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Monochrome
MB&F;, or Max Büsser & Friends, is an indie brand that thrives on the creative input of its friends. Pooling together different talents, Max Büsser has produced some extraordinary mechanical and artistic collaborations. While most watch fans get a kick out of MB&F;’s creations and collaborations, very few of us can afford them. To remedy […]
SJX Watches
The first limited edition from MB&F;’s affordable sub-brand is the M.A.D.1 “Time to Love”, created in collaboration with French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, also known as JC/DC. A variant of the standard model endowed with Mr de Castelbajac’s touch – including numerals in his handwriting – the M.A.D.1 “Time to Love” is a 999-piece edition that will be sold via an online raffle. A designer whose heyday in the 1970s and 1980s saw him collaborate with brands like from Swatch and design a coat made of teddy bears for Madonna, Mr de Castelbajac was most recently artistic director for Benetton. The M.A.D.1 “Time to Love” reflects his trademark colourful and whimsical style. Initial thoughts Conceptually and aesthetically, the M.A.D.1 “Time to Love” makes sense. Mr de Castelbajac’s style complements M.A.D. Editions’s affordable, fun brand of watchmaking, making this the most interesting M.A.D.1 edition to date. The fact that it’s a relatively small run of 999 pieces and priced almost the same as the regular version enhances the appeal. More broadly, the collaboration also chimes with parent brand MB&F;’s retro-nostalgia philosophy, where many of its creations are inspired by founder Maximilian Büsser’s youth. According to the brand, “the young Maximilian Büsser was a huge fan, saving up his pocket money for one of the designer’s bathing suits featuring pandas on it”, when Mr de Castelbajac’s brand was at its peak in the ...
SJX Watches
A bestselling franchise launched two years ago, S.U.F. Helsinki’s latest Moomin edition is the Moomin Diver. Based on the brand’s Vetehinen diver, the Moomin diver features an illustration from Moomin and the Comet that depicts the titular character diving. As with past Moomin editions, the diver features a laser-engraved and hand finished dial with lots of Super-Luminova. Initial thoughts The Moomin watches by S.U.F., the affordable sub-brand of Sarpaneva, are fun value propositions that offer a good quality of dial and case work for the price. This is typical of S.U.F. as well as Sarpaneva in their respective price segments. Priced similarly to the very first model at €5,550, the latest edition continues that while introducing a new dial motif. This is a timely change since the original dial design had already been repeated several times, including on the pricier, full-fledged Sarpaneva version. While the latest edition doesn’t have the same level of detail on the dial – it’s mostly engraved as opposed to being substantially open worked – it brings a new look with the dive watch aesthetic. Though the Moomin editions have been repeated several times, perhaps too often, this is an appealing new launch considering the price-performance ratio and relatively small edition size of 52 watches across two dial types. Diving-themed diver’s watch The new diver features a steel dial that reproduces a drawing from Moomin and the Comet, one of the many Moomin books pen...
Fratello
I am always happy to try a new Zenith watch, especially when it’s made of precious materials. And that’s precisely what this Chronomaster Sport is about, boasting a rose gold case, a spinel-, diamond-, and sapphire-set bezel, and a gold meteorite dial with diamonds. Chronomaster Sport 22.3100.3600/69.M3100 This Zenith Chronomaster Sport in 18K rose gold […] Visit Hands-On With The Rose Gold Zenith Chronomaster Sport Boutique And Online Edition to read the full article.
Hodinkee
An owner's review of the end-all Rolex Daytona.
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Worn & Wound
Last Thursday, collectors, enthusiasts, and members of the Worn & Wound team came together to celebrate the opening of Grand Seiko’s latest Flagship Boutique, which opened on New York’s iconic Madison Avenue in February. The first boutique of its kind anywhere outside of Japan, this new space is a remarkable testament to the enormous popularity and respect Grand Seiko has garnered since its introduction to the international market in 2010. The event drew in collectors from all over the East Coast and offered a rare after-hours opportunity to explore Grand Seiko’s wide-ranging collection. New York City collectors have, for the last few years, been lucky enough to have access to Grand Seiko’s marvelous SoHo boutique. That space, which Zach Weiss visited in 2021, is a small, intimate affair, with white-washed brick walls and a narrow footprint, perfectly placed among the cast-iron architecture and red brick buildings of the neighborhood. This new Flagship Boutique is something else entirely. Entering the warm, sun-drenched main hall of the boutique from the cool New York City weather, you’re greeted by a space unlike any other, with tall ceilings, Japanese carpentry, and glass everywhere you turn. It’s an easy space to get drawn into but, like an iceberg, there is plenty that sits below the water, or in this case, below street level. Following the large staircase to the lower floor reveals an intimate lounge space and bar. It was this wonderful space that played...
