Teddy Baldassarre · Page 47

T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Grand Seiko Jan 25, 2024

What is the Cheapest Grand Seiko? Five Models You Can Buy for Under $5

Since its high-profile launch to international markets outside its native Japan in 2010, and its subsequent relaunch as an independent watchmaker separate from parent brand Seiko in 2017, Grand Seiko has become a Holy Grail for many an avid watch enthusiast. Now firmly established, for many, as an upper-echelon luxury brand on the level of Rolex and Omega, Grand Seiko has cultivated its own loyal core of fans - including many budding collectors new to the watch game who might be initially intimidated by the cost of some of the manufacture’s most exclusive, high-profile timepieces. Fortunately, the price of admission to Grand Seiko ownership is actually more reasonable than you might have been led to believe, at least at the entry-level. Here are five Grand Seiko watches, representing a range of product families and movement styles, that fall on the more affordable side of the luxury spectrum.  Cheapest Grand Seiko “Snowflake:” STGF359 ($2,300) Among the most coveted models from Grand Seiko are the so-called ‘snowflake” editions, so nicknamed for their white, elegantly textured dials, made of stamped brass with a silver-plated finish, meant to evoke the blankets of fresh snow on the peaks of the Hokata Mountains that surround Seiko’s Shinshu Watch Studio in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture. The first “snowflake” was the legendary and now very collectible SBGA011, and other models have adopted the motif since then, most of them on the higher end of the brand’...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Bulova Jan 23, 2024

Bulova Lunar Pilot Chronograph: The Ultimate Guide

When we think about watches and space travel, Omega’s Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” - the first watch qualified for missions by NASA and the first worn on the moon - is the timepiece that inevitably comes to mind. New York-based Bulova Watch Company, however, also played a noteworthy role during the height of the U.S.A.’s Space Race with the Soviet Union in the 1950s and ‘60s. The company, at the time headed by American war hero General Omar Bradley, established a partnership with NASA in which it provided precision instruments and timekeeping devices equipped with Bulova’s signature Accutron tuning-fork technology for 46 space missions.  Bulova even developed a watch built specifically for space travel, the electronic-powered Accutron Astronaut, which was worn in space for the first time in 1963, inside the Mercury Atlas-9 capsule that orbited the Earth. While the Omega Speedmaster established itself as the watch issued to astronauts of the Apollo program, which culminated in the July 1969 moon landing, Accutron Astronaut watches had become standard issue for the pilots of the U.S. Air Force’s X-15 experimental rocket-powered aircraft program and eventually for CIA pilots in their Lockheed A-12 supersonic jets. A Bulova Accutron clock remains in the moon's Sea of Tranquility to this day, placed there by Apollo 11 astronaut (and famous Omega wearer) Buzz Aldrin in 1969.  In 1971, Bulova personally gifted a one-of-a-kind, customized chronograph wa...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Raymond Weil Jan 19, 2024

Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds Review

Raymond Weil, founded in 1975 by its eponym and now owned and operated by the Bernheim family, is one of only a handful of independently owned Swiss watchmaking companies, alongside historic, prestigious maisons like Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. The Geneva-based company, however, occupies a different niche than those two high-horology powerhouses, having firmly established itself as a purveyor of “affordable luxury”  - producing well-designed watches with wide appeal that nevertheless rarely gain attention in the upper echelons of horological connoisseurship. That all changed in 2023, however, when the sublimely refined design of the brand’s Millesime Small Seconds model took the coveted Challenge award in the year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie Genève (GPHG), the watch world’s equivalent of the Oscars. With its sober but meticulously embellished sector dial and slender case, the watch represents a throwback to a style of understatedly elegant dress watch that few seem to be making anymore. I had a chance to wear one for a couple weeks for a hands-on review. (To get Teddy's video take on the watch on our dedicated Reviews channel, click here.) Case: The round stainless steel case of the Millesime (the term comes from the world of fine wine, and appropriately translates to “vintage”) will settle perfectly into many enthusiasts’ sweet spot, at 39mm in diameter, and its thickness of just under 11mm (10.9mm, to be super-precise) will ensure that it set...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 10, 2024

40 Best Minimalist Watches - A Complete Guide for 2024

The concept of minimalism has become an attractive idea in our modern world of excess.  For many, the term has been elevated to a point where it embodies a lifestyle of drawing bold lines betweeb what is deemed necessary and what is superfluous. Still, the term tends to get thrown around loosely; often,  describing an object or process as "minimalist" seems to indicate an absence of thought put into it. Among the areas where the idea of minimalism is best expressed is through the world of industrial design and watches. Watches, despite not being necessary tools at they level they once were, are still objects whose design needs to be in service of a specific function. When these worlds of aesthetics and utility meet in an exceptionally clean and legible fashion, the pinnacle of horological minimalism is achieved; it's not less for the sake of less, but the least possible to do the job. In this buying guide, we have compiled a list of the best minimalist watches that should be on your radar. The degree to which each of these pieces sustains the levels of minimalist principles previously mentioned vary, but all of them succeed to a point in their approach to tackling their inherent function. A Few Ground Rules We are not going to be able to cover every watch in the industry but plan to add to this list in the future. Secondly, the idea of what constitutes something as “minimalist” is subjective, however, we will be using the themes previously addressed as wel...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 9, 2024

