3,873 articles · 692 videos found · page 112 of 153
Quill & Pad
As GaryG prepares for his trip to Switzerland for Watches and Wonders 2022, the demise of Baselworld is very much on his mind. It seems to him that the era of all-inclusive mega watch shows is rapidly coming to an end. The natural implication is that Watches and Wonders Geneva will be the next exhibition to change radically or that it will even cease to exist. Here he explains why.
Quill & Pad
Ineichen Auctioneers’ first auction of 2022, aptly entitled “La Vie en Rose,” takes place in Zurich and online on March 12, 2022. As the name of this auction professes, all 40 of the watches offered are encased in pink – “rose” – gold. Here, Elizabeth Doerr highlights five of the less “mainstream” independent offerings and one rarity from an established brand that will certainly interest connoisseurs.
SJX Watches
Omega has just taken the covers off a slew of new watches for 2022, but the standout is doubtlessly the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep 6000 m. The Ultra Deep began with a trio of experimental Ultra Deep watches that completed a 12-hour dive strapped onto the exterior of a submersible, reaching 10,935 m, or 35,876 ft, the deepest any human or watch has ever dived according to Omega. The experimental watch – which was rated to 15,000 m – has evolved into the commercially-available Ultra Deep, which is Omega’s capable dive watch. While having half the depth rating of the experimental model, the Ultra Deep 6000 m is much more wearable with a diameter of 45.5 mm, similar to that of a Planet Ocean 600 m, albeit with a case thickness of 18.12 mm. The experimental watch, on the other hand, was almost 28 mm thick. And needless to say, the Ultra Deep is a saturation diver’s watch, but one constructed impermeable to gases, explaining the lack of a helium escape valve. Initial thoughts Omega’s top-tier dive watches have always been thick, but the Ultra Deep takes it to the next level. With its enormous case, the Ultra Deep is probably not very wearable, but that’s an integral feature of a dive watch like this. It is so overbuilt that it doesn’t really make sense, but that’s what makes the Ultra Deep cool. While the technical achievement of the depth rating is impressive, the Ultra Deep is notable for more than just raw numbers. Among its novel features is O-Megast...
Time+Tide
Outside the weather was freezing with temperatures down to minus 10°C. But in the driver’s seat of the hire car skittering over the icy roads, Eric Ku was sweating. At stake was a huge opportunity that could kick-start his career as a watch dealer. But only if he made it in time. It was 2002, … ContinuedThe post “Instead of $90,000, the Daytona now cost almost a million. I still bought it” – The crazy life of super-collector Eric Ku appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
As things slowly get back to normal in this (fingers crossed) post-pandemic world, the number of physical watch events continues to grow. As a result, in the span of two weeks, I recently found myself being pulled in multiple directions. New watch release over here, 2022 collection reveal over there… Ten days in, I was … ContinuedThe post The Collector’s Crossroads: The watch meetup and its importance to the modern collector appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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SJX Watches
Founded by a Slovakian duo who are both trained jewellers, Molnar Fabry specialises in elaborately decorated watches built on existing movements. Last year the pair reworked a Vaucher automatic calibre, but the brand’s latest project started life over a century ago. Echoing one of Molnar Fabry’s creations from 2018, the Grand Master Minute Repeater is essentially a pocket watch converted into a wristwatch. Starting out as a C.H. Meylan minute repeating pocket watch from 1901, the Grand Master features a hand-made case containing the pocket watch movement, which has been entirely refinished and extensively engraved. A close-up of the heavily decorated movement Initial thoughts Molnar Fabry does high quality work especially in terms of decoration, both for movement components and engraving. Their style is usual ornate, which might not be to everyone’s taste, but the brand has shown versatility in its past work, which has included more streamlined designs. The Grand Master is definitely ornate with its fully engraved case and movement. The quality and thoroughness of the work is impressive. And relatively to its ballpark price, the Grand Master is priced reasonably compared to what better-known makers in Switzerland would charge. But as with many pocket watch conversions, the Grand Master is a huge watch. The case is 47 mm by 14 mm. For anyone who likes their watches on this scale – and appreciates the skill that went into the decoration – the Grand Master is off t...
