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Deployant
Jaquet Droz updates its Grande Seconde Off-Centered Chronograph with a new Black Onyx dial and it looks exceptional. Perhaps not the most sought after brand in today's obsession with brand equity and residual value, Jaquet Droz provides another proposition in the line of its products. The monopusher chronograph with retrograde date is one such timepiece.
Quill & Pad
Bovet Récital 26 Brainstorm Chapter Two: the story continues. Indications include hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve, moon phase, and a world time/second time zone display. All of which is powered by an entirely new double-sided flying tourbillon movement with totally new architecture. Warning: it may blow your mind!
SJX Watches
Based on the souscription calibre created by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1796, the Tradition is characterised by an open, symmetrical movement layout and an off-centered time display. The distinctive look has made it one of Breguet’s modern-day hits, though most variants of the Tradition have been watches for men. The latest Tradition Dame 7038 adds to the compact line-up of Tradition watches for ladies. Exclusive to boutiques, the Tradition Dame 7038 combines a dark, iridescent Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial with a deep-brown movement treatment. And unusually for Breguet, the watch is delivered with a matching clutch bag. Initial thoughts The off-centered, Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial was the first thing that caught my attention when this arrived in my inbox. With enigmatic colours that shimmer and vary between violet and green, Tahitian mother-of-pearl never fails to be captivating. Obtained from black-lipped oysters around Tahiti and French Polynesia, they are much rarer compared to white mother-of-pearls as was featured in the first Tradition Dame 7038, making this more appealing, not just for its colour but also the material. The brown undertones of the Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial are complemented by the brown treatment of the frosted finish on the movement and the rose gold case. In typical Breguet style, the mother-of-pear dial is finished in clous de paris engine-turning, a decorative touch that is tradition and always welcome as it adds visual interest to the ...
SJX Watches
One of the most high-spec travel watches on the market, the Lange 1 Time Zone has just gotten a major revamp. The new Lange 1 Time Zone looks pretty much like the old one, but it’s powered by a brand-new movement that’s been developed from the ground up. Though it retains the same functions as before – plus a basic daylight savings time reminder – the dial has been improved, both in terms of display as well as details. Initial thoughts The original Lange 1 Time Zone was an ambitious travel watch that did a lot – twin time zones with individual day and night indicators, cities disc, oversized date, and power reserve. Functionality was maximised, but the interface and display was complex. The new Lange 1 Time Zone takes it a step further with the addition of a simple daylight savings time reminder that’s discreet enough to be almost invisible. But because the watch still has so many features, the interface inevitably remains complex, with two pushers plus a crown, making it a bit fiddly to use. Add to that the large and heavy case, and the Lange 1 Time Zone isn’t the most practical of travel watches. It really is for someone who appreciates the technical complexity and also enjoys interacting with the watch. Technical accomplishment remains an appeal in the new model. In typical Lange style, the new watch is powered by a movement developed from the ground up. A substantial amount of effort was expended to retain the same look – as was done with the Lange 1 ...
SJX Watches
A staple of Blancpain line-up since the brand was reestablished in the early 1980s, the extra-slim Villeret wristwatch is stripped to the bare essentials but classically-styled, and it’s now available in stainless steel, and also red gold. Understated and thin, the Villeret Ultraplate 6224 is an automatic three-hander with a date display, and just over 8 mm thick, hence the name – ultra plate translates as “ultra flat”. Initial thoughts Reminiscent of classic dress watches like the Patek Philippe Calatrava and the A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin, the Villeret Ultraplate is a simple design that’s easy to replicate, which is why similar styles can be found in cheap as well as expensive watches. What differentiates such watches is the quality of execution, particularly in the details. The dial of the Villeret Ultraplate is unadorned, and almost plain, but the Roman numerals are solid gold appliqués affixed to the dial by hand, adding much-needed height and texture to an otherwise flat dial. The slender, open-worked leaf hands also complement the simplicity of the design. Such hands are not overly common, making them appealing. And then there’s the date. While it adds extra utility that is appreciated by some, I am not a fan. The date hampers the purity and symmetry of the dial. With a retail price of a bit over US$8,000 in steel, the Villeret Ultraplate is competitively priced for a dress watch powered by a high-end, automatic movement. Extra-thin The case is ...