10 Watches That Don't Tell Time? Look a Bit Closer

By definition, watches, no matter whatever else they might do in addition, are made to tell time. As a rule, the vast majority of watches do this in analog fashion with the use of two rotating hands, one for the hour, the other for the minute, often with an additional hand to track the running seconds. But every so often, you’ll run across the proverbial exception that proves the rule - a timepiece whose design is so radical, so outside the mainstream in design, that at first glance (sometimes even at the second or third) it appears that you can’t read the time on it at all. Even most of these avant-garde pieces, however, have been designed with the purpose of timekeeping in mind, even if this basic function is overshadowed or reduced to an aesthetic afterthought by the more spectacular elements the watch offers. Here is a selection of 10 very interesting watches (actually, nine watches and one example of high-end wrist-worn art), most of which actually do tell you the time - as long as you know how to read them. F.P. Journe FFC F.P. Journe founder Francois-Paul Journe teamed up with legendary Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola to conceptualize and produce the original FFC watch, a unique piece in a tantalum case that fetched $4.93 million at the 2021 Only Watch auction, becoming the highest-selling F.P. Journe watch in the indie brand’s nearly 25 years of existence. Journe added a platinum-cased model to its regular collection in 2023 with the same visual...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Patek Philippe Jan 5, 2024

Patek Philippe Aquanaut Review

The Patek Philippe Aquanaut is one of the younger members in Patek Philippe’s historic family of timepieces but it has already gained an avid following and represents to many collectors the most accessible entrée into the Swiss watchmaker’s luxurious universe. Here is everything you need to know about the Aquanaut, from its origins to its current status as a versatile and wide-ranging collection. A History of Watchmaking Milestones Since its founding in 1839 in Geneva, Patek Philippe has been a leader in high watchmaking, pioneering many complications and design elements that are now ubiquitous throughout the watch industry. Polish watchmakers Antoine Norbert de Patek and Francois Czapek partnered to form the original company, Patek, Czapek, & Cie.; French horologist Jean Adrien Philippe, who invented the keyless winding and setting system still standard on watches today, joined in 1845, and the Genevan manufacture has been known as Patek Philippe ever since. Among its many horological milestones are the first annual calendar watch and the first wristwatches with perpetual calendars and split-seconds chronographs. In 1932, brothers Jean and Henri Stern acquired Patek Philippe and the same year launched the watch that would become its signature, the Calatrava (above), inspired by the ancient Calatrava cross that had served as the maison’s logo since 1887. The following year, Patek Philippe made timekeeping history when it commissioned a record-setting complicated ...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 2, 2024

101 Best Men's Watches For Every Price Range in 2026

What are the best men's watches you can buy today? As with listing the "best" cars, wines, cookware, or mobile devices, answers will of course vary widely based on personal tastes, practical needs, and budgets. Whether your inclination runs to elegant and dressy timepieces that will impress your coworkers in the boardroom, or if you prefer a tougher, stylish-yet-practical watch that you can wear to the beach or the racetrack, or even if you're someone looking to fly your tech-nerd flag in your wrist, our massive compilation of the 101 best men's watches - incorporating brands and models nominated by various TB team members and covering numerous styles, price points, and categories - has you covered in just about every popular category. To keep it helpful, we arrange every category in ascending order of price. Our current compilation of the 101 Best Watches includes longstanding classics as well as watches released within the last year. Check back in for regular updates and/or additions to the list. CLASSIC CHRONOGRAPHS Bulova Lunar Pilot Price: $825, Case Size: 46mm, Thickness: 13.5mm, Lug-to-Lug: 52mm, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Quartz Bulova 262kHz, Crystal: Sapphire The Bulova Lunar Pilot is an homage to the Bulova chronograph worn by U.S. astronaut Dave Scott on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission. Visually, the new Lunar Pilot is a faithful recreation, retaining the curvy case shape and distinctive elongated pushers of the original. The dial i...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 2, 2024

