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Rado Did you know May 18, 2024

Graduation Gift Guide: Remembering Their Big Day with Rado

Did you know that Rado was one of the first watch brands to use high-tech ceramics in their timepieces?  In 1986, they launched the Integral, a style icon, which combined sapphire and ceramics. The goal was to create a watch that could withstand the rigors of everyday life and come out unscathed. In the decades that follow, many other brands have adopted this technology, yet Rado remains at the forefront. As the wheels of scholarship and innovation keep on turning, an education, just like high-tech ceramics, can protect and prepare for all of life’s upcoming challenges. In honor of graduation, in this gift guide we have selected 7 Rado watches that would make excellent companions as your graduate enters life’s next chapter. The post Graduation Gift Guide: Remembering Their Big Day with Rado appeared first on Worn & Wound.

Watches, Stories, & Gear: A Look Inside Long Pond Studio, Conan O’Brien Hits His Stride, and the first Dune: Prophecy Trailer Worn & Wound
May 18, 2024

Watches, Stories, & Gear: A Look Inside Long Pond Studio, Conan O’Brien Hits His Stride, and the first Dune: Prophecy Trailer

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear. This week’s Watches, Stories and Gear is sponsored by Mudita. Check out the new Mudita Element and a link to their Kickstarter below. Share your story ideas or interesting finds with us by emailing info@wornandwound.com Brett F. Braley-Palko’s First Novel, Arthur We’re incredibly excited to feature our very own contributor, Brett Braley, in this week’s Watches, Stories, & Gear column. Brett has written his first novel, Arthur, and it was released just yesterday by the Thane and Prose imprint. Set in midcentury London, the comic novel’s plot involves the titular character and a pair of accomplices as they plot to save his dogs from certain eviction. To know Brett is to know his wry sense of humor, so if even a small amount is on display in Arthur, it’s sure to be worth a read if you’ve enjoyed his work here on Worn & Wound. You can order a copy of Arthur right here.  Dune’s Prequel TV Show is Coming  The first trailer for the highly anticipated Dune prequel series premiered this week, and judging from a first look, it seems like the small screen version might actually somewhat match the scope of the epic films. Dune: Prophecy is set 10,000 years before...

New To The Shop: Gerber Gear Worn & Wound
Casio n when we have May 17, 2024

New To The Shop: Gerber Gear

Our readers know that Worn & Wound is all about celebrating the spirit of adventure and enthusiasm that comes from the appreciation of quality products and the communities around them. This includes watches, of course, and also gear. Our love for the heritage, craftsmanship, and ownership experience of these watches and tools means we carefully curate our selection in the Windup Watch Shop. We don’t just stand by what we carry; they are things we would be thrilled to own and enjoy ourselves. It’s a special occasion when we have the privilege of introducing a new brand to the Shop, and today we get to do just that. The brand? Gerber Gear. And the products? Simply fantastic. Our readers know that Worn & Wound is all about celebrating the spirit of adventure and enthusiasm that comes from the appreciation of quality products and the communities around them. This includes watches, of course, and also gear. Our love for the heritage, craftsmanship, and ownership experience of these watches and tools means we carefully curate our selection in the Windup Watch Shop. We don’t just stand by what we carry; they are things we would be thrilled to own and enjoy ourselves. It’s a special occasion when we have the privilege of introducing a new brand to the Shop, and today we get to do just that. The brand? Gerber Gear. And the products? Simply fantastic. The post New To The Shop: Gerber Gear appeared first on Worn & Wound.

The Seiko H601-8020: The Arnie’s Long-Lost Little Brother Worn & Wound
Seiko H601-8020 May 17, 2024

The Seiko H601-8020: The Arnie’s Long-Lost Little Brother

A wristwatch synonymous with biceps and AR-15s, Seiko’s H558-5009 “Arnie” continues to maintain its popularity in the watch collecting community today. Aside from its screen time in several Arnold Schwarzenegger films, its hefty 46mm case and rather sophisticated analogue-digital movement make the Arnie a unique and desirable timepiece. Other variations of the Arnie include the “Upside Down Arnie” H601-5480 and “Baby Arnie” H556-5029, both of which have their own following and are collectible in their own right. Unfortunately, their typically high price tags in today’s market make these variants fairly unobtainable to the everyday hobbyist looking for a fun weekend watch. However, the Seiko Sports line’s 1980s catalog is far more diverse than one might imagine, and within it exists the perfect alternative to the bulky Arnie and its cousins.  The H601-8020’s Inception and Design While Seiko’s history is well documented by the company and its dedicated fanbase, little information exists regarding the brand’s Sports SQ line. Their initial attempt at durable wristwatches came by way of the Seiko 5 line––starting in 1963 with the Sportsmatic 5––but the roots of SQ and Sports branding is a little less clear. Focusing only on the US market, it can be assumed SQ began appearing on dials somewhere in the mid 1970s and the Sports moniker (in this specific use) shortly after in the early 1980s. Of course, there are several variations of “sports” u...

