H-SPOT - Sports Watches

Sports Watches

A-Z A complete listing of all watches shown in alphabetical order.

Mechanical Watches powered by a traditional, mechanical movement.

Quartz Watches with battery-powered quartz movements.

Electric/Electronic Battery-powered watches with electro-mechanical, electric or electronic movements.

British Watches made in Great Britain.

Chinese Watches made in China.

Russian Watches made in the Soviet Union or modern-day Russia.

Japanese Watches made in Japan.

American Watches made in the USA or by/for American companies.

Military/Space Military and Space related watches including homage and commemorative pieces.

Pilot/Aviator Watches intended for pilots or with some aviation connection.

Sport/Diver Watches associated with a sport or a particular sporting event or personality.

Pocket Pocket watches.

Movements For those interested in what makes watches tick! A selection of watch movement pictures.

Links A selection of links to the interesting websites of other collectors.

121Time Race Chronograph:
121Time have a really neat online configurator program that allows you to design your own watch by selecting from their extensive range of components and colour schemes. You can save your designs to your personal "safe" for future reference and, when you choose to buy, they'll assemble your watch at their workshop in Switzerland and ship it to you in around ten days. Here, I've selected an ETA quartz chronograph movement with Titanium-Carbide coated stainless steel case, red aluminium tachymeter bezel, waterproofing to 30M., mineral crystal, "race" style dial and hands with yellow subdial/rehaut markers, red chronograph and sweep seconds hands and a red Hirsch Carbon strap. One for the Tifosi perhaps?

Breitling SuperOcean:
The SuperOcean was developed in the 1950's for professional and military divers. Originally water-resistant to a depth of 200 metres, these latest models can withstand the pressure at depths of up to 1500 metres and feature an escape valve which allows helium (built up after long stays at depth) to be evacuated from the watch case which would otherwise explode when returning to the surface.

Breitling Limited Edition SuperOcean GMT:
A limited edition (250 pieces) of the SuperOcean with a dial and bezel similar to the "Steelfish" but with the added benefit of a GMT function.

Camel Adventure Trophy quartz chronograph:
The 12 jewel Japanese Miyota quartz movement in this watch provides a multitude of functions including a chronograph that measures 1/50th seconds up to a total of 12 hours, an alarm, quick-set date and battery end-of-life indication. A tough watch with uni-directional rotating bezel, screw-down crown, water resistant to 100M and pictured here on a grey NATO strap.

Constant Analogue/Digital quartz:
A very cheap watch (£14) purchased from the Argos Catalogue in 1993, I wore this watch at an altitude of 17,000ft. in the Himalayas. Smashed against rocks, exposed to sub-zero temperatures and immersed in freezing glacial rivers, it still works perfectly today :-) The LCD module allows the watch to display a second time zone and has all the usual chronograph and alarm features. I loath the faux rotating bezel though!

CWC Royal Navy Diver:
Water resistant to 300M, this is the current issue Royal Navy divers watch which replaced the Rolex Submariner in the 1980's.

Longines Admiral HF:
HF stands for "High Frequency". In an effort to compete with the new quartz watches of the time, several manufacturers increased the "beat" rate of their mechanical watches in an attempt to dramatically improve their accuracy. This watch also has an interesting variation on the hacking seconds function. Normally on pulling out the crown of a mechanical watch with hacking seconds, the seconds hand will stop. On this watch, the seconds hand continues until it reaches twelve and then stops. This particular watch is a 1972 Munich Olympics commemorative edition with a superb inscription on the case back. It uses a cal. 6952 movement.

Molnija 1980 Moscow Olympics Pocket Watch:
The Molnija clock and watch factory is located in Chelyabinsk in Russia. During the Second World War, the city was apparently dubbed "Tankograd" due to the large number of military factories in the area. This pocket watch commemorates the 1980 Olympic Games which were held in Moscow. These games were infamous for the large number of countries which boycotted the event following the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan. Among various Olympic-themed decorations to the watch case and dial is a motif of a boxer. I wonder if this depicts Shamil Sabirov, who won the Soviet Union's only boxing Gold medal at these games.

Ollech & Wajs Caribbean:
This is a model 702 O&W Caribbean 1000. The "Caribbean" name seems to have been used by more than a dozen different marques but the origins appear to go back to the first 1000m dive watches manufactured by Jenny in 1964.

Ollech & Wajs M1:
O&W have been making sports and military watches since 1956. Water resistant to a depth of 200 metres, the M1 divers watch is very much in the style of the Rolex Submariner/Sea-Dweller, but with a military-style dial featuring highly luminous Arabic numerals. Supplied on a stainless-steel bracelet, the watch is pictured here on a "James Bond" NATO strap.

