Hodinkee
Tudor Announces New Partnership With French Navy
Back at it again with the Marine Nationale.
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Hodinkee
Back at it again with the Marine Nationale.
Hodinkee
With the Nautilus being essentially impossible to buy at retail in certain references, Patek makes the Aquanaut even harder to ignore.
SJX Watches
Eight years in the making, the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Westminster Sonnerie – Tribute to Johannes Vermeer is a masterpiece in the truest sense of the word. Reflecting the owner’s taste that is inclined towards the subtle, elegant, and artisanal, the watch is seemingly simple on the front, yet intricately decorated on its circumference and immensely complicated within. But the true art of the watch sits on the hinged case back, which bears a magnificent miniature enamel painting by Anita Porchet that reproduces Vermeer’s ethereal Girl with a Pearl Earring. The idea for this uber pocket watch was first mooted by the owner in 2012, before being formally commissioned in 2013 during the Watches & Wonders fair in Hong Kong. Asked about his motivation in commissioning the watch – and waiting nearly a decade – the owner says, “I wanted to have a watch made, cost-and-time-no-object, that incorporated the ultimate in art – miniature enamel by the greatest practicing enameller – with the most difficult and sublime complication, the true Westminster sonnerie – and that alone – not counting the tourbillon escapement, which to me isn’t a complication.” “No such watch existed prior in the history of watchmaking,” he adds, “The watch came out more magnificent and monumental than I had imagined.” And that pretty much sums up the Vermeer pocket watch, which is unquestionably one of the greatest creations ever to emerge from Les Cabinotiers, a wo...
Time+Tide
When Baltic released the first look at its Aquascaphe Dual-Crown back in May, the first impression was that this was a step forward for a brand whose superb designs had quickly pushed itself to the front of the crowded world of affordable vintage-inspired watches. The original Aquascaphe took its cues from mid-century divers, with gilt … ContinuedThe post HANDS ON: The Baltic Aquascaphe Dual Crown draws from the past, but looks to the future appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
When your back catalogue runs as deep and storied as Timex, dipping your horological toe into the re-issues pool should be a no brainer. Having already exhibited some serious nous by reimaging the mid-century Marlin in both hand-wound and automatic varities – plus one for the ladies – the American manufacturer has again dipped into … ContinuedThe post CHEAP BASTARD: The Timex Q 1975 Reissue is a retro bargain for $305 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
I remember my plane ride back from Baselworld 2019. I was still coming off the high of my first show and all the beautiful new pieces I was fortunate enough to handle. (Which was a good thing because I needed to stay up if I wanted to avoid the jet-lag) As I tried my hardest … ContinuedThe post OPINION: Why I just can’t do vintage watches appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
Five years after its initial debut, the Chopard L.U.C GMT One is back, this time in ceramised titanium and with a monochrome makeover.
Time+Tide
Mike Christensen, our European Editor and one time foe when back in the day he was the captain of GQ Australia, is an aesthetic sort of chap. While he can appreciate a tourbillon with the best of us, his eyes are drawn more often to the lines of a case, the shade of a fumé … ContinuedThe post Mike’s top 5 picks from Geneva Watch Days are basically: 1. Moser Streamliner PC 2. Moser 3. Streamliner etc appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
If you could have gone back in time five years to the chateau of Franck Muller, on the shores of Lake Geneva and told both Elise Durr and I that one day she would be walking around the city, reporting on a watch fair for us at Time+Tide I’m not sure who would have been … ContinuedThe post Our best ever intern has grown up! Elise rejoins the team for Geneva Watch Days, and picks her five favourite watches appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
I love a good GMT. Who doesn’t? As a guy who works for an Australian watch website, while being based in New York City, there really is no better complication for me. That function has become so important in my daily life that I now analyze and evaluate every single GMT that gets released. All … ContinuedThe post MICRO MONDAYS: The Brellum Wyvern GMT Chronometer offers a stylish take on the most useful watch complication appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
The 2021 edition of Geneva Watch Days was by most measures a successful event as the watch world slowly gets back to a modicum of normality. The presentations proved exciting as we could finally handle real watches instead of looking at them on a screen. We saw old friends, made new ones, and remembered why we love spending time talking watches. Here are our personal picks for "best of" in a number of categories. What were yours?
