Results for The Quartz Astron Launch

Deployant Events: Highlights of the horological fortnight.

Fortnight roundup highlights deployant events iwc blancpain laduree swatch zenith society horology events

Introducing: The 1969 Quartz Astron 50th Anniversary Limited Edition

An homage to a game-changing watch, from horology's most pivotal year.

News: Seiko Creates A One-Off With The Star Time Watch For Shohei Ohtani

Seiko has unveiled a unique mechanical watch to mark baseball player Shohei Ohtani’s10th anniversary as the brand’s ambassador in Japan. The company spent around three years developing the Seiko Star Time after drawing inspiration from Ohtani’s question: “How much time do I have left in my baseball career?” Instead of measuring elapsed seconds or featuring […] Visit News: Seiko Creates A One-Off With The Star Time Watch For Shohei Ohtani to read the full article.

Hands-On With The Farer Pilot Series II Curtis - A Fresh Take On The Pilot’s Watch

When I think of Farer, I don’t necessarily associate the brand with pilot’s watches. Moreover, I don’t link it to any particular watch category at all, even though I’ve previously reviewed a couple of iterations of the Farer World Timer. Instead, the brand is best recognized for its compelling use of color. That said, the […] Visit Hands-On With The Farer Pilot Series II Curtis — A Fresh Take On The Pilot’s Watch to read the full article.

Breaking News: Breguet Creates The First Contact-Free Escapement By Using Magnets

Breguet continues to surprise us in its 250th year. In the spirit of the brand’s name-giver, it now presents a world first. Breguet has utilized magnets to create the first 10Hz tourbillon with a magnetic escapement, which delivers constant force to the balance, and has incorporated it into the Expérimentale 1. This fast-beating tourbillon in […] Visit Breaking News: Breguet Creates The First Contact-Free Escapement By Using Magnets to read the full article.

Hamilton creates a special watch for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Stepping from films to videos games, Hamilton watches stay at the heart of compelling stories. The post Hamilton creates a special watch for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

The new Maurice Lacroix Aikon remixes titanium grades and dial colours

Maurice Lacroix goes more sporty and more bold with brightly coloured Aikon models in titanium. Rather than just picking one grade, the cases are a mix of finishes and both grade 2 and grade 5 titanium. Both the Automatic and Chronograph are powered by Sellita-based movements, priced at US$2,950 and US$4,600, respectively.   View this … ContinuedThe post The new Maurice Lacroix Aikon remixes titanium grades and dial colours appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Tudor Creates A Full Ceramic Bracelet For The Black Bay Ceramic

A new clasp might just be the real headline here.More

Tudor Creates A Pair Of Special 'Chameleon' Black Bays To Match The Visa Cash App RB Livery For The Miami Grand Prix

A credit card-inspired livery makes its way to the driver's wrists for race weekend in Miami.

Industry news: Grand Seiko creates a new company for the Asia Pacific market

Grand Seiko stretches its wings into the Asia Pacific market with the creation of the new company - Grand Seiko Asia Pacific.

Louis Moinet Creates 8 Breathtaking Wristwatches In Marvels Of The World Collection Of Unique Pieces

While every one of this boutique brand's watches is a testimony to Louis Moinet's horological storytelling, the 8 Marvels of the World do this perhaps even more intensely. These eight watches each pay tribute to a unique historical structure highlighting the heights of human civilization. Louis Moinet worked with a large team of artists to capture these feats of human engineering in the most artistic and engaging ways.

“Quartz” Is No Longer A Dirty Word - All Is Forgiven, And It’s Time To Embrace The Battery Or The Solar Cell

When something happened way over half a century ago, it is now time to forgive and embrace. Not to forgive and forget, mind you, but forgive and embrace. With the introduction of the Astron in 1969, Seiko set something in motion that shook the traditional Swiss watch industry to its core. Its existence was in […] Visit “Quartz” Is No Longer A Dirty Word — All Is Forgiven, And It’s Time To Embrace The Battery Or The Solar Cell to read the full article.

