8,525 articles · 2,515 videos found · page 179 of 368
Monochrome
Following Ferrari’s historic third win in a row at Le Mans last week, there was a lot more to talk about than pure racing. While the on-track action of the 2025 edition of the iconic French endurance race was thrilling from start to finish, there was off-track action that caught our fuel-induced attention! Of course, […]
Hodinkee
All that and more in this week's edition of Hodinkee's What's Selling Where column.
Fratello
I remember the first time I was drawn to learn more about a Venezianico watch. The brand’s Nereide GMT debuted in 2022 in several attractive colorways. I recall being intrigued by the monochromatic version of the brand’s travel watch. Fast-forward three years, and I am again intrigued by a monochromatic version of one of the […] Visit Introducing: The Wonderful Monochromatic Venezianico Arsenale Platino to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
We’re back at it again with another "alternatives" roundup for some of the most iconic watches in watchmaking history, and in this episode, we’re getting more quirky than we ever have before. Which is only fitting given today’s subject, which is one of the most subversive watch designs of all time: the illustrious Cartier Crash. Before I launch into some quick Cartier Crash history and then contemporary alternatives at multiple budgets, let’s establish some key design ingredients in the recipe at hand. Because I didn’t want to make you all eat up some AliExpress Cartier Crash phonies, and because the design is so iconic that most watchmakers haven’t really attempted their own imitations, I will be leaning into asymmetry or hints at surrealism here instead of more 1:1 design alternatives. Before I begin, I will say that the avant-garde era of the 1960s and '70s, before the big houses had such rigid design codes, is one of my favorites in watchmaking history. Here in the modern age, many brands seem less willing to experiment boldly, and really keep things, largely, safe. Still, there are some asymmetrical watch gems out there, and below, they will get a little time in the spotlight. I will warn you now that on the current market, prices for more bold watch designs run a little steep, so the budget I’m working around here is at a higher price point than I try to stick to (though I have thrown in some affordable options). But given the exorbitant prices of the...
Worn & Wound
Baltic’s Hermétique feels like a little bit of a secret weapon to me. It’s riffing on vintage watches in a much more subtle way than many of the brand’s earlier releases, and has proven to be a great canvas for creative dial variations and is, honestly, one of the only bronze watches I actually like. When it was announced back in 2023, there was some grousing about the case size, but putting the watch on makes it clear that 37mm is exactly right for a watch in this style. It’s sleek (thanks in large part to the inset crown) and thin, and can be dressed up or dressed down – it’s just a very solid watch at a very easy to digest price point (check out Ed Jelley’s hands-on thoughts from the original launch right here). And while there’s a timeless, almost generic (in a good way) quality to the Hermétique, you can’t really fault Baltic for wanting to capitalize on the seemingly irrepressible desire of watch lovers to adorn their wrists with loud colors in the summer months. Hence, we have the new Hermétique Summer collection. These are watches that do exactly what it says on the tin. They’re the same Hermétiques we’ve become familiar with, but with dial colors that pop up when you search the #summerwatch hashtag on Instagram. Specifically, Baltic tells us they are drawing inspiration from the “California of the 70s.” Not being a Californian, nor alive in the 1970s, I can’t really speak to this personally, but as an evocation of a summery ideal,...
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Quill & Pad
There’s nothing practical about a $76,000 watch – at least not in the big frame. But in the context of expensive man jewelry, some options are more useful than others. That’s where the Patek Philippe Pilot Travel Time Chronograph enters the small frame. Tim Mosso takes a closer look.
SJX Watches
Twenty twenty-five marks Andersen Genève’s 45th anniversary, although founder Svend Andersen’s career as an independent watchmaker has spanned far more than 45 years. For the anniversary, the brand has revived the Communication 45, the tenth world timer wristwatch in its catalogue since Andersen Genève was established in 1990. Initial thoughts Danish horologist Svend Andersen is an important name in independent watchmaking. The 83-year-old was one of the founders of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants AHCI, along with Vincent Calabrese. One of the earliest models he introduced after setting up his brand was a world time wristwatch – powered by a mechanism of his own design – that was inspired by his tenure working at Patek Philippe. Appropriately the brand is marking its anniversary with the very same complication. The new Communication 45 (left) and its predecessor from 1990 With the Communication 45, Andersen Genève seeks to reinvent its original world timer, without being disruptive. The new model sports a refined case with prominent teardrop lugs and a textured dial in cognac-shaded Blue Gold. Notably, the case employs two peculiar crowns that are flush with the case band, a design which seeks to preserve the symmetry of the case - although it all ends up looking slightly odd. The dial is well made and evokes the stylistic lavishness of 1990s luxury watchmaking, yet there is one element that doesn’t fit: the hands. Executed in the sha...