Time+Tide
“I’ve always had a fascination with timepieces. As a DJ, back in the day, most of the records I bought didn’t have BPMs (beats per minutes) on them and, when you’re mixing, you need to know what they are. So you’d go to your watch and set your second hand to work out the record’s … ContinuedThe post INTERVIEW: DJ Carl Cox reveals why he made a watch with Zenith appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
One of IWC’s signature wristwatch lines – the other being the Portugieser – is the Pilot’s Watch, a collection descended from the timepieces dating to the earliest days of aviation. Popular for its functional styling and general affordability, the Pilot’s Watch collection is regularly updated – IWC revamped the range in 2016, 2019, and again this year – and diverse. There are two threads running through IWC’s modern-day Pilot’s Watch collection that connect to the brand’s historical aviator’s watches: the smaller “Mark” watches typically associated with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the oversized “B-Uhr” made for the German air force of the Second World War. Big pilot and small pilot – Mark IX and B-uhr The origins IWC’s history in aviator’s watches started the Special Pilot’s Watch ref. 436, now widely known as the “Mark IX”. Conceived by the two sons of Ernst Jakob Homberger, the then-owner of IWC, the Mark IX was unveiled in 1936. Homberger’s sons were both licensed pilots and understood the features required for good pilot’s watch, resulting in style that is now synonymous with the pilot’s watch genre. IWC was not the only maker of pilot’s watches during the period, though it was arguably the most successful since it continued to be a leading supplier of aviator’s timepieces for the next two decades. The Mark IX had a 38 mm case – extraordinarily oversized in an era when the standard man’s watch was a...
SJX Watches
One of the biggest watches on the market when it was introduced in 1993, the Royal Oak Offshore is a landmark in the oversized-sports watch genre. Since then the model has been iterated into numerous variants and several sizes, while the first-generation originals have occasionally returned as limited editions. Now they are back for good as part of the regular collection at Audemars Piguet – but upgraded with the in-house cal. 4404 as well as quick-release bracelets and straps. Nicknamed “evolution” by Audemars Piguet (AP), the new Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 42 mm ref. 26238TI is being launched with a trio of watches that are a faithful take on the 1993 original, along with two new “Mega Tapisserie” dials in the same size. The Offshore 42 mm with “Mega Tapisserie” dials Initial thoughts The last major revamp of the Offshore Chronograph 42 mm was in 2014, when it received a movement upgrade in the form of an in-house base movement, though retaining the modular chronograph. And then two years ago Audemars Piguet unveiled a model equipped with the Frederic Piguet cal. 1185. The new Offshore is arguably better than all its recent counterparts, because it combines the original design – which is a classic – while improving what needed to be improved, namely the movement. In the release announcement, AP describes the movement as “a new selfwinding integrated chronograph, Calibre 4404, equipped with column wheel and flyback function”, which pretty much ...
SJX Watches
Long an annual tradition for IWC – now in its 15th consecutive year in fact – the “Laureus Sport for Good” edition is back once again in its usual blue livery that echoes the emblem of the eponymous charity with the IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic Edition ‘Laureus Sport for Good’. Each annual Laureus edition sees IWC facelift one of its watches, from the classical Portofino to the sporty Pilot’s Watch, typically in a simple fashion with the addition of a blue dial – good enough but not quite great. This year the brand is doing something a bit more special with its entry-level aviator’s watch, which gets a blue ceramic case in a first for the brand. Initial thoughts As is typical of the IWC Pilot’s Watch, the new Laureus edition is simple, coherent and appealing. But it offers a bit more with the tone-on-tone case and dial, making it slightly more special than the standard Pilot’s Watches, or even past Laureus editions. Though IWC used a similar formula for the Laureus edition of two years ago – that had a polished, black ceramic case instead – the latest edition is tangibly better. For one, a blue ceramic case is rare, having been utilised by only a handful of watchmakers, and it also looks pretty cool. At the same time, the watch has been upgraded in technical terms. It houses the new, five-day cal. 32111, which is derived from the cal. 32115 first seen in the ultra-shock resistance Big Pilot XPL. Both are in turn modified versions of the cal. 32...
