3,758 articles · 71 videos found · page 15 of 128
Monochrome
Albishorn is one of these intriguing newcomers on the independent scene. The brand operates under the concept of “Imaginary Vintage“, designing watches that were never made but could have been. Following the Maxigraph and Type 10 in 2024, both explained by plausible historical scenarios, the 2025 Thundergraph was (or could have been) made for alpine […]
Fratello
Chronoswiss has long been associated with traditional watch design. While the brand hasn’t lost that classic touch, it has drastically changed the overall appearance of its watches by using new materials and bold colors. On top of that, Chronoswiss has introduced designs that show how its signature style can evolve into modern watches with a […] Visit Hands-On With The Exciting New Chronoswiss Pulse GMT to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
From the imposing astronomical clocks of Tudor England to the exquisite pendant watches of Victorian Britain, timekeeping has long been a symbol of power, prestige, and technological marvel within Europe’s royal courts. This new series explores the fascinating evolution of clocks and watches crafted specifically for royalty, tracing how these intricate masterpieces reflected the tastes, ambitions, and innovations of monarchs. Through the lens of craftsmanship, artistry, and historical significance, we reveal how these royal timepieces marked the passage of dynasties and empires. During Henry VIII’s reign (1509–1547), portable watches as we know them today had yet to emerge in significant numbers. Timekeeping was dominated by grand and stationary mechanisms, with tower clocks or ornate table pieces, serving both practical and symbolic purposes as a show of wealth and status. Watches, if present at all, were nascent and extremely rare. The first clocks and watches were expensive luxuries and only in the reach of royalty and landed gentry. There was, however, a sufficient demand for these items in the Tudor royal court which spread to a prosperous London. The beginnings of the horological industry were probably first initiated by King Henry VIII. During this period there was somewhat of a technical revolution, starting with the invention of the printing press which changed the way people received information. This filtered through to the court where there was a revoluti...
SJX Watches
With a history dating back 266 years, Beyer Chronometrie is the world’s oldest watch store, but not for much longer: the store has been sold to Patek Philippe and will close at the end of the year. This turn of events echoes the sale of Bucherer to Rolex three years ago. Come next year, the store with its prime location on Zurich’s posh Bahnhofstrasse will be replaced by an enlarged Patek Philippe boutique. The news was first reported by Swiss newspapers including Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and Tages-Anzeiger. The sale is perhaps not that surprising given the store’s longtime owner, René Beyer, passed away in 2025 without an heir. The business was passed onto Beyer’s sister, Muriel Zahn-Beyer, who has no children of her own either. According to Ms Zahn-Beyer, speaking to the NZZ, the late René Beyer already planned for the sale prior to his death, having sold a minority stake in the business to Patek Philippe in 2024. Patek Philippe and Beyer have long been partners; in fact, Beyer is also the world’s oldest Patek Philippe retailer, having started carrying the brand around 1842, just a few years after the watchmaker was established in 1839. As a consequence, Beyer was perhaps one of the watchmaker’s most significant retailers, despite having only one store. With the takeover, the multi-brand section of the Beyer store will close, while its existing Patek Philippe boutique will be enlarged. This also means a third of Beyer’s current employees will be kept o...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Citizen's new Promaster Dive BN0167-09W features a light-reactive dial that shifts between blue, teal, and purple. Available in the US now.
Video
The Rolex Submariner has been dissected, debated, and celebrated more than any other. I want to look at it as an icon in 2025: How it has held up in an era when smartwatches dominate wrists, independents push the limi...
