4,429 articles · 257 videos found · page 135 of 157
Time+Tide
It’s Thursday, and that can mean only one thing - it’s time for Nicholas Kenyon & James Robinson to engage in another jousting of words over a watch-related point of contention. In this week’s office argument, the two pontificate whether or not it’s OK to wear dive watches on leather straps. James Robinson – The For … ContinuedThe post Crime or Sublime: Dive watches on leather straps appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
The left field of watchmaking has yielded many unusual and exotic time displays, but few have the same sense of function and purpose as Ressence. In fact, the essence of the brand is its name, which is short for the “Renaissance of the Essential”. Perhaps a key ingredient of the renaissance is the fact that its founder is not a watchmaker. Ressence was founded a decade ago by Benoît Mintiens, a Belgian industrial designer whose past work included trains, newsstands, and luggage. From the start, the identity of Ressence was crystal clear. The brand’s debut line of watches had dials that relied on a planetary gear mechanism to indicate the time (as well as a crown, which has since been removed from all its watches). Akin to a 21st century regulator-style display, it was an avant-garde way of displaying time, while still surprisingly intuitive. Benoit Mintiens Even more surprising was the longevity of the planetary time display, which has since spawned various iterations, often accompanied by novel innovations ranging from the oil-filled time display in the Type 3, to the more recent Type 2 that’s a mechanical watch that can set itself thanks to an electronic module. When Benoît visited Singapore in late 2019, I got a chance to explore his design philosophy, especially on how his background in industrial design helped inform his unique approach to watchmaking. He also delved into the subtleties of a Ressence wristwatch, and dropped a few hints about a new time ...
SJX Watches
De Bethune’s brand of watchmaking has spawned many avant-garde watches, ranging from the Urwerk collaboration for Only Watch to the East Asian-inspired Maestri Art. But its most outstanding sculptural creation is unquestionably the Dream Watch 5, an extraterrestrial seashell that tells the time. Originally launched in 2014 in mirror-polished titanium, the original Dream Watch 5 was extremely expensive, but also tiny, having the proportions of a lady’s watch. Fortunately, it was later enlarged to its current size of just under 60 mm at its widest, from crown to pointed tip, though it remains just as expensive. The Dream Watch was then iterated into several one-off examples, with the most incredible being the Dream Watch 5 in heat-blued meteorite; its extraordinary nature matched by the US$450,000 price tag. The Dream Watch 5 in meteorite More recently, a custom version of the Dream Watch 5 in 18k rose gold was delivered last year. Even though the design is exactly the same as the other variants, the rose gold specimen has a distinctly more classical look that dials back on the sci-fi feel. Like the other versions of the watch, the Dream Watch 5 in rose gold is entirely mirror polished, but also accented by an insert of polished, heat-blued titanium on the case back that extends to the crown, which is also made of the same material and then topped with a 1 carat ruby. Despite its aesthetics, the Dream Watch 5 is actually functionally simple: it indicates the hours and m...
Quill & Pad
Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle sat down with Bentley chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark to discuss how the last 100 years have set the company up for the future and how sustainability and electrification have been established as the new frontier.
Quill & Pad
Australia is burning up, so Time & Tide founder Andrew McUtchen has organized the Watch & Act charity auction. Going live on Monday, January 20, 2020 at 10:00 am AEST, the online auction is set to raise money for bushfire victims and wildlife by auctioning special watches.
