22,316 articles · 2,162 videos found · page 209 of 816
Monochrome
One of my most memorable experiences when tumbling down the mechanical watchmaking rabbit hole is handling my very first tourbillon watch. I had already been writing for MONOCHROME for a while when it happened, and I knew about the complication and its function, but I had never handled one in person. It was at the […]
SJX Watches
Inspired by Russian avant-garde art of the early 20th century, Raketa’s collection of the same name reproduces the graphic, geometric style on watch dials. The Raketa Avant-Garde 0292 is starkly and characterised by bold shapes. And unlike its predecessors, the new Avant-Garde does away with hour markers, which detracts from legibility but makes it all the more striking. Initial thoughts At first glance, the Avant-Garde appears abstract but is actually entirely conventional with three hands on a central axis. While readability is mixed at best, the dial has presence. The boldly graphic dial instantly evokes the art that inspired it, though it is not a like-for-like reproduction. Of all the art-inspired Raketa watches to date, this is the most interesting. Priced at €1,625, the new Avant-Garde sits at the higher end of the range for watches of this segment; comparable watches would be those equipped with Miyota calibres. However, the Avant-Garde has the advantage of striking, original aesthetics that are coherent with the brand and its history. Most “artistic” watches in this price segment tend to have less coherent artistic sensibilities. Granted, the fact that the dial is inspired by Russian art may be a turn-off for some, but the watch in itself is an appealing one. Initial thoughts The Avant-Garde 0292 is modelled on Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, a Bolshevik propaganda poster created during the Russian Civil War by El Lissitzky, a leading artist of the R...
Hodinkee
This next round of classes will be hosted by Ben Bridge Jeweler, Chopard and Rezvani Motors.
Hodinkee
The Crown published official renderings and publicly commented on the billion-dollar project for the first time since the news of the expansion was announced back in 2022.
Teddy Baldassarre
In an era when the line between what is a sports watch and what is a dress watch have been blurred substantially, the presence of Roman numerals on your watch’s dial is one of the last reliable hallmarks that identify it as a timepiece meant for dressing up, not down; a watch designed with classical elegance in mind more so than robustness or even optimum legibility. Of course, Roman numerals in general are rarely encountered in most people’s modern lives, the annual naming and marketing of Super Bowls being the rare exception. Thus, watches with Roman-numeral dials are relatively rare in the horological wild as well, albeit still occupying an appealing niche embraced by many watch manufacturers as well as by an avid core of enthusiasts. Here, we’ve tracked down 18 that are on the market in 2024; as per our usual format, they’re spotlighted in ascending order of price and represent a wide range of price points. Orient Bambino Day-Date Price: $410, Case Size: 40.5mm, Thickness: 12.6mm, Lug to Lug: 46.5mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic F6B22 Often under the radar of American watch consumers and overshadowed by its larger Japanese brethren, Citizen and Seiko (which with it shares a corporate connection through Epson), Orient has been making value-oriented watches in Japan since 1950. The Bambino, Orient’s dressy gents’ model, offers simple three-handed options and a handful of “quiet” complications, like th...
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Hodinkee
[Re]Master02 and the best of vintage Patek Philippe.
Worn & Wound
One of the core challenges among modern watchmakers is balancing past, present, and future-honoring the traditions of this centuries-old art form, harnessing new technologies, and looking toward the next generation of collectors. When you think of a brand like Ulysse Nardin, you might assume its focus is chiefly on the latter two. It was nearly 25 years ago that the brand paved the way for the use of silicon in watchmaking, a material that has now become vital to countless manufacturers across the industry. Ulysse Nardin debuted its silicon escapement wheel in the Freak, aptly named for its seemingly absurd design featuring no dial, no hands, and no crown-the first of its kind. “The Freak is counterculture in watchmaking,” asserts François-Xavier Hotier, President of Ulysse Nardin Americas. “It breaks all the rules we knew before.” In order to break the rules, you must know the rules, and Ulysse Nardin’s more than 175-year history is proof the brand knows a thing or two about traditional watchmaking. In the early days, the maison built a reputation for its marine chronometers and complex pocket watches. Even into the 21st Century, Ulysse Nardin has continued to emphasize its commitment to artistic craft, acquiring its own enamel-dial manufacture in 2011, a decade after the introduction of the Freak. Now, the latest incarnation of the Freak fully embodies the brand’s attention to the future, present, and past. At Watches & Wonders earlier this spring, I...
