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Since its launch, British independent brand Studio Underd0g has built a strong following with colourful, playful interpretations of familiar watchmaking formats and through collaborations with brands like H. Moser & Cie for the Passion Fruit, or the more accessible Gimlet with Fears. After the brand’s inaugural 01SERIES chronographs, released in multiple versions powered by a […]
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Hajime Asaoka, the celebrated Japanese master watchmaker, is renowned for his bespoke, high-end handmade watches. Aware that his pieces are beyond the reach of most mortals, Asaoka created Kurono Tokyo, a small independent brand that offers more accessible watches with Seiko or Miyota movements, imbued with a strong Japanese spirit. However, Kurono’s success means its […]
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With its motto of never producing quartz watches, its manufacturing capabilities and its rich heritage in dive watches, Blancpain is often spontaneously associated with technical, masculine watchmaking. But this overlooks an important chapter in the brand’s history. In the middle of the 20th century, its development was driven by Betty Fiechter, a remarkable figure at […]
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Founded in 2010 by industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, indie brand Ressence stands out from the crowd with its original and contemporary way of displaying time. Like planets orbiting the Sun, time circles around the dial thanks to the brand’s patented Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS). For the brand’s latest Art Watch, Ressence has teamed up […]
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Some watches have shaped the perception we have of a brand in a striking way. At Grand Seiko, if we look at more recent times, the Spring Drive Snowflake SBGA211 is one of these watches. Some, however, did this in a far more discreet way, but nevertheless helped write the story. You can think of […]
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With the Projekt 01 Variant H, Kollokium puts an end to its first chapter, the watch that marked the independent platform’s debut. Since its introduction in 2023, the Projekt 01 has been offered in several iterations, with different materials and colours. Variant H returns to the black-dial aesthetic of the earliest editions, with the more […]
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Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog is one of those works that has become part of popular culture, taking the form of a balloon animal and turning something quite temporary and playful into a permanent, almost monumental object. Hublot‘s new collaboration transforms the normally sleek Classic Fusion into a watch that, like the balloon dog, looks inflated: […]
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It looks like Charlie Paris has been updating its catalogue one collection at a time. It was only recently that it refreshed the Alliance line-up with new sapphire-dial models, and now the French brand takes up the Concordia. This collection in the past has delivered the blacked-out Concordia Automatic Kraken, as well as the original Concordia […]
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While Glashütte Original‘s Seventies collection has become associated with its bold, square-shaped chronographs, the German manufacture also once offered Seventies Panaroma Date models without the chronograph function. Revisiting the decade with a substantially reworked watch, the brand returns to that time-and-date simplicity and presents the new 70s collection of integrated sports watches, alongside the existing […]
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Independent watchmaking has attracted designers from outside traditional horology before. Still, few have arrived with such a clearly defined architectural vision as Neode (from neod, an Old English word meaning desire and earnest endeavour). Architect Marius-Daniel Dumitrascu founded Neode, stepping away from architecture to devote himself entirely to developing the timepieces. Driven by a desire […]
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It is not often that Rolex introduces a new watch outside of the industry’s main exhibition, Watches and Wonders (or Baselworld before it). In fact, in recent years, it has only happened on very rare occasions, such as the release of the Daytona Le Mans, the record-breaking Deepsea Challenge in titanium or the Deepsea D-Blue […]
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A true child of its time, Chopard’s 1976 Happy Diamonds watch captured the spirit of the decade, a period marked by rebellion against rigid traditions, the rise of disco culture and a shift towards ready-to-wear luxury. Breaking away from traditional static diamond settings, Chopard’s Happy Diamonds were liberated from metal claws and allowed to spin […]
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MeisterSinger has built most of its catalogue around unhurried, single-hand time-reading. The brand’s latest special edition enters a faster lane, where key indications like the car’s speed are shown with just one hand on traditional displays. Route 66, officially opened in 1926, celebrates its centenary, and MeisterSinger marks the occasion with a limited edition inspired […]
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Birthdays are to be celebrated, so it’s no surprise IWC Schaffhausen honours the 50th anniversary of one of its most pivotal watches, the Ingenieur SL. Introduced in 1976 and penned by Gérald Genta, the Ingenieur SL was one of the early adopters of the integrated sports watch ethos. Lasting until the late 1990s, the Ingenieur […]
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Founded by Toni Brodführer, DUG Glashütte focuses on producing watches in accordance with the requirements of the Glashütte designation of origin, and the inaugural Purist was conceived as a straightforward proposition built around the traditions of Saxon watchmaking. The brand is now expanding the collection with a smaller case. The new Purist 37 retains the […]
