1,049 articles · 12 videos found · page 25 of 36
Monochrome
Since formalising its modern manufacture capabilities (including a long-standing stake in Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier), La Montre Hermès has developed a distinct vocabulary with typography that’s unmistakably Hermès. The H08 collection, launched in 2021, translated the approach into a daily-wear sports watch that felt designed rather than engineered. Its cushion case, graphic numerals, and mix of […]
SJX Watches
The Patek Philippe approach to watchmaking has developed through a steady accumulation of choices. Since 1839, the manufacture has refined its mechanical language through proportion, regulation, and clarity in construction. Each calibre reflects priorities shaped by experience, built for durability, and adjusted for lasting performance. Understanding the technical evolution of Patek Philippe requires attention to the principles that govern its construction: structural integrity, material stability, and a consistent focus on functional accuracy. Many manufacturers embraced modernity through visible transformation and stylistic experimentation, while Patek Philippe evolved through careful integration of innovation that served enduring mechanical aims. Its development follows a logic defined by proportion, restraint, and the pursuit of lasting technical harmony. The modern-day, expansive manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates in Geneva From Jean Adrien Philippe’s keyless winding system of the 1840s to the introduction of silicon components in the twenty-first century, progress has remained guided by internal reasoning and accumulated skill. Each movement expresses a study of mechanical relationships refined over time, where advances emerge from clarity of purpose and precision in design. The chapters that follow trace this progression through its historical sequence. Each period reflects a technical response to changing demands: the shift from pocket to wrist, the rise of automati...
Monochrome
Dive watches span the spectrum: retro throwbacks that trade on romance, do-it-all desk divers that split time between meetings and marinas, and true instruments built for cold, dark water. This segmentation is very much in place at Oris, and the Aquis Pro 1000m belongs in the last category. Previously available with a manufacture Calibre 400 […]
Monochrome
Presented in late 2024, the Independence Skeleton Chrono 42mm marked a significant milestone for Swiss brand Norqain, particularly with its new, exclusive 8k flyback chronograph calibre developed in partnership with AMT Manufacture. The young, independent, family-owned watch brand now introduces a new version of the model in bold orange and a stainless steel case. The […]
Monochrome
Launched in 2021 for the Manufacture’s 25th anniversary, the L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 was Chopard’s first in-house jumping hour watch, pairing a pure 40mm case with the long-autonomy L.U.C 98 calibre and a Grand Feu enamel dial. That model has since spawned further variants (including rose-gold reference with a gold-based dial graced with green straw […]
SJX Watches
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of its most enduring wristwatch design, Girard-Perregaux (GP) has just unveiled the Laureato Fifty, a watch that highlights the brand’s storied history, while asserting the manufacture‘s place in the current competitive market. As expected, the watch is powered by the brand’s new workhorse calibre GP4800, which makes its official debut here. A limited edition of just 200 pieces, the Laureato Fifty is dressed in a two-tone case of steel and yellow gold, echoing the 1975 original. Though this is a one-off limited edition, it is more than likely that this revised Laureato styling will be implemented across the Laureato line in the coming year. Initial thoughts To understand the Laureato Fifty, we must first consider the era to which it pays tribute. The original design of the Laureato, presented to the world in 1975, appeared right between Gerald Genta’s iconic duo of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus, launched in 1972 and 1976, respectively. Compared to these designs, which would come to define the category, the Laureato was different in a few respects. First, the original design is credited to one of GP’s in-house designers, whose name has been lost to time. Second, the original Laureato was cutting edge at the time with its proprietary, chronometer-certified quartz movement, compared to the ultra-thin automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre-derived calibre found in the Royal Oak (and later, the Nautilus). Turning to...
Time+Tide
The upwardly-mobile French brand has taken its iconic dive watch, cased it in titanium and housed a manufacture tourbillon movement within.The post Yema inaugurates its high-end Millésime Editions with a titanium tourbillon Superman force majeure appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Monochrome
First introduced in 2011 and refreshed in 2016, the Saxonia Thin has always been the most distilled expression of A. Lange & Söhne’s philosophy of elegance, reducing watchmaking to its essentials with just two hands and a perfectly judged sense of proportion. This year, the manufacture presents two new special editions that bring a modern […]
Worn & Wound
Longines has announced a pair of new watches in their Spirit collection today, and taken together it feels like a fairly significant shift and update for the five year old line. When the Spirit watches launched in 2020, it represented Longines making an attempt to develop watches that put more of a balance on contemporary vs. vintage inspired divide, having spent years carving out a niche as one of the most tasteful reinterpreters of their own back catalog. The Spirit watches were an entirely new invention but still leaned into the brand’s natural heritage appeal, and impressed from the start with excellent finishing and build quality. As the collection expanded over the years, it’s grown full of under the radar sleepers, but a handful of little issues are always mentioned by admittedly picky enthusiasts when new products drop. At least some of those seem to have been addressed between these new releases, updated versions of the Spirit Pilot and Spirit Pilot Flyback. We’ll look at the Spirit Pilot Flyback first, as it’s a genuinely surprising and unexpected evolution of an ambitious watch that Longines debuted just two years ago. Longines has a long history with chronographs, and flyback chronographs specifically, so the introduction of a new flyback chrono at a competitive price point (at launch it came in under $5,000 in steel) was a big deal. Unfortunately, the case was just enormous, coming in at 42mm in diameter and around 17mm tall. The case height, in part...
