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Quill & Pad
Ikepod has recently launched its second Kickstarter campaign with a new collection, the Megapod. Focusing on a three-hand dial with modern minimalistic details, the Megapod feels very much the descendent of the original Megapode collection and definitely fulfills the requirements for a solid, high-quality mechanical watch featuring incredible design at an affordable price.
![Up Close: Audemars Piguet [Re]master01 Chronograph 40 mm](https://watchesbysjx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/audemars-piguet-remaster-01-chronograph-review1.jpg)
SJX Watches
Rumours were percolating for some time that Audemars Piguet was going to unveil a vintage-inspired watch to mark the opening of its recently-finished, hairspring-shaped museum. But when the Audemars Piguet [Re]master01 Selfwinding Chronograph 40 mm was revealed, it was still surprising. In the metal, the “remastered” watch is appealing; it looks good and the execution is impressively high quality in all aspects. The dial in particularly is sharply done, with even the tiniest details done right. And the movement inside is modern – and looks modern – but is impeccably constructed. But at the same time, the watch is a bit thick, and also expensive. The [Re]master01 in steel and 18k pink gold The ref. 1533 As with many reissued or “remastered” timepieces, the inspiration for the [Re]master01 is a well-known and well-documented watch: the ref. 1533, a chronograph wristwatch produced in the 1940s. It was 36.5 mm in diameter, extra-large for the period, and a three-counter chronograph, instead of the two registers typical then. Only nine of them were made, three with two-tone, steel-and-gold cases. The archive photograph of the ref. 1533. Photo – Audemars Piguet Two examples of the steel-and-gold ref. 1533 were sold in recent years at Phillips auctioneers, both setting price records for the most expensive vintage AP chronograph sold at auction. The first sold for 305,000 Swiss francs in 2015 – going to the Audemars Piguet Museum – and the second, 384,500 franc...
WatchAdvice
In 2018, the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M celebrated its 25th anniversary since the first release back in 1993. To celebrate this momentous occasion for one of the brands popular range, Omega gave the Seamaster Diver 300M a complete changeover while still retaining some of the design cues from the original model. The original 1993 Omega Seamaster 300M was introduced as a replacement for the Seamaster 200M model. Jean-Claude Biver cleverly marketed the original 1993 Omega Seamaster Diver 300M to raise the popularity of the model quite a bit, by having James Bond wear it in the 1995 film ‘Goldeneye’. Since the first Seamaster Diver 300M, there have been four generations of models including the latest 25th-anniversary release. Almost all generations kept the same design cues with changes coming from different materials and movements. From first glance, the most notable changes throughout the four generations are the case sizing and the bezel design. The bezel seems to get larger numerals in each of the latest generations. Design: The 25th-anniversary edition has a laser-cut wave pattern dial, similar to the 300M model released by Omega in 2006. The latest version, however, has more prominent waves, making them much more easily visible. The wave pattern certainly adds a unique look to the dial while drawing attention to what the watch is really about. Even with the wave pattern, however, the dial is still easily legible. This is thanks to the rhodium-plated hour indexes ...
Quill & Pad
New Zealand native Steve Smith has partnered with Brian Sheth to create a new operation: Smith & Sheth Cru. Ken Gargett believes this young winery co-founded by Smith, a highly decorated and experienced winemaker, could well take its place among the world’s exciting emerging wineries.
Deployant
Followup to our Chillout TGIF review of the Canon EOS R and lenses, here we present photographs with the camera system, with comments on the image quality.
SJX Watches
After the successful launch of its debut line of quartz watches in 2018, the resurrected Ikepod has now unveiled the Megapod, a remake of the quintessential Ikepod design, but now with an automatic movement. As with its earlier quartz offerings, the Megapod is an affordable, crowdfunded project. Originally founded by Swiss businessman Oliver Ike and legendary industrial designer Marc Newson in 1994, Ikepod gained a cult following for its incredibly distinctive, organic-UFO design. But hindered by high prices and artsy marketing, the brand’s watches never really sold widely, leading it to struggle financially. Ikepod folded in 2006, before being revived shortly after and then going under again in 2012, when Mr Newson finally parted ways with the brand. The Megapod M001 with a blue, sunray-brushed dial In contrast, today’s Ikepod is all about the same signature aesthetic, but matched with affordability. Led by a three-man investor group that includes Christian-Louis Col, an old hand in the luxury goods business who was most recently sales director at glassmaker Lalique. Recognising that the main draw of Ikepod’s watches lay in the inimitable design, and not finishing or movements, the brand now relies on low-cost production: it assembles the watches in Hong Kong, using dials and hands from Taiwan and cases made in China. As with the initial quartz-powered models, the Megapod has a stainless-steel case in the original Ikepod shape. It is a tad larger than the quartz mo...