Micro-Brand Digest: Italian Divers, Canadian GMTs, and More! Worn & Wound
Casio May 17, 2024

Micro-Brand Digest: Italian Divers, Canadian GMTs, and More!

Welcome to the Worn & Wound Micro-Brand Digest, a semi-monthly roundup of all the new micro-brand news we’re following, from concepts that show promise, to Kickstarter launches to restocks, and everything in between. Small independents, and affordable micro-brands spurred the creation of Worn & Wound over 10 years ago, and they still drive our enthusiasm in a big way. Here’s what’s caught our eye this month. If you’ve come across a project you think qualifies, hit us up at info@wornandwound.com for inclusion. Sherwood Watches U.K. based Glynn Reynolds began his watch journey at a very young age. Like so many of us, his gateway watch brand was Casio and before long, he purchased more watches than he can remember. In the effort to find the perfect watch, and with a background in graphic design, he spent much of his time tweaking existing watches to improve their esthetics. In 2019, Glynn started an Instagram page and his designs started garnering interest from fellow watch enthusiasts, which led him to take the plunge and start his own micro watch brand. Why Sherwood? Pretty simple, as he spent his entire life in Mansfield (Nottinghamshire) England, and the village he currently lives in is a stone’s throw away from Sherwood Forest. Incidentally, the latter happens to be the very forest that provided cover for one of history’s most famous and storied outlaws, Robin Hood. Like Robin Hood or yore, Sherwood (the watch brand) takes most of the money that would have be...

Sartory Billard and Grail Watch Collaborate on the New SB07 “Ghost” Worn & Wound
May 17, 2024

Sartory Billard and Grail Watch Collaborate on the New SB07 “Ghost”

The trajectory of Sartory Billard over the last few years has been one of the most unusual and interesting stories in the world of independent watchmaking. The brand had long been established as a leader in fully bespoke watches. The entire premise of the brand was built on the idea that every piece is unique, with wide customization options available to virtually every aspect of the dial. They’ve also been associated with great value, and were generally seen as an affordable option for adventurous fans of independent watchmaking who wanted something literally unique well under five figures. None of that has changed, really, but Sartory Billard’s recent output has seen them upping the ante considerably, with a new tourbillon movement and plans for an even more complex caliber featuring jumping hours and jumping minutes. Another example: a new collaboration with Grail Watch featuring an incredibly ornate and over-the-top mirror finish on nearly every visible surface.  Grail Watch 11, the Sartory Billard SB07 “Ghost,” takes the brand’s integrated bracelet sports watch design and a design motif they’ve become known for and turns the proverbial volume up past the breaking point. Of the many options Sartory Billard offers to customers in their customization program, one particularly popular one is their fully polished dial. The SB07 seen here takes that idea and expands it to the case and bracelet, effectively making the steel components “invisible,” hence the ...

HYT Reinvents Itself with the T1 Collection Worn & Wound
HYT May 16, 2024

HYT Reinvents Itself with the T1 Collection

It’s hard to relaunch a brand. We’ve seen it over and over in the watch industry: brands, in an attempt to reinvigorate themselves, gain more traction in the market, and adapt to changing times, will sometimes make a decision to completely rethink their philosophy, aesthetic, and core models. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and there are varying levels of intensity in how fully relaunched a brand will actually go. Sometimes the shift is drastic, with new logos, new ideas, new price points, and completely new watches. And sometimes it’s more subtle, representing a small but noticeable and important tweak that fundamentally changes something about the presentation. HYT, a high end Swiss brand that has been through its fair share of tumult recently, debuted a new collection recently that we got a chance to look at during Watches & Wonders week, and it struck me as one of the smartest recalibrations we’ve seen from a brand in a long time.  If you know HYT at all, you know them for their unique time telling system that involves moving liquid around the dial through a pair of bellows that expand and contract throughout the day. There is quite literally nothing else like it on the market, and the watches have always had a half futuristic, half steam-punk vibe to them. There is real horological ingenuity at the heart of HYT, but the watches, in the past, have often been dominated by literally showing you the mechanism in a way that was, to put it bluntly, a bi...

