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New: TAG Heuer Monaco Piece d’Art Reference 1133B
TAG Heuer announces a one of a kind Monaco Piece d'Art - a restored and redecorated version of an original 1969 model of the iconic caliber 11.
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Deployant
TAG Heuer announces a one of a kind Monaco Piece d'Art - a restored and redecorated version of an original 1969 model of the iconic caliber 11.
Revolution
Rado marks its latest breakthrough in colored high-tech ceramic with a collection sanctioned by the Fondation Le Corbusier.
SJX Watches
Even amongst avant-garde watchmakers, De Bethune stands out for its substance – aesthetic and material innovation matched by technical ingenuity. At its core, the brand has reimagined the most fundamental aspects of mechanical timekeeping, from the barrel to the hairspring, while pushing the boundaries of traditional complications, be it the moon phase, tourbillon or chronograph. But arguably its most distinctive innovation is an aesthetic one, which has come to define the brand no less – heat-blued titanium. The brand has used the alloy for more than 15 years across various parts of the watch, even making almost a whole watch out of it. But now De Bethune has a twist on the theme, resulting in the DB28 Yellow Tones in brilliant golden titanium. Fiery yellow Though the colour of the new DB28 is striking, it is by no means loud, as the amber shade of yellow isn’t the same as yellow gold and doesn’t pass off as such. In fact, it looks more like fresh brass than gold. The colour was achieved through thermal oxidisation of the surface, essentially the same process as that used for blued titanium (and also the same for blued steel). The yellow surface, just like the blue, is the result of an oxide that forms on the surface of titanium when it is heated to a certain temperature. But amber yellow tone in this case was created by heating it at a lower temperature than used for blued titanium. Titanium undergoes different stages of oxidation when heated, and yellow is o...
SJX Watches
Long the record holder for the most valuable watch at the biennial Only Watch charity auction, Patek Philippe has probably outdone itself this year. For Only Watch 2019, it’s put together a unique version of the most complicated wristwatch it’s ever made, the Grandmaster Chime ‘Only Watch’ ref. 6300A-010 in stainless steel. Now in its 14th year, Only Watch is an auction of one-off timepieces donated by brands, with proceeds going to support medical research. Patek Philippe has claimed the title of the top lot in nearly all Only Watch auctions, including the most recent in 2017 that saw a Patek Philippe ref. 5208T in titanium sell for 6.2 Swiss francs. And in the auction before that, in 2015, the Patek Philippe ref. 5016A in steel sold for 7.3m Swiss francs. But the steel Grandmaster Chime for Only Watch this year will probably exceed those results, albeit by a margin that’s hard to predict. The buyer of “The Only One” will be the special one By most metrics it’s the ultimate watch – not only is it the most complicated wristwatch ever made by Patek Philippe, it is also the most expensive timepiece in the current Patek Philippe catalogue. And then there’s the style of the watch, which is catered exactly to current tastes. In fact, the elements of the watch are so perfectly suited to today’s fads in watch collecting that it might be a clever and discreet in-joke – a bit of humour from the serious Geneva watchmaker. The size and complexity of the Gr...
Time+Tide
Longines offer a great many different styles of timepieces across five unique collections in their portfolio of wristwatches. And while each of the five collections provides a distinctive interpretation of what a timepiece should offer, in my opinion, the Swiss watchmaker’s Heritage collection resonates the most with horological enthusiasts. These are the timepieces that hark … ContinuedThe post 5 Longines heritage timepieces for every occasion appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
Roger Cooper spent 15 years sailing around the world on dinghies – wearing a £31,000 Speedmaster, no less.
SJX Watches
The upcoming Phillips New York auction includes an unusual watch: the Monaco Piece d’Art, a one-off vintage watch restored and hand-finished by TAG Heuer that’s being sold to benefit a charity in the city. Created to mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic square-case chronograph, the Monaco Piece d’Art started out as a ordinary example of the Monaco ref. 1133B – also known as the “Steve McQueen” after the actor wore one in the 1971 film Le Mans – one of several specimens in TAG Heuer’s own museum. Hand-decorated and upgraded The Monaco ref. 1133B was powered by the Calibre 11 Chronomatic, one of the first automatic chronograph movements ever launched; the Chronomatic made its debut in 1969, the same year as the Zenith Primero and Seiko cal. 6139. Though important in the history of watchmaking, the Chronomatic movement was functional and fuss-free. So TAG Heuer decided to change that. The movement inside the Monaco Piece d’Art was taken apart and then carefully decorated, part by part, by a four-person team of watchmakers over three months. The steel levers and springs of the chronograph mechanism were straight grained and bevelled, screws heads were flat polished, gears were given circular graining, and so on. Even the countersinks for the jewels and screws were polished. The refinished movement inside the Monaco Piece d’Art (left), with an original Calibre 11 Chronomatic But the reworking of the movement was not merely aesthetic. The jewel count was...
