Monochrome
Let’s not go into too many details… This watch, the Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT, was one of the most anticipated, most discussed and most appealing watches of the fair. Somehow, in its category of watches made for “normal people” (I’m here excluding highly complex or ultra-luxurious watches that only a few can afford), it […]
Hodinkee
Plus a Panerai Submersible and a JLC Polaris.
Fratello
Doxa recently announced a new line of divers in a smaller form factor - the 39mm Sub 200T. I got a chance to try the entire lineup. I also had a full-sized Sub 300T for comparison at hand. In short, I got to form a pretty comprehensive image of what this new Doxa diver is […] Visit Hands-On With The New Downsized Doxa Sub 200T to read the full article.
Quill & Pad
At the recent FHH Roadshow in Paris, Ian Skellern saw a rare vintage Blancpain Fifty Fathoms No Radiation on a wrist and was curious about why the watch had a ‘No Radiation’ symbol featuring so prominently on the dial.
Fratello
For many of us, “that special watch” is something we may have bought to mark an occasion. Perhaps it was a gift. For Tom Place, his special Rolex Submariner is out there, somewhere, at the bottom of a lake in the United States. He is hell-bent on recovering it one day. Some people like wearing […] Visit One Man’s Ongoing Quest To Find His Long-Lost Rolex Submariner to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
Tudor returned to the U.S. market after a lengthy absence in 2013 and the Rolex-owned brand had its first big hit in this modern era with the launch of the Black Bay (originally the Heritage Black Bay), a stylish, sporty divers’ watch, with a plethora of historical details drawn from Tudor dive watches of yore. In 2018, in response to growing consumer demand both for more modest case sizes and for greater period authenticity in vintage-style timepieces, Tudor introduced the Black Bay Fifty-Eight, which proved to hit the sweet spot for many contemporary enthusiasts. Named for the year 1958, in which Tudor released the Oyster Prince Submariner Ref. 7924, the most clear forerunner to the Black Bay, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight models match that watch’s 39mm case diameter, which is downsized from the 41mm-to-43mm sizes still common to the core Black Bay series. Since its launch, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight has become one of the most popular extensions of the expanding Black Bay collection, and has been the stage for Tudor’s recent (and historically rare) forays into the realm of precious metals. Descended From a Prince: Black Bay DNA The aesthetic origin of the Black Bay starts with the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner, released in 1954, one year after big brother Rolex rolled out its own much more famous purpose-built dive watch, also called the Submariner. This original version, Ref. 7922, used the same “Mercedes” handset found on many Rolex models and was water-resistan...
Fratello
Another Friday, another Top 5! After a little break last week, we are back with our articles highlighting outstanding pre-owned watches. One of the most talked-about watches during Watches and Wonders inspired this week’s list. Is the new full-gold Rolex Deepsea truly an unnecessary statement of opulence? Many people questioned whether the existence of a […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Pre-Owned Full-Gold Rolex Sports Watches - Featuring The GMT-Master, Submariner, And More… to read the full article.
Fratello
Let me make something crystal clear: I’m not a watch fundamentalist. I don’t live by the strict rule that you can only wear an X-type watch when you are doing an X-type of activity. If I did, I probably couldn’t wear any of the watches in my modest collection. Since I’m not flying a spacecraft, […] Visit Dive Watches For Shallow People: When The GADA Watch Becomes, Well, A Bit Gaudy to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
To say Christopher Ward has come a long way in the last 20 years would be a significant understatement. Their direct-to-consumer model and their maximum 3X mark-up has quite literally made them heroes among independent micro-brands. In fact, you can easily argue that they have thoroughly outgrown the micro-brand moniker, having been responsible for plenty of genuine innovations in the affordable sector. The hits just kept on coming, especially over the last decade. In 2014 Christopher Ward launched their very first commercially viable mechanical movement. This was a 50-year first from a British watch company and it ruffled quite a few feathers. One indignant CEO of a large Swiss luxury watch brand approached them and said, “What gives you the license to do that?”. Clearly, they were on the right track. Since then, they have dramatically refined their case finishing (via their “light catcher” cases), reinvented the compressor dive watch, improved their bracelets, and added alternative case sizes to many references for a variety of wrists. However, nothing could have prepared us for the release of the immensely popular Bel Canto in November of 2022. A piece that quite literally flipped the watch world upside down. How do you follow something like that? Leave it to Christopher Ward to figure it out, and properly figure it out they did. Just at the peak of integrated bracelet sport watch mania, they threw their hat in the ring with The Twelve. Available in multiple siz...
