22,894 articles · 221 videos found · page 299 of 771
Time+Tide
Recently, Time+Tide put out an Instagram survey asking you, the reader, to express your opinion about wearing a smartwatch on one wrist and a mechanical watch on the other. I was really surprised to see the survey turn out heavily against this practice and here’s why … I like tech just as much as the … ContinuedThe post Counterpoint: Double Wristing with a Smartwatch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
It’s very easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of a watch and subsequently make a judgement call based purely on how it looks … we’ve all done it before. And that’s not to say that looks aren’t important - they are crucial. But equally, if not more important than the way a mechanical watch … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED WATCHING: Giving birth to the Nicholas Hacko NH2 Timascus appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Hong Kong’s political unrest has resulted in the first fall in annual profits at the Swatch Group since 2018. The world’s biggest watchmaking group, which owns brands like Omega and Longines, just announced its 2019 results, showing declines in both sales and profits. Net profit fell 13.7%, while sales declined 1.8% at constant exchange rates, or 2.7% at current rates, to 8.24 billion francs. The drops in profit and sales were primarily due to a drastic contraction of its business in Hong Kong – a city with a population of just 7.4 million – where Swatch Group owns over 90 retail stores, largely catering to shoppers from the China. Sales in Hong Kong for the second half of 2019 fell by 200 million francs. While Hong Kong was the key driver of the decline, it was not the only one. The luxury watch business in general is suffering from anaemic growth, which is also evidenced by the watch division results at diversified luxury groups like LVMH and Kering. On a more positive note, Swatch Group has managed to fulfil its stated aims of reducing operating expenditure and thinning inventory. Operating expenses dipped about 6%, while operating cash flow rose 30% in 2019. And after several consecutive years of growth, the group’s inventories declined by 1% in 2019, to a still-substantial 6.85 billion francs at cost. It’ll be a slow 2020… With Swatch Group predicting the situation in Hong Kong will continue to be “challenging” in 2020, it is in a weaker positio...
SJX Watches
One of the iconic Swatch watches from its 1980s heyday was the Jelly Fish (ref. GZ010), which was unveiled in 1983, the same year Swatch itself was launched. A quartz movement entirely exposed in a clear plastic case – accented with brightly coloured hands – the Jelly Fish was a bestseller that encapsulated what Swatch was all about: no-frills but fun watchmaking. The Jelly Fish remained in production, in one form or another – there was even a COSC-certified chronometer limited edition (GK124) in 1990 – for over two decades. Now the spirit of the Jelly Fish returns as the Big Bold Jelly, essentially the same idea but in a larger watch case. The Big Bold Jelly features a quartz movement inside a Big Bold case, just like the recent limited editions created in collaboration with fashion label A Bathing Ape (BAPE). The case is a large 47mm in diameter, with the crown unusually positioned at two o’clock. But just as with the original Jelly Fish, the case is clear plastic, while the band is translucent silicone. And the hands are rendered in bright colours – red, yellow and blue – with a bit more colour provided by the gilded wheels within the movement. Key facts and price Big Bold Jelly Ref. SO27E100 Diameter: 47mm Height: 11.75mm Material: Clear plastic Water resistance: 30m Movement: Quartz Functions: Hours, minutes, and seconds Strap: Silicone with aluminium pin buckle Availability: At Swatch stores Price: US$110 For more information, visit Swatch.co...
Deployant
We bring you the details and our thoughts on the new Genus GNS 1, winner of the GPHG Mechanical Exception Watch Prize 2019.
SJX Watches
News last weekend that Switzerland’s competition regulator, COMCO, also widely known by its German acronym Weko, was weighing a ban on ETA movement sales to third-party brands caused a major stir in the watch industry – and a terse, lengthy response from Swatch Group, ETA’s parent and Switzerland’s biggest watchmaking conglomerate. The move was ostensibly to allow alternatives to ETA – once Switzerland’s dominant supplier of mechanical movements – to develop. According to the Swatch Group, the ban was entirely without merit, especially given the fact that ETA was no longer the biggest supplier of movements to the industry. That title now belongs to Sellita, which supplied a million movements in 2019, compared to half the number for ETA. Now COMCO has formalised the year-long ban in an announcement that puts in place a “temporary suspension of the supply of [ETA] mechanical movements to customers”. The ban will be in force until COMCO makes its final decision by the summer of 2020. The ban, however, allows ETA to sell its movements to existing clients that are small- and medium-sized watch brands, defined as having less than 250 employees, which will probably be of little consolation to ETA. According to a Swatch Group spokesman quoted by Reuters, the majority of ETA’s movement sales are to companies with more than 250 employees, and as a result, ETA foresees it won’t be able to sell any movements next year. According to the statement, the ban is foun...
