Two Broke Watch Snobs
Citizen vs Orient: Which Affordable Watch Brand Offers Better Value?
Citizen vs Orient explained through years of hands-on wear. Honest insights on affordability, design, durability, accuracy, and daily ownership.
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Two Broke Watch Snobs
Citizen vs Orient explained through years of hands-on wear. Honest insights on affordability, design, durability, accuracy, and daily ownership.
Monochrome
A Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programme can be an excellent source of long-sought-after vintage watches that are inspected and verified by the manufacturer. We’ve seen it from mainstream brands like Rolex, but even independent brands such as Urwerk offer CPO programmes. The idea is to offer past models to collectors looking to add that one special piece to their collection. […]
Fratello
At the beginning of every year, Audemars Piguet graces us with a series of novelties. Last year was a big one for Audemars Piguet, with the unveiling of some brilliant new releases to mark its 150th anniversary. Among them were the new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar and the Royal Oak Chronograph. These two watches introduced […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Favorite Recent Audemars Piguet Releases to read the full article.
Monochrome
It’s the time of year when businesses announce their financial performance. Following Richemont and LVMH, Swatch Group has just released its 2025 results. In a challenging environment for the watch industry, the sales of Swatch Group – the Swiss powerhouse and owner of Omega, Longines, and Tissot – were CHF 6,280 million, down 1.3% at constant exchange rates […]
Time+Tide
TAG Heuer has Formula 1, Rolex has tennis, Omega has the Olympic Games, and now Frederique Constant has padel.The post Frederique Constant teams up with Pro Padel League + new AP House opens in Atlanta appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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Fratello
I had to drive from Amsterdam to Brussels in 2015 to see the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Universal Time with deadbeat seconds in the metal. It was worth it. Both the three-handed Geophysic True Second and Universal Time impressed me a lot, especially the travel watch with a world-map dial and a practical complication. Upon learning […] Visit Why I Bought The Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Universal Time to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Having previously collaborated with almost every major art museum in the world, from MoMA to the Louvre, Swatch has licensed four masterpieces of 20th-century art from the Guggenheim, including works on display in New York and Venice. Accessibly priced, non-limited and available online, the Swatch x Guggenheim collection brings works from Monet, Degas, Klee, and Pollock to a wrist near you. Initial thoughts Painted dials have a long history in watchmaking, but the difficult nature of the work meant that for most of history they remained out of reach for all but the wealthiest clientele. While hand-painted dials are vanishingly rare and breathtakingly expensive, modern production methods mean that legendary masterpieces can now be easily scaled down and mass produced. Swatch was a pioneer in this regard, introducing its first artist collaboration with Kiki Picasso in 1985, just two years after the company launched its revolutionary plastic watch. The Picasso collaboration was the first of many, and since then there’s hardly a major art museum that hasn’t licensed selected works to Swatch. The works selected for this collaboration come from two different Guggenheim collections. Three of them are famously on display at the Guggenheim New York, while the fourth may be seen at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. The odd-looking double-length seconds hand is an homage to this transatlantic duality. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Functionally, the four quar...
Teddy Baldassarre
Blancpain is the world’s most historic luxury watchmaker, with nearly 300 years of uninterrupted production. It’s also largely credited with establishing the blueprint of all modern diving watches with its Fifty Fathoms. The formula for the undeniably iconic collection has been largely unfussed with since it forever changed the watch world in 1953. But in recent years, we’ve seen the brand more willing to evolve with the times and expand its staple diver to be more wearable, and more appealing, so a broader scope of watch wearers. The most significant evidence of this change has been the introduction of the most scaled-down take on the line at 38.2mm last year, answering the call for more versatile sizing that many enthusiasts (especially those, like me, with smaller wrists) had been rallying for for years. Down below, I’m going to walk you through why this is such a big deal for this icon of watch history, the key details of the scaled-down Fifty-Fathoms, and some food for thought to keep in mind before trying it on yourself. [toc-section heading="History and Context"] Given that we have a complete guide to the Fifty Fathoms collection on our site already, I’m going to keep this section as quick and to the point as I can. I’m also going to hone in on the Automatique sub-collection, as it's the most relevant to our purposes here, and has the most verisimilitude to the original diving archetype in its design language. Though many brands were experimenting wi...
