4,409 articles · 668 videos found · page 91 of 170
Monochrome
Haute-Rive may be a young brand founded in 2022, but it comes with serious horological backing. Its founder, Stéphane von Gunten, is a micromechanical engineer with decades of experience in academic research and high-end watchmaking. When the time came to launch his brand, he named it Haute-Rive, a nod to the original workshop of his […]
Teddy Baldassarre
At this point it’s a cliché to even mention how outdated and prehistoric a universally negative or condescending view of “Made in China” is in the world of watchmaking. Some of the most interesting new watch brands, and a consistently growing roster of some of the most talented and resourceful living watchmakers, are establishing reputations matching, or indeed exceeding, those out of Switzerland, Germany, and Japan. In this article I have assembled just 15 of these names, some of which have been around for decades and some of which are just coming on the scene. For your reading ease, I’ve broken these down into three categories: the established brands; the watchmakers; and the upstarts. Let’s start with the Chinese watch brand most of you already know… The Established Brands Seagull Tianjin Seagull Watch Group, aka Seagull, recently celebrated its 70th anniversary, and it’s not hard to see why this giant is the most well known and prolific Chinese mechanical-watch producer. The brand made China’s first Air Force Chronograph, which has been reissued as the iconic Seagull 1963 chronograph, a watch that still represents tremendous value at around $300. But it’s not just all affordable stuff these days. Last year, I wrote about the Seagull Split-Second Chronograph, calling it one of the best values in watchmaking at $3,200. Beyond the basic chronograph and this rattrapante, Seagull has added tourbillons, perpetual calendars, and minute repeaters to its repe...
SJX Watches
After voyages through the cultures of Europe, China, and Japan, Louis Vuitton sets course beyond the terrestrial realm. The Tambour Taiko Galactique is a minute repeater with automata depicting an astronaut on the Moon. With its newest creation, Louis Vuitton once again marries artisanal decoration with high-end mechanics – all accomplished in-house at its manufacture in Geneva, La Fabrique du Temps (LFT). Initial thoughts For several years now, Louis Vuitton has endeavoured to preserve and perpetuate traditional watchmaking and related crafts. From the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives to its collaborations with independent watchmakers, and the massive, nine-figure investment in its Geneva manufactures and the vertical integration of metiers d’art, Louis Vuitton is a large luxury brand, the world’s biggest in fact, but still remains in touch with artisanal horology. The latest launch from the French marque is a minute repeater that defies traditional dogma. With the Galactique, Louis Vuitton pays tribute to both the space age and classic watchmaking by dressing an otherwise traditional complication in a space-themed attire. It is literally a “Moonwatch”, but of another type. The lunar-centric watch is appealing, a little whimsical, and well-executed, with consistent design choices unifying the case and dial. The only decidedly classic element is the movement that is visible through the case back. An artful dial The centrepiece of the Gala...
Monochrome
We’re coming back down to earth for a more sensible and approachable watchmaking, after the slew of high-end and ultra-complicated watches. Obviously, tourbillon or perpetual calendar watches aren’t for everyone’s budget, but luckily, there are still plenty of very endearing watches for those with a more limited budget. As we set our sights on the […]
Fratello
Independent watchmaking has a knack for unearthing hidden gems in the most unexpected places. In this case, that place is Ninghai, China, home to master watchmaker Qian GuoBiao. His latest creation, Facing the Sky 2.0, marks the return of a concept he first unveiled back in 2018. The original Facing the Sky, a bold 43mm […] Visit Introducing: Qian GuoBiao’s Facing The Sky 2.0 - Marking A Skyward Vision Reborn to read the full article.
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Hodinkee
Top Swiss brand to increase prices by an average of 3% beginning May 1 and Omega prices to rise 5%.
Worn & Wound
One of my favorite stories in independent watchmaking over the last few years has been the evolution of Garrick, the Norwich based brand specializing in meticulously finished, custom made watches. In a relatively short time, the brand has transformed itself into something of an experimental haute horlogerie specialist. The first Garrick watch I can recall writing about was the S4, upon its announcement, which represented the entry point into the brand at around £4995 (in 2021). That watch was, and is, impressive, with a great deal of hand-work and a dizzying level of customization possible. But it would have been tough to predict that just four years later Garrick would be playing at another level entirely, flirting with GPHG honors, and offering bespoke watches that, if made by other, larger brands or more established watchmakers, would likely have price tags sailing into the six figures. The new S3 Deadbeat Seconds release feels like a statement of purpose from Garrick. It is, as the brand puts it, “the pinnacle of Garrick ownership.” The watch itself is effectively a combination of two ideas the brand has been playing with over the last few years, the S3 Mk II (the GPHG finalist from last year featuring a completely openworked dial, focusing on the brand’s finishing capabilities), and the deadbeat seconds complication, as seen in the S2 Deadbeat. The new watch, then, features a deadbeat complication but is given an aesthetic treatment similar to the S3 Mk II, w...