SJX Watches
For an uncompromising mechanical watch enthusiast, one of the most dreaded words in the specifications of a watch is surely “quartz”. Oftentimes that dread is followed by the thought, if only it was mechanical… I must admit this went through my mind when I discovered the lovely Cartier Santos Dumont in 2019. And that was despite Cartier’s best efforts in communicating that the movement inside was a long-autonomy quartz calibre with a six-year battery life. The Cartier Santos Dumont trio, with only the XL variant (extreme left) being mechanical In the time since, I began to ponder the question: why do I seek the latest electronic gadgets, but am dismissive towards quartz watches? Just because quartz movements are often cheap and easily available, does that leave them uniformly uninteresting? The Quartz Crisis On Monday, December 29, 1969, tucked somewhere in the The New York Times was an eight-line paragraph that ended with “[the] world’s first electronic wrist watch with a crystal oscillator.” That electronic watch, as you may have guessed, was the Seiko Quartz-Astron. It was barely obvious at the time, but the announcement, innocuous as it was, would be the harbinger of a crisis for Swiss watchmaking. The father of all quartz watches, the Seiko Quartz-Astron 35SQ in 18K yellow gold The Quartz-Astron cost as much as a Toyota Corolla at the time of of its release – its price was equivalent to about US$1,200 – and was without a doubt a luxury product. Ov...
Revolution
Rarer than a Paul Newman and offering a killer mix of legend, looks and availability, the Omega Speedmaster Ultraman is a truly special chronograph. From its totemic orange hand to its use of the legendary calibre 321, they don’t come better than this.
SJX Watches
Originally announced in 2018, the Leica L1 and L2 (now renamed ZM 1 and ZM 2) wristwatches have finally made it to market. Developed with the help of a German watchmaker but very much a proprietary product, the ZM 1 and ZM 2 are both powered by variants of the same cleverly constructed calibre that is an impressive debut for the camera maker’s horological venture. Initial thoughts The Leica watch has a restrained, Germanic aesthetic with interesting details, but more importantly an interesting, thoughtful movement. Developed from the ground up for Leica, the calibre features useful complications like a power reserve and hacking, zero-reset seconds, but executed in an unusual yet practical manner. At the same time, the patented pull crown is novel without sacrificing functionality. The design of the movement is also appealing, with its partially open-worked bridges cleverly exposing the key components of the going train and complications The watch is big, but not excessively large. Considering the size of the calibre, the case dimensions are acceptable. That said, this is the limit, any larger and the case would be enormous. It helps that the styling is attractively low key. The dial and case appear simple at a distance, but reveal their details up close. The hands and hour markers, for instance, echo each other, while the crowns are finely knurled. Leica also avoided a common pitfall of watches inspired by other technically-oriented industries, no doubt thanks to Achim H...
Quill & Pad
Elizabeth Doerr is the last of the Quill & Pad team to pick her top ten watches of 2021. And even though she has been thinking about such a list for most of the year – seeing as a relatively significant portion of it was spent in lockdown – she still had a hard time narrowing it down to just ten pieces. Do you agree with what she chose?
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Time+Tide
“Let’s get physical!” suggested Olivia Newton-John while sporting a towelling headband and a come-hither smile in her 1981 smash-hit. Forty years on, it’s a message that Watches and Wonders has taken firmly on board. Less in a lycra and leg-warmers kinda way and more in the sense of the watch fair confirming that it will … ContinuedThe post Watches and Wonders 2022 commits to physical show with Geneva also hosting another new watch fair appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
It never fails: pull out a bottle of wine from a friend or family member’s birth year and the entire event becomes just that little bit more special. Of course, the older we get the harder that becomes, but it is far from impossible. And, of course, if you were so fortunate as to have arrived on earth during a great “vintage,” so much the better. Here, Ken Gargett makes some wine recommendations for celebrating a big anniversary or birthday in 2022.
Quill & Pad
It is now a tradition for watchmakers to observe Chinese New Year by creating beautiful, decorative, limited edition timepieces adorned with symbolic depictions of the appropriate sign of the Chinese zodiac – often using rare, artistic techniques paying tribute to the eastern calendar. The Year of the Tiger – which is the third animal in the 12-year zodiac cycle – begins on February 1, 2022. Elizabeth Doerr shares eight auspicious examples here.
Quill & Pad
On January 24, 2022, two Swiss watch brands, Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux, were reorganized in response to men’s fashion developments in Rome, Italy. In a vacuum, it is hard to see how one would lead to the other: their connection is the Kering group. And then there's LVMH, but how does that group fit in here? Professor of economics Brendan Cunningham offers some thoughts on how all of this might just go together.
Quill & Pad
If you’ve been watching the 2022 Australian Open (as Elizabeth Doerr has), you may be wondering about the prominent watch seen on Rafael Nadal’s right wrist (he’s left-handed), which has been a constant companion no matter what he’s doing – even while playing his grueling matches on court. It's a Richard Mille RM 27-04 with an innovative mesh tennis-string-style "plate" as Elizabeth explains here.