SJX Watches
A watchmaker who also trained as an engineer, Stefan Ihnen has been leading IWC’s movement development since 2006, continuing the brand’s long-established tradition of concise and practical movements. This year Mr Ihnen and his team rolled out new movements in a trio of Portugieser models – the Yacht Club Moon and Tide, Tourbillon Retrograde Chronograph, and Monopusher Chronograph – all built according to a philosophy that mixes technical accompaniment with practicality. Since the 1980s, IWC’s movements have been characterised by a pragmatic approach, making a virtue of constructing the most complex mechanisms in a simple, robust manner. The philosophy gave birth to many of the brand’s hallmark complications such as the Da Vinci perpetual calendar and the Il Destriero Scafusia, both complicated but powered by the Valjoux 7750. The cal. 82835 in the new Portugieser Yacht Club Moon & Tide And in the year 2000, the brand debuted the cal. 5000, an extra-large automatic movement with a seven-day power reserve and Pellaton winding mechanism, marking the start IWC’s modern generation of in-house movements. Twenty years on, IWC boasts an extensive range of proprietary calibres of 10 movement families. Beyond the solid and impressive foundations, the movements sometimes incorporate esoteric complications, ranging from a constant force tourbillon, and the a newly-introduced tide complication. Mr Ihnen is the perfect person to shed light on these movements. Formal...
Quill & Pad
BAM! POW! THWACK! Loud and brash is sometimes the best way to make the world sit up and take notice (you can show your more refined side later). Which brings Joshua Munchow to the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Diabolus in Machina, a watch created as much for shock value as to display watchmaking prowess.
Revolution
In episode three of Ross Povey’s Zoom video interview series, “Desert Island Dials, where we ask some of our friends from the community what watch they would bring along with them, if they were on a desert island, we have our latest US editor (@steviewatches) speaking with us today. He tells us about his Gerald Genta Automatic Jump Hour Retrograde Mickey Mouse watch and other unexpected pieces in his collection.
Deployant
Bell & Ross extends the BR 03 square instrument line of watches with the new BR 03-92 HUD, with a dial style modeled after the Heads Up Display in aircraft.
Hodinkee
It isn't retro: It's retrograde.
Deployant
Casio announces an addition to their Frogman: the new Frogman GWF-A1000 is the first Frogman to feature an analog display.
SJX Watches
In a smart bit of irony, the latest aviation-instrument edition from Bell & Ross – the BR 03-92 HUD – is a mechanical replica of the electronic heads-up display (HUD) in fighter jets, reproducing the green and black screen from the cockpit with sapphire crystal and Super-Luminova. The BR 03-92 HUD follows on other instrument panel-inspired BR 03 watches, including the BR 01-92 Red Radar of 2011, which was probably the cleverest of the editions, until new HUD. Initial thoughts In its initial years, Bell & Ross (B&R;) took the military-instrument aspect of the BR series pretty seriously, and the watches were largely no-nonsense pilot’s watches. But starting a couple of years ago the designs have gotten more lighthearted – from full “lume” to skulls – which conversely makes sense. The HUD continues with the theme, while managing some self-reflective humour in being a mechanical watch, but manages to capture the cockpit display. And as is typical for the BR series, the watch is powered by an ordinary movement, but presented in a high-quality case made by B&R;’s sister company, G&F; Chatelain (and both, in turn, are owned by Chanel), and accompanied by an accessible retail price. In short, it’s a fun, affordable watch that’s well executed. Tinted crystal The HUD-style watch face is achieved with simple but effective construction that creates several layers of glow-in-the-dark green: the sapphire crystal is tinted green with a coating on its underside, with the ...
Time+Tide
It takes an iron will to walk past an A. Lange & Söhne dealer without losing a few minutes of your day. The German masters ensure their collections soar above the competition, bewitching onlookers and dominating wish-lists around the world. If you’re lucky, dead in the centre of the captivating display will be a Zeitwerk … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater, the three-quarters of a million dollar watch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The DW5600NASA20 is a new release from G-Shock that “pays homage to NASA” (National Aeronautics and Space Agency). Mostly pure white, the DW5600NASA20 is as clean as the Columbia Laboratory on the ISS. It features the old red NASA logo prominently above the display. There are some other interesting unique features as well...
