Latest watch news · Page 1446

A new Grand Lange 1 celebrates a quarter-century of the Lange 1 with 25 examples.

The July issue of the monthly Lange 1 Anniversary collection continues with the Grand Lange 1. This is a 25 piece limited edition.

The Lange 1’s 25th anniversary family of watches gets a grand addition: introducing the Grand Lange 1 “25th Anniversary”.

The story of the A. Lange & Söhne 25th anniversary set is now well known: slated for October launch, the set will comprise 10 different Lange 1 watches, all clad in the same blue and silver livery. One watch has been announced a month since the start of the year, and the latest addition is the Grand Lange 1 “25th Anniversary”. First introduced in 2003, the Grand Lange 1 was initially criticised for meddling with an iconic design. It has since matured well, helped by several redesigns as well as a movement conceived specifically for the watch. Grand Lange 1 25th Anniversary Bigger and better It’s the larger brother of the Lange 1, with a case diameter that’s 2.5mm larger; making it 41mm compared to 38.5mm for the classic Lange 1. But because the movement inside was designed to fit the watch, it scales up the design while adhering strictly to the proportions and geometry of the original Lange 1. The new movement was required to accommodate the signature, off-centre displays of the Lange 1, which sit on a neat grid. The cal. L095.1 is 34.1mm, compared to the 30.4mm of the first generation Lange 1 movement, the L901.0. An upside of the larger movement is the consolidation of the twin barrels of the smaller Lange 1 into a single, larger barrel, while still maintaining the 72-hour power reserve. That leads to a small but crucial difference on the dial of the Grand Lange 1: the lettering at seven o’clock reads “Gangreserve 72 Stunden”, German for ...

Editor’s note: Dive watches tend to be simple affairs, but not always. Justin embraces complexity (and calendars) in his review of the Blancpain Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phase de Lune. Read on …  The story in a second: A classy calendar for the life aquatic. Expanding on a dive watch collection - especially one with such … ContinuedThe post A date with the deep – the Blancpain Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phase de Lune appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

URWERK creates the UR-105 The Hour Glass to mark the Singapore based retailer’s 40th anniversary.

One of the world's most elegant superwatches.

De Bethune creates the DB 28 Steel Wheels Blue to mark The Hour Glass’ 40th anniversary.

Singapore retailer The Hour Glass kicked off its 40th anniversary limited editions with the all-platinum Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph, now followed by a pair of watches from leading independent watchmakers, De Bethune and Urwerk. The Singapore retailer is getting a three-piece limited edition based on the current UR-105, but one that’s also a throwback to the brand’s early creations. In aged bronze and titanium, The UR-105 “The Hour Glass” similar to the UR-105 CT Bronze unveiled earlier this year, but streamlined and sans the sprung lid over the front – a simplification of the design that’s also an improvement. Appropriate enough for a retailer that’s been selling Urwerk for 15 years, the commemorative edition features elements borrowed from Urwerk models over the years, creating a watch that’s a nostalgic reminder of the brand’s foundational watches from the early 2000s. UR-103 reborn The UR-105 was launched in 2014 as the successor to the UR-103, first launched in 2003. The bestselling Urwerk to date and arguably the brand’s signature watch, the UR-103 was the watch that made Urwerk a champion of avant-garde mechanical watchmaking. A nod to that milestone watch, the commemorative UR-105 features a U-shaped sapphire crystal, just as it was on the UR-103.03. While the very first version of the watch, the UR-103.01, featuring a narrow, curved window for the time, the UR-103.03 of 2005 expanded the view with a far larger cry...

De Bethune is the latest amongst a number of watchmakers to take the covers off a commemorative edition to mark the 40th anniversary of Singapore watch retail powerhouse The Hour Glass. For the occasion, De Bethune has put together a variant of its signature DB28 with sprung lugs that’s entirely clad in brilliant, blued titanium. First unveiled in polished titanium in 2018, the Steel Wheels is essentially a DB28 wearing a little less. A partially open-worked dial – which is actually the delta-shaped barrel bridge – reveals its pair of skeletonised barrels and gears. While the original Steel Wheels captures the essence of De Bethune, combining its trademark design with the brand’s fundamental technical innovations, it was lacking a generous dose of blued titanium, a gorgeous, heat-treated alloy that is synonymous with the brand. Colour consistency That has now been rectified with the DB28 Steel Wheels Blue, arguably the purest – and bluest – distillation of the brand’s core values and technical achievements. It features an intense, mirror-polished, blued titanium case and dial that form a striking contrast against the exposed inner mechanics. Though blued titanium is also used by other brands today, De Bethune was amongst the first to mirror-polish its titanium cases and more crucially, started using heat treatment to blue titanium way back in 2006. An example of an early De Bethune using blued titanium, a DB25L from 2010 with a blued dial...

