1,343 articles · 328 videos found · page 45 of 56
Quill & Pad
The now nearly iconic HM Perpetual Moon with a nearly full-dial moon phase display was previously Joshua Munchow's personal favorite moon phase watch from this brand until the Luna Magna came along (he is a sucker for three-dimensional moon phases). What makes the new Luna Magna that spectacular?
SJX Watches
The most extravagant watch to date in 2021 has arrived courtesy of Hublot – the Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Rainbow. Combining Hublot’s signature porthole face with the integrated bracelet introduced last year, the Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Rainbow has almost every surface set with coloured gemstones. And ticking away inside is an in-house movement with a tourbillon and clear sapphire bridges. Initial thoughts Rainbow watches are the “it” watches of our era, with the Rolex Daytona “Rainbow” being the most famous of the multi-coloured, gem-set timepieces. But now Hublot has taken it to the outlandish next level. The Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Rainbow is a lot, probably too much, but it’s also a stunning example of gem setting – proof comes in the form of 36 carats of stones – with an unusually interesting movement. The movement will probably be overlooked by whoever buys either of the two unique examples, but it is quite accomplished in a technical sense: an automatic tourbillon wound by a micro-rotor, with everything held in place by clear sapphire bridges. Contrasting starkly with the densely saturated case, the movement is light and airy in its layout, with its wheels appearing to be floating within the case thanks to the transparent bridges. The only glaring shortcoming in its technical features is the Etachron regulator index for the tourbillon. It’s entirely functional, but typically found in less expensive watches. Even though I would not ...
Time+Tide
On my wrist is something that embodies many a daydream. Jaques-Yves Costeau, Dirk Pitt, sixties cool and the carefree life of mid-century Europe in the summer. Can the tasty lemon of the DOXA Sub 300 Divingstar serve up all this in its compact dial, and make it come to life? It might seem a tall … ContinuedThe post A Week On The Wrist: How the DOXA Sub 300 Divingstar inspired me to buy SCUBA gear appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Three months after Watches & Wonders 2021 (where it debuted the Triple Split in pink gold amongst others), A. Lange & Söhne is now back with more new releases, as is now the norm with watch fairs having gone online. Of the trio of new launches, the Saxonia Thin is the simplest, but no less striking. Clad in lively, blue aventurine glass and pink gold, the watch has a rich, sparkly aesthetic quite antithetical to the fuss-free style usually associated with the German watchmaker. Initial thoughts While flourishes like the aventurine-glass dial are uncommon for Lange in general, the sparkly glass dial is not new. In fact, the material was first used in the white gold Saxonia Thin back in 2017. The brand followed up with the same but with a black aventurine-glass dial last December, and then the pair of Little Lange 1 Moon Phase earlier this year. That’s four models with aventurine glass dials in as many years. The new model is a first, in that it matches the blue aventurine-glass dial with a pink gold case, giving the watch a warm aesthetic not found in earlier versions, or even the broader catalogue where the combination of pink gold and blue is found only on the recent Triple Split. This is no doubt a good news for collectors that already have everything from the brand and want something different. Still, the frequency of aventurine-glass inevitably chips away at its uniqueness. One nitpick I have about the watch is personal – I find the Saxonia Thin too wide and f...
Time+Tide
Torsti Laine is a relatively fresh face on the independent watchmaking scene, releasing his first watches back in 2016, but he’s quickly made a name for himself by offering affordable and customisable watches. Born in Finland, Laine was a computer programmer before he turned his hand to watchmaking, enrolling in the Kelloseppäkoulu Finnish School of … ContinuedThe post Prepare to be mesmerised by the dial of the Laine 1817 engraved first series appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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SJX Watches
An inventive watchmaker based in Russia, Konstantin Chaykin has combined two of his most notable timepieces to create a unique wristwatch for Only Watch 2021. Bearing a face that resembles his signature Joker, the Martian Tourbillon tells the time on Mars, just like the Mars Conquerer he debuted last year. More intriguingly, the watch is equipped with a tourbillon regulator that makes one revolution every Martian minute – or 61.65 seconds. Initial thoughts Konstantin never fails to impress with his unorthodox approach to watchmaking. The Martian Tourbillon lives up to that reputation. It is quirky, odd, and thoroughly interesting. Given that it indicates time on Mars, its utility here on Earth will be limited, but the Martian Tourbillon encapsulates Konstantin’s versatile and comprehensive approach to a unique timepiece for Only Watch (which was very much the case for his 2019 creation). The Martian Tourbillon even incorporates a literal Martian tourbillon regulator, while having a case made of medieval Russian steel. The only images available of the watch for now are renderings, but I very much look forward to seeing this in person. Martian face The face of the watch indicates the hours on the left sub-dial, while minutes are within the right sub-dial. Just below the “nose” is a half-month indicator for the Darian calendar, invented by aerospace engineer Thomas Gangale for future human colonisers of the Red Planet. And the “smile” indicates sols, or Martian...