SJX Watches
Five years ago, A. Lange & Söhne unveiled its first minute repeating wristwatch (setting aside the €2 million Grand Complication), but it was no ordinary repeater. Instead the it was a decimal repeater incorporated into the Zeitwerk and its signature digital time display. Originally introduced in platinum as part of the regular collection, the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater now returns in white gold as a 30-piece limited edition at Watches & Wonders 2020. Though the white gold case bestows little price advantage over the monochromatic platinum model, the watch does look more striking in blue. The idea of a decimal-repeating, digital watch is sensible – pairing the digital, jumping hours and minutes of the Zeitwerk with a decimal repeater means the chimes to match time display of hours, tens of minutes, and single minutes. In other words, the decimal repeater is as intuitive as the digital time-display. This is in contrast to typical minute repeaters that chime the time in 15-minute blocks, followed by the the remaining minutes. Visible at 12 o’clock is a power reserve indicator The only stylistic difference with this new edition is the dial colour. While the time display is still framed by the familiar rhodium-plated bridge, the rest of the dial is now dark blue, a first for the Zeitwerk (which has historically been available with either silver or black dials). And below the bridge are the symmetrically-arranged twin hammers and gongs, with the latter tracing the pe...
Revolution
The linear display of information made famous by URWERK emerged first from an almost forgotten watch by Patek Philippe: the Cobra 3414.
Hodinkee
Some platinum-on-platinum Wizardry on display
SJX Watches
French watchmaker Cyril Brivet-Naudot made his debut two years ago with the Eccentricity, a time-only watch that’s fascinating and impressive on many fronts. Not only is it almost entirely made by hand, the Eccentricity is intriguing in design and mechanics – from the overall architecture to details like the key-winding mechanism and regulator-style time display with a twist, and above all, the proprietary escapement. Just 29 years old, Mr Brivet-Naudot began working on the Eccentricity after graduating from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of Switzerland’s best technical universities. Prior to that, he earned a diploma in watchmaking from the Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau, a small town in eastern France that borders Switzerland. The school has gained a reputation for producing imaginative watchmakers, many pursuing a similar style that’s inspired by 19th century pocket watch movements, including Theo Auffret, a peer of Mr Brivet-Naudot. The result of three years of development, the Eccentricity is very much in the same vein as the watches produced by Mr Brivet-Naudot’s fellow graduates. It artfully combines a 19th century aesthetic sensibility with exotic features, including a novel, free-eccentric escapement, for which the watch was named. And it is built by hand: with the exception of the mainspring, hairspring, jewels and crystals, every component of the watch was made from scratch by Mr Brivet-Naudot, without the aid of CNC machine...
SJX Watches
Twenty-nine year-old Stefan Ketelaars started his eponymous brand in 2017, producing watches based on the ETA Unitas 6497 and 6498 but modified in a novel manner while still being affordable, starting at just €3,800, or about US$4,300. His signature complications are the “flying regulator” time display and spherical day and night display, but most notable is the balance wheel repositioned to the front of the watch. The most recent model unveiled by Ketelaars Watches, the 3D Terra in Motion with Reverse Balance. The new watch builds on his earlier creation that features a miniature Earth that functions as a day and night display, but adds on the elevated balance wheel. Like the rest of his watches, the 3D Terra in Motion is powered by a heavily modified Unitas 6497. But unlike the usual modified-Unitas fare in this price range that reshape the bridges for a new look, Mr Ketelaars retains most of the components on the back and instead reworks the front. From the back, the distinctive Unitas bridges retain the same shape, but enhanced with pronounced, sloping bevelling on all the edges. The anglage is wide enough that its top edge almost touches the countersinks for the nearby screws and jewels. A Ketelaars Unitas 6497 with a standard balance wheel on the back; the bridges are finished with radial graining and anglage The Reverse Balance The most significant modification on the new 3D Terra in Motion is the repositioning of the balance wheel. Instead of being on the...
Revolution
The iconic Portugieser Chronograph from IWC gets the automatic in-house Cal. 69355 in regular series production, and a display caseback to show it off.
Quill & Pad
As a fan of the classic 1950s and 1960s Omega Constellations, Colin Smith had always dismissed Omega’s 1982 reworking of its flagship model, known as the Constellation Manhattan, as something of an aberration from the “true” Constellation concept. His “road to Damascus” moment occurred recently when he saw a 36 mm black-dial co-axial chronometer on display at an Omega dealer in Bordeaux.
