Results for Baume & Mercier

The G-SHOCK GMW-B5000MB

The New Interpretation of Black

Pre-Owned Picks: '90s Watches That Are Da Bomb

In a decade that saw the resurgence of mechanical watchmaking we can be spoiled for choices.

Talking Watches: With Culinary Icon Emeril Lagasse, Bam!

Kicking it up a notch with one of the '90s most famous chefs and his son, EJ.

Vintage Watches: A 1958 Longines Chronometer Pocket Watch Tested At The Neuchâtel Observatory And A 1960 Rolex Datejust With 'Bamboo' Bezel

A true chronometer from Longines and an early variant of an iconic Rolex lead the way.

Introducing: Icy Blue Morning Dew On Bamboo

The latest Grand Seiko U.S. editions express seasonality with haiku-like precision.

Surviving (And Enjoying) The Great Geneva Watch Auction Week Of November 2021: Harbinger Of Boom Or (Imminent) Doom?

If you were there, you won’t forget it soon. And if you weren’t, you are still going to be hearing about it for a very long time indeed. GaryG posits that the November 2021 Geneva auction week will be remembered as the point in time at which either the value of collectible watches reached a new plateau from which they only continued to climb or the bubble in prices for pieces from certain makers reached its most outrageous dimensions before deflating or imploding. Here's what happened.

Pandemic-Proof? Luxury Watch Auctions Boom Online

Sweeping away years of scepticism around online sales, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the auction world into an incredible phase of experimentation last year. In a bid to find newer ways to connect with their clients amidst a global health crisis, luxury auction houses took a massive digital leap with record sales in 2020. Here is a look at the biggest success stories that kept the secondary market buzzing all through last year

Just Because: Turns Out An Electromagnetic Pulse From A Nuclear Bomb Probably Won't 'Fry' Your Quartz Watch

Whew, one less thing to worry about.

Fossil to Produce BMW-branded Smartwatches

Four + One: She Went From 'Asking Dumb Questions' About Watches To Writing A Smart Watch Encyclopedia

Kristen Shirley discusses her watch collection which includes bulgari, piaget, baume and mercier and jlc

Geneva Watch Days 2023: Trilobe Nuit Fantastique Brume with a Brown-Grey Guilloche Dial

Jaeger-LeCoultre And The Impact Of Images In Artful New Exhibition At Paris’ Jeu De Paume: ‘The Supermarket Of Images’

Jaeger-LeCoultre supports ‘The Supermarket Of Images,’ the latest exhibition at the Jeu de Paume arts center in Paris, which exhibits and promotes all forms of mechanical and electronic imagery. The exhibition’s central premise is that our lives are increasingly saturated with images. The impact of this is the story that this exhibition tells. 

Highlights: Artisanal Timepieces at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fall Auction

After delving into the notable complications in Sotheby’s upcoming Hong Kong auction on October 7, we shift our focus to the timepieces exhibiting a distinct artisanal touch, spanning the encyclopaedia of decorative techniques from cloisonné enamelling to wood marquetry. Several are exquisite examples of enamel crafted by the renowned artisans Anita Porchet and her eponymous workshop, along with a pocket watch with a miniature enamel made by Hélène May-Mercier for Patek Philippe. Another highlight is the commemorative Vacheron Constantin Mercator created to mark the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 that was the work of a Belgium husband-and-wife enamel workshop. Important Watches I takes place on October 7, 2023. Registration for bidding and the catalogue can be accessed here.  Lot 2209: Vacheron Constantin Mercator “Hong Kong Handover 1997”  The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China was a significant historical event that brought an end to 156 years of colonial rule in the territory and marked the conclusion of the British Empire. To mark the handover, Vacheron Constantin created a special iteration of the Mercator. One of the brand’s best known models at the time, the Mercator set itself apart with a unique double retrograde display for the hours and minutes, with the top-of-the-line models having cloisonné enamel dials. While the initial Mercator editions portrayed entire continents or regi...

