6,187 articles · 2,613 videos found · page 128 of 294
Monochrome
When it was launched last year, MING’s 37.02 Minimalist represented several firsts for Ming Thein’s independent Malaysian brand. For starters, it was the brand’s first watch made at MING’s facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Ironically, though, the watch could not bear the “Swiss Made” label because the design and engineering were executed in Kuala Lumpur. […]
Monochrome
It’s been several years since the Swiss abandoned the truly affordable, sub-400-euro mechanical watch category. Once a gateway to Swiss mechanical watchmaking at reasonable prices, lower-end Swatch Group brands (Tissot and Hamilton) are now priced above that range. This situation, however, has been extremely beneficial to two Japanese giants, a sort of duopoly composed of […]
Monochrome
Benrus is one of the few American watch companies with a claim to fame for practical, no-nonsense timepieces. Founded in 1921 by the Lazrus brothers, Benjamin, Oscar, and Ralph, the company combined Swiss precision with American assembly and marketing to carve out a spot in watchmaking history. Starting in New York City, the brothers pooled […]
Monochrome
Cuervo y Sobrinos is a rarity in the watch world as the only Swiss brand with Cuban roots. Founded in 1882 by an Asturian immigrant, Ramón Cuervo, the brand flaunts its Latin origins with a flamboyant design style that captures its heyday in the 1950s. The latest chronograph is dedicated to Emilio Carranza, a Mexican […]
Fratello
There’s something about watches with a story - even if the story is almost entirely made up. When I strapped on Albishorn’s third model, the Thundergraph Himalaya, I wasn’t just wearing a watch but also connecting to a moment in history. Inspired by the 1952 Swiss expedition to Mount Everest, this watch combines vintage charm, […] Visit Hands-On With The Albishorn Thundergraph Himalaya to read the full article.
Video
Monochrome
France’s golden age of horology during the 17th and 18th centuries produced notable figures like Julien Le Roy, Ferdinand Berthoud and Abraham-Louis Breguet. And it’s fair to say that had it not been for the expulsion of French Protestants following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by King Louis XIV, Swiss watchmaking […]
Monochrome
Hidden in the Swiss Jura mountains, in the small village of Villeret, is probably one of the most impressive manufactures we’ve encountered. A true hidden gem, a discreet diamond of traditional watchmaking. The name of this manufacture: Minerva. The brand was founded over 165 years ago and has gained an impressive reputation among a small […]
Worn & Wound
American watchmaking is having a moment. And if there’s any day that’s worth celebrating, it’s the Fourth of July. Happy birthday, America, hope you like Damaskeening! Just in the last month or so, we’ve seen a new release from J.N. Shapiro that could point to an entirely new and more accessible concept for the brand. Cornell Watch Co. revealed their new Lozier, with a case, dial, crown, and handset machined in the United States. Colorado Watch Company, the Fort Collins, CO based brand making cases and dials in-house with movements assembled in the United States, just shipped their first batches of new watches to customers after extensive prototyping. And Keaton Myrick, who makes watches completely by hand in vanishingly small runs in Oregon and somehow has flown under the worldwide watch community’s radar for years, just saw a fantastic result in a public sale via Phillips that went for just over the high estimate. And it’s not just that there’s a lot of activity. The watches mentioned above are all, actually, very very good, and show that American watchmakers and brands can succeed in multiple ways, using different models. Myrick and Shapiro operate at the very highest end of the spectrum, while Colorado Watch Company has the ethos of a microbrand (the project was funded via Kickstarter, just like their sister brand, Vortic). The Cornell model, though, is probably the most interesting to me. The majority of the watch is manufactured in the United States, bu...
