Hodinkee
Introducing: Tissot Adds A Gold PVD Case And Ice Blue Dial To Its PRX Powermatic 80 35mm Lineup
The mid-size PRX lineup continues to fill out.
4,663 articles · 552 videos found · page 45 of 174
Hodinkee
The mid-size PRX lineup continues to fill out.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
... Read more
Worn & Wound
Fears is celebrating the one year anniversary of the opening of their flagship showroom in Bristol, England with the release of a pair of watches in Mallard Green, a color that has never been used on a regular production Fears watch before. This release marks what the brand says will be the beginning of a new “Boutique Editions” collection that will expand to every future model in the Fears catalog. The first watches in the Boutique Editions collection are the Brunswick 38 and Brunswick 40, two representations of the classic cushion cased design that is at the core of the Fears design language. The dark green color used for the new dials is based on the tones seen on the mallard drake duck, and has hints of gray and blue that give the green an additional depth. The finishing process for these dials involves a silver galvanic coating being applied prior to the hand painting of each individual dial with a translucent varnish. Fears says that green pigment is added a drop at a time to achieve the desired tone. The dials also have a sunburst finish which is designed to catch light in interesting ways, and showcase the depth of the green tones. The dial layout differs slightly from the 38mm watch to the 40mm version. The larger watch is effectively a sector dial design, with an outer ring for the Arabic numerals and minute track in a high contrast white. The inner section has a very subtle “micro guilloche” pattern that contrasts with the outer portion, which is giv...
Worn & Wound
It’s always a special occasion when two innovative brands partner with one another to create something truly unique. Take, for example, the Sequent SolarCharger F**KING SUN watch, a product made in collaboration between Swiss smartwatch brand Sequent and Seconde/Seconde, a Paris-based artist who uses humor and street art-inspired design to mod vintage watches for the Banksy generation. Romaric André, the mind behind Seconde/Seconde, was tapped by Sequent to add his specific style to their SolarCharge model. With a bit of tongue-and-cheek humor, André balances a minimalist dial with a cartoonish delight. Sequent may be looking to renewable energy sources (like solar), all while Seconde/Seconde’s biting commentary on how the myopic view of everyday problems (like a melting ice cream cone, as seen on the subdial) blinds us to the potential that’s still out there. This collab is a perfect pairing between the often-cited stereotype of Swiss orderliness and the Paris artist’s whimsical cynicism. Adrian Bachmann, CEO and co-founder of Sequent, seems to agree, having added his support of this partnership, “When [André] landed us his first draft, I loved the idea and meaning of it immediately.” Apart from the aesthetics of the watch itself, the Sequent is a great reinterpretation of the smartwatch. While it looks like a standard analog watch, its functionality has all the high-tech gadgetry expected for those looking for a smartwatch that’s designed for health moni...
Worn & Wound
Good design always comes back in cycles. Whether it’s the revival of midcentury furniture or Neoclassical architecture, there’s an undeniable truth when it comes to design: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Watch brands are surprisingly good at acknowledging – even celebrating – past designs, only making small updates for better performance or tweaking the finer details to refine the overall product. Bulova’s release of their reimagined Jet Star is one such example of this. Taking inspiration from the archival 1970’s Jet Star, the new Bulova 1973 Jet Star has made incremental updates to the overall design, preserving what works and making small improvements along the way. The stainless steel case remains as angular and interesting to the eye as the original, but has since been updated with a trio of colorways for a variety of options. Customers can now choose between a sporty steel timepiece with red and blue accents, a gold-toned Jet Star with rich brown and gold tones, or a not-so-subtle red and steel model. While the aesthetic of the watch could be right out of the 70’s, the internals of this watch are anything but retro. Utilizing a Precisionist movement, this quartz caliber vibrates at a remarkable 262kHz, making for a gorgeously smooth second hand that sweeps across the dial, similar to a mechanical watch. This unparalleled accuracy punches well above the weight class and price point of the Jet Star. Each of the three references in this collection ...