Monochrome
It’s full steam ahead for Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking division, an appropriate metaphor for a brand founded on Monsieur Vuitton’s revolutionary stacking canvas trunks and long associated with the ‘art of travel’. With the incorporation of the high-end watchmaking manufacture, La Fabrique du Temps in 2011, the brand can produce spectacularly complicated timepieces underscored by a […]
Worn & Wound
To many people, Roland Murphy is American watchmaking. His company, RGM Watch Co., is revered among watch enthusiasts for producing pieces that rival anything put out by the best Swiss watchmakers, all done in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Murphy was, then, a natural partner for the Cornell Watch Company, a newly revived heritage brand out of Chicago that founder–or re-founder, I suppose–John Warren hopes can help bring attention to the American watch industry and its rich heritage. “I think people don’t know that American companies made more watches between the late 1850s and early 1900s than anywhere in the world,” said Warren in an interview with Worn & Wound. “I don’t think people know that we pioneered the American system of watchmaking that was adopted by the Swiss and the Japanese. I think it’s a story people want to know and it’s worth telling.” Cornell’s story began in 1870, when Paul Cornell and John C. Adams founded the Cornell Watch Company to create railroad pocket watches. Cornell was prolific in timepiece production for a few years, but two tragedies, the Great Chicago Fire and the financial crisis of the Panic of 1873, hit the company hard, and brought it to an end. While an attempt to move Cornell to California to save it was made–along with an attempt at rebranding as the California Watch Company–Cornell shut down not long after. But several Cornell’s pocket watches led to the company having a second life when they were discovered b...
Fratello
Five years ago, Omega introduced the last limited-edition Speedmaster models. Who would have thought? After a good ~25 years of introducing many different Speedmaster limited editions, sometimes even more than one per year, the brand just stopped. Well, not entirely, of course, because although the Speedmaster Calibre 321 and Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award 50th Anniversary […] Visit The Best Speedmasters Of The Last Five Years to read the full article.
Monochrome
In 2001, Pascal Raffy, a passionate collector of haute horlogerie, acquired the prestigious name Bovet and embarked on a remarkable journey to revive the brand to its former glory. Mr. Raffy spared no effort in establishing a manufacture characterized by an exceptional level of integration. Among its various achievements, Bovet introduced a series of exquisitely […]
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Fratello
The people at Swedish brand Bravur are about as crazy about watches as they are about cycling. Last year, the brand from Båstad gave us the Grand Tour Chronograph series inspired by the three grand tours - Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. This year, the inspiration comes from iconic cycling teams […] Visit Attention, Fans Of Both Cycling And Watches: Bravur Launches The Three-Watch-Strong Team Heritage Collection to read the full article.
Monochrome
Since its creation in 2001, MeisterSinger has been seen as the master of the single-hand watch. Unlike most timepieces on the market (at least 99% of them), which display the time with 3 hands – hours, minutes, seconds – MeisterSinger’s models have a different, slightly poetic and slower approach to time with a mono-aiguille that […]
Fratello
It’s been almost a year since Tudor released the Black Bay GMT with the opaline white dial. Strangely enough, we never did a hands-on review of the watch. While it essentially was a line extension of the Black Bay GMT, the dial brings a certain praiseworthy attraction. The brand’s second GMT is the Black Bay […] Visit Going Hands-On With The Tudor Black Bay GMT Opaline And The Tudor Black Bay Pro to read the full article.
Quill & Pad
As the FlyingT is an MB&F; it does things differently. This starts with its stacked movement. A significant part of the gear train is placed on top of each other and topped off with a flying tourbillon. But it's that black dial that makes it absolutely stunning!
Hodinkee
Our Style Editor explains how this pink watch became the exception to her yellow gold only rule.
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Hodinkee
Watching Movies turns three today, and so of course our watch-related movie of the week is a Redford film.
Worn & Wound
Fact: your smartphone has a fantastic camera. It’s highly capable of making the photos that you want. Believe it or not, many folks shoot images with their smartphones and then send the images to retouching agencies to be worked on. But if you want to make beautiful images of your watch that speak to people in a love language that only watch enthusiasts understand, you’ve come to the right place. It’s a badge of honor not to need to work on an image in post-production. To do that, you’ll need to embrace a dedicated camera. Truth be told, your lighting is the most important thing in watch photography. Peruse the r/watches subreddit, and you’ll see tons of wrist shots. The angles are perfect: facing the camera, first-person, and slightly angled away from the light source to soften the effects. So why get a dedicated camera? It starts with lens selection, and we then grab our divers watches and plunge into features like image stabilization, film simulations, Real-Time LUT, artistic effects, pixel quality, optical quality, etc. Truly, if you tried to time my explanation of how each feature benefits you on a chronograph, the watch wouldn’t be able to measure it accurately. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, we think that working with south-facing light is best overall. Try to find a window or a spot with southern-light. I mean, plants love it because it’s consistent. When there’s a cloudy day, it’s also appropriately soft yet strong enough to bring out th...
