1,495 articles · 164 videos found · page 41 of 56
Revolution
At a recent event to celebrate their partnership, Wei speaks with Jacob Arabo, founder of watchmaker to the stars Jacob & Co., and Ong Ban, CEO of Sincere Watch about the allure of the art and science of Jacob’s horological creations. Jacob & Co.’s timepieces are now exclusively available at Sincere Haute Horlogerie’s boutique at […]
SJX Watches
Piaget typically relies on a conventional palette for its signature ultra-thin dress watches, but its latest Altiplano livens things up. A collaboration between Piaget and auctioneers Phillips, the Altiplano Origin China Special Edition is based on the watchmaker’s wafer-thin watch equipped with its in-house, super-flat automatic movement. Ordinarily found with a sedate silver dial, the Altiplano gets gradient green dial with pink gold hands and markings in a 21-piece limited edition available only in China. Initial thoughts Piaget’s typical formal watches with silver dials are classic, but they can be too plain. Excepting a handful with dials in unusual materials or finishes, I find many of them overly formal and visually flat. The China edition, in contrast, instantly stands out. Though it changes nothing in terms of the basic design, the gradient green lacquer and pink gold accents give the dial a vibrance absent in the standard models. Green, however, is today’s fashionable colour, which means it’s more common than it should be. Even so, the China edition has minor design tweaks that give it a more appealing aesthetic than the standard version, like the elimination of the numerals from the seconds register. Priced at 10% more than the standard model in white gold, the China edition is more appealing. Elegantly flat In contrast to similar Altiplano models that are almost uniformly kitted out in silver dials, the China edition has a dial that’s a deep, shaded...
Revolution
At The Hour Glass’ retrospective exhibition on Urwerk’s 25th Anniversary, Master Watchmaker and Co-founder, Felix Baumgartner tells Wei stories from the early days of the brand and how they arrived at the design of the latest UR-120 “Spock”.
Revolution
Independent Watchmaking Brand Executive, Maximilian Rolf from The Hour Glass, takes Jeremiah on a quick tour of the 25th Anniversary exhibition that tells the story of Urwerk, the avant-garde watchmaking tour-de-force founded in 1997 by Master Watchmaker, Felix Baumgartner and Designer, Martin Frei. This is a retrospective on one of the pioneers of independent watchmaking […]
Time+Tide
The IWC Portugieser is a staple in the Schaffhausen watchmaker’s collection, with its signature Arabics, feuille hands and railroad minute track designs originating in 1939, before its reinvention in the early ’90s. Andrew went hands-on with two of its latest iterations – the Portugieser Automatic 40 and Perpetual Calendar 42. Both of these represent their … ContinuedThe post This new IWC Portugieser duo are more wearable, more affordable and a lot more green appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
When it comes to making scene-stealing appearances in film, Hamilton has been a fixture on the A-list since the 1930s. No other watchmaker has enjoyed the same presence, recognition or sheer amount of screen time in Hollywood history. Perhaps it’s down to Hamilton’s broad range of models with everything from delicate dress watches to rugged … ContinuedThe post Screen time: How Hamilton became Hollywood’s favourite watch brand appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
The IWC Portofino Automatic 37 has been a staple in the Schaffhausen watchmaker’s collection since 2014, largely targeted at their female audience. The new Portofino 37 models continue the feminine touches found in the original, with subtle design changes and technological improvements. This includes the introduction of a manufacture calibre, enhanced diamond setting and larger … ContinuedThe post More diamonds, more refinement, more options: The new IWC Portofino Automatic 37 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
The Tambour is Louis Vuitton’s most well-known watch design. The fashion mega-brand has been slowly but surely establishing itself as a top-tier watchmaker since establishing Le Fabrique Du Temps, their dedicated watch manufacture, in 2014. Since then, several of Louis Vuitton’s watches have earned the Geneva Seal, a rarified standard of Swiss watchmaking reserved for … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: Exploring the deep-cased majesty of the Louis Vuitton Tambour Twenty appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Is it possible to make a watch providing a novel and entertaining display of time that is wearable in a variety of settings and will be respected years from now? GaryG believes that he owns such a piece: the Upside Down made by independent watchmaker Ludovic Ballouard.