Hodinkee
Our new magazine includes a gorgeous story showing how women can wear men's watches – and vice versa. Here, staff photographer Tiffany Wade takes us onto the set.
Hodinkee
Set it and forget it – you won't have to change the time, day, date, month, year, or moon phase until the year 2100.
Hodinkee
Marginalized communities often face barriers to learning the craft. With two new scholarships, America’s first watchmaking guild is trying to increase representation.
Deployant
The Breitling Premier Datora is Breitling's take on a calendar chronograph with moon-phase. Featuring rectangular chronograph pushers and Arabic numerals, the heritage-revived Premier Datora displays a variety of details such as grooves on the case-sides, open sapphire casebacks and syringe hands. The Datora comes in stainless steel with a copper dial or in 18k red gold with a silver dial. “Datora” was a term used by Breitling in the 1940s and refers to a complete calendar chronograph displaying day, date, month and moonphase.
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Quill & Pad
Elizabeth Doerr guest stars on this episode of the Tim Mosso podcast but turns the tables when she ends up interviewing Tim about his history as a collector, his experience with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, and his views of the 90th anniversary of this famed watch. Elizabeth and Tim discuss the Reverso series at length and reflect on their favorite models from its 90-year history.
Quill & Pad
GaryG has already written about the struggles that independent watchmakers face simply to survive. Expressing oneself through horological art may well be a noble calling, but it’s definitely one of the tougher ways to make a living. Chanel's very recent investment in F.P. Journe caused Gary to think about the pros and cons of outside investment into indies, and he shares his thoughts here.
Time+Tide
Imagine a watch that could give you sexual superpowers. Buckling it onto your wrist would invest you with such dangerous charm and animal magnetism that no mortal could possibly resist you. Admittedly, as watch complications go, this would be a damn sight more useful that any piddling moon-phase. But this far-fetched object might actually exist … ContinuedThe post Voodoo sex and a 1950s gold watch – the missing link between Marlon Brando and Zsa Zsa Gabor appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
This week’s wind down comes from an unfamiliar voice. Right now, Nick is on holiday and reportedly sunning himself by a pool in Noosa wearing his infamously skimpy trunks and sipping a neon-blue cocktail. So I’m stepping into the breach to fill you in on a rather eventful week. The main news: we accidentally copped … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN – The Sex, Crime & Russell Crowe Edition appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
The headline lot at Sotheby’s recently concluded Hong Kong watch auction, the unique Rolex “Zenith” Daytona with a platinum case and a turquoise mineral-stone dial – and not a blue lacquer “Stella” as originally believed – just sold for HK$24.375 million, or about US$3.14 million, fees included. The hefty result means the turquoise Daytona is the second-most expensive modern Rolex timepiece ever sold at auction, but just shy of the US$3.27 million record set by the unique platinum Daytona with a lapis lazuli dial that sold at Sotheby’s last year. With the sale of the turquoise Daytona, it means that three of the five unique platinum Daytonas have been sold at auction in as many years, all at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. One of five The price achieved by the turquoise Daytona is unsurprisingly given its rarity: it is one of a five-piece run of the “Zenith” Daytona in platinum that were reputedly made at the behest of former Rolex chief executive Patrick Heiniger in 1999. All five watches share the same model reference 16516, and are powered by the Rolex cal. 4030 that’s based on the Zenith El Premiro movement. Four of the five are known, with the other examples featuring Tahitian mother-or-pearl, lapis lazuli, and coral dials. The platinum Daytona that was just sold had a turquoise stone dial, rendering it highly unusual as the material has never been used before in the Daytona, and confirming the belief that these watches were a prototype run for the su...
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SJX Watches
The upcoming spring auction season is bringing with it a surprising number of vintage Patek Philippe world time wristwatches. Christie’s will be offering three of them during its evening sale on May 22, including the famed and unique ref. 1415 HU in platinum that once held the record of most expensive watch in the world when it last sold publicly in 2002 and achieved CHF6.6 million including fees. Phillips, on the other hand, will be offering the Patek Philippe ref. 2523 “Eurasia” publicly for the very first time. Long owned by an Italian collector until it was acquired by the present owner in the mid 1990s, this ref. 2523 is one of just three known with a cloisonné dial bearing the “Eurasia” map – and it is in strikingly fine condition. I put it on my wrist during the preview exhibition, and the watch is gorgeous, crisp, and arguably every dollar of the ten or more million it’ll sell for. The hallowed complication Despite not being amongst the most complicated watches Patek Philippe made in the 20th century, its world-time wristwatches (and also pocket watches) are amongst the brand’s most coveted and valuable timepieces. Well before the platinum ref. 1415 HU set a record in 2002, examples of the ref. 2523 with cloisonné dial were regularly selling for well over US$1 million at auction in the 1990s – and are the inspiration for the today’s world-time models, including the recent ref. 5231J. The fact that the world-time was a favourite of Osvaldo Patr...