Watchmaking: How the Art of Precision Regulation Became a Science

They were once the horological elite, credited with magical powers. The precision timers who tuned the watches for the observatory trials in the 1960s and 1970s are now a dwindling band in the twilight of their lives. In those days, when mechanical precision rather than mechanical complication determined the value of a watch, precision timing was a post-graduate discipline that took a lifetime to master. Before he died last October in his 90th year, one old timer, François Mercier of Le Locle, described what he had to do to win prizes for his employers, initially Ulysse Nardin and then the hairspring spring manufacturer Spiraux Réunis. First, he had to identify the most faultless spring, calculate and shape the terminal curve, pin it up to the staff of a previously poised balance wheel. Then he would shift balance screws by hundredths of a millimetre, adjust forces and inertia in micrograms, to move a fraction of a second closer to the unattainable goal of a true and constant time. An overcoil hairspring in a contemporary Voutilainen Vingt-8 Temperature compensation  The biggest challenge was to compensate for the effects of temperature changes on the steel alloy springs of old. As the temperature rose, the spring would lose its elasticity and beat more slowly. Such springs needed a compensation balance made of two metals each having a different coefficient of expansion. Rising temperatures would cause the cut ends of the balance rim to curl inwards, thereby increasing...

Baltic Adds New Prismic Stone Dials to their Permanent Collection

Baltic’s Prismic line always felt like it existed to capitalize on the stone dial trend. When the watch debuted in early 2024, the French brand’s take on the classic “cocktail watch” seemed like it was pulled from a confluence of all the forces pushing against the vintage inspired sports watch boom that preceded it. The Prismic is a small, aesthetics first, design oriented piece, about as anti tool watch as they come. Those first Prismic releases did not have stone dials, but a later set of limited editions did, and that’s when this watch really clicked into place for many of us. Now, with those LEs long gone, Baltic has introduced a new line of stone dial Prismics that will be part of the permanent collection.  The new Prismic Stone collection arrives to celebrate the opening of Baltic’s first boutique, just as the previous LEs were released to celebrate the opening of showrooms in New York, London, and Paris. The four dial options make use of stones that are not common in watchmaking: Pietersite, Pink Albite, Bloodstone, and Dumortierite. Like all stone dials, each individual piece will be unique. The standout, in my opinion, is the Pietersite dial. This is a truly dynamic stone, and looks like something that could have been ejected from an active volcano just minutes ago. Bloodstone has a dark green hue with inclusions of brown and red, and could be seen as an alternative to the more commonly used malachite. Similarly, Dumortierite has a dark blue tone that...

Introducing – Benrus Brings Back the Ultra-Deep as a Compact, Vintage-Inspired Compressor-Style Dive Watch

Benrus, founded in 1921 by the Lazrus brothers in New York, has always been at its best when it taps into the things it once did for real: dependable field watches for the U.S. military, purpose-built dive pieces from the boom years of recreational diving, and compact daily beaters that wore smaller than their spec […]

Coming To Terms With A Motorbike Crash With My Tudor Heritage Ranger

I park my 1983 BMW R65 beside a quiet bend of the Hawkesbury River, not far from Wiseman’s Ferry. Sunlight reflects off the large 22-liter blue petrol tank. A little mid-morning mist still lingers along the valley, and the air feels soft with dawn‑cool dampness. Ahead lies the old convict road that once linked colonial […] Visit Coming To Terms With A Motorbike Crash With My Tudor Heritage Ranger to read the full article.

Introducing: The Praesidus × The Watch Observer A-11 Type 44 - A Limited WWII Tribute

Praesidus, a brand devoted to authentic WWII recreations, has teamed up with French watch news site The Watch Observer for a limited edition of its A-11 Type 44. Limited to 250 numbered watches, the new model pays tribute to the US Air Force’s 533rd Bomb Squadron. If that doesn’t immediately ring a bell, it is […] Visit Introducing: The Praesidus × The Watch Observer A-11 Type 44 - A Limited WWII Tribute to read the full article.

