31,713 articles · 2,160 videos found · page 979 of 1130
Quill & Pad
Martin Green feels that the Parmigiani Toric was, and is, perfectly proportioned, with just the right dash of eccentricity incorporated into its design. But does adding complications change that? And does all of that still deserve the title of Parmigiani's best-looking line?
Revolution
Revolution editors and writers pick the most outstanding timepieces of 2019, celebrating the best in a competitive field of many greats.
Hodinkee
The team at London's A Collected Man just sold a genuine piece of horological history.
SJX Watches
News last weekend that Switzerland’s competition regulator, COMCO, also widely known by its German acronym Weko, was weighing a ban on ETA movement sales to third-party brands caused a major stir in the watch industry – and a terse, lengthy response from Swatch Group, ETA’s parent and Switzerland’s biggest watchmaking conglomerate. The move was ostensibly to allow alternatives to ETA – once Switzerland’s dominant supplier of mechanical movements – to develop. According to the Swatch Group, the ban was entirely without merit, especially given the fact that ETA was no longer the biggest supplier of movements to the industry. That title now belongs to Sellita, which supplied a million movements in 2019, compared to half the number for ETA. Now COMCO has formalised the year-long ban in an announcement that puts in place a “temporary suspension of the supply of [ETA] mechanical movements to customers”. The ban will be in force until COMCO makes its final decision by the summer of 2020. The ban, however, allows ETA to sell its movements to existing clients that are small- and medium-sized watch brands, defined as having less than 250 employees, which will probably be of little consolation to ETA. According to a Swatch Group spokesman quoted by Reuters, the majority of ETA’s movement sales are to companies with more than 250 employees, and as a result, ETA foresees it won’t be able to sell any movements next year. According to the statement, the ban is foun...
WatchAdvice
The fifth rendition of the Zenith Defy El Primero 21 sees the brand giving the model a complete carbon look. After the black ceramic and rose gold versions were released in 2018 along with the titanium and black ceramic in 2017, Zenith introduced the Defy El Primero 21 Carbon edition during this year’s Baselworld. The Defy collection is leading Zenith into the future with the brand’s innovative watchmaking being utilized in their latest models. We had a chance to review the Inventor and Classic models from the Defy collection, which were surely eye-catching pieces, to say the least. (You can find the reviews to Inventor and Defy Classic here ). Make no mistake, however; the Defy El Primero 21 Carbon is just as pleasing to look at, even if everything seems as if it’s trying to blend in with its camo-style appearance. The beauty of using carbon fibre is that due to the nature of the material and how the alternating layers of carbon fibres are always randomly arranged, each individual piece will be unique. As carbon fibre is used for the faceted case, round bezel, crown, chronograph pushers and buckle head, each of these pieces will vary in aesthetic appearance from one watch to another. This makes the watch that you buy a truly unique piece. The carbon fibre case and the round bezel is what gets your attention first in this piece. As said earlier, the way the carbon fibre is patterned gives off a subtle camouflage appearance. After wearing the Defy El Primer...
Hodinkee
A watch to capture the insouciant coolness of Italy’s golden era of motorsport.
SJX Watches
In keeping with the lengthening guarantee periods throughout the watch industry – eight years at Cartier and most other Richemont brands, and five years at Rolex and Omega – Tudor has just announced the guarantee period for all its watches is now five years, for all watches sold from January 1, 2020 onwards. But owners of recently purchased Tudor watches will also get a warranty enhancement: all watches sold from July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 get an 18-month warranty extension, in addition to the existing two-years, for a total of three and a half years, or 42 months. Watches sold before July 1, 2018 retain the unchanged, two-year warranty. The Tudor Black Bay Chrono Dark Tudor’s warranty extension further enhances the value inherent in its remarkably well-made and well-priced watches, which are amongst the best value propositions on the market today. The warranty extension is unsurprising, not only because of the competition, but also because Tudor watches – particularly those powered by its in-house movements – are extensively tested and notably reliable.
Revolution
Revolution editors and writers pick the most outstanding timepieces of 2019, celebrating the best in a competitive field of many greats.
Revolution
Hamilton creates a big, beefy military watch that celebrates another slice of American history.