Teddy Baldassarre
The Rolex GMT-Master II is one of the most coveted luxury travel watches on the planet, and its predecessor, the original, non-numerical GMT-Master, basically established the template that other dual-time zone timepieces have been following for more than half a century. Here is a detailed look at the history and evolution of the GMT-Master II, from its aviation-inspired beginnings in 1954 to the iconic status it enjoys in the modern era, with all the major models spotlighted in between. 1954: “PEPSI” FOR PILOTS Rolex, the luxury watch firm founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf, achieved one of its many milestones in 1953 with the launch of the Oyster Perpetual Submariner, the first serially produced wristwatch with a case water-resistant to 100 meters and hence one of the first and most influential watches purpose-built for diving. If the watch community was wondering what Rolex could possibly do for an encore, they didn’t have long to discover the answer. The following year, 1954, saw the introduction of another trend-setting, genre-defining timepiece, the original Rolex GMT-Master (Ref. 6542, which actually hit the market in 1955), the first watch capable of displaying the time in two separate time zones thanks to the clever addition of a fourth, central 24-hour hand and a bidirectional rotating 24-hour bezel. The initials in the watch’s name signify “Greenwich Mean Time,” the system of world timekeeping based on the calculation of mean solar time from the Royal ...
Monochrome
During Watches & Wonders 2024, Oris unveiled a new generation of its Aquis Date, the brand’s best-selling dive watch. While radically altering the design of your best-selling watch dive watch could alienate your loyal customer base and create an incoherent identity, Oris has limited its intervention to subtle design tweaks. Enhancing the watch visibly and […]
Worn & Wound
Someday, a history of this period in affordable independent watchmaking will be written, and the chapter on Christopher Ward is going to be the longest in this hypothetical volume, for sure. They’ve been around since 2004, and in the ensuing twenty years have gone through just about every high and low a watch brand can experience. While the ultimate thrust of their story is one of incredible growth, those of us who have been around for a little while can probably remember a time when the thought of Christopher Ward winning GPHG awards and being the toast of the watchmaking town would have been fairly unheard of. The Bel Canto, introduced at the tail end of 2022, changed all that, but the brand had been on an upward trajectory for years before. They’ve come a very long way from being one of the most hotly discussed watch forum brands (so hot, in fact, they have their own forum for C. Ward enthusiasts) know primarily for somewhat generic, but always well made, dive watches. Over the years, they’ve stepped up every facet of their business, with particularly large steps taken in case finishing and movement design. In a very low key way, they are capable of doing things at the higher end of their range that other brands at similar price points simply can’t equal. While the Bel Canto deservedly gets a lot of the press, one my favorite little pockets of Christopher Ward over the last few years has been the inventive way they’ve incorporated the classic moonphase com...
Hodinkee
Plus a Vacheron Cornes de Vache, and a Lange Saxonia Automatik.
SJX Watches
When Rolex surprised with the launch of the 1908 last year, we liked it – Brandon Moore wrote a positive review. Now Rolex has followed up with the Perpetual 1908 in platinum (ref. 52506) with an “ice blue” guilloché dial of notably high quality. Though identical in almost all respects to the versions in gold, the new 1908 is very different – and significantly more compelling. Initial thoughts Done the traditional way with a hand-operated machine, the guilloché dial gives the watch an entirely different character. The pale blue is also more modern and striking than last year’s colours, which were fairly old fashioned. At the same time, the dial has a slightly glossy finish that gives it an even brighter hue. The guilloché transforms the dial, which was fairly staid in the earlier models. I would still do away with the peculiar hands inspired by the Submariner and other sports watches, but the dial is attractive as it is. The dial is engraved on a hand-operated rose engine Not only does it look better, the platinum 1908 also feels more appealing. It has the same slim profile as the gold versions, but has more heft thanks to the denser case material. More generally, it has the same tactile quality as all Rolex watches – it feels tangibly well made despite the compact size. While the dial is impressive artisanal quality, the rest of the watch is outstanding industrial quality. Though the case is thin, it is exceptionally robust and solid, as is the screw-down ...
