About Chronocentric and zOwie

Statement of Ownership and Commercial Neutrality
Chronocentric was created, authored and owned by Derek Ziglar, until his death, in May 2005. Since that time, the content of Chronocentric has been unchanged, other than its Discussion Forums. This publication and its author / owner have no connections to any commercial watch-related business of any kind. It is created and operated entirely at the personal expense of the author and owner, for the enjoyment of sharing information.

Chronocentric accepts no advertising. Any specific products or vendors mentioned in Chronocentric articles are those the author feels have sufficient merit to our readers.

Chronocentric gladly accept products for review on the basis that our review will be honest and in the interest of our readers. Input, photos, and technical reviews submitted by our readers for possible inclusion are also extremely welcome. If you want to know more about our editorial style, reading a few of our articles should well illustrate our approach.

The Result of a Journey
Chronocentric started in January 1998 as 'The Seamaster Professional FAQ.' It was created out of the amazingly difficult journey of one watch buyer simply trying to find out information about a watch before, during, and after a purchase.

For an expensive, luxury product, fine watches are surprisingly often sold based on very limited information. "It looks good on you" and "it is a finely crafted timepiece" and "it has a precision automatic Chronometer movement" are as much real detail as many buyers get. Watch manufacturers are amazingly shy about publicizing more than generic feature and attributes on their products. They appear to expect the authorized dealers to bear the load of informing buyers. But authorized dealers often carry many lines and products -- much more than they can reasonably keep up with in any detail. Few have the time and resources necessary to stay well educated on these products just to answer questions that under 5% of watch buyers know enough to ask.

Further, consumers have very limited direct sources of information on these products. Many people live where official dealers are not conveniently accessible. Other than receiving pretty but frequently incomplete and superficial consumer brochures, or accessing limited detail company web sites (if the company has one at all), they have virtually no other sources for product information.

After weeks of searching for such information, with only limited results, the Seamaster Professional FAQ was created to share this accumulated knowledge. Not only to help others find the information, but also to encourage the popularity of these watches through channels that the manufacturer is not pursuing.

Milestones
Derek Ziglar began the research and writing for the Seamaster Professional FAQ in January 1998. The FAQ was made publicly available on the Internet in May 1998. Since then it has been significantly expanded and subdivided. On the way, it has developed a significant readership.

In July of 1999, after 18 months of research, writing, development and refinement, the Seamaster Professional FAQ became zOwie -- a more full service information exchange for Omega watch owners and enthusiasts. On July 28, 1999, zOwie brought online the very first Internet discussion forum dedicated to Omega watches! The name zOwie is an acronym for Ziglar Omega Watch Information Exchange.

Then, in October of 2000, zOwie expanded again and became Chronocentric to better reflect the broad scope of information that we offer beyond just that of interest to Omega watch enthusiasts. The zOwie name will continue as the name for the Omega discussion forum and as the nickname for the author.

Since Derek's Death
Derek Ziglar took his own life in May 2005. At the request of his surviving family members, ownership of the Chronocentric name and website were transferred to Jeffrey M. Stein. Jeff was a friend of Derek's, and the owner / operator of a watch-related website for which Derek did the design and technical work.

Since Derek's death, Chronocentric has remain unchanged, except that the Discussion Forums hosted by Chronocentric have been expanded to add new forums. Chronocentric is being maintained by Jeff, and other friend's of Derek, in memory of Derek and as a lasting tribute to his creative and technical genius, and his passion for watches and the community of collectors.

zOwie invites you to both enjoy the information we have collected so far on our journey -- and to share your questions and discoveries with zOwie and all the other enthusiasts in our discussion forum.