Hodinkee
HODINKEE Radio: Our Favorite Watches Of 2024 So Far + Talking Hodinkee's Porsche Design Collab
Talking the Porsche Design Chronograph 1 for Hodinkee, and some of the best – and most overlooked – releases halfway through 2024.
3,933 articles · 478 videos found · page 106 of 148
Zenith's 1969 column-wheel automatic chronograph caliber at 36,000 vph, saved from quartz-era destruction by Charles Vermot in 1975 and supplied to the Rolex Daytona ref. 16520 (1988-2000).
Chronograph dial with high-contrast sub-counters. Vintage Daytona, Speedmaster CK 2998, Heuer Carrera; modern 116500LN, Tudor Chrono.
Chronograph scale converting flash-to-sound time into distance. WWI artillery-spotting origin; vintage Longines / Lemania / Heuer.
Chronograph scale reading heart rate in BPM after counting 15 or 30 pulse beats. The 1920s-60s doctor\'s watch standard.
Hodinkee
Talking the Porsche Design Chronograph 1 for Hodinkee, and some of the best – and most overlooked – releases halfway through 2024.
Hodinkee
Plus, a titanium diver from Blancpain and a yacht-ready chronograph from IWC.
Monochrome
Co-founded by Swiss industrial designer Andrea Furlan and watch collector Hamad Al Marri, Furlan Marri launched on Kickstarter in 2021 with a beautifully designed vintage chronograph powered by a hybrid mecha-quartz engine. The next act, in 2022, was an equally handsome vintage black sector dial equipped with a mechanical movement that won over the MONOCHROME […]
Hodinkee
From a sporty option from NOMOS Glashütte to a lightweight BVLGARI Chronograph and beyond.
Fratello
At Swedish watch brand Bravur, they’re really into cycling, and that craziness has materialized in plenty of watches with a cycling theme. The new Bravur La Grande Boucle IV is a steel chronograph in the long-running Grand Tour Chronograph collection. This chronograph subtly tries to capture the spirit of the Tour de France, nicknamed La […] Visit This Monday Is A Rest Day In The Tour De France - Time To Check Out The Bravur La Grande Boucle IV to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
Montres Airain began in 1934 and quickly became well known for producing reliable, high-quality timepieces. During the 1950s and 1960s, they were among the chosen suppliers of the Type 20 Chronograph for the French Army, alongside Breguet and Dodane. In 2020, Airain was revived after being purchased from a French entrepreneur and watch enthusiast. The brand has been thriving ever since with a string of aviation inspired releases, starting with their new version of the highly sought-after “Type 20” Flyback Chronograph. New for 2024, in a surprise collaboration, Airain has teamed up seconde/seconde/ to add a touch of whimsy to the austere Type 20 design. The new Airain Type 20 x seconde/seconde/ “Up in the Air” limited edition is based on the original Flyback Chronograph design. Romaric André, the designer otherwise known as seconde/seconde/, envisioned bringing back this iconic piece to its rightful place in the sky and in France. Hence, the subdials create the illusion of airplane portholes looking out on pixelated 8-bit clouds, with the left subdial offering a glimpse of the tip of the Eiffel Tower. He explains his intentions on the case back, and the inclusion of the Eiffel Tower serves as a reminder of the watch’s heritage and its connection to French aviation. This flyback chronograph’s stainless steel case measures 39mm in diameter (39.5mm across the bezel), 14.77mm to the top of the double-domed sapphire crystal, and 47.7mm from lug tip to lug tip. The c...
Hodinkee
Plus, a white-dialed Luminor and a brightly blue chronograph from Zenith.
Monochrome
Founded in 1934, Airain was one of the original suppliers of the iconic Type 20 chronograph issued to French military pilots in the 1950s and 60s. The brand was dormant until its resurrection in 2020 by Dutch entrepreneur Tom van Wijlick, who also spearheaded the 2014 relaunch of Lebois & Co, which brought back the […]
Fratello
Singer Reimagined had quite a surprise in store for us with the introduction of the Divetrack chronograph. It’s not a typical dive watch and even goes beyond the dive watches we already find unusual (okay, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms X Fathoms might be an exception to a certain extent). The Divetrack offers a dial that […] Visit A Dial For Diving - The Singer Divetrack Is One Of The Most Impressive Watches I’ve Seen In 2024 to read the full article.
Hodinkee
A look back at a deeply influential chronograph and its connection to a legendary family brand.
