During tonight's installment of International Rolex Thievery, we learn of a man in Milan who took advantage of Italy's new non-smoking laws to make off with a $37,000 Rolex. After browsing the merchandise long enough to dispel any suspicion, the man told the shopkeeper he was ready to make a purchase, but wouldn't you know it, he only had foreign currency on him. At that very moment, he began to casually light a cigarette at which point he was told that due to the new Italian anti-smoking laws, he must enjoy his tobacco outside. The shopkeeper, in the meantime, would telephone the bank and pursue the matter of the foreign currency. In retrospect, his mistake was clearly failing to ask the man to return the watch before walking out of the shop completely unsupervised and unattended. However, when neither the customer nor the Rolex returned, I'm sure the shopkeeper was able to appreciate the fact that he had just learned a very important lesson.

• Read "Thief in Italy Snags Rolex Thanks to Smoking Ban"
• Read "Rolex Watches Can Help You Elude Capture"

Ask the average American to name a fine Swiss watch, and nine times out of ten you're going to hear Rolex. You might get the occasional Omega or Tag Heuer, and if they really know what they're talking about, Breitling, IWC, Zenith, or maybe even Patek Philippe.

What you are not likely to hear is Bell & Ross, not because they don't make some very compelling timepieces, but primarily because they have only been around since 1992, which for a Swiss watch company, is practically brand new (compare to Rolex which has been around since 1908, Omega which dates back to 1848, Tag Heuer which has been around in one form or another since 1860, and Patek Philippe which was founded in 1839). Not only is Bell & Ross a relative newcomer to the world of Swiss watches, but they are also not widely distributed in the United States. With only 45 retail locations throughout the country, you're averaging less than one store per state, which makes a Bell & Ross watch more than three times as difficult to find as a Patek Philippe. Fortunately, I happen to live about 20 minutes from the only Bell & Ross retailer in the Washington DC area, so I went in one day for an afternoon of window shopping and questions. What I found was a display case full of beautiful, unique, and very well made watches.

TAG Heuer, along with golf genius Tiger Woods, announced a new professional golf watch yesterday. I'm not a golfer myself, but apparently the conventional wisdom has always been that you remove your watch when playing a serious match because it can interfere with your swing in several different ways. TAG Heuer and Tiger Woods set out to change all that by creating a professional golf watch that works with golfers rather than against them.

Features of the TAG Heuer golf watch

• Lightweight titanium construction. When a watch has to be lightweight and strong, titanium is the only way to go. Apparently the TAG Heuer professional golf watch is 60% lighter than TAG's other steel watches.
• Integrated clasp design. The clasp is actually integrated into the case of the watch to keep it out of the way. To release the strap, press the two safety release buttons at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions.
• Inverted crown position. The crown of the TAG Heuer golf watch is at the 9 o'clock position rather than the traditional 3 o'clock position to keep it from digging into the golfer's wrist or snagging on his glove. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing non-sports watches designed that way.
• Silicon, slide-proof strap. It's lightweight and very flexible, shock absorbent, and can expand and contract with the golfer's wrist as necessary.
• Shock resistant. Over time, many watches can be damaged by the repetitive shock of a good, solid golf swing, but not the TAG Heuer professional golf watch. Apparently, the watch can absorb 45 times the shock generated by a typical golf swing.
• Quartz movement. Automatic watches can be damaged by the rotor revolving too violently during movements like tennis or golf swings, so TAG Heuer wisely went with quartz for the professional golf watch.
• Tiger Wood's logo on the dial and signature on the caseback. I don't know how much that will actually help your game, but it's a nice touch.
• Luminous hands and hour markers.

View the YES Zulu watch photo gallery.

It's not unusual to see cool new features and functionality packed into digital watches these days: MP3 players, infrared remote controls, cameras, compasses, flashlights, PDAs. Telling time has even become secondary for many watches by companies like Casio, Timex, Suunto, Fossil, and dozens of small new high-tech watch manufacturers. What is unusual, however, is to see a new and innovative high-tech watch whose primary function is not only to tell time, but to do so in traditional and even ancient ways. The YES Zulu watch combines fine Swiss quartz movements with Japanese microchips and complex algorithms to provide the most complete and comprehensive picture of time that I have ever seen in a watch.