Time+Tide
I love brand anniversaries. They present the perfect opportunity for a brand to do something new or to celebrate their past by pulling something special out of their archives. In 2011, Sinn gave us the grey dialled, bi-compax, 358 chronograph to celebrate their 50th anniversary. With this year being their 60th, I couldn’t wait to … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Sinn 103 Classic 12 celebrates the brand’s 60th with a reverse panda dial appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
You may be aware that Gérald Genta sold his company to Bulgari in 2000. But relatively little has been made of the hook-up since then. However, there was always one particular option in the Genta catalogue whose cycle back into fashion has been slowly, but steadily happening as each month passes. With an ever-increasing number … ContinuedThe post Bulgari are taking the Mickey, with the return of this Gerald Genta classic appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
At first it was so strange. And it had the drama, the inevitability, of a tipping point being reached. SIHH’s changed name. Basel stumbled, fell, then disintegrated into dust. COVID-19 hit, everything stopped. Then out of these ashes, Geneva Watch Days 2020 emerged. I was unable to go, along with anyone from our Australian team, … ContinuedThe post Follow us at Geneva Watch Days 2021, starting right now with MB&F; madness and Moser magic appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
I’ll be blunt and admit the Czapek Antarctique became a strong personal favourite in the integrated bracelet game when it smashed onto the scene last year. This time Czapek throws us a curveball with a complex skeletonized version featuring a new, fascinating movement bringing the best of vintage haute horlogerie back to the future of … ContinuedThe post The Czapek Antarctique Rattrapante brings skeletonized wonder to the integrated bracelet scene appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
When I spoke with Parmigiani chief executive Guido Terreni earlier this year, he described his plans for the brand’s product as having a “new direction for design, which is less ostentatious”, adding that Parmigiani will ” go back to the craft and excellence of the early days… with an eye on the world of today.” With the new Tonda PF collection launched to mark Parmigiani’s 25th anniversary, Mr Terreni appears to have pulled it off. Made up of four watches – ranging from a time-only to a pricey split-seconds – the Tonda PF is a synthesis of Parmigiani’s recent integrated-bracelet sports watch and its earlier Toric timepieces that were classical and Breguet inspired. The result is a sleek case and integrated bracelet matched with a refined yet minimalist guilloche dial featuring solid-gold hands and indices. Initial thoughts In a review two months ago, I wrote that liked the Tonda GT sports watch, though I thought the dial could be done better in several ways. The new Tonda PF does exactly that. It keeps everything that was good with the Tonda GT and enhances the rest. The dial has been stripped of superfluous elements while gaining a barleycorn engine turning. In fact, the dial is almost Moser-ish in its restraint, with the only marking being a small “PF” logo, which is made of solid 18k gold. And the upgrades in materials continue with the case, with all the steel model getting a knurled platinum bezel. And the movements have been enhanced. The...
Hodinkee
'2001: A Space Odyssey' called, they want their clock back.
SJX Watches
Having tested the market with a handful of Gerald Genta-branded limited editions, Bulgari has just revealed during Geneva Watch Days 2021 that the Genta name will be revived. And the inaugural model for that venture is the Gerald Genta Arena Retrograde Mickey Mouse, a Disney-themed watch that harks back to the 1990s Fantasy watches of Gerald Genta. Initial thoughts The commercial opportunity with the Gerald Genta name has been obvious for several years, given the enduring popularity of a narrow set of his designs, namely the 1970s sports watches like the Royal Oak and the later Fantasy watches with Disney characters, all of which sell for handsome sums on the secondary market. While all the 1970s sports watch belong to the brands that Genta designed them for, Bulgari does have the Octo, which was created long after Genta himself left the brand. And now Bulgari has resurrected the Arena Retro Mickey Mouse. Like the Octo, the Arena case was created after Genta departed the namesake company when Bulgari acquired it, but the new Mickey Mouse Retro successfully channels the spirit of the 1990s originals in style and complication. And in terms of mechanics, it’s also more sophisticated than the originals, in that it is powered by a variant of the in-house Bulgari BVL 191 “Solotempo” calibre, instead of the ETA movements found in the originals. The Mickey Mouse reissue, however, does come at a steepish price of about US$17,500. That’s slightly more than the most desirab...
