753 articles · 18 videos found · page 12 of 26
Monochrome
The crown is one of those watch components we rarely think much about. It has been there for well over a century, mainly performing two essential tasks: winding the movement and setting the time. We now have all sorts of crowns, including hidden crowns and even retractable crowns, yet very few have questioned whether any […]
Fratello
Another Friday, another list! This week, we dive into the world of the modern Rolex Daytona. It’s one of the most debated watches among watch enthusiasts. Whether it’s about the Daytona’s aura, the fact that it’s become an unobtainium, or its design, people have a lot to say about The Crown’s iconic chronograph. Despite all […] Visit The Top 5 Current Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Models to read the full article.
SJX Watches
In the run-up to the 57th anniversary of mankind’s first steps on the moon, Swatch has launched the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon 1969, a watch that follows the proven MoonSwatch formula but enhances the value proposition with a substantial amount of 18k MoonShine gold. In fact, the 11 g of 18k gold contained in the dial, crown, and pushers is worth nearly twice the retail price of the watch at today’s spot price. In addition to the historical “OM” designation found at six o’clock, the dial is also engraved “Au 750” denoting its solid gold construction. Initial thoughts The anniversary of the moon landing, which took place July 21, 1969, is an annual reminder of the Omega Speedmaster’s legendary status as ‘the moon watch’. It’s an old story, but it remains a good one. The MoonSwatch leans heavily on this heritage, and the latest iteration is arguably the greatest, borrowing several aesthetic motifs from the so-called “Nixon” Speedmasters that were gifted to American astronauts and government officials — namely the gold dial and black inlay for the hands and dial markers. Substantively, the Mission to the Moon 1969 is much like any other MoonSwatch, with a plastic case that’s a dead ringer for that of the Speedmaster Professional. An ETA quartz chronograph ticks inside, and the battery — now protected by a scratch-resistant cover — is accessible from the case back. That said, the Mission to the Moon 1969 is an atypical Moon...
WristBuzz
Ref. SSX01B700: solid 18K Moonshine gold dial, gold crown and pushers, 11 grams of the good stuff, and CHF 500 because Swatch decided to charge 1969 gold prices. Only 1969 pieces. ESTA lottery is live.
Monochrome
Wristwatches were a 20th century cultural trend that rendered the centuries-old pocket watch obsolete. From a functional standpoint, both watch types are the same, but changes were still needed for daily practicality on the wrist. For starters, watch cases had to shrink – pocket watches averaged 50mm in diameter with a broader range of 43mm […]
Fratello
It’s Sunday morning, so it’s time for a fresh cup of coffee to accompany a good ol’ watch brawl. This week, we picked two Rolex Oyster Perpetual models to go up against each other. Both were introduced during Watches and Wonders in April and were The Crown’s main releases for this year. The two new […] Visit Sunday Morning Showdown: Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yellow Rolesor Vs. Oyster Perpetual “Jubilee” to read the full article.
Monochrome
Presented in 2025, the Pulse collection was a significant departure for Chronoswiss. While retaining signature elements such as the onion crown, coin-edge bezel and layered dial construction, it introduced a newly designed case with an integrated-style bracelet and a very contemporary aesthetic. Earlier this year, the collection welcomed the Pulse GMT models, namely the Enamel […]
Monochrome
In 2019, Ulysse Nardin launched the Freak X. More compact, more accessible and equipped with a conventional crown, it retained the essence of the original Freak (no hands, no dial, and no crown) introduced in 2001 by visionary watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin, while adapting it for everyday wear and a broader clientele. Now, as the manufacture […]
Teddy Baldassarre
The now-discontinued Rolex Cellini forever changed the Crown's repertoire, adding elegance and decorative flair still felt in the brand's modern era.
Hodinkee
What We Know We're in the thick of baseball season, and Oris has pulled a doubleheader, of sorts. Yesterday brought us the new Hölstein edition, and today we're getting a new baseball-themed watch. Oris is the official watch sponsor of the New York Yankees, and this year, they're releasing a special watch to support one of the team's all-time legends, Lou Gehrig. The newest Big Crown Pointer Date is a special watch supporting the Lou and Eleanor Gehrig Family Foundation. The watch, in 40mm-by-12.2 mm stainless steel (with a 48.2mm lug-to-lug), is certainly inspired by the colors of the Yankees. The silver dial is surrounded by a black date ring with the "4" in blue (for Lou Gehrig's number), a blue minute track that matches the blue surrounding the hour markers. They've used a combination of Arabic numerals and stick hour markers for a sporty look. The movement is the Oris Caliber 754, with a 41-hour power reserve and automatic winding. It's delivered with a NATO strap in Yankee colors and a brown double-stitched strap that looks like a baseball glove. The caseback is engraved with a portrait of Lou Gehrig and the watch's number within the production total. There are 2130 pieces available, one for each of the consecutive games he played across 15 seasons, before his death in 1941 at the age of only 37. The retail price is CHF 2,400. Oris says that they will contribute to the work of The Lou and Eleanor Gehrig Family Foundation. What We Think The Pointer Date is probably O...
