Hodinkee
Introducing: The Hanhart 417 TI 'Desert Pilot'
Matte titanium, sandy dial; Hanhart is gearing up for summer in the desert.
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Hodinkee
Matte titanium, sandy dial; Hanhart is gearing up for summer in the desert.
Monochrome
Let’s be a bit of nerds for a minute… You probably have heard the concept of JDM (in cars and watches), the contraction for Japanese Domestic Market, objects created exclusively for Japan and, in principle, not accessible outside of the Island. Which makes them cool. Next, the so-called California dial, a design that dates back […]
Monochrome
Founded in 1882 in Switzerland before relocating to Germany in 1902, Hanhart gained fame as a producer of stopwatches in the early 1920s, followed by Flieger chronographs for pilots in the late 1930s. The Hanhart 417 was introduced in the 1950s as a pilot’s chronograph for the German armed forces and re-edited in 2020. While the […]
Hodinkee
The oversized wrist presence and impressive specs of the SUB 750T belie a wearability that makes it one of the more interesting vintage-inspired divers on the market.
Worn & Wound
It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you the rest of your life. Okay, perhaps the quote from Groundhog Day has a bit too ominous of a tone when discussing a watch. Pretend maybe this was said in a nice way, give me a bit of a break (there’s been snow on the ground for 6 weeks) and we can move on with this hands-on of Traska’s newest entrance into the horological space – The Chronograph. This 39mm automatic chronograph is packed with features and comes in at a fairly reasonable $1650. The matte grey dial, unique approach to chronograph sub-dials, and attention to detail on finish and features makes this one stand out from the pack. Let’s take a closer look at this brand new piece from Traska that seems to check a lot of boxes that we as enthusiasts look for in our next watch. $1650 Review: the Traska Chronograph Case Hardened Stainless Steel Movement Seiko NE86 automatic chronograph Dial Tungsten grey with applied indices Lume BGW9 SuperLuminova Lens Sapphire Strap Hardened stainless steel bracelet Water Resistance 75 meters Dimensions 39 x 46.5mm Thickness 13.75mm Lug Width 21mm Crown Screw down Warranty Yes Price $1650 Case Clocking in at a very reasonable 39mm wide, the Traska’s hardened steel case wears great on my 6.75” wrist. The case features a mix of brushed surfaces with polished bevels. It’s a nice mix of finishing that blends the more matte elements with the high shine polishing, resulting in a case that is interestin...
Monochrome
One of the major watch brands from Japan, and a proper industrial giant producing millions of movements a year through its Miyota manufacture, Citizen covers everything from entry-level watches to high-end models with impressive attention to detail. In between the highly accessible Tsuyosa collection and the luxury The Citizen collection sits the Series 8, a […]
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Benrus Sky Chief returns in a faithful 36mm reissue with a COSC-certified ETA 2894 and vintage-inspired dials.
Hodinkee
Following the popularity of the limited-edition 57.04 Iris, Ming is adding a toned-down (but still colorful) version to the core collection.
Worn & Wound
At its core, good branding comes down to balancing two often contradictory things at once: to maintain brand recognition, while not becoming stale. For a brand like MING, which has built something of a reputation for its roster of eye-catching designs, this is an especially fine line. The Malaysian watchmakers have continued to up their own ante, so to speak, meaning that to build a better watch, they have often had to compete against themselves in both aesthetics and technical precision. This is, perhaps, why they have looked back at the 57.04 Iris, but this time with a slightly softer eye. Instead of the vibrant purple-blue dial, MING has released the 57.04 Phoenix, with a decidedly more monochromatic dial in grey. At first glance, this may seem like a safer play for the brand; but, I can assure you, it’s anything but. Using the same multiphasic coating that was seen on the Iris, the Phoenix uses radial cutouts on the metal baseplate, curved sculpting, and negative relief. The finishing touch is the redesigned subdial, which has been treated with Super-LumiNova X1 and MING Polar White lume for added visual texture. The end result is a dial that leans more on light and shadows than colors to build a watch that is dynamic while highlighting all the technical precision we’ve come to expect from Ming. Like the Iris, the Phoenix is set up as a destro (left-handed) monopusher chronograph, powered by a uniquely configured Sellita for MING Cal. SW562.M1 movement, promising r...
Monochrome
The audacity of Horologer Ming as a watch designer and an independent watchmaker isn’t to be demonstrated anymore… Over its short life, the brand has managed to create a strong identity, yet it never ceases to evolve. Since its debut in 2017, the collective led by designer and photographer Ming Thein has built an impressive […]
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Christopher Ward releases the C1 Jump Hour Mk V "Dusk," a limited edition with a red dial and the brand's in-house JJ01 caliber.