It’s long been a staple of watch collecting advice and lore - don’t keep your watches in your sock drawer or consumer-grade safe, keep them in a safe deposit box. Well, that old adage is looking a little stretched on the basis of a recent article in The New York Times, which recounts the harrowing … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: Safe deposit boxes aren’t so safe appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Lovers of horses, airplanes, yachts and cars can choose from many specialised painters if they want a piece depicting their favoured object for the walls of the home or office. While Salvador Dalí’s surrealist “melting watch” paintings are amongst the 20th century’s best known artworks, a search for current day artists specialising in the figurative depictions of watches generates barely a handful of names, though most of whom show their works on Instagram. This is the story of my first commission, a graphic of the Voutilainen GMT-6. The Voutilainen GMT-6 by Alex Eisenzammer (@watchoniste), commissioned by the author High-tech capture Particularly when wristwatches are the subject of art, I follow the original Latin definition of ars, “skills” or “craft”. Therefore, I regard flawless photography of watches as art, as with the Voutilainen 28 “Sarasamon”, captured by specialist watch photographer Guy Lucas de Peslouan. But perfect photographic illustrations tread a thin line between art and technology. When the photographer’s skills are not at the highest level and Photoshop is heavy-handedly applied, the results are hardly suited to truly capturing a watch, yet find often a place in press releases from brands. Voutilainen 28 “Sarasamon”. Image – Artsight/Guy Lucas de Peslouan The art of rendering watches or movements with software is very popular with manufacturers. CGI specialist Blade Render describes its philosophy as desir...

Next up in our rolling cavalcade of ‘Every Watch Tells a Story’ stories is Vince. Now, this one is a bit of a funny one, and not just because the watch in question is the critically acclaimed Joker from Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin. If you’re not familiar with the Joker, it’s a very clever piece … ContinuedThe post Vince’s Konstantin Chaykin is no joking matter  appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Watch lovers across the planet have been collectively holding their breath this year, eagerly waiting for Omega to release a commemorative watch to celebrate humanity launching away from the planet. It was 50 years ago that American astronauts left the safety of their lunar module and stepped onto the surface of the Moon, with Omega … ContinuedThe post Counting down why we love the new Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch 321 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Come for the cameras, stay for the wrist shots.

Editor’s note: Bruce doesn’t write for us too much, but when he does, it’s absolute gold. From his classic Batman review to this extended wear of the Tudor Black Bay GMT. A great, insightful take on one of the hottest pieces in the market right now.  When the Tudor Black Bay GMT debuted this year … ContinuedThe post Spending a month with the Tudor Black Bay GMT appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Hands on analytical review of the new Bell & Ross V2-92 Military Beige Automatic and the V2-94 Military Beige Automatic Chronograph.

An audio walk down memory lane.

Audemars Piguet’s Michael Friedman comes onto the Revolution Watch Podcast for an insightful episode on the history of telling time.

Famous for the invention of the tourbillon, REVOLUTION takes a look at another pillar for one of watchmaking’s oldest brands: Guilloché.

For as long as time has been indicated with hands on a dial, horologists have been hunting for different ways to communicate time. Contemporarily, this pursuit has taken some weird and wonderful forms, resulting in a few very clever feats of engineering to tell you what time it is. For those who are tired of … ContinuedThe post Look Mum, no hands – the best watches without hands in 2018 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

The Omega Speedmaster is one of Omega’s most iconic watches to date. It has a rich history with roots tied to space travel. Not many people may be aware but the speedmaster models that we have come to admire in this day and age weren’t originally thought of as a watch for space travel. When it was first released in 1957, it was portrayed as a sports and racing chronograph watch as Omega were the official timekeeper of the Olympic games.  Things changed however, when NASA decided that it wanted to use the Omega Speedmaster for its manned missions into space, while also being included in the Apollo program. So how exactly did Omega’s Speedmaster go from being a watch used to time sporting events, to being the watch Astronauts used for space travel? It all starts with a story about a man named Walter Schirra. Being an aviator and military pilot himself, he was about to embark on the Mercury-Atlas 8 Mission. As a way to possibly mark the momentous occasion, he went watch hunting (as any of us would without a doubt). Omega had established a position for itself and with the release of the eye-catching Speedmaster Chronograph, it would be safe to say that it more than caught Schirra’s attention. This would be the turning point in Speedmaster’s history as from this point forward, it would go onto do numerous space travel missions.  The “Professional” name was added to the Speedmaster during the 1964-1965 period. The Speedmaster would further cement its legacy as NA...

Editor’s note: This is a throwback to the time we chatted to one of the best-looking blokes in Melbourne about his (then) new Montblanc 1858 Automatic Dual Time. As Sam predicted, he didn’t think this would be a watch that would look dated as the years passed, and he was right - the classic proportions, the … ContinuedThe post Why a man of style loves the Montblanc 1858 Automatic Dual Time appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

This is the stuff that watch collecting nightmares are made of.

There comes a time in the journey of every watch collector when the pursuit of the most complicated watch loses its shine, as you start to wonder if there is real meaning to be found by having a ninth tourbillon in your watch. You stop stressing if your chronograph has a vertical clutch, and wonder … ContinuedThe post Everything you need, nothing you don’t – the best two-handed watches of 2018 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

In this 1-on-1, we compare the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph and the Vacheron Constantin Historiques Cornes de Vache 1955.

A classic design that blends military ruggedness with easy-wearing versatility.