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Lange 1 from German luxury watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne is an internationally recognized icon of modern watchmaking and the undisputed flagship of the Glashütte-based manufacture’s collection. And even though the Lange 1 has only been on the scene since 1994, the watch, and the company that makes it, trace their roots much further into history. From the pioneering watchmaker who jump-started a national industry in the 19th century, to his descendant that forged a new beginning for his family business in the 20th, to the evolution of a legendary watch into new and complex forms in the 21st, this the story of A. Lange & Söhne and the Lange 1. Ferdinand Adolph Lange & the Rebirth of Glashütte Few in the long history of watchmaking have had a more profound and lasting impact on a nation’s horological destiny than Ferdinand Adolph Lange had on that of Germany, whose industry is famously rooted in the town of Glashütte in Saxony. It was Lange (1815 - 1875), a native of nearby Dresden and a classically trained master watchmaker, who laid the foundations on which the struggling former mining town would build itself into Germany’s watchmaking center with the establishment of the original A. Lange & Cie. manufactory in 1845. Lange’s vision was not just for his own company but for the entire state of Saxony. When the apprentices that trained at his company had mastered their craft, he encouraged them to start their own factories and hire and train their own employees...
Hodinkee
The watchmaker's watch masters a pared-down philosophy.
SJX Watches
Louis Vuitton is now in its 20th year as a watchmaker. In that time it has gone from basic, ETA-powered watches to a variety of impressive complications, including its signature Spin Time, and even a minute repeater with automaton. To mark the occasion, Louis Vuitton (LV) has just announced the Tambour Twenty Chronograph, a remake modelled on the brand’s first serious mechanical timepiece. The two-decade journey has seen LV’s watchmaking division evolve from a shared space inside TAG Heuer’s factory to its own expansive facility in Geneva that includes not only a complications workshop but also its own dial-making facility. While LV does make some of its own movements now, the Tambour Twenty is a nod to its origins as a watchmaker. The 200-piece limited edition is modelled on the Tambour LV277 of 2003, the brand’s first chronograph that was powered by the Zenith El Primero. Initial thoughts Despite its odd proportions – a big case with tall, sloping sides and narrow lugs – the Tambour case is attractive in my eyes. And it’s distinctive and recognisable although its form is fairly simple. In short, it’s a successful design. The Tambour works especially well with complications since that gives its size – especially its thickness – a sense of purpose. Ordinarily I am not a fan of brown dials, but this is one of the few dials in the colour that looks good. LV executes its dials well – most of them are made in-house – and the reflective metallic brown o...
Deployant
Artisanal watchmaker, Sylvian Pinaud releases his second watch - called the Origine. Totally conceived, designed, and built in his tiny atelier Ste-Croix.
SJX Watches
Sylvain Pinaud entered the independent watchmaking stage in 2019 when he revealed his monopoussoir chronograph that had an unusual dial-side mechanism and a high level of decoration. But he was working on something both more concise and more elaborate all along, the Origine. Launched earlier in 2022, the Origine is a wristwatch that pursues a familiar formula in independent watchmaking – a time-only movement finished extremely well and mostly made by the watchmaker himself, except for the dial and case that are the work of an industry favourite. But Mr Pinaud does it better than most with an original movement construction and gorgeous decoration, though he is clearly still perfecting his brand’s defining aesthetic. NB: The watch pictured is the prototype of the Origine so it is slightly imperfect in terms of cleanliness and detailing. Initial thoughts At first glance, the Origine might seem like one of many time-only rolled out by watchmakers who recently set up their own brands. But it stands apart in several aspects. For one, Mr Pinaud is an experienced watchmaker unlike many nascent independent watchmakers. Now in his forties, he graduated from watchmaking school in 1998 before embarking on a career that took him to Franck Muller as well as Carl F. Bucherer. And then there’s the quality of execution, which is extremely high. Not only is the movement an original construction by Mr Pinaud himself, the decoration is top class. In fact, a major part of the Origine’...
