Results for Ceramic Bezel Insert

Introducing: Louis Vuitton Announces Three New High-End Tambours In Yellow Gold, Platinum, And Brown Ceramic (Live pics)

The brand brings new materials and high-end gemsetting to its recently revamped Tambour line.

First Look - Three New Ceramic Colours for the Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Chronograph

Hublot introduced its Spirit of Big Bang collection in 2014 as an evolution of the popular Big Bang series. It retained all the familiar Bang elements yet was presented in an entirely new shape the brand seemed to have avoided until then – the barrel. Over the decade, the tonneau case series has grown and […]

Zenith Presents A New Rainbow-Bezel Chronomaster Sport And Defy Skyline Skeleton Chronographs

Longines Trolls Us With A $5,000 ‘Dive’ Watch Featuring a Fixed Bezel: The Ultra-Chron Carbon

Let me set the stage for you: somewhere in Switzerland, a Longines executive is sitting in a leather chair, sipping espresso, and staring out over the Alps. “What if,” they muse, “we take a perfectly good dive watch, strip it of its most basic functionality, make it out of fancy plastic, and charge five grand for it?” Cue applause from the boardroom, a slow clap from a guy in a turtleneck, and voilà-the Longines Ultra-Chron Carbon is born.

First Look - Maurice Lacroix Joins the Ceramic Club with its Aikon Automatic 39mm and 42mm

The Aikon collection was a sequel to Maurice Lacroix’s best-selling, sporty Calypso line from the 1990s. Following the launch of the first model with a quartz-powered movement in 2016, the Aikon upgraded its offer with mechanical movements in 2018. Moving beyond traditional stainless steel cases, the Aikon has appeared with bronze, PVD, titanium, and even […]

In-Depth - The Battle of Green Bezel Rolex Submariner, Kermit 16610LV vs. Starbucks 126610LV

Rolex… Whether you like the brand or not, whether you appreciate its watches or not, whether you understand the hype or not, it is hard to objectively deny the sheer quality and aura of its timepieces. There are obvious reasons for its success, for it to be the number one Swiss watch brand. And then […]

The Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow Is The Final Piece Of A Colourful Art Puzzle

First Look - The Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba 40mm, now with a Cool Red Bezel

While widely known for its countless apparitions on the silver screen and its military-inspired watches, Hamilton, once an American brand now under the umbrella of the Swatch Group, also carries a rather serious range of aquatic-oriented watches. Sitting alongside the high-performance Frogman and BeLOWZERO collections is the Khaki Navy Scuba, a classic dive watch with […]

First Look - The New Gold & Ceramic Breguet Type XX Chronograph (Incl. Video)

Probably one of the most emblematic pilot’s chronographs around, and an icon from the Breguet collection, the Type XX was revamped last year, with historic design cues and a high-end flyback movement. The comeback of this important and historically relevant model was made with two watches, one with military inspiration, the Type 20, and one […]

Buying Guide - A Quartet Of Compass Bezel Watches Fit For Epic Adventures

Summer is the time of year for fun in the sun, getting outdoors and simply enjoying life. So what better than to wear a suitable watch for whatever you’re doing? Swimming or scuba diving? Great, wear a dive watch! Travelling the globe? Awesome, wear a GMT watch? Heading into the mountains for a days-long trek? […]

Introducing: Tudor Makes It Official With The Black Bay Ceramic 'Blue'

We've seen the watch around the F1 paddock, now you can have it on your wrist.

The Zenith Defy Skyline Gets the White Ceramic, Skeleton Dial Treatment

I’ll be upfront here: I love the Defy. All the Defys. I’ve said many times to many people that the Defy is probably my favorite sports watch line of all time. It’s certainly my favorite corner of the Zenith catalog, and vintage Defy references are some of the coolest you can own, and somehow still represent a great value compared to comparable sports watches from other brands. To me, these watches have historically been exactly the right combination of avant-garde design and sports watch functionality. A Defy, unlike a Submariner, for example, can be both an art piece and an everyday wearer. They are also consistently interesting from a materials perspective, particularly when they get into colored ceramic, as they have with the newest Defy introduced today, a successor of sorts to one of my favorite watches from last year.  The Defy Skyline White Ceramic Skeleton is in some ways a predictable, natural evolution of the current generation Defy. It takes the ceramic case and bracelet we saw in last year’s black model, turns them white, and gives us the skeleton dial treatment that debuted early last year. It’s a similar trajectory to the Defy Classic releases from several years back, which started in titanium, with colorful skeletonized ceramic versions to follow.  This new reference is a little different though for how it plays with contrast. Against the stark white of the case and bracelet, we get a skeletonized blue dial and a movement in a matching shade. Tha...