Hodinkee
Horological innovation beyond the wristwatch from Cartier.
Monochrome
One of the most revered and respected names in the world of watchmaking, and certainly in the independent watchmaking scene, is Kari Voutilainen. The Finnish watchmaker is an expert in ‘wrapping’ the most brilliantly hand-finished movements in beautiful discrete cases with tear-drop lugs. With 20 years of track record as an Independent watchmaker and more […]
Revolution
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Monochrome
Are you done with in-your-face splashes of colour? Are you fed up with blue, yellow, red, green or perhaps even pink and purple? Well, you’re in luck because we’ve been eyeballing a couple of very impressive watches with simple yet ever-fashionable pristine white dials. This almost blank canvas can serve any purpose, from simple single-handed unisex […]
Worn & Wound
Pink is everywhere you look these days. Whether at the movies with Barbie and Mean Girls or on the pitch and track with Inter-Miami and Alpine, pink is undoubtedly experiencing a moment. If you need further proof of this, look no further than Pantone, which has named a shade of pink its ‘Color of the Year’ for not only 2024, but did so for 2023 as well. So it’s no small wonder that we’re seeing pink crop up in watches of all stripes recently. One brand that has made great use of pink over the last few years is Bravur, a Swedish micro-brand making excellent watches inspired by cycling. I finally got to see their collection in person at WindUp Watch Fair in San Francisco recently, and I can attest that they are one of those brands whose watches got stuck in the corners of your mind, persistently refusing to give up space. This latest release from the brand is the Grand Tour La Corsa Rosa IV, a chronograph inspired by the Giro D’Italia (think an Italian version of the Tour de France). Now, I am not the person to dive into the intricacies of international competitive cycling, but I can tell you that, similar to the Tour de France’s yellow jersey, each day’s leader in the Giro D’Italia wears a pink jersey, and that it was this jersey which inspired the black and pink chronograph’s colorway. As the Roman numeral in the name would indicate, this is the fourth release in the Grand Tour La Corsa Rosa line of watches. While the most obvious nod to the race are the ...
Worn & Wound
A few weeks back, I found myself sitting at the end of my kitchen island on a phone call with a man I have never met, but with whose collection I am intimately familiar. After all, CB - better known as @onlybuyingtime - has over 30k followers on Instagram, he is a voting member of the GPHG, and he is the owner and caretaker of, quite frankly, one of the most diverse collections of independent watches I’ve seen anywhere. CB has been collecting for the entirety of his adult life, though his fascination with watches extends back further. As he describes it, CB had “fun watches as a kid,” but it was only in adulthood that he really started collecting in a tangible way. “It wasn’t like I had a parent or anybody that was really into watches. I think I really fell into it as an adult and realized this is something that’s very unique to each man. It tells a lot about a personality. If you are in a sports watch vs. a dress watch; the colors, the make, the models, the complications, all that stuff tells a lot about somebody. And for me, it’s just another level of expression.” Modern Day Patronage One of the great treasures of Philadelphia is the Barnes Foundation which is, for those unfamiliar, one of the world’s stand-out collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern art. When I first moved to Philly in 2022, it took me less than a week to visit the Barnes for the first time, and, in a city filled with great museums, it remains my favorite, and...