Time+Tide
Being the cradle of watchmaking, France is bound to have some good watchmakers - and it does.The post 19 of the best French watch brands keeping the historic craft alive appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
Oris is staying true to its mission, delivering quality Swiss-made watches at the best possible price, and calls on the rest of the industry to follow its lead.
Time+Tide
The Swiss brand continues its value-packed releases with a complicated take.The post Raymond Weil’s Freelancer Complete Calendar brings complications to the masses appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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SJX Watches
Bulgari made its debut at Watches & Wonders this year, having previously exhibited outside the fair. It was a fitting occasion to launch the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon, the thinnest tourbillon watch ever at just 1.85 mm thick. Housed in the brand’s signature matte grey titanium case and limited to just 20 pieces, the Ultra Tourbillon is paired with an equally thin and silky titanium bracelet. Bulgari is deeply invested in its leadership in ultra-thin watchmaking, and the Ultra Tourbillon shows the brand is willing to do whatever it takes to own as many records in this field as possible. Initial thoughts Despite its record-breaking slimness, there was surprisingly little buzz about the Ultra at Watches & Wonders. This may be due to record fatigue, since the previous record was set just last year by the Piaget AUC Tourbillon. It could also be due to the diminishing returns of these types of records, which are now being broken by almost imperceptible margins. On its exterior, the Ultra Tourbillon is quite similar the 1.7 mm-thick Octo Finissimo Ultra introduced last year. It features a 40 mm case made from a combination of titanium and tungsten carbide, and is impressively open-worked, revealing just about every wheel and pinion on the dial side of the watch. But this watch is all about the headline figure of its 1.85 mm thickness, which endows the Ultra Tourbillon with a delicate, almost weightless feel. The case in profile. Image – Bulgari Like all ultra-thin recor...
Teddy Baldassarre
There have always been thin watches, and always watchmakers who have dedicated their craft to reduce the essentials of timekeeping, as well as other additional complications, into as slimmed down and wearable a package as humanly (and horologically) possible. Lately, however, as 21st century technological developments impact watchmaking as they have every other industry, it seems there are more exceptionally thin watches than ever before -some of them aimed at a customer simply seeking an elegantly understated and luxuriously lightweight timepiece for regular wear, others almost defiantly unobtainable to all but a few, but intended to boldly shatter records for both thinness and complexity. We offer some of both types in our roundup of ultra-thin watches below (which we're defining as 10mm thick or under, based on average watch sizes), in ascending order of case thickness, starting from the top with the current category record holders. Under 2mm Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari (1.75mm) In the world of high horology, Richard Mille has been pushing the envelope in the areas of materials, technologies, and (let’s face it) prices for quite some time. In 2022, the brand probably best known for making the watch that tennis champ Rafael Nadal wears to play in Grand Slams entered a new partnership with Ferrari, and the result was, to many watch enthusiasts’ surprise, the current record-holder for world’s thinnest watch. The RM UP-01 Ferrari is an almost unimaginable 1.7...
Monochrome
This year, one of the most important names in the watch industry is celebrating its 250th anniversary. I’m of course talking about Breguet, the brand created by the all-important Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1775, Quai de l’Horloge in Paris (even though he was Swiss, A.L. Breguet worked most of his life in Paris except during the […]
Monochrome
The Seiko Presage Style60s collection has become a classic for the Japanese watchmaker. Inspired by the Crown Chronograph of 1964, even though we’re talking about time-and-date or GMT models in general, this collection brings vintage flair and casual style at reasonable prices. Recently, Seiko released a pair of new models – SRPL07 and SRPL09 – […]
Deployant
Tissot releases 4 new additions to their PR100 collection and a new addition to the T-Touch collection, inspired by the Swiss Alps and the peak of Jungfrau.
