Latest watch news · Page 56

The 28th edition of the Cartier Prize for Watchmaking Talents of Tomorrow has announced the winners of the annual competition, which seeks to recognise and nurture promising young watchmakers and technicians. In total, six prizes were awarded to students from France and Belgium. Aymeric Peters won first prize in the Apprentice Watchmakers category for “Silence Choisi” Understanding the Cartier Prize The watchmaking industry faces a well-known shortage of young talent, and awards like the Cartier Prize, the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition, and the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives enhance the appeal and visibility of the profession in a meaningful way. The theme of the 28th edition of the Cartier Prize was “Shifting the Balance: Reading and Perceiving Time Differently”. This theme explains why almost all entries featured heavily abstracted time displays. Layla Sluysmans tied for second prize in the Apprentice Watchmakers category with her creation “Nymphéa” The format of the Cartier Prize differs from that of other similar awards. Finalists were chosen based on sketches and presentations, and were given just 80 hours (over three months) to complete their creations with the help of dedicated mentors. To ensure a level playing field, each candidate is provided with a Cartier cal. 012 alarm clock movement and a CHF500 budget cap. Eléonor Picciotto presided over the ceremony, and the prizes were awarded by a jury comprised of Roy Davidoff, P...

Tudor surprised with an off-season launch in the form of the Black Bay Chrono 39 “Bumblebee”. Coming just two months after Watches & Wonders 2026, the Bumblebee is one of the brand’s outstanding debuts for the year (so far), alongside the atypical Monarch. The Bumblebee is essentially a scaled-down version of the original Black Bay Chrono, which was excellent but half a size too large. Now it’s almost just right, but unquestionably good enough, especially since the downsized chronograph still retains the same high-spec movement and affordable price tag. Initial thoughts I’m a fan of the Black Bay Chrono; I own two earlier iterations of the model. Tudor got everything right with those, except for the size, which was a little too big for the design. The Black Bay Chrono 39 scales it down noticeably, enough that the watch is just right. The case is still a little thick (inevitably due to the movement), but the overall package has been refined to a point where it’s difficult to improve it much more, especially with the constraints of price and the MT5813 movement. The MT5813 is probably the top movement in this price range in terms of features and construction, but it is relatively thick. Still, the thickness is forgivable given the quality of the movement and the price. I certainly hope Tudor rolls out new variants of this chronograph as yellow is not for me, but I rate this highly in terms of proportions, wearability, and of course value. At US$6,725, the Black B...

Blancpain shrinks its ultra-thin dress watch to 38mm and debuts a first-ever sunburst salmon dial for the Villeret line. Blancpain Villeret Ultraplate 38mm lands with softer dial colours and a first-ever salmon sunburst for the line. Smaller case, better proportions, no fuss.

For many Americans, the Fourth of July means fireworks, backyard barbecues, and the one day a year that a stars-and-stripes t-shirt somehow feels perfectly acceptable. Yet beyond the spectacle and celebration, Independence Day is ultimately about something much simpler: coming together with friends and family to celebrate the history and ideals that continue to define […]

Is there a brand that more completely blurs the line between the definition of “microbrand” and “independent brand” than Brew? It depends, of course, on how you define each term. If a brand needs to exist in the haute horlogerie space and craft movements or other components from scratch in an artisanal way to be considered “independent,” then Brew will probably never qualify under those terms. But if your criteria is an intentional, well defined point of view on watchmaking with a clear, instantly recognizable design language, all executed according to the singular creative vision of the brand’s founder, Brew easily fits. I’ve never been one to see microbrand as a pejorative or diminishing label, but in Brew’s case I might argue that it doesn’t necessarily reflect the brand’s growth over the last decade, and the widespread recognition and popularity they’ve found outside of the enthusiast space.  Importantly, Brew continues to find interesting ways to iterate on the themes established since the brand’s founding by Jonathan Ferrer, the founder and designer behind the brand. It would be easy for Brew to simply pump out new colorways for successful models, but instead they’ve taken steps (sometimes, admittedly, slower than some collectors and enthusiasts would like) to gradually expand what people think of when they consider what Brew actually is. To that end, their latest watch is a new version of their manually wound Metric (with a Swiss movemen...