Video
Revolution
Worn & Wound
Ming is back with an updated version of their 37.05, which you might remember was announced in late 2021 as the brand’s first watch with a moonphase complication. Ming has given the 37.05 Series 2 (which they’ve nicknamed the “Ad Astra”) a series of whimsical refinements that play on the inherent romance of a moonphase complication. Those aesthetic tweaks are, of course, uniquely Ming in nature, making use of their expanding proficiency with a variety of materials, and a rather ingenious use of high powered luminescent material. You’ll immediately notice that the big change to the new 37.05 is with the dial. Ming has gone from a textured blue dial with a subtle moonphase indicator at the 6:00 position to an anthracite dial with prominent brushed finishing. Star shaped holes have been added to the dial, which fill in with lume as the moonphase disc rotates underneath. The 37.05 still uses a sapphire upper dial, which is where you’ll find hour markers, the moon “mask” which is used to define the phase of the moon, as well as plenty of inlaid HyCeram lume to provide a bit of a light show when fully charged. Ming notes that the stars on the sapphire upper dial have HyCeram lume applied to both the upper and lower surfaces for increased visual depth. The 37.05 Series 2 is powered by the manually wound Sellita SW288-1, which is the same caliber used in the prior moonphase, and has been extensively reworked and decorated in the same fashion. The bridges have b...
Hodinkee
We're de-aging watches – and Harrison Ford – in our watch-related movie of the week.
Worn & Wound
There are endless stories in the watch community of the random things that spark an interest in this hobby. We’ve all heard many variations on the watch as a hand-me-down artifact from a relative being the curiosity driving agent behind an interest in horology. Just the other day, an old friend sent me an Instagram post from an account that specializes in cataloging toys from the 1980s – it was a Transformers watch, and when I saw it I immediately remembered that I’d begged in vain for this weird item as a Hanukkah gift, only to come up empty. This very well could have been my Rosebud – the thing that without even realizing it set the stage for an adulthood of staying up way too late on internet forums looking for a great deal on a pre-owned Seiko. When I saw Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a few weeks ago, it occurred to me that this movie could be that defining moment for a new generation of watch enthusiasts. Hyperbole? I don’t know, maybe. The movie features, as a primary plot point, a mechanical watch-like device, referred to in the film as the Antikythera. Hardcore watch enthusiasts and horology scholars know that the Antikythera is very much a real thing, even if the version in the new film comes out of the imagination of the screenwriters. But it’s that nebulous “real or not real?” status that I imagine will make some younger, future watch nerds curious, and set them down a path that leads, inexorably, to sites like this one, and spending way ...
Worn & Wound
The latest from Bell & Ross is a new entry in their ongoing partnership and collaboration with the Patrouille de France, an aerobatic display team that’s part of the French Air and Space Force. The team was founded in 1953, making this year their 70th in operation, which naturally calls for a special limited edition watch. We’ve brought you news of Bell & Ross releases that highlight their relationship with the Patrouille de France in each of the last two years, and the new watch is very much in the same vein as the previous efforts, drawing inspiration from the bright blue planes the team is known for flying. Where previous limited editions were based on watches with a somewhat niche appeal (a chronograph and an ana-digi piece) the new watch is built on BR 03-92 platform, the signature, and simplest, Bell & Ross pilot’s watch, which displays just the time and date in the brand’s signature square case. The BR 03-92 Patrouille de France 70th Anniversary limited edition is, above all, a tribute to the actual planes used by the flight team over the years. We’ll get to the dial momentarily, but what makes this limited edition special is what’s on the caseback. Flip the watch over and you’ll find a detailed engraving of the five aircraft that have been flown by the Patrouille de France since 1953: the Thunderjet, the Alphajet, the Ouragan, the Mystère IV, and the Fouga Magister. The engraving is actually quite detailed and full of information. It shows an image...
Video
Hodinkee
A handsome new Mark XX for a special anniversary.
Worn & Wound
Every year, Oris releases a limited edition watch on June 1 to celebrate their birthday. These Hölstein Editions run the gamut: last year’s was a somewhat wild blast from the past, and the year before saw a sober but very attractive rendition of their popular Big Crown Pointer Date. This year, Oris is tackling the Aquis, which makes its Hölstein Edition debut. As you’d expect, being an anniversary edition, there are a handful of twists that separate this Aquis from others in the collection. First, the obvious. This dial is purple, folks. I feel like I’ve been banging the purple drum for a long time. We’ve clearly reached a point, probably months ago, where this is the color of the moment. A look back at new releases over the last year or so reveals plenty of evidence that we’re in the midst of peak purple, and that’s totally fine by me, especially as we enter the summer months. But this is the first time I can recall seeing a purple dial from Oris, and it looks great on the Aquis. This is a platform that plays particularly well with color – the deep red (and diamond set) Aquis remains a Watches & Wonders favorite. The purple theme is extended to the caseback, where instead of a typical exhibition window, we get a full color Oris bear, wearing his diving gear, against a bright purple background. You’ll also find the limited edition number as well as a “Hölstein Edition” designation on the caseback. Like the ProPilot X Kermit Edition released a few...