Monochrome
The trajectory of the Ferdinand Berthoud brand has been quite remarkable since its revival in 2015 by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele of Chopard and his teams. Its inaugural model won the prestigious Aiguille d’Or at GPHG, followed by numerous other awards. Beyond industry recognition, collectors widely praise the brand’s fascinating designs and uncompromising craftsmanship, culminating in last […]
Fratello
It is safe to say that the past 12 months have been all about the renaissance of the jump-hour watch. With the Cartier Tank à Guichets, Audemars Piguet Neo Frame Jumping Hour, Christopher Ward C1 Jump Hour Mk V, Maen × Nico Leonard Jump Hour, and Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence Pink Gold, we have seen […] Visit Celebrating The Spirit Of The 1920s With The Semicolon Anachron Jump-Hour Watch to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
Given the meteoric rise of the Tudor Black Bay, the lineup has more often been affiliated with the diving genre. That said, for a decade, the Black Bay has included pieces oriented for more everyday wearing circumstances, with dropping the external bezel and reducing the water resistance to 100m. These pieces, first d
Time+Tide
With Watches and Wonders happening next month, participating (big box) brands have to wait before being able to release any novelties. However, the past seven days have been extremely busy for the independents and Swatch Group brands! We have Credor debuting a new ceramic dial time-only watch, Krayon playing on the Pac Man anniversary, and … ContinuedThe post New releases from Credor, Krayon, Nomos and more appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Monochrome
The path of Felipe Pikullik has never been about sudden breakthroughs, but about steady, hands-on progression. Early pieces from his Berlin atelier were built on reworked Unitas movements, extensively modified, skeletonised and hand-finished to create something much more personal than their origins suggested. From the poetic Sternenhimmel to the more expressive ZBM1, and later regulator-style […]
Fratello
Emmanuel Gueit has done it again. His designs for Dennison are a hit, and now there’s a new catchy, slightly moody “tune” that will be on your mind once you’ve been exposed to it. Dennison introduces the ALD Dual Time “Shades” Dial, a nuanced and refined evolution of the brand’s Dual Time collection. The dials […] Visit A Hands-On Introduction To The Dennison ALD Dual Time “Shades” Dial to read the full article.
Fratello
The Longines Hydroconquest has been a popular dive watch in the slightly more accessible segment since 2007. Initially sold in both automatic and quartz versions, it offered an attainable taste of serious dive-watch prowess from a heritage brand. The Hydroconquest underwent a major overhaul in 2018 and another in 2023. While that latest generation updated […] Visit A Hands-On Introduction To The Third-Generation Longines Hydroconquest to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
Since its launch in 2019, the Doxa SUB 200 has been one of my favorite value oriented dive watches to recommend. When it debuted, it was under $1,000 and really stood out in a crowd of vintage inspired divers. It was a particularly compelling option for enthusiasts who were after something affordable and loaded with a bit of history and was definitely not a Seiko. They were also getting that vintage appropriate sizing right before the pendulum swung all the way back toward watches under 40mm – the SUB 200 measures 42mm but wears significantly smaller thanks to the short lug profile. It was and is a great wearing, classically styled dive watch from a truly important dive watch brand. Doxa has just refreshed the SUB 200 and the watch that was revealed this week reflects a lot of what’s going on the industry at the moment, while also appearing to serve as a worthy heir (and complement) to the existing SUB 200. The new SUB 200 II sees Doxa making some unexpected refinements to the case and also offering the watch in a new suite of colorways and a novel case treatment. Taken together, it’s a significantly more contemporary execution of something we’ve all come to associate with pure vintage nostalgia. We’ll start with the case, which now measures 44mm in diameter. I did a bit of a double take when I saw that particular spec – we’re deep in the era of brands downsizing their iconic sports watches to accommodate the current appetite for sleeker, small-to-medium ...
Monochrome
Andreas Strehler is one of the most accomplished independent watchmakers. He is known for sophisticated creations such as the Sauterelle à Lune Exacte and the Trans-Axial Tourbillon, and his work has long been associated with complex mechanics and meticulous execution. With the launch of the Strehler brand three years ago, he aimed to make watches […]
Worn & Wound
I wonder how many times the words “It’s an anniversary year for…” have been written on this website? It probably wouldn’t be that hard to figure out, but frankly I have too many articles about anniversaries to write to devote even a small amount of time to this particular task. Case in point, the latest from Citizen, which celebrates not the anniversary of the brand itself, but rather a piece of technology that they have pioneered and has in many ways come to define them for both casual watch consumers and hardcore enthusiasts alike. That’s right folks, Eco-Drive turns 50 this year, and I think you’ll agree that at the half century mark it’s looking as youthful and promising as ever, countering the conventional wisdom and advice from dermatologists everywhere to stay out of the sun. The new watch is called the Photon, and when it hits retailers in the fall it will come in two versions: the BJ6560-53W in silver titanium and the BJ6569-59X in black coated titanium with a gold toned accent on the outside of the case. Both feature the same latticed dial made up of two metal dial plates that allow light to pass through and hit the Eco-Drive sensor. According to Citizen, the design is inspired by the famous “double slit experiment” that proves light can exhibit both wave and particle-like behaviors. I can already imagine 7th grade science teachers removing their watches in class to perform live demonstrations while simultaneously indoctrinating a new genera...
