Now for 2011 Freddie has his own show on ITV4 “Freddie Flintoff Vs The World” he is now taking on crazy daredevil challenges that push him and his celebrity friends to the limit. So with daredevil stunts and near death experiences all the way the Swiss watch company Breitling seem to have pulled off a something of an advertising coo capturing the wrist of the intrepid fearless Freddie and his personal trainer as seen in the picture. Freddie has been sporting the Swiss watch company’s Navitimer, a watch originally used by pilots, whilst in the picture you can see below his trainer also has one of these fine Swiss watches on the Breitling Chronomat. Now knowing watch companies as I do I don’t believe they will have even noticed this fact let alone thought of this as a great way to promote their Swiss watch brand. But I can tell you as soon as they work it out they will be claiming ti as their PR stunt to show they are the mens watch company for 2011.

The DKNY ladies watch collection has been one of the best selling ladies watch collections for a number of years now. Watches like the NY4358 and the NY3915 over the last few years have enhanced the image of the company as a designer brand that women want. This year the DKNY ladies watch collection have launched a number of new watches, with colour at the heart of watch fashion DKNY’s new collections have been full of colour. To create these coloured watches DKNY have used a number of different materials from resin to Ceramic.

The key material this year is Ceramic just like the tiles in a kitchen many of the top prestige brands such as Chanel, Rado and Dior have been creating watches for a number of years now. This year though the likes of DKNY and Emporio Armani have added this material to their collections, This prestige material is now gives a brand like DKNY an added feel of quality compared to the likes of DKNY’s competitors such as Police, Guess and many others.

The first collection of Ceramic watches launched by DKNY were so popular that within 3 weeks of the launch of these watches DKNY had completely sold out of stock and were unable to meet the demand until March of 2011. The popularity persuaded DKNY that they had created a great line of watches and very soon two new additions were added to the collection, most important was the new black DKNY watch with its rose gold plated case and buckle NY4984. But as always with watches the DKNY white watches are always the head turners and the new NY4985 is certainly does that as well, the style and look of this DKNY watch ladies will love and it wont be long before retailers are struggling to keep up with the demand from the consumer.

Ceramic watches are great watches they will never discolour like a steel watch plated with rubber like many of DKNY watches competitors

It is safe to say that times have been hard for all retailers and manufactures alike in 2010. Consumers have seen their free cash stifled by increasing fuel and energy bills as well as  the cost of all other necessities rising as the world comes to terms with the depth of the financial mess that the banks and Hedge funders have got the world into.

One manufacturer who is contradicting all of this is the Swiss watch manufacturer Tissot, for so many years Tissot was the sleeping giant in the stable of  the Swatch Group, hidden behind the big name brands of Omega, Longines and Rado. The change has been in no uncertain circumstances down to the Tissot T Touch collection.

Tissot T Touch watches were a unique concept watch when they were first launched by the brand, but the way in which the consumer took to the new collection was the beginning of the launch of the brand into the stratosphere. The Tissot though have not sat on the success of the T Touch They have added to the collection and expanded the collection so that it encompasses even more functions and even more sports. The T Touch collection has been so popular that Tissot have launched their first TV advertisements all based around the all new Tissot touch collection the Sea Touch and the T Touch Expert. The adverts have made these Tissot watches so popular that the manufacturer has struggled to keep up with the demand for these watches this year.

The brand though have not just put all their eggs in one basket in 2010 Tissot have added advertising to other parts of the collection with the PRC200 now being worn by Michael Owen and this has increased the demand for the collection ten fold for the Tissot mens collection. 2010 has stretched the manufacturer and their retailers to the limit with consumer’s desperately searching on the high street and online for Tissot watches. Tissot mens watches like the PRC200 have become so popular this year that the Swiss watch manufacturer couldn’t keep making the watch and so retailers ran out of stock by November.

2011 looks set to be even bigger for the company as the demand still continues for Tissot watches online and on the high street.

New DKNY ladies watches

Looking for a watch this year? Want something out of the ordinary, something that can compete with the likes of the Chanel J12 and Rado. If this is the brief then DKNY have just launched a brand new range of watches that will compete with all of the top prestige watch labels and will not break the bank doing it.

The DKNY ladies watch collection has been one of the best selling ladies watch collections for a number of years now. Timepieces like the NY4358 and the NY3915 over the last few years have enhanced the image of the company as a designer brand that women want. This year the DKNY ladies watch collection have launched a number of new watches, with colour at the heart of watch fashion DKNY’s new collections have been full of colour. To create these coloured watches DKNY have used a number of different materials from resin to Ceramic.

