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Results for Tourbillon

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Flying Tourbillon

Alfred Helwig's 1920 tourbillon variant with no upper bridge; the entire cage is visible.
Wiki · Guide
Tourbillon

Breguet's 1801 rotating-cage escapement, explained.
H. Moser & Cie. Launches a Formula 1 Streamliner Duo SJX Watches
H. Moser & Cie Launches May 30, 2025

H. Moser & Cie. Launches a Formula 1 Streamliner Duo

For its partnership with the Alpine Formula 1 team, H. Moser & Cie. debuts a pair of firsts for the brand: the Streamliner Alpine Drivers Edition is its first skeletonized chronograph, and the Streamliner Alpine Mechanics Edition is an entirely new model and the brand’s first true smartwatch – not counting the Swiss Alp Watch – with special digital functions tailored to the needs of an F1 team. While the regular production Streamline Flyback Chronograph already has a racing aesthetic, it’s been dialed up to match to the Alpine team colors, with the blue-coated steel case being notable. And the digital Streamliner is more than just a commemorative watch. Most Formula 1 sponsorships are just that, but Moser decided it wanted to contribute a tool the team can rely on during the season, just as mechanical watches were decades ago. Both will be sold as a set, though the smartwatch will be available individually to owner’s of the Streamliner Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton “Alpine”. Initial Thoughts Nothing is off the table for Moser, whose past “concept” watches included a watch made from a cheese-filled composite, one covered in living plants, and the infamous Swiss Icons watch. Even with that in mind, a smartwatch is unexpected, though it makes sense given the brand’s stated goals with the collaboration. Referring to the smartwatch, Chief executive Edouard Meylan says “we wanted to create a measuring instrument that meets the demands of a Formula 1 team,...

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TAG Heuer Introduces the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph in Crystallized Titanium SJX Watches
Parmigiani Fleurier May 23, 2025

TAG Heuer Introduces the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph in Crystallized Titanium

Initially launched as a unique piece in a crystallized titanium case for Only Watch 2023, the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph was then added to the catalog, most recently as a limited edition in ceramic. Now the model returns in its original crystallized titanium livery, accented in lime green. Under the hood is a high-beat Vaucher chronograph movement, also used by Parmigiani Fleurier and Richard Mille. The split-seconds is the flagship of the Monaco collection, impressive inside and out – with a price to match – but seemingly runs counter to the brand’s established direction of affordable sports watches. Initial Thoughts The latest iteration of the Monaco split-seconds is the best yet, price aside. The variants of the model released between the one-off for Only Watch and this felt incomplete without the crystallized titanium case. The material is visually and technically interesting, and its resemblance to forged carbon fits the automotive theme; lime green accents notwithstanding, it’s a good-looking watch. Image – TAG Heuer A rattrapante is a natural fit for an auto racing-focused brand like TAG Heuer, but the ambitious CHF145,000 price is confusing, given TAG Heuer’s efforts toward making the Swiss-made tourbillon affordable. The Monaco split-seconds itself is excellent – the movement especially so – but an affordable rattrapante would be more in line with the brand’s recent direction. While the base movement is shared with costlier Richar...

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The Holy Trinity of Watches (And A New Trinity For 2025) Teddy Baldassarre
May 19, 2025

The Holy Trinity of Watches (And A New Trinity For 2025)

When we talk about "the Holy Trinity of Watches" or "Holy Trinity of Swiss Watchmaking," or "the Big Three," most of us watch aficionados agree on which watchmakers we're referring to: Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet (that would be in ascending order of age). How did this triumvirate of historical maisons - one of which has been making watches since before the 19th Century, two of which remain family-owned - ascend to the highest echelons of prestige in the eyes of the watch connoisseur community? Each has its own intriguing history and can claim its own milestones in the evolution of modern watchmaking. Here, we briefly tell each of their stories and spotlight some of the timepieces that have made them immortal.  PATEK PHILIPPE Founded: 1839; Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; Ownership: Stern Family; Notable models: Calatrava, Nautilus, Aquanaut, Sky Moon Tourbillon Since its founding in 1839 in Geneva, Patek Philippe has been a leader in high watchmaking, pioneering many complications and design elements that are now seen widely throughout the watch industry. Polish watchmakers Antoine Norbert de Patek and Francois Czapek partnered to form the original company, Patek, Czapek, & Cie.; French horologist Jean Adrien Philippe, who invented the keyless winding and setting system still standard on watches today, joined in 1845, and the Genevan manufacture has been known as Patek Philippe ever since. Among its many horological milestone...