Celebrating 30 Years of the Lothar Schmidt Era at Sinn HQ Worn & Wound
Sinn HQ May 16, 2024

Celebrating 30 Years of the Lothar Schmidt Era at Sinn HQ

On an unusually warm day in early March, I was invited to visit Sinn headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Sinn had prepared a special program including a special exhibition showcasing their technologies over the last 30 years in the main foyer. This was followed by a factory tour, and finally seeing their latest collection.  Most of us are familiar with the origins of Sinn, which all started with Helmut Sinn, who was a flight instructor, and former World War II pilot. The company’s core business under his ownership was the manufacturing of navigation clocks and pilot chronographs. In 1994, certified engineer Lothar Schmidt acquired the company from Helmut Sinn and renamed it to “Sinn Spezialuhren GmbH”. Lothar Schmidt worked previously with IWC, and was also part of Günter Blümlein’s team to revive A. Lange & Söhne. This year Sinn is celebrating 30 years since Mr. Schmidt acquired the company. It was a coincidence that the day of my visit, news broke regarding Mr. Schmidt’s succession plans. He will celebrate his 75th birthday this year, and announced plans to create a foundation similar to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, that will own the shares of Sinn and its subsidiary companies. Mr. Schmidt also owns the SUG casemaker in the famous watchmaking village of Glashütte.  Over the past 30 years, Mr. Schmidt, with his engineering background, has developed several technologies for Sinn watches. In 1995, Ar-Dehumidifying Technology was introduced for the first tim...

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May 16, 2024

[Video] Windup Meet & Greet: Paulin is a Brand Built for the Design-Minded

While at the recent 2024 Windup Watch Fair in San Francisco, we had the chance to spend some time with fine folks at Paulin, a watch brand out of Glasgow, UK. Their booth was a hit with Windup attendees and they made the fair the launch moment for their new collaboration with the type design house OH no. Check out this Windup Meet & Greet video to learn more. The post [Video] Windup Meet & Greet: Paulin is a Brand Built for the Design-Minded appeared first on Worn & Wound.

Zodiac Partners with RedBar for a New, Glowing Limited Edition Worn & Wound
Zodiac Partners May 16, 2024

Zodiac Partners with RedBar for a New, Glowing Limited Edition

The latest limited edition from RedBar, the global network of watch meetup groups, is a nearly radioactive release made in partnership with Zodiac. It’s a subtle nod to a piece of Zodiac history that is not particularly well known while simultaneously paying proper respect to RedBar itself, all in the familiar trappings of a Super Sea Wolf diver. And, yes, the whole thing glows, and quite impressively.  Officially unveiled last night at a release party in New York, the Zodiac x RedBar Super Sea Wolf Pro Diver takes the brand’s most professional, 300 meter water resistant and ISO certified diver and effectively turns it into the type of brightly glowing orb many of us would have been obsessed with as children and still get pretty excited about today. Lume dials, when done well, have a pretty fun charm to them. There’s just something about seeing a larger than normal concentration of this stuff activated in a dark room. And the lume on this new collaboration is truly impressive, and that’s coming from someone who is on the record as not being a hardcore lume guy (I don’t even travel with a little UV light).  Like any good execution of a full lume dial, we have multiple colors of lume at work for contrast in both well lit situations and total darkness. The dial itself appears as a pale shade of green in the light, and glows an electric blue/green when charged. The hour markers, hands, and bezel hash marks are white in the daylight, and glow bright green. Important...

Bravur Adds a New Cycling Inspired Watch to their Growing Collection Worn & Wound
Bravur May 15, 2024

Bravur Adds a New Cycling Inspired Watch to their Growing Collection

Pink is everywhere you look these days. Whether at the movies with Barbie and Mean Girls or on the pitch and track with Inter-Miami and Alpine, pink is undoubtedly experiencing a moment. If you need further proof of this, look no further than Pantone, which has named a shade of pink its ‘Color of the Year’ for not only 2024, but did so for 2023 as well. So it’s no small wonder that we’re seeing pink crop up in watches of all stripes recently. One brand that has made great use of pink over the last few years is Bravur, a Swedish micro-brand making excellent watches inspired by cycling. I finally got to see their collection in person at WindUp Watch Fair in San Francisco recently, and I can attest that they are one of those brands whose watches got stuck in the corners of your mind, persistently refusing to give up space. This latest release from the brand is the Grand Tour La Corsa Rosa IV, a chronograph inspired by the Giro D’Italia (think an Italian version of the Tour de France). Now, I am not the person to dive into the intricacies of international competitive cycling, but I can tell you that, similar to the Tour de France’s yellow jersey, each day’s leader in the Giro D’Italia wears a pink jersey, and that it was this jersey which inspired the black and pink chronograph’s colorway. As the Roman numeral in the name would indicate, this is the fourth release in the Grand Tour La Corsa Rosa line of watches. While the most obvious nod to the race are the ...

