Latest watch news · Page 29

Five dials, a proper column wheel, and a gap in the lineup finally filled. The C63 Sealander Chronograph is here. Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Chronograph lands with five dial options and a mechanical movement, filling a long-standing gap in the brand's lineup.

With its motto of never producing quartz watches, its manufacturing capabilities and its rich heritage in dive watches, Blancpain is often spontaneously associated with technical, masculine watchmaking. But this overlooks an important chapter in the brand’s history. In the middle of the 20th century, its development was driven by Betty Fiechter, a remarkable figure at […]

What We Know In 1932, a 36-year-old woman took a massive gamble early in her career at Blancpain. Betty Fiechter, who had worked for the brand since she was 16, faced a dilemma after the sudden death of the brand's owner, Frederic-Emile Blancpain. Together with commercial director Andre Leal, she helped secure loans to buy the company, even navigating the need to rename the manufacture because the Swiss government prevented anyone but someone with that name from using Blancpain. Fiechter would eventually mentor her nephew, Jean-Jacques Fiechter, and together they would inaugurate two of the brand's most successful icons: the Fifty Fathoms and the Ladybird. The original Ladybird Bullet The launch of the Ladybird in 1956 was a big deal, not just because a woman led a manufacturer in an era when women couldn't even vote in Switzerland. Inside the original Ladybird "Bullet" was the R55, the smallest round mechanical movement, and one with extra durability, with a fifth wheel to limit the force on the escapement and a shock protector on the balance wheel. It remains the smallest round mechanical movement to this day. To honor that watch, Fiechter, and the 70th anniversary of the Ladybird, Blancpain is releasing a new Lady B (for bullet, I'm sure, but also Betty and, according to the brand, bijou or "jewel") with very tiny dimensions. The watch measures a tiny 19mm by 13.2mm in either stainless steel or 18k red gold, with a total volume of only 2.9 cm³. Despite its size, it has...

In a recent discussion I had with someone about Christopher Ward, the question of why the brand doesn’t have any mechanical chronographs in its collection came up. This stands out, as watch enthusiasts tend to love such pieces. But the English brand now has a new series of mechanical chronographs for the enthusiasts. The C63 […] Visit Mechanical Resurrection: The New Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Chronograph to read the full article.

British independent Christopher Ward revives the mechanical chronograph in its Sealander range, with 5 fresh dial colours

Watches and Wonders, the year's largest and most significant horology event, held each spring in Geneva, will welcome ten more brands for the 2027 edition, including Berneron, Porsche Design, and Singer Reimagined, bringing the total to 75. This new group will join Breitling's House of Brands, which announced earlier this year that it will participate.   Watches and Wonders organizers said the diversity of the 13 brands attending the show for the first time in 2027 underscores the varied slate of watch industry participants now part of the event, ranging from Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe, to now Stollenwurm, an upstart Swiss high-horology marque named for a mythical creature and founded by a former Boston-based biotech executive.   Berneron will also join the roster for Watches and Wonders 2027. Launched in 2022 and led by designer (and ex-Breitling executive) Sylvain Berneron, the brand has earned accolades from the industry and collectors; its limited production, shaped case, and full-gold movement pieces have soared in value on the secondary market. A rare example of the Mirage in 34mm, the white gold Viridian with a chrysoprase dial, sold by the brand to a client for about CHF 51,000, recently fetched $521,400 on the auction site Loupe This.  The Berneron Quantième is the brand's second model line.Photo credit: Mark Kauzlarich  Berneron recently told Hodinkee in an interview that the prices paid for his watches on the secondary market are "unsustainable," and...

Grand Seiko has just added the limited-edition SBGW325 to its Elegance Collection, paying tribute to the SBGW003 from 2001. That model was the first Grand Seiko to feature a manually wound 9S mechanical movement, the Caliber 9S54. The new watch revisits one of its most distinctive details, the blocky Arabic numerals, while introducing a deep […] Visit Hot Take: Grand Seiko Introduces The SBGW325 to read the full article.

Founded in 2010 by industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, indie brand Ressence stands out from the crowd with its original and contemporary way of displaying time. Like planets orbiting the Sun, time circles around the dial thanks to the brand’s patented Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS). For the brand’s latest Art Watch, Ressence has teamed up […]

Ressence TYPE 9 Jules Wittock: a hand-drawn maze milled 0.2 mm into titanium and filled by hand, in Emerald Green or black, 30 pieces each at CHF 20,000.

Recently, Lex wrote an article asking, “When are watches art?” Of course, there wasn’t a clear answer, as “art” is often an ungraspable concept. However, every once in a while, Benoît Mintiens makes the dial of a Ressence watch available to an artist dear to the Belgian brand. In doing so, he tries to blur […] Visit Get Lost In Ressence’s New Type 9 Art Watch By Belgian Artist Jules Wittock to read the full article.