Fratello
The name Leica often comes up in the Fratello office. Usually, it’s in reference to its famous cameras, but ever since the German brand introduced its first mechanical watches, we’ve also begun associating it with horology. This shows how closely connected mechanical watchmaking and photography are. In both, high-precision instruments are vital, and Leica certainly […] Visit Hands-On With The Remarkable Leica ZM 1 And ZM 2 to read the full article.
Monochrome
Spring is in the air, and French brand March LA.B celebrates its favourite month with a limited edition of its flagship AM2 watch collection. Founded in 2009 by three friends, united by a passion for surfing and retro design, the LA.B part of the brand’s name does not refer to a laboratory but to the […]
Fratello
March LA.B initially caught my eye with the release of its AM2 GMT Grall Edition in 2024. But the French brand has been around for much longer than just a few years. It is the brainchild of three friends - Alain Marhic, Jérôme Mage, and Joseph Châtel. They share a passion for surfing and 1970s […] Visit Hands-On With The Exciting New March LA.B AM2 “Nyctalope” Carbon to read the full article.
Monochrome
With the Masterlink Boutique Edition, Gerald Charles aims to reinforce its preference for controlled distribution and direct customer dialogue. Available only through the brand’s boutiques in Geneva and Nagoya, this limited edition follows the earlier Masterlink series. First introduced in 2024, the Masterlink asymmetric case builds on the Maestro design by Gérald Charles Genta, featuring […]
Fratello
Time flies when everything resonates nicely, doesn’t it? It sure does for Armin Strom. No fewer than 10 years have passed since the independent Swiss house launched its breakthrough resonance mechanism. Although not actively marketed as an anniversary model, I reckon it is safe to say this rather exuberant version, the Armin Strom Mirrored Force […] Visit Introducing: The Armin Strom Mirrored Force Resonance Ruby to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
Benrus has unveiled a new version of their Sky Chief, a classic pilot’s chronograph that dates to the brand’s 1940s heyday. There are many, many vintage inspired chronographs and re-editions of classic references on the market, so it takes a certain something to stand out from the crowd in this particular watch collecting niche. It appears that Benrus, for this release, has taken the approach of creating a vintage styled chronograph that is truly in line with the proportions of the original, something a lot of brands simply don’t care about, or don’t quite go far enough in emulating. The headline here, I think, is that the new Sky Chief measures in at a very vintage-accurate 36mm in diameter. The original Sky Chief was approximately 35mm, so this is about as close to the original as anyone has a right to expect given the need to use a modern movement. The decision to go small here has two key benefits. First, obviously, the case is going to wear great on a huge variety of wrists. The 36mm diameter is a very accommodating size, and the case height of 11.9mm and lug to lug of 42.5mm make for a watch with classic proportions, at least on paper (we haven’t seen the Sky Chief in person yet). The other important benefit of a smaller case that people do not talk about nearly enough when it comes to watches like this, chronographs in particular, is that you wind up with a far more balanced and cohesive dial. A smaller case of course means less dial space, and for a c...
Teddy Baldassarre
The skeleton watch or skeletonized watch is a style of timepiece that is almost exclusively the domain of watches with mechanical movements. The process of skeletonizing a watch is simple - in theory. By opening up the dial and caseback and stripping out some large areas of movement parts, the maker of a skeleton watch reveals the "bones" beneath the surface. In practical terms, skeletonizing a watch can be done minimally or it can be done to an extreme level, and in both case the result can often be polarizing. Whether you love or hate the style, skeleton watches are nearly always a reliable conversation starter among enthusiasts of mechanical wristwatches. To keep those conversations going, we've compiled this list of some of the best skeleton watches on the market today. Before diving into the list, let's clear up some of the jargon you can expect to come across. First off, there are two other terms that tend to be lumped in with the subject of skeleton watches, namely “open heart” and "openworked." "Open heart" tends to describe a type of dial aperture that reveals usually just the balance wheel beating away but very little else. ”Openworked” is a term that is commonly used as an alternative to "skeletonized" since being popularized by Audemars Piguet (more on that below). Essentially, openworked and skeletonized are interchangeable in describing the same aesthetic. So, on this list there will be skeleton(ized) and openworked watches but not open-heart w...