Time+Tide
The English Premier League (or EPL as some people insist on calling it these days) is known for its fast, physical style of play that rarely translates to international success for the three lions. But with many famous Socceroos having plied their trade in England’s top flight, the league has strong exposure Down Under. Under … ContinuedThe post Premier League play-off – which manager is top of the League in the watch department? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
With all of the money being spent on watch advertising, brands to create a campaign that invokes that “I want it” feeling, by using celebrities or athletes, creating a comedic situation, or tugging on heartstrings. Here are a few great advertisements of recent years that John Keil loves.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: Ever wanted to know why Grand Seiko is so revered in the horological hemisphere? Well, this video perfectly sums up why the doyen of Japanese watchmaking is considered the crème de la crème on so many levels. So, if you’ve got the time, sit back and enjoy an explanation as to why Grand … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED WATCHING: A beginner’s guide to Grand Seiko appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
After having modernised the Constellation for ladies two years ago, Omega has just done the same for the men’s model, revamping the watch inside and out. Now the full range of Omega’s bestselling model line – the Constellation is likely the most popular watch model in China – has been facelifted. The new gents’ Constellation Co‑Axial Master Chronometer line-up is 26 models strong, all of which share the same basic specs. While the signature Constellation design has been retained, the case and bracelet has been sharpened with subtle improvements that given it a substantially different look. And the case is also larger, at 39 mm instead of the 38 mm of the earlier generation. But most importantly, the new model is equipped with a Master Chronometer movement containing all of Omega’s latest tech. Nip and tuck Available in steel, yellow gold, Sedna gold as well as two-tone combinations, the new Constellation retains the classic barrel shape with concave facets at the top and bottom lugs, as well as the four bezel “claws” at three and nine o’clock. The overall design is, in short, fundamentally the same, but it has been improved in finishing and style, inside and out. The lines and surfaces of the case and bracelet are now cleaner and more pronounced, at the same time accentuated with improved finishing. While the bezel claws keep their traditional polished finish, most of the other surfaces are now brushed, with the case and bracelet featuring polished be...
SJX Watches
The Zenith Defy 21 is unquestionably strong value for money – a 1/100th of a second chronograph starting at just over US$10,000 for the base model in titanium. But most of the iterations of the Defy 21 so far have a highly technical look, combining a skeletonised dial with a large, angular case. Now the Defy 21 design has taken a sharp turn in another another direction: with the help of Land Rover, Zenith has given it a makeover, creating the minimalist and functional Defy 21 Land Rover Edition. While automotive-inspired watches are often over designed, the Defy 21 Land Rover Edition has been redesigned in a simple and effective manner; the watch has been streamlined and pared back, giving it a slightly military look that works. The styling is a nod to the 2020 Land Rover Defender, the most no-nonsense of the British carmaker’s offerings that was launched in late 2019. Clean lines and surfaces To start with the case is micro-blasted titanium – finished with a finer-than-usual frosting that is faintly granular, in contrast to the coarser frosting that is more commonly applied to titanium. The surface is smooth enough that is resembles a coating, but it is natural titanium. The simplicity of the case finish is appealing, because it suits the chunky, angular form of the case. But it is also practical, because it reduces the perceived size of the case, which is large at 44 mm by 14.4 mm. But being titanium, the case is fairly lightweight and wears comfortably, though...
Quill & Pad
Perrier-Jouët invited Milan-based designer Andrea Mancuso to conceive a new artistic champagne tasting ritual for its stand at Design Miami 2019, and Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle was on the scene to take a closer look, taste some champagne, and talk to the artist.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: Making a unique and interesting timepiece is always a hard task, especially if you’re a nascent watchmaker that doesn’t have anywhere near as many runs on the board as the stalwarts of the industry. What’s harder, still, is making an idiosyncratic timepiece that also needs to meet the demanding rigours of a fit-for-purpose … ContinuedThe post Cool as p**k: The dive watch that looks like a hockey puck appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Just as the inaugural LVMH Watch Week closed its doors – after Hublot, Bulgari and Zenith had presented their new timepieces – Louis Vuitton has something even bigger to boast about. The Parisian luxury brand, which is the biggest component of LVMH, has just acquired a stake in the world’s largest uncut diamond, which is also the second-biggest diamond ever. Discovered last April at the Karowe mine in Botswana, the Sewelô weighs 1,758 carats, or quite a bit larger than a tennis ball. Sewelo means “rare find” in Setswana, a language spoken in Southern Africa. It was the name chosen from some 22,000 entries that were submitted to a contest run by the mining firm that discovered the stone, Canadian outfit Lucara. Despite the moniker, the Sewelo is not unique – it is the second diamond over 1,000 carats mined by Karowe, after the 1,109 carat Lesedi de Rona found in 2015 and then sold for US$53 million to Graff, which cut it into in several smaller stones. Currently stored on the top floor of Louis Vuitton’s jewellery store on the Place Vendome in Paris, the Sewelô is covered in carbon, and its quality is unknown, although it was described as “near gem quality”, and containing “domains of high-quality white gem”, by Lucara. According to Louis Vuitton chief executive Michael Burke, quoted in The New York Times, the luxury house will only cut and set the stone after it has found a buyer, instead of keeping it as an object for exhibitions. Though Louis V...
