Monochrome
French brand Briston is known for its accessible sports watches that are easy-going and fun to wear, and the new Clubmaster Legend Diver Ocean takes that same route. Much of the brand’s identity comes from the use of cellulose acetate cases, the same material often used for sunglasses, and on top of it, this is […]
Fratello
Listen up because today, we’re talking about another new brand on Fratello. Briston, a small French brand, was established in 2013, but it’s seemingly ready for the big stage. Frankly, after going hands-on with several of the company’s pieces at Time To Watches in Geneva, I think they’re worth a look. Happily, we start our […] Visit Hands-On With The Briston Clubmaster Legend Diver Ocean to read the full article.
Monochrome
When dive watches start to flood the watch scene, it’s a sure sign that summer is just around the corner. With this in mind, Hamilton updates its go-anywhere, do-anything 40mm Khaki Navy Scuba line with wave-patterned dials and new colours. For those venturing abroad, Hamilton also proposes three new editions of its pragmatic travel-oriented diver, […]
Time+Tide
The new Wren Diver 38 Crimson is not only the latest and first red take on the brand's popular dive watch, it's also a Time+Tide exclusive.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore compact skin diver-inspired watches we’ve reviewed hands-on, with vintage charm, wearable proportions, and practical dive-watch details for daily use.
Hodinkee
This week on The Business of Watches, we sit down with Akio Naito, the President of Seiko Watch Corporation. Seiko's Credor brand, the ultra-premium offering showcasing artisanal creations, unique craftsmanship, and design, made its Watches and Wonders debut this year. We discuss Credor's positioning within the Seiko Group and its expansion into international markets. Photo credit: Mark Kauzlarich The biggest challenge for Credor, Naito says, will be increasing production for more markets, as the skills required to produce the timepieces are highly specialized and take years to master. We also get an update on Grand Seiko. Naito says the brand has increased its international sales by more than 15x over the past decade, driven largely by success in the U.S. market. Grand Seiko is continuing to update and improve its offerings, including a new ultra-accurate and ultra-luxurious dive watch in a more compact size that clients have been asking for. We also hear about the growing interest and awareness of Grand Seiko's class-leading 9F quartz movement technology, which is increasingly popular with some clients. But first, Hodinkee Senior Editor Mark Kauzlarich drops in for a fresh analysis on some of the record watch auction results from the spring sessions in Geneva. Pocket watches were hot, Journe was surging, and Patek showed continued strength with a record result for a rare Patek 2523. So what isn't hot right now? Tune in to find out. There's plenty of watch business and...
SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet (AP) and Swatch have teamed up to launch the Royal Pop, a series of lanyard-borne pocket swatches in eight pop art-inspired colourways set to hit stores on May 16th. It also debuts new manually wound Sistem 51 movements, including one with small seconds, to capture the pocket watch feel. This could be seen as AP having a little fun on a project set in motion by a Swatch-obsessed former CEO, or long-term thinking to cultivate the next generation of customers. Initial thoughts I imagine ambivalence will define the general reaction to the Royal Pop, as it should. A pop art-inspired pocket Swatch is a challenging product to casual watch buyers and enthusiasts alike. And I mean that as praise — it would have been much easier to go the MoonSwatch or Scuba Fifty Fathoms route, but much less interesting. Ref. SSX03L101N. Case in point, a non-enthusiast friend texted me over the weekend expressing interest in the Royal Pop under the common assumption that it would take after the MoonSwatch. In short, he was expecting a plastic Royal Oak. He was less enthusiastic — but not entirely put off — when I asked him how he’d feel about a manually wound pocket watch. Ref. SSX03R100N. While my favourite watches are overwhelmingly pocket watches (or pocket chronometers), I can’t see myself wearing one regularly, be it a Swatch Pop or a Nicole Nielsen tourbillon. I do, however, see myself attaching an Otg Roz Royal Pop to my keychain or workbag. Considering the recent ...
Monochrome
Founded in 1904 in Geneva, ZRC first specialised in bracelets and waterproof cases before entering the world of professional dive watches in the late 1950s. The big change came when ZRC was contracted by the French Navy and created the Grands Fonds line, robust, highly engineered instruments designed for underwater use. Defined by their unconventional […]
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Cheap dive watches can be great, but too many start to feel the same. These 6 tested divers show what value, compromise, and upgrading really look like.
Monochrome
Rado’s foray into the world of dive watches in 1962 resulted in the Captain Cook, a somewhat quirky watch that didn’t emulate the rugged tool watches populating the underwater scene. Defined by its less utilitarian character, the Captain Cook had a compact 35mm case, an inward-sloping bezel, a domed acrylic crystal, a pivoting anchor at […]
Two Broke Watch Snobs
A review of the Watchdives EXD, a titanium Tudor homage that raises questions about value, practicality, and how close a $129 watch really needs to get.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore affordable dive watches with real history under $1,000, based on hands-on testing, daily wear notes, and the stories behind each model.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Yema Navygraf Phantom CMM.10 packs an in-house automatic, 300m water resistance, and a 70-hour power reserve into a 38mm blacked-out case.
