Watch news, without the noise

What We Know If H. Moser is guaranteed to do anything, it's to surprise us. A watch made out of cheese. A watch inspired by the Reebok "Pump." Those are easier to process because they're fun and a bit silly. But when Moser signed a deal to be a sponsor of Alpine's Formula 1 team, it was even more surprising to me. That's a serious sponsorship for a brand that makes far fewer than 5,000 watches a year and doesn't charge Richard Mille prices. But Moser is taking full advantage of the platform and turning out very sporty watches, including this new collaboration.  This isn't the first collaboration between the brands; it began with a surprising smartwatch for the pit crew, paired with a skeletonized chronograph. Pierre Gasly (one of Alpine's drivers) also got his own limited edition. But this one takes the automotive inspiration in a different direction: lightweight and with all the Alcantara you could want (maybe even more).  While Moser has done a Streamliner tourbillon in ceramic before, that watch came with a full dial and a ceramic bracelet. The 40mm by 12.8mm case is made of anthracite grey ceramic, but now it comes with an integrated light blue Alcantara strap, a synthetic microfiber material with a soft, suede-like texture. If you're into cars, you've run into this material a lot. Unlike the previous release, this is the first skeleton-flying tourbillon version of the Streamliner, made in ceramic. Powered by the HMC 814, the watch has blue-toned plates with diamond...

What We Know Okay, let's do this one last time, yeah? For real this time. This is it. At least, I think this is it, because Doxa has yet another new watch (actually, a whole collection of 'em), and it's one a lot of people have been asking for. But before we get to that, a quick recap, because this year, Doxa has dropped (by my count and in rough order): the oversized Sub 750T, the new Sub 200 T.Graph II, the limited edition Sub 300 Ti5 Clive Cussler, a LE Sub 200 T.Graph II with Topper, a Sub Army 200T (in collaboration with Hodinkee), and — just over a week ago — the very cool Doxa Sub 300 Beta "Frogger" in collaboration with San Diego's Belmont Watches. So, it's been a big year, and now they're rounding out the summer with a hell of a line expansion with the — now standard production — Doxa Sub 300 Ti5. Basically, this new watch takes the Sub 300 Ti5 Clive Cussler released earlier in the summer and strips out all the 'Cussler-y' details. The result is… well, it's basically a Sub 300 in titanium, something I've heard plenty of Doxa fans clamoring for since the Cussler edition launched earlier this summer. Unlike the Cussler model (which was limited to just 300 pieces) and played just a little bit more with the format of the Sub 300, this new Sub 300 Ti5 pretty much follows the recipe to the letter. Even the dimensions are identical to the standard steel Sub 300, measuring 42.5mm across, 13.4mm thick, and 45mm lug-to-lug (in other words, perfect). The dial and b...

This week on The Business of Watches, a visit with the folks running Armin Strom, a true original in the small but increasingly crowded field of independent watch brands. It takes its name and original inspiration from the eponymous Swiss watchmaker who was best known for his innovative and record-setting skeletonizing techniques on watches and dials.  Childhood friends Serge Michel and Claude Greisler took over the brand in 2006. Michel, who controls the company, came from a family business background (in another field of business), while Greisler was a watchmaker and engineer. Twenty years on, Armin Strom is a true original in Swiss watchmaking, producing unique timepieces pushing the boundaries of contemporary horology from an atelier in Biel / Bienne, where most of the components are produced, decorated and finished for the brand's proprietary, in-house designed movements.  Claude Greisler (left) and Serge Michel, the co-founders of Armin Strom. This week the brand launch a new version of its Dual Time GMT Resonance in a "manufacture blue edition" with a blue mainplate. The watch employs Armin Strom's unique take on the concept of resonance with dual oscillators kept in balance by its proprietary 'resonance clutch.' The story of the development of the brand's take on the concept is a key element in its journey and we explore and unpack that process in-depth in the episode. Currently making about 400 watches a year with a staff of about 55 people, Armin Strom is on...

Oris closes out its Muppets trilogy with The Great Gonzo, and the ProPilot X platform finally meets a character as unhinged as the watch itself. The Oris ProPilot X Gonzo Edition is the third Muppets collab from Oris, following Kermit and Miss Piggy. Here's what makes it the boldest of the three.

Daniel Roth unveils the Extra Plat Rose Gold Gilt, pairing a true black gilt dial with a rose gold case and hand-wound DR002 movement.

Zenith pulls the stopwatch function from its most recognisable sports case and the result is more interesting than you'd expect. The Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport strips the El Primero down to three hands for 2026. Here's what changed, who it's for, and why it matters.

Last year, the highly successful Aikon collection welcomed the next generation of integrated sports watches for Maurice Lacroix, with the Aikon-IC range. With the added “IC” referring to Innovative Craftsmanship, Maurice Lacroix created a playground for colours, materials and finishes, as well as complications, as seen in the Aikon-IC Master Triple Retrograde. The first series […]

Breitling marks the centennial of Miles Davis' birth with a limited edition Navitimer inspired by the ref. 806 Mk5 he wore.