Hodinkee
Fans get a no-date Aquis (for the first time) for Oris' annual hometown celebration.
Worn & Wound
The De Bethune DB28 is an absolutely insane watch. As I found out for myself in Geneva earlier this year, the watch’s large proportions play tricks on you: it’s enormous to the eye, but incredibly light on the wrist thanks to the titanium case construction and airy design with those patented hollowed out, articulating lugs. Even though this watch is the ultimate example of “It actually wears a lot smaller…” I think it’s understandable that collectors would call for a version that’s actually smaller, and that’s what De Bethune has delivered with the new DB28xs Starry Seas. This is essentially a scaled down version of the DB28 that incorporates a fantastic and first of its kind dial that applies guilloche in an entirely new way. The centerpiece here is certainly the dial, which is made from heat blued titanium, taking on the dramatic bright blue shade that has become a De Bethune hallmark of sorts. The decoration is what De Bethune refers to as “random guilloche,” and they say this is the first time this technique has been used in a watch dial design. The cumulative effect is a dial that looks like ocean waves in motion, and it’s been accented with small white gold “stars” to create the impression of the night sky being reflected off the surface of a body of water. It’s a natural extension of other “Starry” De Bethune references, which typically depict a night sky view. The case will be familiar to those who know the DB28 (the lucky few). It...
Hodinkee
After years of standing in the shadows of its big brother, the Rolex GMT-Master, Tudor steps out into the spotlight.
Video
SJX Watches
As I was examining the Patek Philippe ref. 96QL once owned by the last Emperor of China, I wondered about the state of the movement. The watch is clearly old – it was sold in almost a century ago – and was not running. Phillips wasn’t able to show me the movement on the spot, understandably considering the value of the watch, although they promised they would get me some information shortly. Their response was more than I expected. Taking the form of a forensic report detailing the materials and details of the watch – right down to a X-ray spectrographic analysis of the dial – the information reveals much about the watch. To start with, the spectrograph of the reverse of the dial reveals it is 92.4% silver, 6.94% copper, with the rest comprised of silver and gold. This finally answer the long-ago question posed by Puyi when he tasked his manservant “Big Li” to scrape off the dial’s coating in order to see if it is platinum like the case. It is but a brass dial plated in silver. The analysis of the dial’s back Inside the platinum case is an 11”’ movement that likely began as an ebauche from LeCoultre that was then completed by Victorin Piguet, which produced the simple calendar module on the top. The movement was then likely sent to Patek Philippe, which applied the finishing touches and cased it. The back of the movement is evidently classical, with the flowing bridges that were then the norm in movement design. It is also finished as high-end movemen...
Teddy Baldassarre
We’re living in a world of seemingly almost infinite color choices when it comes to watches, particularly their dials, the faces that timepieces most prominently show to the public. Amidst the masses of silver, black, blue and various shades of green dials that proliferate today, orange dials are still something of a niche, generally assigned to a handful of diving watches, for which the earliest ones were intended more as a matter of practicality than style. However, watchmakers in recent years have slowly started to embrace the orange dial and to discover the widely appealing breadth of hues it offers. Here we showcase 15 orange-faced watches that are on the market now; as always, we start at an eminently affordable price point, slightly over $200, and top out in the high-luxury segment, at six figures. Orient Ray Raven II FAA02006M9 Price: $210, Case Size: 41.5mm, Thickness: 13mm, Lug to Lug: 47mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 200m, Movement: Automatic Orient F6922 Orient is a Japanese watchmaker founded in 1950 but with a tangled history stretching all the way back to 1901 and a convoluted relationship with its now-parent company, Seiko Epson Corporation. Like its better-known contemporaries, Seiko (with its own complex corporate structure through Epson) and Citizen, Orient made its worldwide reputation by making affordable watches with appealing designs. Among Orient’s stable of sporty divers’ watches is this Ray Raven II model with ...