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Vacheron Constantin’s First Chiming Sports Watch, the Overseas Grand Complication SJX Watches
Vacheron Constantin s First Chiming Sports May 13, 2025

Vacheron Constantin’s First Chiming Sports Watch, the Overseas Grand Complication

Vacheron Constantin (VC) continues its 270th anniversary festivities with its first minute-repeating sports watch, the Overseas Grand Complication Openface. In addition to the repeater, the manually wound movement also features a perpetual calendar, tourbillon, and rear-facing power reserve indicator. All of this is housed in a titanium case rated to 30 m, which is a notable degree of water resistance for a chiming watch. This is also the first Overseas model with the “Openface” treatment, which pays homage to rock crystal dials found in vintage clocks and pocket watches with a clear sapphire dial exposing the perpetual calendar works. Image – Vacheron Constantin Initial Thoughts It’s unusual, but a chiming sports watch makes sense considering the direction of consumer preferences for complications. That said, the minute repeater has been slow to make its way into sports watches, despite enjoying renewed popularity for the past few decades, due to the challenges of waterproofing the charging slide and preserving sound quality. This has created a perception of water resistance and sound being mutually exclusive, which has only recently been challenged. Audemars Piguet was an early pioneer with water-resistant repeaters, and now Vacheron Constantin has entered the fray with a water-resistant minute-repeating integrated-bracelet sports watch of its own. While 30 m of water resistance is low compared to other models in the Overseas collection, it’s significant for a ...

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A Minute Repeater You Can Take for a Swim: Vacheron Constantin Launches the Overseas Grand Complication Openface Worn & Wound
Vacheron Constantin Launches May 13, 2025

A Minute Repeater You Can Take for a Swim: Vacheron Constantin Launches the Overseas Grand Complication Openface

Another day, another cool Vacheron Constantin release. Barely a month on from Watches & Wonders (where I will remind you, Vacheron dropped the most complicated wristwatch ever made), the iconic brand, currently celebrating its 270th anniversary, has released another high complication heater - a skeleton dial, perpetual calendar, minute repeater with tourbillon dressed up as a titanium Overseas. Coming into 2025, it was pretty clear to see that Vacheron was ready to make some noise. For one thing, the brand was (as I mentioned) celebrating its 270th birthday, something the marketing folks at Vacheron have not been shy about, but more than that, the brand has been on a pretty incredible run over the last few years. Even without the cover of an anniversary year, recent new releases from Vacheron Constantin have increasingly been greeted as objects of interest, both in a technical and cultural sense, and there’s a real feeling that someone at Vacheron HQ clearly knows what they’re doing. The new Overseas Grand Complication Openface is an objectively impressive offering. Measuring in at 44.5mm across and 13.1mm thick in grade 5 titanium (a material also seen in last year’s Overseas tourbillon) this latest Overseas does feature slightly reworked case proportions, with a narrower bracelet relative to its smaller siblings and what looks to me to be a slightly longer lug to lug and thinner bezel, relative to its admittedly larger case size. The watch is also water resistant...