For the latest installment of the brand’s Art Watch series, Ressence has teamed up with a contemporary Belgian artist for the puzzling Type 9 Jules Wittock. I say ‘puzzling’, because Mr Wittock’s specialty is hand-drawing incredibly detailed mazes, which are both decorative and solvable. By collaborating with Ressence, the artist has devised a clever maze that fits on the rotating dial of the Type 9. Initial thoughts If it seems like you’re seeing more artistic collaborations in watchmaking, you’re probably right. While it’s not a new idea — Swatch released its first artist edition in 1985, just two years into the company’s history — the format feels increasingly common, especially amongst design-oriented brands and independent watchmakers. For Ressence, the Type 9 Jules Wittlock is the latest in a line of artist collaborations, including works with Shantell Martin, Stefan Sagmeister, and Daniel Engelberg. The brand has also worked with designers like Alain Silberstein and Marc Newson — two regular contributors watch-related projects. While most artist collaborations result in a fairly straightforward dial variant, Ressence is perhaps uniquely suited to the format, with its rotating dial capable of creating a dynamic tableau. In this case, Mr Wittock has taken full advantage of this technical aspect of the watch with a functional, hand-drawn maze, complete with a secret message that reveals itself in the pattern twice per day. Fortunately, the pattern...

The Fondation Haute Horlogerie (FHH) struck a strategic academic collaboration agreement with the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and its School of Gemology and Jewelry Arts, aiming to bring more watch industry knowledge, training, and certification to a wider audience. The agreement will have the two non-profit organizations collaborate on educational initiatives, certification, and instruction, using the GIA's international physical and online infrastructure. Founded in 1931 with campus, laboratory, and research center locations ranging from the U.S. and the U.K. to Africa and Asia, from Bangkok to India, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the GIA has trained more than 200,000 professionals in jewelry and gems.   Johanna Levy, (left) Vice President, Communications & Corporate Affairs, Gemological Institute of America, Aurélie Streit, Vice President of the FHH.Image Courtesy FHH The collaboration could significantly expand the FHH mandate to provide watchmaking, culture, and industry knowledge to more industry professionals, collectors, and consumers, while broadening the GIA's educational scope for professionals in this closely linked sector. "For GIA students and alumni, it's such a great opportunity to be able to access a completely new set of knowledge with watchmaking," Johanna Levy, vice-president of the ESG Programs at the GIA, said in an interview. "There is a desire to learn more, to learn more craft, to learn more in person. So it's really not only to equip our st...

Grand Seiko is marking 25 years of its hand-wind 9S movement with the Elegance Collection SBGW325, a throwback to one of the earliest Grand Seiko limited edition models. The SBGW325 is modelled on the SBGW003, a 2001 limited edition that debuted the first-ever manual-wind 9S movement. Today’s SBGW325 is equipped with the latest generation of the same movement family, the 9S64, while reviving the distinctive dial design sporting raised Arabic numerals. Initial thoughts Grand Seiko rolls out limited edition on a regular basis, so the various editions tend to blend into each other. The SBGW325 manages to stand out because the dial design is distinctive; Grand Seiko has no employed this design on another model aside from the original of 2001. For that reason alone this would be one of the most appealing Grand Seiko limited editions in recent memory. But it’s not just the styling. Although the design is unique in today’s catalogue, the SBGW325 is relatively no frills in terms of movement and materials. The case is compact and steel, while the movement is the time-only 9S64, which makes this quite affordable, further adding to its appeal. Arabic numerals The original SBGW003 combined a cream dial with raised gold Arabic numerals and blued steel hands, resulting in an unusual look for Grand Seiko even today. The new SBGW325 preserves the design but iterates on the colours: the dial is matte blue with raised silver numerals, while the “GS” emblem and seconds hand are gil...

Some watches have shaped the perception we have of a brand in a striking way. At Grand Seiko, if we look at more recent times, the Spring Drive Snowflake SBGA211 is one of these watches. Some, however, did this in a far more discreet way, but nevertheless helped write the story. You can think of […]

The new 70s Collection strips away the chronograph and doubles down on what made the original era great. The Glashütte Original 70s Collection returns to time-and-date simplicity with a substantially reworked integrated sports watch design rooted in 1970s DNA.

When it comes to vintage watches, few brands have as much depth as Rolex. Over more than a century, the company has produced an enormous range of models, references, and variations that have become firmly established among collectors. From tool watches built for specific purposes to understated everyday models, there’s plenty to explore beyond the […] Visit Fratello Talks: Our Favorite Vintage Rolex Models to read the full article.

