22,679 articles · 2,131 videos found · page 738 of 827
Quill & Pad
If ever there was an unlikely concept, it would have to be the idea of Greubel Forsey – the masters of ultra-finished, mechanically inventive, and (at least in GaryG's view) imposingly dressy watches – coming out with a sporty watch.
Time+Tide
USP – the acronym for “unique selling point”. A watchmaker’s USP is paramount to their success, and if you look at the general consensus of what’s considered the best brands out there, they’ve all got it - they each excel at something that puts them a cut above the rest. Whether it’s Rolex and their storied … ContinuedThe post HANDS-ON: The Grand Seiko SBGA407 Snowflake blue appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
The Chief Editor's wishlist in his letter to Santa. Three watches. One below S$10k, one below S$25k, and one money no object. What did he pick?
SJX Watches
The conventional calendar used in most of the world is the Gregorian calendar, which has 365 days and an extra day in February every leap year. Consequently, and quite sensibly, almost all calendar watches display the Gregorian calendar. But there are other calendars used by various cultures and countries, like the Japanese calendar used for its Imperial eras, and also the Islamic, or Hijri, calendar. And now for the very first time, Parmigiani Fleurier has created a wristwatch with a Hijri perpetual calendar. Founded in 1996 by watchmaker Michel Parmigiani, the brand has long been synonymous with inventive and complex watches, most notably the supercar-inspired Bugatti timepieces. In 2011, the brand unveiled the Hijri calendar table clock, a US$2.5 million creation elaborately constructed in silver, rock crystal and semiprecious stone. Now Parmigiani has refined the concept and miniaturised it for the wrist with the Tonda Hijri Perpetual Calendar. A lunar calendar Made up of 12 lunar months and used to track important dates and events in Islam, the Hijri calendar differs from the common Gregorian Calendar in being a lunar calendar, one based on the cycles of the moon, and not Earth’s revolution around the sun. Its 12 months have either 29 or 30 days, resulting in a year that’s between 10 and 12 days shorter than the conventional 365-day year. The Islamic calendar began in 622 AD when the Prophet Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina, both in present-day Saudi Arabia, ...
SJX Watches
As crucial to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s identity as the swivelling Reverso wristwatch, the Atmos clock remains a unique and intriguing invention almost a century after its invention – a clock that runs on air. Having been offered in a variety of iterations over the years, including several by industrial designer Marc Newson, the latest is the Atmos Transparente, a clean, modernist reinterpretation of a longstanding model in the line-up. Despite being synonymous with Jaeger-LeCoultre, the Atmos was actually invented by someone else, who was inspired by a much older idea. Clocks wound by changes in atmospheric temperature were invented sometime in the 17th century, but remained largely experimental until French engineer Jean-Léon Reutter invented the Atmos in 1928. His idea was actually an evolution on the 400-day clock, which is regulated by an exceptionally slow pendulum and need only be wound once a year. The magic of air The genius of Reutter’s invention was a sealed metal bellows containing mercury, which expanded and contracted with changes in temperature, thus winding the clock’s mainspring. Despite its novelty, Reutter’s clock met with little commercial success – early Atmos clocks marked “J.L. Reutter” are rare but not especially valuable – leading him to sell the idea to LeCoultre in 1935 (and two years later the company joined forces with Edmond Jaeger to form Jaeger-LeCoultre). The company refined his concept, with the key improvement being the repl...
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: Almost all reissues of vintage timepieces have an exciting story to tell – that’s just the way it is, otherwise watchmakers wouldn’t bother remaking. Thing is, though, when a watch manufacturer does decide to create an homage timepiece, they usually have the original in their possession. That was not the case when Longines … ContinuedThe post Is the Avigation BigEye one of Longines’ nicest pilot’s watches? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
This richly illustrated coffee table book weighing close to two kilograms is both an invaluable reference tool and a fascinating read. The chapters do not scrimp in detailed information, expert opinion, and rich historical illustrations: even the book’s structure points are a pure joy to read or simply thumb through. Elizabeth would recommend it heartily for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject and here's why.
Hodinkee
Still got gifts to buy? We've got you covered.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
So it's finally happened... Kaz is recording alone. Unfortunately this week Mike is feeling under the weather, so left to his own devices Kaz records this weeks episode and shares his Soviet Watch Collecting goals for 2020. Plus, Kaz teases a new Orient Star joining his collection soon and discusses his thoughts on the new Alpinist release.
