Watch brandsWatch wikiWatch videosVariousWatch calendarSaved articles
PopularRolexOmegaPatek PhilippeAudemars PiguetTudorGrand SeikoCartierSeikoIWCTAG HeuerBreitlingJaeger-LeCoultreA. Lange & SohneZenith

Results for Swiss vs Japanese Watchmaking

4,409 articles · 711 videos found · page 35 of 171

How Ulysse Nardin’s Freak-Mentality Has Taught the Industry to Keep Watchmaking Forward-Thinking and Fun Worn & Wound
Jaeger-LeCoultre just Jun 25, 2025

How Ulysse Nardin’s Freak-Mentality Has Taught the Industry to Keep Watchmaking Forward-Thinking and Fun

When Ulysse Nardin unveiled the Freak in 2001, it set off a chain of events that forever changed the course of history for the brand and for the industry at large. The model seamlessly flexed a combination of technical and design achievements. The Freak offered material innovation that was far ahead of its time, introducing the use of silicon in the escapement wheels-a technology that is now used by almost every major watch brand from Rolex to Patek Philippe, Girard-Perregaux, Breitling, and Jaeger-LeCoultre, just to name a few. It also presented an entirely new set of aesthetic codes for watch design with an expression of time that notably lacked a traditional dial, hands, or crown. With the Freak’s overall success, it immediately established the brand as a thought leader, an innovator, and (perhaps most importantly) a rebel in an industry often paralyzed by its reverence and steadfast commitment to tradition.  In the nearly 25-years since the first Freak, we have seen Ulysse Nardin infuse this spirit in each subsequent Freak model and its catalog at large-from the Blast collection to its UFO clocks and, most recently, in its record breaking Diver [Air], the world’s lightest mechanical dive watch.  The first Freak We all know record setting has become a bit of a thing in watchmaking. Particularly in the past decade or so, we have witnessed brands embark on the race to claim the next world record title. Since 2014, Bulgari has set a whopping ten for the ultra-thi...

Read article
Inside Hour Precision, the Machine Shop Determined to Revitalize American Watchmaking Worn & Wound
Rolex Jun 12, 2025

Inside Hour Precision, the Machine Shop Determined to Revitalize American Watchmaking

Usually when watchmakers brag about space cred, they bring up models that have gone to space or that are made of rocks from space or that take inspiration from the solar system. Zach Smith has them all beat: the Ohio-based horological craftsman makes aerospace engineering components (among other things) at his workshop, Hour Precision. Smith had hoped from the start that Hour Precision would make watches, and found along the way the machines and expertise you need to machine intricate watch movement pieces translate well to making parts for semiconductors, medical equipment, and, of course, aerospace components. That move into non-horological industries came relatively recently for Smith, however. Before the micro-machining and before he founded Hour Precision, Smith was a high-school-aged watch enthusiast who landed a job in a jewelry school. “I was fixing heart rate monitor watches. There was a brand called Polar before the Apple Watch that made fitness watches, and I started off doing that and then moved,” said Smith. “My boss at the time was selling pre-owned Rolex. He would buy product from walk-ins and from other suppliers and refurbish the Rolex watches, polish them, etc., and then sell them. After a while where I was doing well with the Polar watches, he asked me if I wanted to start doing that.” Zach Smith, front left, upon graduation from watchmaking school. Image courtesy Zach Smith @zachsmiami From there, Smith moved to another store that processed betw...

Read article
Brew Introduces the Metric Manual Wind, with a Swiss Mechanical Movement Worn & Wound
Brew Introduces May 7, 2025

Brew Introduces the Metric Manual Wind, with a Swiss Mechanical Movement

Brew’s recent history has been marked by two distinct types of watch releases. There are watches that incorporate bold design choices in established platforms, like Metric Star from last year, or our own Metric Chrono Regulator Lumint limited edition. These releases take a distinct point of view on something that is familiar to Brew fans and watch enthusiasts more generally, and keep moving the ball forward on the brand’s aesthetic. Then there are more substantial releases that feel like the brand is reaching for greater heights, toying with an incrementally higher end product. The titanium Metric Chronograph, for instance, seemed like clear upping of the ante in terms of what the Brew catalog might look like across price points, materials, and so on, as did the first mechanical Metric when it was released almost two years ago. If you’ve spent any time at all talking to Brew founder Jonathan Ferrer, you know that he has no shortage of ideas for the brand, so there’s a prevailing sense that a watch that completely changes how we think about Brew could come at any time. The new Metric Manual Wind might be the best example of that to date.  It makes sense, in a lot of ways, that a watch like this would come now. This year marks Brew’s tenth anniversary, and the last decade (especially the last five years or so) have seen the brand grow at a clip rarely seen in the microbrand space. The Metric has proven to be a particularly durable platform for design innovations a...

Read article
Kallinich Claeys Brings Creative Independent Watchmaking to Glashütte Worn & Wound
Nomos headquarters Apr 14, 2025

Kallinich Claeys Brings Creative Independent Watchmaking to Glashütte

In the Fall of 2023, I organized a RedBar event in Prague for Marco Lang, Stefan Kudoke, and Jochen Benzinger. During the event I met two young guys who looked in their early twenties, enjoying fresh Pilsner beer. When we raised our glasses to cheer, I noticed his wrist and had a hard time believing what I saw.  The young man introduced himself as Thibault Claeys and said this is their first watch. The other young man introduced himself as Johannes Kallinich. While I looked at the watch, Thibault told me that both of them worked at A. Lange & Söhne until recently. Johannes was the head of the Lange 1 department and a certified Master Watchmaker with a deep understanding of technical construction. Thibault, on the other hand, graduated from watchmaking school in Antwerp, and joined the Lange 1815 department. His expertise lies in finishing techniques, and he plays MacGyver with all the machines and tooling.  The next encounter with Thibault and Johannes was a planned visit to their atelier in the summer of 2024. Their small workshop is located right next to Nomos headquarters, and directly opposite from the SUG case workshop in Glashütte. The workshop is framed all around by large windows, an inspiration they took from Akrivia and Rexhep Rexhepi.  Thibault walked me through “his side” of the workshop first where he built his own CNC milling machine. You see all the contraptions he built himself for making parts or for finishing of the parts. He says it actually all...

Read article
New Release: Raúl Pagès RP2 – White Agate follows Soberly Onyx. Independent Watchmaking at its Best! Quill & Pad
Mar 29, 2025

New Release: Raúl Pagès RP2 – White Agate follows Soberly Onyx. Independent Watchmaking at its Best!

Raúl Pagès goal for the RP2 was to design a timeless classic, where purity of form meets technical excellence. A watch that would serve as the foundation of his collection for years to come. Every detail, from the clean lines to the entirely in-house movement, reflects his pursuit of balance between apparent simplicity and absolute refinement.

Read article