Time+Tide
The Friday Wind Down was always intended to be some light relief to deliver to the inbox in that window between finishing up for the week and starting the weekend. That precious interstitial place that is usually accompanied by a cold beer or a room-temperature red and some wacky workplace banter. That’s certainly what’s happening … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN: Our four favourite stories of the week, feat. Dusty, Magnets and Mil-specs appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Conceived by Louis Cartier for Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont – who needed a timepiece he could read while flying – the Santos-Dumont wristwatch has the double distinction of being the first wristwatch designed from the ground up for men, as well as being the first-ever pilot’s wristwatch. Now the 116-year old design has just received its latest update with the unveiling of the hand-wound Santos-Dumont XL. [Update March 23, 2020: Read the review with more photos.] Though the Brazilian pilot got his wristwatch in 1904, it took until 1911 for the design to be sold commercially. For most of the century since, the Santos-Dumont has been part of the Cartier line-up in one way or another, often in gold but occasionally in platinum (one outlier was a special edition in titanium with a skeleton movement). The most recent facelift happened in 2005, which saw the unveiling of a version without a bezel. The new Santos-Dumont XL in all three versions Last year, the latest generation of the Santos-Dumont was unveiled, marking a return to the iconic Santos bezel with screws. For the first time ever, the Santos-Dumont was available in steel as well as two-tone steel and gold, along with the traditional all-gold case. However, the new Santos-Dumont didn’t quite receive unanimous acclaim because it was quartz movement. But now Cartier has finally unveiled what was long expected, the mechanical Santos-Dumont XL. Measuring 46.6 by 33.9 mm and just 7.5 mm in height...
Time+Tide
Within DOXA’s lineup of tributes to its 1967-born icon, the SUB 300, the SUB 1500T poses the burning question none of us knew we were asking: What if it could go even deeper? Because one of the most self-sabotaging misnomers the watch industry has ever seen is this: the Doxa SUB 300T hints at only … ContinuedThe post IN-DEPTH: The DOXA SUB 1500T appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
We may only be three months into 2020, but Seiko is dropping new novelties like the world could end tomorrow … which, given the current state of affairs, does feel ever so slightly plausible. Anyway, I know what you’re thinking: “enough of the doom and gloom, what about the watches?” Well, the Japanese watchmaker has … ContinuedThe post The Report Card: Seiko’s 2020 novelties so far appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Next Thursday, March 19, at Oscar Hunt Tailors in the Melbourne CBD, we will hold an event called Dive Watch Fundamentals. This is at the request of Oscar Hunt, who, like many, noticed that dive watches are featuring more than ever on men’s wrists in the most formal of places. For example, the Oscars. So, … ContinuedThe post Join us at our Dive Watch Fundamentals event, at Oscar Hunt Tailors in Melbourne next week appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
Longines keeps up its consistent delivery of quality and value with its latest HydroConquest watches in green.
Quill & Pad
Clare Valley winemaker Jim Barry has teamed up with one of the most famous German producers, Dr. Loosen, to form a new joint venture called LoosenBarry. It currently offers two blends of Rieslings: one using Mosel grapes but made in the Australian style, while the other Riesling comes from Clare Valley grapes, but made in the German style. And the results are in!
Time+Tide
Last week, Zenith and Revolution magazine, as well as sister publication The Rake, dropped this – the El Primero A3818 Revival “Cover Girl”. This watch is a dead ringer for the original El Primero “Cover Girl”, so-called because it was the watch featured on the cover of Manfred Rössler’s book Zenith: Swiss Watch Manufacture Since 1865. … ContinuedThe post Three things we’re *really* digging about the Zenith X Revolution El Primero A3818 Revival appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
It’s a new segment. It’s called Battle Royale. Someone nominates a collection, and we fight to the death for our favourite from said collection until there is one opinion standing. Well, not really. That would be bloody, time-consuming, fairly hard to adjudicate and likely to upset HR. So, why don’t we just make our case … ContinuedThe post Battle Royale: The T+T Team debate which is the best modern-day Rolex Daytona appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Switzerland has a well-earned reputation for producing high-quality machinery and engineering, mostly produced by small and medium-sized businesses making equipment like machine tools, printing presses, and lifts. For the same reasons, Switzerland boasts world-class watch companies, most of which share the same prowess in manufacturing and engineering. As it happens, a Swiss company was an industry leader in cryptography machines for several decades in the late 20th century. Founded by a Swede in Switzerland, Crypto AG sold mechanical encoding devices to some 120 countries, including Iran, India, and the Vatican. Although digital cryptography has now rendered cryptography hardware obsolete, such machines were once crucial to international diplomacy, intelligence, and espionage. Crypto AG was a key producer of these machines, helped by the fact that Switzerland is a neutral country. But a recent investigation by the The Washington Post and German public television network Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) have revealed that since 1970, Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA and Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s federal intelligence service. The news has since spiralled into a scandal in Switzerland – where neutrality has been a national policy since the 19th century – with the government setting up an inquiry to investigate just how much former officials knew. Building in backdoors According to the Post, Crypto AG founder Boris Hagelin had once hoped to pas...
