The C-02 NO BAT – Our pride of Nantes

Akrone has struck again with their new range of C-02. Beautiful pieces all equipped with the beautiful and famous France Ebauche movement.
I opted for the C-02 No Bat!! A crazy charm, especially thanks to its look (assumed by the brand by the way) very "Fifty Fathoms", without having a real wink to the experience of the brand (For those who do not know, they chose the no bat because many customers asked when receiving their watches, the date on which the battery should be changed! and like Blancpain, Akrone also chose not to make Quartz!)

The C-02 has a beautiful sapphire glass bezel, which gives it extra reflections! The domed sapphire glass also gives a beautiful character to the watch. The whole is uniform and the wide bezel gives the impression of a large watch despite its nevertheless contained diameter, which allows anyone to wear it without it being excessive.

The Old Radhium luminova is very beautiful, and shows once again that Akrone has an eye for detail.

For the negative aspect, here are the defects which, in my opinion, are the only ones:
- The small defect of readability for setting the time, because of the domed sapphire
- The defect of the oscillating weight, which sometimes goes crazy and makes a little noise
- The huge defect of the bracelet, which, if you are not patient, will end up in the box these days (19.8mm lug width for 20mm bracelet).
Apart from the original tropic, the steel bracelet and the Rubber which integrates the box are useless….
(feel of the steel bracelet is ok but not transcendent! for the Rubber, it's ok but the buckle is too massive in my opinion

To summarize, despite these three defects which, overall are minimal, the Quality/Price/Pleasure ratio is very good! in comparison with the Poulpro, which is in the same price range at 200-300€ ready (new) the little finishing of the Poulpro (despite the respected DNA of the watch) makes it obsolete compared to this C-02 NO BAT!!!

The height of Nantes watchmaking

Superb watch, nice and original, it is good company when you want to go out on the weekend for risky activities for your watches. 

The watch is remarkably solid, you can feel that the screwed crown is well made, no dust could get through! 
For the bezel, ditto, zero play. 
Surely hard to turn underwater without gloves. 

Despite this, a taste of too little concerning the finishes ... no crown signed, generic bracelet without customization. 
Too bad, for 1.5K new, it's a shame. In the same price range, I prefer an Akrone C-02!

POULPRO - a taste of too little..

Owner of this speed for some time now, I never get tired of it. Three bracelets dress it: An ostrich, which enhances the dressy side of the watch, an elephant, which blends well with the dial which can be blue gray depending on the time. 
Not to mention its magnificent polished and mirror polished steel bracelet. Much more sporty to race at the red light. A speed that is far from monotonous with all its reflections and its chronograph "click", which, with each activation, makes us vibrate for the magnificent mechanical caliber 9906.

A Speed that is DYNAMIC

Being passionate about diving watches, there was no doubt that I was surprised when I saw that Mr. Jacques Blanch had reissued his JB 200 with the participation of Mat, who knew all its history and had been looking for a JB 200 or 300 for years but had not been able to get it, unfortunately the happy owners did not want to part with it, not to my regret, I had to participate in the Kickstarter, a purchase that had a great sentimental value, and yes it happens.

Legendary Marseille icons

Jacques Bianchi became a watchmaker in the 1950s. He learned his trade with watchmakers in the PACA region before settling in Marseille.
His workshop grew in importance and brands such as Rolex and Omega entrusted him with repair contracts.
Jacques Bianchi also rubbed shoulders with renowned divers such as Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Captain Albert Falco and members of COMEX. In the early 1980s, he created the JB200 (Jacques Bianchi) with the same case as the reissue offered on Kickstarter in 2021. The one from the 80s had a date and a mechanical movement.
It was above all this fabulous story that pushed me to order a watch that I can't try on!
You may know this, but I prefer to try on the watches I buy.
I love the very crazy shape of the case with its crown on the left, the polished flange allows you to see the indexes reflected in it. The manufacturing quality had amazed me when I received the bindle which had two pearls, a Jacques Bianchi badge to sew, and a carrying pouch.
For 560 euros, I had a beautiful case with an incredible lume worthy of the ZRC. The movement is a NH35 from Seiko with the disadvantages of the Seiko in terms of precision even if this jb200 is quite well adjusted.
It is a watch that I wear whenever I have to do water activities and it is very pleasant to wear.
A reissue faithful to the Jacques Bianchi workshops. I invite you to follow the Jacques Bianchi workshop on Instagram (instagram account @atelier-bianchi)



A brilliant diver

All-terrain watch equipped with a Seiko NH35 movement. 
Purchased during the Kickstarter campaign which took inspiration from the Bianchi workshops based in Marseille. 

Despite the crown being on the left, the watch remains very comfortable on my right wrist. A perfect watch for any diving watch enthusiast. 


JB200

The new generation of Bianchi Marseille watches with the support of MAT Watches.
I was not a fan of the imbroglio with the institutional Bianchi house and the association with MAT. Nevertheless this tide gauge limited to 150 copies for a contained price caught my attention.
The dial is successful, the watch is robust and qualitative. A little imposing in width and thickness for me but real diver characteristics that fit well with a refined and fresh style.

