Was thought that my GS would be last (6th piece) in this year, but hack, here comes 7th piece and my very 1st German watch this year before end of 2012
Been eying on flieger watch awhile ago, came by few brands like IWC mark 13, B&R vintage, Laco, and many more. I'm pretty lucky to got this piece without waiting, a usual order from Stowa waiting time should be 3month, the Stowa Flieger Baumuster B with ETA 2801-2 hand winding movement. Basically it should come by ETA 2824 Auto, which i less prefer as the rotor blocking half of the movement viewing, in fact, i love hand winding watch as it keeps me remember how long ago i've been using the watch and when is the next wind (good for brain exercise? LOL )
for so many brand that i had it on hand tried out, Stowa would be the best for bucks in terms of quality, case polish and finish, case size and height, best part is the nice looking of ETA 2801 movement on see thru case. Most of flieger watch comes by 42mm above, this Stowa comes at 40mm which is greatly suite for dress watch, thin in case make it looks gentle yet sporty look. In terms of case polishing and finishing quality, i would dare to say its best compare to most of german watch like Laco, Steinheart and Aristo. Archimede would be the only brand that near to Stowa as far i tried.
as usual, i'd always change to other straps (originally should be old style brown which is nicer look) and keep the original well. I'm surprise with the original strap was interesting design compare to the pix shown in their official website. I've changed it to grey as i always like the B&R Commando look, how i wish i could paint the dial to vintage brown so i can copy cat design from B&R vintage model :p
striking blue polished hand with luminous on center, hour and minute hand designed in a very short and very long helps easy time reading.
FI 23883, additional cost for engraving this words, is the iconic number for flieger watch and a must have :p
ETA 2801-2 hand winding movement, decorated and fine adjusted by Stowa. Running on avg +3 sec per day so far, no COSC cert but i believe is close to it, additional cost for COSC cert for auto movement are available as well
few more pix of the movement, very small and well detail
lastly the luminous. it cover every single minute, and even the 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 words as well the flieger arrow on the 12o'clock
lastly, had this watch for 3rd days, sit nicely on my hand and very comfort with the leather strap, small and light weight watch, thin enough to have my cuff hide up the watch.
my next? perhaps Nomos or go higher end like Glashutte Original. Lange is still only can dream for now... :p
Spec below are copy from official Stowa website
Dimensions
Diameter: 40.00 mm
Height: 10.20 mm
Strap width: 20 mm
Lug-to-Lug size: 48.60 mm
Waterproof: up to 5 ATM
Weight: 70 gr. (leather strap), about 120 gr. (metal bracelet)
Materiality
Case: Stainless steel, fine matt, grinded by hand
Dial: black matt, white printed, Superluminova C3
Crystals: Front sapphire crystal domed and sapphire display case back
Hands: Temperature-blued steel, Superluminova C3
Strap: Leather strap or metal bracelet
Crown: Stainless steel onion crown
Movement
Caliber: ETA 2801-2
Mechanism: hand wind
Half vibrations: 28,000 A/H
Function: hour, minutes and central second complication
Power Reserve: approximately 40 hours
Number of jewels: 17