Monochrome
Norqain, the young, independent Swiss brand, produces contemporary, adventure-oriented watches. Many of the brand’s most popular models belong to the Independence collection, including the high-tech carbon fibre Wild One, conceived in collaboration with Jean-Claude Biver, the Skeleton Flyback Chrono featuring a proprietary manufacture calibre, and Norqain’s first skeletonised model. In line with current market watch […]
SJX Watches
The world of Swiss watchmaking is a small one; everyone seems to know everyone. This is especially true among the exclusive ranks of enamellers. In total, there are about 120 practicing enamellers in Switzerland, largely concentrated in Geneva, which has been a leading hub for fine enamelling for more the 400 years. Of these, four artisans have recently taken up residence at Émailleurs de la Cité (EC) in Geneva’s Old Town. A newly established enamel workshop founded by Rexhep Rexhepi of Akrivia and Florent Olivier Martin, EC crafts a small number of grand feu enamel dials annually for Mr Rexhepi’s own watches and for select clients like Biver. Though recently opened, the workshop has the feel of a mature and highly organised operation, benefiting from the obvious experience of the staff – Mr Martin was formerly the production director at the respected dial specialist Olivier Vaucher – and the attention to detail for which Mr Rexhepi is known. The enamel workshop is a fitting addition to his growing empire, and is conveniently located just steps away from Akrivia’s watchmaking atelier on Grand-Rue, the picturesque cobblestone thoroughfare that runs through the Old Town. The hand-engraved gratté pattern is applied personally by Mr Rexhepi. The art of enamel Brands like Patek Philippe consider enamel a “rare handcraft”, and for good reason. While industrial groups like the Swatch Group seem to have largely mastered the production of quality enamel dials at (v...
Video
Quill & Pad
Chronodate is a fusion of two different styles: Angelus, the historic brand and its Swiss watchmaking heritage, and Angelus, the technical, modern brand with a penchant for complications. With this colour combination, the house presents the most striking version of this chronograph collection.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Tissot PRX Chronograph is one of the latest releases from the Tissot PRX collection, one of the Swiss brand’s major success stories of the past decade despite its relatively recent introduction (or, more accurately, re-introduction) to the market. Engaging the 21st-Century watch-aficionado zeitgeist with its crowd-pleasing combination of classical sport-luxury design, intriguing colorways, and accessible price points, the Tissot PRX has grown from a handful of models to become a modern pillar of the 170-year-old brand’s sprawling and diverse portfolio, adding the first chronograph models to the growing lineup in 2022. Tissot PRX Origins It all started with the original Tissot PRX watch, which debuted in 1978 and which, like many watches from that era, was powered by a quartz movement. The PRX was distinguished by its flat, barrel-shaped, multi-faceted case, which integrated smoothly into a flexible, articulated steel bracelet; it took its three-initial model name from its attributes: the “P” and “R” stand for “precise” and “robust,”respectively, and the “X” is actually a Roman numeral “10” depicting the model’s 10 atmospheres (aka 100 meters) of water resistance. The overall aesthetic was one that today’s watch historians will readily recognize, hearkening back to the groundbreaking design of a much pricier watch that had debuted several years earlier, in 1972, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. The latter had, in fact, exerted influence...
Hodinkee
A unique COSC-certified tool watch that is 100% Swiss-made.
Worn & Wound
Last week, Hanhart invited 60 guests to their workshop in Gütenbach, located in the Black Forest region of Germany. The schedule for the day was packed, beginning with a factory tour, an 8 kilometers long Black Forest hike, a Hanhart Museum tour, and finally the unveiling of two new 415 ES chronographs. Felix Wallner and Simon Hall, co-managing directors of Hanhart, guided us through the factory and museum tour. The Gütenbach workshop opened in 1934 as the second production facility for Hanhart. It is now their only manufacturing location. It is impressive that this workshop has been in continuous production since 1934. There is a sense of authenticity, and you can almost taste the oil accumulated over eight decades. Simon took us to the first floor where the raw parts are made. Hanhart is in a unique position as a watch company since they manufacture mechanical and quartz stopwatches along with wrist watches. The machines are from the 1960s, but according to Simon, they outperform the modern machines in terms of repairs and total cost of ownership. These machines are used for making pinions, wheels, mainplates, and more. Hanhart manufactures 90% of the parts for their mechanical stop watches in this workshop. Hanhart in the past manufactured more stopwatches than wrist watches. In 2007, they made 20,000 stop watches, but this number decreased significantly as the demand cooled. Simon says that demand is again picking up with annual production of approximately 5,00...