Time+Tide
A lot of things have been said about Dan Henry timepieces – both good and bad. But to understand the watchmaker, we first need to understand the man behind the brand. Dan Henry may well be one of the most prolific vintage watch collectors on the planet, and his personal hoard of timepieces stretches well … ContinuedThe post Do you need a Dan Henry in your collection? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
There are a lot of traditions in the luxury watch industry. From the use of pegwood to polish bevels, to the Roman “IV” rendered as “IIII”, the culture of watchmaking is full of interesting customs passed down over generations. But the most fundamental tradition remains the reliance on incremental improvements towards better timekeeping. “Better” might mean absolute performance measured over a defined period such as an observatory trial (the objective of the superstar régleurs), or reliable long-term performance on the wrist. Regardless, for almost four hundred years the quest for better precision was the guiding principle of the trade. To paraphrase from historian David S. Landes’ Revolution in Time, “… it has always been the rule that the quality of [a watch] is a function of [its] precision.” Omega cal. 47.7 observatory chronometer, where the barrel and balance occupy almost all of the diameter. Image – Omega Today, some 50 years after mechanical timekeepers were left in the dust by their “better” electronic brethren, some makers of mechanical watches are more pious in their observance of this traditional approach to incremental improvement than their competitors. And if we look carefully, we can quantify this difference in approach by looking at how different watchmakers choose to use the available energy within their movements. Our interest was to find a way to quantify which watchmakers are making high-performance timekeeping choices and ...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Zodiac has just announced its latest iteration of the Super Sea Wolf 68 Saturation. Following the release of the Andy Mann limited edition, the brand likely got a lot of feedback asking for a non-limited Sea Wolf 68 on a traditional link bracelet. And they’ve has delivered on just that.
SJX Watches
Zenith’s collaboration with Land Rover has produced the best-looking Defy 21 to date. Clad in matte grey with a handful of orange accents, the Defy 21 Land Rover Edition is pared back and minimalist compared to the typical Defy chronograph. It’s essentially a more compelling variant of a watch that is already strong value for money. Launched to mark the unveiling of the 2020 Land Rover Defender, the new Defy 21 has a case of micro-blasted titanium. The metal has been sandblasted to create an extremely fine, grained surface finish, giving it a dark grey appearance with a hint of olive green that evokes military equipment. The dial is finished in a similar shade of grey, with most of it reduced to the essentials. Both the hands and hour markers have been slimmed down and minimised, as has the power reserve indicator, which is now a narrow, horizontal window. Most of the usual automotive design elements have been avoided on the Defy 21, with the exception of the rotor, which is shaped like the wheel rim of the new Defender. But it is only visible from the back, and does not take away from the appealing minimalist look of the watch. Mechanically the Land Rover Edition is identical to the standard Defy 21, meaning it has twin oscillators and going trains, one for the timekeeping and the other for the 1/100th of a second chronograph. Key facts and price Defy 21 Land Rover Edition Ref. 97.9000.9004/01.R787 Diameter: 44 mm Height: 14.4 mm Material: Titanium Water resistance...
