WristBuzz
Zenith and Naoya Hida & Co. team up for a double-signed G.F.J. Calibre 135
The Le Locle manufacture launches a new collaboration program, and its first partner is the most talked-about independent in Japan
648 articles · 51 videos found · page 4 of 24
WristBuzz
The Le Locle manufacture launches a new collaboration program, and its first partner is the most talked-about independent in Japan
Fratello
When you type in “retrograde” in the search box on the Fratello homepage, the results are watches in the upper echelons of high horology. The presence of a Longines is the exception that proves the rule. However, there is a brand that can be categorized as “affordable luxury watchmaking” and has quite a reputation for […] Visit Introducing: The Maurice Lacroix 1975 Master Grand Date Retrograde With The Brand’s 26th Masterpiece Caliber to read the full article.
SJX Watches
The Patek Philippe Star Caliber 2000 stands as one of the most technically ambitious pocket watches of the modern era. Launched to mark the turn of the millennium, it was the fourth most complicated watch in the world at its debut, but its true significance lies not in numbers, but in the ingenuity of its mechanisms, which redefined how grand complications could be conceived, engineered, and executed. An original complete set of four Star Caliber 2000 watches is being offered for sale by Sotheby’s at its first-ever watch auction in Abu Dhabi, which takes place in December. The first complete set to ever appear publicly, the sale will likely draw significant attention from collectors and institutions alike. The technical significance of the Star Caliber 2000 The Star Caliber 2000 was and is a remarkable achievement in watchmaking, but it was never the world’s most complicated watch. When it debuted, the Star Caliber 2000 ranked fourth in the official tally of complications, behind the Patek Philippe’s own Caliber 89 and the famous Henry Graves Super Complication from 1932, as well as the lesser-known Leroy 01 from 1904. Over the past quarter century, the Star Caliber 2000 has fallen down the rankings as more complicated watches, for both the pocket and the wrist, have been developed by Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet. But the Star Caliber 2000 should not be judged solely by this kind of ranking, which is largely superficial. The watch is packed with a number o...
Teddy Baldassarre
The ETA 2824 caliber has been a presence in the world of mechanical wristwatches for more than 50 years, helping the Swiss watchmaking industry forge a path through the Quartz Crisis and serving as the engine for hundreds of three-handed timepieces from an array of brands, large and small. While it is a rarity here in the 21st Century, its legacy can still be seen across the horological world - from the proliferation of similar movements by makers like Sellita to the increasing ubiquity of the ETA 2824’s souped-up successor, the Powermatic 80. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the ETA 2824. A (Very Brief) History of ETA Nearly everyone that follows the wristwatch industry has heard of ETA, and most of those have probably worn a watch with an ETA movement, but few are likely aware of the Swiss movement maker’s long and convoluted history. We generally trace its origins back to the formation of the historical watchmaking firm Eterna, in 1856 in the Swiss town of Grenchen. But in reality its roots reach even deeper. Eterna is perhaps most famous today as the maker of the Kon-Tiki dive watch, and it is currently owned by the Hong Kong-based Citychamp Watch and Jewellery Group. Originally however, the firm was a manufacturer of ébauches - unassembled movements for sale to outside watchmakers - and was named “Dr. Girard & Schild” for its founders, Dr. Joseph Girard and Urs Schild. Renamed Schild Frères by the next generation of owners, the compan...
Hodinkee
Quoted in excess of $10 million, this is a rare chance to see a Star Caliber 2000, let alone the unprecedented chance to buy all four metals.
Video
Citizen added a bezel to the fan favorite Tsuyosa and the result is fantastic.
Worn & Wound
It tends to be a big deal when a watchmaker unveils their first “in-house” movement, a pivotal milestone that often marks a step into the upmarket. For Italian brand Venezianico, tapping into the expertise of Fausto Berizzi, the technical director of OISA, was the key to their first proprietary mechanical caliber, designed, registered, and built entirely in Italy. The result is the Redentore Utopia, and its beating heart: the V5000 Caliber mechanical movement. In a break from convention, the Redentore Utopia is more of a stage for the V5000 Caliber movement-a catalyst for the Venezianico brand and its future momentum. Still, Venezianico matches the enthusiasm of the movement with a visually-gripping timepiece that certainly doesn’t signal its status as simply a vessel for the brand’s technical growth. Wearing a 316L stainless steel case that measures at 38mm in diameter and 8.9mm in thickness, the Utopia is firmly a dress watch. The deep blue dial is constructed via ion plating and features a dazzling, hand-engraved guilloché pattern, designed exclusively for the Utopia on a rose engine lathe by master artisan Riccarfo Renzetti. The result is a radial motif that gives the appearance of being in constant motion, with light glancing off each angle as the watch is shifted on the wrist. On the dial, baton-style, hand-applied indices line the circumference, and faceted alpha hands match the stainless steel case’s polished finish. The sole text detail on the dia...