SJX Watches
The highly-regarded Voutilainen Vingt-8 has a 39 mm case as standard, along with a dazzling variety of dials and additional complications, from a retrograde date to an inverted movement. But one of the more interesting variants is the simple-but-enormous oversized Vingt-8. Originally introduced in 2017, the extra-large, 44 mm Vingt-8 is available as a custom order, with the most recent example being the Vingt-8 ‘Blue Pearl’, one of the few Voutilainen watches with a mother-of-pearl dial. The 44 mm case… With an enlarged movement to fit The oversized Vingt-8 has been produced in a range of case metals, including steel, but this example has a platinum case, which means an impressive heft, the kind of weight you rarely find on highly-finished, classical wristwatches. But it also means the watch feels heavy on the wrist, which can be good or bad depending on taste. Importantly – and this is probably the most important design change – the lug width has been widened to 22 mm, compared to just 20 mm on the very first oversized watch. This gives the watch ideal proportions – the new case design needs nothing more. Visually the watch is light and informal. The mother of pearl is a pale, even blue that is almost luminous and reveals nuances up close. It gives the watch a cool colour palette that’s more restrained than the average Voutilainen, which tends to have an elaborately decorated dial. Pearl’s progress The first watch with such a dial was the 2-Eight, the lad...
Hodinkee
Is a retrograde dive watch Mission Impossible? Reservoir has the answer.
SJX Watches
Last year Urwerk launched the UR-100 SpaceTime, a watch that installed the brand’s signature wandering hours satellite display in newly designed watch case. Unsurprisingly the UR-100 SpaceTime became a brisk seller, not only because it is the most affordable model in the catalogue, but also because its case is compact and relatively conventional in shape, making it the most wearable Urwerk watch by far. And so Urwerk has followed up with the UR-100 Gunmetal, a new variant that arrives just four months after four months after the model was launched. It feels a little bit too soon for another edition, but the Gunmetal is different enough – and the original versions are almost sold out – that it can be forgiven. Steel in disguise While the case of the new UR-100 remains the same design, the finish is unusual. The material looks like titanium, even up close it resembles titanium, but in the hand it is obviously too heavy to be titanium. The case is actually steel, which has been sandblasted to give it a smooth, matte finish and then coated with a dark grey coating. That’s a bit of a surprise, because watch cases that look like titanium are almost always titanium. But Urwerk’s rationale for using steel is practical: hard-coated steel is more resistant to scratches than titanium, which is generally quite soft. The result is watch that has a strong sci-fi military look, like a piece of kit used by the Marines in Aliens, which is very much Urwerk’s original house styl...
SJX Watches
One of Hublot’s most enduring artistic collaborations has been its relationship with Sang Bleu, a Swiss creative agency and tattoo studio. Founded by Swiss tattoo artist Maxime Plescia-Büchi – who happens to be a bona fide watch aficionado himself – one of Sang Bleu’s signature tattoos is a symmetrical, geometric pattern made up of triangles, which was converted into an unusual time display for the Sang Bleu wristwatch. While the original Sang Bleu watch was time only, the Big Bang Sang Bleu II is a chronograph – with triple Sang Bleu indications, for the time, as well as the two chronograph registers. Clad in blue and available in titanium or 18k gold, the Sang Bleu tells the time via two large, latticework hands – the classic Sang Bleu motif – that have luminous paint on their tips. Similarly, the chronograph hands are rendered as open-worked octagons. Reminiscent of a kinetic sculpture as the hands move, the look is striking and unique, although it doesn’t help with legibility. Sang Bleu finishing The triangular Sang Bleu motif continues onto the bezel and case, which is essentially a geometrically-shaped variation of the tradition Hublot Big Bang. Notably, because of the alternating brushed and polished surfaces that cover the case, the brushed surface is actually a laser engraved linear pattern, because of the impossibility of creating alternating finishes on the same plane. Because the Sang Bleu II is a chronograph, it’s a large watch that’s 4...