Hodinkee
Deal to partner with the Saudi Arabia-backed golf circuit will expose Rolex to new regions and potential controversy.
Worn & Wound
Turning on Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 masterpiece Pulp Fiction for the first time is a moment I’m sure many of us would like to relive. Among the many unexpected moments the film has to offer is a four-minute-long scene where Christopher Walken details the history of a Lancet trench watch and its unfortunate journeys through the human anatomy. The familial heirloom timepiece that Captain Koons passes down to his son, Butch, is often considered by watch buffs and film aficionados to be the true “Pulp Fiction watch” because of its inclusion in the iconic scene. I personally feel there’s another timepiece featured in the movie that should be in the running for that title as well (and no, I’m not talking about Harvey Keitel’s Gucci 3300M). The Timex Q Red Nebula never gets any clear-cut screen time, but for those keen-eyed viewers, it can be spotted on John Travolta’s wrist numerous times throughout the film. Several stories and blogs have been written about the history of the Lancet featured in the movie, but very little exists about this Timex Q in the watch space. Let’s change that, shall we? History of the Red Nebula This model was advertised as the ref. 989502 in Timex catalogues, but quickly gained the far catchier Red Nebula moniker because of its dial from consumers upon release. When it initially launched in 1977, it featured a faceted mineral crystal, similar to those seen on Seiko pieces from that era. The 1978 release of this same model features a...
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Worn & Wound
I’ll be honest and say it right off the bat: the G-SHOCK MRGB2000KT3A is not for me. Still, I am just one person in an endless ocean of watch enthusiasts, so I’ll try to take a look at the MRGB2000KT3A through the eyes of someone it is for. After all, I am not immune to the allure of a G-SHOCK; I’ve owned several, and they’ll always have a place in my heart as one of the first watch brands that I really loved. So, with my new persona adopted, let’s dive into the newest-and most limited-model in the MRG-B2000 series. The first notable thing about the MRGB2000KT3A is the name attached to it. Kobayashi Masao, a master metalsmith and engraver from Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, has lent his craft to the watch in a big way, etching a phoenix on the bezel. Perhaps I am making that sound rather tame, though; to clarify, the phoenix peeks out from the left side of the bezel, with flames mirroring its position on the right side. The engraving’s dramatic persona is based on the phoenix design on the tsuba iron guard-a fitting between a Japanese sword’s hilt and the blade-of Kobayashi Masao’s MR-G katana, making a connection between the watch and the artist’s own line of work. The deep-layer hardened titanium bezel wears a distinctive blue-green kurogane-iro (“iron color”) shade, thanks to a green DLC coating and brown Arc Ion Plating (AIP). Stippling further texturizes the bezel, and four emerald-capped screws sit at the 1, 5, 7, and 11 o’clock positions. No...
Deployant
H. Moser stays true to their minimalist style and philosophy with the new Tourbillon Skeleton, now released in the Endeavour lineup.
Fratello
Mention Pan Am to watch fans, and the first association that comes to mind is the iconic Rolex GMT-Master. It has become one of the watch world’s most popular stories, always reflected in the classic travel watch with its red and blue “Pepsi” bezel. But apart from a watch created for Pan Am pilots to […] Visit Hands-On With The Christopher Ward C60 Clipper GMT to read the full article.
Time+Tide
The golden age of air travel is celebrated in a new collaboration between Christopher Ward and the renowned, historic commercial airline.The post Christopher Ward’s new C60 Clipper GMT is cleared to land, celebrating the golden age of air travel with Pan Am appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Fratello
Why do we choose analog watches in a digital world? It’s a valid question, as these mechanical timekeepers (though still functional) are no longer the necessity they once were. Why, then, do they remain not just an obsession for the few but also relevant and ever-present objects in people’s private lives and even pop culture? […] Visit Fratello Talks: Why We Chose Analog Watches In A Digital World to read the full article.
