14,265 articles · 2,753 videos found · page 167 of 568
Revolution
We had a look at Brian Jones’s Breitling Emergency in a previous article. Today, we hear from another pilot, this time Jacques Bothelin, Leader of the Breitling Jet Team, who offers his opinion on why the Breitling Emergency is a serious professional tool, with particular emphasis on the new features of the recently launched 2013 […]
Deployant
The super grail watch, perhaps of all time. The Dufour Grande Sonnerie, in white gold, with a sapphire crystal dial. Philippe Dufour Grande Sonnerie In this configuration, a piece unique. Beyond words, which become superflous. But allow me to try and express my joy of being sble to photograph and handle this legendary piece. TheRead More
Revolution
Let’s imagine that Charles Darwin was set loose upon the Huguenot-peopled valleys and mountains of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, Le Sentier, Le Brassus, Fleurier and all the parts of Switzerland where silent, stoic men and women sublimate their inner passion into those angelic, refined machines that tell the time. It’s likely that he would arrive at […]
Deployant
The Lange Tourbograph is one of my favourite watches of all time…the complication is exquisite…a fusee chain tourbillon with split seconds chronograph. Created initially to be launched in 1994 together with the other iconic timepieces to showcase the new A. Lange & Sohne, this watch was so complicated, that it was decided to delay theRead More
Revolution
Many brands claim their minute repeaters sound the best. But who can tell the difference? Who has access to several such watches at the same time? We’ve gathered, recorded and ranked five of them, On paper, and also on video EDITOR’S NOTE: The judging of minute repeaters, as our intrepid contributor David Chokron states below, […]
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Deployant
Ladoire’s Black Widow Photographed on location in the Geneva Time Exhibition. I had some time to photograph the interesting Ladoire Black Widow. Known various as Mr. Green, Mr. Black according to the colour treatment of the bridges, the watch is quite interesting in the way it tells time…openworked dial, multilayered three regualtor off set hours,Read More
Deployant
The latest iteration of The Freak…with Rolf’s signature on the plate attached to the dial at 6. The plate releases the lock on the bezel, which also serves as device to set the time. The watch is amazing in simplicity…no crown…set the hands by turning the bezel. Wind the watch by turning the rear bezel.Read More
Deployant
Kari Voutilainen’s simple time only watch…a la Dufour’s Simplicity is the Observertoire. I had the oppportunity to photograph this masterpiece in Motiers in January, after the SIHH when I visited with some good friends. The dial shows great restraint, and looks extremely handsome. The rose engine turned dial is made onsite at Kari’s premises. IRead More
Deployant
H. Moser is an interesting company, recently exploded into the scene with some very innovative watches. Featured here is the perpetual calendar. In many calendars, the dial is usually so complicated, it is hard to read the time, and even harder to read the calendar indications. Not so with the Moser. This roundabout thinking hasRead More
Teddy Baldassarre
Tudor nods to the past with an entirely new watch.More
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Teddy Baldassarre
Breitling's second-ever meteorite dialMore
Worn & Wound
Having none myself, I’m always a bit impressed when it comes to those who have artistic talent – and that goes doubly for those who can appreciate the everyday beauty around them. This is especially true when those two virtues combine to form a beautiful little timepiece, like the Altmann × Isotope Osaka Cloisonné Enamel, a new collaboration between English watchmaker Isotope and designer, illustrator, and typographer Björn Altmann. The first, and perhaps only, thing you will notice about this watch is its dial, which is based on a municipal manhole cover featuring Osaka Castle. Now, you may be asking yourself, why Japanese manhole covers? I can assure you that you are not alone in that. Apparently, after a Wikipedia deep dive, it is something of an urban art form and a show of civic pride throughout Japan. In fact, more than 15 million manhole covers across the country feature some sort of carved, imprinted, or painted design. This was a niche interest of Isotope founder José Miranda, which eventually led Miranda to Björn Altmann’s book Manhole Covers of the World. This, in turn, led to this collaboration you see before you today. The intricacy of the dial does not stop with its source material. The dial itself is made in grand feu cloisonné enamel, using fine silver wires and multiple rounds of firing to build out the design and color. The process took close to a year to develop, and in the end only five dials were successfully completed, which helps explain ...
