Hodinkee
Hands-On: The Atelier Wen Inflection Pushes The Boundaries With A Full Tantalum Design And Grand Feu Enamel Dials
The French-Chinese microbrand's most ambitious watch to date is offered at an equally ambitious price point.
Results for Alarm Watch
20,339 articles · 5,827 videos found · page 346 of 873
Hodinkee
Teddy Baldassarre
30 Of The Best Titanium Watches
Titanium is by no means a new material in the watch industry. In fact, it’s been used on a commercial level in case construction for more than 50 years. Titanium in its raw form as a structural metal is 40% lighter than stainless steel while still just as hard. Among its appeal for watchmaking purposes are the facts that it is also highly resistant to corrosion by the elements as well as being hypoallergenic. There are different grades of titanium as well, which offer different characteristics based on how it’s alloyed with other metals. Titanium ranges in color from dark gunmetal grey to a steely silver which gives it versatility in different applications. Perhaps the most enticing aspect of titanium, particularly from the consumer side, is that despite its high-quality characteristics, there isn’t a massive discrepancy between its price versus that of stainless steel. With that in mind, we've compiled a list of 30 outstanding titanium watches in a range of price categories. Citizen Promaster Super Titanium Armor Case Size: 41 mm, Integrated 23.5 mm Bracelet, Thickness: 10.5 mm, Lug-to-Lug: 43.7 mm, Water Resistance: 100 m, Movement: Eco Drive J810, Crystal: Sapphire, Price: $625 In 1970, Citizen launched the very first titanium wrist watch called the X-8 Cosmotron Chronometer. Today, Citizen uses what it calls Super Titanium, a titanium alloy coated with a proprietary hardening agent that increases the hardness of the metal to five times that of stainless steel. ...
Teddy Baldassarre
Seiko SPB149 Review: The Blue Dial Prospex Diver
An outsized part of Seiko’s history is within its dive watch heritage, going all the way back to 1965 with the company's first dedicated diver, the 150-meter 62MAS, released as the 6217-8000, and later, its larger-crowned sibling, the 6217-8001. It was the beginning of a lineage that went on to include legendary references like the Willard, the Turtle, the Marinemaster, the Tuna, and the SKX, just to name a small assortment of them. Today, Seiko’s broad dive-watch lineup is well-known for its rugged dependability: from the entry-level Prospex models to the elevated Luxe variants like the Seiko SPB149, there’s a Seiko diver for every enthusiast. Seiko has paid tribute to the 62MAS design in the past with limited editions, but in the 2020s, the brand has seen a slew of regular-production, and short-lived models – like the SPB143, 239, and 149, which stand as the most faithful renderings of the 62MAS, characterized by the brand as the Prospex 1965 Heritage Diver’s Watch. Although this model family came with different dial variants at its 40.5mm case size, today, we’re going to showcase the discontinued SPB149 before looking at the current production SPB143 and other modern day options which continue the 62MAS legacy. We will go through the standard points of its case, wear, dial, and movement, and then share concluding remarks about its overall legacy in 2025. Seiko SPB149 Context In Spring of 2020, Seiko dropped a quartet of watches - the SPB143, SPB145, SPB1...
Monochrome
First Look – The New Louis Erard x Astro Boy Brings Pop Culture to the Wrist
Released just three weeks ago, Louis Erard surprised the watchmaking scene with its first integrated sports watch, the 2340. A sporty-chic titanium and steel watch with a sophisticated integrated bracelet, the 2340 marked a radical, new direction for the brand, which has relied extensively on its classic Regulator watch for numerous collaborations. Surprising us yet […]
Two Broke Watch Snobs
6-Year Review: Does The Seiko 5 Sports Live Up To The Seiko SKX?
Our long-term wear tests compare the Seiko 5 Sports and the Seiko SKX on comfort, reliability, pricing, and who each watch is really for.