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Worn & Wound
It’s hard to believe, but Astor+Banks has been around since 2012. That means the brand has seen the incredibly rapid growth of the microbrand watch scene from the inside, and has also been around for some of the bumps in the road that naturally occur as any community expands and changes. Their longevity in the industry is easy to understand when you zoom out and look at how brand founder Andrew Perez has positioned his brand over these last several years, with a series of thoughtful, consistent releases that build on each other gradually. The latest, the Terra Scout, is a new take on the classic field watch as seen through A+B’s perspective, which increasingly involves heavy doses of lume and a more unapologetically contemporary vibe. New takes on the field watch are always a bit of a gamble. It’s such a durable and simple platform, if you make too many changes or adjustments, you begin to bury the very nature of what it’s supposed to be. But it’s also kind of boring to simply recreate the same format over and over again. Recently, I’ve appreciated Aera’s bizarro take on the genre in their M-1 Blackbird, and the Terra Scout reminds me of that watch somewhat. Not in its aesthetic (it’s clearly completely different) but in approach. That’s very intentional on Perez’s part. “I like to get feedback at shows like WindUp and wear the watch for a while before I decide to bring it to market,” he told me over email. “In this case, it took longer than expec...
Hodinkee
The brand's take on a field watch, with an interesting sandwich dial execution and plenty of lume.
Worn & Wound
Last year, Atelier Wen released one of my favorite watches of the year in the Inflection, a bold and ambitious integrated bracelet sports watch in tantalum. The reaction to that watch, to my mind, was puzzling. While there were certainly many supporters and admirers of the Inflection, there was also a vocal contingent of enthusiasts on Instagram and various watch blog comment sections (who, to be fair, were probably not customers for this particular watch anyway) griping about the price, and the fact that a brand centered on value and approachability would even make a watch like this (the retail price is just shy of $30,000). I’ve never cared much for the notion that a brand that makes affordable watches can’t also make watches that are very, very expensive. It’s all relative anyway, right? Rolex makes watches that are considered entry points to the brand at right around $10,000, but they also have watches in their catalog that sail into the six figures. That’s a pretty big delta, certainly larger than the one between Atelier Wen’s entry level pieces and the Inflection. But that’s a topic for another day. Today, we’re focusing on Atelier Wen returning their bread and butter, the Perception, an integrated bracelet sports watch they’ve been iterating on for several years now, this one in steel with a natural pietersite dial. It’s tempting to say that this watch represents Atelier Wen jumping on the stone dial trend, but the pietersite of it all changes ...
Monochrome
Founded in 2021, Bianchet is a young independent brand based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, specialising in contemporary tonneau-shaped timepieces that merge advanced materials with architectural mechanics. The brand’s designs are rooted in the Golden Ratio (1.618), which influences the proportions of its cases, bridges, and even its rotors. Last year’s model B 1.618 UltraFino Carbon […]
Fratello
Admittedly, we don’t hear about Canada much when it comes to watches. That’s a shame and perhaps slightly surprising, as it’s a large country with a variety of landscapes. Plus, there’s coastline and inland water to explore. This makes Montreal-based Héron a bit of an upstart. The brand began delivering watches in 2021, and its […] Visit Introducing: The Héron Marinor - An Updated Dive Watch From Canada to read the full article.
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Fratello
Working in this industry, I sometimes find it strange how I can go for so long without trying a watch that has been available for years. That’s the case with the Maen Hudson diver. The Stockholm-based brand with Dutch roots first introduced the Hudson in 2018. The modern dive watch has evolved, and almost eight […] Visit Hands-On With The Redesigned Maen Hudson 38 MK5 to read the full article.
Hodinkee
FC will be official timekeeper and watch of the PPL – the upstart team pro padel league.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore the best dive watches from microbrands we’ve worn, reviewed, and compared over years of real use. Honest pros, trade-offs, and picks worth your time.
Monochrome
Among its multiple collections, which consist of the sporty Pioneer, the integrated Streamliner, and a few Heritage watches, H. Moser & Cie‘s Endeavour represents the brand’s vision of an elegant watch, often paired with a twist – should it be a pared-back “concept” dial or unexpected textures and colours. The Endeavour, as the brand’s classic […]
Fratello
How do you feel about the combination of art and watches? The mix of the two is almost always polarizing. Quite often, an art-themed watch raises the question, “Is it for me?” A straightforward answer to that question comes in the form of a watch, the Louis Erard × Monica Bonvicini “Not For You.” There […] Visit Introducing: The Louis Erard × Monica Bonvicini “Not For You” Limited Edition Of 178 Pieces to read the full article.
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