Worn & Wound
I’ll admit, I’m late to the party. I didn’t discover Atelier Wen until last year when a friend told me I should check out the brand and connected me with its founder, Robin Tallendier. The pair knew how to tug at my heartstrings straight away: enamel dials. For those of you who know a little bit about me, you are well aware that métiers d’art crafts are my passion, but I have a particular affinity for enamel dials. Perhaps it is more than an affinity and closer to an obsession. I have taken my love of enamel from admirer to aspiring artisan, completing three enameling apprenticeships in Switzerland to learn the artform myself. After going back and forth with Robin for a few months and musing over the watches from a distance, I finally had the chance to experience them in the metal for the first time at Dubai Watch Week last November. I was immediately struck by the technique of the Ancestra and Inflection dials with a hammered base that added further depth and texture to the enamel itself. While the beauty of enamel (especially when paired with techniques like guilloche) is its interplay with light, something about the organic nature of the hand hammering brought an even deeper sense of life and movement to these dials. Since then, Atelier Wen has branched out, expanding its expertise in stunning dials beyond guilloche, hand hammering, enamel, and (in the past) porcelain to its latest model showcasing natural stone: the limited edition Millésime 2025 Percepti...
Monochrome
British indie brand Farer was founded in 2015 by four friends with backgrounds in watch retail. Using Swiss-made mechanical movements, Farer offers a portfolio of confident designs with an eccentric British twist and competitive prices, thanks to the brand’s direct-to-consumer approach that eliminates intermediaries. The name Farer, derived from Old English terms like seafarer and […]
Teddy Baldassarre
Watches with enamel dials rarely fail to impress with their exquisitely finished surfaces, their impressive durability, and a level of artisanal craftsmanship that might not even be readily apparent to the naked eye but somehow elevates the entire timepiece to a higher level of luxury. Enamel dials - which are made by fusing finely ground, colored glass powders onto metal substrates through repeated firings in a kiln at high temperatures - are still fairly rare in the watch world, and almost (but not entirely) impossible to find below a certain echelon of pricing, Often, as in some of the limited editions below, an enamel dial is one essential component of a timepiece that combines several notable elements, including elite or unusual case metals, high-complication movements, or any number of special features. Here are 10 watches with enamel dials that have caught our eye over recent years. [toc-section heading="A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret Tourbillon Handwerkskunst"] Price: 315,000 euros at release, Case Size: 29.5mm x 39.2mm, Thickness: 10.3mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Manually wound Caliber L042.1 In 2008, German haute horlogerie house A. Lange & Söhne brought a technical upgrade to the tourbillon - an 18th century invention originally designed to shield a watch’s balance from the ill effects of gravity - that was both subtle and substantial. The Saxon brand’s Cabaret Tourbillon featured the first tourbillon movement with a st...
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Monochrome
Credor, a high-end division of the Seiko Group, was founded in 1974 with a focus on refined, ultra-thin timepieces that emphasise artistic and artisanal techniques. Originally catering to the Japanese domestic market, Credor has begun to expand internationally only recently (mostly with the Locomotive, based on a Genta design) and will make its debut at […]
Teddy Baldassarre
Along with their more refined timepieces, Swiss luxury brands have staked their claim in the field watch space as well. Tudor’s offering in the category is the contemporary 39mm Ranger, a name that features prominently throughout the brand's history. Descended from the 1950s Tudor Oyster Prince Reference 7909, Tudor introduced the 34mm Ranger Reference 7995 in 1965, with the model name remaining in the lineup all the way through the 1980s. It was the 7995 that established the Ranger’s design language, with its 12-3- 6-9 dial layout and iconic spade hour hand, all of which later made a comeback in 2014 in a somewhat oversized 41mm version. The Ranger got a reboot in 2022 as a 39mm model, with a fully brushed case and COSC-certified MT5402 movement, and it serves as not only a nod to Tudor field watches of yore, but also as a throwback to the tool-watch aesthetics of the Rolex Explorer 1016 from Tudor's parent brand. Released in July of 2022 to mark the 70th anniversary of the British North Greenland Expedition, the modern Ranger 79950 is a welcome update from that discontinued 41mm model of 2014. With a versatile 39mm case and a COSC-certified manufacture movement, the Ranger is a strong value play, hovering around $3,500 on the bracelet. Much like the vintage Ranger (and the original Rolex Explorer that provided much of its DNA), it’s a fantastic daily driver, with a fully satin-brushed finish and 100 meters of water resistance. And if you crave a more authentic tool...