Monochrome
Watchmaking in India got a fairly late start, but the importation of Swiss watches began in the 19th century for the wealthy and royalty. The British Crown had direct rule over India for almost a century between 1858 and 1947 (a period known as the British Raj), so European luxury imports were prized among the […]
WatchAdvice
The short answer: Yes! The Cartier Tank Américaine is a standout watch that looks and feels a lot more versatile than it lets on. Let’s find out why! What We Love: A versatile yet elegant design A sportier remix of a legendary icon Wears comfortably on the leather strap What We Don’t: Readability suffers in the first and third quarters The crown is small and fiddly Where’s the display caseback? Overall Rating: 8.5/10 Value for Money: 8/10 Wearability: 9/10 Design: 9/10 Build Quality: 8/10 I think that, since I began working at WatchAdvice, my opinion on Cartier has changed the least. I’d already heard so much about it from every corner of culture; rap songs and rom-coms sing equal praise of the Parisian powerhouse. So, when this opportunity came along, it simply allowed me to get closer to a brand I had already learned to appreciate. With closeness, though, comes closer scrutiny. Cartier bears the weight of a rich legacy on its shoulders, and even the smallest deviation can have Cartier fans questioning their loyalty. Its model lines, in both jewellery and watchmaking, have become so iconic that remixing them is a massive risk. Getting it wrong, depending on who you ask, is intolerable. These are the stakes Cartier faces with the Tank Américaine. How could they possibly change the formula of such a universally popular watch collection while preserving the original DNA? That’s what I aimed to find out when I took the Tank Américaine for a spin some time ago...
Fratello
Another Friday, another list. This week, we decided to dive into the world of regatta timers. Rolex’s big introduction this year during Watches and Wonders was the updated Yacht-Master II. In itself, the updated watch proved to be a huge improvement compared to the previous generation of The Crown’s regatta timer. In both usability and […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Alternatives To The Rolex Yacht-Master II to read the full article.
Hodinkee
What We Know Want to see a magic trick? No, not the kind the Joker pulls in "The Dark Knight," but instead something pretty cool that Ming has cooked up with their new 29.06 "Peep Show." The watches below look markedly different, but the only thing that's changed is the direction the hands point. When Ming Thein showed me this watch last fall, I immediately got what was going on as he turned the crown. If you were doing the same, you'd see that the guilloché dial with a multiphase color-shifting coating (like on the 57.04 "Iris") slowly fades in and out of visibility, turning from a dazzling view to pitch black as the hands move. Any guesses on how it works? Well, it's kind of a trick question, because the hands aren't actually hands. Instead, they're polarized sapphire discs with a hands made of Super-LumiNova X1 fill. The two pieces of sapphire are linearly polarized, so when they're aligned (on top of each other or directly opposite each other), the polarizer lets light in, and you can see that metal disc with color-shifting treatment. As the hands rotate, you see less and less of the dial until it turns black when the two discs are at 90º to each other. When you learn the effect, it's pretty simple, but it's certainly effective in person. All this is in a 29-series case, which is a bit more reserved than the 57-series case. It's made in lightweight Grade 5 titanium, measuring 40mm by 11.8mm, with a 22mm lug width. The case has a 50-meter water resistance. Inside the ...
Monochrome
Although the vast majority of mechanical watches are still made in steel, there are plenty of alternative materials, of course. One of the oldest and most widespread ones is gold, followed by titanium and perhaps platinum. On the more uncommon end of the spectrum, we find watches made in other types of metals, cutting-edge composite […]
Fratello
The Citizen “bullhead” chronograph returns in the form of the Challenge Timer, a design that dates back to the 1970s. Citizen now reintroduces this formerly Japan-only model to the European market with the eponymous layout, with the pushers and crown at the top of the case. This reissue matters for a simple reason. Demand for […] Visit Hands-On With The New Quartz Citizen Challenge Timer “Tsuno” to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
One of my favorite days on the watch media calendar every year is the Naoya Hida preview day. Every spring for the last few years, watch media types make appointments at the Armoury on the Upper East Side to get a look at the upcoming Naoya Hida releases for the year. It feels like a very old fashioned way of doing things. Yes, there’s a press release sent out ahead of time, but Naoya Hida only makes one announcement like this per year – there are no mid-cycle drops or limited editions released to coincide with some later event. Members of the Naoya Hida team are present and there to explain the collection, piece by piece. This year, Naoya Hida will produce a total of 10 models, 7 of which are new designs. We won’t go through each one here, but rather focus on the references that are completely new and those that have the most notable upgrades. The reference that immediately caught my eye and was easily the most unexpected of the bunch is the new NH TYPE2C-2. To this point, Naoya Hida has really been defined, in my estimation, by their dial aesthetic, which prominently features elaborate hand engravings in the dial surface. It’s a very traditional and inherently ornate way to make a dial, and the execution is always top notch. It’s a type of craft that’s a true “IYKYK” proposition, though. From a distance the handwork on these dials might not be obvious, but they really come alive under close examination, especially under a loupe. Anyway, the TYPE2C-2...