Teddy Baldassarre
Baume & Mercier is a watch brand that prides itself in its pursuit of classical watchmaking mixed with timelessly elegant style and in offering its timepieces at a price point that defines "affordable luxury." If you're new to Baume & Mercier watches, there's likely a lot about this nearly two-century-old watchmaker that you don't know. Here we explore the history and watchmaking milestones of Baume & Mercier, from its origins in 1830 to today. 1830: The Brothers Baume Baume & Mercier is the sixth-oldest watchmaker* currently in operation, having begun its existence in 1830, founded by Louis-Victor Baume and his brother Pierre-Joseph Celestine Baume. In the beginning, the company, at the time known as “Frères Baume" (“Baume Brothers”), sold its pocket watches out of a shop in the Swiss Jura village of Les Bois. By the 1850s, Frères Baume had built its business, and its reputation for quality watchmaking, enough to set up a branch in London, a major market and an important center for international expansion - first throughout the United Kingdom, then into India, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and other nations that at the time were part of the British Empire. The watches the Baume brothers produced toward the end of the 19th Century included high complications like chronographs, calendars, tourbillons, and minute repeaters. They were also renowned for their precision and accuracy, winning 10 Grand Prix awards and seven gold medals for time measurement ...
Hodinkee
Here's everything you need to know about the next-gen French watchmaker.
Quill & Pad
Despite having made more than 100 pièces uniques among a grand total of approximately 1,500 timepieces spanning 42 years of a truly inventive career, independent watchmaker and co-founder of the A.H.C.I. Svend Andersen has become particularly known for the worldtimer, a complicated timepiece displaying the time in 24 time zones. Here Elizabeth Doerr shares a brief history of worldtimers and blue gold while looking at the Andersen Genève x Asprey Heures du Monde.
SJX Watches
Utterly bizarre and thoroughly ingenious when it debuted in March 2001, the Freak remains avant-garde even two decades later. But unlike the highly modern creations from brands like De Bethune and Urwerk, the Freak arguably gets less credit than it deserves, simply because Ulysse Nardin isn’t a niche, independent watchmaker. But that takes nothing away from the concept, which has been made more avant-garde than ever. Launched earlier this year, the Freak S is now the flagship model in the Freak line-up. In a first for a Freak, it reimagines the trademark carousel display, which now carries twin inclined balance wheels linked by a differential. Initial thoughts The landmark creation of the modern-day Ulysse Nardin (UN) brand, Freak was and still is interesting because it turns conventional movement construction on its head. Most of the moving parts are mounted onto a carousel on the dial that doubles up as the minute hand, while under the dial sits a massive mainspring that occupies most of the case volume. No other watch combines unorthodox form and function like the Freak even though it was launched in 2001, well before most of today’s best known avant-garde timepieces. That was four years before Urwerk unveiled its satellite-cube hour display, for instance, ensuring the Freak’s place as a pioneering creation. The Freak S (left) and the original Freak from 2001 While the essence of the Freak has been mostly retained over the various iterations since its launch, ...
Hodinkee
A new movement and a new complication for the German watchmaker's flagship Pano collection.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Rolex Explorer is in many ways the quintessential dressy tool watch from Rolex’s Oyster Perpetual collection - less flashy than the GMT-Master, less bulky than the Submariner, while still rooted, like those two models, in a history of adventure and discovery. While it has changed very little since the 1950s, today’s Rolex Explorer is the culmination of many decades of aesthetic and technical evolution, guided by a watchmaker for whom the subtlest details make all the difference in the world to its avid legions of fans. Underpinning the Explorer: Oyster Case and Perpetual Caliber The Rolex Explorer, like all Oyster Perpetual timepieces in Rolex’s Professional collection, is an expression of two technical milestones that Rolex and its visionary founder Hans Wisdorf contributed to watchmaking history. The first is the so-called Oyster case, developed in 1926, which revolutionized the construction of watch cases with its dustproof, waterproof, hermetically sealed structure, secured by a threaded caseback and a crown that screwed tightly into the case. In 1931, Rolex made history again with the creation of its first “Perpetual” movement (below), whose self-winding mechanism was driven by an oscillating rotor. The marriage of these two inventions gave rise to the “Oyster Perpetual” line of timepieces that remain at the heart of Rolex’s collection today, beginning with the Datejust in 1945 and coming to full fruition with the tool-oriented, yet still luxuri...
