Two Broke Watch Snobs
Dryden’s New Chrono Diver Gen 2 Delivers Vintage Dive Watch Style Under $500
A look at the Dryden Chrono Diver Gen 2, an under-$500 microbrand dive watch chronograph with refined 1970s styling and a new bracelet.
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Two Broke Watch Snobs
A look at the Dryden Chrono Diver Gen 2, an under-$500 microbrand dive watch chronograph with refined 1970s styling and a new bracelet.
Time+Tide
We take a look behind the curtain and what really goes in to making a watch at an industrial level in 2026 and more.The post Tudor opens up its supply chain while Lange opens new doors in Sydney appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
I’m writing this just a few hours jetlagged from an IWC preview in Los Angeles, where I had the chance to see much of what the brand has in store for this year. Now while most of what I saw has to stay under embargo for now, one piece I can talk about is the new Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium, and it’s one I feel most watch enthusiasts didn’t see coming. I should admit something up front: the Portugieser line has never been a true favorite of mine. I’ve always thought it was a little too dress-forward and formal. That’s not a criticism, just my own preference. I just typically gravitate toward pieces that feel sportier or more tool-like. Which is exactly why this release surprised me. This is the sportiest Portugieser we’ve seen yet, and it really shifts the tone of a collection that has previously leaned more elegant. The Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium (Ref. IW371631) keeps the familiar 41mm proportions of the modern Chronograph but the case, crown, and pushers are now crafted in Ceratanium, IWC’s proprietary titanium-based material. If you’re not familiar with Ceratanium, IWC developed this material over five years and it is a patented, matte-black material made by firing a special titanium alloy in a kiln, resulting in a scratch-resistant, non-coated surface. Ceratanium has historically felt most at home within IWC’s more tool-like utilitarian watches, particularly in the Pilot’s Watch line. We’re big fans of this material at Worn & W...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
See how the Hamilton Khaki Mechanical and Timex Solar Field Post perform beyond specs. Find out which delivers better comfort, reliability, design, and value.
Fratello
Some colorways naturally lend themselves to a particular watch style. Think, for instance, of a blue-and-red “Pepsi” combination for a GMT watch, stark black and white for a Flieger, or simply the marriage of blued hands over a porcelain-white dial on any number of dress watches. I’m sure I’m missing many more. Some of those […] Visit Hands-On With The New Farer World Timer Thorne Gold to read the full article.
Monochrome
Abraham-Louis Perrelet made his mark in watchmaking history with his work on automatic winding. The modern Perrelet brand is recognised for its patented Double Rotor and Turbine watches, which feature hypnotic spinning rotors on the dial. Much less theatrical, Perrelet’s Weekend collection offers more traditional dress watches in 39mm cases with a subtle retro vibe. […]
Fratello
Another Friday, another list. This week, we follow up on last week’s list of the top five Rolex GMT-Master II alternatives with the best alternatives to the Rolex Explorer II. It’s a logical step since the two models offer much of the same functionality. But they are inherently different watches in terms of presence and […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Explorer II Alternatives In 2026 to read the full article.
Monochrome
Long associated with pilot’s chronographs and robust instrument watches, Tutima has, over the past decade, built a compelling “classical” collection. The Patria line, introduced in the early 2010s and coinciding with the brand’s return to Glashütte, offered refined cases, restrained dials and, most notably, beautifully executed hand-wound movements rooted in Saxon tradition. Following earlier executions […]
Fratello
Three years ago, the Raymond Weil Millesime Automatic Small Seconds timepiece won the GPHG 2023 Challenge Watch Prize. That was a bigger surprise to most watch fans than Audemars Piguet winning the Grand Prix for the Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4. Since that award-winning watch, many variations have debuted. And truth be told, they all […] Visit Introducing: Three New Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds Watches With Tuxedo Dials to read the full article.