Fratello
Manufacturers of ebauche watch movements have a major impact on the watch industry. They might not be the sexiest of companies, but their decisions directly determine what new watches we can expect to see from brands. When Miyota recently announced a flyer GMT caliber (Caliber 9075), we soon saw a flurry of new affordable flyer […] Visit Caliber Cravings: New Ebauche Watch Movements We Would Like To See to read the full article.
Hodinkee
The first Speedmaster to be powered by the new caliber 321, in the (platinum) metal.
Worn & Wound
Seiko introduced a new caliber back in March via their Prospex GMT Diver collection, adding caller GMT functionality into the brand’s well understood contemporary dive watch platform. Those watches have generated quite a bit of chatter in the watch community, with many singing their praises with respect to overall fit, finish, and wearability, and others wishing for a more functional flyer GMT complication. While the dust might still be settling, Seiko marches on, with the latest crop of watches to feature their still new 6R54 GMT movement. This time, Seiko brings the movement to the Alpinist family, which seems like a natural place for a GMT equipped watch to land. It takes what has always been cast as an explorer’s watch (with its signature compass bezel) and gives it a modern, practical, mechanical complication for a different kind of exploration. I’ve always been a pretty big fan of the Alpinist for many of the reasons Blake identifies in his Missed Review. There’s something charmingly anachronistic about wearing a watch designed with such an old fashioned aesthetic (those cathedral hands, especially) but built to modern sports watch standards. With a GMT complication added, the Alpinist retains a lot (maybe all) of that old fashioned charm, just slightly tweaked. The Explorer-style steel 24 hour bezel gives these watches a clean and sporty look, and we still get the trademark handset and those big numerals (just at the cardinal positions here, rather than ev...
Time+Tide
With hope on the horizon, and borders hopefully beginning to open, the relevance of GMT and world timer complications is bit by bit returning. Heck, if you are like me, a part of an international team, than the GMT complication does come in handy even now when coordinating Zoom calls. Regardless of circumstance, it is … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Horage Supersede aims to deliver unprecedented value with new K2 micro-rotor GMT caliber appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Video
Revolution
Grand Seiko launches the next generation of their Spring Drive movement with the 5 Days Caliber 9RA2 fitted into two limited edition timepieces that are inspired by nature.
Quill & Pad
In 2020/2021, the pre-owned landscape has experienced a seismic shift called consolidation, led by the acquisition of online vintage and pre-owned dealer Analog/Shift by Watches of Switzerland in late 2020 and more recently Hodinkee purchasing Crown & Caliber. Elizabeth Doerr converses with pre-owned watch specialist WatchBox's CEO Justin Reis for views on the Hodinkee takeover and the current pre-owned market.
Deployant
Presenting full details and hands-on with The Citizen mechanical model features the newly-developed Caliber 0200 mechanical movement. This is a new mechanical movement, and the first to be developed by Citizen in-house since 2010, and the first developed in collaboration with their Swiss subsidiary Manufacture La Joux-Perret S. A. As we understand it, Citizen hasRead More
Time+Tide
Putting on my Speedmaster Professional 50th anniversary this morning, I couldn’t help but reflect and smile on the huge announcement from Omega. The decade has just begun and Omega dropped a bombshell with the announcement of the Omega Speedmaster Caliber 321 in stainless steel. By now, you would have read that this particular watch was … ContinuedThe post An Omega fan responds to the release of the Omega Speedmaster Caliber 321 (and addresses the 20K elephant in the room) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Based on the Lemania 2310 - a movement that would serve as a base for watches like the Patek Philippe 3970 - the original caliber 321 stands as the spirit of the "true" moon and pre-moon watches. As a column-wheel chronograph, it's also highly coveted by collectors due to the historical significance and purported superiority as well.
Video
On this channel, we review watches that are available for purchase on TeddyBaldassarre.com
Deployant
Omega re-introduces their most famous movement – the Caliber 321. This robust and elegant chronograph movement has been a favourite since the 1940s and is still highly sought-after by watch collectors around the world. Now, more than 50 years after the last Calibre 321 was produced, Omega is bringing the iconic movement back. Known forRead More
SJX Watches
The Star Caliber 2000 occupies a peculiar position in the history of grand complications. It was never the most complicated watch in the world. At its debut it ranked fourth — behind Patek Philippe’s own Calibre 89 and Graves Supercomplication, and the Leroy 01 — and in the quarter-century since, the complexity record has moved further still, most notably to Vacheron Constantin. The complication arms race the Calibre 89 inadvertently triggered ran its full course, and the Star Caliber 2000 was never part of it. What it did instead was something harder to measure and, as it turns out, more durable. It demonstrated that the tradition’s inheritance of unsolved problems — the desynchronised equation, the imperfect melody, and the moon exiled from the sky — was not inevitable. That each problem had a solution. And that the solutions, taken together, produced a different kind of watch: not necessarily more complicated but more coherent; not a larger accumulation of independent mechanisms but an integrated instrument in which every display refers to a single source of truth. The arms race In early 1989, as Switzerland prepared to celebrate the most complicated portable timepiece ever made, the man who had just assembled it returned to his bench. Paul Buclin had spent years assembling and setting up the Calibre 89 by hand — 1,728 components driving 33 complications. Weighing most of a kilogram, the watch itself required its own carrying case. The watch was a monument...
