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Review: new Zenith Defy El Primero 21 Ultrablue
Priced at US$13500, the DEFY 21 Ultrablue is only available through boutiques or through Zenith’s online store and appears to be sold out currently.
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Priced at US$13500, the DEFY 21 Ultrablue is only available through boutiques or through Zenith’s online store and appears to be sold out currently.
Quill & Pad
The first weekend of November 2016 was a big one for GaryG: in addition to attending the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, he collected not one, not two, but three spectacular watches. The watch he left home certain to bring back was one that he had been waiting patiently for since January 2016: the split-seconds chronograph Reference 5370P from Patek Philippe. Here Gary explains why he bought it.
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This week, we continue with our presentation of high end bicycles. This time, the new limited edition Specialized S-Works Shiv Disc bicycle.
Hodinkee
Our top choices and the hyper-specific ways we'd wear them
SJX Watches
Founded just five years ago, Gorilla has already established a distinct house style, born of the its two founders’ eye for design. Notably, one of the founders, Octavio Garcia, was design chief at Audemars Piguet for over a decade. The latest from the brand is reassuringly familiar, channeling the style of its inaugural model, but a major step up in terms of form, function, and price – the Fastback Thunderbolt Chronograph. Equipped with a smartly skeletonised dial, it’s the brand’s first chronograph but retains with Gorilla’s recognisable case style. The case is multi-material: a ceramic bezel, followed by an anodised aluminium ring, and then a black-coated titanium case middle and back Initial thoughts Gorilla’s past offerings have been appealing for several reasons. Though evocative of some other well-known designs, its watches are original and handsome – a rare sight at the US$800 price range – and they are usually executed in unusual combinations of materials like titanium and ceramic. At the same time, the brand managed to make uncommon complication relatively affordable, namely the wandering hours display that’s most famously associated with Urwerk and Audemars Piguet in modern watchmaking. The latest offering is an extension of the brand’s strengths. Despite being its first chronograph, the Fastback Thunderbolt Chronograph is well put together, having a skeletonised front that’s intricate in detail and rich in colour that manages to pres...
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Bell & Ross partners with Patrouille de France for the new BR 03-94 with the French French Air and Space Force’s official aerobatic display team.
Revolution
Tissot introduces a high-performance dive watch aimed to meet the needs of the professional saturation diver with an impressive array of technical features.
Deployant
Lange also released new variants to the Langematic Perpetual Calendar and the Saxonia Thin as part of their Summer novelty releases. Details with prices.
SJX Watches
Announced by Seiko almost a year ago, the Custom Watch Beatmaker was an online contest to design the brand’s next sports watch. Seiko just unveiled the winner – which has been brought to life as a limited edition – the Seiko 5 Sports Custom Watch Beatmaker 2021. A surprisingly clean design, the winner has a gold dial circled by a “Pepsi” bezel. It was one of about 50,000 submissions, but it won by a surprisingly large margin of 8.5 million votes out of a 16 million-vote total – possibly due to a group effort by a forum dedicated to Seiko. Initial thoughts The Custom Watch Beatmaker contest was in many ways an official acknowledgment of the Seiko “mods” community that pursue aftermarket customisation of Seiko watches. It’s uncommon for a big brand to do so, though the contest was centred on the Seiko 5 Sports, the brand’s entry-level mechanical watch. But Seiko itself has changed the landscape since the contest was announced in October 2020. The brand has since launched numerous Seiko 5 Sports “crossover” editions featuring Japanese pop-culture themes, resulting in watches far from the average Seiko 5. In comparison, the contest edition seems less special, at least from an aesthetic perspective, since it’s basically rearranged the colours of a few elements instead of being an all-new design. Still, compared to the regular-production Seiko 5 Sports, the Beatmaker edition stands out. The gold, sunburst dial on a dive-style watch is uncommon, not to...
Quill & Pad
I’m not sure it’s possible to experience a Spike Lee film without being changed in some profound way. Lee loves writing with a pen, and Montblanc's new fountain pen in his honor is crafted in classic black resin with a sleek cap and decorated with Lee’s signature eyeglasses. Purple, the artist’s favorite color, also figures prominently.
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Presenting the new A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret Tourbillon Handwerkskundst. Exclusive photographs with press release info and commentary.
Quill & Pad
At the top levels, the Grand Crus, Faiveley is making some wonderful Burgundy wines and the very best are yet to come. This is a domaine that must be considered among the region’s top producers. After tasting quite a few at a themed lunch, Ken Gargett advises that older Faiveleys benefit from time in the cellar and that early decanting seems wise. And much more!
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Originally released in stainless steel at Baselworld 2018, Arnold & Son now releases the Globetrotter in gold in a limited edition release of 28 pieces.
Revolution
The latest trends and analyses of the ever-changing watch auction market.
SJX Watches
While named after a late-18th century Swiss watchmaker, Charles Girardier is a startup, having been established in 2018 by Patrick A. Ulm, a Swiss private banker with a passion for watches. The brand focuses on tourbillon wristwatches, but enhanced with elements inspired by vintage Charles Girardier pocket watches, such as paillonnee enamel dials and its whimsical “mysterious” complication. Its Tourbillon Signature Mystérieuse Fleur de Sel won the Ladies’ Complications Watch Prize at last year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve, beating out competition from big names like Bulgari and Piaget. For Only Watch 2021, Charles Girardier created the 1809 Tribute to Jackson Pollock, a wristwatch with a figure-of-eight dial layout in grand feu enamel and an unusual automatic movement with a peripheral rotor. Initial thoughts Being relatively young, Charles Girardier only has one model to its name so far, the Tourbillon Signature Mystérieuse. Still, it’s a technically interesting watch, making it a useful starting point for an Only Watch edition. The Tourbillon Signature Mystérieuse is symmetrical – both on the front and the back. The dial is arranged in a figure-of-eight, with a flying tourbillon at six, and the “mysterious” complication at twelve. The “mysterious” complication is the brand emblem that spins freely, thanks to a weight on its back that’s hidden under the dial. It gives the dial dynamism, though the “mysterious” complication feels a b...