Deployant
Independent watchmaker Frédéric Jouvenot releases another rendition of the innovative Helios with a new model called the Albedo.
SJX Watches
Launched last year as a limited edition with a steel bezel insert, the Orient Star dive watch is returning as a regular-production model. Powered by an in-house automatic movement with the brand’s signature power reserve indicator – an uncommon but useful complication for a mechanical dive watch – the Diver 1964 2nd Edition will be available in two dial colours matched with an anodised aluminium bezel insert. A struggling, publicly-listed watchmaker until it was rescued by Seiko Epson in 2001, Orient is now a subsidiary of the printing giant. Primarily focused on affordable watches priced at several hundred dollars, Orient also offers more upscale models under the Orient Star label, which encompasses the Diver 1964 2nd Edition. Initial thoughts The new diver is essentially identical to last year’s limited edition, save for the dial and bezel insert. While the black dial doesn’t differ much, the green dial is a totally different look that’s a useful option for someone looking for something less plain. Because it has the same case as last year’s model, the 2nd Edition feels identical. It’s robustly constructed with a surprisingly solid bracelet. The feel in hand is definitely one of a “tool” watch. That said, the case is a thick 14.5 mm high, almost too thick with the 41 mm case. As a result, the watch feels bulky and top heavy. The Orient Star diver is comparable in quality to similarly priced Seiko Prospex dive watches, which means the value proposition...
Teddy Baldassarre
Tracing its roots to the 19th Century but bursting on the cultural scene on the cusp of the 21st, Panerai is an overnight success more than 100 years in the making. From humble and very utilitarian beginnings as a maker of tools and instruments for military divers in the 1930s, the Florentine watchmaker has become a powerhouse in the luxury sector, its unapologetically militaristic and indisputably masculine designs blurring the lines between tool watch and luxury item like few brands before or since. Here is the story of Officine Panerai and an overview of the modern Panerai watch collections. Guido Panerai and the First Radiomir Giovanni Panerai opened his watchmaking shop on Ponte Alle Grazie in Florence in 1860, and with the help of his son Leon Franceso built it into the ancestral Italian city’s first retailer of Swiss watches as well as its first watchmaking school. When Giovanni’s grandson Guido took over the business, near the turn of the century - and acquired his wife’s family business, which made tools and hardware for military use, including combat sights, compasses and depth gauges - it had become essentially two companies: Orologerie Svizzera, the shop that sold prestigious Swiss watch brands like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Rolex; and Guido Panerai & Figlio, primarily a supplier of precision instruments and diving equipment to the Royal Italian Navy, or Regia Marina. As a military provider, Panerai recognized the need early on f...
Deployant
The new release marks Kurono's success once again in textbook execution of a product launch. It begins with a great design, good pricing and finishes with great marketing. Riding on Hajime's popularity, the brand story benefits from the watchmaker's credibility. The design is classic and accessible, with finishing that is a bar above most in its segment. It also benefits from finding a niche in the USD1-4k segment, in a non-mass production vertical. Its limited production possibly limited by assembly and manufacturing capacity works ironically in its favor, to create scarcity.
Hodinkee
The long-awaited release from the sister brand of the independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka is a marriage between vintage style and modern quality.