Worn & Wound
One of the very common knock-on effects of diving deep into any hobby or enthusiast pursuit is that eventually you’ll find yourself kind of obsessed with something that most would likely perceive as a waste of energy, or not actually all that interesting. I liken it to a cinephile finding a deep appreciation for the films of Michael Bay, constantly reminding everyone that Armageddon is in fact in the Criterion Collection (and has one of the best commentary tracks ever recorded – but that’s beside the point). Sometimes I feel like all of my watch interests are deeply niche. As my taste has evolved and, dare I say, matured, it’s also gotten a little bit weirder. But one niche of a niche that I know is underappreciated by many of my peers and perhaps even derided by some are the watches of the Ralph Lauren “Fine Watchmaking” division, specifically those in the American Western Watch Collection (but I have soft spot for the ones with the bears, too). A new release from Ralph Lauren in this very collection bolsters my position, I think, that these watches are actually quite special. It’s important to start, though, with an understanding that while you’re likely to see “Polo” branded fashion watches anywhere Ralph Lauren apparel is sold, and certainly in the vitrines of big retailers at malls, and so forth, these are absolutely not what we could typically call fashion watches. The Western Watch Collection features movements made by Piaget, lots of handcraft, ...
Worn & Wound
Most enthusiast focused brands would find themselves extremely fortunate to have a single watch or collection that achieves “icon” status with the finicky hobbyist crowd. It’s not secret that watch enthusiasts are a picky and demanding bunch, and the watches that rise to the top and achieve a level of support by consensus are genuinely pretty special. Oris, I think, has at least two watches that fall easily into this category. There’s the Divers Sixty-Five (and the newer Divers Date) that have become forum favorites and are frequently spoken of when it comes time to recommend a solid sports watch to a budding collector. And then there’s the Big Crown Pointer Date. For my money, this is the iconic Oris. While dive watches, in general, might be more popular, the pointer date is special because it fills a very specific, old-fashioned niche, and there are just fewer brands making anything similar that’s still approachable for a casual or value oriented consumer. It has, of course, been a platform for many limited and special editions over the years, and the new version seen here made in collaboration with frequent partner Cervo Volante really stands out. Cervo Volante is a strap and leather goods maker that Oris has partnered with for a number of years now. The brand specializes in sustainably sourced deer leather, and the straps they have crafted for the Oris watches they’ve worked on are truly exceptional. Cervo Volante’s mission also folds in nicely with O...