Video
Depancel SERIE-A elegance 24h - Automatic Miyota 9120 - Calendar Watch Made in France 40mm
Monochrome
Introducing – The New Lebois & Co Heritage Small Seconds Collection
A historical name of the watch industry (founded in 1934), Lebois & Co was revived in 2015 by Tom van Wijlick, a Dutch entrepreneur who’s also responsible for the comeback of Airain and its Type 20 and 21 pilot’s watches. Although still hesitant at the beginning, the brand truly found its stride with the 2022 release of the […]
Fratello
Introducing: The Maen × IFL Watches Manhattan After Dark Limited Edition
IFL Watches and Maen are back at it again! After the success of last year’s Graffiti collaboration, it seems that fans were clamoring for a follow-up. While the first watch focused on the bright, vibrant colors of street art during the day, the new Manhattan After Dark envisions the city when the shadows come out […] Visit Introducing: The Maen × IFL Watches Manhattan After Dark Limited Edition to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Complicated Collectors: John Pierpont Morgan
As part of a continuing series on great watch collectors, following the first studies dedicated to Elliott Cabot Lee and Thomas Engel, the third instalment turns to the horological world of John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (1837-1913). Based on the famous 1912 Chiswick Press catalogue, this analysis reflects the range and typological structure of his collection. These watches span devotional and allegorical forms, astronomical instruments, and multi-functional works of mechanical synthesis. While Morgan’s approach has sometimes been described as encyclopaedic rather than selective, the collection itself tells a different story, one in which historical resonance and technical refinement consistently overlap. The selection offers a tangible expression of Morgan’s collecting logic, in which cultural meaning, mechanical ingenuity, and symbolic intent were sought in equal measure. The man In the pantheon of American capitalists, J. Pierpont Morgan occupies a singular place: titan of industry, consolidator of empires, and paradoxically, one of the greatest cultural preservationists of his age. Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1837, the son of an ambitious transatlantic banker, he came of age amid the expanding architecture of American finance. His education, from early childhood, was European. He studied in Switzerland and later in Germany, where a brief period at the University of Göttingen introduced him to the German language and the foundations of art history. These formative ...
SJX Watches
Hands-On: Rolex Perpetual 1908 Settimo
Rolex has expanded the 1908 collection with the Perpetual 1908 Settimo, a yellow-gold dress watch with an all-new seven-link bracelet. Settimo, Italian for ‘seven’, refers to the number of links across the bracelet; five slender links in the centre framed by two broader links on each side. The result is a supple, tightly constructed bracelet that complements the refined proportions of the 1908. Powered by the advanced cal. 7140, the watch remains impressively slim at just 9.5 mm, combining Rolex’s famous industrial precision with genuine elegance, filling a long-standing gap in the brand’s line-up. Initial thoughts When I think of Rolex, the image in my mind is one of long-term thinking, industrial expertise, over-built movements, and iconic (but fairly chunky) designs. The 1908, especially the Settimo version, shows the brand also understands elegance. The Settimo bracelet recalls vintage ‘beads-of-rice’ bracelets and works well with the vintage-feeling aesthetic of the 1908. The slightly glistening lacquered dial and crisply faceted hour markers provide a bright, vivid appearance; perhaps its the sub-seconds at six and the lack of a date window, but it feels more refined than the dial of a typical Datejust or Day-Date. The case is very sleek on the wrist thanks to the cal. 7140, which, at just 4.05 mm in height, is 34% thinner than the brand’s own cal. 3235. No watch is perfect, and there are a few details that I find mildly annoying, like the plug atop the...
Fratello
Artem Takes A Bold Step With The Introduction Of Barenia Leather Straps In Its Loop-Less Style
Having iterated upon its Sailcloth and Signature Nylon ranges to near perfection, Artem turns its attention to unexplored territory. The typically adventure-focused Australian strap maker seeks to put its spin on classic leather straps. Its well-renowned Sailcloth and HydroFlex watch straps suit all climates and excursions, standing up to whatever you can throw at them. […] Visit Artem Takes A Bold Step With The Introduction Of Barenia Leather Straps In Its Loop-Less Style to read the full article.
Video
6 Tricks that Some Watch Dealers Play
Deployant
New: Sartory-Billard SB04-E Tantoster
Sartory-Billard releases the SB04-E Tantoster, with a tantalum ghilloché dial in a steel watch. This is possibly the first tantalum dial we have ever seen.
