The must-have Macro Loupe for all watch lovers

Iconic watch art prints. Made in Switzerland, lifetime guarantee

This 591084 model with a small seconds hand, a 1970s design, a sunburst dial, and square Arabic numerals, is an export version (English inscriptions) housing a 2603 caliber movement with 16 jewels. It certainly marks the end of an era; this caliber dates back to the 1950s, and even the shock-resistant version, developed through technology transfer from the French LIP factories, is even older. This new dial design modernizes a watch that is fundamentally very old and well-known. The case is also nothing new; it's chrome-plated brass with a snap-on steel case back, a familiar design. But that's often the case: just change the face, and it's always the same story inside. The soundtrack to listen to: Diana Loginova performing the famous song from "The Swan Lake Cooperative" in front of Kazan Cathedral in the center of Saint Petersburg, a performance that went viral on social media, a phenomenon for which the performers are now languishing in detention. It is certainly the most striking song of our time, with its whiff of a bloody end of an era. The stories we are told are nothing but cleverly crafted lies for the present moment, but behind the scenes, it's always the same team we know all too well, or pretend not to know.

The Swan Lake Cooperative

For once, it's not a wristwatch but a mechanical pocket chronograph, which is much more practical for sporting events than a wristwatch, even one with a chronograph complication. It's certainly bulkier, it doesn't tell the time, and it's less precise and reliable than an electronic chronograph, but it brings a certain charm if we think of the era before the Prague Spring, the exploits of the Czech Emil Zátopek (so well rendered by Jean Echenoz in the Minuit editions). And then there's the relentless 2.5Hz ticking of this type of mechanism, which you don't find in a quartz watch; of course, the precision remains second-rate. This chronograph is a production of the Zlatoust watch factory in the Urals, apparently before they developed the Agat brand, so in the 1960s. The 49.5 mm (60.5 with the crown) and 16 mm thick case is made of chrome-plated brass. The mechanism has 11 jewels.
The soundtrack to listen to for this chronograph would be the soundtrack of the film "Lola Court" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBj8W7h4WAs&list=PLTFQbGm88i2iJKNme4GYx-p7Banicvmm1 ). There is probably nothing harder than racing against time, and at the same time fascinating and sometimes a matter of life or death, as in this film.

The locomotive against the clock

I bought this watch by chance twenty years ago after seeing an ad that reminded me of the ski chase scene in the Caucasus from the movie "The World Is Not Enough." I also really liked the orange numerals and the orange and black strap.
Of course, the case is heavy (40x48mm) and the dial is confusing, but surprisingly, the time is very easy to read in all circumstances. The chronograph isn't a complication that really appeals to me, but if you put the chronograph aside, it makes for a very legible two-hand watch with a small quartz seconds hand at 6 o'clock that adds a bit of animation to the dial without having to endure the jolts of a large second hand. The date is at 4:30 p.m. and is relatively discreet. The strap and pin buckle are really cool, but over the past twenty years, the leather has definitely aged. The domed mineral glass has also taken a few knocks.
The soundtrack for this watch would, of course, be the soundtrack to the film "The World Is Not Enough," featuring Garbage. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nr2S0YgXWjA&list=OLAK5uy_mUa477o9q_jxwon8nEtTpWBAIfKLsWTxs

Adjectives: sporty, massive, energetic, lively

An energetic quartz chronograph

This 651147 night model is one of the most successful dress watches from the 1960s and 70s, equipped with the 2609-a Baltika movement with 21 jewels. The faceted gold color code of the numerals and indexes on a black background creates a classy atmosphere while keeping the brutal side of the baton hands and vertical facets. The 651 type chrome-plated brass case adds a bit of simplicity. It must be said that my copy is less flamboyant than it must have been when new, the patina of time has taken place. In addition, the second hand does not seem to be original, the original hand is simpler like those of the minutes and hours. The case has a contained diameter of 34mm without the crown for a little less than 10mm thick. The watch is called "export" because Raketa and the number of jewels is written in English as well as the made in USSR at the bottom of the dial under the graduation. But that doesn't mean it was exported, as a lot of exported products were sold in the country through the domestic export circuit.
The soundtrack associated with this watch could be quite diverse depending on the associations one may have, but it reminds me of Jamala's song 1944. Because the numbers 12-3-6-9 stand out with a faceted metallic appearance against a dark dial. Certainly, this is the most common combination of numbers in watchmaking; dividing the half-day in four, the hour in four, is the most logical thing to do, but here the graphic code really makes me think that these numbers say "1944." The year 1944 was the bloody deportation of many peoples by Moscow, but the deportation of the Crimean Tatars was the longest of Soviet nights, it only ended with the end of the USSR itself. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FrcWpMzo0es

The depth of the night

Boris Grebenshikov, City of Gold soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WKzDD-SJBU