Summer means Windup Watch Fair returns to Chicago, and we’re thrilled to once again bring hundreds of watches, great conversations, and unforgettable experiences to our brand-new venue, Morgan MFG. Alongside more than 70 exhibiting brands, special events, and panel discussions, we’re proud to announce our Lead Sponsors for Windup Watch Fair Chicago 2026: Atelier Wen, Christopher Ward, Citizen, eBay Live, and Oris. First, here are the necessary details: Windup Watch Fair Chicago Friday, July 10 – Sunday, July 12, 2026 Morgan MFG 401 N Morgan St Suite #100 Chicago, IL 60642 Free and open to everyone. No registration necessary.   Each of our Lead Sponsors is bringing exciting new products and experiences to Chicago that you won’t want to miss. Here’s a sneak peek at just a few of the highlights you’ll find during Windup weekend in the Windy City. Atelier Wen: Perception V3 Founded to celebrate the richness of Chinese craftsmanship through a modern lens, Atelier Wen has become one of the most compelling independent brands in contemporary watchmaking. Their latest release, the Perception V3, elevates the integrated sports watch with hand-turned guilloché dials and a beautifully finished French-made Pequignet movement, representing the fullest expression yet of the brand’s unique identity. With a hand-guilloché dial crafted by master artisan Cheng Yucai and a French-made Pequignet caliber featuring bespoke finishing inspired by Chinese motifs, the Perception V3 ...

Over the past couple of years, we’ve come to the conclusion that Union Glashütte is quite a stand-out brand among the predominantly Swiss Made brands under the Swatch Group umbrella. It benefits from the group’s vertical integration yet is able to put its own mark on things, allowing it to hallmark its watches as Made […]

Continuing Doxa's focus on its core late-60s aesthetic, the brand recently unveiled the T.Graph II, the latest iteration of its core dive chronograph. Reborn but largely faithful to the original (and indeed to some more recent T.Graph forays), the new T.Graph II ports the Sub 300's classic look into a burly yet entirely wearable automatic chronograph that comes in Doxa's classic trio of colors, along with the surprise inclusion of a blue "Caribbean" execution. With a flagship price tag, it's a model that has previously been hard to source and often even more expensive, so the question becomes: is the new T.Graph II the dive-ready Doxa chronograph we've been waiting for? Don't fret, we'll get to all that and more. But first, a quick history lesson to bring us all loosely up to speed on the T.Graph, as it's a model with a cult following but was previously never made in any considerable quantity. T.Graphs Past To keep things as basic as possible (because Jason Heaton has written extensively about, and dived with, vintage T.Graphs – here with a Searambler, and here with a Sharkhunter), the new Sub 200 T.Graph II is based on a low-production design from 1969 called the Sub 200 T.Graph. While there is some contention over production numbers, it is believed that ~300 of each of the original colorways (Sharkhunter, Searambler, and Professional) were produced. Again, I recommend both of Jason's stories, even if only so you can see how absolutely gorgeous a vintage Sub 200 T.Graph...

When the Paris-based brand Baltic released the Peter Auto Tricompax in 2022, it was well received by enthusiasts. The watch looked straight back at classic racing chronographs and carried a strong vintage feel. This 1960s-inspired limited-edition watch fit neatly into Baltic’s chronograph story, which began in 2017 with the neo-vintage Bicompax 001 and later became […]

Baltic just updated its popular Scalegraph, introducing a revised dial in three colours, and an upgraded, redesigned case

Baltic expands their Scalegraph collection today with the launch of a pair of new sporty chronographs that the brand says will be part of their permanent collection. First introduced a year ago as a limited edition, this new iteration of the Scalegraph has a number of improvements that should add up to a more refined package overall. It’s also something of a return to the brand’s roots as a maker of vintage inspired sports watches, after getting more press as of late for dabbling in affordable haute horlogerie and watches defined by the blinding bling of lab grown diamonds. As a sports chrono, the aesthetic of the Scalegraph is about as classic as you can get. It has a traditional three register layout with a tachymeter bezel, beads of rice style bracelet, and screwdown pushers. It’s heavily racing inspired, and has the simple, classic case lines of many a familiar vintage sports watch. The stainless steel case is the same 39.5mm diameter as the original Scalegraph, but Baltic says the lugs are now wider, which should give the watch some additional presence on the wrist. Baltic has also replaced circular finishing on the top of the lugs with vertical brushing, which is certainly more reminiscent of the historic chronographs manufactured by Rolex, Universal Geneve, and others, that the Scalegraph is clearly emulating, at least somewhat.   The Scalegraph is available in three new colorways: Champagne, Blue, and Grey. All have tan colored contrasting subdials at 3, 6,...

Sartory-Billard joins forces with Time+Tide to create an ode to the New York City skyline, and the iconic architecture within it

I attended a special Leica SL preview showing of the new Leica SL3-P at Leica Singapore recently. Here are the specifications and my hand-on experience

The Orbit, presented in 2022, is one of the defining models within Armin Strom’s catalogue. With the date displayed on demand via the bezel, it offered an original take on a function that has stayed mostly unchanged for decades. Since the launch, the independent Biel-based manufacture has produced several editions, including the inaugural First Edition, […]

Ask watch fans what makes Farer stand out, and chances are that you’ll quickly get an answer involving colors. The London-based brand has a knack for them. A great example is the Lissom collection that I reviewed last year. It’s a group of daily wearers that shows the importance of colors in creating a great […] Visit Channeling The Colorful Racing Culture Of The 1970s With The New Farer Racing Chronographs to read the full article.