Time+Tide
Whether watch enthusiasts want to admit it or not, there is definitely a curiosity when it comes to celebrity watch spotting. It’s a guilty pleasure for most of us, and I have no shame admitting that I will regularly spend hours going down the virtual rabbit hole on Instagram, scoping what iced-out timepiece Mark Wahlberg has … ContinuedThe post Best of British – 4 celebs who rock Bremont watches appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Joshua Munchow thinks that the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer Tourbillon may be one of the best tourbillon models in modern watch history since it actually tries to achieve the goals of the tourbillon in the first place: increased precision and consistency in timekeeping. Here he explains just how it does that.
SJX Watches
Luxury giant LVMH has made an offer to buy Tiffany & Co., America’s leading luxury jeweller (and the biggest retailer of Patek Philippe watches in the country), according to the Bloomberg. The French group made an all-cash offer of US$120 a share, a premium of about 22% over Tiffany’s last done share price and valuing the company at about US$14.4 billion. That would make Tiffany’s the biggest acquisition ever for LVMH, which has seen its shares hit record highs recently, bringing its value to over US$210 billion. Despite being the world’s largest luxury group – its brands include Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Rimowa, Hublot and DFS – LVMH is relatively weak in high-end jewellery, especially compared to Swiss rival Richemont, which owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Piaget, and only just picked up Buccellati. Buying Tiffany would give LVMH a bigger presence in jewellery, as well as greater exposure to the United States, which is the jeweller’s biggest market, account for around a third of sales. LVMH only just opened a bag factory in Texas, the Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch, in an event attended by Donald Trump and LVMH chief executive and controlling shareholder Bernard Arnault, who’s also the third-richest man in the world. Best known for its diamond engagement rings and blue boxes, Tiffany suffered from a weak spell in recent years, with its former chief executive Frederic Cumenal, an LVMH alumni, lasting barely two years. After he departed in 2017, to be...
Time+Tide
A Collected Man recently interviewed Daryn Schnipper, and if you don’t know who she is … you really should. Schnipper has been working at Sotheby’s in New York since 1980, first as a watch expert, and now as Senior Vice President of the auction house and Chairman of the International Watch Division. What’s more, Schnipper … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: An interview with Daryn Schnipper appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Tudor’s Black Bay Steel is the most utilitarian take on the popular diver.The post Tudor’s Black Bay Steel – all metal, no colour appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: In one of our favourite Sandra stories of all time, she takes aim at all the sacred cows of watch collecting, and skewers them. In style. When I talk with other women about watch collecting, the most common reaction runs along the lines of, “Oh, that’s just a sad guy thing” or “I … ContinuedThe post Are watches just an insecure guy thing? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
It was awarded to Mike "The Bike" Hailwood by Mr. Heuer himself.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
This new iteration of the LIMES Endurance GMT features the same updates that the flagship Endurance II dive model received. You can think of it as the Endurance II with a GMT hand. Differences that I've noted...
Hodinkee
Rounding up the hottest listings from around the web.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: Grand Seiko is typically seen as a restrained brand design-wise (dials excepted), but this 46mm chunk of titanium and ceramic proves that the brand has it in them to pull a modern sports chrono out of the bank when it matters … To be honest, when I first saw Grand Seiko’s contemporary-looking new … ContinuedThe post Grand Seiko’s big Black Ceramic Spring Drive Chronograph GMT (ref. SBGC221) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
Revolution gives an (admittedly biased) opinion on the supercool new Seiko 5 range.
SJX Watches
Independent watchmakers are a major presence at Only Watch 2019, accounting for almost half the 50 lots in the charity auction coming. Importantly, two of them will probably end up in the top five by value – the F.P. Journe Astronomic Blue and the Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Contemporain “Only Watch”. While the Astronomic Blue is the most complicated wristwatch F.P. Journe has ever made, the Chronomètre Contemporain “Only Watch” is a time-only watch, with a suitably modest estimate of 40,000-60,000 Swiss francs, though it’ll probably sell for five to seven times the low estimate. Hammered, and enamelled The key element that sets the “Only Watch” edition apart from the standard Chronomètre Contemporain is the dial. Completely unique because of the technique – used here for the first time in an Akrivia watch – the dial combines the surfaces finish of Akrivia’s two distinct collections: the hand-hammered decoration of the contemporary AK line and the vitreous enamel of the classic Rexhep Rexhepi range, named after the brand’s founder. Several attempts were required to get a perfect dial – Rexhep showed me one of the rejects with a cloudy finish in September – but the result is quietly impressive. Note that it is hammered and then enamelled, but not hammered enamel. Ordinarily a new dial colour doesn’t mean very much, but because the Chronomètre Contemporain regarded, and Rexhep has kept his promise not to do variations or custom orders of th...