The Tide Gauge in Tool Watch mode

La marque Ollech &amp; Wajs a &eacute;t&eacute; cr&eacute;&eacute;e en 1956 par Joseph Ollech et Albert Wajs &agrave; Zurich en Suisse. Albert &eacute;tait charg&eacute; de la conception, de l&rsquo;ing&eacute;nierie et de la fabrication des montres, tandis que Joseph s&rsquo;occupait du marketing et de la vente au d&eacute;tail. Avant de cr&eacute;er leur propre montres sous la marque Ollech &amp; Wajs, ils ont commenc&eacute; leur activit&eacute; en 1954 en fabriquant des bracelets en acier pour d&rsquo;autres marques.
La marque est connue pour avoir distribu&eacute; des montres &agrave; des unit&eacute;s de l&rsquo;arm&eacute;e am&eacute;ricaine pendant la guerre du Vietnam et pour avoir gagn&eacute; sa renomm&eacute;e aupr&egrave;s des plongeurs et pilotes du monde entier.
Apr&egrave;s 12 ans de n&eacute;gociation et apr&egrave;s avoir &eacute;t&eacute; son distributeur pour le march&eacute; fran&ccedil;ais, en 2017, Charles Le Menestrel, un passionn&eacute; d&rsquo;horlogerie, rach&egrave;te la marque. La gamme actuelle comprend des mod&egrave;les comme la Ollech &amp; Wajs P-101 et la <a title="Page Ollech &amp; Wajs P-104" href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/p-104">Ollech &amp; Wajs P-104</a>, la <a title="Page Ollech &amp; Wajs C-1000" href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/c-1000">Ollech &amp; Wajs C-1000</a>, la <a title="Page Ollech &amp; Wajs Ocean Graph" href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/ocean_graph">Ollech &amp; Wajs Ocean Graph</a> et la Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron.
<h2>Combien co&ucirc;te une montre Ollech &amp; Wajs ?</h2>
Les prix des montres Ollech &amp; Wajs &eacute;voluent et diff&egrave;rent selon les mod&egrave;les. La plupart co&ucirc;tent entre CHF 1,500 et CHF 2,000 selon les mod&egrave;les et les finitions. Comptez CHF 1,456 pour une Ollech &amp; Wajs 350CI et pr&egrave;s de CHF 2,300 pour une Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron Chronographe. Le march&eacute; de l'occasion est &eacute;galement une opportunit&eacute; &agrave; regarder pour acheter une Ollech &amp; Wajs moins ch&egrave;re. Les mod&egrave;les Vintage notamment les Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron et&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/ollech_&amp;_wajs/astrochron">Ollech &amp; Wajs Astrochron</a>, sont tr&egrave;s pris&eacute;es des collectionneurs et ils convient de bien se renseigner sur le vendeur avant de franchir le pas de l'acquisition d'une vintage.
Ollech &amp; Wajs est une marque de montres ind&eacute;pendante et produit plusieurs centaines de montres par an, tous mod&egrave;les confondus. Pour choisir une Ollech &amp; Wajs qui vous correspond le mieux,&nbsp;les avis clients Dialicious sont une pr&eacute;cieuse ressource pour &eacute;valuer chacun des diff&eacute;rents mod&egrave;les &agrave; travers l'exp&eacute;rience r&eacute;elle des clients.
Consultez le <a href="https://www.dialicious.com/top/les_meilleures_marques_de_montres_suisses">Classement des meilleures marques de montres suisses</a> dont Ollech &amp; Wajs fait partie.
(Mise &agrave; jour Octobre 2024)

The brand Ollech &amp; Wajs was created in 1956 by Joseph Ollech and Albert Wajs in Zurich, Switzerland. Albert was responsible for the design, engineering and manufacturing of the watches, while Joseph handled marketing and retail sales. Before creating their own watches under the brand Ollech &amp; Wajs, they started their business in 1954 making steel bracelets for other brands.
The brand is known for distributing watches to units of the American army during the Vietnam War and for having earned its reputation among divers and pilots around the world.
After 12 years of negotiations and after having been its distributor for the French market, in 2017, Charles Le Menestrel, a watchmaking enthusiast, bought the brand. The current range includes models like the Ollech &amp; Wajs P-101 and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/p-104">Ollech &amp; Wajs P-104</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/c-1000">Ollech &amp; Wajs C-1000</a>, the<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/ocean_graph"> Ollech &amp; Wajs Ocean Graph</a> and the Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron.
<h2 dir="ltr">How much does an Ollech &amp; Wajs watch cost?</h2>
The prices of Ollech &amp; Wajs watches change and differ depending on the model. Most cost between CHF 1,500 and CHF 2,000 depending on the models and finishes. Expect to pay CHF 1,456 for an Ollech &amp; Wajs 350CI and close to CHF 2,300 for an Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron Chronograph. The second-hand market is also an opportunity to look at to buy a cheaper Ollech &amp; Wajs. Vintage models including the Ollech &amp; Wajs Navichron and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/ollech_&amp;_wajs/astrochron">Ollech &amp; Wajs Astrochron</a>, are very popular with collectors and they should find out about the seller before taking the step of purchasing a vintage one.
Ollech &amp; Wajs is an independent watch brand and produces several hundred watches per year, all models combined. To choose an Ollech &amp; Wajs that best suits you, Dialicious owners' reviews are a valuable resource for evaluating each of the different models through real owner experience.
Consult the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dialicious.com/en/top/the_best_swiss_watch_brands">Ranking of the best Swiss watch brands</a> of which Ollech &amp; Wajs is part.
(Updated October 2024)

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