The YES watch philosophy is that time is more than just 365 days in a year, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute. Although that is how most of us experience time day to day -- and indeed, YES watches do capture the concept perfectly well -- there are other cycles and rhythms that play very important roles in our lives, whether we choose to acknowledge them or not. Most notably, sunrise and sunset, moon rise and moon set, solar noon, high and low tide, and lunar phases -- all of which (and more) the YES watch captures and conveys.

An English language Greek newspaper tells of three men who robbed a Rolex store in Athens yesterday. The gang posed as customers, then one man produced a gun while the other two stuffed their pockets with fistfuls of Rolexes. The three discriminating thieves took off on foot, however the shopkeeper hastily enlisted the assistance of a pedestrian who bravely pursued one of the men. Fortunately for our hero, he picked one of the two thieves who had Rolexes in his pocket rather than the one with the gun, so instead of getting shot, the poor guy had Rolex watches thrown at him. The ploy worked, and all three thieves managed to escape. (Something tells me if it were Timex watches getting lobbed through the air, at least one of these guys would be in custody right now.) The article does not mention whether the pursuer was injured, or whether he is currently at large, as well, though the moral of the story is clearly to keep a few Rolex replicas on hand during your next heist.

Read Thief Makes Time Fly in Rolex Heist Escape.

Timex recently introduced three new models to their line of Expedition compass watches. What sets these new watches apart from the other Timex Expedition compass watches is that they use a fourth analog hand as a compass needle as opposed to just indicating your heading numerically. And they look quite nice, as well, with stainless steel cases and either a stainless steel bracelet, or one of two leather straps. Features of these new Timex Expedition watches include:

• 4th hand compass needle.
• Declination adjustment. Enter the magnetic declination (the angle between magnetic and true north) of your location, and the watch will calculate true north for you.
• Bi-directional rotating bezel.
• INDIGLO backlight.
• Quick-date function. These watches do not have perpetual calendars, so after months with fewer than 31 days, the date needs to be adjusted. The Quick-date function allows the date to be set quickly and easily.
• Stainless steel case.
• Water-resistant to 100 meters (10 BAR, 10 ATM, or 330 feet).
• $100 for the model with the stainless steel bracelet, $95 for the two with leather straps.

If you're looking for a nice looking, affordable compass watch, look no further than the new Timex Expeditions. TIMEX.COM is even offering free shipping on all orders over $75 right now.

Additional Resources

• All Timex Expedition watches.
• The Timex Expedition 40721.
• The Timex Expedition 48751.
• The Timex Expedition 48741.

BEIKS, developers of applications for various mobile platforms, recently announced a new site specifically for the Fossil Wrist PDA. Fossil launched the long-awaited Wrist PDA in early January, and as of the time of this writing, is completely sold out. The Fossil Wrist PDA already comes with standard personal information management applications like Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, and Calculator, however since the watch runs the Palm OS (version 4.1), users can install third-party software to extend its functionality. Although Fossil claims that the Wrist PDA will run most Palm OS applications, they also recommend sticking with software "designed to take advantage of the special features of the Wrist PDA such as the Rocker Switch and the larger font sets."

So far, BEIKS only has two applications listed on their new Fossil Wrist PDA site: A+, a suite of five productivity and functionality enhancements for the Wrist PDA, and Karateka, a remake of an old Commodore fighting game.

Fossil is apparently expecting other third-party vendors to start offering software specifically for the Fossil Wrist PDA as evidenced by the Wrist PDA Software "Coming Soon" page on their site. For those of you who can't wait for long software development and testing cycles, or simply prefer to build rather than buy, Fossil offers the Wrist PDA Software Development Kit (SDK) for free.