47 Best Watches Under $5,000 - A Complete Guide for 2025

We are back with another list of recommendations for the best watches you can get for a given amount of money. This time around, we will be looking at the best watches available for under $5,000, a crowded price point where the luxury watchmaking conversation really takes off. As we creep up on $5,000, we’ll be taking a look at luxury watch brands like Oris, Omega, Tudor, and a host of others, some of which may surprise you by their inclusion in this category. $5,000 is, objectively a lot of money, and we know you're looking for a lot of watch for your hard-earned coin. To aid you in your research, we have tried to include some popular, enthusiast-favorite watches as well as a few watches from brands you may be less familiar with. Before diving in, here are some ground rules: This list will be, by and large, strictly composed of watches with a retail price at or below $5,000. We'll also throw a few watches in at the end which retail for just a bit above $5,000 but can be found on the secondary market in our target price range. We’ve decided to further narrow our scope to watches with a starting price between $2,000 and $5,000. Again, we can’t possibly put every single watch in this price bracket on this list, but please feel free to refer to other guides on our sites, such as The Best Watches Under $1000, 30 Best Minimalist Watches and 25 Best Tool Watches, as they may have a watch or watches more to your taste, which is really what these lists are all about: to ...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 2, 2024

Here Are the 28 Best GMT Watches You Can Buy in 2026

Among all the functions offered by today's timepieces (we in the watch trade call them complications, because even the ones that look relatively simple, like a date in a window, involve a lot of complex micro-mechanics), the GMT or second time zone is one of the most practical and useful - especially as many of us are back in the habit, post-COVID, of spending time again in time zones other than our own - for business, pleasure, or some combo of both. Here we've gathered 28 of the best GMT watches on the market now for your perusal and your consideration if you're in the market for a ticking companion for your next trip. To narrow the list and keep it manageable, we are keeping it as much as possible to "pure" GMT watches, i.e., those with a GMT hand pointing at a scale rather than some other unconventional display, which unfortunately excludes models like the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone, Parmigiani Tonda Hemispheres, Arnold & Son Globetrotter, and any number of very creative high-end takes on a dual-timer. We've also left out world-time watches, GMT watches' more complex cousins that display all the world's time zones simultaneously (you can check out our list of world timers here) and multiple-complication watches in which the GMT function is paired with a chronograph, perpetual calendar, or other high complications (small complications like dates are OK). Finally, we included only watches with mechanical movements, which are more likely to appeal to a wo...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 2, 2024

The Best Watches Under $2,000 for 2026

One of the most popular topics of discussion for watch enthusiasts in online forums and social media is how to get the most bang for your buck at a given price point. Today, we’ll be focusing on exactly that, taking a look at some of the most impressive value propositions at or around $2,000. And while price points like $500 and $1,000 each have their standouts in terms of what you’re getting for your money, it is right around two grand that we start to experience some of the more luxurious elements of watchmaking when it comes to case and bracelet finishing, movements, and specifications. We’ll be taking a look at brands like Longines, Oris, Tudor, Sinn, Nomos, and many others that are producing excellent watches packing a lot of enthusiast appeal within the confines of this price range. Before we get into the watches, here are some ground rules: In order to keep the list organized, we’ll arrange it by category, focusing on some of the most popular broad segments of the watch industry including everyday, Flieger, dress, dive, GMT, and chronograph watches. We also won’t be terribly strict about coming in under $2,000, but rather concentrate on watches that are priced around $2,000 as factors like currency exchange rates, local taxes, and whether or not you’re buying pre-owned have a profound effect on final pricing. We’ll make an effort not to include more than four watches from any single brand and will also limit the inclusion of micro-brands, not that ...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 2, 2024

10 Best Watch Winders for Any Collector's Budget in 2026

If you own any automatic watches at all, especially enough of them to ensure that you’re not wearing the same one daily, you will inevitably face the issue of keeping those watches running, and set to the proper time and date, when they’re not on your wrist. Some collectors choose to simply commit to re-winding and re-setting their automatic watches when their power reserve runs down - it’s a ritual that many traditionalists actually enjoy - but others would rather invest in some high-tech hardware to lend a hand. Here is where a watch winder comes in. These helpful and often luxuriously appointed machines are designed to store your precious self-winding timepieces while also keeping them charged via electronic,  motorized rotations - the timing, direction, and duration of which can often be pre-set and monitored - that mimic the natural movement of a wearer’s wrist. For those ready to dip their toe into the wide world of watch winders, we’ve gathered 10 favorites from 10 brands representing as wide a variety as possible in terms of styles, sizes, and price points. Wolf Roadster 4PC Watch Winder ($2,095) Wolf watch winders, known for their fusion of leather, wood, glass, and steel, work on a 24-hour cycle, with six-hour periods of intermittent activity followed by “sleep” periods that allow the tension in the watches’ mainsprings to ease, avoiding over-winding. Fifty different cycles are possible, allowing the owner to specify factors such as direc...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 2, 2024