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Quill & Pad
The inaugural edition of 'The Watch Annual' came out just before Christmas 2020, and now Elizabeth Doerr is pleased to hold the second edition – 'The Watch Annual' 2021 – in her hands. This book is about the watch community, a reflection of social media, the watch fam, and, of course, new watch releases. But it’s also about something else too: charity, appreciation, and giving back.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The Time+Tide team reviewed hundreds of watches in 2021. This month we’ve been counting down the Top 30 reviews of the year that you liked best, on the basis of the online traffic. Heading deep into the top 10 it’s the Grand Seiko SLGH005 at number 5… Whenever I hear a new Grand … ContinuedThe post THE TOP WATCH REVIEWS OF 2021 – The Grand Seiko SLGH005 (#5) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Gentle readers (and viewers), the gloves are now officially off. No more budget, no more “bang-for-buck”, and no more bargains. Chances are if you’re about to buy one of these watches, you’ve got some serious cash to splash, and we’re just here to show you where the deep end of the pool is. Stay tuned … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: The top watches of 2021 above $20k (Part 1) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
There is a wide variety of criteria that Martin Green might apply to make a list of his top 5 watches of 2021, but he has chosen to follow the most important one: whether when he first saw the watch it brought a rush of excitement and continues to do so every time he sees it. Here he shares his five favorites of 2021, and some may surprise you.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The Time+Tide team reviewed hundreds of watches in 2021. Here we count down the Top 30 reviews of the year that you liked best on the basis of online traffic. At number 11, it’s the Cartier Tank Must Collection… While all the rage in the ’80s, many consumers have deviated away from two-tone … ContinuedThe post THE TOP WATCH REVIEWS OF 2021 – The 2021 Audemars Piguet Code 11:59 collection (#10) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The Time+Tide team reviewed hundreds of watches in 2021. Here we count down the Top 30 reviews of the year that you liked best judging by the online traffic. At number 11, it’s the Cartier Tank Must Collection… The quartz crisis is often spoken about with abject horror, and for good reason. Japanese … ContinuedThe post THE TOP WATCH REVIEWS OF 2021 – The Cartier Tank Must Collection (#11) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Now we’re getting to the pointy end of the 2021 roundup, and there isn’t a single watch listed here that doesn’t mean serious business. Between $10,000 and $20,000 USD lie some people’s grail watches, culture-changing icons, or if you’re lucky, just more nice watches for your collection. Here are some of the best releases of … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: The top 10 watches of 2021 between $10k-$20k appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The Time+Tide team reviewed hundreds of watches in 2021. Here we count down the Top 30 reviews of the year that you liked best on the basis of the online traffic. At number 12, it’s the Grand Seiko SBGN007… Your first good watch is an important step in your watch collecting journey. It … ContinuedThe post THE TOP WATCH REVIEWS OF 2021 – The Grand Seiko SBGN007 (#12) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
When Vacheron Constantin celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2015 with the Harmony collection of cushion-shaped watches, the standout was easily the split-seconds chronograph. Seemingly ordinary on its face, the Harmony split-seconds was powered by the cal. 3500, an all-new rattrapante chronograph calibre with a novel automatic winding mechanism. The movement was gorgeous, but disappeared from the catalogue – until last year. The cal. 3500 made its comeback with the Traditionnelle Split-Seconds Chronograph Ultra-Thin Collection Excellence Platine. Like the other Collection Excellence Platine (CEP) watches, the Traditionnelle split-seconds is a limited edition – only 15 pieces in fact – that utilises platinum generously throughout the watch, but it is unique as there is no standard production equivalent in the catalogue. In short, it is a special watch. The cal. 3500 with its intricate chronograph mechanism and novel peripheral rotor Initial thoughts On its face, the Traditionnelle split-seconds is an elegant watch with a restrained, almost simple style. Its proportions are wide and slim, creating a graceful profile. The thinness exaggerates the case diameter slightly, so it does seem a bit wider than it is, especially with the longish lugs. In typical CEP style, the dial is nearly monochromatic, rendered in grey and silver, with the only colour coming from the indicator hands for the chronograph and power reserve. It’s a simple combination, but a good one. The pla...
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The Time+Tide team reviewed hundreds of watches in 2021. Here we count down the Top 30 reviews of the year that you liked best judging by the online traffic. At number 13, it’s the IWC Big Pilot 43. The evolution of an iconic design is interesting. How do designers keep something fresh, without … ContinuedThe post THE TOP WATCH REVIEWS OF 2021 – The IWC Big Pilot 43 (#13) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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