Latest watch news · Page 51

Kiwame Tokyo is a brand I began covering in 2025. The Asakusa-based company makes classically designed watches while keeping affordability in mind. So far, this strategy seems to be working. With every new release, the pieces receive almost universal praise and sell at lightning-fast speed. Today, we take a look at the newest trio of […] Visit Is The New Kiwame Tokyo Kubo Beating The Big Names At Their Own Game? to read the full article.

The Axia FIFA World Cup 2026 watches celebrate the biggest tournament in the world’s most popular sport. Rather than launching a single commemorative model, Axia has created a suite of officially licensed watches built around the FIFA World Cup 2026 itself and selected national teams. If your national jersey doesn’t quite show your colors enough, […] Visit Show Your Colors With The Axia FIFA World Cup 2026 Watches to read the full article.

Bell & Ross just dropped a helicopter-yellow ceramic BR-03, Breitling did a Tour de France Top Time in Merckx yellow, Tudor scaled the Bumblebee Chrono down to 39mm. Yellow dials, yellow bezels, yellow rubber. Here's why summer belongs to yellow watches this year. Bell & Ross Helipad, Tudor Bumblebee 39, Breitling Eddy Merckx Top Time, Doxa Sub 200, TAG Heuer Formula 1, Breitling Seawolf, AP Royal Oak Offshore Diver. Seven yellow watches for summer 2026.

This weekend is the 4th of July. And it’s not just any run of the mill 4th of July, it just happens to be the 250th anniversary of American independence. America’s semiquincentennial (honestly, I’ll be glad when I no longer have to use, read, or think about that particular word) is certainly a time for celebration, just like any other Independence Day. But this one does feel somewhat momentous. I mean, it comes with its own logo, after all. It also comes with many commercial opportunities, as does every anniversary, something long known and understood in the watch community. So it’s no surprise that we’ve seen an inordinate (some would say tiring) amount of watches brandishing that “250” logo or “1776” or the colors of our flag, often from brands that aren’t even American!  Look, we love it that Swiss, British, German, and Japanese brands want to help celebrate this special birthday, but if I’m being honest, I find most of these watches in red, white, and blue with that omnipresent logo on the dial a little, I don’t know, not great? An “America 250” novelty item should be something bought at a gas station on the way to a fireworks celebration (maybe as you fill your truck with $6/gallon diesel) that can be easily discarded at the end of the night. Or maybe it should be a commemorative coin bought on the Home Shopping Network at 2:00 AM at a price you can’t resist. Should it really be a watch? I feel like it shouldn’t, but that’s just me....

Cartier has always chosen to tell time a little differently. From the first Santos wristwatch in a distinct square case, to its compelling mystery clocks, the unorthodox Tank à Guichet, the counter-intuitive Santos-Dumont Rewind, and the magic of the Masse Mystérieuse, it's a mainstream maison that has rarely approached the art of telling time by running with the pack.  Roy Davidoff (left), a vintage watch dealer and expert, and Kari Voutilainen (right), the renowned independent watchmaker, were among the panel of judges tasked with ranking the unique projects submitted for the Cartier Prize for Watchmaking Talents of Tomorrow.  That unique sensibility is at the heart of the Cartier Prize For Watchmaking Talents of Tomorrow. It's an accolade that's been awarded 28 times over three decades. But Cartier has rarely spoken about the initiative that began way back in 1995.  For its latest edition, we were given a glimpse into the process in which watchmaking students from Switzerland, France, and Belgium were tasked with creating a timepiece based on the motion of a pendulum and the theme of "reading and understanding time differently."  The resulting creations from 11 finalist watchmaking students, tasked with building a piece in just 80 hours over three months, displayed both technical prowess and artistic expression, conveying bold and surprising approaches to telling time within the Cartier design language.  Prizes were awarded at a ceremony in La Chaux-de-Fonds at C...