Fratello
Sunday Morning Showdown: Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage Vs. Serica Parade 1174
You would be forgiven for thinking you’d landed on another one of our Dress Watch Season battles, but, no, this is a regular Sunday Morning Showdown. Still, we’re sticking with a new dress watch released this week, the Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage. Thomas will defend it against the Serica Parade, represented by Daan. If you […] Visit Sunday Morning Showdown: Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage Vs. Serica Parade 1174 to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Best Rolex Blue Dial Watches
When you think of Rolex, the first colors your mind usually conjures up are green and gold, long the emblematic colors of the Swiss power brand and its world-famous “crown” logo. (Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf is said to have settled on these colors because they symbolized wealth and success.) Blue, on the other hand, is not a color that most watch aficionados readily associate with Rolex, though many will associate it with other watch brands, like Breguet, Breitling, and Rolex’s own little brother, Tudor. However, when Rolex does decide to do blue - whether it’s for dials, bezels, or some combination of both - it does so in a way that really speaks to the brand’s avid fan base. Over the years, some blue-dialed Rolex watches, in fact, are not only popular but have become recognized as classics. Here are seven Rolexes with blue dials - some discontinued and collectible, others still available in the current collection - that have demanded enthusiast attention. (Price estimates for the discontinued models on the list are courtesy of WatchCharts.) Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust 41, Ref. 126334 ($11,100) Rolex released the Datejust in 1945, and the model is today regarded as one of the world’s most classically elegant dress watches. The Datejust brought two now-familiar elements to the world of watch design, one of which can be found throughout the watch industry, the other being still closely associated with Rolex. The first was the addition of a date disp...
Worn & Wound
Watches, Stories, and Gear: The NEO Humanoid, Samsung’s Nutrition Tracking, and New Peak Design Straps
“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear. NEO: The Humanoid Robot Earlier this week, 1X announced the NEO, a $20,000 humanoid robot designed to transform your life at home. “Neo is a humanoid companion designed to transform your life at home. It combines AI and advanced hardware to help with daily chores and bring intelligence into your everyday life,” said Dar Sleeper, 1X’s VP of product and design in a recent USA Today article. While intended to become a fully autonomous household assistant, the NEO will only support a limited number of actions at its launch, and will be able to “learn”as time goes on. Weighing in at 66 pounds and standing just over five feet, the NEO can lift over 150 pounds and actively carry over 50 pounds. While there’s an expected learning curve for new technology, a recent video from Marques Brownlee dives into just how much (or how little) the NEO can currently do, and what to expect moving forward. With this technology just around the corner, will you be adding a humanoid robot into your household? Nutrition Tracking in Your Smart Watch Since their introduction, Smartwatches have continued to gain capabilities and become more useful if you integrate them properly....
Deployant
New: CASIO X Back To The Future
Casio’s CA-500WEBF-1A “Back to the Future” edition is a thoughtful nod to both retro tech and pop culture. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Casio builds on the familiar silhouette of its classic calculator watch, the CA-53W, famously worn by Marty McFly in the original film.
Video
A Class-Leading Dress Watch With A Green Dial - Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic
Worn & Wound
Farer Introduces Two New Moonphase References Featuring Eisenkiesel Quartz and Eastern Arabic Numerals
Ah, the moon. Romantic, mysterious, and the subject of many Creative Writing 101 poems, our closest celestial body has also wormed its way onto many a watch face over the years. Moonphase watches evoke a sense of sophistication and elegance, and tend to decorate watchmakers’ dressier lines, despite their somewhat subversive practicality. Farer’s moonphase collection is no exception; first launched in 2023, it took one of watchmaking’s oldest complications and applied it to the British brand’s own design ethos. Here in 2025, we have two new references to pad out that lineup: The Stratton and Burbidge Eastern Arabic Editions. Taking the same basic design of the rest of the line, the new Moonphase models are wrapped in a 38.5mm cushion case with curved sides that wear a “grain twist” texture. The case scallops in the 43.8mm between the lugs to make the strap sit flush, and a rounded crown with a solid bronze cap finishes the vintage-adjacent case look. Inside, both Moonphase models are powered by a Sellita SW288-1 M Elabore Grade movement, with blued screws and a Farer-embossed bridge. The Sellita movement allows for a 45-hour power reserve, and hour, minute, seconds, date, and of course, moonphase functions. Where the models differ is in their case material and dial design. The Stratton Edition-named for Frederick Stratton, a WWI veteran, mathematician, and astronomer who would eventually serve as Director of the Solar Physics Observatory, among many other ...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Yema Navygraf Pearl with a Mother-of-Pearl Bezel and Dial
Yema brings mother-of-pearl to new territory with the Yema Navygraf Pearl, a watch featuring a bezel and dial crafted from the iridescent material.