PRS-11DN Broadarrow 300 Metre Automatic:
Broadarrows are military style watches designed and commissioned by Eddie Platts of Timefactors. They are often based upon or exceed the military specifications to which original military watches were made. The PRS-11DN has its roots in the 1971 Defence Standard 66-4 (Part 1) to which the Royal Navy divers watches were constructed. Here though, the PRS-11DN has a black PVD coated case, 25 jewel ETA 2824-2 automatic movement and sapphire crystal. Water resistant to 300 metres, this "DN" version of the PRS-11 is one of a run of only 25 watches which incorporate the handset from the PRS-2 Dreadnought 500 metre dive watch.

Ritalux Watch:
This 21 jewel automatic watch commemorates the 1972 Winter Olympic Games held in Sapporo, Japan. These were the first Winter Olympic Games to be held outside of Europe or the USA. When it was released this watch was water resistant to 200M but I don't think I'll be putting that to the test now!

RLT Watch Co. RLT19 - Renault F1 colours:
Powered by the ever-faithful 25 jewel ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, the RLT19 sports a splendid carbon fibre dial and is available in a range of different colours. However, I had this one specially made in the colours of the Renault Formula 1 team. At the time of writing (April 2005) it's the only one in this configuration although there is enough paint left over to make a few more. So if you'd like one, act now! :-) In certain lighting conditions the numbers appear to float in the space above the dial and beneath the underside of the crystal. Cool!

RLT Watch Co. RLT19 - Ferrari colours:
As above, but this one's for the Tifosi :-) The red hands with white inserts really suit this watch I think.

RLT Watch Co. RLT38:
This lovely Valjoux 7750-powered chronograph features a 1970's NOS case engraved with a motor racing motif by "Born T". The racing car's number corresponds to the limited edition number of the watch. Originally a limited edition of 10 pieces, "No.1" went missing in transit and is presumed stolen, so if you see it for sale anywhere, don't be tempted to buy it, but drop me a line to let me know (richard@h-spot.net). My thanks to Roy Taylor at RLT Watches who was able to obtain another case and dial from Switzerland to make me the watch you see here, "No.0".

RLT Watch Co. Automatic Divers Watch:
This is one of a very few watches that combined the dial and hands from the RLT11 divers watch with the case used by the Ollech & Wajs "M-Series" divers watches. At the request of an RLT forum member, Roy Taylor made just one of these watches with a quartz movement and followed up with a tiny handful of automatic versions utilising ETA's 2824-2 25 jewel movement.

Seiko "Pepsi" Bezel:
Actually a Seiko SKX025 with 7S26 automatic movement and 100 metre water resistance. These and other similar Seiko's are sometimes referred to as having Pepsi bezels because the colours on the bezels are similar to those of the Pepsi Cola drinks cans. The strap is a NATO "Speedbird" from Timefactors.

Sorna "Jacky Ickx Easy-Rider" Bullhead Chronograph:
Jacky Ickx of Belgium was a Formula One racing driver between 1966 and 1979. He raced for Tyrrell, Brabham, Lotus, Williams, Ensign, Ligier and, perhaps most famously, Ferrari. He also holds the World Record (only just equalled by Denmark's Tom Kristensen in 2004) for the most number of Le Mans 24 Hours wins (six, in 1969, 1975-77 and 1981-82) and was the 1982 World Sports Car Champion. This watch is one of several by Sorna and Heuer that bear his name.

Tissot T-Touch:
This watch has it all: a barometer, altimeter, compass, alarm, chronograph and thermometer, all operated via a touch-sensitive screen. It even tells the time too! :-)

Van Der Bauwede Chronorace 1:
Based on the VDB Magnum GT3, this special edition is number 183 of 300 commemorating the first Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix held on 4th. April 2004. It utilises a 27 jewel ETA quartz movement with four stepper motors to drive the seven hands displaying the time and split-second chronograph functions. Hardly a pretty watch, but a nice souvenir all the same. Click the following link to see the back of the watch.

Vostok Amphibia:
This Vostok Amphibia has a 31 jewel automatic movement and is water resistant to 200M. It is one of my most accurate watches, gaining only around 1 second per day. Not bad for £29!

Vostok Amphibia:
Another Vostok Amphibia. This one emphasises the 200M water resistance of the Amphibia case with its SCUBA diver dial.

Vostok Amphibia:
You can't have too much of a good thing! A third Vostok Amphibia, this time with a military style dial.

Vostok Amphibia-Cased Komandirskie for Infantry Divisions:
This is a Vostok Komandirskie for infantry divisions housed in an older-style octagonal Amphibia case, water resistant to 200 metres. The inscription around the bottom of the dial reads "By Order of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR". At some time, the original 17 jewel manual wind movement has been replaced with a newer 31 jewel automatic which fits perfectly. The strap is an upgraded NATO from Timefactors which is thicker, softer and stronger than the normal variety and has 316L stainless steel fittings, bead-blasted to a matte grey finish. A tough watch that makes for a great "beater"!

Avocet Vertech Alpine and Suunto X-Lander:
I decided to show these two together as they're less "watches" and more "wrist-top computers". As well as all the normal watch functions, these devices have altimeters, thermometers and barometers. The Suunto has a compass too. I use them whilst winter mountaineering and literally wouldn't know where I'd be without them!!