SJX Watches
Announced last year, Swatch’s AI-DADA platform is now live, enabling customers to design and build their own custom Swatch with a design that will never be repeated. With a low entry price and quick turnaround, I took the platform for a spin. Why AI Swatch has been a design-oriented brand since its debut in 1983. Not only has Swatch produced a dizzying array of original designs of its own, over the years the brand has collaborated with celebrated artists and leading institutions to democratise access to wearable art. About a decade ago, Swatch’s world-class logistics infrastructure enabled it to offer customised watches via an online configurator that enabled customers to mix and match different elements from a pre-selected range of options. That was quickly followed by the ability to generate a custom-printed design, by dragging a Swatch template over a selection of human-created patterns and designs. The AI-DADA system, launched earlier this year, builds on this basis in way that only Swatch could pull off. The system leverages an undisclosed large language model (LLM) to generate a custom design based on a user’s 300-character prompt. The result is a made-to-order Swatch of the customer’s own design, delivered in as few as five days. What’s more, the cost is little more than an off-the-shelf model, at just US$195. With little to lose, I took the plunge. AI-DADA Swatch watches are powered by standard quartz movements in the typical New Gent case size. Three str...
SJX Watches
IWC started the year with a dramatic new look for a classic, the Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium. Almost 30 years old but ageless, the Portugieser Chronograph gains an all-black look and Ceratanium case with this appealing, but pricey, limited edition that encapsulates the brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Initial thoughts In the mid to late 2000s, the all-black look was one the major fads in watchmaking, having been pioneered by Hublot, then at the beginning of its renaissance led by Jean-Claude Biver. All-black watches were everywhere yet desirable, and some even sold for multiples of retail. The Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium is two decades late for that fad, and too early for the next one. But it is still an appealing watch in itself, though expensive compared to the standard version. It’s essentially a Portugieser chronograph dressed entirely in black with a case in ceramic-coated titanium. As a result, it has of the elements that make the model appealing: a symmetrical design, good proportions, slimness, and a distinctive style despite the simplicity. The all-black livery adds to the design, since it goes well with the clean styling. Though complementary aesthetically, the all-black finish and Portugieser design don’t quite pair conceptually, since the Portugieser is a historically inspired dress watch. Despite the incongruity, the Ceratanium chronograph looks and feels good on the wrist. More broadly, the watch illustrates IWC’s strengths and weakness...
Monochrome
It all started with ref. 7042, and the Longines Legend Diver has been around, in one form or another, since 1959, and over the past years, the brand with the Winged Hourglass logo has wisely chosen evolution over reinvention. New sizes, updated movements, fresh dial colours, but always within the frame of what makes the […]
Teddy Baldassarre
Since the release of the SSC813 Speedtimer, it has been one of Seiko’s best-selling watches. So when we got word at the end of last year that it was being discontinued, it had us, along with other collectors, scratching our heads. So why would Seiko cut one of its star players without warning? Well, it turns out that
SJX Watches
Seiko is on something of a resurgence, aiming to take back its reputation as a value leader after the emergence, over the past decade, of increasingly competitive micro-brands. On episode 33 of the SJX Podcast, SJX and Brandon discuss the King Seiko Vanac, now available in titanium, and the Marinemaster, which has been transformed through a number of incremental upgrades. The discussion then turns to some other affordable new releases from Orient Star, Raketa, and Christopher Ward, which just launched an in-house ‘flyer’ GMT calibre with a five-day power reserve. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet (AP) is increasing its presence in what’s historically been the territory of Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. Not only is AP returning to Watches & Wonders, the industry’s flagship event held each year in Geneva, the brand is also expanding its footprint in the city’s suburb of Meyrin with an expanded case and bracelet manufacture. What and where Meyrin was already the home of AP’s case and bracelet manufacture, but the brand has been bulking up on industrial capacity and took over a U-shaped building, completed in 1965 for a pharmaceutical company, in 2023. The new facility increases its Geneva footprint almost four-fold, to 9,000 square metres, with room for 350 staff. While the brand has built new structures closer to home, the choice to renovate an existing historical building is notable. Fortunately AP’s employees won’t be stuck in the past, as the building has been modernised for energy management and to accommodate modern machines. The building is a short jaunt from Les Boîtiers de Genève, F.P. Journe’s case and bracelet manufacture, in what’s already a hotbed of horological activity, home to brands like Roger Dubuis and Chopard. In addition, the new facility will be home to what the brand is calling its New Technologies hub, presumably part of the brand’s new approach to research and development, known internally as the ‘Fab Lab.’ Industrial excellence We recently had the chance to hear directly from AP’s chief indu...