Worn & Wound
I have a small obsession with watch naming conventions. I’m absolutely fascinated by the decisions brands make in what to call their watches. Some brands, for example, use only reference numbers, and collectors wind up giving the most popular watches nicknames (Grand Seiko comes to mind, although last year saw a notable exception to the rule). Then there are countless brands that incorporate language of adventure, particularly on high seas, into watch names: the Submariner, the Supermarine, the Sea-Rambler, and on, and on, and on, and on. And of course there are brands that steal a strategy from car manufacturers (or is it the other way around?) and give their watches names in one of the Romance Languages, an attempt to instill a sense of class and taste. But what I like are the simple and punchy names that get right to the root of what the watch is about. Memorable, sometimes funny names that communicate an ethos and make you go, “Oh yeah, of course,” all at once. The Speake Marin Ripples is one of my all time favorites. The Ripples is Speake Marin’s take on the integrated bracelet sports watch, a category that seems about as far afield as you might get from the brand’s roots, but that’s a story for another day. In my opinion, the Ripple is one of the most distinctive integrated bracelet designs to come on the scene in this recent period during which everyone under the sun has tried their hand at this type of watch. It belongs, I think, in the same conversat...
Monochrome
The Purity collection was introduced in 2021 to express Yvan Arpa, Founder of ArtyA’s vision of transparency. Since then has included tourbillon models only, very different and even restrained in presentation from what one would expect with knowledge of ArtyA’s previous creative series; that one was a classic-looking watch. Indeed, the Purity collection is all […]
Fratello
The reality is that there are loads of choices for watches under the magic €1,000 threshold. Choosing the so-called “best” watches, however, is a challenge. It all depends on whether the watch will supplement a collection as a daily beater or perhaps be the first nicer watch for the buyer. I’ve chosen three very different […] Visit Fratello Favorites: The Best Watches Under €1,000 - Mike’s Picks From Brew, Certina, And Baltic to read the full article.
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SJX Watches
To celebrate its 140th anniversary, Breitling is launching the Navitimer Automatic GMT 41. Zooming into the watch, the signature slide-rule bezel is still present, although this Navitimer omits the chronograph and replaces it with a GMT function. Featuring a 41 mm case in either stainless steel or 18k rose gold, it retains the classic Navitimer style, albeit with a cleaner look without the chronograph sub-dials. Initial Thoughts After revamping the Navitimer in 2022, Breitling gave its trademark aviator’s chronograph more vintage-inspired aesthetics, including more compact cases. Given that the Navitimer is synonymous with the chronograph, it’s not unreasonable to criticise the GMT has having lost some of the spirit of the original. However, I dig the cleaner aesthetics without the pushers and the triple registers. And this is also more affordable. Most Navitimer chronographs are equipped with the in-house B01 movement, resulting in an hefty entry price of US$9,600. The Navitimer Automatic GMT 41 is equipped with an ETA calibre, resulting in a slightly more affordable price that starts at US$6,200 on a stainless steel bracelet. Many other brands in this price bracket now utilise in-house or heavily improved movements, which puts this at a disadvantage in terms of mechanics. That puts it in the middle of the pack for accessible GMT watches: not as affordable as a Longines or the same value proposition as a Tudor, but it has the advantage of the classic Navitimer look th...
Revolution
Gerald Charles, an independent Swiss watch company founded in 2000 by the renowned Mr. Gérald Charles Genta, the most prolific watch designer of the 20th century, is currently under the stewardship of the Ziviani family, close family friends of the Gerald Genta. Known as the ‘Maestro’, Monsieur Genta was not only a prolific artist but […]
SJX Watches
An outlandish concept that originally sprang from the mind of Carole Forestier Kasapi, the Ulysse Nardin Freak of 2001 was perfected by Dr Ludwig Oechslin and then made reality thanks to the advent of silicon in watchmaking. Lightweight and magnetism resistant, silicon was used for the escape wheels but that was only the beginning of the story. [This story, the third and final instalment in the series, details the history of silicium, the proprietary Ulysse Nardin silicium hairspring, and the patented Grinder rotor. The Saga of a Scientific Timepiece Part I covers the origins of the Freak, from its conception to realisation, as well as its distinguishing characteristics, namely the inventive movement construction and unique escapement. Part II deals with the evolution of the unique, high-performance escapement.] Silicon, Silicium, Silinvar Now used interchangeably with silicon, silicium is actually French for “silicon”, but now it is also used as the trade name for the proprietary form of silicon used by Ulysse Nardin for movement components, namely silicon with a hard oxide outer layer that gives the material thermocompensating properties. Silicium was developed by Swiss scientific institute Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) in collaboration with Ulysse Nardin. Notably, the material is also known as Silinvar, which resulted from a separated but related CSEM project backed by a consortium made up of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Swatch Group. As a ...
Quill & Pad
MrsG's watch collection includesJaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Alain Silberstein, Audemars Piguet, and more. Here GaryG explains a bit more about the hows and whys of her watches.
Fratello
What better way for a watch brand to mark a significant anniversary than to present the result of a project that is equally challenging, ambitious, and just a little bit mad? Swatch introduced its revolutionary Sistem51 mechanical movement in 2013. It did so to mark 30 years since the brand’s inception. The challenge Mr. Nick […] Visit A Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Swatch Sistem51 - Including A Tour Of ETA In Boncourt to read the full article.
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