The key material this year is Ceramic just like the tiles in a kitchen many of the top prestige brands such as Chanel, Rado and Dior have been creating watches for a number of years now. This year though the likes of DKNY and Emporio Armani have added this material to their collections, This prestige material now gives a brand like DKNY an added feel of quality compared to the likes of DKNY’s competitors such as Police, Guess and many others.

Ceramic new DKNY Black Watch

The first collection of Ceramic watches launched by DKNY were so popular that within 3 weeks of the launch of these watches DKNY had completely sold out of stock and were unable to meet the demand until March of 2011. The popularity persuaded DKNY that they had created a great line of watches and very soon a 2 new additions were added to the collection, most important was the new black DKNY watch with its rose gold plated case and buckle NY4984.

White watches are always the head turners and DKNY have created some great styles in white over the past year but the new NY4985 is definitely going to be a big watch for Christmas 2010. This is a great accessory for Christmas but with such a classic style the DKNY NY4985 is going to be sought after right into summer 2011.

With all of the big names now making ceramic timepieces it is easy to see that 2011 will be the year to own a Ceramic watch and by the looks of it, it will also be the year to own at least one of these DKNY ladies watches

New Rubber Armani Sports watch

So it is that time again summer has been and gone and winter is most definitely upon us. The UK is gripped by winter with snow and ice bringing the UK to a stand still, so with everyone stuck in doors trying to keep out of the treacherous conditions outside the last thing on anyone’s mind is heading down the high street to have a look a the range of watches available this year. Thankfully the internet is there to take the strain and make the shopping experience a lot easier for everyone and definitely a lot warmer.

The internet is such a massive resource, and with so many companies offering all sorts of men’s timepieces for sale it is hard to find the right brand to look at, never mind the right one to buy for a Christmas present this year. With so many companies selling watches online, trawling through all of these online watch retailers could be a job in itself. So here are a few of the best new Emporio Armani watches in the UK for Christmas 2010.

The Emporio Armani watch brand is much like the Emporio Armani clothes label it is a brand that is aspired to and is aspiration in itself although the price point of many of these men’s watches is much less than people would think.

Men's Black Armani Watch

Looking for a watch on a leather strap then there are a lot of new Emporio Armani men’s watches that will be perfect with the likes of the AR0428 and the AR0429 2 of the picks of the bunch and both of these are less than £200.
If it is sports look then Armani watches have great this style as well, looking for a black dial chronograph watch then the AR0585 is a great watch. Looking for a white dial sports watch then the AR5859 is a great watch part of a new collection that has been launched by Emporio Armani this year.

The big styles of the year from Emporio Armani are their new collection of ceramic watches. The Ceramica range has changed the way in which Armani watches are viewed, for years the Armani label has been synonymous with high end couture fashion, this year’s ceramic watch collection adds this couture material to their range. The styles that have really made the Ceramica collection popular are the new sports chronographs the AR1400 and the AR1403, both black and white watches have been really popular in fashion watches. The launch of the ceramic collection by Emporio Armani is now making coloured watches popular in the prestige watch market. The best thing about these 2 styles is that although they are just under £500 which is a very high price for Emporio Armani watches, these watches are less than half the price of their competitors such as Rado and Channel J12.

Men love watches just as much as women love shoes and these watches are definitely some of the top watches available this year.

In the world of watches there has been many changes as well in 2010. It is nearly 20 years since Gucci launched its first range of ladies watches. Since this time, almost every couture fashion label has joined the watch industry from Channel to Dolce and Gabbana and from Christian Dior to Diesel. These clothing giants joined forces with some of the smallest and some of the biggest names in the watch industry like Fossil Binda and LVMH, to bring their own brand of watches to the consumer.

In these years, companies like Fossil and Binda grew beyond recognition. Growing from small national brands to big players on the world watch stage adding further licensing agreements with more and more fashion houses to bring a wider range of branded watches to the high street. The influx of designer brands has had a detrimental effect on many of the traditional brands such as Rotary watches, Pulsar, Seiko and Tissot watches. Some brands like Tissot have fought back by moving themselves out of direct competition with the designer watch brands and focusing on the sport watch market place. Others such as Rotary and Seiko have also attempted this move with varied success.

2010 though has seen a massive shift in the watch market with the addition of brands like Ice-Watch and Toy Watch decimating the designer watch market. The designer brands have been caught unaware by these non-clothes affiliated watch companies creating watches that are bag on trend for 2010. The sports watch look of these brands has been popular for over two decades since brands such as Seiko and Breil made the divers watch fashionable back in the late 80’s. Ellesse carried on the movement in the late 90’s however this fizzled out with the addition of the designer brands like D&G, DKNY and Emporio Armani exploding onto the watch market. Toy Watch and Ice-Watch have re-invented this movement with resin and rubber cased watches from as little as £50 to as much as £300. The resin and rubber cases allow the manufacturers to capitalise on the 1980’s fashion trends of 2010. This fashion trend coupled with the fantastic design of the watches is what has allowed these two brands to firmly gain a foot hold in the watch market, taking market share from some of the biggest designer brands of the last 10 years. The 1980’s fashion movement has also allowed some of the oldest watch brands in the market place to finally see the light of day and fight back against the designer brands. Brands like Timex and Casio have re-launched styles from their back catalogue capitalising on the new 80’s fashion trends.