Monochrome
Today, we are ending our series of recap articles focused on the best new watches presented during Watches and Wonders 2024 and Geneva Watch Week (we’ve looked at dive watches, chronographs, dress watches or GMT models)… And what’s better to take a look back at some of the show’s most impressive, technically advanced and innovative […]
Fratello
Zenith introduced two new models worth discussing this year for different reasons. The brand’s Defy Skyline Chronograph was a logical next step for the series. It even felt like the watch had been part of the collection for some time. It just seems like a natural progression for the Defy Skyline. The second big new […] Visit Hands-On With The New Zenith Defy Extreme Diver - The Return Of A Zenith Dive Watch to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Oris Aquis collection of sporty dive watches is one of the Swiss brand’s most popular - and notably hosted the first Oris watch outfitted with the in-house Caliber 400 - even though it traces its history back just over a decade, to 2011. Like many watch models that catch on strongly with both collectors and casual fans, however, it actually represents the successful evolution of several models that preceded it. Here’s everything you need to know about the Oris Aquis, from its history, to the most prominent models available now, to its central role in Oris’ environmental sustainability initiatives. ORIS ORIGINS AND AQUIS EVOLUTION 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 Catlin and Georges Christian. The company, which the co-founders named after a brook near the factory, expanded throughout the early 1900s, at one point becoming the largest employer in Hölstein, with over 300 employees and factories throughout Switzerland. In 1925, Oris began making wrist watches, and in 1928, under the leadership of Christian’s brother-in-law Oscar Herzog, a new era of expansion and innovation began. Oris started making its own escapements in the watershed year of 1938, which also saw the release of the brand’s iconic Big Crown watch with pointer date function. The first automatic Oris watch was launched i...
Quill & Pad
The Pelagos 39, is now more compact, moving from 42mm to 39 mm. Even more impressive and where the most notable change will be felt, the thickness has been reduced from 15mm for the Pelagos 42 down to 11.8 for the Pelagos 39.
Time+Tide
Utility was Alpina's focus for this year's fair, expanding the Seastrong Diver and Alpiner ranges.The post Every Alpina release at Watches and Wonders 2024 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
In the pantheon of modern enthusiast brands, it’s hard to deny that Tudor sits at the top of the heap. One simple explanation for this is that Tudor is really good at giving us what we want - almost. They also have a history of giving us something exceedingly close to exactly what we ask for, with a slight twist, then having us fall in love with it anyway. When Tudor introduced the Black Bay 58, it was a clear winner. If you’ve ever been to an event where watch collectors gather en masse you’re sure to have run into one. But the original black colorway, with its heavily vintage coloring and gilt accents, wasn’t quite the modern aesthetic some people were looking for. That watch came three years later when Tudor dropped the Black Bay 58 Blue kind of out of nowhere on a random day in July 2020 (although pretty much any day that summer would have felt decidedly random). The Black Bay 58 was off like a rocket. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when, in 2021, Tudor released two more versions of the 58. What was a massive surprise was that the two new additions to the lineup were each made in precious metal. Naturally, people had thoughts. I, for one, was on board with the move, and the Black Bay 58 925 Silver is easily one of my favorite Tudors. For as much as people seemed to generally like these watches, there was a clear sense that something was missing. That something was a bracelet. Now, Tudor has solved that problem, at least for the Black Bay 58 18K. In just ab...
Fratello
Today, the Zodiac brand is predominantly associated with dive watches. But if we look back in time, we can find the Zodiac Hermetic family, which hides a few very interesting non-diving models. Among the Valjoux 72-powered chronographs and 24-hour Aerospace Jets sits one very appealing dresser that got my attention about four years ago. In […] Visit #TBT A Virgin-Like Zodiac Hermetic Small Seconds to read the full article.
Monochrome
Despite not being the most spotted watch genre during the Geneva Watch Week – there was a clear focus on smaller, more elegant and colourful timepieces this year – the dive watch remains one of the most important categories, with fierce competition between big manufactures and smaller independent brands. A key element of all watch […]
Hodinkee
The Aquanaut and Nautilus lines have taken a water-resistance hit on paper, but what does that mean from a practical perspective?
Hodinkee
It’s no “blue steel,” but the Aquanaut remains undefeated when it comes to elegant travel complications.
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