Ever since Kurt Klaus developed his ingenious perpetual calendar mechanism in the early 1980s, the Schaffhausen-based manufacture has made one of watchmaking’s most sophisticated complications surprisingly easy to live with. Yet despite appearing across several generations of Portugieser, the perpetual calendar had never found its way into the collection’s sportiest member. Perhaps for a reason, […]

What We Know Less than a year ago, Greubel Forsey discontinued the most emblematic pillar of its particularly well-finished watchmaking, the Balancier Contemporain. The Balancier is dead. Long live the Balancier. The new Balancier QM, that is. Very much grown out of the lessons, successes, and even the architecture of the Balancier Contemporain, the Balancier QM is the first to carry the brand's new Qualité Musée standard.  While it looks somewhat different, with a floating balance cock and rearranged location of the power reserve, the Balancier QM is a familiar watch to anyone who has seen a GF before. That's because the movement borrows much of its architecture from the old Balancier Contemporain, as well as its identical sizing (39.6mm by 12.25mm for both models), now in white gold.  What the Balancier QM is instead is more of a codification of a new Qualité Musée (QM) certification for this and future GF watches. Like the Patek seal, Qualité Fleurier, Breguet Hallmark, and other in-house standards (all three of which have also just added chronometric certification not found here), this guarantees a certain—particularly extreme—level of hand-finishing quality. Finishing has been one of the key raisons d'être for GF since its founding. There's been an "if you know, you know" quality to the brand that signaled that, included in their extreme pricing, you get extreme finishing from the brand. That was a novelty in the past, but now it's a "must" for any high-en...

Windup Watch Fair Chicago is almost here, and we’re excited to share everything happening throughout the weekend. Over the last four years, Chicago has become one of our fastest-growing events, so this year we’re moving into a brand-new venue with more space, more natural light, and more room to explore. Join us at Morgan MFG, a beautiful industrial venue just steps from Chicago’s vibrant Fulton Market district. Windup Watch Fair Chicago Friday, July 10 – Sunday, July 12, 2026 Morgan MFG 401 N Morgan St. Suite #100 Chicago, IL 60642 Free and open to everyone. No registration required. We’re also proud to welcome our Lead Sponsors for Windup Watch Fair Chicago 2026: Atelier Wen, Christopher Ward, Citizen, eBay Live, and Oris. Together with more than 70 exhibiting brands from around the world, they’ll help make this our biggest Chicago show yet. As you arrive, you’ll be welcomed by our friends at Omologato, who have partnered with Chip Ganassi Racing to bring something truly special to the show. Displayed in the main lobby all weekend will be the No. 10 IndyCar driven by Alex Palou to the 2025 IndyCar Championship—a must-see for racing fans and watch enthusiasts alike. Be sure to pick up your complimentary Windup Watch Fair guide along with the latest issue of WatchPro magazine, our inaugural Official Print Media Sponsor. While you’re there, scan our giveaway QR code for a chance to win prizes from our pals at Vostok Europe and Rumpl. Inside the venue, don...

Our roving reporter in Melbourne discovered Jaeger-LeCoultre's incredible "Valley of Inventions" exhibition, and here's what he found

The Maen Manhattan 37 Ultra-Thin is one of the brand‘s signature series. The recent boutique-exclusive Blue Fumé edition sold out almost immediately, while the textured blue model proved equally popular, disappearing from the catalogue for a time. Responding to demand, Maen has now brought it back into production, giving fans another chance to experience what […]

The industry-wide market fluctuations that took shape in the wake of the pandemic pushed an often-taboo conversation in the collecting community: are we collecting for investment or are we collecting for pleasure? Sure, it's not quite that black-and-white, but certain shifts in the market and collector behavior over the past six years are undeniable. When the value of particular brands and models began to skyrocket, the secondary market showed clear signs that people were capitalizing on the opportunity to profit, and, in turn, the pure notions of "I buy what I like" or "I collect because it's fun" began to come into question. At one end of the spectrum, many collectors were essentially becoming dealers, seizing a moment when there was a massive return on investment to be had. However, even those collectors who didn't get fully swept away in the hype at the height of the market became acutely aware of the value their watches held and how, quite literally, in the blink of an eye, that value could change for better or worse. "Hype moments are not inherently bad or good," suggests Charles Tian, Founder and CEO of WatchCharts. "Some hype is expected for a healthy market—if the market is actually alive and things are happening, that means there are passionate people in the market, and you are inevitably going to get some hype. The question is how you navigate these moments in the context of your own collecting journey." According to WatchCharts and Morgan Stanley's quarterly ...