SJX Watches
A retro-inspired dive watch that’s been popular since Longines unveiled the first Legend Diver in 2007, the “Super Compressor” is characterised by two crowns, one for the winding and setting, and the other to rotate the inner bezel. The latest brand to get on the “Super Compressor” bandwagon is Marnaut, which just launched the Seascape 200 on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Founded by a Croatian watch enthusiast with an eye for detail, Marnaut’s design is centred on a simple but distinctive feature – circular, applied markers radiating outwards on the dial – 34 markers in total – inspired by the shell of a sea urchin. The rest of the dial is typical of retro-style dive watches, with large hands and an inner elapsed time bezel with a vintage-inspired serif font. And that is complemented by the perforated rubber strap modelled on vintage “tropic” bands. The steel case is a compact 40mm in diameter, but somewhat thick at 13mm high. As is convention for a “Super Compressor” the crown at four is for winding and setting, while the crown at two rotates the bezel. But the “Super Compressor” nickname has nothing to do with the crowns – Super-Compressor (as well as Compressor) was a type of water-resistant watch case patented by defunct case maker E. Piquerez SA (EPSA), which had a unique sprung, screw-down case back that sealed tighter against the watch case with growing atmospheric pressure as depth increased. Like all crowdfunded watches at thi...
Revolution
Revolution’s resident hi-fi expert takes an audiophile’s ear to Ulysse-Nardin’s audibly impressive new striking watch.
Time+Tide
As 2019 draws to a close and I get the opportunity to reflect on the year that was (as well as prepare for endless upcoming jokes on my 2020 vision), it’s impossible not to acknowledge that it has been a massive year for Time+Tide. The team has worked hard on a number of different projects, … ContinuedThe post LIST: Nick Kenyon’s 5 favourite articles of 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Creating a timepiece that needs to pay homage while simultaneously capturing the imagination of the horological community is no mean feat … in fact, it’s fraught with failure. Time and time again, we’ve seen new watches based on vintage timepieces be unveiled, only to have them fall flat on their crystal-domed faces. Unveiled at this … ContinuedThe post HANDS-ON: Is the DOXA SUB 200 “One of the Best Value Watches” of recent years? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Sometimes, it pays to be conservative. It isn’t advice that should be regularly advocated; however, when it comes to what you wear on your wrist, sometimes it is a must to have something that is at the same time classic and crisp. In the case of the Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic white dial, that … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: Why the white dial Clifton Baumatic is classic cool appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
It was only three short years ago when the first-ever Australian Seiko Boutique opened in Sydney, but the Japanese powerhouse has kept very busy, announcing the exciting news of the opening of the first-ever Australian Grand Seiko Boutique. This is a strong statement from the brand as they continue to drive the distinction of Grand … ContinuedThe post 3 watches you can buy right now at the new Grand Seiko Sydney Boutique appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
A thoughtful primer to help you better understand just how bad you might need that vintage Rolex.
SJX Watches
According to Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende (via Reuters), Switzerland’s Competition Commission, a federal body that oversees competition and antitrust matters, is considering an outright ban of movements sales by ETA to third parties, in other words brands outside of the Swatch Group, starting January 2020. Also known as COMCO, or its German acronym WEKO, the agency is expected to deliver a verdict on December 19 . No explicit reason was cited for the potential ban, but it was implied that a recent COMCO report on the industry structure of the movement business is the reason. It is possible that COMCO believes the number of alternatives to ETA is sufficient that the watch industry would be better served over the long term by forcing watch brands to switch away from ETA. COMCO has long tussled with Switzerland’s biggest movement maker, in a dispute that began 17 years ago, when ETA announced it would gradually halt sales of ebauches, or movement blanks, to brands not owned by its parent company, Swatch Group. Because ETA was, and still is, Switzerland’s largest movement, reputedly producing some five million movements a year, its decision was regarded by COMCO as anticompetitive. And the wider Swatch Group – which is the country’s largest watchmaking conglomerate – produces perhaps a third of the components needed for watch movements in the entire industry. In the subsequent years ETA and COMCO reached various agreements over movement supply, with the l...
Quill & Pad
The Swiss press is reporting that the tug of war between Swatch Group and Comco is now back on the table – and could result in dire consequences for the entire industry as soon as 2020, when ETA may stop delivering movements to outside brands. Get the story here.
Time+Tide
The topic of watches and their worth has been the talk of 2019. With never-ending threads of comments on social media, expressing frustration at the current prices of some pieces, retailers attempting to negotiate the challenge of managing wait-lists, and the growth of The Flipper in the world of watch buyers, it seems that 2019 … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: How watches became financial assets appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Extraordinary engraver Kees Engelbarts loves his skeletonized watches as they do very much showcase his art form. “I wanted to make another kind of skeleton watch,” he says about his creation called Tourbillon Organic Skeleton. “Most skeleton watches are, as you know, very symmetric. My plan was to make a skeleton watch without a drawing or plan before starting, by just taking away material from the base plate and bridges that is not needed.”