Revolution
In Part 2 of our inside look at De Bethune, Wei traces the manufacture’s history of balance wheel development with founder and master watchmaker, Denis Flageollet. Very few watchmakers have been as singularly focused like Denis has; his being a 20-year relentless pursuit of chronometric performance of the most important component of a wristwatch, the […]
SJX Watches
Conceived sub-brand of RGM, one of the original independent watchmaker in America, Equation of Time is a maker of affordable watches often created in collaboration with collectors, with the latest being the Fat Arrow Collaboration Watch. The dial of the watch reproduces a 2015 artwork created by watch photographer Atom Moore that’s a riff on the pilot’s wristwatches supplied to the Royal Air Force in the 1950s by brands like Omega and IWC. Like the military-issue originals, the Fat Arrow Collaboration is a compact, hand-wind timepiece with the feel of a vintage remake, but st apart with a dial that’s clearly modern and definitely original. Initial thoughts The Fat Arrow Collaboration (FAC) is one of many watches inspired by vintage military timepieces, but it is cleverly different. It utilises the historical arrow emblem used to mark British military equipment as a decorative element. Mr Moore’s original artwork, Fat Arrow, is an artistically-altered photography of a CK 2777 “Fat Arrow” wristwatch, one of many that Omega supplied to the Royal Air Force starting in 1952. The FAC retains the feel of the vintage original with an identically-sized case, but with Mr Moore’s Fat Arrow mashup as the dial. That makes the FAC different enough, in fact, to be interesting despite being a no-frills watch. Fat Arrow by Atom Moore The dial is covered with both the “Fat Arrow” and “Thin Arrow” in all their respective iterations. That might sound excessive, but ...
Hodinkee
The Swiss watchmaker has partnered with New York's "Billion Oyster Project" to release a new dive watch and raise awareness for a unique cause in the Hudson River.
SJX Watches
Launched as part of the “Homage to F.A. Lange” 175th anniversary collection in HoneyGold two years ago, the 1815 Rattrapante was the only one of the trio that was all-new model. In fact, it was the German watchmaker’s first pure-play split-seconds chronograph, and surprisingly svelte by its standards. Though the anniversary edition sold out swiftly, the watch is making a comeback with a platinum case and silver dial. A pleasing and familiar combination most often seen on its simpler models, the silver-and-blue livery is uncommon for Lange chronographs, which tend to have dark-coloured dials, making the new split-seconds unusual. The anniversary 1815 Rattrapante Initial thoughts Essentially variation of the original with different case and dial, the new 1815 Rattrapante is still noteworthy because the original in HoneyGold was limited to only 100 pieces but deserved a broader audience because it was appealing on several levels. The watch is thin and understated, unlike most Lange complications, but nevertheless boasts a movement with the visual depth and impeccable decoration typical of the brand. While the new model has the standard movement decoration instead of a frosted finish, the most obvious difference between the two is on the front. The platinum version has an understated, tone-on-tone look that I prefer over the high-contrast look of the anniversary model. While the all-silver look may seem too simple at a glance, it’s been given a bit of life with red...
SJX Watches
Finnish independent watchmaker Stepan Sarpaneva has once again turned to a Finnish artist for the Nocturne, a wristwatch that combines the technicolour luminosity of the brand’s Moomin editions with its trademark complication. Starkly monochromatic during the day, the multi-part dial comes to life at night, thanks to the nine colours of luminous paint that fill the hundreds of tiny apertures all precisely cut by laser. And sitting in the an window that occupies a third of the dial is a huge moon “face” that instantly marks this out as a Sarpaneva. Initial thoughts Though the Nocturne looks quite different from the brand’s past watches yet quintessentially Sarpaneva in style and execution. Although it relies on a similar decorative technique as the earlier Moomin edition, the Nocturne is far more distinct. And the slightly gothic style suits the Sarpaneva aesthetic perfectly. I like the design and being familiar with Sarpaneva’s other watches, I expect the quality of the dial to be excellent. In all tangible terms the watch is winner. But then there’s the price, which is substantial. The Nocturne costs €19,000. That’s within the ballpark for the brand’s moon-phase models, with the premium justified by the fancy dial. And compared to the broader market – especially with the current hype around independent watchmaking regardless of quality or provenance – it’s still a reasonable proposition. But it is pricey compared to Sarpaneva’s earlier offering...
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