Blancpain Unveils the First All-Ceramic Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe

Pre-Owned Picks: A Yacht-Ready Rolex, A Ceramic Black Bay, And An Uncommon Take On A White Dial Royal Oak

Plus a classic dress watch from Patek and a gorgeous time-only option from Grand Seiko.

Introducing: IWC Unveils The First Fully Luminous Ceramic Concept Watch

A Ceralume Pilot's Chronograph made its debut on Lewis Hamilton's wrist at the Monaco Grand Prix.

News - IWC Unveils Ceralume, The First Fully Luminous Ceramic Watch (Spotted at Monaco GP on Lewis!)

The use of luminescent materials on watches is far from new… Soon after the discovery of radium and its properties (and dangers…) by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, watch dials – markers, numerals and hands – have been coated with radium and then different substances (tritium, Super-LumiNova) to produce light in the dark. Fully […]

First Look - The Hublot Big Bang Unico Orange and Dark Green Ceramic

The Big Bang exploded on the watch scene in 2005, converting Hublot into a major-league player. Even bigger news for the brand came in 2009 with the launch of Hublot’s first manufacture movement. Known as the Unico, this in-house flyback chronograph movement was first used for the King Power collection and then inside a new […]

The New Rolex GMT Master II 126710GRNR Brings Us A Grey-Black Bezel

Introducing the new Rolex GMT Master II 126710GRNR announced at Watches & Wonders 2024. Get a full rundown with specs, pricing, and photos.

Introducing - The Rolex Deepsea 136668LB in 18k Yellow Gold with Blue Dial and Bezel

The Rolex Submariner and Sea-Dweller are iconic diving watches that have achieved legendary status in horology. Originally launched in 2008, the Deepsea is Rolex’s hardcore diving instrument with a water resistance of 3,900 meters (and 11,000 meters for the Deepsea challenge of 2022). The model was updated at Baselworld 2018 with the reference 126660 featuring […]

Pre-Owned Picks: A Black Dial, Pre-Ceramic Rolex Daytona, A Neo-Vintage Patek Philippe Aquanaut, And A 'Casino Dial' Omega Speedmaster

Plus a 39mm IWC Mark XVI, and a titanium Blancpain Fifty Fathoms.

Revisiting Shinola: the New Black Ceramic Monster

I first took serious notice of Shinola when the brand released its limited edition yacht timer, the Shinola Mackinac in 2022. It’s a funky, vintage inspired design, with a square case, circular yellow-orange dial, and pops of blue that make it an eye-catching piece, perfect for summer. I bought it-and probably overpaid, but, hey, everyone’s got that watch they bought with their heart not their financial sense-and at the same time bought into Shinola’s story as a company that pays homage to its Detroit roots and assembles their watches in America. The Mackinac really seems to represent a turning point for the company. Its release was followed by a string of watches seemingly designed for watch enthusiasts who took issue with Shinola’s pricey, quartz-heavy early catalog. Take the latest addition to the Shinola lineup: the Ceramic Monster, which I had the opportunity to spend a week with recently. The Monster line has always had the best case design of any of Shinola’s watches-particularly with the subtly curved lugs, which here allow the accompanying strap to be flush with the case, unlike other Shinola models which feature straight, spindly lugs-but the Ceramic Monster is the first in the lineup to look truly distinct from other brands’ divers. This is thanks not just to the color change-the watch is all black with some red and white highlights -but to the subtle rippling wave pattern featured on the dial meant to evoke a choppy day on the Great Lake...

Hands-on - The Powerful Yet Surprisingly Lightweight IWC Big Pilot AMG G 63 Ceramic Matrix

Last year, IWC unveiled a pair of Big Pilot watches inspired by the iconic Mercedes G-Class, particularly the powerful AMG G 63 version, a completely excessive and irrational EUR 200k machine boasting 585 horsepower and accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.5 seconds, all of that in a 2-meter high body that was […]

A Beginner’s Guide To The GMT Bezel

Caller or flyer, it's all about how you spin it.