The watch industry, as we know, never misses an opportunity to celebrate a milestone. This week marks 50 years of Gerald Genta’s Ingenieur, a watch that has existed in a variety of forms over the years, but was relaunched a few years ago in a widely celebrated new guise that feels almost spiritually connected to the original. The new limited editions released this week by IWC are available in both the standard 40mm size and the newer, more compact 35mm case, both with dials that play up the design’s inherent starkness.  The Ingenieur’s dial is most commonly associated with a distinctive grid pattern, but these LEs depart from that playbook for a dial that feels very metallic with vertical brushing and silver plating. It’s a reference, according to IWC, to an obscure Ingenieur reference from the original launch in 1976.  I’m struck by how simple and muted this dial is for a limited edition. We’ve been trained, I think, to think that special releases and limited editions should be louder than this, and recontextualize a watch into something that couldn’t exist in the main collection. This dial execution is about as simple as it gets, and while it presents quite differently than the mainline Ingenieurs with patterned dials, it wouldn’t be a challenge at all to imagine this watch as a permanent part of the IWC collection. It’s a clear play to history, which of course is fitting and expected for a 50th anniversary watch. It’s nice but maybe not particularl...

I'll admit it, Geneva Watch Days is one of my favourite times in the city. It's when our industry reunites after a long, heatwave-themed summer to meet friends from all corners of the watch world and get hands-on with the latest pieces from some of the hottest and most interesting brands. And that's the thing about this summer show: while Watches & Wonders draws our attention to the larger players, Geneva Watch Days lets us take a breather, slow this rapidly moving industry right down, and spend time with watches and brands of all sizes. Don't get me wrong, Bvlgari, Zenith, Daniel Roth, Girard Perregaux, MB&F;, and Breitling attend, but its city-centered format and later date on the calendar mean there's much more time to see smaller names and discover new ones. The 2026 edition set a new record with 71 participating brands, unveiling nearly 400 new releases. More than 2,500 private clients, collectors, and watch enthusiasts attended, alongside more than 500 international media and content creators. However, this year's edition drew 15,000 people in total, down from last year's peak of 17,000. News from the brands exhibiting was certainly plentiful and felt increasingly significant compared to previous iterations of the show (Breitling's House of Brands used the show to unveil Gallet to the world, and MAD Editions by MB&F; announced the MAD 3 - more on those in a moment). Yet on more than one occasion, conversations centered around how the show felt a little quieter than pre...

The Swedish brand E.C. Andersson is one of my favorite “IYKYK” watchmakers. They had a modest hit a few years ago with their Mytilus, at least among a very specific type of watch collector who was ahead of the curve on the current trend for industrially finishished, retro-futuristic designs in odd case shapes that are having a moment right now (see: Otsuka Lotec and others). What makes E.C. Andersson compelling to me though is not just their aesthetic and design language, which is certainly very interesting, but their business model, and what they actually do as a brand. They are, essentially, a machine shop, fabricating cases and other components from their own designs, and selling watches off a reservation system. Interested parties add their names to a list, and when a watch is available, you get an email letting you know your watch is ready.  Their new watch, introduced this week, is called the Timepod, and like the Mytilus before it, the case (and crystal integration) set the design apart and make it unique. The quirkiest thing about the Timepod is the lug release system, which allows the user to detach the wire lugs via the push of a button on the caseband. The lugs simply pop out of the square shaped case and (presumably) reattach easily by hand. E.C. Andersson says the system is specifically designed to inhibit debris from entering the case while still allowing ease of access to the movement and other components in the event a service is needed.  Is this lug ...

Baume & Mercier delights with modern engineering in the refined 1950s-inspired Clifton collection

With the Projekt 01 Variant H, Kollokium puts an end to its first chapter, the watch that marked the independent platform’s debut. Since its introduction in 2023, the Projekt 01 has been offered in several iterations, with different materials and colours. Variant H returns to the black-dial aesthetic of the earliest editions, with the more […]

This week on The Business of Watches, a veteran watch industry CEO who is taking on one of the biggest and most demanding challenges of his storied career. Julien Tornare is the head of Hublot, the irreverent and ground-breaking brand controlled by LVMH that's trying to reclaim some of its former glory and role as a trend-setter in industry innovation.  An affable and talented business leader, Tornare has spent almost three decades in the watch world with Vacheron Constantin and Richemont, then as chief executive of Zenith, where he oversaw a dramatic revival and upswing for the El Primero maker. He then had a brief tenure as the CEO of TAG Heuer before joining Hublot as the big boss in 2024.  Julien Tornare.Image: Courtesy Hublot Tornare talks about Hublot's turbulent journey over the past four decades and the spirit reflected in the brand's unconventional, outspoken ambassadors. He also addresses the marque's critics, arguing that the YouTuber shots are largely unjustified.  He also discusses the influence of Hublot's Italian founder Carlo Crocco as the company reconsiders its legacy ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2030. There's also news of a major new partnership with legendary American artist Jeff Koons, who is bringing his artistic vision to the watch brand for the first time through a series of bold collaborations. We also discuss the role that Jean Arnault, long considered the true watch enthusiast in the Arnault clan, now has with the brand.  There's plenty o...

It's been a hot minute since Glashütte Original released a 70s in a date and time configuration. Here's is our take on Glashütte's latest timepiece.