Worn & Wound
Hands-On: the Metrical Epiphany Origin
I feel like I say it all the time around here, but one of my favorite things about working in the watch space, particularly in the micro/indie territory that we find ourselves in, is being surprised by a brand or a watch that comes at you completely unexpectedly. I had that experience recently with a new watch from Metrical, an entirely new brand that I can honestly say I had never heard of until a PR colleague dropped me an email about them. The renders in the press release had me immediately intrigued. This watch, which they call the Epiphany Origin, uses a non-traditional time telling display inspired, according to the brand, by the way humans first told the time: through changes in the sky. The party trick of the Epiphany Origin is relatively simple. The minute hand is self explanatory and just like a traditional minute hand on any other watch you’ve worn or seen. The hours, though, are read through an aperture in the upper half of the dial, with a numerical display that spans from 6:00 to 6:00. During the daylight hours you’ll find a graphic representation of the sun in that aperture, and in the evening you’ll see the moon, trailing right behind. It’s one of those things you sometimes experience with a watch that is initially a little bewildering, but then completely intuitive. It is, after all, just a different way to clock a twelve hour timespan on a dial, and is essentially an AM/PM indicator that’s blown up to full dial size. That “blowing up” as...
Fratello
Fratello’s Top 5 Recently Released Carbon Watches - Featuring Tudor, Tissot, Zenith, And More
Another Friday, another list! This week, we will continue our exploration of modern materials used in the watch world. After picking our favorite ceramic and titanium watches, we will now turn to carbon. We do not see this material as often as the other two, but it stands out when we do. Let’s find out […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Recently Released Carbon Watches - Featuring Tudor, Tissot, Zenith, And More to read the full article.
WatchAdvice
Review: The Zenith Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar In Lapis Lazuli
A forgotten 1970s prototype finally brought to life, the Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar Lapis Lazuli is Zenith at its poetic best. A celestial twist on a historic design, this is a watch that feels as timeless as the night sky it represents! What We Love The Lapis Lazuli stone dial is genuinely stunning. A vibrant, rich, and ever-changing under light, perfectly capturing Zenith’s celestial identity. The El Primero 3610 movement keeps the brand’s DNA alive with that iconic 36,000 vph beat and flawless integration of the triple calendar and moon-phase. Despite the dial’s visual complexity, the blue-and-white contrast and colour-matched calendar wheels keep everything clean, legible, and refined. What We Don’t The straight lugs don’t curve down enough, meaning the case can sit slightly proud on smaller wrists. At 14 mm, it’s not overly chunky, but some may find it a little tall, especially under tighter cuffs. As a complete calendar, it still requires five manual date changes a year, not a deal-breaker, but something to note for practicality. Overall Rating: 8.9/10 Value for money: 8.5/10 Wearability: 9/10 Design: 9/10 Build quality: 9/10 The story of the Zenith Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar is a fabled one, as it is about a timepiece that never made it to production, up until almost 54 years later, when Zenith went through their archives and found the original plans for this timepiece. While we can say that Zenith might’ve missed out on an incred...
Video
Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto Limited Edition Hour Striking Automatic Watch - Sonnerie au passage
SJX Watches
SJX Podcast: Breguet’s Big Pivot
On Episode 17 of the SJX Podcast, Brandon has just returned from WatchTime New York, an event that has emerged as the flagship watch fair in the United States since its debut in 2015. SJX shares his hands-on impressions of Breguet’s new ref. 7225, which features the return of the brand’s magnetic pivots and is the highlight of the 250th anniversary releases so far. We also examine the hamburger-sized 77 mm J. Player & Son ‘hypercomplication’ at Phillips – one of the most complicated and impressive British watches ever made, before wrapping up with a discussion about some of the pieces from JP Morgan’s own collection coming up in the same auction. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Youtube.