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Since its launch in 2022, the Citizen Tsuyosa (a Japanese word for strength) has been a strong success for the brand and is now a leading option in the value proposition segment. Originally released in 40mm steel cases with a 3-link steel bracelet and a rough-looking entry-level movement, Citizen has vastly expanded the collection over the years […]
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Founded by brothers Alberto and Alessandro Morelli in 2017, Venezianico is a Venice-based brand, originally known as Meccaniche Veneziane. In recent years, it has increasingly focused on bringing more of its watch production and craftsmanship to Italy. The new Redentore Levius is one good example of the effort, combining a lightweight titanium case with a hand-engraved […]
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While it may be the smallest, slimmest and ultimately most wearable timepiece to hail from MB&F;, the Special Project One carries its three-dimensional genetic heritage with pride. Launched last year, the SP One belongs to MB&F;’s Special Projects line, a repository of dormant projects sketched over the years that might or might not see the […]
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Astronomy is part of Louis Moinet‘s history, who created the “compteur de tierces” chronograph specifically for celestial observations. The brand bearing his name has kept the connection alive through its multiple space-themed creations, such as the Super Moon and Mars Mission, the Space One Chronograph, the more recent Starman, and now, with the Moon Meteor, […]
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Fresh off the avalanche of releases during Geneva Watch Days, we’re revisiting a Buying Guide topic from earlier this year. Sparked by watches like the De Bethune DB25 Digitale, one of this year’s absolute best of the fair, and the refreshingly cool M.A.D.3, we take another look at Jumping Hour watches. From brands high and […]
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In many cases, particularly with in-house calibres, movements are the star of the show. Finishing, complexity and technology like silicon components and new escapement designs easily steal the limelight through exhibition case backs, but dials remain the centrepiece and what you see most of the time. Even in the mid-range segment where calibres are off-the-shelf […]
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It seems like we can’t go a week or two without a new power-hungry car manufacturer launching something bonkers. This time around, it’s the madmen of Mercedes-AMG who have surprisingly taken the covers off a new super-sports-coupe. Based on the CLE platform, the CLE 646 Specialanfertigung (German for Bespoke, or Custom-Made) promises boatloads of power […]
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The Berneron Mirage is described as letting the movement dictate the watch’s shape. Take it or leave it, but its asymmetric, liquid-like, constantly flowing design truly captivates. Created by Sylvain Berneron, an automotive designer who later created his independent watch brand, this watch has been around since 2023, yet it still looks fresh and original. […]
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Delma’s Midland collection is the brand’s sporty-chic take on the integrated-bracelet watch, bringing some 1980s flavour to the category. The watches in this collection come in two sizes, 40mm and 34mm, with the automatic 40mm versions sitting at an accessible price point of around EUR 1,400. We have already seen the Midland in multiple colours, […]
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Indie brand ArtyA, founded by Yvan Arpa, is known for its expressive designs and technically ambitious watches, often combining traditional craftsmanship with an unmistakably contemporary attitude. Earlier this year, the brand presented the Complexity, a spectacular mechanical piece with a world-first architecture of two inclined tourbillons at 12 and 6 o’clock, connected by a differential. […]
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Cyma’s history begins in the 1860s, with the establishment of the Tavannes Watch company in the Swiss Jura, laying the foundation for a manufacture that would become an important name in Swiss watchmaking, even though the Cyma name was only registered in 1903. By the 1920s, the company had grown into one of Europe’s major […]
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In 2026, Panerai celebrates 100 years of its boutique in Piazza San Giovanni, Florence. Originally opened in 1926 as “Orologeria Svizzera”, the boutique became an important part of the Panerai family’s history, a place where watches were sold but also assembled and repaired. The preserved location, reopened to the public in 2001 following the renovation, […]
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While Tutima gained popularity thanks to its purposeful pilot watches, aviation-themed chronographs and robust adventure-driven collections, one of the brand’s lineups certainly stands apart from the rest and shouldn’t go unnoticed. A tribute to the German school of watchmaking and the manufacture’s roots, the Patria collection celebrates classic designs and in-house watchmaking, done the Glashütte way. Elegant, […]
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Chronoswiss founder Gerd Lang will forever be remembered as the watchmaker who produced the world’s first serially produced wristwatch with a regulator layout in 1987. Without a shared central axis, the separation of hours, minutes and seconds characteristic of regulators connects directly to the Digiteur of 2005, a digital regulator with jumping hours at noon, […]
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For over two decades, Hublot has embraced the ‘Art of Fusion’, blending unexpected materials like rubber, gold, ceramic, and sapphire into bold visual statements. The latest Big Bang Original Soft Touch pushes the boundaries even further, inviting us to experience how a watch feels. More than just a coating, Hublot has integrated a microscopic, textured […]
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