SJX Watches
Blancpain just unveiled an all-ceramic bracelet to match the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe models in black ceramic: the time-and-date, flyback chronograph, and Quantième Complet (or triple calendar). Positioned as the entry-level model in the Fifty Fathom collection of historically-inspired dive watches, the Bathyscaphe has long been available in ceramic, so a bracelet is long overdue. According to Blancpain, each link of the bracelet unique in shape and size, so each link has to be manufactured individually, requiring an enormous amount of skilled labour – which helps to explain the price of almost US$8,000 for the bracelet. All three are now available with a matching bracelet Initial thoughts Though it was a pioneer in the dive watch as we know it, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms has remained fairly under the radar, despite its relatively strong price-quality ratio. The ceramic bracelet for the Bathyscaphe helps it stand out, as few brands offer a matching bracelet for ceramic watches. While ceramic watch cases are common and found across the price spectrum, ceramic bracelets remain relatively uncommon, especially bracelets that are hand finished with a brushed surface like this. All links are manufactured individually, with each link differing in shape and size The ceramic bracelet is expensive – it costs just under US$8,000 extra compared to the same on a strap. That means the three-hand diver costs US$21,300, while the flyback chronograph and triple calendar are both US$...
Teddy Baldassarre
There are some watches out there that have achieved a rare sort of infamy and the Seiko Speedtimer 6139, also known as the “Pogue,” is one such watch. It is named after Colonel William R. Pogue who wore one during NASA’s Skylab missions. It was also the first automatic chronograph to travel to space. It’s become an icon because of its historical bona fides, but also because of it’s positively ridiculous (read, charming) colorway that fits so well in the ‘70s decade in which it was conceived. Key aesthetic tenets of a Pogue are the red and blue bezel insert and a certain yellowish-gold dial. It’s the sort of gold color that’ll have you conspiracy theorizing that this watch was in the Pulp Fiction briefcase. All of this backstory and preamble is to intentionally bury the lede and tell you that Seiko has, today, brought the Pogue back…sort of. Say hello to the Speedtimer Solar Chronograph, SSC947 which follows in the recently established design format of the solar Speedtimer range – the 41.5mm case size version of which the current Pepsi bezel SSC913 is a personal favorite. I remember when the line was announced and really loving the execution from the compact pushers to the great case size to the overall thinness due to the lack of a mechanical movement. And look, while the Pogue owes much of its fame to the fact that it housed an automatic caliber, we cannot just expect brands to issue 1:1 remakes of classic models. Seiko needs to innovate. It found a ...
Monochrome
Released in 2022, the Defy Skyline collection was Zenith‘s answer to the large demand for sports watches with integrated design and bracelet. Since its initial introduction, we have seen multiple new editions of this watch, including compact versions, ceramic models, a chronograph and even a high-frequency tourbillon. But one of the most impactful models was […]
SJX Watches
A. Lange & Söhne marks the 25th year of its landmark chronograph this year, with two commemorative editions so far – a tremendously expensive all-in-one edition and the relatively more accessible Datograph Up/Down 25th Anniversary. The first Datograph with a white gold case and also the first regular production model with a blue dial, the anniversary edition the result of a relatively modest cosmetic makeover – but unexpectedly compelling. Initial thoughts The Datograph in an imperfect watch – amongst other things it’s top heavy with a somewhat dated dial design – but it has an intrinsic appeal because its movement is outstanding. Even though it’s already 25 years old, the movement remains exceptional in terms of aesthetics. The fact that it’s 25 years old also makes the Datograph important, because Lange created such a movement long before such things became a thing. So the 25th anniversary of the Datograph is an occasion worth marking. Lange debuted two watches for the anniversary (with perhaps a third one to come): the complicated and expensive Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold Lumen, and the more accessible Datograph 25th Anniversary. On its face the Datograph Up/Down seems a bit mundane for an anniversary watch. Both the blue dial and white gold case are unique for the Datograph, but together the watch doesn’t look or feel that different. But like the Datograph as a model, the anniversary edition is imperfect yet appealing. Though it is plain...
SJX Watches
The most complicated H. Moser & Cie. sports watch to date, the Streamliner Concept Minute Repeater Tourbillon Blue Enamel is derived from the unique Streamliner Pandamonium created in collaboration with MB&F;. The new Streamliner retains both the minute repeater and tourbillon, but without the panda figure and the oversized balance wheel. In typical Moser “concept” style, the blue grand feu enamel dial is free of any markings and finished with a fumè gradient effect that darkens towards the periphery. Also found in the Endeavour, the movement was developed in collaboration with specialist Manufacture Hautes Complications (MHC). Initial thoughts Since Moser released the Streamliner four years ago, the sports watch has become the brand’s bestseller – unsurprisingly given the popularity of the integrated-bracelet-sports-watch category in general. The new repeater-tourbillon fills in a gap in the Streamliner range, which is to say a top-of-the-line, flagship complication. Both minute repeater and flying tourbillon are visible on the dial If you like the Streamliner design, as I do, the new repeater-tourbillon is a handsome watch. The addition of the visible mechanisms on the dial add greater detail and depth to the visuals, while the fired enamel dial is a nice tough, though a fragile enamel dial is somewhat paradoxical in a sports watch. The repeater-tourbillon is similar in dimensions to the Streamliner chronograph, a good size for a sports watch of this design. The ...