Hodinkee
The Grand Seiko Brand Curator and Director of Marketing will discuss the brand's design ethos with special guest Junichi Kamata, Grand Seiko Design Director.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Tudor Black Bay took watch fandom by storm when it hit the market in 2012 and the sporty, vintage-inspired divers' watch has since grown into an extensive family with something for just about everyone, now boasting in-house calibers, multiple styles and sizes, and even some precious metals and complications. In this comprehensive guide we explore the origins of the Tudor Black Bay and showcase the standout models you can buy right now. FOUNDATIONS OF TUDOR With an eye toward making watches that would be affordable while still maintaining a high level of quality, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf registered the Tudor brand trademark in 1926, and began running the Tudor company as a subsidiary brand of Rolex in 1946. Tudor watches were the only watches on the market at the time that featured reliable third-party movements inside the famed waterproof Rolex Oyster case, also developed in 1926, and were initially more geared toward the tool watch market than were Rolex timepieces, which already enjoyed a reputation as luxury items. The first Tudor watch with the “Oyster” name followed shortly after the launch of the brand, in 1947, kicking off a long tradition of timepieces suitable for underwater adventure. The first Tudor Prince model followed in 1952, around the same time that Tudor began an R&D; partnership with the French Navy (Marine Nationale), from which would emerge the brand’s first dive watch. THE OYSTER PRINCE SUBMARINER The Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner, Tu...
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Worn & Wound
Phillips, along with Bacs & Russo, has recently unveiled the 1952 Observatory Dial Limited Edition. This watch was created in partnership between three industry leaders: Phillips Watches, William Massena from the horological concept studio Massena LAB, and the award-winning independent watchmaker Raúl Pagès. The result is a watch that encompasses each collaborators’ unique talents, while building a watch that melds past and present seamlessly. Drawing inspiration from the legendary Observatory-grade Patek Philippe Ref. 2458 wristwatch, originally crafted in platinum for collector Joe Ben “J.B.” Champion, Jr. in 1952, this watch pays homage to horological history. Notably, the original timepiece set a record in 2014 as the most valuable time-only wristwatch ever auctioned, solidifying its iconic status. Despite its vintage influences, the 1952 Observatory Dial Limited Edition has a distinctly modern essence. Building upon the technical foundation established by Massena LAB and Raúl Pagès in 2022 with the Magraph Limited Edition, this collaboration introduces a 38.5mm × 10mm stainless steel case housing the manual-wind, proprietary caliber M690. This movement is a refinement of Massena LAB’s inaugural movement, features sub-seconds at 9 o’clock and hand-decoration (including hand finished anglage on bridges and plates) overseen by Swiss craftsmen under Pagès’ direction. Embracing a love for vintage timepieces and the narratives surrounding them, the colla...
Worn & Wound
Bremont made their debut at Watches & Wonders last week, and they unexpectedly became the talk of the show. The new watches represent a dramatic departure from the design language Bremont has cultivated over the past 20 years, and serve as the introduction of Davide Cerrato at the helm of the company (he’s been CEO since spring of last year, but these new novelties are the first from the brand without the design input of founders Nick and Giles English). Relaunches are complicated, and we can’t recall a similar attempt at a rebrand that was so ambitious. To unveil a completely new strategy at a brand’s first Watches & Wonders under a CEO who has been in place for less than a year is a massive undertaking, and regardless of how you feel about Bremont’s new direction, there’s no denying that this was a big swing. Below you’ll find reactions to Bremont’s Watches & Wonders presence from Zach Weiss and Zach Kazan, both of whom had a chance to (briefly) go hands-on with the new novelties. We hope to have an opportunity to spend more time with these watches in the near future to bring you a more complete evaluation outside the fanfare and noise of the industry’s major trade show. Zach Kazan A somewhat slower year for big, flashy new releases at Watches & Wonders means that smaller stories about watches and brands that don’t normally generate a ton of heat will be talked about and picked apart in a way you wouldn’t necessarily see. Last year, when Rolex dropped...
Monochrome
Released in 2021, the Chronoscope was a surprising take on the classic Speedmaster, combining a large case, a two-counter dial (usually found in larger versions and racing-oriented models) with a vintage-inspired dial bearing no fewer than three snailed-shaped tracks. Untouched since its presentation, which included steel and bronze-gold versions, the Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope collection now […]
Hodinkee
A new Carrera that's equal parts heritage and modern.
Hodinkee
With 600 meters of water resistance, the new Defy Extreme Diver fills a big gap in the Zenith lineup.
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Hodinkee
One of IWC's most interesting watches of 2024 was a watch that stood alone among the collection.
Hodinkee
A modern take on an old-school complication.
Revolution
Revolution
Hodinkee
Will mint green be the final boss of the green dial trend?
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