Time+Tide
It may surprise many reading this, but two out of the three Omega watches that really got the collective horological community talking in 2019 weren’t limited editions. In fact, the one limited edition watch that really struck a chord with enthusiasts, the Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th Anniversary, was just a gorgeous looking timepiece, regardless of … ContinuedThe post Shaken and stirred: 3 Omegas that got everyone talking in 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: The hunt for a new watch is, for many watch enthusiasts, a huge part of the collecting experience. It isn’t enough to simply buy a watch, but a watch must be searched for long and hard, with its eventual discovery making the acquisition all the more exciting. This is the story of Joseph … ContinuedThe post What Sealed The Deal – Joseph’s Omega Speedmaster Limited Edition appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: When you’re looking to buy your next watch, you want to know you’re getting great value for the money you’re spending. This Tissot Seastar 1000 could still be one of the best value watches on the market after its release at Baselworld 2018, and there’s no sign of that changing. Let’s take a … ContinuedThe post Two years after its release, this Tissot is still one of the best value propositions on the market appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Horological disruptors Hublot were on a veritable roll last year, releasing a great many new and innovative timepieces that once again show why they are making waves in the watch world. Here are a few special wristwatches that caught our eye. HUBLOT BIG BANG UNICO TEAK ITALIA INDEPENDENT TITANIUM Limited to just 100 pieces, the … ContinuedThe post Porthole perfection: Our top 5 Hublot watches from 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Having dropped enough hints – first the movement and then the platinum Speedmaster – that the launch is no longer a surprise, Omega has finally unveiled the watch many have been waiting for: the Speedmaster Moonwatch 321 in steel, a remake of the Speedmaster “Ed White”. Notably, the latest remake means that Omega now has a remake hall of fame, having reproduced almost all of the historically significant vintage Speedmaster models, namely the ref. 2915, ref. 2998, ref. 105.012 (sort of), the ref. 145.022 in 18k gold, and now, the ref. 105.003 “Ed White”. Worn by astronaut Ed White in 1965 when he became the first American to accomplish a space walk, during the Gemini 4 mission, the Speedmaster ST 105.003 has since been nicknamed after White, who unfortunately died not long after when a fire consumed the cabin of the Apollo 1 spacecraft in 1967. Reproduced faithfully Distinguished by its straight lugs, the “Ed White” has been replicated in fine form with the new Moonwatch 321. Omega gets an A for execution with the remake, though its score for creativity won’t be quite as high. The new Speedmaster is a dead ringer for the original, but executed in modern materials – plus faux-vintage Super-Luminova, naturally. Details exactly as on the original include the applied Omega logo and stepped dial The bezel insert, for instance, is a “dot over 90” like the original, but is rendered in robust ceramic with white enamel tachymetric markings, instead of the fra...
Time+Tide
Last year saw the release of a great many brilliant and colourful timepieces that aren’t shy of living on the brighter side of life. In particular, there were a fair few vibrant ladies watches that were unveiled, which are sure to liven up even the dullest of occasions. Here are some of the most colourful … ContinuedThe post Technicolour treats: The most colourful watches of 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Weekends in Melbourne can mean several things: overpriced brunches with mates after a boozy night out on the town, hikes up the Dandenong Ranges’ unendingly popular “1000 steps”, day trips to the Peninsula Hot Springs and, if you’re a watch enthusiast, donning that special timepiece in your collection that wouldn’t dare see the light of … ContinuedThe post Weekend watch spotting with JR appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Few get to check out Breguet’s factory from the inside, and those who do generally don’t get to take photographs of what they see. This modernized factory in the heart of the remote Vallée de Joux with its many annexed hallways, secretive doors, and interesting manufacturing capabilities has long been a jealously guarded secret. Elizabeth Doerr reveals what's behind the doors at Breguet.
Time+Tide
How to define microbrand watches is a conversation topic that has worn out many watch journalists’ tongues. With proposed criteria ranging from price to retail model and everything in between, there isn’t much consistency in how this new phenomenon is received or perceived. Perhaps one thing that can unite the explosion of newcomers that the … ContinuedThe post A guide to microbrand watches with big-box quality under $6000 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
The third-generation watchmaker will discuss the evolution of Caliber 321. (The movement that went to the Moon!)
Time+Tide
Yes, the technology almost single-handedly destroyed the Swiss watch industry, but whether you want to admit it or not, quartz watches are brilliantly impressive, and they have been the main proponents in democratising timepieces as we know them today. Ever since the ingenious battery-powered Seiko Astron first burst onto the scene on December 25, 1969, … ContinuedThe post Fully charged: 4 of the best quartz watches of 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
I asked Jason, Time+Tide’s resident photographer, if he could tell me his favourite watch photos from 2019 that he had captured, without quite realising the sheer scope of the work that he had done this year. I soon found out. “Hey Jason, how many photos have you taken this year?” “How many have I edited, … ContinuedThe post LIST: Time+Tide photographer Jason’s favourite watch photos from 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
2019 has seen the rise of many, many trends in watchmaking - steel sports watches with integrated bracelets, bronze cases, limited editions … you get the drift. Another incredibly vogue tendency has been watch manufacturers introducing homage models or watches that aesthetically borrow heavily from vintage timepieces. And, unquestionably, the genre of watches that has most … ContinuedThe post 3 of our favourite pilot’s watches that took flight in 2019 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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