SJX Watches
The Expérimentale 1 debuted last year as the capstone to the first quarter-millennium of the house of Breguet. We attended the launch event and shared immediate hands-on impressions, but watches like this don’t come along every day, or even every year, so it’s worth a fresh look now that some time has passed and the dust has settled. On paper, the Expérimentale 1 arguably represents the highest form of the mechanical watch. To understand the technical details of what makes the watch so groundbreaking, this in-depth analysis should be considered required reading. In short, the cal. 7250 housed within introduces the first-ever contactless mechanical escapement that simultaneously achieves two feats that Abraham-Louis Breguet himself toiled to accomplish throughout his entire career, namely, an oil-free escapement and stable amplitude. The Expérimentale 1 delivers both, and more. That said, as a wristwatch the Expérimentale 1 is tantalisingly imperfect owing to its polarising design. In fairness, this arguably says more about the difficultly of communicating technical breakthroughs to a non-technical public than it does about the design process at Breguet. It could also be the result of Breguet learning lessons from its own past. A modern (Marine) chronometer The Expérimentale 1 is most notable for its novel escapement and what it signals about the future direction of the brand, but it’s also worth analysing the updated Marine-style case, which is the most challeng...
Teddy Baldassarre
The Citizen Promaster Aqualand 200M Depth Meter is part of a long tradition of dive-watch innovation but is also a model distinct from the rest of its peers. Japan’s Citizen Watch Co. has been making watches for more than 100 years, and started making purpose-built watches or divers in the early 1980s. Since then, Citizen has been expanding the variety of styles, functionalities, and even movement types available in its dive watches, which have become a significant pillar of the brand’s rather large product portfolio. [toc-section heading="A Brief History of Citizen Dive Watches"] The Japanese watchmaker, today renowned for technical innovations like Super Titanium, satellite-controlled timekeeping, and its signature solar-driven Eco-Drive movement technology, was an early contributor to making wristwatches waterproof. It released the Parawater, regarded as the first “water-resistant” Japanese watch, in 1959 - several years before its main Japanese rival, Seiko, released its first dedicated diver’s watch, the . Parawater watches (as above) were waterproof to 50 meters of depth, an impressive feat for the era, and they were the forerunners of Citizen’s contemporary line of dive watches, which began in the 1960s but really kicked into gear with the release of the Promaster Marine in 1982. (Citizen dive watches, despite their diversity, all fall under the “Promaster” category today.) That same year, Citizen released its 1300m Professional Diver’s Watch, ...
Worn & Wound
With all the challenges that come with owning vintage watches-servicing, wear on components, wildly varying valuation-sometimes it’s easier to look for something that simply looks vintage instead. Thankfully, we’ve seen a wave of intriguing retro-style watches as of late, and the new Dryden Watch Company Chrono Diver Gen 2 collection brings even more 1970s design to the world of modern skin divers. While the first generation of Chrono Divers from Dryden covered relatively contemporary aesthetic points, like bright colors, high-contrast details with ultra-bright Super-LumiNova, rubber straps, and more, the second generation promises an adherence to more nostalgic design cues. While the new Chrono Divers sport the same modern 42mm case dimensions, the design itself is revised; a layered profile to integrate solid end links for a new tapered five-link bracelet and recessed pushers give the watches a sleeker silhouette that harkens back to simpler skin divers of the 1960s and 1970s, rather than the bulky beasts of today. On the aesthetic end, three new colorways are available and though they largely mirror the dial designs of the first generation, the combinations themselves are much more muted in adherence to the new vintage look. The Black Vintage and PVD Vintage styles feature light yellow indices and hands over a black dial, with white chrono subdials, whereas the Blue Panda model swaps in a dressier white dial and hands with a blue bezel and subdials. Both color...
Monochrome
Since becoming the official timekeeper of the MotoGP championship in 2001, Tissot has connected itself firmly to the sport through trackside timing systems and watches that speak the design language and mechanical intensity of motorcycle racing. The T-Race MotoGP collection was first introduced in 2003, and the brand has since created many motorsport-inspired references, with […]
Hodinkee
Just 8 pieces bring together Ressence's simplest design with Japanese artist Terumasa Ikeda's handcrafted raden and urushi.