40 Best Military and Tactical Watches: A Complete Guide for 2026

While many of watchmaking’s most prestigious brands claim to build watches designed for the military (and especially for elite special forces), the reality is that the majority of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and yes, coasties don’t make the kind of cash necessary to play in the luxury watch space. Still, the military remains a calling in which early is on time and on time is late, so watches are essential gear and, in many cases, a required uniform item. So, what watches do military members wear? To be frank, our evidence would seem to indicate that the overwhelming majority of military members wear inexpensive quartz digital watches like the ubiquitous Casio G-Shock and Timex Ironman. While both are fine watches in their utilitarian category, some service members want something a bit more elevated, combining the classic aesthetic and function of an analog watch with some military flavor and toughness. Military watches have, of course, transcended the military itself, becoming a popular style for watch collectors thanks to their utility and purpose-oriented designs.  Luckily, there are a ton of incredible military watch options out there suitable both for service members and civilians alike. Wanting a refined aesthetic doesn’t mean you can’t also have "mil-spec" levels of durability, legibility, and reliability. You just have to know where to look. Here we showcase 40 watches that combine a tacti-cool aesthetic with functionality for survivin...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 1, 2024

36 Affordable Swiss Watches for 2026

Swiss watches are regarded by many as the finest timepieces in the world, and finding truly affordable Swiss watches can be, to put it mildly, somewhat challenging. Watches mass-produced in Japan and other Asian countries have cornered much of the market in the affordable realm, which we're defining here as watches with prices roughly topping out at $2,000; even Switzerland's neighbor, Germany, might be able to claim more "serious" brands that aim for this price segment. But due to the sheer size and diversity of its watch industry, Switzerland does offer its own fair share of value-oriented watches, all of which meet the globally respected "Swiss Made" standard. To coin a cliché, you just have to know where to look, and which labels to focus on. Here are 36 affordable Swiss watches, from some of the world's most admired Swiss watch brands, in a handful of popular categories. FASHION Swatch Sistem 51 Price: $155, Reference: SUTN405, Case Size: 42 mm, Case Height: 13.9 mm, Lug To Lug: 50.6 mm, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Crystal: Mineral, Movement: Automatic Swatch, often dismissed as the maker of plastic-cased, quartz-driven, mass-marketed timepieces for limited budgets and trend-driven youth, made the watch world sit up and take notice when it unveiled the Sistem 51 in 2013. Priced at an astounding $150, the watch contained an innovatively designed 51-part mechanical movement with five assembly-line produced modules held together by a single central screw. Swatch...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Jan 1, 2024

21 Best Everyday Watches For All Price Ranges in 2026

The definition of an everyday watch can, of course, be highly subjective, based on one’s individual needs, tastes, and budget (I have met people who rock A. Lange & Söhne, F.P. Journe, and even Richard Mille as their “everyday” brands). But most of us can get behind Teddy’s idea that an everyday watch is one that combines versatility with specifications suited for day-to-day needs; it can be dressed up or down, is highly legible in most conditions, and is water resistant enough for worry-free daily wear (i.e., rated to at least 50 meters). As a timepiece that will spend much more time actually on the wrist than in a safe, it should also be affordable. Hence, our selection of the 21 best everyday watches starts under $500 and tops out under $10,000. Citizen Tsuyosa Price: $450, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 9.1mm, Lug to Lug: 45mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 8210 Best known for its light-powered Eco-Drive movements, Japan’s Citizen also offers a lineup of appealing mechanical timepieces, including the recently introduced NJ015 automatic series, nicknamed “Tsuyosa,” a Japanese word meaning “strength.” Speaking to the contemporary trend towards eye-catching colorful dials, Tsuyosa models offer five, all with a subtle sunburst finish: blue, yellow, green, turquoise, and black. The round, chamfered steel cases measure 40mm in diameter and 11.7mm thick, with an unconventionally positioned crown at 4 o’clock for...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Oris Dec 21, 2023

Oris Divers Sixty-Five Review

The Oris Divers Sixty-Five collection has found a receptive and substantial audience since its introduction in 2015, firmly establishing itself as one the Swiss brand's most versatile and creatively innovative product families. Whether it's the retro appeal of its original 1960s design, the exclusivity of the Carl Brashear editions, or the playful pastels of the Cotton Candy models, the Oris Diver Sixty-Five has something for just about any type of watch enthusiast. Here is a comprehensive rundown of the line, from its mid-sixties inspiration to today.  1965: The Original Waterpoof Oris started making watches in 1904 in the Swiss town of Hölstein, where it is still based today. The brand made its first purpose-built dive watch in 1965, naming it the Oris Waterproof and targeting the era’s growing masses of recreational diving enthusiasts - many of whom were likely seeking a more affordable alternative to prohibitively priced genre pioneers like the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. The Waterproof was a product of its time, with a case made of chromium-plated brass, a crystal made of Plexiglas, and a strap made of sturdy but decidedly non-luxurious black rubber. The case, with a dive-scale bezel that rotated in both directions, measured a rather modest 36mm and housed a manually wound mechanical movement, the 17-jewel Oris Caliber 654; at the time, Oris made most of its own movements in-house. This historical divers’ model (above, right), while never a...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Dec 19, 2023