Monochrome
Two Saxon institutions, one renowned for its porcelain and the other for its precision, come together on a shared canvas. To mark 180 years of watchmaking in Glashütte and 315 years of Meissen porcelain, Glashütte Original unveils the Senator Meissen limited editions, a trio of red-gold watches with hand-painted porcelain dials; timepieces that are as […]
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Monochrome
Launched in 1992, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Control collection is inspired by the brand’s classic round timepieces of the 1950s, focusing on technical rigour, certification (JLC’s in-house “1000 Hours” Control), and stylistic restraint. The Master Control Calendar was part of the refreshed collection in 2020, equipped with a triple calendar and moon phases inspired by movements developed […]
Teddy Baldassarre
Purple is the color of royalty, and it appears that a Purple Reign has started to quietly take over the watch world in recent years, with violet hues finding their way to an increasing number of dials, from a somewhat surprisingly diverse range of watch brands. Like their predecessors in green, red, and orange, purple dials are still, in fact, something of a novelty; many of the timepieces featured below are intended for a niche, limited audience. Nevertheless, the rise of purple tones on watch dials is worthy of notice, and almost certainly here to stay for a while, Here we’ve gathered 15 of our favorite purple-dial watches in ascending order of price, from under $500 to over $85K. Citizen Tsuyosa Automatic Sunray Purple Dial Price: $475, Case Size: 37mm, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Caliber 8210 Best known for its light-powered Eco-Drive movements, Japan’s Citizen also offers a lineup of mechanical timepieces, including the NJ015 automatic series, nicknamed “Tsuyosa,” a Japanese word meaning “strength.” Speaking to the contemporary trend towards eye-catching colorful dials, Tsuyosa models offer a variety of them, with a subtle sunburst finish, including the purple dial watch above. The round, chamfered steel cases measure 40mm in diameter and 11.7mm thick, with an unconventionally positioned crown at 4 o’clock for better ergonomics on the wrist. The bracelet has what Citizen describes as a “mountain-shaped” design ...
Monochrome
Laurent Ferrier is among the most laureled independent watchmakers in recent years, and for good reason. The brand seems to effortlessly blend shapes, colours and mechanics into fascinating yet elegantly discreet watches, even if we’re dealing with a world timer or a tourbillon watch. A prime example is the Sport Auto, one of Frank Geelen’s (our […]
Teddy Baldassarre
The Rolex Daytona is a tricky watch to discuss these days. It’s difficult to separate the watch itself from its status as a barometer to the health of the entire second-hand market — a position that the watch itself surely never asked to be put into. Everyone has an opinion on the Daytona, and these days, those opinions seem to lean more negative due mostly to what it has come to represent. As such, it rarely gets a fair crack at an honest judgment. In fact, it’s a watch I generally shy away from discussing publicly. But I’ve always liked the Daytona, and I take pleasure in wearing mine in non-watch-enthusiast environments. That’s because, behind all the speculation and hype culture, there’s a genuinely good sports watch that’s almost never seen as such. After a year of owning the reference 126500 Rolex Daytona Panda dial introduced in 2023, and amidst a cooling second-hand market, I think it’s time to change that. Let’s start off by confronting the reality of this watch. The MSRP of the steel Daytona Reference 126500 in either black or white dial (dark or light, in Rolex parlance) is $16,000. The same watches trade for between $27,000 and $32,000 in the open market. This is a serious discrepancy, but it does seem to have stabilized from a high point in 2021. In fact, it seems to be slowly coming down, but not nearly to a price that the watch merits, if you ask me. At its MSRP, the Daytona is a legitimately great watch, but only just. At ~$30,000, this ...
Teddy Baldassarre
The Omega Speedmaster is a strange watch. Omega’s most iconic chronograph enjoys an enviable history that has made it a household name, and instantly recognizable to even the most casual of enthusiasts. It has aged gracefully, changing surprisingly little since its introduction in 1957, which has no doubt buoyed its status as a bona fide icon. Along with, you know, landing on the moon and all that. But digging just a little bit deeper than the Moonwatch Professional reveals a mother lode of Speedmaster references of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Getting a grasp on the full lineage of the Speedmaster is daunting, and it’s something that we plan on breaking down in layman's terms in the near future, but it’s important to understand how these older (and at times obscure) references inform Omega’s latest and greatest releases. Of course, I am talking about the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch with a white dial. The newest Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional, released earlier this year, is the first regular-production steel Moonwatch to receive a white dial. There have been plenty of other Speedmasters to feature a white dial - from recent limited-edition Snoopy references, to the famed Alaska Project watches that originated in 1969 (and were seen again in a reissue from 2008) - so it’s not an entirely new look for the Moonwatch. This new variation is a bit different and, to my eye, draws inspiration from a different reference in the back catalog: the so-called Albino ...
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