Hodinkee
With a complete calendar, chronograph, and automatic option, the Bathyscaphe gets a full ceramic bracelet.
Monochrome
Introduced just four years ago, H. Moser & Cie‘s luxury Streamliner sports watch debuted with a flyback chronograph and swiftly expanded its complications repertoire to include perpetual calendars, tourbillons and skeletonised models. The latest Streamliner ascends the complications ladder with the combination of a sophisticated minute repeater and flying tourbillon. While Moser’s resilient Streamliner case provides a […]
SJX Watches
Time Capsule: The Breitling Heritage Exhibition is coming to a Breitling boutique near you as it makes 55 stops across four continents over the course of 2024. On show are the most significant vintage timepieces – mostly chronographs naturally – from the brand’s 140-year history, including the first-ever chronograph with a pusher separate from the crown, a 1915 invention of Gaston Breitling. Many of the watches on show were the first of their kind, hence the exhibition’s tagline “140 Years of Firsts”. Amongst the other highlights is the Navitimer with its slide rule bezel that Breitling describes as the first flight computer for the wrist, and the Chrono-Matic, the first self-winding chronograph movement developed by a consortium that included Breitling. Amongst the more recent timepieces is the Emergency, the first wristwatch with a built-in distress beacon. The vintage timepieces are exhibited in streamer-trunk display cases tailored to each boutique with QR codes in the showcases that provide additional historical detail Vintage timepieces are the main highlights of the show. The exhibition is making stops in key cities in the Americas, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, and Asia, with some stops happening concurrently. Each stop will be for one to two weeks in the local Breitling boutique. Time Capsule is open to the public. Scheduling an appointment is not mandatory but recommended. A few of the cities that will host the exhibition are as follows, for the ...
Monochrome
While the Aquis, which has been recently revised, represents the modern side of dive watches at Oris, the Divers Sixty-Five collection is, as you might have guessed by the name, its vintage-inspired counterpart. An instrumental model for the brand’s recent history, the ’65 has been presented in dozens of editions, with manufacture movement, a chronograph, […]
On episode 83 of A Week in Watches, we take a look at three new relatively affordable releases. First is a new powerhouse of a chronograph from Farer with unique functionality. Next is a new addition to Seiko’s Craftsmanship line, featuring a dial of beautiful Arita porcelain. Last, the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch returns again with some vibrant colors. This week’s episode is brought to you by Windup Watch Fair Chicago, which is preparing to kick off on July 12th. Eindup Chicago is heading into its third year and will feature over 40 brands, including Christopher Ward, Citizen, Fortis, G-SHOCK, Oris, and many more. Located at Venue West in West Town, it’s sure to be another exciting year. Learn more at Windupwatchfair.com The post A Week in Watches Ep. 83 – Oh No, More MoonSwatches! appeared first on Worn & Wound.
Worn & Wound
Writing about watches is, often, an exercise in confirming and combatting preconceived ideas. Snap judgments are easy to form without thinking them through, and early opinions can be hard to shake, so the biggest challenges for anyone in this industry are parsing one’s own opinions, and learning how to look past them to evaluate the watches that come across our desks fairly. Most watches only require confronting this challenge in a cursory sense, but the best watches force you to face it head-on. Like many watches in the latter category, the new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph required me to do some serious thinking. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to sit down with Guido Terreni, the CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier, to talk about the brand, their watches, and why I can’t get Parmigiani Fleurier off my mind. Guido Terreni, Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Parmigiani Fleurier has spent much of the last few years absolutely knocking the proverbial ball out of the park. Since Terreni’s hiring in 2021, the brand’s been on a heater, releasing hit after hit, and building a new identity almost from scratch, rebuilding and simplifying the collection to create a new identity for the nearly 30-year-old brand. “When I joined the company, I understood that the brand needed direction and style, and what was in the pipeline was not building the brand as I thought it should. So I blocked everything and we started working from scratch on a white piece of paper - not perfectl...