Teddy Baldassarre
In 2017, IWC introduced a proprietary alloy called Ceratanium, or ceramized titanium, a hard, lightweight material that combined the best of ceramic and titanium. Oh, and it happened to look pretty cool as well. The material has been used sparingly in the intervening years, largely appearing across the brand’s sport-watch portfolio, from the Pilot to the Aquatimer collections. This week, Ceratanium is making its first appearance in the Portugieser collection with a new, limited-edition 41mm chronograph featuring a Ceratanium case affixed to a black rubber strap. In an effort to drive the point home, the rest of the watch is fully murdered out making the IWC Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium a decidedly sporty take on this otherwise dressier collection. [toc-section heading="What's New"] The new watch is the Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium, and it turns the classic chronograph layout on its head by rendering every detail in shades of black (insert Henry Ford quote here). The Portugieser is a historic watch with roots that date back to the late 1930s, and its modern aesthetic is largely referential to that history. That underlying design remains intact here, with a large, open dial hosting Arabic numerals at each hour, and a set of leaf hands tracking the time against them. The two subdials are arranged vertically, retaining a symmetric layout that recalls the original time-only references that had subsidiary seconds located at 6 o’clock. Using Ceratanium (which ha...
Worn & Wound
When we create a post on the Worn & Wound blog, we check a little box on the sidebar of our backend system to categorize the watch we’re writing about. The options are things like “Diver,” and “Chronograph” and “Dress,” which is about what you’d expect, and these well understood categories are appropriate for most of the watches we write about. But my absolute favorite thing is when a news release (or an actual watch!) comes across my desk that can only fit into one category, at the very bottom of the list: Unique. More than any other brand (besides perhaps MB&F; and Urwerk), Ressence really has a lock on the Unique category here at Worn & Wound. One of many reasons we continue to be drawn to them year after year. Their latest, the Type 9 IKE, is unique even within the Ressence catalog. Built on the (relatively) approachable Type 9 platform, which features an easy to wear 39mm case and a simplified version of the already incredibly stripped down Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS), the new limited edition is a collaboration with Japanese artist Terumasa Ikeda. It’s also a twist on a trend we’ve been seeing play out in the watch industry over the last few years, but you probably wouldn’t think at first glance that this is actually a very intricately crafted mother of pearl dial. Ikeda’s work has a style that can be described as mixing very old craft techniques with a futuristic, almost sci-fi inspired design code. The Type 9 IKE’s dial looks...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The new affordable Timex Waterbury Heritage Chronograph gets a striking ice blue dial and classic motorsport styling.
Time+Tide
Andrew O'Connor interrogates who and what COSC's stricter new chronometer certification is actually intended for.The post Is the COSC Excellence Chronometer Certification late to the party? Or just what the watch world needs? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
Audemars Piguet's Heritage and Museum Director shares how the brand organizes, enriches, and studies its archives and historical collections.
SJX Watches
One of the longest-lived models in the IWC catalogue, the Portugieser Chronograph is simple, distinctive, and handsomely proportioned. Now it’s undergone a surprising makeover to create the Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium, which has just debuted publicly on Ed Sheeran’s wrist during the musician’s tour of Australia. Now in its second generation with an in-house movement, the Portugieser Chronograph has a clean aesthetic with vertically laid out registers and a large-but-thin case. Usually available only in gold or steel, the case is now Ceratanium, essentially titanium that’s been treated to form a hard ceramic layer on its surface. Ed Sheeran wearing a Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium during his concert at the Marvel Stadium on February 26 in Melbourne, Australia. Image – Mark Surridge Initial thoughts IWC doesn’t put out many interesting watches now (regrettably), but the Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium certainly stands out. Though it’s essentially a cosmetic variation of a familiar model, it is appealing. I’ve long been a fan of the Portugieser Chronograph; I like the proportions and design. The design is now over 30 years ago but still feels fresh. The Ceratanium version is odd yet likeable. The all-black livery feels like a mismatch with the classical style, but somehow it works and fits the minimalist look. Despite the appeal, the new Portugieser is expensive. It costs 50% more than the steel model, which feels like too much notwithstanding th...
Hodinkee
A uniquely sporty and stealthy take on one of IWC's most recognizable designs.