Quill & Pad
The Odysseus is the culmination of both a transformative journey for Lange and a watch that collectors and connoisseurs of the brand have been wanting, waiting for, dreaming about, and clamoring for since the brand was re-founded in 1994: a daily wearer by A. Lange & Söhne in hardy stainless steel. And here it is.
SJX Watches
It’s been an open secret for years that A. Lange & Söhne has been working on a sports watch, ever since the time of its founding chief executive Gunter Blumlein, so the latest launch is not a surprise. Ideas percolate for a long time at Lange: the digital time display, for instance, was first mooted in 2001, but only introduced in 2009 with the Zeitwerk. And now it is has finally arrived. Named Odysseus Datomatic, the watch is a day-date that’s the first in a new line of sports watches of the same name. It’s a 40.5mm watch in steel, rated to 120m, and powered by a new automatic movement. Initial thoughts I like and respect Lange tremendously, because its products are all engineered and finished well. Despite being a largely mainstream brand owned by a luxury group, Lange has managed to retain its characteristic quality. I do find some of the watches needlessly complicated or over designed, but the fundamental quality is unquestionable. For that reason, I hoped I would like the sports watch. And I do, but not the bracelet. I spoke with Lange chief executive Wilhelm Schmid just before the launch, and he summed up the Odysseus: “We have not changed our fine watchmaking. It’s typical Lange, but it took us a long time to find the face and find the design.” The watch – minus the bracelet – looks like a Lange, which means it’s serious looking, a bit plain, but obviously high quality from the way the small details catch the light. On the wrist the Odysseus sit...
Revolution
Fans of one of the world’s pioneering diving watches will have reason to join the queue straight away – the latest Blancpain Fifty is drop-dead gorgeous.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
All but one variant of the 1970 is currently sold out with one, the 40mm orange, often asking significant markups above retail in the secondary market. This review will focus on that particular model.
Deployant
Watchcapes: Featuring the F. Berthoud Chronomètre FB 1.4-4 "Night Star" for Only Watch 2019 - with wallpaper sized images and details on the watch.
Revolution
We speak to Rolex Testimonee and marine biologist Sylvia Earle in this episode of the Revolution Watch Podcast. We also ask: what’s happening to SIHH?
Quill & Pad
Some addresses are legendary, and one of them is 9 Curzon Street in Mayfair, London. Established in 1875, it is the home of Geo. F. Trumper, which has grown in a little over a century into a British icon (helped in no small part by Bond, James Bond). Here, Martin Green takes a deep breath and dives into the fragrant world of Geo. F. Trumper.
Hodinkee
With Swiss exports there down for six consecutive months, the U.S. is poised to become Switzerland's top export market.
Deployant
We reviewed the new Bell & Ross BR 05 earlier. And now give you wallpapers of the BR 05 Skeleton version, and our further thoughts..
SJX Watches
The third important vintage Rolex – in my opinion – at Phillips’ upcoming Geneva auction, after the ref. 4113 split-seconds chronograph and mint ref. 8171 “Padellone”, is the ref. 6062 “Stelline” triple calendar that once belonged to Gordon Bethune, the executive best known for turning around Continental Airlines during his decade-long tenure starting in 1994. The watch a sterling example of the ref. 6062 – and will sell for well over a million dollars – but it is also notable for what it says about the development of the vintage watch market. Now 78 and retired, though he pops up regularly on CNBC to comment on the airline industry, Mr Bethune accumulated his watch collection over two decades. He sold the bulk of it in 2012, but remains probably the only famous business executive known to have collected watches in a serious fashion (another is perhaps former Hollywood talent agent Michael Ovitz, though he more widely regarded as an important collector of contemporary art). Mr Bethune’s collection was inclined towards great, even some of the best, examples of important, uncommon and desirable watches, rather than extraordinarily or unique models. So he owned one of the best-preserved, all-original examples of the ref. 6062s “Stelline”, rather than say a well-worn ref. 6062 with a black, diamond-marker dial. It was a cold day in December… The Gordon Bethune Collection of Fifty Exceptional Vintage Wristwatches took place in December 2012 at Christi...
Time+Tide
To say Ellen DeGeneres likes a timepiece or two is probably one of the larger understatements of the year. In fact, you’d have to be living under a rock not to be aware that the comedian and talk show host’s watch collection is probably among the very best of the Hollywood glitterati. There have been … ContinuedThe post Is this Ellen’s best watch purchase yet? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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