Value My Watch: These Online Sources Will Tell You What Your Timepiece

We all love our watches, but in many collectors' lives there comes a time to part with a once-beloved timepiece - often in the service of acquiring an even more beloved one to replace it. And in that circumstance, even the most sentimental of us will turn our focus to the realities and practicalities of the marketplace. “How much is my watch worth?” becomes the burning question of every would-be seller, whether they’re eyeing an auction house like Sotheby’s or Phillips, an online marketplace like eBay, or a secondary-market resale giant like Chrono24 or WatchBox. Fortunately, in today’s well-served watch-enthusiast universe, there are many resources available to value your watch before selling it - most of which you can access without ever leaving the comfort of your sofa. Of course, much like selling a car for its maximum return, it’s essential for the owner to do his or her homework. Hopefully, you still have all the watch’s original documentation, including the manual, the bill of sale, and the box that it came in, all of which will be helpful in determining the most important elements that factor into your watch’s resale value - i.e., its brand, model, age, and condition. Even if you don’t have all these original documents, however, you can still use the watch’s serial number or reference number, which is usually engraved somewhere on the case, as a starting point to track down more of these details.  Once a seller is armed with as much knowl...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Dec 8, 2023

12 Yellow-Dial Watches From Affordable to Luxury

Yellow is a color meant to draw attention: there’s a reason it’s used in road signs, stoplights, and to highlight important text passages. When yellow is used on a watch dial, you can usually be sure that it’s a watch that is meant to be anything but understated and subtle - whether the tone is a bright, matte “signal” yellow or a more elegant, shiny-surfaced gold or champagne tone. Here are a dozen yellow-dialed watches that span the gamut from sporty to luxurious - and from affordable and easily accessible to expensive and ultra-exclusive.  Citizen Tsuyosa Price: $450, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 9.1mm, Lug to Lug: 45mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber 8210 Best known for its light-powered Eco-Drive movements, Japan’s Citizen also offers a lineup of appealing mechanical timepieces, including the NJ015 automatic series, nicknamed “Tsuyosa,” a Japanese word meaning “strength.” Speaking to the contemporary trend towards eye-catching colorful dials, Tsuyosa models offer five, all with a subtle sunburst finish, including the standout yellow version above. The round, chamfered steel cases measure 40mm in diameter and 11.7mm thick, with an unconventionally positioned crown at 4 o’clock for better ergonomics on the wrist. The bracelet has what Citizen describes as a “mountain-shaped” design thanks to its individually curved links; the center links and the bezel are both sleekly polished. The self-winding...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Nov 30, 2023

Men's Watch Gift Guide 2023: 55 Watches for the Holidays

The holiday season is upon us once again, leaving us all with our three usual questions: Where exactly did 2023 go? Where will I be to ring in the New Year? And what is the perfect watch gift for each of my family members and friends who share my passion for timepieces? We can't help you with the first two questions, but we're definitely here for you on the third. Here, we've put together a list of watches in several categories, with various types of recipients in mind, at a variety of price points. Best of all, many of these watches are available right here in our online shop. For the sophisticated gent: Seiko Presage SRPB43 Price: $319, Case Size: 40.5mm, Thickness: 11.8mm, Lug to Lug: 47.5mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Hardlex, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic Seiko 4R35 The “Cocktail Time” series within Seiko’s automatic-only Presage family of attainable, attractive dress watches are designed to evoke the types of high-end cocktails served at Japan’s famously atmospheric rooftop bars. This model with a stainless steel case and a sunray ice-blue dial takes its nickname and inspiration from a classic Martini. The glossy-finish dial’s ridged, rippling edges help give it the look of a birds-eye view inside the cocktail glass; the tone-on-tone date window is a subtle but impressive bonus at this price point, as is the in-house, automatic movement inside. The 40.5-mm case is topped by a box-shaped crystal made of a proprietary Seiko material called H...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Nov 29, 2023

30 Best Women's Watches from Under $500 to Over $150K

Women make up (at least potentially) half the market for luxury watches, so why are so many women's watches little more than miniaturized, often jewel-encrusted versions of the most popular men's models? As we assembled our list of the Best Women's Watches in 2024, we aimed to focus on timepieces whose designs and aesthetic details speak most clearly and directly to the avid and growing audience of female watch enthusiasts, and strove to find offerings suitable for just about every budget. Scroll down to read the list, compiled in ascending order of price. Citizen x Disney Jasmine for Aladdin 30th Anniversary Price: $350, Reference: GA1072-07D, Case Size: 30mm, Lug Width: 10mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: Splash-Resistant, Movement: Eco-Drive Caliber J015 Citizen began a high-profile partnership with Disney in 2018 and ever since has launched special-edition timepieces designed with Disney properties and characters in mind. This model was inspired by Princess Jasmine from the blockbuster 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin, which marked its 30th anniversary in 2022. The watch has filigree detailing on its gold-tone steel case and an arabesque scroll pattern on its mother-of-pearl dial, which also features an on-theme genie’s lamp icon at 6 o’clock. An Eco-Drive movement, ensconced behind a caseback inscribed with the motto, “Life’s a Magic Carpet Ride,” ensures that the wearer need never change the battery. The watch is delivered on a teal leather strap an...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Nov 28, 2023