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: A few weeks after Bremont opened the doors of its impressive new watchmaking facilities, The Wing, our European editor Mike Christensen was treated to a guided tour from the British brand’s co-founder Nick English, to see what all the fuss is about. Gobsmacked, absolutely gobsmacked. It was like someone had transported me to … ContinuedThe post INTERVIEW: What we learnt from Nick English about Bremont’s grand plans for The Wing appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
For Watches & Wonders 2021, A. Lange & Söhne presents the Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar, and new variations of the Little Lange 1 Moon Phase and Triple Split.
SJX Watches
Announced at Watches & Wonders 2021, the Arnold & Son Luna Magna boasts an exceptionally large spherical moon phase display that sits serenely on a dial made of aventurine glass. Powered by an in-house movement like all Arnold & Son (A&S;) watches, the Luna Magna typifies the sort of smartly-executed simple complications that A&S; excels at. The hand-wind movement is sharply finished, while the moon phase sphere is an unusual combination of two halves in aventurine glass and white marble. Initial thoughts The Luna Magna has simple but striking aesthetics. The dial is symmetrical and made up of classical details like Romain numerals and blued hands. But it has a very, very large moon phase display that’s also spherical. So it doesn’t try to do very much – the dial shows hours, minutes, and age of the moon – but it does the moon phase well. A&S; describes it as the “largest moon ever built into a wristwatch”, which I do not dispute in principle, and it certainly looks the part. But strictly speaking, “ever” is inaccurate, for the spherical moon in the Konstantin Chaykin Lunokhod is the same 12 mm in diameter. While A&S; did have extra-large moon phase display in a past model, it was a flat moon phase, lacking the three-dimensionality of the Luna Magna. That size of the moon sphere means it requires substantial clearance under the crystal, which leaves the total case height, including the crystal, a tall 15.9 mm. The moon seen from the back The movement inside is...
Quill & Pad
Joshua Munchow highlights five pieces from some of our favorite independent brands that have just been released at Watches & Wonders 2021. From sapphire crystal-encased tourbillons and constant force fusée-and-chain-powered movements to stunning art pieces, these watches span genres and the spectrum of collector dreams.
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Time+Tide
It’s crazy to think we only crossed paths with Eric Ku in January of last year, when he so kindly donated a Tiffany stamped Rolex to the Watch & Act auction. Since then, yet another luminary in the game who had previously been a face on a screen – Hodinkee’s Talking Watches a real highlight … ContinuedThe post Supercollector Eric Ku responds to the 5 key 2021 Rolex releases in this candid video appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Most watch brands will never make their 100th birthday. In fact, very few companies from any industry are able to build successful businesses over several generations. Time is as unrelenting as it is unforgiving, so when something is able to stand the test of time, we can only applaud the strength of will behind it. … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921 collection turns 100 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
Sweeping away years of scepticism around online sales, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the auction world into an incredible phase of experimentation last year. In a bid to find newer ways to connect with their clients amidst a global health crisis, luxury auction houses took a massive digital leap with record sales in 2020. Here is a look at the biggest success stories that kept the secondary market buzzing all through last year
Time+Tide
How do you update a classic? It’s a problem that many designers face, whether they work in the watch industry, automotives or product design. How do you retain the original idea behind a design and still bring it forward into the here and now? This is a question that the Rado Captain Cook designers must … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: The Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic collection delivers a skeletonised update appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Having explored the Citizen Caliber 0200 last week, we now focus on arguably the most important aspect of the watch – the cal 0200 within. An important achievement for Citizen, the cal. 0200 is the brand’s first high-end automatic movement. The fact that the watch was named after its movement indicates its significance, and also the fact that the watch was constructed around the movement, rather than vice versa. The Caliber 0200 wristwatch is high quality, particularly in the finishing of its case and bracelet. That’s all the more impressive given its US$6,000 price tag, which leaves the best of class in its price segment in terms of finishing and quality. But the Caliber 0200’s merits are all encompassing – its movement is as accomplished as the external components. The cal. 0200 is an all-new, in-house automatic with with the features expected of a modern movement, and a little bit more. Beyond its intrinsic qualities, it is also notable for being a fusion of Japanese and Swiss watchmaking: its development, production, and assembly is done by Citizen in Japan, but with a key contribution from Swiss movement maker La Joux-Perret, which makes the base plate and bridges, and helped to refine the movement decoration. The rest of the movement – from development and construction to finishing and assembly – is done by Citizen at its headquarters in Tokyo. In fact, Citizen set up a specialised workshop, the Mechanical Watch Elements Development Department (or ME...
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