Collector Profile: Modern Day Patronage with @onlybuyingtime Worn & Wound
May 15, 2024

Collector Profile: Modern Day Patronage with @onlybuyingtime

A few weeks back, I found myself sitting at the end of my kitchen island on a phone call with a man I have never met, but with whose collection I am intimately familiar. After all, CB - better known as @onlybuyingtime - has over 30k followers on Instagram, he is a voting member of the GPHG, and he is the owner and caretaker of, quite frankly, one of the most diverse collections of independent watches I’ve seen anywhere. CB has been collecting for the entirety of his adult life, though his fascination with watches extends back further. As he describes it, CB had “fun watches as a kid,” but it was only in adulthood that he really started collecting in a tangible way. “It wasn’t like I had a parent or anybody that was really into watches. I think I really fell into it as an adult and realized this is something that’s very unique to each man. It tells a lot about a personality. If you are in a sports watch vs. a dress watch; the colors, the make, the models, the complications, all that stuff tells a lot about somebody. And for me, it’s just another level of expression.” Modern Day Patronage One of the great treasures of Philadelphia is the Barnes Foundation which is, for those unfamiliar, one of the world’s stand-out collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern art. When I first moved to Philly in 2022, it took me less than a week to visit the Barnes for the first time, and, in a city filled with great museums, it remains my favorite, and...

Four EDC Picks With Free Domestic Shipping Worn & Wound
May 14, 2024

Four EDC Picks With Free Domestic Shipping

We have an exciting announcement to make here at the Windup Watch Shop: all products under $100 are now also eligible for free domestic shipping in the continental United States! This essentially opens our entire online store to enjoy this new perk. Our goal is to make it even easier and more appealing to shop the very best products – whether watches, clocks, gear, or straps at any price point. Today’s special highlight is on some of the best gear under $100 available right here in the Windup Watch Shop. From multi-tools, to knives, to storage solutions – there’s something useful in here for just about everybody. As always, the Windup Watch Shop Team is available for consultation to answer any questions you have – or even set up a demo. Reach out today to learn more! We have an exciting announcement to make here at the Windup Watch Shop: all products under $100 are now also eligible for free domestic shipping in the continental United States! This essentially opens our entire online store to enjoy this new perk. Our goal is to make it even easier and more appealing to shop the very best products – whether watches, clocks, gear, or straps at any price point. Today’s special highlight is on some of the best gear under $100 available right here in the Windup Watch Shop. From multi-tools, to knives, to storage solutions – there’s something useful in here for just about everybody. As always, the Windup Watch Shop Team is available for consultation to answe...

Video Interview with Ressence’s Benoît Mintiens Worn & Wound
Ressence s Benoît Mintiens One May 14, 2024

Video Interview with Ressence’s Benoît Mintiens

One of my favorite stops at Watches & Wonders is always Ressence. Located in the hall of smaller booths that mostly house independent brands, their clever and unique designs always stand out. This year, they didn’t have any novelties to speak of, though it was my first opportunity to see their most recent releases: the Type 1 Round Multi-Color, and Type 3 Eucalyptus. Both left an impression, but the subtly whimsical hues in the Type 1 Round Multi-Color won me over, becoming one of the watches I’ve thought about most since the fair. Since there weren’t any releases just for Watches & Wonders, we decided to sit down with brand founder Benoit Mintiens and discuss what Ressence does. We talked a bit about their approach to design and the concepts behind their simple-on-the-surface timepieces. Their watches are truly different from anything else, so, unsurprisingly, so are their goals. Check that conversation out below. The post Video Interview with Ressence’s Benoît Mintiens appeared first on Worn & Wound.

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Marathon May 14, 2024

Marathon’s SAR Lineup Outfits the Inaugural Windup in a Bay

In 2022, a group of intrepid watch enthusiast divers began a grand tradition of coupling a Lake Michigan dive adventure with the Windup Watch Fair in Chicago, affectionately referred to as Windup in a Lake. Well, this tradition has expanded to include more divers and, as of last week, a new destination. Monterey Bay was the inaugural location of the first Windup in a Bay, part of our Windup Watch Fair San Francisco festivities. Best of all, our friends at Marathon were interested in participating in this adventure as well.  When search and rescue pros from around the world reach for a mission timer, the Canada-based watchmaker Marathon has been a go-to solution for over 80 years. So, their SAR collection-short for, you guessed it, Search and Rescue-was an ideal catalog to outfit the team of pros who gathered to kick off this dip into the Pacific. For this trip to the iconic Monterey Bay, we paired a slew of dive-rated Marathon SARs with five watch enthusiasts, each with major diving chops. Here’s our official photo recap and impressions from the team. The post Marathon’s SAR Lineup Outfits the Inaugural Windup in a Bay appeared first on Worn & Wound.

Depancel Introduces their First Série-R Watch with an Automatic Chronograph Caliber Worn & Wound
May 14, 2024

Depancel Introduces their First Série-R Watch with an Automatic Chronograph Caliber

Depancel has carved out a nice little niche for themselves making highly specific automotive and racing inspired watches. These watches are frequently geared directly at watch collectors who are already steeped in car culture, with colorways inspired by classic racing liverys and case designs that emulate specific vehicle designs. Their square shaped watch, the Série-R, might appear somewhat derivative of another famous square watch connected to the racing world, but it has its own thing happening that sets it apart just enough. And this one, surprisingly, is the first chronograph in the Série-R collection.  Previous iterations of the Série-R have primarily been the home of a calendar complication with an execution that is chronograph-like, featuring subdials at 3, 6, and 9 for the calendar indicators. The new Série-R, in a “Tangerine” colorway and limited to 300 pieces, could have been easily predicted by Depancel fans. We get effectively the same layout as the calendar, but we’ve entered race mode with a three register chrono.  The new Tangerine colorway looks great, with a blue base dial with a sunray finish in the interior circular section and vertical ridges outside to fill the square. Orange and white accents figure prominently throughout, with a bold stripe down the dial’s left side, crossing the 9:00 subdial.  The case might appear like a standard square at a glance, but there’s a little more going on. The shape is meant to evoke a radiator grille,...