SJX Watches
Breguet celebrates a milestone by looking to the stars with the Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255, which is the brand’s first flying tourbillon and also dressed up with an aventurine enamel dial. The Tourbillon Sidéral is the brand’s latest anniversary edition – and the most complicated so far – coming after the Classique Souscription and more recent Type XX 2075BH. Initial Thoughts Abraham-Louis Breguet’s workshop only built between 40 to 49 tourbillons in his lifetime, explaining the mythical rarity of the mechanism in historical watchmaking. Now more tourbillons are built in a single day – possibly even by a single brand – than during Breguet’s entire lifetime. Consequently, the tourbillon is no longer regarded with the reverence it enjoyed for centuries. Tourbillons aren’t inherently special today, but still have appeal when executed well; the whole of the parts can be more than the sum of the parts. The Tourbillon Sidéral is executed well and appealing. Flying tourbillon aside, the rest of the watch is very good, though not ground breaking. As with Breguet’s other 250th anniversary models, the Tourbillon Sidéral is more interesting aesthetically than technically since the movement is derived from the longstanding Lemania calibre. That approach will change as the year’s end approaches as Breguet has something bigger in the pipeline. For now, the Tourbillon Sidéral is an excellent watch that may suffer under the weight of expectations, but per...
Monochrome
The small German town of Glashütte is steeped in watchmaking history, as we all know. No less than 12 brands, from high-end to more accessible, are nestled there, making it the historic and beating heart of German mechanical watchmaking. Being able to bear the town’s name on one’s dial is also something quite special, as […]
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...
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Worn & Wound
If you were to ask any of my coworkers or friends about my style when it comes to watches, the words “tactical,” “diver,” and “tool” would likely come to mind. It’s no secret that I have an affinity for watches with more utility than just telling time, and a good clicky bezel might be my favorite fidget toy of all time. As someone who has had a preference for black and olive drab colors for years, when I dove into watches, it seemed like black and sometimes blue were the only colors available, especially at the price range I considered spending on a watch. That said, as I’ve learned more about watches and discovered some interesting microbrands making bold and adventurous divers, I also realized that if I wanted something more colorful, I’d have a lot of options if I expanded my reach to non-diver sports watches. With the growing number of stealthy items in my collection, I’ve wanted to add something to my collection that you might describe as “flashy” to balance things out a bit. Working to break this mold that I’ve created for myself, I wound up coming across the Mandala Mk3 by Second Hour Watches, and thought that it might make an interesting addition to my collection of tactical and tool focused pieces. In fact, when I wore this watch home from the office for the first time, my girlfriend immediately remarked, “That isn’t a watch I’d expect you to wear, but I like it,” and that’s exactly the reaction I was hoping for. Before I dive i...
Teddy Baldassarre
The Omega Speedmaster Reduced was released back in 1988, intended as a smaller and more affordable cousin of the Speedmaster Professional. The Speedmaster Reduced shares most of the same design codes as the Moonwatch but it is undoubtedly one of the more divisive watches out there, especially for those Speedy purists who see it as an imposter that should never have been manufactured. I would imagine that sales were fairly robust, considering how many of these are available on the secondary market and the fact that it was produced from 1988 all the way to 2009. Speedmaster Reduced Case & Bracelet Considering this is called the Speedmaster Reduced, it should be no surprise that the case is indeed smaller than the 42mm Speedmaster Professional (which we did a comprehensive guide to here). Done in stainless steel measuring 39mm wide and 12mm thick with a very compact lug-to-lug height of 45mm compared to the Speedy Pro’s 47.5mm. One of the funny tradeoffs that you get from using an automatic movement instead of a manually wound one is a thicker case, so even with the reduced case size, the 12mm thickness is only about a millimeter slimmer than the Pro. Still, the compact proportions make for an easier wear for those with smaller wrists. The Speedmaster Reduced has 30 meters of water resistance, which is shy of the 50 meters of the Speedy Pro, but I think both require quite a bit of caution with anything more than a splash. The familiar tachymeter bezel is done in aluminum, w...
Worn & Wound
There’s a good deal of conversation around proper use of the terms “retro” and vintage” in many spaces-automotive, interior design, video games, etc. -and the watch world is no different. Is there a year cutoff? A need for tangible or mechanical connection to a model of the past? Brew, the ever-more-popular New York-based watch brand, shirks all those insecurities and goes straight to the “vibe check” standard. Founded in 2015 by industrial designer Jonathan Ferrer, the brand obviously doesn’t have a back catalog of “vintage” designs to pull from or reinvent, but their new Metric Lite model is aimed squarely at the “retro-vintage” renaissance that’s hitting the watch world, mostly because, well, it looks the part. Is that all it takes to make a retro-vintage watch? Let’s dive in. Brew’s self-described mission for the Metric Lite can also be found in the name; basically, they set out to create their most “compact and wearable” watch, without sacrificing utility or style. The Metric Lite comes in three variations: steel case and black dial, steel case and mother of pearl dial, and gold PVD case and black dial. All three are wrapped in cushion cases that measure in at 30mm-a mark of the vintage appeal and Brew’s proven understanding of the “everyday watch” category. Each reference additionally wears a hand-brushed flat link bracelet, which lends a sporty outline and 1970’s-type flair to the watch’s silhouette. Brew’s coffe...