Monochrome
The Louis Erard x Konstantin Chaykin Time Eater Tourbillon marks the evolution in the ongoing collaboration between the Swiss indie brand and master watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin. Building on the success of the previous “Time Eater” regulator models, part of Chaykin’s expressive Wristmons universe, the new model introduces a tourbillon with regulator display to the series […]
Video
SJX Watches
Between 1885 and 1920, Elliot Cabot Lee (1854-1920) quietly built one of the world’s largest collections of very complicated watches, but unlike the famous rivals Henry Graves Jr. or James Ward Packard, both of whom favoured Swiss watches (and primarily Patek Philippe), Lee was a devotee of English watchmaking during its heyday. Many remarkable watches that were commissioned by Lee, or passed through his collection, have surfaced over the last few years, such as the J.W. Benson Supercomplication, the Dent Astronomical watch, or even J.P. Morgan’s pocket-planetarium, but with their provenance unknown. Most of Lee’s collection of pocket watches. Image – The National Jeweler 1922 A patrician collector Elliot Cabot Lee was born on April 16th, 1854 in Brookline, Massachusetts. Both of Lee’s parents hailed from Boston Brahmin families and were third cousins. His father, Henry Lee Jr., was a partner at investment bank Lee, Higginson & Company, where Lee also worked, though only briefly. His mother, Elizabeth Perkins Cabot, was the granddaughter of the extremely wealthy Thomas Handasyd Perkins – a slaver turned philanthropist. Lee graduated from Harvard with a law degree and passed the bar, though he seems to have practiced law little if at all. He was well-travelled and well-read, accumulating a notable book collection, according to the Brookline Historical society. Besides his watch collection, Lee also took an interest in the nascent automobile. He built a garage, o...
Fratello
Fabian “Spartacus” Cancellara is a Swiss cycling legend who not only won multiple world and Olympic championships but also wore the Tour de France’s yellow leader’s jersey for 29 days and won eight stages. The last time Cancellara raced in France was in 2016, and this year, he returns to the biggest bike race in […] Visit Introducing: The Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono “Yellow” to read the full article.
Monochrome
Swiss watchmaker Arnold & Son is named after the 18th-century English watchmaker John Arnold, the ingenious inventor who popularised the expression ‘chronometer’ to describe his precision marine timekeepers. Before the advent of marine chronometers to determine longitude at sea, navigators relied on the position of the Sun, Moon and stars to determine their position. Astronomy, […]
Monochrome
The Conquest collection holds a rather special place in the history of Longines. It was Longines’ first collection to be trademarked – in 1954 with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. This was a pivotal moment for Longines as organising models by collection increased product identification. Since then, the name has remained and today […]
Worn & Wound
When Ulysse Nardin unveiled the Freak in 2001, it set off a chain of events that forever changed the course of history for the brand and for the industry at large. The model seamlessly flexed a combination of technical and design achievements. The Freak offered material innovation that was far ahead of its time, introducing the use of silicon in the escapement wheels-a technology that is now used by almost every major watch brand from Rolex to Patek Philippe, Girard-Perregaux, Breitling, and Jaeger-LeCoultre, just to name a few. It also presented an entirely new set of aesthetic codes for watch design with an expression of time that notably lacked a traditional dial, hands, or crown. With the Freak’s overall success, it immediately established the brand as a thought leader, an innovator, and (perhaps most importantly) a rebel in an industry often paralyzed by its reverence and steadfast commitment to tradition. In the nearly 25-years since the first Freak, we have seen Ulysse Nardin infuse this spirit in each subsequent Freak model and its catalog at large-from the Blast collection to its UFO clocks and, most recently, in its record breaking Diver [Air], the world’s lightest mechanical dive watch. The first Freak We all know record setting has become a bit of a thing in watchmaking. Particularly in the past decade or so, we have witnessed brands embark on the race to claim the next world record title. Since 2014, Bulgari has set a whopping ten for the ultra-thi...