12 Rectangle Watches From Affordable to High-Luxury

In a world where the vast majority of wristwatches have round cases (about 80 percent, according to industry estimates), wearing a watch with a rectangular case is a great way to stand out from the crowd and perhaps to fly a flag of appreciation for the vintage designs of a bygone era - specifically the early 20th Century, the prime of the Art Deco movement. Best of all, just like their more ubiquitous round-cased counterparts, rectangular watches come in a wide variety of styles and price points, so there are options both for intrigued newbies as well as seasoned collectors looking to add a non-round timepiece to their personal rotation. Here are 12 rectangle watches worth your attention (and yes, we've left out iconic pieces like the TAG Heuer Monaco and Bell & Ross BR-01, which are squares rather than rectangles; perhaps we'll do a roundup of square watches one of these days soon). Bulova Frank Sinatra My Way Price: $575, Case Size: 29.5mm, Case Height: 9.05mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Lug to Lug: 47mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Quartz Miyota IL45 Bulova’s Frank Sinatra collection pays homage to the eponymous pop music legend, who owned many Bulova watches throughout his life and counted Bulova as a sponsor of his Frank Sinatra Show on TV in the 1950s. The watches’ designs are inspired by Sinatra’s 1950s-1960s heyday, when smaller, thinner watches were in vogue. The Art Deco-influenced “My Way” model in gold-toned steel features a w...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Nov 6, 2023

Watch Engravings: Historic Examples and Ideas from Our Instagram Audie

Of all the elements that can make a watch special to its owner, few can compare to having it engraved - with a message, image, or other inscription that renders it uniquely personal to its owner. The art of engraving - i.e., carving characters or patterns into surfaces - goes all the way back to prehistoric cultures and watch engraving is a tradition that goes back all the way to the beginning of portable timepieces. The earliest examples can be found in pocket watches bearing royal crests and coats of arms for aristocrats and royalty, who were, of course among, the first wearers of timepieces. As watch ownership became more widespread and democratized, the variety of such customizations widened. Some of the most significant watches throughout history have borne personalized engravings that speak to their famous provenance. As we explore further in this article, the most expensive Rolex watch ever sold at auction is a Daytona owned by actor/racing driver Paul Newman, inscribed not with his name but with a cautionary message from his wife, Joanne Woodward, “DRIVE CAREFULLY - ME.” Nowadays, just about any Daytona owner can choose to have it engraved, but the most prestigious models are the ones awarded to winning drivers at the 24 Hours of Daytona race, each of which is engraved - by Rolex - with the driver’s name. One of the world’s most valuable Omega watches is a yellow-gold Slimline model owned by President John F. Kennedy, inscribed “PRESIDENT OF THE...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Nov 3, 2023

The 17 Best Dive Watches Under $500

Dive watches continue to reign as one of the most popular timepiece styles out there, and the sheer breadth of choices in that genre - in the areas of size, design, colorway, and especially pricing - can be intimidating to the new watch enthusiast who might be just on the verge of taking the plunge (you should pardon the expression) into purchasing their first dive watch. Here we've gathered a dozen of our favorites with the budget-conscious consumer in mind: everything on this list can be had for $500 or under. (In a few cases, even though the MSRP comes in higher, you can acquire them below the $500 threshold directly from our online store; just follow the shopping links.) Casio Duro Price: $74.95, Case Size: 48.5mm x 44.2mm, Case Height: 12.1mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water Resistance: 200 meters, Movement: Quartz Analog Outside of its mega-popular G-Shock series (see directly below), It’s tempting to pigeonhole Casio as a maker of solely digital watches, but the brand also offers a handful of analog timepieces at similarly mass-market prices. Consider the Casio Duro, the Japanese manufacturer’s series of round-cased, analog-dial dive watches. At this very pedestrian price range, it is difficult to find a diver that offers what the Duro offers: a well-finished steel case, rotating dive-scale bezel with aluminum insert, 200-meter water resistance, and sunburst dial with lume-coated hands and indexes. The screw-down caseback sports an image of a Marlin, which als...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Oct 20, 2023