Farer Introduces the Banzare, a Limited Edition GMT with a Textured Dial Worn & Wound
Farer Introduces May 13, 2024

Farer Introduces the Banzare, a Limited Edition GMT with a Textured Dial

We’ve been covering Farer for a long time on Worn & Wound. To say they are a core brand in our little enthusiast corner of the watch world would be an understatement, and it’s been exciting to see them grow, experiment, and further develop their own unique design language. For as long as I’ve been covering the brand, it’s been the colors that have stood out. They have just always had a knack for picking interesting and unusual color combinations. And their typical release strategy underscores that point – they’ll frequently release a handful of watches in the same style at one time, each adopting different color palettes, and thus emphasizing the impact those decisions have on the finished product. Their latest release, the Banzare GMT, is not part of a multi-watch drop, but it does feature a striking new dial texture for the brand in a color that some die hard Farer fans are sure to appreciate.  The GMT has become a signature complication for Farer, probably because it gives the brand a chance to explore colors and contrasts in natural ways. Think of the different elements of the dial that need to be navigated here: the dial itself, the main hour markers, the time telling hands, the GMT hand, the GMT hour scale, the date, the minute track, and we haven’t even gotten to the various wordmarks yet. There’s a real challenge in making sure all of those elements play well together, and it’s something Farer has always excelled at.  The Banzare gets a plum col...

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Fortis S-41 Stratoliner May 13, 2024

[VIDEO] Windup Meet & Greet: The Fortis S-41 Stratoliner is Designed and Tested for Space Tourism

While at the recent 2024 Windup Watch Fair in San Francisco, we had the chance to catch up with Andreas Bentele of the Fortis team. When asked what his favorite Fortis watch was at the fair, he immediately responded with his love for the Fortis S-41 Stratoliner. The Stratoliner is the first watch designed and tested for the burgeoning space tourism industry! Check out this Windup Meet & Greet video to learn more. The post [VIDEO] Windup Meet & Greet: The Fortis S-41 Stratoliner is Designed and Tested for Space Tourism appeared first on Worn & Wound.

Yema Slims Down the Navygraf in a New Limited Edition Worn & Wound
Yema May 13, 2024

Yema Slims Down the Navygraf in a New Limited Edition

A micro-rotor dive watch? For under $2,000? At first blush, the concept may seem outrageous. After all, micro-rotor movements are typically reserved for high-end dress watches and complicated Indies. They’re hardly at home in the sort of accessible dive watches so many of us like, but Yema has - for the second time this year - dropped a svelte micro-rotor-powered dive watch, and they certainly have my attention. Yema is not a new name in the watch space. The brand has been around in some form or another since 1948 and, since its return to French ownership in 2008, the brand has been working hard to build itself into a leading French watchmaker. While they are best known today for their vintage-inspired dive watches like the Superman, over the last few years, Yema has slowly been building up a quiver of French-made manufacture movements produced in France’s own version of the Vallée de Joux, the watchmaking hub of Morteau. To date, they have introduced three movements in this series of French-designed calibers, with more surely to come. Though still reliant on Switzerland for regulating organs and some movement parts (not a bad thing on any level, even Roger Smith uses Swiss-made mainsprings), these movements have been a big step for the brand, and are far from being simple ETA or Sellita clones, like we so often see. The first of these was the CMM.20, a slim 3.7mm ultra-thin micro-rotor movement, with near-COSC accuracy, an anti-magnetic construction, a 70-hour po...

Four Unique Lume Dial Watches Worn & Wound
May 12, 2024

Four Unique Lume Dial Watches

The Roundup is the Windup Watch Shop’s weekly rundown of the latest and greatest watches, accessories, EDC, and more. Top billing belongs to the Treat Yourself category, which spotlights special watches worth their price tag, while the Value-Packed Pick celebrates a timepiece that provides great bang for buck. Upgrade Your Kit highlights indispensable everyday carry gadgets. When You Have Too Many Watches is all about accessories and peripherals for your watch collection. Last but not least, the Deal of the Week is a limited time bargain that you will not want to miss. Don’t forget to join the Windup Watch Shop Rewards Program to save and earn points with every purchase. The Windup Team is also available to schedule a consultation or demo with you to answer any questions you may have. This week we take a special journey down the path of lume dial watches. Historically limited in their production and seldom seen on mainstream watches, fully-lumed dials offer exceptional visibility in the dark and represent an aesthetic category of their own. They are most commonly found on sports watches – particularly dive watches – and can typically be sniffed out thanks to the dial’s creamy hue; however we will soon see this is not always the case. These are our picks for some of the most interesting and fun lume dial watches from the Shop. Reach out to our team if you have any questions! The Roundup is the Windup Watch Shop’s weekly rundown of the latest and greatest watch...

