Blogs and thoughts

This FAQ is sorted alfabetically and consists of random trivia and information about BUUR Watches that you never asked about. Most of these are not even questions. 

If you do have something you would like to know feel free to e-mail us or ask us on Facebook or Instagram and will find an answer for you and perhaps put it here. 

About us - The long version is on the About Us page but here we can disclose that we are indeed a small operation. A microbrand in every sense. One man (me, Thomas) to make all the decisions and write the 'thank you' postcards for all buyers, a wife (Kristina) to help with packaging, children (2 girls, Agnes & Ingrid) to inform me that watches are boring and unicorns are more exciting, and a variety of outside help.

Collecting watches - Do I collect watches? Yes. But not as a hobby anymore. My first real collectors watch was 35mm 1949 Girard Perregaux in calatrava style.
Recently, for research purposes, I have bought a 1979 Digital Omega ST 386.0802 and a 1950s Eloga Date-O-Graph triple calendar. And on the wish list is a Universal Geneve Compax or Polerouter and a Breguet, and a Naoya Hida & Co, Omega Railmaster.. and many more.    

The Environment - Everybody needs to take a stand on how to be environmentally conscious. We cannot claim to be CO2 neutral or anything like that. We can tell you that we always order eco-friendly materials for packaging, and we stay away from plastics as much as possible. 

Our travel case has replaced the idea of a display box because a display box has no real use (we know we are not Patek Philippe), but a travel case does and less production of waste is also good for the environment.  

The Future - At this point we have ideas for 11 new models that we would love to make, if they are deemed sellable (not all of them are). They are not re-interpretations of famous classics such as the Submariner, the Legend Diver, or the Nautilus.

Don't get us wrong, we are heavily influenced by beautiful watches of the past and the presense and their details, who wouldn't be?
Sourcing the right movements can be tricky though as they sometime needs altering. Luckily in the world of watchmaking the rule is that everything is possible. 

Hesalite aka Plexiglass aka Acrylic - This is an area that really winds some people up. No kidding. Some observers seem furious that we would choose plexiglass on our watches watcher than the harder material sapphire crystal. The critique is that since sapphire crystal is more expensive any other choice is to 'cheap out'

The answer is that we are very inspired by watches of an era where acrylic glass was the norm and also we do like the way that acrylic adds a more vintage feel to the watch and the fact that is does not reflect light as much as sapphire crystal.
Other advantages of acrylic glass is that it doesn't shatter upon impact, which made it suitable for spacetravel on Omegas 'Moonwatch'. BTW hesalite is what Omega calls acrylic glass/ plexiglass. 
It is also very easy to get rid of scratches on acrylic glass using just a cloth and some Polywatch. For some reason sapphire crystal also attracts more fingerprints, or so we have read.
Anyway, we are happy with our choice of using acrylic/plexi/hesalite glass.   

Legends to us - Our favorite watches has only a few newer pieces among them and many vintage pieces. Some of them are completely inaccessible to most people because they are rare, or expensive, or the feared combination of being both.  Here are 5 that we love. 
2017 - F. P. Journe Monopusher Split-Seconds Chronograph made for the 'Only Watch' -event in 2017. 
1977 - Vacheron Constantin '222' - made to celebrate VCs 222 year annniversary.
1963 - Rolex 1016 'Space-Dweller' made for the Japanese market.
1959 - Longines R.R 280 with 'Pacific hands'- made for train conductors crossing timezones.
1954 - Universal Geneve Polerouter - Made to celebrate SAS first flight across the North Pole region (from Copenhagen to L.A.).
1950 - Omega Cosmic Triple date Moonphase - It's just a beautiful watch. 

Microbrand - Is BUUR Watches a microbrand? Short answer is YES. Both in terms of fulltime employees but also in terms of number of products for sale. To be completely honest being a microbrand is not something we hope to be forever but since there is no real definition of microbrand AND some reasonably sized watch brands are still considered microbrands, we are comfortable with the fact that we may still be just that in future. The term itself is not important to us as we hope to make all the watches of our dreams. 

Not Moon made, Just Swiss Made - a catchphrase I came up with that I though was really clever. It never really reasonated with the audience so I dropped it. Almost, beacuse here it is and I might try it out again sometime.  

Moonphase - For any movement that is not perpetual, the calendar sometimes has to be adjusted. For the TUNGL moonphase calendar this information can be found here (insert link).

Movements - Why quartz you may ask. Again, this parts the waters more effectively than Moses did the Red Sea. Quartz is the cilantro of watchmaking. It is either acceptable or non-acceptable.
Well let us not hate on quartz as it is in fact a groundbreaking technology that has made wrist watches more accessible to a lot of people around the world. Besides making watch more affordable, quartz movements are often also thinner than their mechanical movements especially when you add a few complications such as calendars or sub-counters. We had to choose between Chinese made watches with mechanical movements or Swiss or German made watches with quartz movements. We then chose Swiss made. 
Next line of watches will be mechanical and Swiss made. 

Multiscale - As the name implies this has to do with multiple scales. And since it is purely descriptive it is not a protected name. So we actually share this model name with a Patek Philippe beauty which also has the telemeter, tachymeter, and pulsemeter scales on the dial (without any further resemblance).

Start up - Starting up a company is the single most exciting job we can think of. You get to take all the credit when somethings go well, you get to make changes when something needs to change. You learn to set an example for yourself and your familiy. You get to make houndreds of mistakes and then claim that you learned something from each of those mistakes. You get to empathize with the feeling of not being at the top of the foodchain. You get to take a nap mid day if you can convince yourself that it will improve your overall performance. And you get to learn things that you never had any interest for, and still don't, but they need to be learned anyway. 

Tungl - Tungl is the Icelandic word for Moon and it oozes of mystique and darkness. We also though it was boring that most watch names had to be in English or some crazy reference number. Tungl we have for ourselves.. for now at least. 

Why? - Oh yes the "Why?". The reason and the purpose of BUUR Watches. And it's so so simple. Too many of the great designs of the past are nowhere to be found. To many of the creative and spectacular tool features on the old watches are no longer being used. And as watches have become more of an accessory we thought it would be great to rethink some of our own favourites from the past.
Some projects and designs have proven to be more difficult than first anticipated, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  

Wrists - Wrists and their sizes. There are many opinions about which size watches fit which wrists (try and say that fast.. can't be done). I personally am equipped with a slim wrist and therefor prefere smaller watch cases from 34mm to 40mm. My favourite sizes are in the 36-38mm region. We don't have an opinion on which size you should wear on your wrist other than we hope that you will wear whatever you damn well feel like.   

Quartz - See 'Movements'.

Feel free to write to contact@buurwatches.com if there is something you really need to know about us.