Video
Teddy Baldassarre
The Vacheron Constantin Overseas has been a major pillar of the Swiss maison’s collection since its high-profile revamp in 2016, but its roots stretch back much further, drawing elements of its distinctive design from the mechanical-watch revival of the late 1990s, the embryonic sport-luxury era of the 1970s, and even as far back as 1880, the origin of Vacheron’s Maltese Cross emblem. One of the oldest continuously operating watch manufacturers on the planet, Vacheron Constantin laid its foundation in 1755, more than a decade before the United States, eventually one of its most important markets, was even a country. Established as a watchmaking workshop by 24-year-old watchmaker Jean-Marc Vacheron, the company took on its current name when the founder’s grandson, Jacques-Barthemi Vacheron, partnered with businessman Francois Constantin. Over its first two centuries-plus in existence, Vacheron Constantin gained renown as an innovator of horological complications and a pioneer in design, as well as a watchmaker to royalty, including Egypt’s King Fuad I, who famously commissioned one of the world’s most complicated pocket watches (and also, for a time, the most expensive watch in the world sold at auction). The OG of Overseas: Vacheron Constantin 222 Historiques Revival 222 in gold In 1977, Vacheron Constantin commemorated its 220th anniversary of watchmaking with a boldly different and now highly collectible timepiece that helped lay the foundation for what we ...
Monochrome
Founded in 2017, Laventure is the project of a man named Clément Gaud. Despite achieving a degree of fame over the years, it is still a one-man show. Focused on genuine Swiss-made watches with an undeniable vintage flair and made for adventure (hence the name), Laventure has produced several watches under the Marine and Sous-Marine […]
Deployant
We attended the Urban Jürgensen launch in Santa Monica on July 4 and 5, and had a chat with Kari Voutilainen, the co-CEO of the new brand.
Teddy Baldassarre
Admit it, you’re here because you googled “Most Expensive Rolex Watches” in the hopes of gathering up some horological bar trivia, right? No? You say you’re here because you really, truly are interested in buying one of the most expensive watches Rolex currently puts out? Well, good news. We’ve updated this article to incorporate both. Photo: Sotheby's Founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex is today the most globally recognized Swiss luxury watch brand, one of the leading innovators in the watch industry from the 20th Century to today, and the maker of some of the most popular and coveted watch models in the world, from gents’ classics like the Datejust and Day-Date to sport-luxury icons like the Submariner, Daytona, and GMT-Master. As one might expect with such a horological pedigree, Rolex watches have also become some of the most valuable watches on the secondary and auction markets, with the most elite and exclusive pieces selling for $1 million or more. (Disclaimer: obviously, for the most avid and well-connected Rolex customers, it is the legendary “off-catalog” models - like the "Rainbow Daytona" pictured above - that both project the most mythical aura of exclusivity and command the most stratospheric prices. The problem with accurately reporting on which of them is really the “Most Expensive” is built into their rarity: such models change hands without an actual MSRP ever being declared publicly, and whatever that original purchase pric...
Monochrome
ArtyA, the avant-garde, family-run Swiss watchmaker known for its expressive, often unconventional horological creations of its founder Yvan Arpa, introduces the next evolution of its Luminity collection with a significant update: the launch of its first proprietary micro-rotor movement, the calibre AMR-02. Combining a visually open design with chronometric performance, this new collection keeps movement […]
Video
Question, suggestion, or just want to say hi? Drop a note.