Pitti Uomo, Florence's biannual fashion week and perhaps the world's foremost gathering of stylish men, arrived this year amid an epic heatwave. Thousands of designers, buyers, and guests made the pilgrimage anyway—sleeves rolled, shorts short, shirts linen. Hodinkee was there to document what they were wearing on their wrists. Rolex Sea-Dweller. A few trends worth noting: the "vacation watch" has arrived as a legitimate category. Quirky, colorful, and valued less for their specs than for the memories attached to them. Panerais, meanwhile, are making a quiet resurgence in their home city. Steel Rolexes and Omegas remain ubiquitous, as they have been for the past two years. But the men of Pitti Uomo are increasingly hunting smaller, more obscure, and frankly more interesting pieces. A vintage Jaeger wristwatch was the highlight for me personally. Enjoy! Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 116520.  Vintage Piaget. Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds. Panerai Luminor Power Reserve Automatic. Noah x Timex Lighthouse Watch. Rolex Bubbleback. Emilie Hawtin, founder of women's tailoring brand Clementina, with her Rolex Lady Datejust. Swatch Gent. Rolex Explorer. Baltic Tricompax Tour Auto. Longines Spirit Zulu Time. Rolex Explorer II ref. 16570. Benrus Type II. Darte x Praesidus X-1. A Longines Heritage 1945 that was inspired by a watch that Ben Clymer used to own. Q Timex Vintage Hodinkee Limited Edition. Emporio Armani Sinfonia. Cartier Santos. Cartier Tank Mus...

Straum has announced a new permanent addition to their popular Jan Mayen Collection of sports watches, the all new Frozen Metal Titanium. While at a quick glance you could be forgiven for thinking this is simply an iterative redeployment of a proven sports watch formula, there are actually a handful of notable upgrades when you start looking at it a little more closely. Like just about every other watch Straum makes, it takes inspiration from the natural landscape and a spirit of outdoor exploration, but here we also have some additional refinements and hints at potential new aesthetic directions that will have many enthusiasts curious about the brand’s future.  The first notable upgrade on the Frozen Metal Titanium is right there in the name of the watch. While not their first grade 5 titanium model, it does represent the debut of their long awaited grade 5 titanium bracelet. It has a blasted finish to match the case and an H-link design, and Straum says that it is fully backward compatible with other titanium watches in their catalog. That’s a big win for Straum’s existing customers, and makes good on what amounts to a social compact a brand makes when they develop an integrated bracelet sports watch: provide workable strap and bracelet options that your early adopters can take advantage of.  The other new developments here can be found in the dial treatment. Straum is using a new galvanic treatment for this dial execution that they say “frosts” the edges of ...

When your brand name is a contraction of three historic French car manufacturers – Delage, Panhard and Facel Vega – the automotive theme is more than a passing reference. Founded in 2018 by engineer and motorsport enthusiast Clément Meynier, Depancel‘s core products focus on sporty racing watches and chronographs. The distinctive rectangular Serie-R collection welcomes […]

Longines revived the Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve in 2024, bringing back one of the brand’s most original mechanical displays, a patented solution first introduced in 1959 that shows the remaining energy stored in the mainspring with rotating discs. Released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Conquest collection, the model successfully combined faithful vintage […]