A couple of weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a warning to the Transportation Security Administration stating that al-Qaida may attempt to use Casio watches with built-in altimeters to sabotage US airliners. The idea is that since Casios are readily available and very affordable, budget-conscious terrorists could modify a Casio ProTrek or Pathfinder so that it could detonate a bomb at a specified altitude (I suppose you wouldn't want to blow up a Suunto, Tissot, or a Hamilton). I received a lot of skeptical email regarding the warning, however whether it was justified or not, Casio's legal team has apparently responded. According to Robert Shapiro, Director of Legal Affairs, Casio is more than happy to work with the DHS to help limit any potential threats:

"We hope to have a meeting where we can help screeners with identifying the watch and understand how it's used, how it functions. If they feel it's an issue, we'll try to come out with a tool or public service announcement to help minimize any types of problems they may have. We see this as an opportunity to help them."

View the nTren MP3 watch photo gallery.

The nTren MP3 watch is a welcome addition to the rapidly growing world of wrist MP3 players. Ironically, what sets the nTren MP3 watch apart is not its prowess as an MP3 player, but rather its surprisingly good looks. Just when most watch geeks had resigned themselves to having to strap hideously conspicuous devices to their arms in order to get their constant technology fix, nTren subverts the stereotype with what I think is a pretty darn elegant looking MP3 watch. If you're into MP3s, and you're also into not looking like a geek, the nTren MP3 watch could be your next new toy.

Features of the nTren MP3 Watch

• Quartz analog timekeeping. In other words, the watch actually tells time in addition to playing MP3s. Since the emphasis of this watch is obviously not on precision timekeeping, I didn't rigorously measure its accuracy, though I did notice that it only gained a fraction of a second over a 24 hour period, making it a very adequate and standard quartz watch, and plenty accurate for anyone who would want to store MP3s on his wrist.
• Built-in MP3 player. The nTren MP3 watch stores and plays 128MB, 256MB, and soon, up to 512MB of MP3s at compression rates of between 32kbps to 256kbps.
• USB data storage. Not only can you store and play MP3s, but you can use the nTren MP3 watch to store other types of files, as well. You can use the watch to back up important files, or as a convenient way to transfer files from one computer to another.
• 10 hour battery life. That's what nTren claims, anyway. My tests indicated they are actually selling themselves short since I was able to get 10 hours and 11 minutes out of a single charge! Very impressive. The battery takes about 3 hours to fully charge, and has a life expectancy of about 3 years.
• Water resistant. The instructions say the watch is water resistant to 3-10 BAR. I've never seen a pressure rating expressed as a range before, so I'm not sure whether it's 3 or 10, but I strongly suggest assuming that it's 3. 3 BAR is the equivalent of 30 meters or 100 feet, so that's plenty, and actually very impressive for a watch like this. Too many high-tech watches are being sold today that are barely splash proof which, in my opinion, is a disaster waiting to happen.
• 5-mode equalizer. Choose between normal, pop, classic, rock, and jazz equalizer modes.
• Persistent preferences. The nTren MP3 watch remembers your settings (volume, equalizer mode, and the current track), and will recall those settings the next time it's turned on.
• Automatic shut-off. If a track is paused for more than 10 minutes, the MP3 player will shut down automatically in order to preserve battery life.
• Red and green light indicators. The nTren MP3 watch has two and only two very small, very discreet lights at the 6 o'clock position to indicate what the watch is currently doing. It will tell you if it's playing, transferring data, charging, whether it's fully charged, or whether the battery is low.
• Separate batteries. The MP3 player and the quartz watch do not share the same battery which means you can kill the MP3 player's battery completely and not have to worry about the watch stopping.
• Luminescent hands. They aren't overly bright, but they will probably get you through a movie.
• One year service warranty.

Fossil has finally brought to market the long awaited Fossil Wrist PDA (FX2008). The Fossil Wrist PDA has been in the works for quite some time now, and was even showing up on Fossil's website and on Amazon as long as two years ago. I wrote a small piece outlining the history of the Fossil Wrist PDA back in November, in case you're interested in ancient history.

But for those of you who prefer to look forward rather than back, the new Fossil Wrist PDA is actually immediately available on Fossil's site, and if you can wait 5-7 business days, they will even ship it to you for free!

Fossil does not go into a lot of technical detail about the Wrist PDA on their site, but here's what I've been able to gather so far:

• 160x160 grayscale LCD touch-screen.
• 66MHz processor. That's twice the speed of the 2-year-old original.
• Palm OS 4.1 (same as the original).
• 8MB of memory (up 4x from the original).
• Stylus integrated into the buckle.