Fratello
Glashütte Original was founded in 1845, and to commemorate this milestone, the brand has unveiled a stunning new PanoLunarTourbillon. As we’ll see, the watch showcases the best of the manufacture, featuring an in-house movement and dial. With a limited production run and flagship status, this watch won’t be for everyone, but it’s a great example […] Visit Looking At The New Glashütte Original PanoLunarTourbillon to read the full article.
Monochrome
When you think about Tudor, you probably have in mind the image of a cool Submariner-inspired dive watch, with a retro-styled case and dial, and a solid manufacture movement by Kenissi inside. What I’ve just described is basically the Black Bay collection, which has been the brand’s cornerstone for over a decade. With this in […]
SJX Watches
Since its rebirth in 1994, A. Lange & Söhne has built an enviable reputation among collectors, based in large part on its rich portfolio of movements. Visiting the manufacture in Glashütte, it’s easy to see why; nearly all of the roughly 650 staff are engaged in some aspect of movement production. As a result, in little more than 30 years, Lange has commercialised 75 distinct calibers and has the manpower to apply a consistent level of finishing across the entire range, from the simple to the sublime. Historically, this single-minded focus on movements has meant that dials have often taken a back seat. Though uniformly high quality and made of noble materials like sterling silver and solid 18k gold, the brand’s dials tend to be simple, classical, and austere. An obvious exception that springs to mind is the sapphire crystal-dialed Lumen series, but sapphire crystal is a common material in watchmaking and these dials tend to be produced in a relatively industrial manner. Despite its focus on movements, Lange began to stretch its wings with artisanal dials as far back as the year 2000, first with enamel and later with mother-of-pearl, guilloché, tremblage, free-hand engraving, aventurine glass, and onyx. Most of these dials were produced by suppliers, but the brand has quietly built an immensely talented team of engravers and enamellists since launching the Handwerkskunst editions in 2011, and now crafts some of the industry’s most extraordinary dials within its own...
Monochrome
In recent years, French brand Yema has demonstrated its wish to move upward in quality and watchmaking credentials, while still offering classic, historically-inspired designs based on its icons, such as the Superman. This has been done through the development of manufacture movements, conceived and produced in France, including the CMM.10 Central Rotor, the CMM.20 Micro-Rotor, […]
Monochrome
Union Glashütte, one of the two Swatch Group brands located in the Saxon town of German watchmaking fame, next to higher-end manufacture Glashütte Original, manages to compete with its heavyweight neighbours thanks to its solidly built watches – often with vintage motorsport accents – but always recognised for their good value. With its close ties […]
Fratello
If asked which was more impressive, it would be hard for me to choose between the La Quête du Temps clock unveiled at the Louvre in Paris or the staff of Vacheron Constantin putting on a surprising show of music and dance in the Genevan manufacture the next day. “VC” started its celebration of 270 […] Visit After 270 Years, Vacheron Constantin Reaches Beyond Watchmaking With La Quête Du Temps to read the full article.
Monochrome
There is something happening in terms of watchmaking in France at the moment… Something quite interesting, if I must be honest, and I’m not saying this only because I’m French. We’re witnessing a resurgence of French watchmaking, with brands such as Yema delivering accessible watches equipped with made-in-France manufacture movements, or Trilobe recently unveiling an […]
Deployant
Vacheron Constantin celebrates 270 years with a new manual wound manufacture Cal. 3670 wrist watch with the superb métiers d'art miniature sculpture.
Monochrome
Yema continues to expand its Millésime Editions with yet another statement piece. The new Superman Tourbillon Millésime CMM.31 takes the brand’s most iconic model, the Superman diver introduced in 1963, and reimagines it as a professional-grade tool watch equipped with a manufacture movement with a tourbillon regulator. Usually reserved for rather fragile dress watches, the […]
Monochrome
The A. Lange & Söhne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds has been one of the Saxon manufacture‘s greatest expressions of chronometric watchmaking since it first appeared in 2016. The debut model, cased in platinum with a solid silver dial, was produced in a 100-piece edition and immediately stood out for its rigorous regulator-style display and its […]
Monochrome
A luxury sports watch with an integrated bracelet from Dresden that looks like nothing else on the market, with a highly distinct personality, is how we could define the Hektor, the more casual, everyday-friendly offering by Dresden-based, high-end manufacture Lang & Heyne. The watch was first introduced in 2021 and marked a fundamental shift in […]
SJX Watches
Representing a new era for the Roger Dubuis manufacture, the Excalibur Spider Flyback is an aggressively styled, motorsports-themed chronograph – boasting the impressive, high-spec RD780 movement with some unusual tricks up its sleeve, including an inclined balance. While the Excalibur Spider Flyback harkens back to the brand’s early aspirations in terms of movement construction and ambition, it diverges entirely in style with its supercar-inspired lines. Limited to 88 examples in pink gold, it debuted at Monterey Car Week – Roger Dubuis is a partner of Lamborghini – this variant in pink gold and blackened titanium is a new iteration of a model originally available in carbon composite. The RD780 Initial Thoughts In its past life, Roger Dubuis raised a menagerie of ambitious – perhaps overambitious – movements. While the brand thinned the herd after the 2008 financial crisis, some of that spirit lives on inside the Excalibur Spider Flyback. It attempts the dial-movement integration and three dimensionality mastered by some independent watchmakers like Greubel Forsey, though the construction is still fairly traditional, leading to some lost opportunities. The calibre is impressive – especially for a brand owned by a luxury group – but could be better. For example, the minutes counter could be inclined by 12° to mirror the balance and the imitation barrel bridge to be more convincing in terms of style and symmetry. With its over-the-top-style, the Richard Mil...