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In this week's article, we seek for Easter Eggs in the horological scene with six incredible watches that contain hidden features.
Quill & Pad
Can a serious watch manufacture get away with producing such a “gimmicky” timepiece as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Black Panther? Serious and gimmicky are not mutually exclusive, but they were posed as two different questions in the same breath by Marc André Deschoux of The Watches TV in a special video taking a look at the first timepiece to emerge from the collaborative energy between Audemars Piguet and Marvel Studios. What's your opinion?
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Tudor's popular Black Bay Bronze is now available in the Fifty-Eight case variant. Only available directly through Tudor boutiques.
Quill & Pad
Antiquorum will be holding its next auction in Monaco on July 21, 2021, where collectors will have a chance to bid for the very first time on a Patek Philippe Reference 5711/1A-014. Yes, this is the brand-new stainless steel Nautilus with olive-green dial introduced in April 2021 as the model replacing the blue-dialed Reference 5711/1A-010. While that's noteworthy, there are a number of other lots worth looking at too.
Quill & Pad
Ahead of Geneva Watch Days at the end of August and the European summer break, some independent watch brands have announced new watches. Here, Elizabeth Doerr highlights three of these new watches with eye-catching dials that really caught her own eye.
Hodinkee
The final – at least we think – 2020 Olympics watch.
Deployant
Jaeger-LeCoultre pushes on with their Métiers Rares miniature enamel painting in a Reverso Tribute Enamel featuring the Hokusai Kirifuri Waterfall.
Revolution
Maybe we were just looking in the wrong place, says Watchfinder’s Mr Talking Hands.
Revolution
Richard Mille marks its 20th year not by looking to the past, but to the future with three watches that continue to drive radical change through unlimited creativity and innovation.
SJX Watches
Undoubtedly the most technically interesting movement in a time-only Royal Oak, the skeletonised cal. 3132 with twin balance wheels made its debut in a discreet package in 2016. It got fancier attire more recently with a gem-set “rainbow” bezel and hammered case finish, but only with the smaller, 37 mm case. Now “rainbow” meets mechanics in the 41 mm case for the first time – in all three colours of gold no less. Extravagant but surprisingly not that exorbitant in price, the Royal Oak Frosted Gold Double Balance Wheel Openworked 41 mm combines the largest-sized case with a multicoloured bezel, and most importantly, the twin-oscillator movement. Initial thoughts A unique combination of bling and technical credentials is precisely the appeal of the new Double Balance. Currently fashionable and maybe too common, the multi-coloured gemstone bezel is over the top but it is cool. The movement, on the other hand, is smart. The calibre relies on twin balance wheels, each with its own hairspring, to average out positional errors and improve stability, making for better timekeeping over the long run. This mix of sparkly excess and mechanical achievement is rare, which sets the watch apart from its peers. So if you’re someone who likes “rainbow” watches, this is one of the few that has strong technical merit. And it’s priced at about US$120,000, which is definitely a square deal for such a watch. The only downside is the pronounced lack of availability, which ...
Quill & Pad
Caran d’Ache’s acclaimed Fixpencil was conceived in 1929 by Swiss engineer Carl Schmid, who invented and patented a unique clutch-style lead holder that made it possible to accept leads of different diameters. Zurich-based designer Alfredo Häberli is a fan, which led to the creation of the colorful new limited edition Caran d’Ache + Alfredo Häberli Fixpencil.
Hodinkee
The Speedy Tuesday team is thinking green.
Hodinkee
Back to the basics for this shortened week of HODINKEE Vintage, and black-dial sports watches headline the litter.
SJX Watches
Sotheby’s latest online sale is in a quirky combination of luxury watches and high-end sneakers – some of which cost more than the watches. Fortunately the large majority of the 164 lots are horological, with a selection of watches that’s diverse and interesting, led by a couple of heavyweight top lots. The heavyweights are quite literal, both complicated watches in platinum from brands widely regarded as benchmarks in contemporary watchmaking: an F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain with a platinum case and bracelet, along with the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Luminous “Phantom”. The sale also includes more esoteric watches that might be overlooked, including as a retailer-edition Patek Philippe Calatrava with ruby markers, and a Grand Seiko “First” remake in platinum. The Fine Watches and Rare Sneakers auction is live online from now until June 8, 2021. The full catalogue and registration for bidding are available here. Lot 8201 – F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain Platinum Introduced in 2004, the F. P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain was the successor to the original Tourbillon Remontoir d’Egalite. Like the original, the Tourbillon Souverain combined both a tourbillon regulator and constant force mechanism in a quest for accuracy. Its most obvious distinction against its predecessor was the small seconds at six linked to the remontoir mechanism. The Tourbillon Souverain itself was replaced in 2019 by something bigger and vertical, making it increasingly uncomm...
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Bell & Ross offers a new all sapphire Cyber Skull BR 01 for Only Watch 2021. One of the more interesting watches pitched for the annual charity auction.
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