Baltic Introduces the Aquascaphe MK2 in Two Case Sizes and Four Dial Variants

The Aquascaphe has been a staple in Baltic’s lineup since 2018, when they introduced their first vintage inspired diver to quite a bit of fanfare. This was still the early days of the vintage inspired, microbrand boom, and Baltic had a front row seat to the incredible growth in the enthusiast watch community that would occur over the next several years. There have been a variety of Aquascaphes released in the interim (a variety of dial configurations, a GMT version, a titanium release, and so forth) but the new watch announced today is specifically being pitched as a “MK 2” release, or a new generation for the venerable vintage inspired diver. Iterating, much less innovating, on a watch like this is tricky business. The whole premise of vintage inspired designs is that they kind of got things right 50-70 years ago. But Baltic, as always, has made a handful of subtle updates that move the lineup forward in predictable but satisfying ways.  The headline here is that all four dial variants (the colors are Blue, Green, Warm Silver and Grey) that are part of this release will be available in two case sizes, 39.5mm and 37mm. This is really smart on Baltic’s part. The original Aquascaphe released all those years ago came in at 39mm, so here we have one in essentially the same size, along with one that’s a little smaller and playing into the current trend of true vintage inspired case sizes. You can see the difference in case sizes in our photos – the green is 37mm an...

Gears and Gaskets: Spotting Mechanical Icons on Wrist and Road at the Lime Rock Historic Festival 43

Each Labor Day weekend for the last 42 years, the quiet hillsides of Northwestern Connecticut boom to life with sounds from a bygone era as vintage engines triumphantly roar to life on the circuit. This year, the 43rd Historic Festival, was my first year joining the action. Now, Lime Rock is not just a celebration of motorsports’ golden era spent staring at showpiece collector cars from behind a velvet rope, but rather a gathering of people for whom mechanical beauty and intricacy hold enduring appeal. David Von Bader with a late 1970s Heuer Montreal Ref. 750-503N As such, I entered under the assumption that while lifting bonnets, wrenching on bolts, polishing headlights, and lubricating gaskets, there would be some level of horological enthusiasm slipping out from under the cuff. Walking from the hillside into the paddock, it was immediately clear that the connection between car culture and horology held true. Breaking free from the distraction on track as the yellow pitbull 1965 Mini Cooper chased down a few vintage Porsches and BMWs, my eye snagged on a disk of gold glistening in the mechanics’ pit. There, wrenching away in a Jaguar mechanics jacket under a 1952 Jaguar XK120 propped up on stilts was James Alder from Reno, Nevada. Hands covered in grease, Jim was not gentle with the precious tool that slipped in and out of his cuff as he reached for engine fittings, trying to diagnose his firing problems. On his wrist sat a vintage Breitling Premier Chronograph from ...

Vintage Watches: Five Potentially Market-Changing Vintage Watches We'd Love To See Return At Auction

The hype boom for vintage watches reached new peaks a few years ago, but even before that, a few watches had achieved outstanding, never-before-seen prices before disappearing into collections for over a decade. Some are so special that their market return could set a new bar.

Introducing the Squale Corallo NOS 2008, Featuring a New Old Stock Case from the Archives

These days, it seems like every watchmaker is getting back to their roots and releasing redesigns or homages to past hits. I won’t speculate on what this means for the world psyche at the moment, but it has certainly produced a few discussion worthy pieces, whether controversial, widely popular, and everywhere in between. Swiss dive watch specialist Squale is capitalizing on the nostalgia boom with the Corallo NOS 2008. While the Corallo isn’t a rehash of a specific model for the brand-originally founded in 1959 as a case maker for other brands and known for their extreme divers and tool watches-it is a callback to designs of that decade, both from Squale and the watch world as a whole, and revives their “Corallo” case style from the decade, as they rediscovered 300 new old stock (or NOS) examples of the case in their archives three years ago. The name means “coral” in Italian, supposedly chosen for the eight rounded humps that form the bezel of the watch, giving it a shape reminiscent of the aquatic life form. I can’t see the resemblance, but I do like the silhouette that the humps give the watch, imbuing it with a symmetry that feels aggressively tactical, and makes sense for extreme diving applications; a gloved hand underwater will have no problem gripping the bezel with the namesake protrusions. The Corallo measures in at 36.8mm in diameter, 10.5mm in thickness, and 44mm lug-to-lug, and the 316L stainless steel case itself is a blend of the original ...