Time+Tide
Bausele's Elemental makes a return, this time with a Coorong Beach-inspired dial, cleverly incorporating beach sand in the crown
Worn & Wound
The Cartier appointment at Watches & Wonders this year was, as always, a dizzying experience. The incredible breadth of the collection is unlike anything you’ll see at Palexpo during Watches & Wonders week, and it always amazes me how freely these incredibly valuable, intricate creations are freely passed around a table of watch media types to handle, photograph, and try on. It would be absolutely impossible to run down everything we were shown in our meeting, but I keep coming back to a selection of releases that zero in on Cartier’s unique bracelet making capabilities. This is not something I normally expect from Cartier, but maybe I should. I think for the most part we recognize Cartier as masters of design and shape – there have been so many great case designs over the brand’s history it’s impossible to recount them all here. Some have become genuinely iconic and some have been a bit lost to history, but their ingenuity and creativity is second to none and they have the reputation they deserve as a design first brand for good reason. In our mind’s eye, collectively, we typically see these watches on straps. But for certain references a bracelet is key to understanding not just the visual design language, but in how these watches wear. Because a great bracelet doesn’t complete the look of a watch, it makes or breaks the experience of having it on your wrist, and can take a watch from being a beautiful design object to something you’d actually want to...
Monochrome
This year was a big one for the Rolex group, as the Crown was celebrating the 100th anniversary of its emblematic Oyster case, while Tudor turned 100 years, being founded in 1926. With this in mind, expectations were high, and some predicted fireworks of novelties, huge innovations, entirely new collections all around… And the celebrations […]
Time+Tide
A new collection of perpetual calendars from IWC marries its mastery of the pilot's watch with crown-set QPs.The post The New IWC ProSet Brings Practicality to the Perpetual Calendar appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Monochrome
After the large impact of the main release of 2025 for Rolex, the highly discussed, technical and unexpected Land-Dweller, it is time this year for the Crown to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the legendary Oyster case. And for that, the main focus of the year is the entry-level, playful Oyster Perpetual collection. But that’s […]
Monochrome
The Historiques American 1921 is one of Vacheron Constantin’s most recognisable heritage revivals: a cushion-cased, asymmetrical wristwatch inspired by early-1920s designs. Made for the American market in 1921, the distinctive wristwatch, with its 45-degree-rotated dial and unconventional crown placement, made it practical for motorists who could read the time without taking their hands off the […]
Monochrome
For about a decade, the classic blue dial TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre 11, also known as the “Steve McQueen” edition, has been one of the most recognisable chronographs. The square case, the vivid blue dial, the left-hand crown and the bi-compax layout are burned into our collective memory. Yet, while the Monaco series was used […]
Worn & Wound
Tudor is at its best when they surprise. Sure, there have been some controversial pieces over the years, like the North Flag and P01 (though I’d argue they were both very successful as attention grabbers), but watches like the BB54, BB58 925, and even FXD took us off guard when they first dropped. This year, Tudor has followed suit with the Monarch, a watch that took us off guard in the press release but impressed in person. Before getting to the watch, it was made clear to us that although this year marks 100 years of the brand, they aren’t throwing a big celebration for themselves, nor did they release a watch specifically dedicated to the centennial anniversary. The Monarch, which is a spiritual recreation or tribute to an early 20th-century Tudor model, is meant to acknowledge said birthday. So, basically, don’t call it an anniversary watch, just an anniversary-like watch. Ok, with that out of the way, let’s take a look at this surprisingly cool new model. Measuring 39mm in diameter, 11.9mm thick, and, I’m estimating, as this dimension was not provided, in the neighborhood of 48mm lug-to-lug, so basically BB58 sized, the Monarch, despite some vintage cues, looked and felt pleasantly modern on the wrist. The case, made of stainless steel, was quite different from others in the Tudor lineup. It had hooded, aggressively chamfered lugs, with a sharply faceted drop-off. There were also flat segments on either side of the case, emphasizing a geometric overall shape...
Teddy Baldassarre
A new era of legibility for the Crown's signature regatta Chronograph. More
Monochrome
For decades, the stainless steel Rolex Daytona has been one of the most desirable watches from the Crown’s catalogue. The brand’s chronograph, born in 1963, has been available in hundreds of versions, but when it comes to steel versions, the choice has always been limited to two options: silvery-white with black contrasting counters or rings, […]
Hodinkee
Plus TanTan Wang joins to talk about Oris's new Bullseye Big Crown Pointer Date, the sale of Baume & Mercier by Richemont, and Omega's 300M diver for Milano Cortina.
Monochrome
Introduced last year, the Pulse line is a departure from the classical regulator watches for which Chronoswiss became known in the 1980s. The collection keeps the key design elements such as the oversized onion crown, the coin-edge bezel, and the layered dial construction, but offers a contemporary case and an integrated bracelet. Just ahead of Watches […]
Fratello
The first Credor watch I ever saw in real life was an Eichi II. We organized a trip for our readers to Grand Seiko in Japan several years ago, and one of the guests just pulled one out of his pocket (I kid you not). Credor is the cream of the crop, the crown jewel […] Visit Introducing: The New Credor Goldfeather Urushi And Tourbillon to read the full article.
Question, suggestion, or just want to say hi? Drop a note.