Category Archives: Watches

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Hamilton blisters track record to score pole in Montreal but Vettel right behind in P2; Bottas P3

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton set the all-time fastest lap on the ultra-quick and treacherous Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Saturday logging a blistering 1:11:459 on Illes Notre Dame in Montreal, Canada and besting his closest pursuer, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, by 3-tenths of a second. Desperate to make amends for his subpar Monaco qualifying performance, which saw him bounced in Q2 en route to a damaging P7 finish, Hamilton’s superb effort gave him his 65th career pole. That tied the Englishman with his personal hero, Ayrton Senna, and after the session was over the Senna family presented him with a period official publicity helmet from the late F1 legend with a promise of an actual race worn version to come. Hamilton was visibly moved by the gracious gesture and it should give him even more motivation to run to victory come Sunday on a track where he has often dominated and where he has 5 career wins, including his first ever top step in F1 back in 2007 when he was a rookie with McLaren.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But as dominant as Hamilton’s Mercedes was Ferrari and Vettel must be well pleased to have ended up so very close to the lead Merc. The Monaco winner and points leader slotted in at P2 with the only other time below 1:12 and it will be all to play for when the lights go out so look for some fierce dicing between these ultra-competitive pilots, as well as key strategic decisions between the two mega-factory teams. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valterri Bottas was just a bit behind the elite duo in P3, while Vettel’s wingman Kimi Raikkonen, still stewing over a potential Monaco win that he failed to convert from pole, took P4. The start of the tomorrow’s race with those mixed Silver and Red front two rows should be very interesting indeed.

The Red Bulls were once again the best of the rest, with Max Verstappen laying down a time good enough for fifth on the grid and Daniel Ricciardo following up his excellent Monaco podium with a P6 start. Felipe Massa showed one again that the Williams is suited to tracks with long straights and nabbed a P7 starting spot, while Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon both showed good pace for Force India with laps good enough for P8 and P9 on the grid respectively. Renault’s excellent Nico Hulkenberg gave a good effort to get into Q3 and will start P10.

Top 10 Qualifiers for the Canadian Grand Prix:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:12.692	1:12.496	1:11.459	21
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:13.046	1:12.749	1:11.789	21
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:12.685	1:12.563	1:12.177	20
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FERRARI	1:13.548	1:12.580	1:12.252	23
5	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	1:13.177	1:12.751	1:12.403	26
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	1:13.543	1:12.810	1:12.557	28
7	19	Felipe Massa	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:13.435	1:13.012	1:12.858	27
8	11	Sergio Perez	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	1:13.470	1:13.262	1:13.018	22
9	31	Esteban Ocon	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	1:13.520	1:13.320	1:13.135	22
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	1:13.804	1:13.406	1:13.271	24

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs on NBC proper live starting at 2PM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton and Vettel nice and tuck and the Mercedes-Ferrari dual as close as possible it’ll be game on in Montreal to see who bag glory and the most points out of this demanding and fast race. Hope to see you then!

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — April selection

Up for sale this tail end of April is a super cool and fairly uncommon 1990s TAG-Heuer reference CS3111 “Carrera 1964 Re-Edition” manual wind chronograph featuring a beautiful black dial with original lightly patinated Tritium luminous. Released in 1996, the 1964 Re-Edition Carreras were significant in that they represented an important acknowledgment by the modern TAG-Heuer group of their glory days in the 60s and 70s when they were simply Heuer and made sporting chronographs of the highest quality, often particularly utilized in motorsports. One might even go so far as to say that by mining its storied past and creating an exacting tribute to the original Carrera it led TAG-Heuer directly to their vintage-inspired renaissance that continues to this day.

All that intriguing history aside, this fine neo-vintage chronograph is definitely a stunner in the here and now. Faithful in nearly every way to the original versions, this all-steel screw back watch features the classic Carrera-sized 36mm wide case with its iconic long, angled lugs. The black dial — these 1964 Re-Editions also came in silver but the black is the sexier version, IMO — features fine white contrast printing for the decimal track and engine-turned black sub-registers, as well as an inverted pie pan outer silver minute track. The original Tritium luminous has acquired a lovely ivory patina through the years on both the dial and the perfectly matching, uniquely Heuer-shaped hands.

Under the hood is the legendary Lemania cal. 1873 chronograph movement — essentially the same movement that has powered Omega’s Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch from 1968 on — beautifully finished by Heuer with what appears to be rhodium plating and sporting 18 jewels. This robust caliber is a worthy successor to the venerable Valjoux 72 movement that powered the original 1960s three-register Carreras and all chrono functions are super crisp with timekeeping and power reserve excellent. Complimenting this racing-inspired watch beautifully is a modern shell cordovan rally strap, which also has this model’s genuine Heuer-signed “B” buckle installed.

Running like a top and costing a fraction of what an original vintage black manual Carrera would run you these days, this CS3111 Re-Edition is top quality genuine 60s style at an affordable price. Snap it up, strap it on… and go!

Check out the full ad with many more pictures and complete condition report over at the very Heuer-centric Chronocentric ChronoTrader Forum. ON HOLD

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — February selection

I consider myself a true vintage watch guy so it’s not often that I offer a modern watch… but when I do it’s a stunner. And so it is to start February with this amazing Vacheron Constantin Overseas “Deep Stream” Automatic. This gorgeous and avant-garde discontinued modern classic comes as a full set with complete boxes, open papers & VC passport, tags, USB stick user’s manual and two great straps — classy crocodile and sporty rubber.

This limited production Deep Stream version of the second generation Overseas line from the storied house of Vacheron is characterized by a sunburst finished anthracite gray dial that changes tone in different light & a sexy titanium bezel that contrasts with the 42mm stainless steel case. The dial also has handsome stylized white gold quarter-Arabics, as well as sword and dagger-style hands, both of which feature strong Super Luminova luminous elements. Along with its 150 meters of water resistance that makes this a genuine tool watch, albeit an extraordinarily elegant and distinctive one, suitable for either a day’s fishing or a proper yacht race.

As the new Gen III Overseas with in-house movement, scaled down case & more conventional styling cues comes online this year after its intro at Basel 2016 there is already a lot of love being shown for these more aggressive, macho Gen II Overseas models. I’m sure the debate about which model is better looking will only intensify over time. But one thing’s for sure: Vacheron won’t be making any more of this one so grab it while you can!

Check out the complete ad over at RolexForums.com’s Non-Rolex Classifieds section, as well as other select sales corners, for a full condition report and many more pictures. ON HOLD

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