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Fratello
Christopher Ward’s latest flagship pushes the envelope of design and mechanics. Put simply, this is a big deal for the brand and the industry as a whole. The C12 Loco proves that higher-end watchmaking can be found at a more accessible price point. I spent a week with the new C12 Loco in its striking […] Visit Hands-On: The New Christopher Ward C12 Loco Shows White-Hot Ambition to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Longines Legend Diver, introduced in the mid-aughts but tracing its origins all the way back to the embryonic era of modern dive watches in the 1950s and ‘60s, is the epitome of retro-vintage cool for many lovers of sport watches. Here’s how the watch, and its hallmark and still-rare Super Compressor case design, found a successful niche, and an avid audience, in the 21st century. 1959: The Inspiration As with many now-common watchmaking innovations, Longines was one of the pioneers in waterproofing timepieces, making its first water-resistant case as early as 1937, and introducing its first wristwatches purpose-built for recreational diving in the late 1950s. Unlike many of its predecessors and contemporaries in that fertile era of iconic dive watches - like the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Rolex Submariner (both 1953), and Omega Seamaster Professional (1957) - Longines’s Super Compressor Diver Ref. 7042, launched in 1959 and the most direct ancestor of today’s Legend Diver - did not employ the now-ubiquitous, external, unidirectional rotating bezel for its dive scale. Instead, the watch was designed in the so-called compressor style, also used by brands like Jaeger-LeCoultre, Enicar, and Universal Genève, whose case design included an inner dive-scale ring, positioned on the dial’s flange and mounted under the crystal, which rotated in both directions, operated by an additional crown at 4 o’clock. The “Super” in Longines’ “Super Compressor”...
Monochrome
The intricate world of watchmaking has just gotten a bit more intricate, complex and bewildering. Through several truly technical new watches, we learned there’s still new ground to break, new records to be achieved, and new complications to be introduced. With the aim of helping to digest everything we saw during Watches & Wonders and […]
Hodinkee
The French style of watchmaking is having a resurgence, and young names like Cools are leading the charge.
Worn & Wound
The latest from Ming, the 37.02 Ghost, is something of a study in titanium, a favorite material here at Worn & Wound. Members of our team have been fans of titanium for years for its light weight and its frequent association with many of the tool watches we’ve come to love. Titanium was a rarely used material in watchmaking not that long ago, but it’s so prevalent now that it’s easy to forget that at one time it was considered quite exotic. The Ghost taps into some of that exoticism, and reminds us just how strange and, at least in some ways, how ill suited titanium can be to watchmaking – a fact that makes a watch like this all the more impressive. The 37.02 Ghost is made entirely from grade 2 titanium, a material often referred to as “pure” titanium. This material is distinct from grade 5 titanium, which is much more common in modern watchmaking, in a number of ways. Grade 5 titanium is made up of significant quantities of aluminum and was developed to be relatively easy to machine for applications in aerospace and other industries. Those qualities also, eventually, made it well suited to watchmaking, and it’s really a special bonus that grade 5 titanium can be finished with a polish and has an overall brighter appearance than other titanium allows. Grade 2 titanium is an entirely different animal. Ming notes that pure titanium is extremely difficult to cut, and there’s even a significant risk that grade 2 titanium shavings and dust can catch fire dur...
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Worn & Wound
My favorite version of the H. Moser brand is the one that acts as a gentle troll in the watch community, and puts their idiosyncratic sense of humor on full display. Not every brand can get away with a watch made of cheese, or a watch seemingly made from the disparate parts of so many Swiss Icons. To be fair, some would say that even Moser can’t get away with it – their most provocative watches are their most divisive, and the haters have a loud voice on the internet. And while I have no desire to strap a block of Swiss cheese to my wrist, I enjoy the fact that a high end indie brand is willing to infuse some watch industry commentary into the watches themselves. Moser’s latest piece, the Pioneer Center Seconds Sunny-Side Up, is not likely to be as controversial as some of the brand’s other releases, but it’s hard not to see them edging into satire. The cost of eggs, of course, has been on everyone’s mind. And the cost of watches, while not as universal a concern, has also been much discussed. So a watch from H. Moser that evokes an egg seems like a release meant to start a conversation. For the record, the retail price of the Sunny-Side Up is $15,900. The retail price of the first Moser Pioneer with a 40mm case introduced in 2023 was $14,200 at launch. A roughly 12% increase in price over a two year period is honestly not the craziest rate in the luxury watch industry. Egg prices? Between March 2023 and March 2025, the cost of a dozen eggs rose around 120% a...
Monochrome
Founded in 2016 in the Swiss Jura by Sébastien Muller, a fourth-generation watchmaker, Brellum is an independent brand known for its direct-to-consumer model and limited annual production of no more than 299 COSC-certified chronometers. The brand debuted with the Duobox collection, recognised for its classic design, accessible pricing, and limited editions, including models featuring a […]
Hodinkee
In the first installment of our three-part series in partnership with Audemars Piguet, we explore the brand's history of complicated watchmaking.
Hodinkee
In part three of this series, we look at the advanced manufacturing and testing processes that go hand in hand with old-school watchmaking at Panerai.
Hodinkee
From time-only stunners to artistic novelties, the Japanese brand never fails to impress.
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