The 25 Most Expensive Watches Ever Sold at Auction

How much would you pay for a watch? What if it was the only one of its kind, or a record-breaker in terms of complications, or once owned by someone famous or historically significant? And just how expensive are the most expensive watches to ever change hands in a sale? In today's red-hot watch auction market, the answers, and the sums, may surprise you. Here we run down the list of the top 25 watches in descending order of the price they fetched on the auction block, while spotlighting some of the timepieces with the most fascinating backstories and representing the most impressive technical achievements. You'll find the expected abundance of watches from Patek Philippe and Rolex (the clear leaders in the category) but also a few from other watchmakers, large and small, who've recently broken into the upper echelon. At the end, we'll spotlight the highest selling watches from a few other brands that didn't crack the top 25 but maintain a robust presence on the watch auction scene. 1. Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 ($31.19 million, 2019, Christie’s) Patek Philippe unveiled the first Grandmaster Chime watch in 2014 as part of the many celebrations around the Genevan maison’s 175the anniversary. The reference that made history at the Only Watch auction in Geneva in 2019 was a unique piece, the only Grandmaster Chime ever crafted in stainless steel; the Grandmaster Chime models in Patek’s regular collection are all made in precious metals. The watch...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Oris Oct 18, 2023

Oris Watches Review: The Independent Brand's History and Modern Milest

Oris started out as a maker of mechanical watches - first for the waistcoat, then for the wrist - in 1904. After a long period of growth in the first half of the 20th Century, the Swiss company underwent a series of ownership and management changes that threatened to forever change its direction and sacrifice its independence. Successfully steering its way through the storms of those Quartz Crisis years, Oris emerged stronger, now a staple for value-conscious enthusiasts of Swiss-made watches. Its modern pillars, like the Big Crown Pointer Date, which traces its existence all the way back to the 1930s; the Aquis family of sporty diver’s watches; and the vintage-influenced Diver Sixty-Five, have all helped to build the brand’s modern identity. In this comprehensive guide to Oris Watches, I explore the brand’s inspiring history, its significant watchmaking milestones, and the standouts from its modern collection. Foundations to Growth Oris, one of the watch world’s few remaining major independent brands, traces its history back to 1904, when it was founded in Hölstein, in the German-speaking Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft, by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian. Cattin and Christian, both natives of the Swiss watchmaking town Le Locle, purchased the recently closed Lohner & Co. watch factory as the base of their new company, which the co-founders named “Oris,” after the Orisbach tributary, a brook near the factory. Initially, the company made pocket watches ...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Zenith Oct 13, 2023

Zenith Watches: A Brief History and Overview of the Modern Collection

Zenith SA, a Swiss watchmaker that traces its roots all the way back to 1865, is best known these days for its historic and hugely influential El Primero chronograph caliber, but the company can lay claim to many other horological milestones and accolades as well, some of which might be somewhat less than common knowledge. Did you know, for example, that Zenith has won more chronometry awards than any other watch brand? Or that it was once owned by an electronics company of the same name? Or that it is the only brand that’s allowed to put “Pilot” on a pilot’s watch dial? In this in-depth feature, I explore these and other aspects of Zenith’s fascinating history and also offer a primer on the manufacture’s modern watch collections. Georges-Favre-Jacot and Historic Integration Watchmaker Georges Favre-Jacot (above) was a mere 22 years of age when he founded the atelier that would become Zenith in Le Locle, Switzerland in 1865. Favre-Jacot, a contemporary of Swiss modern architecture pioneer Le Corbusier, embraced a similarly modern approach to making watches, taking his cues from the American firms Waltham and Elgin, which had found success by introducing mass production into the traditionally artisanal business. His company, originally called Georges Favre-Jacot & Co., was the first Swiss watch producer to bring the various disciplines of horology under one roof - as opposed to the more common établissage system that most watchmakers used at the time, which h...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Oct 11, 2023

The 48 Best Automatic Watches Under $500

Let’s be honest: not everyone can spend thousands of dollars on every new watch purchase, especially someone who might just be getting into the watch collecting hobby or perhaps looking to spend $1,000 or so to assemble his or her first three-watch collection. Fortunately, there are a plethora of options out there in the sub-$500 watch category, with choices from the usual suspects like Seiko, Citizen, Swatch, Timex, and Orient, as well as from several microbrands that offer worthwhile options in that narrow price range as well. Here we have compiled a selection of the best automatic watches under $500 that deserve to be on your radar - and perhaps even in your collection. Before we begin, some important ground rules: Our curated list will feature watches costing under $500, and equipped with an automatic movement inside. The very few exceptions to the under-$500 rule will be called out in the descriptions below. As always, we can’t include every potential watch that meets the criteria in this range, but you can find some others in several other guides on our site, such as our lists of The 60 Best Seiko Watches and The 51 Best Microbrands. Finally, in order for this list to flow properly, the watches will be grouped together according to the following style categories: 1) Dive, 2) Dress, 3) Everyday Finally, at the end of the list, we will shout out a handful of watches that are worthy of notice but just missed the cut on price. Dive Watches: S...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Omega Oct 9, 2023

