Hodinkee
Bring a Loupe: An IWC X Porsche Design Kompassuhr, A Vacheron Constantin Ref. 6782, And A Breitling Chronomat Ref. 769
Your weekly dose of watches from around the web
Results for The Royal Oak Launch Story
41,517 articles · 261 videos found · page 1278 of 1393
Hodinkee
Revolution
Full Metal Fugu: Citizen Promaster NY009
Citizen updates the Promaster NY009 fan favourite diver with stainless steel bracelets.
Revolution
Swatch Group Furious Over Antitrust Agency’s Impending Movement Sale Ban
The Swiss Competition Commission will ban ETA from supplying movements to all third-party customers in 2020, starting 1st January; Swatch Group calls foul.
SJX Watches
Editorial: Marco Lang on Being a (Newly) Independent Watchmaker
The label “independent watchmaking” does not come from watchmakers themselves. Rather, it is an attempt by collectors, and also journalists, to distinguish smaller watch manufacturers from larger luxury companies. The phrase usually refers to brands or makers that share certain qualities: being niche as opposed to mainstream; having highly creative products made in small quantities; often founded by watchmakers with high horological competence, who are also rather non-commercial, while possessing the idealistic philosophy of an artist. From this, the important question arises for the watch collector – are resulting timepieces fundamentally more valuable, particularly when compared to watches from big brands that are produced by the thousands and boosted by heavy marketing? That can only be answered by the collector. The watchmaker, on the other hand, has to balance the pros and cons of being an independent. Marco Lang in his workshop, located within his home. Photo – Marco Lang Going independent Starting up an independent watch brand is quite different from building a more conventional watch company. A watchmaker probably starts with a good idea and from that, builds a very unusual watch. He would like the world to know about his idea, so scrapes together all his savings – maybe even he savings of friends and family – and then exhibits his creation at a fair. The more business-minded watchmakers might think of market studies or analyse the competition. But some...
Quill & Pad
Three Times A Toric: Is Parmigiani’s First Model Also Its Best?
Martin Green feels that the Parmigiani Toric was, and is, perfectly proportioned, with just the right dash of eccentricity incorporated into its design. But does adding complications change that? And does all of that still deserve the title of Parmigiani's best-looking line?
Deployant
Review: Asaoka’s Kurono Classic – Midnight Blue and Eggshell White
Hajime Asaoka's Kurono Classic watches is a less expensive route to his work. We take a close look at two variants - the Midnight Blue and Eggshell White.
Revolution
2019 Revolution Awards: Best Invention
Revolution editors and writers pick the most outstanding timepieces of 2019, celebrating the best in a competitive field of many greats.
Hodinkee
Found: A Unique Tourbillon Wristwatch Made By George Daniels
The team at London's A Collected Man just sold a genuine piece of horological history.
WatchAdvice
Zenith Defy El Primero 21 Carbon Review
The fifth rendition of the Zenith Defy El Primero 21 sees the brand giving the model a complete carbon look. After the black ceramic and rose gold versions were released in 2018 along with the titanium and black ceramic in 2017, Zenith introduced the Defy El Primero 21 Carbon edition during this year’s Baselworld. The Defy collection is leading Zenith into the future with the brand’s innovative watchmaking being utilized in their latest models. We had a chance to review the Inventor and Classic models from the Defy collection, which were surely eye-catching pieces, to say the least. (You can find the reviews to Inventor and Defy Classic here ). Make no mistake, however; the Defy El Primero 21 Carbon is just as pleasing to look at, even if everything seems as if it’s trying to blend in with its camo-style appearance. The beauty of using carbon fibre is that due to the nature of the material and how the alternating layers of carbon fibres are always randomly arranged, each individual piece will be unique. As carbon fibre is used for the faceted case, round bezel, crown, chronograph pushers and buckle head, each of these pieces will vary in aesthetic appearance from one watch to another. This makes the watch that you buy a truly unique piece. The carbon fibre case and the round bezel is what gets your attention first in this piece. As said earlier, the way the carbon fibre is patterned gives off a subtle camouflage appearance. After wearing the Defy El Primer...
SJX Watches
Tudor Extends Warranty on All Watches to 5 Years
In keeping with the lengthening guarantee periods throughout the watch industry – eight years at Cartier and most other Richemont brands, and five years at Rolex and Omega – Tudor has just announced the guarantee period for all its watches is now five years, for all watches sold from January 1, 2020 onwards. But owners of recently purchased Tudor watches will also get a warranty enhancement: all watches sold from July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 get an 18-month warranty extension, in addition to the existing two-years, for a total of three and a half years, or 42 months. Watches sold before July 1, 2018 retain the unchanged, two-year warranty. The Tudor Black Bay Chrono Dark Tudor’s warranty extension further enhances the value inherent in its remarkably well-made and well-priced watches, which are amongst the best value propositions on the market today. The warranty extension is unsurprising, not only because of the competition, but also because Tudor watches – particularly those powered by its in-house movements – are extensively tested and notably reliable.