Time+Tide
Ever since its shock unveiling at Baselworld 2017, Rado’s exciting range of Captain Cooks has represented a compelling proposition for anyone who’s in the market for a solid, fit-for-purpose dive watch on a budget. However, most of the collection is on the larger size, measuring in at a fashionable and contemporary 42mm. Fans fond of … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: Size isn’t everything with the Rado Captain Cook Automatic appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Panerai has gently eased itself towards a focus on more civilian sports watches, as opposed to retro-navy diver instrument remakes, since chief executive Jean-Marc Pontroué took the helm in 2018. So its most recent releases this year include the extra-thin Luminor Due in titanium, along with commemorative editions for the America’s Cup yacht race. But Panerai is still keeping one eye on its Marina Militare heritage, exemplified by the pair of Radiomir watches unveiled last month, the most interesting of which is the Radiomir 8 Days 45mm (PAM00992). It has a vintage-esque style – not really a one for one remake – combined with an in-house, eight-day movement and a relatively accessible price of US$8,500. Most unusually, the steel case has a faux aged finish that Panerai is trying for the first time. Marina Militare The new Radiomir is not a remake of a vintage Panerai, but rather it’s a mix-and-match of various elements, including the engraved logo and “8 Giorni” emblem at three. Traditionalists might find it impure, but that was essentially the founding formula for the modern Panerai company. The result is a good-looking watch that approximates the look of a vintage Panerai while offering modern conveniences like a long power reserve. Even though it’s a large watch – the case is 45mm – it’s smallish by Panerai standards, since the military-style Panerai watches are usually 47mm. But it is big enough to look like a Panerai, and it wears well for a 45mm...
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.
Revolution
Revolution editors and writers pick the most outstanding timepieces of 2019, celebrating the best in a competitive field of many greats.
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
A premier watch auction is an inspiring event. Last week, I joined the bidders at Phillips auction house on Park Avenue in New York. As we progressed through the 74 lots on offer, I was struck by the truly global nature of the vintage watch market. The auctioneer and impresario Aurel Bacs flawlessly switched between … ContinuedThe post In the room for the Phillips Game Changers Auction appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
As part of Deployant tradition, our writer Frank tells us what his horological Christmas wishlist looks like - this time with defined budget tiers.
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.
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...
Deployant
In the second installment of Dear Santa, Robin shares with us some of the watches that he had chosen for his Christmas wishlist.
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.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
After months of buildup, the not-so-secret Alpinist refresh is finally underway.
Deployant
We begin our holidays special with 3 watch selections from each of our writers. This time the watches are categorised by price, with three tiers of prices under 1) SGD10,000, 2) SGD25,000; and 3) Limitless.
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.
Hodinkee
A trio of new pieces featuring a true RL icon.
Hodinkee
Your weekly round-up of vintage watches from around the web.
SJX Watches
An educator by profession, Josh Shapiro had a longtime interest in watchmaking, which sharpened into a pursuit of traditional engine turning in 2013. After several years of practice – and a roomful of guilloche machines – the self-taught guillocheur and watchmaker produced a handful of dials for American watchmaker David Walter in 2016. And last year Josh launched his own brand, J.N. Shapiro, which he now pursues full-time, while remaining a part-time vice principal at a high school in Los Angeles. His debut watch was the Infinity Series, named after the Infinity Weave, a proprietary guilloche pattern he invented. The first J.N. Shapiro Infinity Series delivered, the watch pictured here, was finished earlier this year – and is numbered “N.01”. Though Josh offers a variety of options for the case and dial colours, this watch hews closely to the prototype, with a rose gold case, silver dial, and blue hands. It’s important to note this is actually the first watch Josh sold, and consequently shows some of the inevitable inconsistencies of a watchmaker’s early work. There are a couple of stray marks and burrs on the dial, and a bit of lint, but the early work of independent watchmakers is usually inconsistent, which is part of the hand-finished charm, and also proof of how artisans evolve. Josh’s subsequent dials have improved tremendously. Josh Shapiro with one of his straight-line machines. Photo – J.N. Shapiro The Infinity Series has a simple but effect...
Revolution
Breitling announces the Navitimer Automatic 41 Southeast Asia Boutique Limited Edition to mark six years of dedicated boutique presence in Southeast Asia.
Question, suggestion, or just want to say hi? Drop a note.