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In-Depth: The Breguet Sympathique, From the Duc d’Orléans to “No. 1” SJX Watches
Breguet Sympathique From May 7, 2025

In-Depth: The Breguet Sympathique, From the Duc d’Orléans to “No. 1”

This spring, one of the most important horological creations of the late twentieth century returns to public view. As part of The Geneva Watch Auction: XXI taking place on May 10 and 11, Phillips will offer the Breguet Sympathique No. 1, the first of twenty exceptional clocks commissioned by Breguet in the early 1990s. The primary creator of this landmark clock was none other than Francois-Paul Journe, then a young watchmaker. Completed in 1991 for the Art of Breguet auction, No. 1 is not just the prototype of the modern Sympathique series, it is its most ambitious. The example, paired with a tourbillon wristwatch, is equipped with a constant-force remontoir and moonphase display. In retrospect, it reads as a mechanical manifesto, foreshadowing Journe’s later independent work. More than a highlight of its upcoming sale, No. 1 represents a rare continuation of one of watchmaking’s great inventions, a direct link to Abraham-Louis Breguet himself. Detail of Sympathique no. 1 Of Breguet’s many breakthroughs, from the tourbillon to the pare-chute, none captured the marriage of mechanical brilliance and poetic vision quite like the Pendule Sympathique. Designed to wind, set, and regulate a paired watch automatically, it embodied a new kind of horological harmony: a master timekeeper caring for its portable counterpart. The calendar on Sympathique no. 1 By the late 20th century, these clocks had become near-mythical. Only a handful were ever built, most housed in royal coll...

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Up Close: Greubel Forsey Nano Foudroyante EWT SJX Watches
Greubel Forsey Nano Foudroyante EWT Twenty-twenty-four May 5, 2025

Up Close: Greubel Forsey Nano Foudroyante EWT

Twenty-twenty-four marked Greubel Forsey’s 20th anniversary, an occasion celebrated with their first chronograph, the Nano Foudroyante EWT. The brand’s tenth “Fundamental Innovation” since its founding back in 2004, the Nano Foudroyante EWT is a flyback chronograph with a flying tourbillon and an independent micro-scale lightning seconds, or foudroyante. The watch marked many firsts for the brand. Aside from being Greubel Forsey’s first chronograph, it is also the brand’s first flying tourbillon – noteworthy given its longtime focus on the tourbillon. Despite its extensive history with innovative tourbillon constructions, Greubel Forsey (GF) has never before created one with a flying architecture.  Initial thoughts GF is often regarded as among the best in terms of innovative watchmaking and artisanal chronometry. Although the brand’s styling can arguably be too much at times, its core signature of high-end horology is unmistakable and defined by exemplary finishing and exceptional engineering in equal measure.  The Nano Foudroyante EWT is interesting in many respects. The combination of complications is unusual, even for GF, and feels like more of a conceptual platform to present the “nano” sized lightning seconds (that runs independently of the chronograph). That said, execution is typical of GF in being high quality all around. It is a perfect example of the brand’s approach to watchmaking, both decoration- and engineering-wise. Similarly, the ae...

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Breguet Celebrates 250 Years with a Tribute to a Watch from 1797 (w/ Hands-On Photos) Worn & Wound
Breguet Celebrates 250 Years Apr 24, 2025

Breguet Celebrates 250 Years with a Tribute to a Watch from 1797 (w/ Hands-On Photos)

If you’re into watches, then you’re into Abraham-Louis Breguet. One of the founders of modern horology, his innovations set the course of the industry and remain relevant. Whether that’s in terms of his inventions like the tourbillon, the gong-spring, his signature overcoil, self-winding, or shock protection, to name but a few, or in marketing and selling his timepieces, his contributions set many standards. Of these listed, however, marketing and selling seem the least interesting, and yet, Breguet’s “Souscription” model and the watches created as a result, have served as inspiration for several of the modern Breguet brand’s most iconic timepieces. In 2005, the brand launched the Tradition line, bringing escapements to the dial of a wristwatch, and now, the Classique Souscription 2025, celebrating the company’s 250th anniversary. The Souscription concept is one we are all very familiar with, if a slightly different take that suited the times. Upon ordering one of Breguet’s Souscription pieces, a quarter of the total price was paid to cover the parts. A deposit, if you will. The watch was made, and the remaining three-quarters were sent to acquire it. Sounds familiar, though typically we don’t fund the making of individual watches (though sometimes we do). A highly successful campaign that was advertised via a pamphlet, another innovation, it is said that around 700 watches were produced using this model. The concept wasn’t just a method of payment, b...