Please meet Peacock, a Chinese watch brand that has been creating complicated timepieces since 1957, and its Haiyi Tourbillon, a 40mm limited-edition dive watch with a colorful Lindsay-engraved enameled dial in three colors. You might not be familiar with Liaoning Peacock, also known as the Peacock Watch Company, but the manufacturer from Dandong, China, is […] Visit Chinese Haute Horlogerie From “The Geneva of the East?” — The New Peacock Haiyi Tourbillon Yu Limited Edition to read the full article.

Alongside the sporty Fifty Fathoms, Bathyscaphe or Air Command collections, the Villeret range, named after the village in the Vallée de Joux, where Jehan-Jacques Blancpain set up his workshop on the top floor of his house in 1735, is the epitome of classic. Ranging from time-only to high complications, the entry-level model to the Villeret […]

Sometimes, as a watch enthusiast, you just connect with a brand. Fears is such a brand for me. I find this revived English indie watch company a prime example of how to establish yourself in a slightly higher segment than most. As much as I appreciate the company from a distance, I had spent little […] Visit Don’t Sleep On These Cushions — Hands-On With Three Fears Brunswick Models to read the full article.

The new Blancpain Villeret Ultraplate 38mm opens the door to a more compact option and a first-ever sunburst salmon dial for the line.

What We Know Today, Blancpain has downsized its ultra-thin Villeret Ultraplate dress watch, with new options in 38mm for greater wearability. The previous 40mm options of the 'Golden Hour' series, which I covered last October, remain, but the 38mm options are going to be much more appealing all around as proper dress watches. The case still remains incredibly thin, especially for a self-winding watch, at 8.35mm, but the 38mm downsizing now offers a short 43.35mm lug-to-lug measurement for small wrists and those who prefer the more traditional proportion of how a dress watch should look on the wrist. Here, four options are presented within these new measurements: three with stainless steel cases, and one in 18K red gold. The dial design continues the visual update introduced last October in the Villeret series, with simplified Roman numerals, the applied "JB" logo at 12 o'clock (standing for Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, who the brand credits as the founder), slim but still lumed leaf hands, and a skeletonized rotor. In stainless steel, there are three dial colors available. Salmon is a first for the Villeret collection, with a copper-hued dial paired with anthracite-coated 18K gold numerals. My favorite of the lineup, the Villeret Ultraplate featuring a warm champagne-hued dial with 18K yellow gold numerals set within a steel case with a green nubuck strap, will be offered as a boutique exclusive. More classic pairings of white gold numerals in a steel case and red gold numeral...

Akhor is a new Geneva indie brand carving a niche for high-end watchmaking, poetic design and top-end finishing. A collective project founded by Anissa Bader in 2025, Akhor is built around its floating dial architecture with a patented two-disc construction by sister company Clamax, a Geneva-based component and micromechanics manufacturer. Writing the next chapter, the […]

The much-anticipated refresh of Grand Seiko’s Evolution 9 line has arrived with new bracelets for six existing dials, as well as a newcomer and a mid-sized version of the fan favorite Lake Suwa. This brings much improved bracelets to Grand Seiko’s upmarket (and very successful) Evolution 9 line, fueling Seiko’s global ambitions for its flagship luxury brand. Moonlit Lake Suwa (SLGB007) Initial thoughts If the UFA Ushio Diver launched earlier this year proved anything, it’s that Grand Seiko is listening to its customers, and those customers want slim watches, case back power reserve indicators, better bracelets, and a tool-less quick adjust clasp. The Evolution 9 line, launched six years ago in 2020, met half of these requirements, being let down by only the bracelet. With this refresh, the Evolution 9 becomes an even more competitive, and compelling, collection. Grand Seiko’s in-house quick-adjust clasp. Image – Seiko Watch Corporation Unfortunately, the changes also come with a significant movement downgrade for the Spring Drive models, replacing the extended power reserve cal. 9RA2 with the simplified cal. 9RB2. That said, the UFA designation will be seen as a significant upgrade to all but the nerdiest collectors, making it a coup for Grand Seiko as the new movement adds value for the customer while presumably being less expensive to manufacture. Cal, 9RB2. Image – Seiko Watch Corporation But before you run out to buy one of the five-day Spring Drive watch...

Summer is officially here! My colleagues have all been writing in anticipation of the official start of the year’s warmest season, but I have the privilege of being the first to report from within. And things have kicked off to a sweltering start. This week, temperatures are set to reach the mid-30s Celsius here in […] Visit The Best Summer Watches — Nacho’s Picks From Vaer, Doxa, Omega, And More to read the full article.