Deployant
New: Hermès Slim D’Hermès Cheval Ikat
Hermès releases the new Slim D’Hermès Cheval Ikat featuring the ancient Asian art of making textile known as Ikat. The motif of a horse adorns the dial.
Revolution
2019 Revolution Awards: Best Collaboration
Revolution editors and writers pick the most outstanding timepieces of 2019, celebrating the best in a competitive field of many greats.
SJX Watches
Hands-On: Panerai Radiomir 8 Days 45mm PAM 992
Panerai has gently eased itself towards a focus on more civilian sports watches, as opposed to retro-navy diver instrument remakes, since chief executive Jean-Marc Pontroué took the helm in 2018. So its most recent releases this year include the extra-thin Luminor Due in titanium, along with commemorative editions for the America’s Cup yacht race. But Panerai is still keeping one eye on its Marina Militare heritage, exemplified by the pair of Radiomir watches unveiled last month, the most interesting of which is the Radiomir 8 Days 45mm (PAM00992). It has a vintage-esque style – not really a one for one remake – combined with an in-house, eight-day movement and a relatively accessible price of US$8,500. Most unusually, the steel case has a faux aged finish that Panerai is trying for the first time. Marina Militare The new Radiomir is not a remake of a vintage Panerai, but rather it’s a mix-and-match of various elements, including the engraved logo and “8 Giorni” emblem at three. Traditionalists might find it impure, but that was essentially the founding formula for the modern Panerai company. The result is a good-looking watch that approximates the look of a vintage Panerai while offering modern conveniences like a long power reserve. Even though it’s a large watch – the case is 45mm – it’s smallish by Panerai standards, since the military-style Panerai watches are usually 47mm. But it is big enough to look like a Panerai, and it wears well for a 45mm...
Quill & Pad
Greubel Forsey GMT Sport: Object Of Desire
If ever there was an unlikely concept, it would have to be the idea of Greubel Forsey – the masters of ultra-finished, mechanically inventive, and (at least in GaryG's view) imposingly dressy watches – coming out with a sporty watch.
Hodinkee
10 Questions: With John Goldberger
The man, the myth, the legend.
Deployant
Dear Santa: Peter’s Christmas Wishlist
The Chief Editor's wishlist in his letter to Santa. Three watches. One below S$10k, one below S$25k, and one money no object. What did he pick?
Revolution
2019 Revolution Awards: Sports Chic
Revolution editors and writers pick the most outstanding timepieces of 2019, celebrating the best in a competitive field of many greats.
SJX Watches
Hermès Introduces a Duo in Delicate Wood Marquetry
In its usual tasteful yet quirky style, Hermès has unveiled a pair of wristwatches featuring dials decorated in wood marquetry, tiny pieces of exotic woods assembled like a puzzle to form striking, abstract motifs; last year Hermes did the same in leather. Created by a young French marquetry artist, the dials start with a line drawing on tracing paper, which is then digitised and scaled down to the size of the dial. The reduced drawing is then printed out and cut into its component parts with a scalpel, forming the pattern for cutting. Each piece is then glued to a thin slice of exotic wood that is then cut with a small electric fret saw. The resulting bits of wood are then assembled with a tweezer, and occasional gentle hammering, before the dials are sanded and varnished, making them seem like an unbroken whole. Monochromatic yet intriguing enough to make you look twice, the Arceau Astrologie Nouvelle reproduces the pattern from the silk scarf of the same name. The original Astrologie scarf featured a classical star chart, but in 2012 designer Cyrille Diatkine reinterpreted the motif – nouvelle is French for “new” – breaking it up into alternating and inverted segments. The Astrologie Nouvelle motif has been recreated using tulipwood, a wood that can vary in colour from white to dark blue according to Hermès, resulting in the contrasting colours of the dial. Its case is 41mm and 18k white gold, containing the H1837 automatic made by Vaucher, a movement maker...
Time+Tide
LIST: Nick Kenyon’s 5 favourite articles of 2019
As 2019 draws to a close and I get the opportunity to reflect on the year that was (as well as prepare for endless upcoming jokes on my 2020 vision), it’s impossible not to acknowledge that it has been a massive year for Time+Tide. The team has worked hard on a number of different projects, … ContinuedThe post LIST: Nick Kenyon’s 5 favourite articles of 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Top 5 Least Useful Horological Complications (And Why They Are Still Awesome)
In the real world, some complications are pretty useless. And that's not saying they aren’t cool. Here Joshua Munchow runs through his top 5 most useless complications and why they are simultaneously useless and cool.