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Vacheron Constantin Introduces the Most Complicated Wristwatch, Ever Worn & Wound
Vacheron Constantin Introduces Apr 15, 2025

Vacheron Constantin Introduces the Most Complicated Wristwatch, Ever

If you were to sit me down at a desk and ask me to write down 41 watch complications off the top of my head, I think the result would be rather like Ross Geller trying to name the 50 states in that one episode of Friends. There’s just no way I could do it. Forty-one is an absurd number of complications to even conceive of, let alone cram into one surprisingly wearable watch. And yet, that is what Vacheron Constantin’s one-of-a-kind watchmaking department, Les Cabinotiers, has managed to do. Just about a year after introducing the world’s most complicated watch of any kind - a pocket watch containing 63 complications - Vacheron has unveiled the Les Cabinotiers ‘Solaria Ultra Grand Complication.’ It’s hard to know where to start with a watch like this, especially since I haven’t had the opportunity to see it in person, so to begin, I’ll just say this: I am wildly impressed by this watch, and you should be too. It’s a serious step up from their previous most complicated wristwatch - the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600, which housed 23 complications. It’s worth saying here that, even before getting to the Solaria Ultra Grand Complication, Vacheron Constantin had a very good Watches & Wonders. The brand is celebrating its 270th anniversary this year and they’ve done a hell of a job with it. Their new 127-piece limited edition Traditionelle Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar, with its novel movement and ann...

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H. Moser Goes “Pop” with their New Stone Dial Collection Worn & Wound
H. Moser Goes “Pop” Apr 4, 2025

H. Moser Goes “Pop” with their New Stone Dial Collection

It’s well understood at this point that stone dials are experiencing a renaissance in all corners of the watch market. In fact, it might almost be kind of boring to point this out as we continue to see new spins on these dials released on an almost weekly basis. So it would be tempting to say that H. Moser is jumping on the stone dial bandwagon with their new Pop collection, the centerpiece of their Watches & Wonders 2025 strategy. But I don’t think that’s quite fair. Moser, for their part, has been ahead of the curve on stone dials. They’ve released a handful of extremely limited watches with dials crafted from jade, falcon’s eye, and other stones in recent years. And with the Pop collection watches, they’ve done something genuinely creative, combining multiple stones in each dial in unexpected ways across three different models.  The Pop collection exists in the Endeavour line, and makes use of all three watches on the platform: the Endeavour Small Seconds, Endeavour Tourbillon, and Endeavour Minute Repeater Tourbillon Concept. There are six groups of three watches, each making use of a combination of two stones. The stone pairings are Burmese jade and pink opal, lapis lazuli and lemon chrysoprase, and turquoise and coral. Each pairing is executed in two ways, with one stone being dominant in each. So, for example, there’s a Small Seconds model with Burmese jade in the main dial and pink opal in the sub seconds, and another with the opposite. For the tourb...

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Hublot Drops a Set of Unique Pieces to Celebrate the Big Bang Anniversary Worn & Wound
Hublot Drops Apr 2, 2025

Hublot Drops a Set of Unique Pieces to Celebrate the Big Bang Anniversary

If $1 million were dropped in your lap tomorrow, what would you do with it? It’s an age-old question (okay, maybe not age-old), one that has driven endless late-night discussion and at least one surprisingly popular ‘90s Canadian rock song. Most of us have some version of an answer to the question, and Hublot has come along to offer up one solution for one lucky Big Bang enthusiast. As part of their celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Big Bang, Hublot has produced a hell of a collector’s set - the Hublot Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Materials and High Complications” Unique Set. What does that mean? Well, it’s pretty much what it says on the tin. Hublot has, through a collection of five piece unique watches, built a collection of Big Bangs that does a pretty cohesive job of summing up the last two decades of Big Bang into one illuminated case. And for the very reasonable price of - cue Doctor Evil - $1 million dollars (well, really 1 million CHF, so about $1,099,000 US) it can all be yours. Inside this extreme collector’s set, you’ll find five Hublot Big Bangs, each of which combines a ‘high complication’ feature set with a case executed in some modern material or another. Moving through the collection, you’ll find a Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic in a red and black ceramic case, a Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic in a transparent sapphire case, a Big Bang Tourbillon Chronograph in a Water Blue Sapphire case, a Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Ca...