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Christopher Ward Twelve X – one May 12, 2024

A Week in Watches Ep. 80 – Highlights from the San Francisco Windup Watch Fair

In this week’s episode of A Week in Watches, we’re coming to from the Gateway Pavillion at Fort Mason in San Francisco, where just last week nearly 100 watch and gear brands came together for the biggest Windup Watch Fair on record. It was a truly great time, and we’re excited to do it again in Chicago in just a few months! As is customary for the Windup editions of A Week in Watches, we’re bringing you highlights from the show this week. Managing Editor Zach Kazan talks to Mike Pearson about the all new Christopher Ward Twelve X – one of the true sensations not just of Windup, but in the watch world at large over the last few weeks. He also chats with Nicholas Bowman-Scargill from Fears and Rob Caplan from Topper Jewelers about their latest collaboration, which launched at the fair, and he spends some time with another new release from Paulin that was also a huge hit with the San Francisco crowd. Finally, Zach chats with Trip Henderson, Founder of Lōcī Watches, a young California based brand making their Windup Watch Fair debut.  The post A Week in Watches Ep. 80 – Highlights from the San Francisco Windup Watch Fair appeared first on Worn & Wound.

Watches, Stories, & Gear: the Mudita Element Launches on Kickstarter, 10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can’t Live Without, and a New Seasonal Release from Tactile Turn Worn & Wound
Audemars Piguet Cartier May 11, 2024

Watches, Stories, & Gear: the Mudita Element Launches on Kickstarter, 10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can’t Live Without, and a New Seasonal Release from Tactile Turn

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear. This week’s Watches, Stories and Gear is sponsored by Mudita. Check out the new Mudita Element and a link to their Kickstarter below. Share your story ideas or interesting finds with us by emailing info@wornandwound.com A Screen Icon’s Watches on the Auction Block This week, Sotheby’s announced that they’ll be auctioning off a selection of Sylvester Stallone’s watches, and his collection is full of heavy hitters, to say the least. We’ve long known Stallone to be a watch guy, and he’s perhaps best known for wearing Panerais on screen and in public. Many, in fact, credit him with popularizing the brand in the mainstream as it rose to prominence twenty years ago. But Sly’s collection, as it turns out, goes way deeper than Panerai. Among the watches that will be auctioned are timepieces from Audemars Piguet, Cartier, and Rolex, as well as several Patek Philippes. The most notable of the Pateks, without a doubt, is a 6300G-010 Grandmaster Chime, the brand’s most complicated wristwatch. Stallone’s example is the first ever to be sold at auction. What’s more, it’s in completely untouched condition. It’s literally still in the sealed plastic bag it ca...

eBay Finds: A Pair of Vintage Seamasters, a Nice Citizen Bullhead Chrono, and a Funky Jump Hour Worn & Wound
Citizen Bullhead Chrono May 10, 2024

eBay Finds: A Pair of Vintage Seamasters, a Nice Citizen Bullhead Chrono, and a Funky Jump Hour

eBay Finds is back! This bi-monthly installment will feature a selection of watches currently listed on eBay that have caught the eye of editor Christoph McNeil (@vintagediver). If you come across any hidden gems on the ‘Bay drop us a note at info@wornandwound.com for potential inclusion! Vintage Omega Seamaster DeVille The Seamaster DeVille line was Omega’s dressier version of their sporty Seamaster. This example looks much like the Geneve line they put out, with its simple round case and thin bezel with straight skinny lugs. Very clean and classic 1960’s dress watch look, especially with the gold cap case. The 34-35mm case is in nice shape, and the gold cap is holding up strong. The original silver dial looks good, with a few specks here and there. The watch has the correct and original crown, and also comes with the original seven-row beads of rice bracelet! Seller states the watch runs and keeps time, so you’re all set for your next cocktail party! View auction here 1970s Initial Dynamic  Here’s a wild one for you, a vintage 1970’s direct read/jump hour from Initial Dynamic. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of them, I haven’t either! But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a super cool looking watch. Check out that oval ‘dial’, with the awesome direct read window on the left, and matching date window on the right. The chrome plated case is excellent, with sharp edges and the original brushed finish. The strap looks original to me, with a cool met...