Bad Actors: Watch Errors on the Screen

It’s undoubtedly enjoyable, as a watch enthusiast, to see a cool watch on screen. Whether TV or film, there’s a fun series of events that takes place. First, you see a glimpse of the watch, and start to make possible connections in your mind. Then, you get a better angle, and your identification begins to gel. And finally, boom, you get the money shot and confirm your suspicion. If you’re watching with someone, you have to share, and they politely act like they care. It’s all a fun ritual for us, watch nerds. And it’s even better when you see something unique get featured, as was the case with the infamous Citizen in Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood (shameless self-plug, as we were the first to write about that). An interesting watch suggests that the person who chose it knew what they were doing, and somehow, it acknowledges our obsession, too. Of course, there are also paid product placements, which often work out (I’m thinking the Murph, or any Bond Seamaster), but are not of as much interest to me. But this article isn’t actually about the joy of this experience. Quite the opposite. While seeing a watch get mentioned or worn on screen brings elation, egregious errors can then crush the experience. Ok, I’m being dramatic (this is about TV and film, after all), but some unfortunate error, or even worse, a fake watch, can nevertheless diminish the experience. The Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood example is not only famous because Brad Pitt wore a cool watch ...

Alpina Re-Issues a Classic with the Heritage Tropic-Proof Handwinding

The original Alpina Tropic-Proof, released in 1965 under mysterious origins-even the Swis brand itself can’t pinpoint the exact date-was emblematic of the newfound adventurous spirit ushered in by the now-accessible boom of transatlantic air travel. With a case designed by François Borgel and a handwinding movement, the Tropic-Proof was meant to be a watch-of-all-trades that could travel the globe with ease, rather than a specialized tool. Six decades later, Alpina is reissuing that design with key nods to the model’s history and future. Appropriately dubbed the Heritage Tropic-Proof Handwinding, the watch is enveloped in an understated stainless steel case that measures 34mm in diameter. Both dial options-shiny-finished white or black-contrast well with the applied silver indexes and polished silver hands, and the dial design excels in its simplicity, without conceding elegance. The hour and minute hands, as well as the dotted minute track, are coated in beige Luminova to give the Tropic-Proof ease of use in darkness. A beige Alcantara strap with a pin buckle adds a touch of sophistication, but not overzealousness, keeping the watch within the boundaries of subtle class. A threaded solid caseback with an engraved Heritage pattern hides the handwinding AL-480 caliber movement, which touts a 42-hour power reserve. Capping off the simple but elegant design is an anti-reflective glass box sapphire crystal, which curves downwards to maintain viewing ease at all an...

The Best Watches From Micro-Brand Watch Show District Time 2025

I recently had the chance to drop in to the District Time watch show in Washington, D.C., a microbrand-centric watch expo that has grown steadily over the years, with this year’s edition featuring more than 50 brands. Loren Sciurba and his team from The Time Bum blog, along with co-sponsor McDowell Time, did a fantastic job bringing the horological heat to a traditionally underserved Mid-Atlantic market, and based on the wall-to-wall crowds over two days, the event was a resounding smash.  I had a blast on this run-and-gun road trip, getting to spend the day with our intrepid media maestro, Danny Milton, connecting with old friends and making new ones in this celebration of watch culture at its absolute finest. Even with a larger space this year, lines at the booths were stacked, with queues for brands such as Christopher Ward extending halfway through the length of the hall. There was plenty to see and try on, with Danny having way too much fun posing with the Heisman Trophy at the Axia Time booth. And if you didn’t get the chance to check it out yourself, we’ve got you covered. Some of these watches are brand new, and some new to us with our first in-hand impressions, but it was fantastic to experience a lot of these microbrands up close, given the difficulty in seeing many of them first-hand before clicking the “Buy It Now” button. So here, in alphabetical order, are ten standouts that really won our hearts and minds, and will likely be lightening our wallet...