Monochrome
Still a very young brand (founded in 2018), Norqain has rapidly grown to become an established brand, specialised in adventure watches and anything linked to mountaineering activities. With the Independence, Freedom, Wild One and Adventure collections, Norqain seeks the heights and offers robust watches that often come with serious mechanical credentials. One of the earliest […]
Hodinkee
Vintage sizing, a slim profile, and all the good looks that made the vintage Sky Chief a vintage Hodinkee favorite, now back in action.
Monochrome
In 2016, Armin Strom rocked the watchmaking scene with the release of its Mirrored Force Resonance, an incredible technical breakthrough that miniaturised the centuries-old concept of synchronised motion into the confines of a wristwatch. Using two independent oscillators coupled by a patented resonance clutch spring, Armin Strom breathed life into Christiaan Huygens’ observation that two […]
Worn & Wound
One of the more unexpected developments in the enthusiast watch space over the laste year or has been the emergence of the jump hour as a staple among design driven and creative microbrands and affordable independents. It seems like they are popping up just about everywhere at price points that encourage collectors to take a chance on a very niche complication. For those of us who have been around this stuff for a while, it’s genuinely been kind of surprising, as we can clearly remember a time when very few people gave these watches a second thought, and smaller brands were absolutely not interested in putting watches like these into the market. The jump hour is pretty far removed from the vintage inspired sports watches that have had a stranglehold on affordable watch enthusiasm in recent memory. But as the pendulum swings in another direction, the more brands are finding an opportunity to experiment with this very old fashioned complication. Christopher Ward is actually no stranger to jump hour watches, having released their first back in 2011. Their latest is still powered by the venerable JJ01 movement, a caliber that predicted much of the brand’s future success and interest in higher end watchmaking. The C1 Jump Hour Mk V in “Dusk” red is the brand’s latest, and limited edition variant of the Jump Hour Mk V that Griffin reviewed here. The broad strokes are of course the same: a 39mm steel case measuring 47.5mm from lug to lug and 14mm thick, with a multi...
Monochrome
With the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season (Australia Grand Prix, March 6-8), H. Moser & Cie. adds a vivid new chapter to its collaboration with BWT Alpine Formula One Team and presents the Streamliner Alpine Drivers Pink Edition. This limited series updates last year’s concept through colour and contrast. The familiar Streamliner case […]
Quill & Pad
In my experience, few things in high-end watchmaking catch the eye like the tourbillon. Its hypnotic motion is mesmerising, turning timekeeping into a visual performance. The post The Dancing Cage: 10 Best Tourbillon Watches appeared first on Quill & Pad.
Fratello
Ressence is back with a limited-edition Type 9 in the brand’s Art Watch Series. Last year, Benoît Mintiens introduced a colorful pair of Type 8 models in collaboration with German painter and sculptor Daniel Engelberg. This time, the Belgian brand asked Japanese artist Terumasa Ikeda to decorate the Type 9’s dial. He’s famous for applying […] Visit Introducing: The Mesmerizing Black DLC Ressence Type 9 Ikeda to read the full article.
Fratello
Part of the fascination that drives my interest in watches is the endless variations in design and, even more so, completely new ideas that result in something I have never seen before. Most of these true innovations come from small independent brands that do not need to cater to the mass market. Recently, I was […] Visit Hands-On With The Kudoke 5 - A Piece Of Art For Your Wrist to read the full article.
At the time of starting our main YouTube channel in 2017 discussing watches, Tudor was already well on its way with hit releases like the Black Bay and Pelagos, with MT manufacture calibers furthering the excitement around the brand. However, if we had to identify the start of the second wave for Tudor in the 21st cent
Monochrome
If you’ve ever travelled to Shanghai or Thailand, you might be familiar with the ease of acquiring a convincing fake Rolex for pennies on the dollar. Asian counterfeiters (particularly in Guangdong Province, China) often have access to the original machines used for cases, bracelets, and so on (not for Rolex specifically), as some Swiss brands […]
Teddy Baldassarre
Despite being one of the quirkiest watches in the Seiko catalog, the Seiko Alpinist SPB121 is one of the brand's best-selling watches; in fact, it was the single best-selling Seiko watch we saw during the holidays. As much as its strange attributes, when compiled as a list of features, sound like it could never work in
Fratello
I first strapped the Panerai Luminor Base Logo PAM01086 to my wrist on a gray Sydney morning. Anchored to my wrist was one of the most storied dive-watch silhouettes in the world - simple, formidable, and, yes, iconic. Over the next two weeks, I wore it everywhere, from work and coffee runs to rainy city […] Visit The Panerai Luminor PAM01086 - Is The Brand’s Entry-Level Dive Watch Its Best? to read the full article.
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