Omega Constellation Guide

The Omega Constellation is not only the Swiss luxury brand’s oldest collection (if we’re tracing the Seamaster back to its first “Professional” dive-watch model in 1957); it’s also the dressiest, with a design heritage that hinges on two classic and very iconoclastic watches from two distinctively different eras: the cult-classic original from the 1950s and the influential revamp in the 1980s. Here’s an in-depth look at the Omega Constellation, its half-century-plus of revolutionary design, and what the collection looks like today. 1952: Making a Pie Omega, founded in 1848 by an ambitious young Swiss watchmaker named Louis Brandt, celebrated its 100th anniversary in the postwar year of 1948. The most memorable watch the company released during that milestone year, most would agree, was the first Seamaster, which introduced the innovative waterproof system that would give rise to today’s sprawling Seamaster Professional collection of dive watches. A rarer and more obscure timepiece introduced that year was the Centenary, Omega’s first chronometer-certified wristwatch. An iconoclastic gold dress watch, highly limited in production, the Centenary took its name from the 100-year anniversary it commemorated and its design would provide the template of a collection that would debut several years later, in 1952, called the Constellation. (Both the Seamaster and the Centenary, incidentally, were the brainchildren of watch designer René Bannwart, who would go on to...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Oct 2, 2023

The Most Expensive G-Shock Watches

Since its introduction in 1983, the Casio G-Shock has been a game-changer, both for its parent company and for the wristwatch industry in general. The brainchild of Casio engineer Kikuo Abe, who designed it to be “toughest watch of all time” after the traumatic experience of having a vintage pocket watch from his grandfather destroyed in a fall to the ground, the first G-Shock pioneered the “Triple 10” concept that is at the core of the models to this day - 10-bar (100-meter) water resistance, 10-meter impact resistance, and 10-year battery life. It was a watch that was unapologetically big, tough, and utilitarian, and yet those who embraced it found it irresistibly stylish as well. Today, the G-Shock has not only become the undisputed flagship of Casio’s watch portfolio; it has become a sub-brand of its own, encompassing watches with a seemingly infinite array of styles, sizes, and colorways and an endlessly evolving level of avant-garde technology at their heart. The vast majority of G-Shocks, like the very first models from the 1980s, are still very affordable to almost any prospective buyer (hence their ubiquity on the wrists of cops, soldiers, and other modestly paid professionals for whom a rugged, multifunctional timepiece is essential), but several models over the years have pushed aggressively into a more luxurious echelon, in terms of both materials and price - particularly in the collection’s MR-G and MT-G subfamilies. The most expensive G-Shocks...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Sep 28, 2023

How To Clean A Watch

When you’re starting or building upon a watch collection, keeping those watches clean is probably a matter to which you rarely give much thought on a day-to-day basis. Of course, there’s always the least time-intensive option, outsourcing your watch’s semi-regular cleaning to your local watchmaker or watch repairer when you send the timepiece in for its recommended technical maintenance. But if you’re interested in keeping your timepieces in tip-top condition between services - and especially if you have notions of perhaps selling or trading any of them for the maximum return - there are some simple steps you can take on your own, for minimal cost, that can ensure your watches are maintained at a level that’s both presentable and potentially sellable. Watches, after all, are not only luxury objects; they are also items that are worn regularly, day after day in some cases, like a pair of boots or shoes, or an overcoat. And like those items, they encounter all kinds of conditions based upon the wearer’s lifestyle, occupation, and recreational pursuits. Watches are also worn right against the skin, with all of the exposure to sweat, dirt, and unexpected atmospheric splatter that implies. Thus, regular cleaning of your watches should be considered a regular chore in the cycle of life, like doing the laundry or washing your car. The go-to shortcut of wiping the watch’s crystal with an untucked shirt tail or handkerchief - we’ve all done it - isn’t goin...

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T Teddy Baldassarre

Teddy Baldassarre

Sep 26, 2023

Wedding Watches: The 10 Best Brands According to Our Instagram Fans

Weddings are an occasion for gift giving, and a fine watch always makes an ideal gift, whether it’s from a parent to a prospective son- or daughter-in-law, a groom to a best man, or exchanged between the betrothed couple in addition to (or in place of) the traditional rings. What are the best wedding watches? We put the question out to our 300,000-plus followers on Instagram (some but not all of them married or engaged) and were overwhelmed by the response. Here we break it down into the top 10 watch brands named in the survey and spotlight some of the specific models that our respondents favored. 1. LONGINES Leading the pack with 25 mentions is Longines, a brand known for making elegant timepieces for both men and ladies and pricing them reasonably. Among the models mentioned specifically are the Master Collection Chronograph, Spirit, Hydroconquest, Flagship Heritage, and Legend Diver. When it comes to Swiss watchmakers, it seems, the venerable maison in bucolic Saint-Imier hits the sweet spot for many prospective brides and grooms. Longines Legend Diver Bronze The Longines Legend Diver is a modern re-issue of a compressor-style dive watch Price: $3,000, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 12.7mm, Lug to Lug: 48.2mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300m, Movement: Automatic ETA A31.L11 The Longines Legend Diver is a modern re-issue of a compressor-style dive watch it produced in 1960, here with a case made of bronze, a metal historically used in maritime equipment due to i...

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