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Vacheron Constantin Celebrates Its 270th Anniversary With Three Traditionnelle Openface Models Fratello
Vacheron Constantin Celebrates Apr 2, 2025

Vacheron Constantin Celebrates Its 270th Anniversary With Three Traditionnelle Openface Models

Vacheron Constantin’s anniversary celebrations do not go unnoticed. The 270-year-old horology house kicked things off in January with the stainless steel version of the Historiques 222. Yesterday, it unveiled a high-end follow-up to that release with the stunning new Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication, the most complicated wristwatch ever created. Add the Traditionnelle Tourbillon […] Visit Vacheron Constantin Celebrates Its 270th Anniversary With Three Traditionnelle Openface Models to read the full article.

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[VIDEO] Grand Seiko Redefines Accuracy – Again: Introducing the 9RB2 U.F.A. Spring Drive Caliber Worn & Wound
Grand Seiko Redefines Accuracy – Again Apr 1, 2025

[VIDEO] Grand Seiko Redefines Accuracy – Again: Introducing the 9RB2 U.F.A. Spring Drive Caliber

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...

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First Look – The New Frozen Editions of the H. Moser Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic Monochrome
H. Moser Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic Apr 1, 2025

First Look – The New Frozen Editions of the H. Moser Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic

The Streamliner collection was introduced by H. Moser & Cie in 2020 and was an overnight success. Its groovy integrated cushion design was fresh, original and brilliantly executed. Since its inception, we’ve seen a wide range of time-only, perpetual calendar, tourbillon and chronograph models, and even several fascinating skeletonised iterations. Moser also loves to play […]

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Christie’s to Sell Single-Owner Collection of 21st Century High Horology SJX Watches
Vacheron Constantin are well represented but Mar 27, 2025

Christie’s to Sell Single-Owner Collection of 21st Century High Horology

Christie’s is continuing with its streak of single-owner watch collections into the 2025 season with Stories in Time. Made up of 160 watches – including a sizeable number of independents – the sale is the culmination of three decades of collecting by one collector. Representing 47 brands from A. Lange & Söhne to Voutilainen, the collection represents 21st century horology in all its diversity, capturing the evolution of contemporary watchmaking as it developed from the 1990s onwards. The watchmaking landscape Establishment brands like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin are well represented, but equally the independent watchmakers and brands out of the mainstream. While the brand with the largest number of pieces in the collection is Patek Philippe at 20, the second most numerous brand is De Bethune at 18. The line-up also includes nine watches by Greubel Forsey and seven from MB&F;, as well as a few examples of the Harry Winston Opus series. One of the nine Greubel Forsey watches in the sale, the Double Tourbillon 30° Edition Historique in platinum with an estimate of US$120,000-220,000 Almost every watch in the collection is in pristine condition and accompanied by the original boxes and paperwork, reflecting the collector’s meticulous approach. This collection will be offered at Christie’s sales across the world over the course of 2025, in Hong Kong, Dubai, Geneva, and New York in the eight auctions during the spring and autumn sales.  