Could this all spell the end for the designer brands? And could this be the rise of affordable watch fashion? Well Christmas 2010 really is going to be very interesting who comes out best could be simply down to price and not just down to the name on the front of the watch.

Tissot watches have been the talk of the watch world in the 00’s, the creation of the T-Touch watch movement has changed the face of the Tissot watch brand. As a Swiss watch company Tissot watches are the pinnacle of the watch buyer’s world, but for many years the Tissot brand has been just another Swiss watch company in the crowd of Swiss watch companies that are on the market. The T Touch changed Tissot watches position in the market and the T-Touch transformed this traditional Swiss watch company into a sports watch giant in a matter of 10 years.

2010 has been a big year for Tissot, the extension of their contracts with some of the sports world’s biggest names has elevated the brand recognition of Tissot, and has cemented its new market position as a direct competitor with brands such as Tag Heuer and Oris watches. The strength of the brand has grown over the past 10 years, Tissot have added numerous new ranges this year to ensure that their new position as sports watch manufactures is not just a passing phase.

This year one of the biggest hits has been the Tissot Courturier watch range, a brand new range of watches aimed directly at the mens watches market place. The new Tissot Courturier has a massive choice of dial configurations and movement types which makes the range a good place to start when looking for watches for men this year. Tissot have always been strong in their mens watch collection however the Tissot Courturier really is a step up by the Swiss watch brand, they have added a number of automatic watch movements to the Tissot Courturier watch range as well as adding the Valjoux movement which is traditionally found in the likes of Longines watches. This automatic movement has a smaller margin for error than the automatic movement found in the main automatic ranges found in the Tissot watch range however it does come at a price, and that price is nearly double that of the entry level automatic Courturier watch, but as they say you pay for quality and this watch really is quality. But to be honest all of these watches have been popular this year and they are definitely a great gift for Christmas.

Tissot though haven’t forgotten about the ladies out there who love Swiss watches and in fact this year has been a really big year for the ladies watches in the Tissot range. Tissot have added more ladies watches than ever before to the range, consumers have been crying out for Tissot to add ladies sports watches to the collection and in 2010 Tissot watches have finally obliged. Tissot have added the likes of the Veloci-T a bold statement chronograph watch range that has been strong in the mens watch market but now with the addition of rose gold plating and a white strap the watch is now one of their most popular ladies watches they have in their sports collections. Tissot have also added a ladies watch to the T-Touch collection with the new Sailing Touch which is a sleeker and more durable sports watch than any of the T-Touch watches before it.

If though its something more gentile and classic that is required the Tissot Cocktail range of watches has been expanded this year and offer a wide variety of slim delicate ladies watches perfect for those women who like their watches to be a understated and classical.

The expansion of the Tissot brand this year is a early warning to all of the prestige watch companies out their that Tissot watches are not just a flash in the pan in 2010 these watches are set to be around for years to come.

Ceramica's most Popular watch

2010 marked the launch of Ceramica a range of Emporio Armani sports watches and fashion watches that would be made almost entirely of Ceramic material. Ceramica was launched in May 2010 with a range of 6 watches, priced between £379 and £479 it was believed that Ceramic would be Armani watches attempt to compete with the big brands like Chanel with their J12 and Rado with their Ceramic collection of watches. However with the price tag almost double that of any Emporio Armani watch ever made, it was believed that the range could have been a step to far for Emporio Armani, and so small amounts of this watch range were created to test the water. The scale of demand for these 6 watches was to astound the watch industry and the Fossil group distributors. Within days the entire collection was sold out and retailers and consumers were crying out for more of this new Ceramica range.  Especially the white sports chronograph AR1407 and the black ceramic chronograph AR1400, these 2 watches became the must have watches for Christmas and it was only May.

The collection was added to with a number of rectangular watches brought out very soon after the AR1400 and the AR1407. However, the massive success has been the round dial Armani Sports Ceramica watches, Armani have found the watch equivalent of the furby a toy that sent the world round the bend trying to get their hands on one before Christmas. It has taken almost 3 months for Fossil and Emporio Armani watches to catch up with the demand, but with Christmas coming the demand has increased again and once more Fossil group have had to warn their retailers that it will be impossible to keep up with the demand before February of 2011. But to add to all of this Fossil and Emporio Armani have launched an ever newer addition to the Ceramica range, the new AR1410 and the AR1411 and these watches look to add to the strength of this new Emporio Armani watch collection.