Time+Tide
Jaeger-LeCoultre has opened an exclusive alpine retreat in a beautifully restored 19th-century farmhouse, close to their manufacture.The post Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils Le Chalet, a luxury rural retreat in the Vallée de Joux, for guests of the brand appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Monochrome
Following the recent Ice Blue and Manufacture editions in Green and Blue that Armin Strom presented after the series update in 2022, the brand now reveals a new chapter for its iconic complication, with a warm, higher-end version of the Mirrored Force Resonance, in rose gold with a handsome black guilloche dial. The resonance phenomenon […]
Monochrome
As the only vertically integrated manufacture in the United States producing components, movements and guilloché dials, RGM is already an anomaly on the American watch scene. Founded by master watchmaker Roland G. Murphy in 1992 in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, Murphy’s interest in early 20th-century American watchmaking history is reflected in the brand’s railroad watches. The […]
WatchAdvice
After visiting the Bvlgari High Horology Manufacture in Switzerland this year, it was about time we reviewed one of their iconic pieces, so I’ve chosen the Octo Finissimo to wear for the week. What We Love The unique design The feel on the wrist A piece you won’t see at watch get-togethers very often, if at all! What We Don’t Lack of fine adjustment on the bracelet No luminescence on the dial The flatness may not suit or wrist types and shapes Overall Rating: 8.6 / 10 Value For Money: 8/10 Design: 9/10 Wearability: 9/10 Build Quality: 8.5/10 This year is probably one of the first times that I have really delved into the world of Bvlgari. Yes, I’ve tried on their watches and seen all the new releases, but I’ve not had the chance to dive into the brand – until this year. Luckily, we had the chance to visit the High Watchmaking Manufacture in Le Sentier back in April to see just one of the manufacturing arms of Bvlgari (they have three across Switzerland where different components are made), in this instance, as the name suggests, the Bvlgari Haute Horlogerie is where the most complicated watches are made, such as their ultra thin movements, minute repeaters, tourbillons, or in Bvlgari’s instance, all of these in one in some cases. A few images from our visit back in April, from the BVL 138 Calibre found in the Octo Finissimo (first two images), a tourbillon cage in the making, and two out of Bvlgari’s three highly skilled watchmakers who work on the high-...
Monochrome
Montblanc, the renowned producer of luxury fountain pens since 1906, entered the watchmaking arena in 1997. Keen to enhance its horological credentials, Montblanc acquired the famous Minerva manufacture in 2006. While the brand’s vintage-inspired 1858 line takes inspiration from Minerva’s historical watches and is named after the year the fabled manufacture was founded, it would […]
Monochrome
Some of you might remember the adventurer and survivalist Bear Grylls wearing a Bremont pilot’s watch on an episode of his TV show Man Vs Wild. Since that was over 17 years ago, Bremont has refreshed its roster of ambassadors to feature more contemporary figures. To promote the latest white dial edition of the rugged […]
Monochrome
With an integrated manufacture in Morteau, a French town close to the Swiss border, Pequignet is proud to proclaim its status as “one of the only French manufactures of Haute Horlogerie” and can back up the statement with its four in-house calibres. One of the newest collections, the sporty cushion-shaped Concorde, was released just two […]
Monochrome
When Chopard launched the L.U.C Quattro in 2000, powered by the ultra-thin, manually wound Calibre 98.01-L, it announced itself as a serious force in the world of haute horlogerie. Calibre 98.01-L was the second movement developed entirely in-house by the Chopard Manufacture, following the groundbreaking Calibre 96.01-L, an innovative microrotor design created in collaboration with […]
Monochrome
Hidden in the Swiss Jura mountains, in the small village of Villeret, is probably one of the most impressive manufactures we’ve encountered. A true hidden gem, a discreet diamond of traditional watchmaking. The name of this manufacture: Minerva. The brand was founded over 165 years ago and has gained an impressive reputation among a small […]
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