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Horage Debuts the K3, an All New Antimagnetic Caliber, and the Decaflux, an Affordable Everyday Sports Watch Worn & Wound
Mar 24, 2025

Horage Debuts the K3, an All New Antimagnetic Caliber, and the Decaflux, an Affordable Everyday Sports Watch

The independent brand Horage has produced some of the most genuinely interesting watches of the last several years. They’re a bit of a tough brand to pin down. Depending on how you discover them, you could mistake them for a brand obsessed with links between watches and photography, or one of a handful of small indies doing interesting things with tourbillons and other watchmaking tech for quite a bit less money than you’d typically expect. But the thing that links all of their products together is a desire to come up with creative solutions to long standing watchmaking problems and to do so in a way that doesn’t leave anyone out of the experience. Accessibility and approachability are as vital to Horage as their love-it-or-hate-it design language, often embracing an ultra contemporary sensibility.  Two new announcements from Horage over the last week or so perfectly illustrate their commitment to quietly pushing horological boundaries. First came the introduction of their new K3 movement. Over the last several years, most of Horage’s big movement developments have come with some high end features and represent big swings for the brand. The tourbillon, of course, is arguably the centerpiece, but they’ve also introduced a micro-rotor caliber as well as a fascinating tool that allows for the periodic electronic regulating of that very movement. But the K3 is a comparatively simple idea, a high quality movement made from advanced materials at a relatively low cost....

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Hands On: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept KAWS “Companion” SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept KAWS Mar 10, 2025

Hands On: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept KAWS “Companion”

Launched a few months ago, the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon “Companion” 43 mm is Audemars Piguet’s first collaboration with Kaws, the contemporary artist best known for work inspired by Mickey Mouse and The Simpsons. While the Kaws edition is not the first AP pop culture collab, it is arguably the best. Initial thoughts I like the Royal Oak Concept Kaws, more than any of AP’s other pop culture collaborations. I like the aesthetic, feel, and execution (though not the oversized case), which put this amongst the best contemporary art crossovers in watchmaking. The Hublot-Murakami series is another outstanding artist-watchmaker collab, but the AP-Kaws watch is executed to a much higher level of quality (and price). Visually, the Kaws is big and bold, but rendered in muted, monochromatic grey – a paradoxical but complementary combination. At a distance the watch seems like yet another oversized Royal Oak, but up close it gets more interesting, starting with the fact that it has no hands in the traditional sense. The lack of hands (which are replaced with peripheral pointers) make this a little more interesting, since the cal. 2979 is a new movement that’s a variant of AP’s more conventional tourbillon calibre. I appreciate the fact that the movement was developed for this watch, both in order to accommodate the figure on the dial and to incorporate the “padded” Kaws aesthetic into the movement bridges on the back. Adding a mechanical complication to the Kaws s...

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Introducing: The BA111OD Chapter 7 Certified Chronometer Fratello
Feb 19, 2025

Introducing: The BA111OD Chapter 7 Certified Chronometer

Since 2019, BA111OD has offered edgy, affordable Swiss timepieces. The brand from Neuchatel offers a tourbillon, manufacture complications, and several avant-garde mechanical watches. The models even have chapter names, and today’s piece, the Chapter 7, is the first to receive a chronometer certification. With rising prices from many traditional “high street” brands, smaller independent watch […] Visit Introducing: The BA111OD Chapter 7 Certified Chronometer to read the full article.

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Introducing – Grönefeld Releases its First Ladies’ Watch, the 1944 Tanfana Monochrome
Grönefeld Feb 19, 2025

Introducing – Grönefeld Releases its First Ladies’ Watch, the 1944 Tanfana

Accomplished third-generation Dutch watchmakers Tim and Bart Grönefeld released their first watch in 2008, a complex minute repeater and tourbillon that set the tone for the brand’s trajectory. Trained in Switzerland, the Horological Brothers set up their atelier in their hometown, Oldenzaal, and are renowned for their reduced but horologically rich offering of exquisite handmade […]

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Price of Admission: What Are The Least Expensive Breguet Watches? Teddy Baldassarre
Breguet Jan 31, 2025

Price of Admission: What Are The Least Expensive Breguet Watches?