Monochrome
I’ve always been a big fan of watches that have something moving on the dial, other than the smooth and consistent running of hour, minute and second hands. Whether it’s a dial-mounted balance wheel, a tourbillon escapement or even a winding rotor, I just love to see some type of action that goes beyond pure […]
SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet expands its stone‑dial lineup with the new Royal Oak Self-Winding 37 mm and 41 mm in yellow‑gold featuring malachite dials, continuing the brand’s cautious re-exploration of trendy stone dials. Initial thoughts Last month Bad Bunny, the most-streamed musician in the western hemisphere, took the field for the Super Bowl LX halftime show wearing this yellow gold Royal Oak Selfwinding 37mm. A design as recognisable as any in watchmaking, worn on the wrist of the “King of Latin Trap” in front of over a hundred million viewers - a significant marketing coup for Audemars Piguet. It was also an implicit endorsement from Bad Bunny’s stylist Storm Pablo, who procured the watch within days of its announcement. Bad Bunny during the Apple Music Super Bowl LX halftime show. Image – Apple Pricing remains surprisingly reasonable, with the 37 mm pegged to the same price as the turquoise-dialled sibling from a few years ago, while the 41 mm model is priced just 4% higher than a regular production Royal Oak in pink gold. That’s a large step up in absolute terms, but that comes with the (price) territory. It is important to point out that despite the premiums brands often attach to stone dials, most are not particularly expensive to make. When it comes to malachite, the raw material cost is negligible, with African mines in and around the Copperbelt producing gemstone-quality malachite by the literal ton. Audemars Piguet made the right choice by avoiding t...
Fratello
When I read the press information for the Citizen Eco-Drive 50th Anniversary Edition, I couldn’t believe it has been five decades since the Japanese brand introduced its first Eco-Drive-powered watch. That’s especially surprising when I put it into personal perspective, as it happened a year before I was born. In my mind, Eco-Drive technology still […] Visit The Eco-Drive 50th Anniversary Edition Celebrates Citizen’s Quest For Accuracy In Style to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
A common critique leveled at Seiko over these last few years is that they’ve abandoned the affordable enthusiast dive watch market and have been creeping toward a higher priced product. Honestly, it’s fair. Those of us of a certain age can fondly remember the days when an SKX diver could be had for a few hundred bucks, and it basically stood alone in the Venn diagram of pedigree, dive watch bona fides, enthusiast credibility, and affordability. The fact is, there’s a lot of competition for affordable divers these days, much of it driven by the popularity of a handful of key Seiko references. So it’s no wonder that they’ve sought to expand their footprint elsewhere and make a higher end, more expensive product. What often gets lost in these conversations is that the higher priced Seiko divers are actually very good dive watches that still cover much of that hypothetical Venn diagram, perhaps leaning a little further away from affordability. Seiko recently announced a handful of new references and while many of us hoped a truly affordable SKX alternative might be in the mix, they’ve once again debuted a new diver at a higher rung of their pricing ladder. The highlight for collectors and serious Seiko fans will likely be the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver’s Watch (the official Seiko naming conventions are always a bit cumbersome). Yes, this is yet another mostly historically accurate take on the first ever diver rated to 300 meters of water r...