Fratello
We all know Benoît Mintiens, founder of Ressence, doesn’t shy away from using multiple colors on his user-friendly spherical watches. The brand’s minimalist Type 8, however, has always had a more modest, single-color design - until now. In collaboration with German painter and sculptor Daniel Engelberg, Ressence presents us with the Type 8 DE1 in […] Visit Introducing: The Ressence Limited Art Watch Type 8 × Daniel Engelberg to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Piaget combines its traditional expertise in stone dials and ultra-thin movements with the Polo Perpetual Calendar Blue Obsidian, a handsome – and more original – take on the complicated Polo. The slim white gold case is combined with a mesmerizing dial in blue obsidian, which is not a mineral as often believed, but instead volcanic glass. Initial Thoughts The latest Polo Perpetual Calendar is arguably Piaget’s strongest release of the year. It plays to two of the brand’s traditional strengths, thin movements and natural stone or mineral dials. Piaget is of course not the only brand with a perpetual calendar sports watch. In fact, the Polo perpetual with a blue obsidian dial is similar enough to the competition to be competitive – it possesses the key characteristics of being slim and blue – but manages to do so without being derivative, which is arguably an issue with the earlier iteration of the model. The blue obsidian dial in particular sets this apart from comparable watches since exotic dial materials are relatively rare in this segment. The mechanics inside the latest Polo perpetual remain the same. While not the most sophisticated perpetual calendar mechanism in the segment, the ubiquitous Dubois Depraz calendar module is solid and reliable if adjusted according to protocol. Its widespread use also makes it easy for watchmakers to source parts, which is not always a given when it comes to complicated ultra-thin watches. That, paired with a competent ult...
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Worn & Wound
It’s hard not to focus on price these days. The world has gotten more expensive over the last few years, and watches have not been immune to price hikes. Anyone following watch media in 2025 would be able to tell you that, and this site has not been immune. It’s the topic of the day in a big way, and ignoring it altogether would be a mistake on all fronts. Still, if you look back at the 13 years since Worn & Wound has been around, the narrative arc in that time isn’t about rising prices, it’s about value. In the more than a decade since Worn & Wound first came online, watchmaking has been dramatically democratized. Value has, in large part, been the name of the game, and increased access to complications, techniques, and materials has largely been a big part of what has kept me so interested in watches on a deep level - I mean, the idea that anyone complaining that a sub-$1000 GMT watch only had a caller movement would have been anathema to any collector just 10 years ago. Most of the value conversation in recent years has been focused on affordable watches, but a remarkable reality is that there is also value to be had if you take a step up. Brands at all scales have noticeably stepped up the quality of their movements, and while I’d never consider calling a 17,200 CHF watch anything but expensive, it’s hard to ignore that Zeitwinkel is offering (or at least trying to offer) something really special at a price that would have been hard to imagine not that l...
Hodinkee
All that and more in this week's edition of Hodinkee's What's Selling Where column.
Deployant
French independent Spaceone enters their Act III with more on the solar exploration themed watches. This time, a world timer.
Fratello
This little introduction article is going to leave you wanting more. No, I don’t mean the watch itself, the most impressive and one-of-a-kind Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Temporis Duo Grand Complication Openface. I mean more pictures of this highly complicated piece of Haute Horlogerie with its open dial, subtle use of color, and the impressive […] Visit Introducing: The Single-Edition Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Temporis Duo Grand Complication Openface to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Les Cabinotiers is Vacheron Constantin’s programme dedicated to one-off and special-order watches. The latest to emerge from the workshop is the Les Cabinotiers Temporis Duo Grand Complication Openface, a large, complicated watch with an intricate calibre and an unusually modern, clear sapphire dial. The look is more contemporary than usual for a Les Cabinotiers grand complication, thanks to both the sapphire dial with its off-centre displays and a monochromatic grey finish on the movement. An evolution (and stylistic upgrade) of the solid-dial Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Tourbillon Split-Seconds from 2022, the Temporis is underpinned by a base movement that features a minute repeater and tourbillon; on top sits a traditionally constructed split-seconds chronograph mechanism that is paired with the calibre in an unconventional manner. The layers inside the cal. 2757 S of the Temporis Initial thoughts Twenty twenty-five has been good for Vacheron Constantin in terms of complicated watches – the brand started the year with the Solaria, the most complicated wristwatch ever made, and has followed up with the Temporis. In comparison to the Solaria with 41 functions and a price tag in the mid-millions, the Temporis is simple and affordable, but still impressive. Though it is largely identical in terms of the movement to the 2022 model with a solid dial, the Temporis offers a lot more visually with its open dial. Though the look is modern – compare this to the baroque B...