Seiko Slims the Solar-Powered Astron

Seiko is marking its 145th anniversary by continuing to push the envelope for high-end quartz. The Astron GPS Solar Dual-Time Chronograph is a series of four new references featuring a new multi-function quartz calibre, a streamlined case, and a push-button interchangeable strap system compatible with both the standard titanium bracelet and a range of silicone straps. Initial thoughts Since 1969, Seiko has been at the forefront of quartz technology, and since 2012 the brand has commercialised a range of GPS-synced solar-powered quartz watches under the Astron banner — named in honour of the groundbreaking 1969 original. The contemporary Astron models have taken quartz timekeeping about as far as it can go. Left on it’s own, it’s not the most accurate quartz watch, but the satellite link keeps the time in sync with network time and automatically adjusts to local time when travelling. Reference HAB002. Given the amount of technology packed inside — including a solar power unit — the Astron has always been a big watch. At 43.4 mm, the new Dual-Time Chronograph is not a small watch, but at just 12.4 mm thick it’s about 1 mm thinner than its predecessor, which is a welcome improvement. The bigger news, however, is outside the case: a new interchangeable strap and bracelet system. Bracelets have long been an achilles heel for both Seiko and Grand Seiko. The latter made big strides this year with a new bracelet for the Spring Drive UFA Ushio 300 Diver, and now Seiko ...

Seiko Looks to Sci-Fi for the Astron GPS

Advanced digital watches haven’t deterred leading Japanese brands from continuing to earnestly develop high-accuracy quartz watches in analog formats. Chief among them is Seiko, which has just unveiled two new limited editions of its satellite-linked Astron GPS Solar. While the SSJ037 appears to be a simple time-only watch and the SSH185 looks like a straightforward dual-time chronograph, each watch is solar-powered and includes an electronic perpetual calendar. Limited to 1,500 pieces for the SSJ037 and 1,200 pieces for the SSH185, the new collection is sci-fi inspired, featuring colours and textures common to fictional depictions of space stations. Initial thoughts There are a couple different approaches to making high-accuracy quartz watches. The first is pretty obvious, and involves developing ever-more precise quartz oscillators. Seiko has long been a champion of this school of thought, although Citizen has inched ahead in recent years. The other approach is to make a reasonably precise quartz movement that automatically syncs with an external signal, which might be a radio signal broadcast from any of the atomic reference clocks positioned around the world, a bluetooth signal from the user’s phone, or, in the case of the Astron, a satellite signal. Since the brand debuted this technology in 2012, Seiko has refined things making the watches sleeker and the interface more intuitive. As a result, the time-only SSJ037 is an ordinary 42 mm in diameter and 12 mm thick;...

VIDEO: How Audemars Piguet used the quartz crisis to refine their brand vision

It’s well-known that between 1975 and 1985, the Swiss watch industry collapsed and its chances of survival looked slim. Many manufacturers went bust or were forced to join larger conglomerates. The primary cause of the disruption was, of course, the innovation of electronic quartz movements. On Christmas day, 1969, Seiko released the Astron, the first-ever … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: How Audemars Piguet used the quartz crisis to refine their brand vision appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Weekend watch spotting with JR: #3

This weekend, I wore my DOXA SUB 200 130th Anniversary and went out in search of what other like-minded individuals had decided to attach to their wrist, and this is what I found out in the wild: Kosta’s Grand Seiko 9F quartz GMT SBGN005 Kosta’s passion for timepieces is still very much in its infancy … ContinuedThe post Weekend watch spotting with JR: #3 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Seiko Marks 50 Years of the Watch that Started the Quartz Crisis

Seiko changed watchmaking when it introduced the Quartz Astron in December 1969. Though it cost as much as a small car, it was the first commercially available quartz watch. Technology and economies of scale would rapidly reduce the cost of the quartz watch, enough that by the late 1970s the Swiss watch industry was in full blown meltdown – the Quartz Crisis. To mark the 50th anniversary of that landmark watch, Seiko has just introduced the 1969 Quartz Astron 50th Anniversary Limited Edition. Though powered by a latest generation, solar-powered and GPS-enabled quartz movement, the Astron anniversary edition is visually a remake of the original – and it still costs as much as a small car, or about US$35,000. Notably, the Astron anniversary comes a couple months after Citizen introduced its own an ultra-high end quartz watch, also with a solid gold case, but with a different approach to technology. The case of the Astron anniversary is 18k yellow gold and cushion-shaped like the original, but slightly larger at 40.9mm in diameter. The top surface of the case is “hand carved” with a fine, grain-like motif echoing the textured finish of the vintage Quartz Astron. And the pattern on the remake is a reference to itself: the carved grain motif is executed in a circular manner around the bezel, a nod to the fact that Seiko has come full circle in reproducing the 1969 design. Similarly, the dial on the new watch has a vertical, linear graining, also inspired by the finish...