Frederique Constant Partners with Watch Angels on a Revamped Worldtimer

Over the last several years we’ve seen all kinds of models pop up for the creation and distribution of limited edition watches. It’s becoming more and more clear that this most recent period in watch enthusiast history will almost certainly be known as the “Limited Edition Boom,” or something along those lines. Look at the pages of any watch media website, including this one, and you’ll find that news items about various LEs and collaborations dominate the conversation, so it’s no wonder that a cottage industry has sprung up to develop these kinds of watches specifically. Watch Angels is one such platform seeking to provide an ecosystem for brands (mostly independent) to create limited edition versions of watches that are funded by the eventual purchasers. It’s like the old souscription model crossed with Kickstater, with the main difference between Watch Angels and typical crowdfunding mechanisms being that these projects are largely one-offs from already established brands, and not debut collections from a start-up enterprise.  Frederique Constant, certainly not a brand most observers would expect to dabble in a crowdfunding project, is the latest to partner with Watch Angels on a new limited edition release. The Frederique Constant Worldtimer Manufacture seen here is a new and slightly more refined spin on a signature Frederique Constant complication. They’ve been making some version of this watch since 2012 (remember their 10th anniversary worldtimer t...

Hands-On With The New Excelsior Park Bi Compax Black

Excelsior Park re-entered the market with a boom in 2021. The brand released many models, created limited editions and one-offs, and then retreated until this year. This past summer, after a few years of hibernation, EP returned with a time-only model, the 884-SI. The watch received positive reviews for its appearance and competitive price. Now […] Visit Hands-On With The New Excelsior Park Bi Compax Black to read the full article.

Hands-On: the Atelier Wen Perception Mù

If there’s a single area of the watch world that feels truly exciting and vibrant right now, it’s the small, approachable, independent brands. I like to call them “micro-indies,” because they take elements of what made the microbrand boom so fruitful to many (direct to consumer sales, lots of creativity) and match it up with real watchmaking craft in ways you might not expect. When I got into this hobby years ago, it was common to hear various voices on the watch forums telling you that finding “real” guilloche under five figures is straight up impossible. But new brands, and new ideas, allow for all kinds of new possibilities. Atelier Wen’s Perception integrated bracelet sports watch has become an enthusiast favorite since its inception thanks to their impressive guilloche dials made by a self-taught master of his craft, all at a cost under $4,000. Atelier Wen achieves this, in large part, by embracing Chinese manufacturing, something other brands that approach this segment run away from. But that’s the beauty of the micro-indie landscape: when you rethink how to solve common watchmaking problems, you wind up with uncommon watches that are truly unique.  Atelier Wen has launched their latest Perception, the Millesime 2024 Perception “Mù” at an unusual time in the brand’s history. There is more attention on watches of this ilk than ever before, and frankly it feels like there are parts of the community that are looking to shoot holes in the story At...

Video Review – Tissot’s PRX Powermatic 80 Goes Exotic With A Forged Carbon Case And Dial

With the PRX collection, Tissot has found a proverbial sweet spot between style, mechanics and affordability. At the height of the boom of luxury sports watches, in comes Tissot with the PRX, offering tremendous value for money! In just a couple of short years, Tissot has made the PRX the hottest-selling watch in its collection, […]

A New, Smaller, and Even More Advanced Dive Watch from SēL

Arizona’s SēL Instruments have been making, literally, bomb proof watches since 2017. The term overengineered is often thrown around in watchmaking, but no other brand quite embodies this term the way SēL Instruments does. Not only do they engineer their watches from scratch, but they also engineer the equipment to make them, as well as the tools to test them. They even reinvented the watch bracelet with an ingenious clasp system called the Wavlock. According to the brand, their watches appeal to many in the armed forces, police, EMTs, or anyone that lives and works in the harshest environments on earth. You can tell these watches were made by someone that never skips leg days, though just like Adrew McLean’s oversize quads, these watches have always been quite large. That is, until now. Introducing the new OmniDiver Xos 42, a smaller, much more wearable version of their signature OmniDiver. That said, they did not just shrink it. Their focus is on a trifecta feature set for extreme environmental protection in a smaller 42mm case: impact resistance, water resistance, and magnetic resistance.  The original OmniDiver has a water-resistance rating of 6,100 meters, but the new Xos 42 is still no slouch at 2,000 meters. What is even more impressive is that the new one is only 13.7mm thick. To make that happen, they needed to add new Teflon bearings to their already incredibly good ball-bearing bezel bezel assembly. They needed to strengthen their screw-down crown and inv...