Interview: A Conversation with Benoit de Clerck, Zenith’s New CEO Worn & Wound
Zenith s New CEO May 10, 2024

Interview: A Conversation with Benoit de Clerck, Zenith’s New CEO

A few years ago, I bought my first luxury watch on eBay, an Omega Seamaster Professional Diver 300m ref. 2220.80.00. It was a watch I had first noticed on the wrist of Daniel Craig in Casino Royale over a decade earlier, and one which I had coveted. I spent way too much money on it, and accidentally (eBay defaulted to the wrong payment method) used my parents’ credit card to buy the watch. It was a boneheaded move, compounded by eBay’s then-nascent authentication program taking over two months to actually get the watch to me. But don’t worry, I did pay my parents back in relatively short order and eventually got the watch. And I got a fun story out of it that I am unlikely to soon forget. I would posit that many of us have similar stories about how we wound up making our first big watch purchase. Benoit de Clerck, who introduced himself to me as Ben, certainly does. “My first salary was a camera, a Nikon - you know, these old cameras and all that - but my second salary was an IWC Pilot’s Watch, 3706, and the story is, I did not have enough money to pay for it.” “So I paid it part on my credit card; part on cash; borrowed money from friends, brothers, sister, and friends; and post-dated checks,” he told me, “And the guy had never seen someone who wanted to do that for a watch, and of course, I wanted that watch now, obviously.” You might be amazed to know that Ben walked out of the boutique that day with his watch. “The owner of that store took a r...

Brew Teams Up with Alton Brown for the Limited Edition Retrograph Relic Worn & Wound
Brew Teams Up May 10, 2024

Brew Teams Up with Alton Brown for the Limited Edition Retrograph Relic

The success story that is the Brew Watch Co. is one of our favorites in the entire industry. Jonathan Ferrer’s brand has grown well beyond its initial humble scope over the course of the last few years with a series of releases that have transcended the microbrand bubble, gaining admirers from every corner of the watch community. With Brew, it all comes down to the design, and every new watch proves once again that you don’t need to spend a fortune to own something unique and genuinely special. Brew’s latest release calls back to the brand’s foundation in coffee themed designs while treading new ground with a high profile collaborator. The new Retrograph Relic, released in partnership with Alton Brown, feels like a full circle moment for the brand, and for watch fans who came of age watching “Good Eats” it offers a ton of charm.  What we have here is a Retrograph, Brew’s signature Meca-Quartz chronograph, with a special oxidized dial that has been treated to express what Brew calls an “espresso-esque patina.” The tones of brown form randomly on the dial during the process, so each of the 250 pieces in this limited edition is unique.  Alton Brown’s involvement makes sense on a few levels. First, he’s a very notable watch guy, having appeared on Hodinkee’s Talking Watches all the way back in 2017, and being the subject of watch-spots from the Instagram community for even longer. Secondly, if you know his work on “Good Eats,” you know that he tak...

Introducing the B/1, the Debut Watch from Toledano & Chan Worn & Wound
Cartier s May 9, 2024

Introducing the B/1, the Debut Watch from Toledano & Chan

A long lived pet peeve of mine in the watch industry is people referring to watches as “Brutalist” without having a clue about what the term really means. How, I always wonder, can a brand refer to their watch as being inspired by Brutalist architecture without it even being made of concrete? Well, the debut watch from Toledano & Chan is properly Brutalist in a very specific way, and truly lives up to its inspiration. And while the watch itself might not be made of concrete, the box is (really), and as someone who identifies Boston City Hall as one of his favorite buildings, that scores major points in my book.  The B/1 is the result of a collaboration between watch designer Alfred Chan and artist, watch collector, entrepreneur, and budding TikTok personality Phil Toledano. You may remember Phil from his appearance on the Worn & Wound podcast, and if you’ve spent any time looking at watches on Instagram or TikTok, you’ve likely seen him unboxing new (but actually old) Pateks, Cartiers, and Piagets with his pal Mike Nouveau. Phil (who goes my Mr. Enthusiast on social media) has long been one of my favorite collectors for his eccentric and adventurous taste, fully embracing the strangest and rarest designs by the aforementioned brands and many others. If the industry as a whole is currently moving toward smaller watches, shaped cases, stone dials, and the avant-garde, let it be said that Phil got there first. He’s been interested in this stuff for years, and bangi...

Tennis Anyone? Timex Releases their Latest Peanuts Themed Novelty Worn & Wound
Timex Releases their Latest Peanuts May 9, 2024

Tennis Anyone? Timex Releases their Latest Peanuts Themed Novelty

Snoopy and the rest of Charles Schulz’s iconic Peanuts characters have graced newspaper pages since 1950 and for nearly as long, the gang has partnered with Timex to create special edition watch collaborations. Together they bring a playfulness to the wrist like few brands can. Whether you grew up reading the Sunday funnies or watching the holiday-themed specials, their collaborative collection is nostalgic, cheerful, and beloved by casual wearers and knowledgeable collectors alike. The first Timex x Peanuts watches were originally introduced in 1969, and everyone’s favorite characters have all found their way across numerous Timex watches in the 55 years since. New for 2024 is a gold-tone stainless steel Timex Marlin featuring The World-Famous Tennis Player, one of Snoopy’s alter-egos, which was first introduced in 1970. According to the legend himself, he hates playing against top players like Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors because they “keep hitting the ball back.” This manually wound timepiece is packed with delightful details, as Snoopy’s arms and his tennis ball are used to read the time. His racket arm tells the minutes, while his other arm displays the hours, and the tennis ball represents the seconds. There is a very neat animation on the Timex website that shows the hands in motion, depicting our favorite beagle in mid-swing.  Powering this one is a Japanese Miyota movement and measurements are 34mm in diameter by 10mm in thickness. The whimsical Time...