Quill & Pad
Ian Skellern still remembers the sense of awe he felt when he had the opportunity to watch and listen to a recently restored centuries-old Jaquet Droz singing bird. The animation was compelling, and the quality of the birdsong sound was incredible. But as impressive a feat he thought that full-sized eighteenth-century Jaquet Droz singing bird clock was, shrinking that mechanical technology to wristwatch size is just mind-blowing. As The Naked Watchmaker, Peter Speake-Marin, highlights here.
Quill & Pad
With his long-running issue with alarm clocks, Joshua Munchow is the perfect potential customer (his wallet not withstanding) for the RM 62-01 Tourbillon Vibrating Alarm ACJ, the most complicated Richard Mille watch to date and one that features the first purposefully silent mechanical alarm in a wristwatch.
SJX Watches
A long snaking building that stretches some 240m, the new Swatch headquarters in Biel, or Bienne in French, is the culmination of five years of work. Selling about 9.5m watches a year for about 450m Swiss francs of revenue, according to Swiss bank Vontobel, Swatch was the foundational company of its parent, the aptly named Swatch Group, which also owns Omega and Longines. Like many of its parent company’s recent projects, the Swatch building was designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, the 2014 Pritzker Prize winner who is best known for his works of wood or paper, as well as his temporary structures for humanitarian aid. Its new home is covered in a honeycomb timber grid that incorporates windows, nine balconies and solar panels. Visible from the inside is the Swatch logo, derived from the Swiss cross, incorporated into some of the grid’s cells. And hidden within the structure is a network of wires and cables for telecommunications, electricity and the like. The Swatch headquarters, with the Omega building at the far left The Swatch building ends in La Cite du Temps, which sits in front of the Omega factory and headquarters Shigeru Ban, Nayla Hayek, and Nick Hayek Jr at the opening ceremony on October 3, 2019 The glass-walled Swatch store in front of the new headquarters With the new headquarters in the background Light, flexible and sustainable, the timber beams used for the outer structure number some 4,600, all precisely cut to fit with join with each other per...
Quill & Pad
Nothing can stir up the watch world these days quite as much the launch of a new Apple watch. For some it's a must-have gadget, for others it just isn't a real watch. But perhaps quartz watches face more competition from smartwatches than mechanical watches. Does quartz even have a real future?
Revolution
To uphold the relevance of the mechanical watch to a new generation of consumers with value, style and performance, a Hamilton is hard to beat.
Hodinkee
The Instagram sensation's starter mechanical watch is surprisingly convincing.
Time+Tide
For decades, the Seiko 5 collection has been some of the best-value mechanical watchmaking on the planet. The ability to buy an automatic watch with an in-house movement for only a few hundred dollars must be responsible for introducing tens of thousands of people around the world to watches. You would be hard-pressed to find … ContinuedThe post The Seiko 5 is alive – again appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Long offered in a dizzying range of iterations – all priced extremely affordably – the Seiko 5 Sports collection has, for the longest time, enjoyed stardom in the segment of watches below US$200. The affordability of the range and its core features – automatic winding, day and date, water resistance, a durable case and bracelet, plus the recessed crown at four o’clock – have been a gateway drug for aspiring watch enthusiasts who have never owned a mechanical timepiece. The Seiko 5 Sports line-up has just been streamlined, and now consists of five core variants, each conceived for a specific style of dress. The entire line-up will be made up of 27 specific models. All the watches are essentially “diver-lite”, looking much like Seiko’s “SKX” scuba diver’s watches but not built to the same robust standards. The new Seiko 5 Sports collection is centred on a common watch design, sharing the same case, rotating bezel, hands, and dial design. And the movement used across the line is the self-winding cal. 4R36. All the redesigned models are identified by the new Seiko 5 logo that has the “5” rotated 45 degrees to the left. The first Seiko 5 Sports from 1968 What seems to be missing from the revamp is a new version of the popular Seiko 5 Sports “field watch” that has a distinctive, military-inspired design and has long been a perennial favourite for first-timers to the watch world. Given Seiko track record in swiftly iterating a model into do...
