Revolution
How Zenith Made Some Of Their Best Watches In 2020
In an unprecedented year, Zenith has given us some of their best watches yet, deeply rooted in heritage but forward looking. How did the brand mange this?
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Revolution
In an unprecedented year, Zenith has given us some of their best watches yet, deeply rooted in heritage but forward looking. How did the brand mange this?
Time+Tide
Well, with the sense of a big black limousine passing through the neighbourhood in the middle of the night, there goes 2021 watch fairs. It’s November 2020, and the two biggest fairs of the coming year are already cancelled. So, as watch lovers, we face yet another year of digital attempts to re-create the magic, the … Continued
Time+Tide
It is no secret that quartz has its haters. It was only last week that we were in conversation with Roger Smith, who reminded us that George Daniels himself used to pooh pooh quartz, saying “why would you buy something that did kamikaze every three years?” But others, equally informed within the community, will attest … ContinuedThe post 6 impressive quartz watches released in 2020, including Grand Seiko, Breitling and Bulova appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The news out of Geneva overnight is that Watches & Wonders 2021 (formerly SIHH) is cancelled, unsurprisingly citing the “current health crisis and uncertainties as to how the situation may evolve”. To be honest, it feels like only last week that we were reporting on the cancellation of Watches & Wonders 2020, with … ContinuedThe post Watches & Wonders 2021 is cancelled, so here are our affordable favourites from last year (sob) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
The former SIHH exhibition will be digital-only next April.
SJX Watches
Originally scheduled for the first week of April next year, Watches & Wonders 2021 was to have taken place at Palexpo, the convention hall near Geneva’s airport that’s long been host to Geneva’s major trade fairs. And it would have been a massive event, with up to 50 brands taking part. With the demise of Baselworld earlier this year, Watches & Wonders (W&W;) was on track to become the most important watch fair in Switzerland. Formerly known as SIHH, Watches & Wonders would have counted most of the industry’s leading brands as exhibitors. Its participants would have included all of the brands owned by Swiss luxury group Richemont, including Cartier, A. Lange & Söhne, and IWC, industry giants Rolex and Patek Philippe, as well as privately-held brands like Chanel and Chopard. A scene from SIHH 2019, seeming like a lifetime ago But due to the ongoing pandemic, the physical fair will not take place, and the participating brands will (mostly) launch their new wares online. A significant number of new watches will be unveiled during the planned dates of the fair – April 7 to 13, 2021 – but most of the brands will no doubt be unveiling additional watches throughout the year, as they have done in 2020. The organisers of W&W; are optimistic about the year after, promising the “2022 edition will be the biggest watch event ever held in Geneva”, with even more brands coming on board. For more, visit Watchesandwonders.com.
Time+Tide
In a chaotic and unprecedented year, we find balance in 2020 with Mr. Macro @horomariobro and his MB&F; Legacy Machine 101.The post Finding balance in 2020 with Mr Macro @horomariobro appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Having just taken place in Geneva and broadcast live, the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) ceremony anointed most of the year’s best watches. Whittled down from a large selection to candidates that were evaluated by an all-Swiss jury instead of the usual cosmopolitan mix due to travel restrictions, eighteen watches (and one watchmaker) received prizes. A handful of them are worth a look as worthy winners – albeit winning by default in some of the less competitive categories – as well as a notable watch that did not win but should have. Awarded to the best watch of the contest, the Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix, went to the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept. The thinnest mechanical watch on the market, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC) is the culmination of all the progress in ultra-thin watchmaking over the last several decades. At an unreal 2 mm high, the AUC pushes engineering to the cutting edge, albeit at an extremely high price. While there were other watches in the competition that could reasonably be candidates for the Aiguille d’Or, the AUC has earned it. The Piaget AUC Complications and revelations Another prestigious award is the Horological Revelation Prize, which is awarded at the discretion of the jury to watch made by a nascent brand. It went to the Petermann Bédat 1967, unquestionably one of the highlights of independent watchmaking this year. Well deserving of the prize, the 1967 is simply marvellous (we explain why here). Thoug...
Time+Tide
As with any awards show, there can be a discrepancy between which watches fans think should have won and the watches that actually win. And it has to be said that the divide between popular and GPHG opinion is something of a canyon these days, with mega-brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe curiously not making … ContinuedThe post “I spat out my drink” – Zach’s honest reactions to 3 GPHG 2020 winners that make no sense appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
The 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm Central European Time on Thursday the 12th of November. Follow the big night on Quill & Pad and let us know your thoughts on the winners (and losers) in the comments.