Worn & Wound
There is almost no end to watches inspired by motorsport, but very few watches take that inspiration and do anything truly unique with it. Just yesterday, we brought you news of a new TAG Heuer Carrera that, in my opinion, is something of a by-the-numbers collaboration between an automaker and a luxury watch brand. It has design notes that convey a watch that’s sporty and modern, the “Porsche” wordmark prominently featured on the case itself, and it’s a Carrera, a collection that is naturally imbued with racing history. I’ve written about a lot of watches that say “Porsche” on them in one way or another, but it’s honestly difficult to tell them apart after a while. Singer Reimagined takes an entirely different approach. The brand itself is part of the Singer Group, which rose to prominence with their bespoke restorations of vintage Porsche 911s. What Singer brings to the table is a very unique and highly specialized perspective. You might love it or hate it, but they don’t suffer from the same problems that inevitably plague large luxury watch brands, namely casting an impossibly wide net, resulting in products that, even when ostensibly “niche,” have a certain generic quality to them. Being intrinsically connected to the car world, it’s no surprise that Singer only makes chronographs. Expanding on the very idea of the chronograph in an adventurous way is part of what makes Singer Reimagined exciting. Their chronographs use unconventional movement...
Worn & Wound
So far 2024 is a year where brands have been belting out bombastic bangers of watches one after another. So, when a different take on a beloved complication is dropped, we naturally crane our necks to peek at what’s new. The first Swiss chronograph in New Zealand based Beaufort’s lineup highlights the old school idea of a doctor/medic’s watch with a pulsometer as the primary complication. It takes this complication and sets it inside a case and dial that are elegant, yet industrial, but some of the changes made to the chronograph functionality caused me to ask some questions. The Beaufort Pulsatimer, upon quick inspection, might look like your average chrono, but the longer you linger over its construction, the more you’ll start to notice its unique styling. The case is almost totally brushed, with the exception of thinly polished chamfered edges and a polished inner bezel ring. The polished ring steps up from a brushed base bezel ring like the watch is laying its own foundation. And rising once more from the step bezel is a significantly raised box sapphire crystal. All this architecture pulls your eye into a dial that dramatically drops from the crystal with the sloped pulsometer chapter ring. Then we find a beautiful, vertically brushed copper-colored dial that Beaufort calls “Salmon.” They also have an all black, DLC coated version, a reverse panda black and silver dial, and an all silver dial version of the Pulsatimer. The architectural nuances of the ca...
Deployant
De Bethune releases 2 new iterations of the DB Eight chronograph: in white gold case and royal blue dial, and in a yellow case with a chocolate dial.
Worn & Wound
TAG Heuer has unveiled their latest Carrera, another collaboration with Porsche, officially dubbed the Carrera Chronograph x Porsche 963. As watch enthusiasts know, there’s a range of how “Porschey” these collaborations get. Sometimes they simply have the German automaker’s badge slapped onto the watch somewhere, and sometimes the connection is very inside baseball, like when TAG made a new chronograph movement that accelerated at the same rate as a classic 911. This new watch is somewhere in the middle, with some clever visual winks to the car that inspired it, but nothing new under the hood. The new watch takes its specific inspiration from Porsche’s success in endurance racing. The Porsche 963, developed under Le Mans Daytona Hybrid regulations, is the current pinnacle of Porsche’s expertise in endurance, a tradition that goes back decades. This is an aggressive take on the Carrera, which is a watch that we’ve seen wear many different capes in recent years. It’s a platform that is perhaps most at home as a traditional, elegant, gentleman’s racing chronograph, but can flex into something far more contemporary with relative ease. The 44mm case is stainless steel and coated in black PVD, and has been accented with a carbon fiber bezel with a tachymetric scale. Naturally we get a complex, skeletonized dial (nothing says “modern and contemporary” like skeletonization, I guess) as well as plenty of lume. The lume is actually what most closely links t...
SJX Watches
Singer Reimagined is dropping new variants of the 1969 Chronograph and 1969 Timer that maintain the same design as the originals from last year, but with the option of a new case material, bronze, as well as new dial colours. The bronze models get a matte green dial, while the steel variants have a sun-ray, silver-toned dial. Initial thoughts An outlier amongst watch brands, Singer Reimagined is actually the sister brand of Singer Vehicle Design, one of the most prominent rebuilders of vintage Porsches. So rather than the usual watch brand making a car-inspired watch, it is a carmaker making a watch. The 1969 Timer The unusual chronograph display, retro cushion-shaped case, and racetrack-inspired bracelet all have clear automotive inspiration and are fairly unique in themselves, but for watch enthusiasts the key selling point will be the Agenhor movements (both are equipped with variants of the same base calibre). The movement is especially notable for its ingenious construction, where amongst other innovations the rotor is placed underneath the dial to provide an unobstructed view of the moving parts. The 1969 Chronograph movement Priced at CHF31,500 and CHF53,500 respectively, the 1969 Timer and the 1969 Chronograph aren’t inexpensive. While the 1969 Timer is relatively simple as a one-minute timer and consequently pricey, the chronograph is priced fairly given the unique nature of the movement. New variations of existing lineups The Singer Reimagined 1969 models share...