SJX Watches
Business News: Swiss Authorities Weigh ETA Sales Ban
According to Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende (via Reuters), Switzerland’s Competition Commission, a federal body that oversees competition and antitrust matters, is considering an outright ban of movements sales by ETA to third parties, in other words brands outside of the Swatch Group, starting January 2020. Also known as COMCO, or its German acronym WEKO, the agency is expected to deliver a verdict on December 19 . No explicit reason was cited for the potential ban, but it was implied that a recent COMCO report on the industry structure of the movement business is the reason. It is possible that COMCO believes the number of alternatives to ETA is sufficient that the watch industry would be better served over the long term by forcing watch brands to switch away from ETA. COMCO has long tussled with Switzerland’s biggest movement maker, in a dispute that began 17 years ago, when ETA announced it would gradually halt sales of ebauches, or movement blanks, to brands not owned by its parent company, Swatch Group. Because ETA was, and still is, Switzerland’s largest movement, reputedly producing some five million movements a year, its decision was regarded by COMCO as anticompetitive. And the wider Swatch Group – which is the country’s largest watchmaking conglomerate – produces perhaps a third of the components needed for watch movements in the entire industry. In the subsequent years ETA and COMCO reached various agreements over movement supply, with the l...
Deployant
Dear Santa: Robin’s Christmas Wishlist
In the second installment of Dear Santa, Robin shares with us some of the watches that he had chosen for his Christmas wishlist.
Time+Tide
RECOMMENDED READING: How watches became financial assets
The topic of watches and their worth has been the talk of 2019. With never-ending threads of comments on social media, expressing frustration at the current prices of some pieces, retailers attempting to negotiate the challenge of managing wait-lists, and the growth of The Flipper in the world of watch buyers, it seems that 2019 … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: How watches became financial assets appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Seiko Prospex ‘Alpinist-Inspired’ Watches For 2020
After months of buildup, the not-so-secret Alpinist refresh is finally underway.
Deployant
Dear Santa: Chester’s Christmas Wishlist
We begin our holidays special with 3 watch selections from each of our writers. This time the watches are categorised by price, with three tiers of prices under 1) SGD10,000, 2) SGD25,000; and 3) Limitless.
Quill & Pad
Kees Engelbarts Tourbillon Organic Skeleton – Reprise
Extraordinary engraver Kees Engelbarts loves his skeletonized watches as they do very much showcase his art form. “I wanted to make another kind of skeleton watch,” he says about his creation called Tourbillon Organic Skeleton. “Most skeleton watches are, as you know, very symmetric. My plan was to make a skeleton watch without a drawing or plan before starting, by just taking away material from the base plate and bridges that is not needed.”
Hodinkee
Bring a Loupe: A Rolex GMT Master, An Eberhard Extra Fort, And An Angelus Chronodato
Your weekly round-up of vintage watches from around the web.
Deployant
Chillout TGIF: Phase One XF IQ4 150 with lenses
We try out the world's most expensive camera system for a week - the Phase One XF IQ4 150 with Schneider Kreuznach Bue Ring lenses, and give our user views.
SJX Watches
Up Close: J.N. Shapiro Infinity Series
An educator by profession, Josh Shapiro had a longtime interest in watchmaking, which sharpened into a pursuit of traditional engine turning in 2013. After several years of practice – and a roomful of guilloche machines – the self-taught guillocheur and watchmaker produced a handful of dials for American watchmaker David Walter in 2016. And last year Josh launched his own brand, J.N. Shapiro, which he now pursues full-time, while remaining a part-time vice principal at a high school in Los Angeles. His debut watch was the Infinity Series, named after the Infinity Weave, a proprietary guilloche pattern he invented. The first J.N. Shapiro Infinity Series delivered, the watch pictured here, was finished earlier this year – and is numbered “N.01”. Though Josh offers a variety of options for the case and dial colours, this watch hews closely to the prototype, with a rose gold case, silver dial, and blue hands. It’s important to note this is actually the first watch Josh sold, and consequently shows some of the inevitable inconsistencies of a watchmaker’s early work. There are a couple of stray marks and burrs on the dial, and a bit of lint, but the early work of independent watchmakers is usually inconsistent, which is part of the hand-finished charm, and also proof of how artisans evolve. Josh’s subsequent dials have improved tremendously. Josh Shapiro with one of his straight-line machines. Photo – J.N. Shapiro The Infinity Series has a simple but effect...
Revolution
Breitling Navitimer Automatic 41 Southeast Asia Boutique Limited Edition
Breitling announces the Navitimer Automatic 41 Southeast Asia Boutique Limited Edition to mark six years of dedicated boutique presence in Southeast Asia.