For those in the know, Breguet is a name in the history of watchmaking that commands instant respect, and even reverence. The brand’s legendary founder, Abraham-Louis Breguet, is rightfully lauded as the inventor of the tourbillon, but his lifetime horological resumé goes far beyond even that: he made the first self-winding movement, the first watch that was wound by a crown rather than a key, the pare-chute shock protection system, and the gong system for repeater watches, among other innovations. His customers included historical figures like King Louis XVI of France, Queen Marie-Antoinette, and Napoleon Bonaparte. He even invented a style of hands that many other watchmakers other than Breguet still use today. The modern brand that bears his name is one of the undisputed, upper-echelon Swiss watch maisons, alongside names like Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet, and the jewel in the crown of the Swatch Group.  All that said and acknowledged, a newcomer to Breguet, especially the prospective owner of his or her first Breguet watch, may find all of this background intimidating. And make no mistake, Breguet is unapologetic in both its embrace of historical renown and its timepieces’ exalted level of luxury. The brand’s modern-day stewards harbor no illusion that they offer anything that would be any aficionado’s “first watch.” The whole concept of “entry level” must be stretched a bit at this venerated tier of watchmaking: like Patek Philippe, A. Lan...

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Daniel Roth Extra Plat Souscription Review Teddy Baldassarre
Daniel Roth Jan 29, 2025

Daniel Roth Extra Plat Souscription Review

Back in 2023, LVMH and its high watchmaking workshop La Fabrique du Temps revived the Daniel Roth brand, which had been owned by Bulgari since 2000. Roth was a towering name in independent watchmaking, having been a peer of Philippe Dufour and Francois-Paul Journe. Though the brand only lasted from 1988 to 1995, its resurrection in 2023 was only made more glorious due to the long gap. The resurrected brand debuted with the Tourbillon Souscription, which has been followed up with the new Daniel Roth Extra Plat Souscription, a faithful remake of the original from the 1990s that was released at LVMH Watch Week 2025. The “Neo-vintage” craze has only gotten more popular in recent years, with the generation of watches sandwiched between vintage and modern gaining the respect and appreciation of collectors and newcomers alike. The Chopard L.U.C 1860 reissue from 2023 was one of the most celebrated neo-vintage reissues in recent years and I’d venture to say that this Roth will join the ranks. Staying true to the original aesthetics — with contemporary concessions for things like movement development — is a recipe for success in these small-batch, high-visibility watches. Small production numbers for relative rarity are helping to keep neo-vintage from becoming overexposed, but for how long? We’ll have to wait and see on that end, but for now let’s get back to the Daniel Roth Extra Plat Souscription. The simple, two-hand dress watch comes in that recognizable double-e...

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Explained: The Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Spin Time SJX Watches
Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Spin Time Jan 22, 2025

Explained: The Louis Vuitton Tambour Taiko Spin Time

Perhaps Louis Vuitton’s most famous complication, the Spin Time is a three-dimensional jump hour that was historically synonymous with the original, chunky Tambour case. Now Louis Vuitton has revamped both the complication and case to create the Tambour Taiko Spin Time. More compact and elegant than its predecessor, the Tambour Taiko is an expertly detailed case matched with restrained “dolphin grey” livery. Also employed in the new Convergence, the new case is home to an equally new family of in-house movements that will be the foundation of Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking. All of the Tambour Taiko Spin Time models – there are four in all, plus two gem-set variants – are equipped with movements from this family. The line-up starts with the 39.5 mm base model, while the rest are all 42.5 mm. They include the Spin Time Antipode with a novel world time function, and the top-of-the-line Tambour Taiko Spin Time Flying Tourbillon combining the jumping hours complication with a central tourbillon. All feature the signature Spin Time display of jumping cubes that indicate the current hour with a contrast-colour face. From left: Spin Time, Spin Time Air, Spin Time Antipode, and Spin Time Flying Tourbillon (not to scale) Initial thoughts Though I like very much the original, chunky Tambour, the redesigned case has a more subtle, refined appeal. The Tambour Taiko is far more wearable and boasts a noticeably higher level of finishing and detail, though it does lose some of th...

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