Time+Tide
The Swatch Group have published their 2019 Half-Year Report, revealing some interesting information. The group has reported an increase in their inventory levels, which include components, movements and watches, to a total of 7.1 billion Swiss francs (up 2.6 per cent from 2018). More broadly, the group, which owns brands such as Tissot, Longines and … ContinuedThe post BUSINESS NEWS: Why the Swatch Group has millions of watches sitting in warehouses appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
It was a long time between drinks. An epic 200 years. And both beverages were served in Britain. We are talking about the invention of the lever escapement, the ‘beating heart’ of the mechanical watch, by British clockmaker Thomas Mudge around 1775. The only successful alternative, the co-axial escapement, was unveiled nearly two centuries later … ContinuedThe post INSIGHT: The Great Escapement – Explaining the Rolex with an Omega heart appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
Fashion icon Gucci signals its continued commitment to the mechanical watch with automatic timepieces in its hugely successful watch line.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer Torpilleur is a very interesting watch - a mix of modern build and very, very classical design. It’s a winner. Story in a second The Marine Chronometer Torpilleur shows a new, focused and driven face of Ulysse Nardin. I’m going to start this review talking not about mechanical … ContinuedThe post Set sail for glory with the Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer Torpilleur appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
Panerai’s iconic watch, the Luminor Marina, is now presented in a new version with the P.9010 Manufacture automatic mechanical movement.
Time+Tide
One of the most beautiful elements of the mechanical watch is it doesn’t rely on disposable units of lithium to function. If you keep moving, your watch will too. This forms a dependent partnership that for many collectors is a huge emotional attraction to the mechanical watch. The energy from your fingertips directly transfers power … ContinuedThe post Seiko vs. Garmin – who will survive an ultramarathon? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Just the other day, Sandra was opining about the changing face of two-tone, and today this fine example of modern bi-colour watches hits the proverbial desk. The Record collection is Longines’ line of dressy daily wearers that offer a great entry point into some pretty serious mechanical watchmaking. And that’s because every single watch in the … ContinuedThe post Mixing business with pleasure in the form of the Longines Record in steel and gold appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Even though the fine watch business might seem like a perpetual, slow-moving beast, it is one of constant, consistent progress. And as the mechanical movements improve and add things like silicon into the mix, it becomes obvious that they’re built to last longer than ever. The other side of that coin is a longer warranty … ContinuedThe post NEWS: Jaeger-LeCoultre now offers an 8-year warranty, the longest of all major brands appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Congratulations. You’ve decided to join one of the premier families in the watchmaking universe. That first decision to buy Rolex is seen by many as a rite of passage all watch lovers should experience at some point during their collecting career, and it’s one we support wholeheartedly. Since the renaissance of mechanical watchmaking began in the … ContinuedThe post 5 things you need to know before you buy Rolex for the first time appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Back in the 18th century, Pierre Jaquet-Droz wowed the courts of Europe with his Automates – three humanoid dolls, about one-third life-sized, that could variously write, draw and play music with uncannily lifelike gestures. Intended to promote his clocks and watches, and powered by scaled-up versions of mechanical watch movements, they were a stroke of … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Jaquet Droz Lady 8 Flower and the Lady 8 Petite appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Really, at the heart of the appeal of a mechanical watch is the ticking, whirring escapement that sets the pace. That and the assemblage of wheel and bridges that powers and supports it. So it’s apt then that this Rado cuts to the core quickly: the True Open Heart lives up to its name, exposing … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: What becomes of the open hearted – the Rado True Open Heart appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
This year, at SIHH 2018, Ressence presented the Ressence Type 2 e-Crown Concept watch, an automated setting technology for mechanical watches.
Time+Tide
Most of the watches we talk about here at Time+Tide are mechanical - if there’s a battery involved, the watch has to be pretty special to get our attention. Well, Seiko’s Astron meets (and exceeds) the ‘pretty special’ criteria. The original Astron watch was released in 2012 (well, if you want to get technical, the … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: Smaller, thinner – the Seiko Astron GPS Solar 5X appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Owning a tourbillon is a dream for many watch-loving folks. The little, eternally whirling cages, designed to counteract the effects of gravity on a timepiece’s isochronism, aren’t particularly practical, though they hold within them a charm that in many ways sums up the appeal of mechanical watches. But for many, the dream of strapping the … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: The disruptor – a closer look at TAG Heuer’s Carrera Heuer 02 Tourbillon in black ceramic appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Choosing to throw its hat into the ring at a point when the mechanical watch industry was still very much feeling the effects of near extinction during the Quartz Crisis,...
Revolution
The Swatch Group announced on 29 August the creation of a revolutionary balance spring with exceptional paramagnetic characteristics. This balance spring is made from a new non-magnetic compensating alloy called Nivachron™ which the Swatch Group developed in collaboration with Audemars Piguet.
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