Latest watch news · Page 17

Over the past few years, we have seen great changes within the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms lineup. The brand celebrated the 70th anniversary of its iconic diver in multiple “acts.” On top of that, Blancpain created a full collection of Fifty Fathoms models in different sizes, offering something for everyone and addressing an issue many enthusiasts […] Visit A Nice Vintage-Inspired Surprise: The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe 70th Anniversary to read the full article.

While the fact that the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was one of the earliest dive watches on the market is now well-known, this professional, mostly military-issued model wasn’t the only one produced by the brand. There is another watch in the collection that was created back in 1956, as the civilian counterpart to the Fifty Fathoms […]

“Droit au But,” translated roughly as “Straight to the Goal,” has been Olympique de Marseille’s motto since the club’s foundation in 1899 and appears beneath the “OM” crest. OM is one of the most recognizable clubs in French football. Its greatest achievement came on May 26th, 1993, when OM defeated AC Milan 1–0 in Munich […] Visit A Heavenly “Match” — The Olympique De Marseille × Jacques Bianchi Marseille JB200 Chronometer Limited Edition to read the full article.

Two watches should be enough, at least in theory. If you had no budget limitations and could own only two watches, which would you choose? The challenge isn’t simply to pick two favorites. With only two spots available, both watches need to earn their place. In this episode of Fratello Talks, Nacho is joined by […] Visit Fratello Talks: Building A Dream Two-Watch Collection to read the full article.

A new day is dawning for Credor, which made its Watches & Wonders debut with the Locomotive “Dawn Blue” ref. GCCR995. Designed by Gerald Genta, the Locomotive was once the brand’s flagship sports model in the same vein as its more famous Swiss siblings, but with a quirky integrated-unintegrated bracelet. The obvious quality of the titanium case and bracelet make up for a weak spec sheet, but leave room for the Locomotive to grow alongside the newly international Credor marque. Initial thoughts The Locomotive is a great example of a watch that is more than the sum of its parts. In fact, it’s (almost) inexplicably nice for a watch with such a strange design, a mundane movement, and a micro-adjust-less pin-and-collar bracelet. While it’s cliché to say a watch looks better in person than photographs — and underestimates what a good photographer can do — I would say the Locomotive feels much better in person, like a watch of its price point should. The defining update for this edition of the Locomotive is its embossed dial, which features a repeating hexagon motif. The grooves that fill each cell are oriented at different angles, giving the dial a shimmering personality that changes with shifting light. At some angles, the dial is a uniform blue, while other angles produce an almost chequerboard-like effect. This backdrop is coated with layers of clear lacquer, enabling the Credor wordmark and (superfluous) “Automatic” text to float neatly above the three-d...

37.4mm steel, box sapphire, meteor-grey sunburst dial, cal. 1150 with 100-hour reserve. Blancpain marks 70 years of the civilian diver with a faithful re-edition of the 1968 Bathyscaphe. 300 pieces, €14,850. Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe 70th anniversary: 37.4mm 1968 re-edition, meteor-grey dial, cal. 1150, box sapphire, 300 pieces, €14,850.

A brand-new independent maison arrives with two escapements, one differential, and zero compromises. The Legare Chapter 1 AGP Inverted is the debut watch from Wei Koh and Guillaume Tetu's new brand, featuring dual escapements driven by a differential.

Don’t look now, but Longines is having an uncommonly strong year. The release of the reworked HydroConquest dive watch in March remains one of the most discussed new releases of the year from a major brand, and their quiet but smart update of the Master Collection in June was also well received. Last month, they launched a new version of one of the more curious watches to be plucked from their archives in recent years, and while it’s certainly more of a niche product than the diver or the classically styled pieces in the Master Collection, it shows that the brand is still considering the enthusiast in spite of what is clearly a larger, big tent approach focusing on core models.  The Longines Conquest Central Power Reserve in light blue is the third such watch following cream, anthracite and black dials introduced in 2024. These are incredibly charming watches in person, and lift from a design that originally debuted in 1959. It’s a fairly straightforward watch, with the central quirk (literally) being a power reserve indicator represented by a subdial in the dead center of the dial. The date appears at 12:00, and studying the dial reveals an idiosyncratic sector-like layout that is easily readable and visually interesting.  The case of the Longines Conquest Central Power Reserve measures a tidy 38mm in diameter and 12.3mm thick. That is a tad taller than I’d typically like on a watch in this style, but I think it’s the price we pay for a modern, tech forward mo...

Cybèle Vigneron and Carla Lanfranchini first met at the Strate École de Design outside of Paris, arriving at the institution with enviable backgrounds: Lanfranchini had served as an artistic director and graphic designer at Dom Pérignon and Château de Pommard, while Vigneron honed her career in store design planning and visual merchandising at Cartier, Bulgari, and Berluti. The two became fast friends. After both earning dual degrees in design as well as business management, they established Version Watches in 2024.  They were entering a crowded field where microbrands have never been more popular, with even greater opportunities for designers and watchmaking visionaries to express themselves. Over the past two years, as they worked in separate cities and handled branding, design, distribution, and a successful Kickstarter launch, the two-person team were motivated by uniqueness: “we wanted to approach watchmaking from a pure designer’s perspective rather than just assembling off-the-shelf components or relying purely on nostalgia,” said Vigneron. We first saw Vision on display in New York at Tempus Takumi, a showcase of independent watchmaking that pointedly focuses on watches made outside of Switzerland. Alongside the design-driven, accessible collections from Germany’s MeisterSinger and Japan’s Minase, Version fit right in. Both founders were present and clearly happy to show off their creations, making their debut to an American audience. Accessibility i...