What We Know Today, Longines follows up its 2024 release of the Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve with a new colorway, adding a light blue opaline dial to the mix. Yes, this one's just a new dial color, but it offers a completely different feel from the three previous models in the very conservative shades of cream, grey, and black. The Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve serves as an homage to a 1959 model from the brand with the same kind of power reserve indication, but you can bet that they weren't doing light blue in this watch back in the day. The hue on the front is a refreshing change, but the styling on the dial otherwise remains the same, with a sector dial framing the unique power reserve indicator right in the center. What makes it interesting is that the power reserve isn't just displayed by a rotating pointer, but rather by a dance between the two discs of the power-reserve hours track and the inner pointer.  This means that, depending on how you've wound the watch, the positioning of the pointer from full to empty may not always be the same on the dial. This certainly makes for a less intuitive setup, though in all fairness, this piece of information is probably secondary compared to the time and date, for things you'd need at a glance. A date window sits at twelve o'clock, nicely framed in an appliqué, and is accompanied by applied hour markers throughout. The case is well-proportioned for a wide range of wrist sizes, although rather tall for a ...

Have you seen a rainbow anywhere lately? I haven’t, but every time I see one, I think about the pot of gold that’s supposed to be sitting right at the end of it. Independent watch brand Awake also makes me think there’s a connection between the two. Lex recently went hands-on with the Sơn Mài […] Visit After Giving Us The Rainbow, Awake Now Gets Us The Pot Of Gold With The New Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf Royal Blue to read the full article.

Bringing the original high-tech ceramic timepiece back to the catalogue with full 80s style in black and gold.

When I first saw this watch, it immediately started the iconic tune of the 1980s cult TV show Airwolf, centred around a top-secret supersonic helicopter operated by a fellow named Stringfellow Hawke. Aired from 1984 to 1987, it followed in the footsteps of shows like Knight Rider, The A-Team and Robocop. This new Bell & […]

I suppose that out of all of my teammates, I come from the hottest place. Perhaps Nacho, with his Spanish roots, ties with me, but South Florida probably wins on humidity. Therefore, I’ve technically lived with summer watches for most of my life. While Balazs and I discussed this curious sub-genre on a recent Fratello On […] Visit The Best Summer Watches: Mike’s Five Picks From Rolex, Synchron, Victorinox, TAG Heuer, And Hamilton to read the full article.

In all four seasons of the Fratello Talks podcast, we’ve never dedicated an episode to watch dials. We thought it was about time to change that. The dial is one of the most important parts of a watch, as it’s the “face” that gets the most attention when checking the time. It often draws the […] Visit Fratello Talks: Texture, Color, Stone — Let’s Talk Dials to read the full article.

Citizen enhances their The Citizen collection with a dial made using the shibori dying method to depict mist like patterns on indigo on the dial.

American watchmaking seems to be on the rebound, though it bears repeating that the number of brands doing substantial work within the 50 states remains low. On the eve of the nation’s 250th birthday, we examine another aspect of the domestic watch industry: the state of its watchmaking training system. To bring this topic into focus, we visited the Watch Technology Institute (WTI) at North Seattle College (NSC) — the last remaining full-time public watchmaking programme in the US capable of granting a major certification. The Watch Technology Institute at North Seattle College. Image – WTI The state of watch education in the United States The United States was once a watchmaking powerhouse that forced a massive shift toward industrialised watchmaking in Switzerland. But the domestic industry faltered as consumer tastes shifted to favour wristwatches, and the nation’s industrialists effectively gave up on watchmaking to focus on other markets. That explains why most American watchmakers today are oriented toward the service and maintenance of Swiss-made watches. There’s been a renewed emphasis in recent years on making complete watches in the US — J.N. Shapiro’s Resurgence is a representative example — but the needs and trends of the broader market help explain America’s increasingly consolidated training landscape. Understanding WTI and SAWTA The history of WTI dates to the post-war era, when a large number of vocational schools were opened in the US to ...

Why Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin sit alone at the top of the watch hierarchy, why Rolex isn't in the conversation, and which of the three is the right buy depending on what you actually care about. The Holy Trinity of watches explained: Patek, AP, Vacheron. Why these three sit alone, why Rolex isn't in the room, and how to choose one as a collector.

The Ultra-Cermet sports chronograph returns in a Mineral Blue colorway that's hard to ignore. Parmigiani Tonda PF Sport Chrono Ultra-Cermet Mineral Blue: sintered cermet case, blue dial, matching rubber strap. Weekend weapon, colour-refreshed.