness as with others on the picture posted in the catalog page, slightly pale center bursting into deep navy blue then black to the edge of the dial, with white printed indexes around the circumference of the dial. But no. What greeted me was a classy ALL matt black dial with shiny silver hands and shiny silver indexes. Well... there are pros and cons of such design or combination of color pairing. The most challenging part will be for those with eyes sight problems or issues...without anything luminous in color that may reflect on the silver coatings... reading time could be a tough job to perform.


well sized crown, slightly blurred crystal lens, well distributed subdials... hmm...where's the seconds hand?

How about the other stuff?
I can live with the German date wheel which is not available as an option during order placing. And such installation will be present with other 7750 watches from UHR as well. No english option available. Anyway, with this German date wheel, it adds some points to the authenticity for being a German watch. Do you agree?
The crown, not too slim and not too fat, sized just nice for my fingers to pry out when it comes to hacking, time adjusting as well s date changing...by the way, the date and day wheel changed totally to the following day and date by the time it struck twelve!
The chrono buttons? Hmm... on such a classic body, a however modern and simple designed is used...bah...who will notice the Chrono buttons?
Last but not least... the pairing strap by VELLA PELLE from Italy, why i don't continue to use that? Instead i changed to a budget PAROS black strap with white stitches? Isn't i myself a self proclaimed bracelet guy?
On the bracelet part, okay... i have to admit... i can't find the one with suitable "classic" pattern design that can pair with this piece. In addition, the original strap have lines of "pattern" as seen from the original picture from the catalogue...

...you may see that the lines are slightly deep and big, if without careful practice, the buckle could easily be trapped onto the "grooves" and may snap off if we tend to pull it slightly harder.

So... tada! New shoes with slightly smoother surface and white stitches that pairs the shiny reflective hands and indexes.


The package quality-
As usual, the watch is packed together with a black plastic card as well as the user guide on ETA 7750 movement in a hard-card based box with 2 clear elastic film securing the watch that may help to prevent against any hard knocks or vigorous shaking during the shipping process. An economical way to save on packaging cost that may eventually passed on to their customers from different part of the world. With good spacing packing, even if the external box that packed the watch box was delivered with serious dent, it will most likely not to passed on to the watch box.

Will i go for another UHR AUTO CHRONO?
I won't OOOH YEAH this time round! For the price of 599euro, or even higher due to watch movement rising cost price... although i still have lots of interest with SWISS Made Automatic Chronograph movements...i guess my next purchase will need me to think twice or more... Maybe on the year 2013, UHR should seriously consider to use budget alternatives such as Sellitas SW500 movements to keep their product competitive in price.

Anyway...UHR AUTO CHRONO is really a great catch that must not be missed!!!