Autodromo Group B

[devnull]

http://www.autodromo.com/watches/group-b-white/

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned on here, yet. Lovely looking watch, but about £650. 39mm titanium case, hackable seconds, two straps included.

I have a Autodromo Stradale already, a nicely made watch, but the consensus find the cost a little card to stomach for 'just' a Miyoto movement.

Thoughst?

Edited by devnull on Friday 20th November 10:02

[Spice_Weasel]

I looked at this at SalonQP (i still haven't got round to updating the thread with my thoughts) but I was really unimpressed with the Autodromo stuff. No real innovation, simply copies of other brands' designs.

It's not a bad looking thing, but the quartz movement and the cost are off-putting, as is the NATO strap and the integrated lugs case design. Too many design cues from other watches. They also showed a limited edition chronograph with a 'heavy metal' style case and bright colours on the dial. Basically a rip off of Omega and Seiko sports watches from the 70s.

[Hard-Drive]

Slightly O/T but I came very close to pulling the trigger on a Prototipo. But even 18 months ago it was top whack for a quartz, and the deal breaker IIRC was the fact that the subdials/second hand were basically static unless the chrono is running. If I have a chrono style watch, I want things going round and round all the time. A real shame as other than that it's a really nice looking watch but it just misses the mark.

The same with that Group B...it's supposed to say 1980s stripped out rally slag but somehow just misses it for me. Daft money too.

[crostonian]

I'm getting a bit bored of watches with very tenuous links to motorsport. What exactly links this to Group B rallying? Apparently the dial is meant to mimic those found in a Lancia O37 but how I have no idea. I get the impression that they have looked at all forms of historic motorsport and chosen the only formula without an existing watch tie in.

[Richair]

I've been looking at these recently, but I agree with most of the comments already made and they're simply too expensive for what they are.

I have however signed up for one of these via Kickstarter as I think the design is reasonably unique: http://wornandwound.com/2015/09/11/boston-stewills...

I normally wouldn't go near a quartz, but given I've bought in at the funding stage the price was very attractive. But we'll see what it looks like when it turns up next year...

[Janesy B]

Price is too high for a novelty watch.

[mozza42]

Richair said:

I've been looking at these recently, but I agree with most of the comments already made and they're simply too expensive for what they are.

I have however signed up for one of these via Kickstarter as I think the design is reasonably unique: http://wornandwound.com/2015/09/11/boston-stewills...

I normally wouldn't go near a quartz, but given I've bought in at the funding stage the price was very attractive. But we'll see what it looks like when it turns up next year...

Looks a lovely watch - will you receive one as the Kickstarter campaign apparently failed to fund? If there's another way in I'd be interested!

[Richair]

mozza42 said:

Looks a lovely watch - will you receive one as the Kickstarter campaign apparently failed to fund? If there's another way in I'd be interested!

The first campaign didn't meet the required funding level, but a second campaign finished last week and was successful

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/889886922/a-r...

[Baked_bean]

Reading through this it seems that some criticism is being levelled at the Quartz movement?

I might be misreading but I thought the watch had an Automatic movement?

On a side note, does anyone have experience of the Prototipo by Autodromo?

[The Surveyor]

Baked_bean said:

Reading through this it seems that some criticism is being levelled at the Quartz movement?

I might be misreading but I thought the watch had an Automatic movement?

On a side note, does anyone have experience of the Prototipo by Autodromo?

I've the silver Prototipo, and I love it. (Excuse the poor photo)



It's a nice retro-looking watch and it feels very comfortable on the wrist. I bought mine because I loved the way it looked and for me it was worth the price, although they do feel a level below in terms of quality. My Christopher Ward watches feel better made in comparison.

[Hard-Drive]

The Surveyor said:

I've the silver Prototipo, and I love it. (Excuse the poor photo)



It's a nice retro-looking watch and it feels very comfortable on the wrist. I bought mine because I loved the way it looked and for me it was worth the price, although they do feel a level below in terms of quality. My Christopher Ward watches feel better made in comparison.

That looks really nice, but I still stand by my earlier comments. However, your photo has highlighted for me what might be another issue...the hour and minute hands seem far too similar in length! I think that would annoy me, especially at night or in low light conditions where it would be even harder to see.

If they did a mark 2 of this watch, with a bigger difference on the length of hands and subdials that did something, I'd have one in a shot, I really would, but there's just too many annoyances at that price point for my liking as it stands. I'd still like to see one in the flesh though in case I've got it all wrong...

[Ev_]

Baked_bean said:

On a side note, does anyone have experience of the Prototipo by Autodromo?

Another Prototipowner here. I'm very happy with mine, and have no quality concerns about it. The finish is good. (I've also partially dismantled one, and it's all very tidy inside, too.)

Regarding the hour and minute hands being too similar in length, this bugs me for about half a day if I haven't worn the watch for a while, but then my brain seems to tune into it again and I completely forget about it.

Perhaps more of an issue are the markings for the chrono minute hands (the left-hand subdial). Without a longer marking every five minutes, distinguishing whether the hand is pointing at, say 8 or 9 minutes takes quite a stare, which can be a bit of a nuisance if you actually use the timing function. The numbers on the tachymetre are super tiny too, but no one really uses those, do they?

Pic: