35,770 articles · 308 videos found · page 1093 of 1203
Deployant
Following up on last Friday’s remarks using DeBethune’s remarkable DB25T as an example, today’s post I use the same combination on the Voutilainen Vingt8 (28). Also photographed in L’Atelier by The Hour Glass using my usual set-up. I have featured the Vingt-8 before. As I described earlier, this is a magnificent watch. As mentioned inRead More
Deployant
Following up on my walkabout impressions of the quite remarkable Leica S2, here are some photographs I made in L’Atelier by The Hour Glass using my usual set-up. I have featured the Db25T before, it is a remarkable watch. I particularly love the jumping seconds hand, and the beautiful Caliber 2109 with the magnificent bridgeRead More
Deployant
Store Visit: Malmaison by The Hour Glass: Emporium Extronaire The Malmaison by The Hour Glass is not quite new…in fact, it opened its doors just after SIH 2011…almost a year ago. But the store continues to amaze me. This is a veritable temple of luxury, conceived and created by Hour Glass’s intrepid Executive Director MichaelRead More
Deployant
Independent Watchmaking Salon in Hong Kong March of the Independents It is no secret that I am an ardent admirer of independent watchmakers. I was one of the first to invest in Philippe Dufour, by purchasing and writing about him. As early as 1999, I wrote an early article which appeared in The Business TimesRead More
Deployant
The Lange Richard Lange Pour le Merite is one of the 4 watches within the Lange collection which carry the fusee and chain mechanism. This particular example is owned by a good friend of mine. And I had the pleasure to photograph this watch under very dim conditions of a Michelin starred restaurant in Dresden…theRead More
Deployant
The De Bethune DB28…amazingly beautiful watch. The design is quite unique…the case is in the design language established by De Bethune. The watch shown is rose gold. The lugs, which are mobile and able to pivot to follow the shape of the wrists and its movements is a contrasting hue of flame treated blued titanium.Read More
Deployant
Just pictures of the piece unique Minute Repeater from Kari Voutilainen. This piece was an entry to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Complicated Watch catagory.
Deployant
I am quite fascinated by the world of the Grand Seiko. Here is a real atypical watch manufacturer. Hard core to the bone…and yet not manufacturing at the traditional heart of watchmaking in Switzerland. Their superb factory and workshops, especially the Micro Artisans Studio in Shiojiri, where I visited some years ago, make wonderful products.Read More
Deployant
Kari Voutilainen’s simple time only watch…a la Dufour’s Simplicity is the Observertoire. I had the oppportunity to photograph this masterpiece in Motiers in January, after the SIHH when I visited with some good friends. The dial shows great restraint, and looks extremely handsome. The rose engine turned dial is made onsite at Kari’s premises. IRead More
Deployant
The Hamilton Watch Company is one with an illustrious history. Founded in Lancaster, Pensylvania in the US in 1892, nearly 120 years ago, it stood right at the forefront of high precision watchmaking. They focussed in those days principally in the production of railroad watches. Pocket watches which often with two timezones though sometimes onlyRead More
Deployant
Urwerk is always amazing. The watches they make are not strictly for telling the time, but avant garde sculptures which mesmerises because of the way it reminds one of science fiction creations. One can only imagine the designers at Urwerk: the talented Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner have spent (or mis-spent) their youth marvelling atRead More
Deployant
More novelties from ALS in SIHH 2011 Lange also introduced some new entry level watches to complete the Saxonia line. The line is now quite complete with the Saxonia Automatic, the Saxonial Flat Handwound, and the Saxonia World Time. First the Saxonia Automatic. The movement is a new movement, with a full rotor instead ofRead More
Deployant
The JLC Triptyque Grand Complication…announced in SIHH 2007. This is a magnificent watch. I recently managed to have the opportunity to photograph this piece at a local dealer’s where it was on its way to being delivered to its owner. One of the more complicated watches made by JLC, the watch is based on theRead More
Deployant
Vianney Halter is an exceptional watchmaker. Supremely creative in his approach. His first watch to be unveilled to the world is a result of a collaboration with Jeff Barnes. The legend goes that Jeff and Vianney were having a drink, when the latter challenged the former, who is an industrial designer, to design a watchRead More
Deployant
Watchscape of the Patek Philippe Ref. 5101 Tourbillon in a rectangular case with form movement in platinum. A gem of a rare watch.
Deployant
Interesting dive watch…big, bold, beautiful: the Richard Mille RM28
Deployant
This is the iconic watch of the century…created by grand master watchmaker Philippe Dufour…after many years of only making super complicated watches…his portfolio before the Simplicity was the world premiere of a Grand et Petite Sonnerie on a wristwatch, and the world premiere of a wristwatch featuring dual, escapements to a single train known asRead More
Fratello
There are watchmakers, and then there is the “Watchmaker of Watchmakers,” a heavy title that Jaeger-LeCoultre earned the hard way by supplying high-end calibers to the holy trinity of horology for decades. Since 1833, the Vallée de Joux watchmaker has produced over 1,400 calibers. While that alone is a huge flex, JLC has also dedicated […] Visit The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon 36mm Returns In A Classy Pink Gold Case to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
“In times of war or uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our nation’s call. A common man with uncommon desire to succeed… I am that man.” –U.S. Navy SEAL Code A Note Writing about the military – especially those who served our nation in the U.S. Armed Forces – is something I consider to be an honor, and it’s a responsibility I take seriously. The risk of sensationalizing or exploiting veteran experiences for media or corporate gain is too great and happens too frequently to leave that acknowledgement unstated. My respect for and personal relationships with the military population sometimes leads me to be overly cautious in my approach to these subjects to protect the privacy of the individuals or the institutions with which they are affiliated. Some experiences are off the record, and that is okay. The spirit of the story remains. I also want to acknowledge that discussions of military history can be divisive. I am a U.S. military historian by training and that shapes how I think and write. But my perspective is just a small percentage of the many globally nuanced lenses that can be applied to this topic. The watch world is international, diverse, and certainly strong enough to withstand the contributions of many – even if our conclusions differ. I am a civilian. After leaving school, I had the good fortune to work as a liaison to the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs. Because of my educational background, I knew the facts and...
Hodinkee
This week on The Business of Watches, we sit down with Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, founder and CEO of Fears Watches, for an in-depth discussion. Nicholas has packed a lot into his 39 years. For the last decade, he's helmed the brand, originally founded in Bristol, England, in 1846 by his great-great-great-grandfather, Edwin Fears. Incredibly, Bowman-Scargill wasn't even aware of the Fears brand and family connection when he decided to train as a watchmaker at Rolex in the U.K. That move into watches followed an ill-timed foray into investment banking on the eve of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, the fourth managing director of Fears Watches. By the time Bowman-Scargill restarted the brand in 2016, it had been dormant for nearly four decades. He says its revival has been an exercise in business challenges, often met by the art of project management, a skill set he and his fellow Brits are uniquely adept at. Fears has now grown to about 15 people and returned to its roots in Bristol. From flirting with bankruptcy to implementing a dress code for employees and overseeing the design and production of a perpetual calendar model, Bowman-Scargill relays the dramatic tale of how the company has survived and thrived in the crowded, competitive arena of mid-tier timepieces. It's a heck of a story that offers heaps of insight for any watch enthusiast, collector, or small business owner. From what he learned and has applied at Fears from his time at...
SJX Watches
Independent watchmaking is often discussed as a world apart from the work of major brands. But the distinction becomes less clear when we look at how specific watches are made and who makes them, especially when it comes to artisanal watchmaking within industrial brands. From this perspective, the qualities that once distinguished the work of independent watchmakers are increasingly evident within major brands. Yet historical manufactures remain under-appreciated for exceptional hand finishing, distinctive movement architecture, and small-scale production that would attract considerable attention with an independent’s name on the dial. An objective measure Back in 2022, we published a widely cited market map of the fine watchmaking sector based on the concept of watchmaker-hours. The goal was to look beyond brand positioning and establish an objective, quantitative basis for comparing different approaches to production. The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Handwerkskunst is a prime example of small-scale artisanal watchmaking taking place within a larger organisation The methodology was simple: take a company’s available employee hours — essentially the headcount multiplied by the number of hours in the working year — and divide it by its total output, in terms of watches per year. The result is a theoretical maximum number of human hours available for each watch. The cal. 31-260 inside the Patek Philippe In-Line Perpetual Calendar ref. 5236P typifies the industrial-haut...
Fratello
As we’ve come to expect, Lebois & Co revives mid-century designs with care. The brand now offers its Heritage Small Seconds models in three new interpretations. Each draws from a different moment in the company’s past. Moreover, the Numeral, Baton, and Script share the same refined case and COSC-certified movement. This allows collectors to choose […] Visit Harnessing Heritage: The Lebois & Co Numeral, Baton, And Script Small Seconds to read the full article.
SJX Watches
The Renaud Tixier Monday Skeleton reveals the young independent’s debut movement in greater detail, pairing its inventive “dancer” micro-rotor with extensively reworked bridges and elaborate hand finishing. The skeletonised design gives the Monday a more distinctive identity, turning the movement’s substantial thickness into an asset through its layered architecture. Initial thoughts The Monday Skeleton feels like an important step for Renaud Tixier, an independent brand founded in 2024 by Dominique Renaud, an industry veteran and co-founder of Renaud & Papi, and Julien Tixier, a young watchmaker with a broad skillset that encompasses everything from prototyping to finishing. Most skeletonised watches share an inherent weakness, which is that they tend to resemble one another — stripping away the dial removes much of what distinguishes one watch from the next. But Renaud Tixier’s identity is rooted primarily in its engineering and craftsmanship, and the brand’s debut calibre is sufficiently distinctive that revealing it arguably gives the Monday Skeleton a stronger identity than those of its predecessors with conventional dials, which felt somewhat generic. The Monday’s raison d’être is its clever “dancer” micro-rotor system, which aims to increase winding efficiency with an integrated spring-loaded flywheel. This approach was developed by Mr Renaud, who was inspired by the energy recovery systems used in hybrid automotive powertrains. This system of...
Worn & Wound
Hublot is a brand that has long endured scrutiny for its bold and out-of-the-box approach to watchmaking, and frankly, I’ve never quite understood why the industry and the collector sphere has relentlessly put the brand under fire. In many other instances, brands have been revered for being a disrupter, so why not Hublot? The inaugural design that launched the brand back in 1980 was the first to combine a precious metal case with a rubber strap, laying the foundation for what the brand now calls the “Art of Fusion.” However, you have to understand that at the time, this was both risky and revelatory – rubber straps weren’t nearly as prevalent as they are today, and pairing one with a precious metal as opposed to stainless steel was unheard of. Now, we see rubber straps in most brands’ repertoires often combined with a precious metal. So, in fact, Hublot set the standard for something that was once audacious but now commonplace and considered totally “normal” (whatever normal really means) – maybe we should give Hublot a little more credit and not be so quick to judge. Today, we are fully celebrating that model that started it all – at the time, called the Classic Original and now known as the Classic Fusion with the aptly named Tributo. Beyond the innovative combination of materials, the original composition established some specific design codes, including the porthole shaped case with 12 prominent screws securing the bezel framing a plain and totally ...
Monochrome
Founded in 1893 by Johannes Dürrstein in the Saxon town of Glashütte, Union Glashütte set out to make high-quality German watchmaking accessible to a wider audience. Today, part of the Swatch Group, the brand combines traditional craftsmanship with distinctive design and value for money. Its affinity for classic cars is captured in the retro Belisar […]
Fratello
It’s Sunday morning, so it’s time for a hot cup of coffee, some breakfast, and another installment in our ongoing Sunday Morning Showdown series. This week, the question is whether you’ll go modern or vintage. Daan picked the updated Tudor Royal that debuted at Watches and Wonders earlier this year. It goes up against Jorg’s […] Visit Sunday Morning Showdown: Tudor Royal Vs. Rolex Oysterquartz Datejust to read the full article.
Hodinkee
When my dad was teaching me to play poker, he imparted one very clear piece of advice: Never play poker at a casino (if you've ever seen Rounders, you'll understand why). To this day, I love playing poker, and other games like slap, hearts, gin rummy, and euchre have also found a warm place in my heart, to the point that good-quality playing cards have become a necessity in my life. And there are plenty of great cards out there, but one thing many will find, once they start exploring the world of playing cards, is that novelty cards are almost universally terrible. Today, I'm happy to introduce a set that isn't, because James Lamdin and our friends over at Analog:Shift have teamed up with Éditions de la Tour to produce a new set of playing cards, and they are absolutely worth a look. Éditions de la Tour first came to my attention last year when they introduced their first deck of cards, a thematic deck with designs inspired by iconic steel sports watches like the Submariner or Royal Oak. Now, we have their follow-up, a deck whose designs draw inspiration from vintage watches of all sorts. But where last year's release focused on four special designs repeated on the face cards, this year's features 52 wholly unique designs, with each card showing an illustration of a different watch. The watches featured follow no set theme and include everything from Doxas and Tudors to Cartiers and Pateks, with the 52-watch collection having been curated by Analog:Shift founder James La...
Fratello
Another Friday, another list. This week, we pick five of our favorite recent field watches. The category always sparks debate. What began with World War I “trench watches” has evolved into a versatile range of functional, reliable, legible timekeeping companions ready for all kinds of adventures. That broader definition brings plenty of options to the […] Visit The Top 5 Recent Field Watches to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
Today, Christopher Ward officially introduces what some might call one of the worst kept secrets in indie watchmaking. We all knew that a dressy version of the brand’s Loco was coming – their British Watchmakers’ Day limited edition kind of gave it away. No one really thought that would be a one off, right? The all new C1 Loco Classic arrives as a fully formed product line within the brand’s Atelier lineup, and offers collectors who might have bristled at the aggressively sporty, angular C12 Loco a more refined option built on the same caliber with the same dramatic architecture. The C1 Loco Classic is built on a 41mm 904L stainless steel “Light-catcher” case with a mix of high polished surfaces and contrasting brushed elements. The case features a pronounced groove running through the middle section, following through to the lugs, and has a curvy, rounded appearance. It’s a thick case, measuring a total of 14.1mm tall, but over 5mm of that height belongs to the domed crystal – Christopher Ward says the case itself is 8.55mm thick. Despite its overall height, Christopher Ward has gone to great lengths to create a softer and more organic shape for the Loco Classic, and while it might not work on every wrist, visually it certainly meets the brief of a more refined Loco. As an owner of a C12 Loco, I can say that while I enjoy the case quite a bit, the real draw of the watch is the movement and the dial, and the way those two aspects of the piece are integr...
Hodinkee
What We Know If you know Urwerk, you know that they've always been looking toward the stars, making instantly recognizable watches with the brand's iconic satellite display that rotates around the dial, with the hour pointing to the minute track as the whole display turns and snaps to reveal each passing hour. They've played with a variety of approaches to this concept, widening the minute track and speeding up the snap as well, but today's release of the UR-300 "Time Quantum" introduces a new mechanic that the brand says is inspired by things at the atomic level. Not to be confused with Urwerk's other atomic-inspired watch (one of my top 10 favorite all-time modern watches, the AMC special), this watch draws from the concept of polarized entities—neutrons and electrons—swirling around. Instead of the rotating single carousel in the past, the new display features a "T-frame" structure. The current hour displays as usual; the flat portion of a triangular hour module is made of beryllium copper, brass, anodized aluminum, ARCAP AP1D, and titanium, and points to the current minute as it travels on a 108º arc. The other hours are rotated 120º on their axis to hide them for legibility. Once it approaches the 60th minute (and transitions to 0), three things happen. Power built up during the rotation forces the T-Frame into rotation in a split second. The frame jumps forward and rotates 72º to put the next hour display into position, also rotating the hour module to be visi...
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