WatchAdvice
With all the talk around the new Longines HydroConquest models, we thought it best to see for ourselves what the fuss was about. What We Loved The classic dive watch look The sliding micro-adjustment on the clasp Solid build quality What We Didn’t The longer lugs make it wear a little larger than the specs suggest The Bezel action could be a little smoother The sliding micro-adjustment could have 5 mm more worth (but I’m nit-picking here) Overall Rating: 9 / 10 Value for Money: 9.5/10 Wearability: 8.5/10 Design: 9/10 Build Quality: 9/10 Recently, Longines announced the new HydroConquest collection, and there was a fair bit of talk about the new pieces within watch circles. After all, the brand released a good-looking 300m dive watch in two sizes, several colour ways and two bracelet configurations, and all for A$3,375 or A$3,550 depending on the bracelet chosen. So, it was a watch we just had to check out in person. For this review, I’ll be testing out the 42mm model on the more traditional three-link bracelet, and in the blue colourway. Mario will be tackling the 39mm model in ice blue on the mesh bracelet in a week or two, as it does wear differently and is worthy of its own spotlight. And for the photo shoot, why not take the watches down to the beautiful Manly Harbour and the Manly Boathouse? It is a great backdrop given the pedigree of the Longines HydroConquest. Initial Thoughts I’ll admit, I was not sold initially on it. Why? Well, let’s address the el...
Worn & Wound
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 Favre Leuba Chronograph Got a nice one to start off this week, this vintage Favre Leuba chronograph. The chunky 35mm cushion case is gold plated, and is in excellent condition. Nice edges and original brushed finish with stainless steel back. The back has the cool Favre Leuba hourglass logo engraved. It has a really nice chocolate brown dial with gold hands and applied gold hour markers. The subdials are also the same color brown, with red accents on the 3 o’clock dial. The large winding crown is also signed with the hourglass logo as it should. The gold and brown combo gives it a rich look. The watch is powered by the venerable Valjoux 23 manual wind chronograph movement. I have a chronograph with the same movement, and I can tell you that it is as buttery smooth as they come. The movement is clean and the watch runs well per the seller. View auction here Grand Seiko 4522-8000 Next up is a fantastic vintage Grand Seiko 4522-8000 hi-beat dress watch. The 36mm steel case is the epitome of Seiko’s “Grammar of Design” aesthetic, with broad flat planes, razor sharp edges, and a mix of brushed and polished finishes. Often these have been polished, and even the slightest...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore the vintage-style dive watches that stood out most in our hands-on reviews, balancing retro character with real-world wearability.
Monochrome
Seasoned divers, like our own Derek, will all tell you that, in our day and age, a mechanical dive watch isn’t truly relevant anymore, having been replaced by diving computers. And yet, either for safety or emotional reasons, many still use an old-school timepiece during their seasons. In the world of classic car rallies, the […]
Monochrome
Part of the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate with revenues of over USD 150 billion, Titan Watches has been around for a long time and covers a wide range of watches, from everyday quartz pieces to youth-focused lines like Fastrack. More recently, the Indian brand has also been getting more serious about mechanical watchmaking, something […]
Monochrome
At first, this new version of the Black Bay 58 may seem like a minor update, mostly focused on introducing reworked bracelets and details to remain consistent with the rest of the BB collection. Yet, things can be deceptive. In recent years, as the Black Bay collection is more than well established, Tudor has been […]
Teddy Baldassarre
An in-depth guide to the microbrand dive watches that are setting the tone in the category, from Lorier to Baltic and beyond.
Worn & Wound
There are a small handful of events where you just know you’re going to see new watch releases. Watches & Wonders, obviously. Our own Windup Watch Fairs, as well. And, as of late, missions to space of one kind or another tend to inspire brands with watches themed to space exploration, usually in partnership with organizations that have a stake in the mission. Oh, and F1 weekends in the United States. You can pretty much count on at least one of any number of brands tied to an F1 team to uncork something as interest in the sport peaks around races in one of our local time zones. This past weekend saw the return of the Miami Grand Prix, and right on cue Tudor was ready with a new watch to mark the occasion. This one, the Black Bay Chrono Carbon 26 is a direct follow up to last year’s Carbon 25, and like that watch is also a bit of a coproduction with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 team. Tudor began their partnership with the team relatively recently, in 2024, and have already released two limited edition watches, as of this weekend. The Carbon 26 sees Tudor returning to the carbon fiber Black Bay Chrono case introduced last year, but in an updated dial color. This one borrows from the yellow, black, and white livery of the VCARB 03 car, with a white main dial, black subdials, and yellow accents throughout. The case remains the same, measuring 42mm in diameter with a fixed tachymeter bezel along with screw down pushers and crown. It has the familiar lines of a Black ...
Hodinkee
It ain't always Black Bays and Pelagi at Tudor. At least, not all the time. Since the brand returned to the U.S. market in 2012, Tudor's success has been rooted in the broad appeal of watches like the Heritage Chronograph, the Pelagos, and, of course, the Black Bay. These are heritage-coded, conventional watches that nailed the price point, specs, and aesthetic demanded by the enthusiast market at the time. In the preceding decade, we saw that formula become a playbook as the Pelagos and Black Bay evolved into increasingly specific slices of that original concept. But what about the Tudors that fall outside of the playbook? Remember the North Flag or the Fastrider? What about the Black Bay P01? While the playbook has successfully executed moves for left-side crowns, silver cases, and channel lugs, not all of the brand's explorations into other formats have been smash hits. And it's not merely a question of having a historical footing, sure, the North Flag and Fastrider were quite modern, but the P01 was a functional deep cut from the brand's archives. As a watch brand, a music act, heck, as just about anything in our oh-so-branded world, it can be hard to operate outside of "your lane". That can include what is actually your lane or what has become your lane in the current context of a given brand's media. For 2026 at Watches and Wonders, Tudor stuck to the playbook, offering refinement, additional specs, new bracelets, and the like – except for one watch, the Monarch. A...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore the best affordable luxury dive watches under $5,000, with hands-on insight into the models that deliver serious build quality, everyday wearability, and real enthusiast value.
Time+Tide
Yema's new glow-in-the-dark Skin Diver shows that micro-rotor movements can also be found in accessible tool watches, too
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