SJX Watches
Taking place this weekend as a live auction with only cameras, telephones, and online bidding, Retrospective: 2000 – 2020 is a thematic sale that happens the day after Phillips’ Geneva watch auction. The second sale curated with Blackbird, both the publisher of a watch magazine as well as the agent for Ferrari in Hong Kong, Retrospective: 2000 – 2020 is self explanatory: contemporary wristwatches produced in the past 20 years. The 95 lots that make up the sale are a selection of the important, interesting, and intriguing from the last two decades, including obvious candidates like the Rolex Daytona and Patek Philippe ref. 5970. And the sale also includes notable watches that usually go under the radar, like the Breguet Classique Chronometrie 7727 with magnetic balance pivots (which is possibly the most accurate Swiss-made mechanical watch of the 21st century). The Breguet Classique Chronometrie 7727 (lot 258) Importantly, the line up also encompasses a diverse selection of independent watchmaking, reflecting the rise of these niche watchmakers. Here’s a roundup of highlights from independent watchmakers, which include the Philippe Dufour Simplicity 20th Anniversary and the ultra-rare Opus Eleven. The selection includes the worthy Seiko Credor Eichi II and Lange 1 25th Anniversary. Neither comes from an independent watchmaker, but both are as close as it gets for establishment brands. Lot 206 – Philippe Dufour Simplicity 20th Anniversary No. 00/20 Philippe Dufour...
Revolution
On our last issue of every year, it has become tradition for us to celebrate by sorting through the wide array of watches launched over the course of the year and bestowing awards among the best of the best.
SJX Watches
Having taken place in Dubai and London since 2015, Dubai Watch Week (DWW) is now going online. Organised by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, the largest watch retailer in the Middle East, DWW was traditionally a watch fair catered to consumers and collectors that was a platform for education as well as new product launches. Despite the pandemic, DWW is going ahead as much as is reasonably feasible. “Our objective of uniting the watch community and providing an educational platform is at the forefront of what we hope to achieve via this experience,” explains Hind Seddiqi, Director General of Dubai Watch Week. A scene from an earlier DWW that took place in the Dubai International Financial Centre This year the event takes the form of four panel discussions that will be broadcast live online. The panels will cover familiar topics like the grey market for luxury watches, but also the more intriguing: the October 26 session is about “conspiracy and authenticity and whether the heart of the luxury industry beats in an organic market or is wound-up and coerced into ticking by specific entities”. Representing the breadth of the watch industry, the panellists ranging from auctioneers to entrepreneurs to watchmakers. Amongst the participants are Edouard Meylan of H. Moser & Cie., Stephen Forsey of Greubel Forsey, Aline Sylla-Walbaum, Christie’s Luxury department head, as well as Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer of Seddiqi Holding Christophe Nicaise. And it also ...
Time+Tide
If you’ve got $1mUSD to build a watch collection in 2020, you’re used to the finer things in life. But what would you do if you could only select watches that were released this year? This is the question that has been put to the T+T Team, and in this article the team will show … ContinuedThe post 2020 FANTASY WATCH COLLECTION PART 3 – What would we buy with a budget of $1MUSD? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Like we said in the previous instalment, 2020 has been so bad that fantasy is often all we’ve had left. Fantasies of leaving our houses are still being had daily in Melbourne, and fantasies of new watches and sunny days are not far behind. So, to try to make something good of the bad, we’ve … ContinuedThe post 2020 FANTASY WATCH COLLECTION PART 2 – What watches would we buy with a budget of $10,000 USD? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
I can’t remember the last time we conducted a Fantasy Watch Collection poll at Time+Tide. But I’ve noticed something in 2020 amongst the team. With the majority of us locked down in Melbourne, Zoom meetings frequently degenerate into wistful commentaries on what we’re going to buy next. What’s where on the wish list. Fantasies aplenty. … ContinuedThe post 2020 FANTASY WATCH COLLECTION PART 1 – What watches would we buy with a budget of $5000 USD? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Last year, a national get-together for watch lovers was launched by a well known Sydney-based collector, Paxton Wong. He called it ‘WatchFest’. And, despite every possible obstacle, the show will go on again in COVID-stricken 2020. Because, well, community. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? There’s no doubt that both the international and Australian … ContinuedThe post WatchFest Australia 2020 is going ahead against all odds, because community matters more than ever appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Having scheduled for Geneva in April and then cancelled, Watches & Wonders (W&W;) then went online, and in a last minute decision, an actual fair in Shanghai’s West Bund Art Center. The surging demand for luxury watches in China as it emerges from the pandemic meant the inevitable success of W&W; Shanghai – which our correspondent outlined earlier this week – which is why the fair is happening again in China, this time in the resort city of Sanya. Opening barely a month after the close of the Shanghai event, W&W; Sanya takes place from September 29 to October 31 in the massive CDF Mall – a full month inside the world’s largest duty-free shopping centre. Importantly, W&W; Sanya is catered to the retail consumer instead of the traditional fair audience of watch retailers and journalists. Shopping paradise A city on the southernmost tip of Hainan island, which is known for its tropical weather and beaches, Sanya is the rapidly-growing capital of duty-free shopping in China. The Chinese government has announced plans to develop duty-free shopping on Hainan, which is already has already enjoyed a massive uptick. From the start of July to mid-August 2020, the CDF Mall recorded sales of over RMB5 billion, or over US$730 million, from over 740,000 customers. Open to the public daily, W&W; Sanya was conceived to cater to this demand. Eleven brands are taking part in the event in the CDF Mall, which, at 750,000 square feet or 72,000 square metres, is the world’s largest duty...