Hands-On: the Bell & Ross BR-X5 Green Lum & BR 03 Cyber Ceramic

Make no mistake, I’m grateful to be able to write about watches. Doing so opens a lot of doors and brings about some great opportunities. Many fantastic new watches are delivered to my door, and often weeks will pass without needing to pick something to wear from my own watch box. However, there are times when a new watch is in such demand, or produced in such limited numbers, that a loan is not easy to come by. The BR-X5 Green Lum is one such watch. Spending some time with it would mean leaving the warmth and comfort of my own home and venturing up to London’s Bell & Ross boutique. It’s a ‘hardship’ I’m willing to take, and an opportunity I’m still thankful for. So, accompanied by ‘wrist model’ and Bell & Ross fan Jeremy, I trekked up to the Big Smoke to go hands-on with this bright and bold addition to the BR-X5 line, and also had some surprise wrist time with the brand new BR 03 Cyber Ceramic. First up is the Green Lum ($13,300). When the BR-X5 line was launched in late 2022, it represented a serious advancement in the Bell & Ross brand identity. For as long as I can remember, the square watch has been Bell & Ross’s calling card. Think square: think Bell & Ross. The successful BR05 model family saw the brand pushing into the integrated-bracelet sports watch arena, rounding off a few square edges while still maintaining a familiar dial layout. Outside of those product lines Bell & Ross has also regularly added to and updated its ‘Concept’ range, w...

First Look - The Travis Scott x AP Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked “Cactus Jack” Brown Ceramic

Collaborations and watches inspired by pop and street culture are, without a doubt, an important part of Audemars Piguet‘s recent history. No other brand on the haute horlogerie scene has fostered such creative synergies with different universes. Sport, pop culture, art, fashion and entertainment… It looks at things from a different perspective, like it or […]

In The Shop: With Rado, Sometimes It Really Is Hip To Be Square - Especially When There’s High-Tech Ceramic Involved.

Several of members of the brand's quirky-meets-minimal True Square family have just landed in the Hodinkee Shop.

Hands-On: Forty-Eight Hours with the Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Ceramic Carbon Beige Camo

If you’ve listened to the podcast, follow me on Instagram, read what I write here on the website, or even have just had a five minute conversation with me about something innocuous, like who makes the best fast food cheeseburger, there’s a good chance you already know that I’ve kind of become obsessed with Hublot. I try not to waste an opportunity to be sure people know that to overlook this brand on the basis of their perception in the larger watch community is to be, frankly, a snob. I don’t much care for snobs, or gatekeeping, or for not looking beyond the surface of a particular watch or brand, so the widespread Hublot-hate that cuts across the watch community is a continued annoyance.  Because the thing is, Hublot is very good at doing what they set out to do, and judging them on the merits of fulfilling their intention seems like the only fair way to evaluate them, or any brand for that matter. Hublot, as it exists today, is essentially a brand full of statement pieces, but made with intention and a real focus on materials. The common gripes that they’re gaudy, or over-the-top, or even overpriced miss the point entirely. They are exactly what they are supposed to be. For a watch to be “gaudy” it would have to be so unintentionally, and as far as I’m concerned, a watch that’s over-the-top should wear that attribute as a strength.  As much I like and admire Hublot for being a weird mix between class clown, Rebel Without a Cause, and, I don’t know,...

Introducing: The Ceramic-Cased Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT 'Dark Grey'

A lightweight adaptation of Omega's big and burly dive GMT.

The outrageous Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Ceramic Carbon Beige Camo

IWC Brings a Fan Favorite Ceramic Tone to their 41mm Chronograph Platform

If you’re a fan of IWC pilot watches, you’ve no doubt participated in one of this cohort’s favorite activities, which is armchair quarterbacking the specifics of each release. We’ve gotten to a point where there are so many case sizes, complications, and case materials in the collection that the moment a new watch is announced, there’s a cry on the internet for that exact thing but tweaked, somehow, to more closely resemble another watch the brand makes. This is especially true with IWC’s ceramic cased pilot watches, which tend to be rather large and drive more than their share of “If only it was __mm” comments on Instagram. Earlier this year, in the midst of Ingy-fever, IWC quietly released a very nice 41mm chronograph in blue ceramic. It got some of us thinking: will more ceramic color options come to this Goldilocks sized case that everyone (myself very much included) seems to love?  The answer, of course, is yes. This week, IWC revealed a watch that many collectors have been hoping for for quite some time, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Top Gun Mojave Desert. The brown “Mojave” case is meant to look like desert sand, and has been a favorite when executed as a perpetual calendar and Big Pilot. It was also, first, a chronograph, which made its debut back in 2019 in the same 44.5mm case later occupied by the Tahoe and Woodland versions of the chrono. It’s certainly the brand’s most unique ceramic colorway, and I have a feeling the news of this...