The distinctive feature of this 1990s watch is that it is entirely gold-plated. Not only the dial and hands, but also the bezel and case. Only the caseback is made of steel, a screw-down caseback. It has been worn relatively little, given that it was given as a gift somewhere in Ukraine or Belarus on July 17, 1999, and it is a bit conspicuous to be worn if you didn't choose it yourself.
The numerals are interesting because they seem to escape from the center in the direction of the centrifugal force, as on the bezel, except for the 6, of course, because that would be confusing, since an inverted 6 is a 9.
The movement is marked with a double pennant, which is the logo of the Vympel brand from the Belarusian city of Vitebsk. The watch evokes an unattainable and desirable ideal that hovered over the late 1990s. Hence the famous song, almost a prayer, by Boris Borisovitch, set to this melody, falsely said to be from the Middle Ages, about an ideal and fabulous world of the transparent city of gold. It is not a simple watch; it is a prayer, a call for peace, beauty, and love.
Adjective: ideal, metaphysical, dreamlike, historical

A prayer, an ideal

A city of contrasts whose name simultaneously inspires dreams and fear. A window on Europe, canals fronting Italian architecture, a cultural capital and simultaneously a bastion of serfdom and imperialism, or more recently, the breeding ground for criminal organizations that are shaking the planet. This is what the name Saint Petersburg evokes, after having been Petrograd and Leningrad.

The Raketa 51 case is a very practical classic. Large (39 mm without the crown and 41 mm from lug to lug), it leaves plenty of room for a dial that can be personalized in abundance. Legibility is very poor due to the small black hands on a colored background, but on this model, it's more the personalization that should stand out than the time, here the Petersburg coat of arms. Time is secondary; if readability is your primary concern, you should consider the Big Zero, which is equipped with the same movement and case but has a white background and large hands. The Roman numerals are in keeping with this trend; since readability is already mediocre, it's best to go all grandiloquent. The case is made of chrome-plated brass with a clip-on steel back and houses a very classic 2609-NA movement, notably found in the Big Zero.
We understand this is a watch worn to daydream about the northern capital or for any other reason, such as an excuse to be late (sorry, I misread the time, and anyone can make a mistake on such an illegible dial).
The soundtrack to listen to is Radar's debut album, released in 2017 and purely instrumental, dedicated to the city of Saint Petersburg.
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lvd-3IyMeiSDrmWKuz38s6g9nVznSpLXE

My kind of town, Piter is

The micro-brand Viqueria has a passion for the land of the rising sun and often pays homage to it. Kuro is the Japanese word for black and indeed this dial is blacker than black. 

The Viqueria Kuro is a watch that I particularly like. It is three hands floating in the middle of nowhere, our environment is reflected in this watch that does not really have a dial. It is a black hole, not only is there nothing written but it is entirely covered in black Japanese Musou paint that absorbs 99.4% of visible light. Kuro means black, but the watch is not really black, it is blacker than black, it is truly fascinating. The movement and the oscillating weight are visible through the transparent back. It is a Sellita SW200. This watch reminds me of my old Sekonda queen of the night in Penza but whose logic is pushed to the limit to no longer keep anything of the dial and leave all the space to the hands. It's a real success. The only disappointment, oddly enough, comes from the bracelet, which came unstitched at several points and which I ended up changing.