All I can say is thanks, Fossil, for not giving up on this watch. I'm sure some very heated and ugly internal battles were fought and won in order to keep investing in this piece of technology. The Fossil Wrist PDA is not the first watch with an integrated PDA to hit the market, but it's the first to be backed by such a big company, and certainly looks to be the best. (I'll let you know for sure once I get my hands on one.)

Timex has just introduced a new collection of watches with perpetual calendars. Timex Perpetual Calendar watches do not have to be reset after months with fewer than 31 days. They work by keeping track of not just the date, but also the day, month, and the year so that the watch knows how many days are in the current month, and even takes leap years into account.

As an added bonus, not only do Timex Perpetual Calendar watches come with 7-year batteries, but Timex will even replace the battery for you for free. All Timex Perpetual Calendar watches also have the Timex Indiglo night-light built in, and are water resistant to either 50 or 100 meters (165 or 330 feet).

Timex Perpetual Calendar watches range in price from $60 to $85 which they state is "hundreds less than other similar brands." By "similar brands," I'm guessing they are referring to Seiko Perpetual Calendar watches. Seiko offers a higher-end collection of perpetual calendar watches for between $300 and $495 retail.

So if you're sick to death of fixing the date on your $4,000 Rolex 5 times a year, send it to me, and I'll send you a $60 Timex in exchange that you will never have to mess with. I'll even pay for your battery replacements.

Casio is well known for combining digital watches with all kinds of gadgetry: calculators, remote controls, cameras, GPS devices, MP3 players, and now, according to the Department of Homeland Security, bomb detonators.

MSNBC is reporting that the DHS and the FBI issued a warning to the Transportation Security Administration today stating that al-Qaida may attempt to use watches with cigarette lighters or Casio watches with built-in altimeters to detonate bombs on board US airliners.

"Recent intelligence suggests al-Qaida has expressed interest in obtaining wristwatches with a hidden butane-lighter function and Casio watches with an altimeter function. Casio watches have been extensively used by al-Qaida and associated organizations as timers for improvised explosive devices. The Casio brand is likely chosen due to its worldwide availability and inexpensive price."

Watches with built-in cigarette lighters and Casio Pathfinders and ProTreks are not banned from planes, so they cannot be confiscated, however screeners have been told to watch for these suspicious watches so that the passengers attached to them can undergo additional screening. If you're a Casio fan, I therefore recommend going with a nice G-Shock or Edifice during your next flight.

What I can't figure out is how you could possibly use the altimeter built into a Casio watch as an accurate timing device. Casio Pathfinder and ProTrek altimeters are barometric altimeters which means they attempt to calculate your altitude based on atmospheric pressure. Airplane cabins are pressurized, so barometric altimeters cannot be used to measure a plane's altitude. Additionally, I have not found barometric altimeters built into watches to be particularly accurate. In fact, I've known them to be downright erratic upon occasion. It's one thing to use one to climb a hill, but it's something else entirely to attach a bomb to one.

Casio's solar powered atomic watches are the ultimate in digital watch technology, says Kazuo Kashio, president and Chief Executive Officer of Casio. According to this article in the Times Online, Mr. Kashio (or, as we Westerners might pronounce it, "Casio"), believes watches that don't require batteries and that are always correct are pretty much the perfect digital watches.

"From my experience of the watch business, I think I can say that our solar-powered watches that set themselves by radio control are the ultimate form of watch we can expect. Look, they are never inaccurate by as much as a second and never need batteries."

As a big fan of Casio digital watch technology myself, I was worried when I first read Mr. Kashio's words. Was he implying that Casio is done innovating? Was one of the most important electronic companies in the world about to back-burner their watch business in order to devote more resources to things like digital cameras or their new cell phones? As it turns out, it meant just the opposite:

"So this leaves the major question of what else will watches do other than tell the time? Wrist-based machines, that is the future, and we have a lot of dreams on that score. It’s going to become the ultimate mobile gadget that you can’t drop."