Quill & Pad
Rolex has never called out to Joshua Munchow as a watch that he must have or that would be the pinnacle of his collection. He thinks that this is because of the downsides to it being the most widely known watch brand in the world: forgeries and overexposure abound. So what is it about 2015's Rolex Day-Date 40 that turned him into a convert? Read on to find out.
Time+Tide
There is an appeal to a time only watch that is undeniable. The ability to pick it up at a moment’s notice, simply set the time and go, brings a sense of horological fresh air to what at times seems like too complicated a life. Add to that a manual wound movement, which hearkens back … ContinuedThe post Introducing: Grand Seiko’s time only trio of limited edition green machines appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
An all-encompassing brand that has something for everyone, Seiko is a 140-year-old brand with a dozen or so lines spanning the price spectrum. Its flagship brand is, of course, Grand Seiko, which has enjoyed notably strong growth outside of Japan after being spun off in 2017. Now we speak with the man who was a key part of this international expansion: Akio Naito. Appointed President of the Seiko Watch Corporation (SWC) earlier this year, Mr Naito now runs the primary watch business of the Seiko group, having climbed the ranks over a four-decade career. He has held roles across various Seiko companies around the world – one of his earliest managerial roles was head of Seiko Australia starting 2002 – and was most recently deputy chief operating officer of SWC. In that role, he was responsible for international sales and marketing. It was during his tenure that Seiko brands enjoyed notably strong growth outside of Japan, most notably with Grand Seiko in America and Europe – two key markets he personally oversaw. Our founder SJX sat down with Mr Naito recently to discuss his plans for Seiko and Grand Seiko, while also touching on topics like complicated watches and the future of watch fairs. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. Mr Naito with Wako’s famous clocktower behind him SJX: I first visited Seiko’s factories in Shiojiri and Shizukuishi 10 or 12 years ago. I like to congratulate you on how the brand has developed in that time, especially Gra...
SJX Watches
After Bernhard Lederer unveiled his impressive double-wheel escapement wristwatch last year, it was radio silence until now. As it turns out, Mr Lederer was working on refining the Central Impulse Chronometer, which is now being launched in its final, serial-production form. The new watch is essentially the same watch, but with a new and improved dial. The movement remains the same: equipped with a double-wheel escapement featuring twin going trains, each equipped with a remontoir d’egalité constant force mechanism – making it one of the serious chronometers in modern horology. Entirely revised is the dial, which now has more elegant design, with slim hour markers framing a chequerboard guilloche centre. And the dial now incorporates gains a symmetrical, figure-of-eight aperture that showcases the twin escapements and remontoirs, with each having its own seconds hand – both turning in the opposite direction. Initial thoughts The CIC is one of the relatively rare wristwatches to incorporate a double-wheel escapement. But what makes the CIC uncommon is its execution – its escapement is powered by twin individual going trains – a construction famously conceived by George Daniels for his pocket watches, most notably the Space Traveller’s Watch. Bernhard Lederer at his bench The degree of miniaturisation to fit such a construction into a watch puts the CIC amongst an exclusive class of timepieces that can be counted on one hand – made by George Daniels, Derek ...
Time+Tide
With the rise of social media and its symbiotic relationship with watches, much of what we consume regarding horology is found online. But just as a hardcover book will always have a greater appeal than a Kindle, there is something really special about physical watch magazines. Whether gracing the surface of a coffee table, or … ContinuedThe post There’s a new watch magazine in town. The best part? It won’t cost you a cent… appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Walk into a room of watch enthusiasts and mention Bamford London. The first thing that comes to the mind of pretty much anyone you talk to is the brand’s amazing GMTs, flavoured in a broad array of colours. While being synonymous with a specific collection in your catalogue isn’t necessarily a bad thing, most brands … ContinuedThe post Bamford takes a step out of their comfort zone with a cracking monopusher chronograph appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Some people (yes, me) have a mental block, and just can’t being themselves to put on a rectangular watch. While I love the often Art Deco-inspired panache of rectangular watches, I have more than 20 watches to my name and they’re all ROUND, a sad state of affairs perhaps? But this year I think I … ContinuedThe post The best rectangular watches of 2021 from Jaeger-LeCoultre to Fears with a dash of colour appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
Massena LAB and Habring² are back, with a little help from a boutique California dial maker and the HSNY
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