Rolex, Cartier, and the Competitive Edge: the Watches of Challengers Worn & Wound
Cartier May 9, 2024

Rolex, Cartier, and the Competitive Edge: the Watches of Challengers

Before I hop into the watches in “Challengers” and how they play into the movie, I want to establish an important fact about me - I am not a sports fan, much less a tennis fan. However, this movie wasn’t really about tennis, was it?  This is more a movie about the loss of innocence to the nature of competition. Now that is something I can understand, and I’d wager you can too. Many of us are pushed to be competitive from a young age. Whether it be through sports, academics, the competition over jobs, success in the arts, or even in love, the spirit of competition is implanted early, and if you’re not careful it can take over. And yes, when it comes to the consumption of competition, watches can play a role.  We all start out wide-eyed and accepting of others, the concept of “prejudice” or an “enemy” is not innate but instilled through slow infiltration. At the start, the characters in Challengers are exactly this - hopeful and innocent. Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) are former boarding school friends and roommates turned tennis teammates. They are close friends whose relationship extends both on and off court. Patrick is established as the naturally better tennis player at the beginning of their careers, but his love and respect for his friend Art is evident. In an early scene the two win a doubles match, but are then discussing a singles match they have the next day against one another where Art asks if Patrick woul...

[VIDEO] Hands-On with Sinn’s New Releases at Time to Watches Worn & Wound
Sinn s New Releases May 9, 2024

[VIDEO] Hands-On with Sinn’s New Releases at Time to Watches

The Time to Watches show in Geneva, which runs at the same as Watches & Wonders but is not affiliated with that show in any way, offers a very different experience than what we found in Palexpo. It’s smaller, for sure, but also much more easygoing, less hectic, and calmer in every way. Much of that comes down to the brands that exhibit at Time to Watches, which tend to be small, enthusiast focused, and largely more affordable than the high end luxury brands on the other side of town.  The show, in fact, is so relaxed that meetings are barely required. On the day we attended, you could simply walk up to a booth at pretty much anytime, sit down, and talk about the watches on display. But we did carve out time to talk to some of the brands that are squarely in our wheelhouse at Time to Watches, and the first on the docket was Sinn. As accessible as Sinn is, relatively speaking, we don’t often have the chance to go hands-on with their newest releases fresh out of the gate, so we were excited to be able to spend some time with the new HYDRO U50 dive watches and their latest aviation inspired chronograph, the 103 St Ty Hd. In these videos, Zach Weiss takes us through the new HYDRO U50, a watch that many Sinn fans have been anticipating for some time. These oil filled watches combine the practicality of Sinn’s U50 diver with the over-the-top engineering of legendary tool watches like the EZM2 and provide incredible legibility.  We also have Zach Kazan on the new 103 St Ty...

H. Moser Introduces a Pair of Streamliners on Rubber Straps with the Alpine F1 Team Worn & Wound
H. Moser Introduces May 8, 2024

H. Moser Introduces a Pair of Streamliners on Rubber Straps with the Alpine F1 Team

One of my favorite Watches & Wonders experiences these past few years was the brief time I got to spend with the Moser Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon. All tourbillons are special, of course, but this one is especially unique and I found it to be genuinely kind of awe inspiring in person. As the name of the watch implies, the cylindrical hairspring wraps around the balance spindle vertically, giving what is already a fairly dramatic watch an even more profound sense of depth. It’s a particularly challenging watchmaking feat to pull off, but pays dividends, according to Moser, in reducing friction and improving isochronism, both of which play a role in a more stable rate through the duration of the movement’s power reserve.  In the last few weeks, Moser has been busy introducing two new versions of their most impressive tourbillon, this time as part of the Streamliner collection of watches, and in both cases in partnership with the BWT Alpine F1 Team. The watches take a similar aesthetic approach seen in the Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon, with a skeletonized dial that prominently highlights the flying tourbillon at 6:00, and a decentralized dial at the 12:00 position. The difference of course is that now we have this complication in a Streamliner case (and on a rubber strap) for a watch (a pair of watches, actually) that might just be the sportiest Moser has ever made. Both versions of the watch use synthetic, translucent minerals for the small decentralized dials. For...