Teddy Baldassarre
From the beginning of 1953 to the end of 1954, Rolex had perhaps the most productive and impactful period that any watchmaker had ever managed in a two-year stretch. The Explorer, the gold standard of adventure-oriented luxury watches, debuted in the summer of 1953 and the first Submariner, the quintessential diver’s watch, was manufactured that same year. The Submariner’s public debut wasn’t until 1954 at the Basel Watch Fair, but it wasn’t the only trendsetting Rolex watch the Crown released that year: the other was the original GMT-Master, the dual-time travel watch against which all others are measured. Photo: Matthew Bain We all are familiar with the three iconic Oyster Perpetual timepieces above, but few may be aware that Rolex released another tool watch in 1953, whose production not only preceded that of the Submariner and GMT-Master but whose signature design feature influenced the look of both. That watch is the Rolex Turn-o-Graph, the first serially produced Rolex tool watch equipped with a rotating bezel that could be used for timing intervals. (To be thorough, it should be noted that it was not the very first Rolex watch with such a feature: the Zerographe Ref. 3346, made way back in 1937, takes that honor, along with the distinction of being the first Rolex watch with a movement made in-house - with a flyback chronograph, no less. The rarest of unicorns, the Zerographe (below) is nearly forgotten today, rarely mentioned in official Rolex literatur...
Worn & Wound
A little over a year on from the release of the DB Eight, De Bethune is following up the mono-usher chronograph with two new variants, each in gold, and each of which offers a welcome look back at the early days of the brand. De Bethune is a brand well-versed in the avant-garde. The name alone tends to conjure images of remarkably blue tourbillons with spring-loaded lugs, and other sci-fi-esque watches. In the last few years, De Bethune has become well known for pushing the boundaries of watchmaking in both a technical and aesthetic sense - they even sent a watch to (near) space on the wrist of Michael Strahan. If you’re only familiar with De Bethune thanks to watches like the DB28 Kind of Blue Tourbillon or the DB28GS Yellow Submarine, looking back at the early days of De Bethune might come with a bit of a surprise. Early De Bethunes stood out not because of any outrageous architecture or wild case finishing, but rather thanks to a refined - and very traditional - look, backed up by the technical prowess of Denis Flageollet, the brand’s founder. The DB8 was one of these early, very traditional watches. Though still identifiable as a De Bethune thanks to its bullet lugs and three-part case, the DB8 was (in most senses) a very traditional take on the concept of a mono-pusher chronograph dress watch. The new DB Eight is a fitting follow up to that watch, holding on to much of the original’s concept and charm, but with each and every detail refined and update...
Teddy Baldassarre
There is no doubt that most enthusiasts think of the brand Zenith and picture, in their mind’s eye, a chronograph – a chronograph powered by the now storied El Primero automatic chronograph movement which debuted in 1969. Triple use of the word chronograph in one sentence notwithstanding, it punctuates the kind of watch associated with this powerhouse of a brand. And 1969 was a monumental year for automatic chronographs. But it was also the year Zenith introduced its punchy, ready for the 1970s, and decidedly orange dive watch: The Defy A3648. Yes, a Zenith diver was released the same year as the El Primero…and the latter clearly took off on a trajectory far different from that of its aquatic counterpart. Vintage Zenith A3648 from around the time of the watch's launch. Over the past decade or so, Zenith has proven itself to be unmatched in the watch game when it comes to revivals, homages, re-editions, whatever you like to call them (Zenith literally calls them “Revivals” so we will too). Some Zenith Revival models are modern riffs on vintage designs, with slight tweaks, while others are near 1:1 recreations. Think back to the Defy Revival models of the past two years, with both black and ruby dial options. Those were authentic recreations down to the vintage-style clasps (an under-looked component of homage, if you ask me!). At Watches & Wonders 2024, Zenith returned to the 1969 well and brought its spunky orange dive watch back to life in the form of the De...
Monochrome
Singer Reimagined, founded by Rob Dickinson of Singer Vehicle Design fame and Marco Borraccino, a watch designer, raced into the watch world with the Track 1, an incredible 1970s-inspired chronograph with a high-end movement designed by watch wizard Jean-Marc Wiederrecht (Agenhor). Capitalising on the profound ties between petrol heads and cog heads, Singer Reimagined is […]
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