Time+Tide
Since the Rolex lineup is peppered with all-stars, like the perennially popular Submariner, crowd favourite GMT-Master II and boy-racer Daytona, it would be easy to overlook the basic Oyster Perpetual as simply filler for the (nowadays usually empty) display case. After spending a week with the new-for-2018 white dial variant, I advise you not to … ContinuedThe post My week with the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
You’ll be familiar with the misadventures of Spinal Tap over their 1982 album, Smell The Glove. The original cover artwork is problematic. Featuring the image of “a greased, naked woman on all fours wearing a dog collar”, the cover is knocked back by retailers who flatly refuse to display such a sexist image. Without the … ContinuedThe post The end of the road – Luke’s exit watch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Chanel’s best known watch is unquestionably the all-ceramic J12, now in its refined and upgraded second generation. But its most interesting watch – from a mechanic and design perspective – is the Monsieur de Chanel. Originally offered only in precious metals, the watch was last year given a stylish makeover with the Monsieur Édition Noire that’s clad entirely in matte black ceramic. A jumping hour with retrograde minutes, the Édition Noire is powered by the Calibre 1, an original, integrated movement produced with help from independent watchmaker Romain Gauthier. But equally important is its design, which is discreetly brilliant. The watch has the sort of thoughtful aesthetic that pays attention to the whole but also the details – the typeface used on the dial was designed expressly for the watch – that is expected from the grand Parisian fashion house. In fact, the design is more coherent and informed than many watches created by traditional watchmakers. The Chanel elements of the watch are subtle, like the octagonal frame for the hours inspired by the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle The long road Like other luxury fashion houses, Chanel has been working hard to make proper timepieces, watches that are well made and equipped with respectable movements. Earlier this year it took a 20% stake in movement maker Kenissi, in a joint venture with Tudor, which now produces calibres for the face-lifted J12. Kenissi is merely the latest investment in Chanel’s gradual...
SJX Watches
The conventional calendar used in most of the world is the Gregorian calendar, which has 365 days and an extra day in February every leap year. Consequently, and quite sensibly, almost all calendar watches display the Gregorian calendar. But there are other calendars used by various cultures and countries, like the Japanese calendar used for its Imperial eras, and also the Islamic, or Hijri, calendar. And now for the very first time, Parmigiani Fleurier has created a wristwatch with a Hijri perpetual calendar. Founded in 1996 by watchmaker Michel Parmigiani, the brand has long been synonymous with inventive and complex watches, most notably the supercar-inspired Bugatti timepieces. In 2011, the brand unveiled the Hijri calendar table clock, a US$2.5 million creation elaborately constructed in silver, rock crystal and semiprecious stone. Now Parmigiani has refined the concept and miniaturised it for the wrist with the Tonda Hijri Perpetual Calendar. A lunar calendar Made up of 12 lunar months and used to track important dates and events in Islam, the Hijri calendar differs from the common Gregorian Calendar in being a lunar calendar, one based on the cycles of the moon, and not Earth’s revolution around the sun. Its 12 months have either 29 or 30 days, resulting in a year that’s between 10 and 12 days shorter than the conventional 365-day year. The Islamic calendar began in 622 AD when the Prophet Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina, both in present-day Saudi Arabia, ...
SJX Watches
Vault, a Swiss watch brand founded in 2013 by Mark Schwarz, has just unveiled the V2+ Red CC, a unique, left-handed variant of its unusual approach to time-telling. Inspired by a bank vault’s time lock mechanism – Mr Schwarz was both a police officer and banker earlier in his career – the brand’s watches feature a time display based on a planetary gear system, where each hour marker is actually a functioning planetary gear that travels around the dial. All of that ingenious mechanics is courtesy of UhrTeil, the complication and manufacturing outfit led by Andreas Strehler. Novel case material The new V2+ Red CC differs from earlier models with its left-handed crown and novel case material. The case is made of carbon-ceramic composite, which gives it the properties of both its constituent materials – the lightness and strength of carbon as well as the hardness of ceramic. Basically, ceramic is layered in between sheets of carbon, which is then submerged polymer and baked an autoclave to create the block of composite material. As a result, it retains the distinctive striped pattern of carbon composite. The tonneau-shaped case has a complex, multi-faceted design made up of five parts and is curved on two axis, allowing it to sit well on the wrist. It measures 39mm by 46.7mm and 15mm in height, which is thick but a necessity. That’s because the movement is essentially an automatic base calibre with a planetary display module on top. And as in the realm of such e...
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