The Gérald Genta brand was officially revived as an independent stand-alone marque by Louis Vuitton’s elite watchmaking atelier, La Fabrique du Temps (LFT), in 2023. With a focus on high-end complications in limited quantities, the spirit of legendary designer Gérald Genta (1931-2011) lives on. For Geneva Watch Days 2026, Gérald Genta releases a second iteration […]

What We Know Why am I, the tallest editor in Hodinkee history, so weirdly excited about the smallest Oris release in recent memory? It's questions like this that don't have easy answers, but we've landed here all the same, with all 6'7" of me slightly giddy at the release of a new Big Crown Pointer Date in a 29mm case. Okay, more than slightly. I love a good pointer date, but I never considered that the smaller-wristed among us (some of them maybe ladies) would be well served by a tiny little version of Oris' long-running icon. Well, I'm glad Oris decided to make it happen. With a stainless steel case measuring 29mm by 11.4mm and a miniature 35.5mm lug-to-lug, the watch's proportions look so wildly normal that you could be fooled into thinking it is like any other previously released version. Which is a good thing. Nothing wonky or distorted, just the fluted bezel and big crown (now tapered for comfort and to be more ornate), with a slightly more daintily printed dial with a mix of printed numerals and dots (to keep from overloading a small dial with print), reworked hands (without the contrast date pointer), and dials with a mix of central sunburst and outer grained finishing. The watches come with a black dial and silver hands, or a pinky rose-toned dial and orangey-rose hands. Inside the case is an Oris 534 movement, with a 25.6mm diameter and automatic winding, beating at 4Hz and with a 42-hour power reserve. Yes, the power reserve is a bit—well—reserved, but it's ...

What We Know At Geneva Watch Days this year, Frederique Constant introduces two new references that continue to build on the momentum the brand generated at Watches and Wonders. The Highlife Moonphase Date adds a moonphase complication to the Highlife collection; the Classics Moneta Handwinding is the first mechanical movement in a collection that launched in 2024 with a quartz movement and added a solar version earlier this year. Together, the two references display the range of what the manufacture builds in-house, from a complicated moonphase module to a hand-wound caliber developed exclusively for the brand. The Highlife Moonphase Date measures 39mm and comes in two dial colors. The rosé champagne dial uses a sunray finish that radiates outward from the moonphase window at 6 o'clock rather than from the center, with gold and copper tones set against a blue moon disc. The night blue dial uses a lighter sunray finish closer in tone to its own moon disc, with a red "31" marking the final day of longer months.  The moon disc is rendered with grey shading and surface relief rather than a flat metallic disc. Both versions use applied, mirror-polished, lume-filled indexes and hands. By comparison, the Classics Moneta Handwinding measures 38.5mm and comes in a single dial color: a smoked salmon-tone gradient that darkens to black at the edges, with applied mirror-polished hour markers, two dauphine hands, and a small seconds sub-dial at 6 o'clock. The Highlife Moonphase Date...

What We Know Gerald Charles, known for their Maestro cases, continues to evolve that idea at this year's Geneva Watch Days, but this is the first time they've offered something where every piece is genuinely unique. It's based on a Gérald Genta design from 2007 called the Sarawak, a diamond-and-ruby integrated-bracelet watch created for the Royal family of Sarawak—unknown to the public until 2024—and the direct ancestor of the Masterlink. It's impressive to see the brand continue to iterate on Genta's own designs, decades on. The case looks familiar—it's a classic Maestro, coming in as a square at 38mm x 38mm. The svelte dimensions continue inside: a profile just 7.99mm thin, aided by the 2.67mm movement. There are three colorways here—Golden Rose, Rhodium, and Golden Yellow. The dial is clearly the focal point here, bringing a new element to the Masterlink lineup. Each dial is individually hand-hammered by an artisan at Gerald Charles's atelier in Geneva. It's made of maillechort—also known as German silver or nickel silver, a copper-nickel-zinc alloy — and is typically used for movement bridges and plates rather than dials.  It wasn't chosen because it's easy to work with—quite the opposite: it requires longer production times, wears tools faster, and results in a higher rejection rate. Since each dial is hammered by hand, no two are identical, and there are no applied indexes here, leaving the hundreds of small facets in full view. Inside is the ultra-th...

Founded by Gautier Massonneau in 2018, Trilobe is a French brand distinguished by its hand-free displays. Instead of traditional hands, Trilobe uses three rotating rings that align with fixed markings to display time in motion.  Last year, Trilobe released the Trente-Deux, a luxury sports watch with the brand’s unconventional display in an elegant steel case […]

From a chronograph-free Zenith El Primero to a €390,000 Gerald Genta minute repeater, ten of the watches that actually landed at Geneva Watch Days 2026. Ten Geneva Watch Days 2026 releases: Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport, Bulgari x Vianney Halter, GP Laureato Fifty Tourbillon, Ming 57.05 Comet and more.

Following the inaugural Classic Moon models presented in 2024 by Laurent Ferrier, the new Classic Moon Dusk Série Atelier retains the same combination of annual calendar and moon phase but introduces an entirely different atmosphere. Here, the familiar 40mm Galet-shaped case is crafted in yellow gold, exclusively for the Série Atelier collection, creating the mood […]

The new Meridion VX01-E from VOXEL showcases a trio of textured dial finishes with an inventive jump hour display

A compact perpetual calendar from a 180-year-old British brand hitting a genuine milestone. The Fears Brunswick 39 Perpetual Calendar is the brand's first QP, pairing a Dubois Dépraz module with a Selita base in a signature cushion case.