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: It may surprise the uninitiated to read this, but creating a completely new calibre, in-house, from scratch, is a very, very costly exercise. And there’s a reason that most boutique and micro watchmakers stick to third-party movements from the likes of ETA and Sellita, because to make their own movements is financially unviable. … ContinuedThe post Germanic genius: the Nomos Tangente neomatik 41 Update appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
Breitling announces the Navitimer Automatic 41 Southeast Asia Boutique Limited Edition to mark six years of dedicated boutique presence in Southeast Asia.
SJX Watches
Vacheron Constantin’s annual collection of one-off and custom haute horlogerie watches was titled La Musique du Temps this year, being most made up of minute repeaters. They ranged from the strikingly simple to exceedingly ornate, with one of the prime examples of simplicity being the Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Ultra-Thin ‘Romantic Note’. Being one of two time-only minute repeaters in the collection – the other is ‘Dance of the Gemstones’ – the Romantic Note is essentially a variant of the regular-production Calibre 1731 repeater. It’s a large but elegantly proportioned watch, measuring 41mm by 8.5mm, so it sits wide but flat on the wrist. Though not overly large, the watch would be a bit more elegant if it were smaller. On a small wrist the wide-but-flat proportions can resemble a dinner plate. The smallest case size possible, given the diameter of the movement, is about 39mm, which would have given the watch a more tangible vintage feel. Design-wise the case is simple, which suits the watch well. The styling is taken from the Traditionnelle line, meaning it is relatively angular, with lots of flat surfaces when viewed from the front, which is deceptively simple. Much of the case detail lies in its profile – the case band has a single, lengthwise step, along with lugs inspired by the Maltese cross, the company’s logo. And the case back has a fluted edge as a design feature, being a snap-on, rather than screw-down back. Though the case design is fo...
Deployant
Greubel Forsey enters the luxury sports watch genre with the new GMT Sport. The case is in Ti, and is curved in multi dimensions. Assertive. Bold. Unique.
Time+Tide
For the first time ever, Jaeger-LeCoultre is opening a stand-alone boutique in Australia, which aims to offer greater access for their Australian enthusiasts than ever before. The brand is also quietly confident that the Australian market has reached a level of maturity that a complex and nuanced brand such as Jaeger-LeCoultre can capitalise on the … ContinuedThe post EVENT: Here’s why the first ever Jaeger-LeCoultre Sydney boutique is opening tomorrow appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Bart and Tim Grönefeld have been so successful that they cannot keep watches in stock, and people who order one of their models right now might have to wait at least a year. However, Martin Green didn't visit them to buy a watch, but rather to talk with the Dutch brothers about watchmaking and other perhaps more personal subjects. Please enjoy this somewhat different video!
Time+Tide
Much as it pains me to admit it, these days, haute horology is usually reserved for the rarified and uber-expensive micro-brands of the Swiss watchmaking world. It’s not that the heavyweights of the industry have completely given up on the idea of innovation – far from it – but it does seem as though there’s … ContinuedThe post 3 reasons why the TAG Heuer Monaco V4 Platinum is still amazing appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
WatchAdvice
Despite recent turbulent times (pun intended #avgeek), under the guidance of Georges Kern and team, Breitling has re-established itself with a robust and cohesive line up of watches. Today, we take a closer look at a staple of the “air collection”, The Avenger, but more specifically, a newer addition, The Blackbird. Designed to be sleek and stealthy, this particular Breitling is a little different to the usual polished steel cases usually offered. CASE: Titanium has certainly gained popularity in recent years. Breitling went one step further and went full stealth mode, coating the large 48mm case (before you stop reading, there’s a 44mm option also), with “a highly resistant black carbon-based treatment,” aka DLC coating from what I’ve researched. While large in diameter, case thickness of 14.8mm and a lug width of 24mm (tapers to buckle), it’s surprisingly comfortable on wrist. The curved lugs combined with a canvas strap, allows the wearer to anchor down the watch, while the flat, untreated, screw-down caseback ensures a low profile is maintained. The 60 minutes, unidirectional bezel is smooth in operation and clicks into position cleanly. On the media model shown, there was a small amount of back-play; however, I’m confident this would be corrected by the small retaining screws found around the bezel edging. Inside, keeping time is the Breitling B17 movement (a base ETA 2892-A2) that is CSOSC certified, with 42hrs of flight time. The knurled,...
Quill & Pad
‘F.P. Journe Invenit et Fecit’ by Jean-Pierre Grosz narrates the story of François-Paul Journe, one of the most successful independent watchmakers of our time. This book outlines both Journe’s incredible and – dare I say – courageous career and delves into his personal life, which wasn’t always rosy and light. A very atypical career that deserves the attention it receives with this book, Elizabeth finds it is a must-read.
Hodinkee
A cross-section of old-school watch design and modern-day watchmaking ability.
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