Minerva‘s Unveiled Chronograph series is an exercise in turning conventional watchmaking inside out. Instead of hiding the movement under the dial, which would require taking the watch off the wrist to admire its calibre through the display caseback, the manufacture reverses its architecture, making the chronograph mechanism and its distinctive hand-finished components the main attraction […]

This story is a special presentation from Hodinkee Japan, written and illustrated by Masaharu Wada, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Hodinkee Japan.  For a young brand to revisit roughly 98 percent of the movement components in a GPHG-winning watch after receiving the award might ordinarily sound like cause for concern. But when I visited Fam al Hut's workshop in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China, I came away feeling almost the opposite. More than anything else, that fact seemed to capture exactly where the brand stands today. A large industrial elevator takes you to the second floor, where the doors open onto a long central corridor. To the right, behind glass walls, designers and engineers gather around technical drawings. To the left is a production floor lined with five CNC machines and other machine tools. Farther inside are a prototyping room, a finishing department, a clean room for movement assembly, a quality-control room, a stockroom, and even a dedicated room housing a femtosecond laser machine. Not everything is made here. Cases and sapphire crystals, among other components, still come from outside suppliers. What Fam al Hut has built, however, is an environment in which it can control the design, prototyping, machining, assembly, testing, and continued development of its movements. For such a young independent brand, the scale of the operation was far beyond what I had expected. Fam al Hut was founded in 2024. The following year, its debut watch, the MARK 1 Möb...

Tutima adds to their famed Flieger collection with the new Flieger T5, now in grade 5 titanium, 38.5mm diameter case, with the strong pilot's watch DNA.

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary horologist and watchmaker Dr. George Daniels CBE, Hodinkee is honored to publish an essay from Daniels protege and friend, Roger W. Smith OBE, who has taken up the mantle of continuing the legacy of Daniels and his method of watchmaking. The bond between the two of them, though decades apart in age, has revitalized the rich legacy of British watchmaking. After the article, we'll share excerpts from an interview with Smith about his relationship with Daniels. — Hodinkee George Daniels at 100, A Personal Reflection by Roger W. Smith OBE On 19 August 2026, Dr. George Daniels CBE would have celebrated his 100th birthday. For most people, a centenary is an opportunity to look back. For those of us fortunate enough to have known him, it is also an opportunity to reflect on ideas that remain remarkably relevant today. The George Daniels Grand Complication from 1987. Throughout his lifetime, George made just twenty-four pocket watches and two wristwatches. I remember chatting with him on the opening night of his 'Retrospective Exhibition' at Sotheby's in 2006. Before the exhibition cases had been filled, he told me he had been sitting beside the assembled collection of his life's work. It fitted into just two A4-sized foam-lined metal trays. Yet those twenty-six watches contained ideas that fundamentally changed modern mechanical timekeeping. Few, if any, watchmakers have produced so little, yet influenced so much. "The Blue...

Since the debut of the Independence Skeleton in 2022, followed by the fifth-anniversary Skeleton editions in 2023 and the more compact 40mm model introduced last year, Norqain has established its approach to skeletonisation. Without chasing the extremes, the brand offers a combination of a contemporary openworked design and the robust, adventure-ready character that defines the […]

Echo/neutra's Rivanera Piccolo "Rosa d'Epoca" Time+Tide Studio Edition pairs a titanium case with a grained black dial with pink details

Twelve on Time is a conversation series that invites leading personalities from the watch industry to step beyond their work and speak more personally about their relationship with time, creativity, and craft. Through a set of twelve questions, the column aims to lift the veil on both the individual and their perspective on watchmaking – […]

Ten years ago, my wife and I went to Japan for vacation. We strolled through Tokyo, visited the beaches of Okinawa, and toured the temples of Kyoto. Some of the things I photographed most on that trip must’ve been the countless temple roofs. They’re so characteristic and graceful with their sloping shapes and carefully placed […] Visit The Charming Kiwame Tokyo Yane Is Like Putting A Japanese Temple Roof On Your Wrist to read the full article.

Henri Grandjean (1803-1879) was a master watchmaker from Le Locle, renowned for his precision marine chronometers and for his pioneering role in Swiss chronometry. The name was recently revived by entrepreneur and collector Sohail Aziz and positioned as an independent brand specialising in exquisite high-end contemporary haute horlogerie. Making an impressive debut, Henri Grandjean & […]

Drumming up a list of the watch world’s biggest icons is easy. While we can debate what constitutes a true icon, we can probably agree that such watches defined a category and had a lasting impact on the current watch landscape. That’s not the discussion we want to have, though. In this new series of […] Visit Shadow Icons: The Underappreciated References Behind Every Great Watch to read the full article.