Worn & Wound
If you have been following us for a while, you are likely well versed in Squale’s divers, vintage-inspired designs, and limited edition runs. The brand has quietly been a leader in the realm of dive watches since the 60s with a cult following from hardcore dive watch nerds. In the past decade in particular, Squale has been getting more and more traction and recognition. In 2019, the brand notched its 60th anniversary and with that, introduced a new collection: the Sub-39. This limited edition fittingly paid homage to Squale’s early 1960s divers, using an original prototype with a 39mm case as reference. Following its success, the brand ultimately made the Sub-30 a permanent collection, upping the ante with COSC-certification and complications like a GMT. Today, we get the next evolution with the Sub-37 Legend. Focusing on the brand’s core tenants – proportions, function, and character – the new slightly sized down 37mm diver emphasizes form over function in a way that is faithful to the golden age of diving, an era when watches were designed to perform rather than to impress. Beginning with the dial, you have a fairly quintessential execution in matte black with a sapphire glass-box crystal reminiscent of vintage plexiglass while ensuring durability and optimal dial legibility. Visibility remains at the forefront of this utilitarian design with both the dial and hands treated with SuperLumiNova Old Radium. Framing the dial is a clean, highly readable unidirection...
Teddy Baldassarre
Blancpain, founded in the Swiss village of Villeret in 1735, has been making timepieces for almost 300 years, but perhaps its most impactful contribution to wristwatch history was relatively recent - and began its heralded life as a military tool rather than a luxury item. In 1953, Blancpain was headed by Jean-Jacques Fiechter, an avid diving enthusiast who had long wanted to develop a watch that would be ideal for his hobby. Fiechter worked with Captain Robert Maloubier, a French naval officer, to design a reliable, mission-ready timepiece that Maloubier’s elite combat diving team could wear. Here we will take a look at the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe, a more everyday take on the iconic diver. [toc-section heading="Blancpain Fifty Fathoms: A Historic Divers’ Watch"] The watch, called the Fifty Fathoms, had a 42mm steel case - exceptionally large for the time - and it was water-resistant to 91.45 meters, or 50 fathoms, the maximum depth recommended for scuba divers. Its dial was black and its numerals were luminescent for greater legibility underwater. It was the first divers’ watch with a self-winding movement, the first with an antimagnetic case, and the first to employ the patented, double-sealed crown that Fiechter had developed. Most notably, the Fifty Fathoms was the first watch to include a lockable bezel with dive-time scale that rotated in only one direction. This practical and potentially life-saving innovation prevented a diver from acciden...
Worn & Wound
What is it about the moon? Earth’s only satellite has been an inspiration to watchmakers for as long as watchmaking has been a thing. The moonphase of course is the perhaps the most romantic of all complications (at least in a contemporary setting where the actual use case is somewhat unnecessary for almost everyone), and finds its way into a surprising number of watches aimed at the mass market. If you think about it, there are probably thousands upon thousands of ordinary people looking at little renderings of a moon whenever they check the time, perhaps unaware of the long history of the astronomical complication and what it represents. And then of course there’s the moon and space travel, which gets you into an entirely different segment of watches, led of course by the Omega Speedmaster but serving as a home to an enormous variety of watches from brands as diverse as Seiko, Sinn, and G-SHOCK, all of whom claim either officially or unofficially some connection to manned spaceflight. The moon looms large in a number of ways. So it should come as no surprise that it also serves as a purely aesthetic inspiration, which brings us to the Yema Superman Titanium MoonTide, a new limited edition from the French brand clad in our favorite lightweight metal and designed to conjure images of the lunar surface. The Superman, for anyone who might need a refresher, is Yema’s core dive watch, originally launched in the 1960s heyday of recreational diving. It features a uniqu...
Monochrome
The Shell Star collection is one of Delma‘s most recognisable ranges, and includes the Big Date, time-and-date Automatic and Decompression Timer lines. Exploiting the brand’s 1970s designs, the Shell Star has traditionally been defined by bold proportions, most often offered in 44mm steel cases. The new Shell Star 41mm brings a welcome change, following earlier […]
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