Teddy Baldassarre
In a watch world increasingly populated by bolder and more eye-popping colorways, watches with white dials remain, for many, the epitome of elegance and understated style. White dials, in the estimation we used to compile the following list, are distinct from the more commonly seen “silvered” or “silver” dials, some of them with textures that enhance their three-dimensional appeal or matte finishes that impart to them an appealing sense of solidity. Scroll down to discover 25 of our favorite white-dial watches - as always, covering a wide array of price categories, and styles from dress to diver to pilot to GMT (no chronographs however; white “panda” dials with black subdials is a separate list). Mondaine Classics Swiss Railway Watch Price: $275, Case Size: 36 mm, Lug Width: 18 mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 30 m, Movement: Quartz Ronda 513 Founded in 1951 in Solothurn, Switzerland, Mondaine is a family-owned watch manufacturer that exudes pride in its essential Swissness (as evidenced by its logo, which incorporates the national flag. Mondaine’s signature product is also distinctly Swiss in its inspiration: the simply named Classics collection, the first of which was launched in 1986, derives its clean, ultra-legible, Bauhaus-flavored aesthetic from Switzerland’s distinctive (and notoriously accurate) railroad clocks. Based on the enduring design by Hans Hilfiker for the Federal Swiss Railways clock in 1944, the watch captures minimalism in...
Worn & Wound
A dynamic duo is a way to describe a harmonious connection between two people that tend to create positive results when their unique traits are aligned together. Think Kobe and Shaq, Rick and Morty, or Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, aka Daft Punk. This phenomenon can also be found by way of successful collaborations between brands across different industries. Kith and New Balance, as well as The James Brand and Topo Designs come to mind. One ongoing collaboration in particular that happens to intersect our horological universe is none other than the one between Seiko and Rowing Blazers. Since their initial collaborative release in 2021, they’ve consistently found a way to combine the witty design personality of Rowing Blazers and everything we adore about a steel Seiko sports watch. In timely fashion with Summer just around the corner, Seiko and Rowing Blazers have teamed up once again to deliver a new set of dial colors to their Rowing Blazers x Seiko 5 Sports collection. This new release adds a fresh palette of colors to the entire collection. Like the previous release, the Rowing Blazers x Seiko 5 Sports is supported by three vibrant colors – a pastel pink, deep purple and canary yellow. The three dial colors host a set of black hour markers with T-shaped silver accents. From above, the hour markers look one dimensional, but a side profile reveals an angular quality that slopes towards the center of the dial. The remaining reference in this set is...
Hodinkee
Vintage meets modern in a complete refresh of the Carrera line.
Video
Hodinkee
Fresh from the original owner, this is the full story of Bill Fishburne's Heuer Carrera made possible by David E. Davis Jr. and Jack Heuer.
Worn & Wound
If you’ve been following the trajectory of H. Moser over the last few years, you know how important the Streamliner platform is to them. It’s one of very few entrants into the competitive integrated bracelet sports watch landscape that feels truly original, taking inspiration not from earlier integrated bracelet sports watches, but from the streamline moderne design philosophy, an offshoot of sorts of the Art Deco movement that gave us iconic building, train, and car designs, and eventually seeped into many other aspects of our everyday lives. The flowing lines of the Streamliner’s case and bracelet are often called “organic” for the way they evoke something that’s about to come to life, especially as it’s draped over your wrist, but one look at the aerodynamic locomotive designs of the 1930s tells you all you need to know about where the design inspiration for the watch really comes from. In any case, the Streamliner has struck a chord with watch lovers, and if we’re to believe forum chatter and anecdotes from collectors, it’s one of the tougher watches to get your hands on in the world of independent sports watches. So the release of any new Streamliner is a bit of an event, and the latest example begins a new chapter, replacing the green fumé Center Seconds model (the purest and least complicated version of the Streamliner) with a dial that the brand calls “smoked salmon,” and features a griffé finish that is typically reserved for Moser limite...
Hodinkee
This big hunk of watch now comes in mint green and a very swoony blue green.
Hodinkee
The new OP design is a totally unexpected move from the kings of traditional watchmaking. That's exactly why it's so marvelous.
Hodinkee
Just in time for Spring.
Video
Question, suggestion, or just want to say hi? Drop a note.