SJX Watches
Aubert Ramel Debuts with the Ouréa
While Aubert and Ramel is a new brand, and the Ouréa is a new watch, Thomas Aubert and Alexis Ramel-Sartori aren’t new to independent watchmaking, both having worked for a prominent name in the space. That experience is evident in a strong – and decidedly on-trend – debut that stands out even in a crowded market. Initial Thoughts It seems there are many finely decorated time-only watches on the market today; the two contributed to some of the better ones in their earlier careers. Now the pair strike out under their own name, and unsurprisingly, their first watch is quite good. Though the duo seem to know that already, as they have priced it close to, just a little below, leading independents. The Ouréa’s “scraped” dial brings to mind the wildly successful Chronomètre Artisans from Simon Brette. That probably isn’t coincidental, as the two both worked for Simon Brette. However, I perceive an even stronger, and more general, influence of Greubel Forsey in the Ouréa. It also calls back to Thomas Aubert’s Séléné, winner of last year’s F.P. Journe young talent competition. The scintillating teal accents, applied by atomic layer deposition, are a nice touch to set the watch apart, and the hands are incredibly well made. Interestingly, the filling in the hands is white lacquer rather than luminous material. That seems like a missed opportunity as the appearance would be nearly identical if it were lumed. It is also a shame that Mr Aubert’s recoiling sho...
Teddy Baldassarre
The Best Luxury Sport Watches
Luxury Sport watches are probably one of the most popular categories out there with no shortage of excellent options from the most mainstream to the most niche independent watch brands. While names like the Rolex Submariner and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak are seen as the staple watches in this category to aspire to, we asked our editorial team here to share their personal picks in this admittedly crowded category. So without further ado, let's take a look at our favorite luxury sport watches. Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date There are dive watches that you wear to go diving and there are dive watches that you wear - well, maybe afterward, to the country club where you go to talk about diving. The Glashütte Original SeaQ is a prime example of a watch that can actually fill both roles. While it was established relatively recently, in 1994, Germany’s Glashütte Original can trace its lineage as far back as 1845, which also happens to be the year that watchmaking essentially arrived as an industry in Germany. As I cover in much greater detail in this article, a full century of horological tradition, centered in the town of Glashütte in the state of Saxony, came to an end with Germany’s defeat in World War II. It was replaced by a new era in which a state-owned conglomerate of once-independent heritage watch manufacturers, the Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe or GUB, shifted focus from artisanal techniques and luxuriously decorative timepieces to mass-produced tool watch...
Monochrome
Hands-on – The New Titanium Jacques Bianchi JB300 Profonde x Deepsea.edc
Every brand from Apple to Zenith touts at least one watch that is “built for adventure”, “to stand the test of time”, or to “take a licking and keep on ticking” (okay, maybe that last one is less current). One look at the watch marketing out there today, and you will be inundated with images […]
Worn & Wound
Nomos Plays the Hits: Introducing the Tetra Origins Collection
Nomos has had an incredibly interesting trajectory among watch enthusiasts over the past decade or so. If you got into the hobby at a certain time, Nomos was almost certainly one of the first “forum brands” that you’d be introduced to as a level up from some of the core enthusiast watches that you might be able to scrounge for in your local department store or pick up on Amazon. Nomos (and Sinn, and a handful of other brands) required a bit more expense, and a bit more effort to get your arms around, but once you did, you really felt like you were part of the club (no pun intended). And then things kind of settled. The enthusiasts who cut their teeth on Nomos did what enthusiasts always do, and discovered other cool things as the watch community migrated from the antiquated forums to Facebook and Instagram. Nomos never stopped releasing good watches, but there was a sliver of time when it felt like they were improving rapidly and we’d have exciting new releases from them on a regular basis. It didn’t really turn out that way – they’ve largely iterated on core designs, offering new sizes (usually bigger) and sportier specs (bracelets, and better water resistance). The hypothetical Nomos chronograph that I can recall so many anonymous forum users speculating about never materialized, and it seems like the brand has become very comfortable simply being Nomos and making Nomos watches. Things changed a bit this year at Watches & Wonders with the release of the...
Video