2011 looks to be a really big year for Emporio Armani watches and especially Emporio Armani Ceramic watches. So watch this space for more information on this new Armani watch collection

Diesel is a fashion watch brand built on creating retro styled watches for the present day. Diesel watches have been at the forefront of the fashion watch culture since the Diesel clothing label teamed up with the American watch giant Fossil. This year though the brand has been playing catch up to the new pretenders to their throne Ice-Watch and Toy Watch. Diesel though, have launched their own range of watches aimed to compete with these new watches for men and women.

The new range of Diesel watches are aimed directly at the men’s watch market like much of the Diesel watch range, each watch is based around the shape and style of the most popular men’s Diesel watch ever made the DZ1132. The DZ1132 Has been the top selling watch in the Diesel brand for the last 2years so it seems only right that a whole range of Diesel men’s watches should be based around this watch. The new range of men’s Diesel watches are made in a number of colours, red, black, and white have been seen so far to be the most popular colours. The white DZ1321 has overtaken

If black is more your thing

its predecessor this year creating massive issues with UK Diesel watch retailers as they tried to deal with the demand of the consumer. New watches have also been added through the year with a glow in the dark luminous strap now added to the collection which is perfect for those who are looking for a Diesel men’s watch that will stand out in a club.

However, Diesel have not forgotten the original base for this new range and the DZ1132 and the DZ1090 will continue in the Diesel watch range into the new year. Diesel have also added a number of new classic leather strap versions as well for those who aren’t looking for quite so much colour in their lives. This season Diesel watches will be fighting back against the new pretenders to their throne and these watches are the first step back to the top of the fashion watch table. Watch this space for more news on new Diesel watches in the New Year.

IN THE age of discovery, explorers were saddled with sextants, compasses, thermometers and barometers to navigate their way into uncharted territory. These days things are a lot easier.Not only is our path mapped out for us by GPS, rather than the stars, but clever watchmakers have also crammed all the essential navigation tools into a few grams of plastic, metal and glass. Perhaps if Scott of the Antarctic had had the benefit of a timepiece such as a Timex Expedition, he would have beaten the Norwegians to the South Pole.And, just think how many days Phileas Fogg could have shaved off his epic journey with the advantage of an altimeter - which measures altitude - temperature gauge and weather report on his wrist to plan ahead. There are scores of watches aimed at the adventurer on the market but perhaps non which can boast everything needed for a major expedition while still looking cool, except the Timex Expedition range. At the top of the range is the WS4 which retails at around £120 (US$195), although there are other more affordable Expedition options that should still get you through your adventure.

It's difficult to fault the WS4, although it will only be truly enjoyed by people with a sense of adventure or a passion for gadgetry. Despite being crammed with features the screen is uncluttered and easy to read with reasonably large digits. Perhaps more importantly, it costs less than half the price of some of the competition in the outdoor market.

It is also lightweight, 50 metre water resistant, features an Indiglo night-light and comes in six colour formats including a sleek black number and yellow with black trim.Some serious adventurers may see the relatively low price as an indicator that this is really a watch for city dwellers with a mere whimsical desire to be more adventurous. But anyone who questions the ability of the Timex Expedition to perform under the extremist of extreme conditions need look no further than the investigations of Conrad Anker. The American rock climber, mountaineer and author of Environmental Activist, has spent his climbing career in some of the toughest terrain on earth in Alaska, Antarctica and Patagonia.
He recently tested the WS4 on an attempt to climb a 6330-metre peak in the Himalayas and, although sceptics may argue that he could have been motivated by a fat cheque from Timex, his findings gave a fairly glowing report on the watch. At night he used the watch's Review Mode to check his party's accumulated altitude, scan the barometer and even check the exposure of the camp.The compass also allowed him to align his transmitter with an orbiting satellite, allowing him to use a satellite phone. Meanwhile, the barometer showed drops in pressure which indicated an impending storm and he and his colleagues were able to stay low to avoid the worst of it. In fact, Anker's only criticism of the watch was that the buttons weren't as heavy duty as they should have been for that environment. But Timex responded and his suggestions for improvement were incorporated into the final design.

It may be that you will never be in such dangerous situations as the likes of Anker, and perhaps a ramble through the countryside is as adventurous as you get. But anyone who enjoys their days in the great outdoors would be hard pressed to find a more useful watch at such value for money than the WS4. And, it certainly makes telling the time more fun.