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Fratello
Black and white must be the most commonly used colors ever for watch dials. In Nomos’s case, though, I don’t associate its watches with black dials. There are indeed some (13 currently on the website), but Nomos is a brand I associate more with white dials. There are over 100 references currently available with a […] Visit Introducing: The Nomos Ahoi Neomatik 38 Date With A White Dial to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
The GMT market has changed dramatically in the past seven years. I use that number specifically, because it takes us to 2018, when Tudor brought attainable traveller GMT (independent hour hand functionality) to market in a splashy way. Since then we have seen brands like Longines and Mido continue the work by delivering more options at even better price points. From a general “caller GMT” standpoint, Seiko has knocked it out of the park with models like those within the SSK range. We are living in a GMT moment with more options than ever. But if you took things back just one more year, to 2017, you could argue that it was the year Japan’s Grand Seiko made a mic-dropping value statement by way of the SBGM221, a traveller GMT in a dressier package with elite functionality while delivering value that far outpaces its price point. In 2025, that value proposition has not changed at all. Background: The DNA of the SBGM221 looks back to the early roots of Grand Seiko in the 1960s to inform its design, but from a modern standpoint more directly can look to the SBGM021 released around 2010. That year is significant because it was the first year the brand arrived in the U.S. market. Aesthetically, the SBGM021 is an illustration of the older style of co-branded Seiko/Grand Seiko fare. Fast forward to 2017, and the watch reaches its completed form. But the 021, with its ivory dial, and general – and honestly quite original – GMT layout is established. You can see the direc...
Worn & Wound
Back in February, Alec Dent wrote a story about two new references from Cornell Watch Company, and hinted at a much more significant development a little further down the line. Well, we are now far enough down that proverbial line to see what Cornell has been teasing, not just since their February release, but in conversations with brand founders John and Chrissy Warren going back to at least the summer of last year. Cornell’s initial release, a quite expensive modern interpretation of classic American pocket watches made by the original incarnation of the Cornell Watch Company, was and continues to be a very beautifully made luxury watch. But, as any brand owner will tell you, it’s difficult to run a watch brand based on one single, expensive product. Even more so when that product is produced, as much as possible, here in the United States with an assist from industry legend Roland Murphy at RGM. It’s largely that desire to make something in America that animates Cornell, and it’s led them to their newest offering, the Lozier, a far more affordable watch that can be produced at scale, and is made in partnership with Ohio’s Hour Precision, also profiled recently by Alec Dent. The Lozier is a three-hander designed for everyday wear, and inspired chiefly by watches produced in the first half the 20th century. It’s 37.5mm in diameter and measures 8.5mm tall, including the crystal. One of the most notable design quirks of the watch is the broad 22mm lug width, a d...
Quill & Pad
Tamim Almousa explains with a bit of satire how it’s impossible to be a good Muslim without being modest and humble. Wearing a gold watch goes against these virtues. It’s less the material itself and more the Glengarry Glen Ross statement it makes: See this watch? How obnoxious. But that's a rule he is happy to break for a few special watches.
SJX Watches
Greubel Forsey has refined its GMT Balancier Convexe with improved wearability due to a slightly smaller case, while maintaining the model’s trademark three-dimensional rotating globe. This is paired with some subtle, but interesting tweaks to the movement itself, including a new, and more elaborately decorated, escape wheel. Initial Thoughts Since the original GMT in 2011, the three-dimensional globe has become a Grebuel Forsey signature. Time zone-related complications are a natural fit for a sports watch, so much so that the brand’s first sports watch was a GMT. The brand has built on the GMT concept through multiple iterations, but the current version is arguably the most focused, without a tourbillon (or four), to distract from the core idea. The latest GMT Balancier Convexe is essentially the same as the previous model, but more wearable. It’s still a large watch, but scaled down and also might lightweight. The added power reserve indicator is also appreciated, and in hindsight, it’s odd that the function was absent in the first place given the utility of a power reserve display on a manual-wind travel watch. The World on Your Wrist Grebuel Forsey’s sporty Convexe cases have always worn somewhat smaller than specifications suggest due to the lug-less design, and the curved sapphire crystal back, which allows the watch to hug the wrist. However, a large watch that wears well is still a large watch. For the new GMT, Grendel Forsey has trimmed the case diamete...
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