The Ressence Type 9 IKE creates a rainbow light show for the wrist

Hands On: F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain Vertical Joaillerie Rubis

Earlier this year F.P. Journe unveiled its most daring jewellery watch yet, the Tourbillon Souverain Vertical Joaillerie Rubis, set with the largest baguette rubies ever used in watchmaking. Despite the current popularity of high jewellery watches, the Tourbillon Souverain Vertical Joaillerie (TVJ) Rubis is an audacious undertaking that required eight years to accumulate the right gemstones – and the destruction of 61 carats of gem-quality rubies to make this single watch. Initial thoughts Haute joaillerie watches of this sort are not new; the 1980s and 1990s saw significant demand for gem-set complicated watches, especially in Asia. But Over the last decade such watches have shifted from niche offerings to an important (and resilient) pillar of the business for many brands. Coloured stones are seeing marked interest too, as a sort of trend within a trend, as exemplified by Rolex’s “Rainbow” Daytona, one of the brand’s hottest models. Patek Philippe’s 2022 launch of the gem-set Grandmaster Chime trio can also be seen as a milestone for the genre, with one of Geneva’s flagship fine watchmaking brands adorning its flagship watch with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires. A unique Piaguet minute repeating pocket watch that’s a fine example of 1990s gem-setting high horology But with the TVJ, it’s clear that F.P. Journe is not simply following industry trends – this watch is eight years in the making and belongs to a two-decade tradition of high jewellery tour...

Hands-On With The Calgari Dimora Panda And Pierre Morlet - Two Affordable Meca-Quartz Chronographs

It’s always exciting to discover a new watch brand, even more so when it was founded in your hometown. As we’re practically neighbors, I sat down for lunch with Vincent Bakker, one of the three founders of Calgari, to learn more about this Amsterdam-based brand and its watches. The adventure started by selling off-the-shelf watches, […] Visit Hands-On With The Calgari Dimora Panda And Pierre Morlet - Two Affordable Meca-Quartz Chronographs to read the full article.

The Seiko 145th Anniversary Goes Full Purple, From Budget Diver to GPS Astron

Seiko marks its 145th anniversary by dipping six watches in Edo Purple, from the 5 Sports SKX-style diver to a GPS Astron.

Seiko’s Edo Purple Collection Adds a Speedtimer to the Astron, Alpinist, Presage and Seiko 5 Sports

Seiko’s 145th-anniversary Edo Purple collection is not one watch in a new colour. It is five very different watches using the same dark violet palette and gold-coloured details: the Astron HAB011, Alpinist HBC006, Speedtimer HBJ005, Presage HCB006 and Seiko 5 Sports HDB003. All are limited editions scheduled for October 2026. Edo purple, five ways Edo purple is a traditional Japanese colour associated with historic Tokyo, once called Edo. Here, Seiko uses it with more restraint than the name “purple anniversary” might suggest. Dials shift between violet and near-black, while the gold-coloured accents give every model some warmth without making them look like birthday decorations. Astron HAB011: the technical flagship The HAB011J1 is the high-tech member of the Edo Purple collection. Image: Seiko. The HAB011 is the outlier because its 5X83 GPS Solar calibre receives time and time-zone information from satellites. It combines dual time, a 1/20-second chronograph, a perpetual calendar and 38-city world time in a 43.3mm titanium case. The ceramic-and-titanium bezel and dual-curved sapphire crystal help it look properly finished rather than merely busy. It is limited to 2,000 pieces worldwide. Seiko has confirmed Japanese pricing, but no U.S. price yet. The graduated purple dial and ceramic centre bracelet links set the Astron apart. Image: Seiko. Alpinist HBC006: compact and capable The HBC006J brings Edo Purple to the Alpinist’s compact case and leather strap. Image: ...

Buying Guide - Refreshing Elegance, with Five Very Stylish Dress Watches

Compact and elegant watches can be timeless for a reason. It’s almost always a case of less is more, or offering something uniquely creative without overdoing it. Naturally, most people’s first thought will go to icons such as the Cartier Tank or the Patek Philippe Calatrava. Still, with the recent resurgence in the popularity of dress […]

17 Best Watches That Make The Case for Choosing Quartz Over Mechanical

We tested 17 quartz watches that make the movement feel like a strength, including solar field watches, serious divers, high-accuracy pieces, and weird digital icons.

We hosted the launch of the Formex Aria and dove deep into this new Manufacture Chronometer

The Time+Tide NYC Discovery Studio proudly hosted the launch of the Formex Aria and an in-depth discussion about the details that shape it.