Time+Tide
As the inaugural peak of Haute Horlogerie appreciation is upon us, a renewed GPHG convenes. This time with an expanded panel of judges, a semi-online voting process, and, refreshingly, with a truly broad range of nominees. There is a sense that perhaps disruption is the plat du jour. So, let the GPHG roll on with … ContinuedThe post GPHG 2020 – 5 disruptive nominees that should be winners in a chaotic and disrupted year appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
Some of our favorite offerings right in the sweet spot.
Quill & Pad
Jaeger-LeCoultre's brand-new Memovox models launched in 2020 are delectable new renditions of the 70-year-old alarm timepiece that have more to offer than "just" looks. Aside from the Master Control Memovox Timer's variety of tone-in-tone blue hues and textures and the Master Control Memovox's purist style, there are big changes to the movement that alone make these new models worth looking at.
Quill & Pad
Martin Green reports on five green-themed watches he saw during the loose Geneva Watch Days fair, timepieces that made such impressions that they have stuck with him this past week.
Quill & Pad
In the aftermath of Geneva Watch Days, Elizabeth Doerr discovered some fun wristshots taken during the fair. As these mark a journey of sorts through the new watches – as well as models released throughout 2020 that our team hadn’t seen in real yet – she thought to share a few of them here.
Revolution
Martin Frei, URWERK chief designer and co-founder walks us through all of the brand’s novelties in the year 2020.
Time+Tide
Glashütte Original has had a year that few, if anyone, could have ever predicted. They have gone from eye-catching but niche Sixties Editions in lurid colours in 2019 and 2018 to what was declared by many that watched our video earlier in the year to be the best watch released at Virtual Basel – the … ContinuedThe post Glashütte Original are having a breakout 2020, this video celebrates our favourite models appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Unfortunately, the devastation wrought by the pandemic has impacted sales of champagne more viciously than almost any other style of drink, but the quality of Ayala has never been better. Ken Gargett thinks that if you have neglected Ayala in the past, it is definitely time for a rethink. Or re-drink.
Quill & Pad
Here are three intriguing tourbillons by Laurent Ferrier, Vacheron Constantin, and Piaget from the digital Watches & Wonders 2020 fair that particularly caught Martin Green's critical eye.
SJX Watches
Twenty-twenty will remain as a most peculiar year for the world as well as for trade fairs. Having taken place August 26-29,Geneva Watch Days (GWD) might be the only physical show the watch industry will see this year, at least in Europe. How did it fare? Was it a success for the brands, media, and public? Here is an overview of the atmosphere. After the demise of Baselworld and the rescheduling of Watches & Wonders to Shanghai (will it really happen?), GWD was a ray of light in the dark times the watch community was experiencing. First mooted by Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive of Bulgari, and a few other watch brands, GWD quickly grew as many brands hopped on the bandwagon, hoping to salvage what already looked like an annus horribilis. “Phygital” is the new normal More than 20 brands were showing during the four days of GWD, which was a series of exhibitions and events at venues across Geneva, rather than being concentrated in a large hall as the traditional fairs are. Most brands were part of GWD itself – Artya, Breitling, Bulgari, Bovet, De Bethune, Czapek, Ferdinand Berthoud, H.Moser & Cie., Gerald Genta, Girard-Perregaux, MB&F;, Maurice Lacroix, Louis Moinet, Ulysse Nardin, and Urwerk. But the official GWD exhibitors were accompanied by an array of independent brands more than happy to share a common audience. Carl F. Bucherer tagged along by presenting its novelties at the Bucherer store in Geneva, while Le Salon des Horlogers, a small, cosy store i...
Quill & Pad
The latest updates to the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantième focus on new aesthetic combinations mixed with a reduction in case size from 43 to 41 mm. Joshua Muchow likes them all, but has fallen hard for the Titanium Grey variation and explains why here.
Quill & Pad
Whether Geneva Watch Days takes place or not, and whether it’s deemed successful or not because of all the travel and quarantine restrictions, doesn’t change the fact that there was a good chance that it could have run very successfully. Which means Ian Skellern was wrong in calling Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin delusional for organizing it. And for that he apologizes.
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