Monochrome
Some watches feel like they’ve always existed. And yet, the Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds 39mm, part of a successful collection launched in 2023, has nothing to do with history. It’s just a design exercise, but one done right. Since its introduction, the collection, which now also includes a more compact 35mm version, a bolder […]
SJX Watches
An eighties icon that is finding fresh footing, Raymond Weil has extended its GPHG-winning dress watch collection with the Millesime Small Seconds 39 mm “Tuxedo”. Available in three appealing colourways, the Millesime features Art Deco-inspired typography that brings a surprising degree of energy to the line-up’s familiar sector-style dial. Initial thoughts Raymond Weil was one of the biggest names in Swiss watchmaking in the 1980s and 1990s. Raymond Weil himself was one of the first entrepreneurs to see a future for mechanical watchmaking amidst the rubble of the quartz crisis, launching his eponymous brand in 1976. While peak production is in the past, the brand seems to have rebounded with a collection of well-received dress watches and savvy limited editions. The new Millesime Small Seconds embodies the carefully considered details that have underpinned the brand’s recent resurgence. It’s not revolutionary by any means, but at just US$2,295 it offers an affordable entry point to the world of Swiss dress watches. Affordability is one thing, but appeal is another. Fortunately the 39 mm Millesime hits many of the right notes in each of the three colourways, including a so-called ‘tuxedo’ configuration in either classic back and white or on-trend burgundy, as well as a dark blue option that might be the dark horse favourite. Art Deco trio All three models have a few key things in common, starting with the stainless steel case. The Millesime measures 39 mm in ...
Monochrome
A compact evolution of Ressence’s signature pebble-shaped case designs and original display of the time that circles around the dial like planets orbiting the Sun, the Type 9 is the brand’s smallest, lightest and most accessibly priced watch to date. Given its minimalist display and compact (wearable) proportions, the Type 9 has been singled out […]
Time+Tide
The latest chapter of JLC's Made of Makers programme, "Bridge in Time", explores the intersection between photography, art and AI.The post The past is a place worth visiting: Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Made of Makers gets a Middle Eastern soul appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
While silicon mechanical movement components have swept across Switzerland, adoption has been slow within the Japanese watch industry, stymied by Swiss patents and professed concerns over the material’s durability. To this day, it remains the unlikely domain of Orient Star, a small brand with priority access to Seiko Epson’s massive industrial base. This positions Orient Star to capitalise on consumer demand for increasingly long power reserves, without sacrificing performance. Thanks to an ultralight and geometrically efficient escape wheel with a patented design, Orient Star is able to deliver a 70-hour power reserve without resorting the same counter-productive trade-offs to balance energy made by some Swiss peers – here’s how it was done. A silicon wafer of escape wheels. Image – Seiko Epson The quest for longer power reserves Recent consumer demand for longer power reserves has sent the industry’s engineers scrambling for ways to increase the autonomy of existing movement platforms. A movement’s power reserve is dictated by the length of the mainspring, which unwinds at a constant rate. That is why using a chronograph doesn’t cause a watch to run down faster – usually. Of course, you need to find somewhere to fit that extra length of mainspring while maintaining the movement’s dimensions, such as by thinning out the barrel walls, narrowing the inner barrel arbour radius, or, reducing the thickness of the mainspring. However, while decreasing the ma...
Worn & Wound
I’ll admit, I’m late to the party. I didn’t discover Atelier Wen until last year when a friend told me I should check out the brand and connected me with its founder, Robin Tallendier. The pair knew how to tug at my heartstrings straight away: enamel dials. For those of you who know a little bit about me, you are well aware that métiers d’art crafts are my passion, but I have a particular affinity for enamel dials. Perhaps it is more than an affinity and closer to an obsession. I have taken my love of enamel from admirer to aspiring artisan, completing three enameling apprenticeships in Switzerland to learn the artform myself. After going back and forth with Robin for a few months and musing over the watches from a distance, I finally had the chance to experience them in the metal for the first time at Dubai Watch Week last November. I was immediately struck by the technique of the Ancestra and Inflection dials with a hammered base that added further depth and texture to the enamel itself. While the beauty of enamel (especially when paired with techniques like guilloche) is its interplay with light, something about the organic nature of the hand hammering brought an even deeper sense of life and movement to these dials. Since then, Atelier Wen has branched out, expanding its expertise in stunning dials beyond guilloche, hand hammering, enamel, and (in the past) porcelain to its latest model showcasing natural stone: the limited edition Millésime 2025 Percepti...
Hodinkee
Join Hodinkee and Citizen for an enlightening conversation and exclusive look-ahead.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Zodiac teams up with GiantMouse on a Super Sea Wolf Pro Diver and custom dive knife set inspired by vintage tool watches.
Teddy Baldassarre
The New Store Is Officially Here. At 4x the size of our previous location, we have welcomed a wider selection of brands including TUDOR, IWC, and Blancpain, Longines and others with space to truly make it a community hub for watch events and watch culture. Now open just blocks away from our first store, and still in We
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