Fratello
One of my all-time favorite chronographs is the Breitling Top Time ref. 810. It’s a stunning classic hailing from a long line of legendary reverse-panda chronographs that Breitling produced in the ’50s and ’60s. I could easily create a list of 5–10 of my Breitling favorites from that era, so when the brand announces a […] Visit Breitling Introduces The Stylish Reverse-Panda Superocean Heritage B01 Chronograph 42 to read the full article.
Hodinkee
The new Chronomaster Sport Chronograph brings a slew of technical updates to the El Primero caliber.
Deployant
Czapek adds to their impressive repertoire with a new model with a new in-house caliber 10 movement. Introducing the Time Jumper.
Video
Talking Watches is a long-form video series from Hodinkee that goes inside the personal watch collections of some of the most interesting people in culture, sport, music, and design. It isn’t about trends or price t...
Fratello
Apollo 8 was the first space flight to reach the Moon. On board were NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. It took them 68 hours to travel to the Moon, and during the first 66 hours, the spacecraft’s windows were facing Earth. Apollo 8 needed to swing behind the Moon (in total, […] Visit Hands-On: The New Omega Speedmaster Grey Side Of The Moon With Caliber 3869 to read the full article.
We think AP's new caliber is such a big deal, we drafted in some big guns to go deeper with it.
Worn & Wound
While more marketable leagues like Formula 1 entice with hypercars, social media presence, and reality TV, rally racing continues to wow spectators with its gritty and furious breed of off-road motorsport. Still, the rally world isn’t without flashes of luxury, and Breitling’s three new Top Time B01 Racing models look to celebrate the sport in all its dirty, dangerous beauty. Fortunately, the Swiss brand has a wealth of innovations to pull from their Top Time line-most notable is the “dashboard” dual-chronograph dial design that helps give the new Racing models that rally-inspired edge. All three Racing models are anchored by a stainless steel cushion case that gives the watch a squared-off and recognizably retro-futuristic look. With a 38mm diameter and a 44.4mm lug-to-lug measurement, the Top Time Racing should wear comfortably on most wrists but remain legible-both important factors to consider in motorsports, where one wasted second could spell disaster (or mortal danger). Raised, grooved sections add texture and dimension to each rounded corner of the case and mirror the tight spacing of the ¼ second dashes around the dial. All three models feature perforated calfskin straps nestled within an 18mm lug width, a design that calls to mind vintage racing gloves but still emphasizes durability and sportiness. The aforementioned “dashboard” dual-chronograph dial mimics an instrument cluster, with “squircle” (yes, Breitling does call them that) subdi...
Hodinkee
Vintage-style caliber crossed with modern aesthetics in celebration of Zenith's 160th Anniversary.
Worn & Wound
2022: the Kodo constant force tourbillon. 2023: the Tentagraph hi-beat mechanical chronograph. 2024: the 9SA4 manual wound, hi-beat, dual-impulse escapement caliber, and Kodo Daybreak. It’s easy to forget that Grand Seiko has brought the proverbial heat to Watches & Wonders every year since the fair started, unveiling something that one could call “revolutionary” for the brand, if on varying scales. Well, it’s looking like 2025 will continue the trend with the introduction of Spring Drive Caliber 9RB2, the first caliber with U.F.A., or Ultra Fine Accuracy, designation. Before proceeding, there are two important concepts to understand: Spring Drive and Grand Seiko’s history with acronyms (which, if you know, feel free to jump two paragraphs ahead). Starting with the former, the elevator pitch, which I will take from our article dedicated to the topic is “Spring Drive combines the best of mechanical watchmaking and the best of quartz timekeeping to create a state-of-the-art caliber that lacks the weaknesses inherent to both of these movements.” A bit deeper, Spring Drive movements use the energy stored in a traditional mainspring to drive their proprietary “Tri-synchro” regulator, which replaces the classic lever escapement. It consists of a glide wheel, the rate of which is controlled by an electromagnetic brake, and is essentially regulated by an integrated circuit with a quartz oscillator. The result is a mechanical movement with quartz-like accuracy and...
Video
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