A Japanese Italian

<p>Fond&eacute;e en <strong>1970</strong> par Philippe Saner dans le Jura suisse, la marque <strong>Saner</strong> incarne un demi-si&egrave;cle d'excellence horlog&egrave;re. Initialement sp&eacute;cialis&eacute;e dans l'assemblage de mouvements m&eacute;caniques, l'entreprise a su &eacute;voluer tout en conservant son savoir-faire artisanal. En 2020, pour c&eacute;l&eacute;brer ses 50 ans, la famille Saner a lanc&eacute; une collection exclusive de montres en &eacute;dition limit&eacute;e, marquant ainsi son entr&eacute;e sur le devant de la sc&egrave;ne horlog&egrave;re.</p>
<h3><strong>Les D&eacute;buts : Un Atelier Familial</strong></h3>
<p>Philippe Saner a &eacute;tabli son atelier &agrave; Alle, dans le Jura suisse, une r&eacute;gion r&eacute;put&eacute;e pour son expertise horlog&egrave;re. D&egrave;s le d&eacute;part, l'atelier s'est distingu&eacute; par la pr&eacute;cision de son travail, fournissant des mouvements m&eacute;caniques &agrave; des marques prestigieuses. Cette r&eacute;putation d'excellence a permis &agrave; l'entreprise de se d&eacute;velopper tout en restant fid&egrave;le &agrave; ses <strong>racines familiales</strong>.</p>
<h3><strong>L'&Eacute;volution : De la Sous-Traitance &agrave; la Cr&eacute;ation de Montres</strong></h3>
<p>Apr&egrave;s des d&eacute;cennies en tant que sous-traitant de confiance, la <strong>famille Saner </strong>a d&eacute;cid&eacute; de capitaliser sur son expertise en lan&ccedil;ant sa propre ligne de montres. Cette transition a &eacute;t&eacute; motiv&eacute;e par le d&eacute;sir de proposer des garde-temps refl&eacute;tant leur vision de l'horlogerie, alliant tradition et innovation.</p>
<h3><strong>La Collection "Heart in Light"</strong></h3>
<p>Pour c&eacute;l&eacute;brer son 50e anniversaire, Saner a d&eacute;voil&eacute; la collection <strong>"Heart in Light"</strong>. Compos&eacute;e de cinq mod&egrave;les exclusifs, chaque pi&egrave;ce est limit&eacute;e &agrave; 50 exemplaires et <strong>certifi&eacute;e par le Contr&ocirc;le Officiel Suisse des Chronom&egrave;tres (COSC)</strong>, garantissant une pr&eacute;cision exceptionnelle. Les mod&egrave;les se d&eacute;clinent avec des bracelets en cuir, m&eacute;tal ou nylon, offrant une vari&eacute;t&eacute; adapt&eacute;e aux go&ucirc;ts diversifi&eacute;s des amateurs de montres.</p>
<h3><strong>Engagement envers la Qualit&eacute; et l'Innovation</strong></h3>
<p>Saner s'engage &agrave; maintenir des <strong>standards de qualit&eacute; &eacute;lev&eacute;s</strong>. L'atelier, modernis&eacute; et bien &eacute;quip&eacute;, se sp&eacute;cialise dans l'assemblage de mouvements m&eacute;caniques, le garnissage de platines et l'embo&icirc;tage de montres, y compris celles avec complications. Cette infrastructure permet &agrave; la marque de contr&ocirc;ler chaque &eacute;tape de la production, assurant ainsi la fiabilit&eacute; et la durabilit&eacute; de ses produits.</p>
<h3><strong>Conclusion</strong></h3>
<p>La marque Saner illustre la capacit&eacute; d'une <strong>entreprise familiale</strong> &agrave; &eacute;voluer tout en pr&eacute;servant son h&eacute;ritage. En lan&ccedil;ant sa propre collection de montres, Saner a d&eacute;montr&eacute; que l'expertise accumul&eacute;e au fil des d&eacute;cennies peut servir de fondation solide pour innover et proposer des produits de haute qualit&eacute; aux passionn&eacute;s d'horlogerie.</p>
<p>Inspirez-vous des <strong>avis clients Dialicious</strong> pour choisir la montre qui vous ressemble.</p>
<p>(Mise &agrave; jour Mars 2025)</p>

<p dir="ltr">Founded in <strong>1970</strong> by Philippe Saner in the Swiss Jura, the brand <strong>Saner</strong> embodies half a century of watchmaking excellence. Initially specializing in the assembly of mechanical movements, the company has evolved while maintaining its artisanal know-how. In 2020, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the Saner family launched an exclusive collection of limited edition watches, marking its entry onto the watchmaking scene.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">The Beginnings: A Family Workshop</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Philippe Saner established his workshop in Alle, in the Swiss Jura, a region renowned for its watchmaking expertise. From the start, the workshop stood out for the precision of its work, supplying mechanical movements to prestigious brands. This reputation for excellence has allowed the company to grow while remaining faithful to its <strong>family roots</strong>.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">The Evolution: From Subcontracting to Watch Creation</h3>
<p dir="ltr">After decades as a trusted subcontractor, the <strong>Saner family</strong> decided to capitalize on its expertise by launching its own line of watches. This transition was motivated by the desire to offer timepieces reflecting their vision of watchmaking, combining tradition and innovation.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Collection "Heart in Light"</h3>
<p dir="ltr">To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Saner unveiled the collection <strong>"Heart in Light"</strong>. Made up of five exclusive models, each piece is limited to 50 copies and <strong>certified by the &ldquo;Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres&rdquo; (COSC)</strong>, guaranteeing exceptional precision. The models are available with leather, metal or nylon straps, offering a variety suited to the diverse tastes of watch lovers.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Commitment to Quality and Innovation</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Saner is committed to maintaining high quality standards. The workshop, modernized and well equipped, specializes in the assembly of mechanical movements, the filling of plates and the casing of watches, including those with complications. This infrastructure allows the brand to control each stage of production, thus ensuring the reliability and durability of its products.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h3>
<p dir="ltr">The Saner brand illustrates the capacity of <strong>family business</strong> to evolve while preserving its heritage. By launching its own watch collection, Saner has demonstrated that the expertise accumulated over decades can serve as a solid foundation to innovate and offer high-quality products to watch enthusiasts.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Get inspired by <strong>Dialicious owner&rsquo;s reviews </strong>to choose the watch that suits you.</p>
<p dir="ltr">(Updated March 2025)</p>

Viqueria Kuro Owner Review : Fascinating, mysterious and completed

A Japanese Italian

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