SJX Watches
Auction catalogues often offer early 20th century pocket watches of impressive, refined quality that bear the names of unfamiliar Geneva firms. Amongst the most prominent are Agassiz, Ed. Koehn, Haas Neveux, and Touchon. Despite their obscurity now, these brands were once amongst the best in the world – arguably the equals of Patek Philippe or Vacheron Constantin, producing or retailing highly complicated and extra-thin timepieces. All of them, save for one, are now defunct and long forgotten. In fact, most went under long before the Quartz Crisis. A single name has survived and prospered while remaining a family business, by evolving its business over the centuries – Golay Fils & Stahl. A familiar name As an avid reader of auction catalogues, I had come across Golay Fils & Stahl on several occasions, and the name stayed with me because of the high quality of firm’s pocket watches (Haas Neveux being another). Then in November 2019, Phillips sold the Patek Philippe ref. 3652 minute-repeating wristwatch. Not only was the watch relatively recent, having been made in 1985, it was a unique reference powered by a reworked vintage movement – and signed “Golay Fils & Stahl” on the dial. Few retailers get their name on modern Patek Philippe watches, let alone a one-off, custom timepiece. It piqued my curiosity. The ref. 3652 – essentially a Calatrava ref. 96 minute repeater By sheer chance that curiosity was satisfied when Melissa Wolfgang Amenc got in touch after see...
Time+Tide
It was during a particularly cold snap in January that I decided to get off the couch and out of the house. I was restless. The internet had been bombarding me with watch photos, opinions, reviews and advertising. I’m quite sure the only Google algorithm pointed at me is for watches. On that frigid January … ContinuedThe post Why I put my own money behind the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
This is not an article about the fabled Rolex Explorer 1016. But... if you squint your eyes really tight and tilt your head, it could kind of look like one.
Time+Tide
The Doomsday Clock started ticking in 1947. This was the brainchild of an international group of researchers called the Chicago Atomic Scientists who’d participated in The Manhattan Project – an R&D; program that resulted in the production of the first nuclear weapons. Essentially, the Doomsday Clock was designed to calculate precisely how close we are … ContinuedThe post The Enabler: How to justify buying another watch (#10. The end of the world is nigh) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
If Ken Gargett were to tell you that he is looking at one of the great champagnes, that wouldn’t really narrow it down for you. If he said it was a blanc de blancs then you’d be able to get closer. And if he said it had become a cult favorite in recent years, you might think he is talking about Selosse, Agrapart, Collin, or one of the other emerging growers. The champagne he puts under the microscope today is actually from small(ish) grower Pierre Peters and it is the flagship, Les Chétillons. Find out what he thinks about it here!
SJX Watches
When it comes to finely-finished, time-only movements, the ultimate Seiko offerings are the Credor Eichi II and Grand Seiko Spring Drive 20th Anniversary. The Japanese equivalent of watches like the Akrivia Chronometre Contemporain and Philippe Dufour Simplicity, the pair are the work of the Micro Artist Studio and finished to the same magnificent level, broadly speaking. (The Grand Seiko 8 Day is of the same quality, but it is a much larger and more complex watch.) Because the movements, the 7R14 in the Eichi II and 9R02 in Grand Seiko SBGZ001 and SBGZ003, are fundamentally identical, comparing the finer details of the two – an enlightened, obsessive nitpicking – makes for some interesting conclusions. The 7R14 in the Eichi II (left) and the 9R02 of the Grand Seiko SBGZ001 The sampled are both finished examples that were purchased in stores, and not prototypes, so both are representative of their respective model and movement. Though both were made in the Seiko-Epson’s Micro Artist Studio, probably by the very same craftsmen, the Eichi II was produced in 2015, while the Grand Seiko SBGZ001 dates to 2019, which is the year of its launch, and is the property of Mark Cho, founder of menswear retailer The Armoury. Same but different Both movements share the same architecture and layout, with the key functional difference being the power reserve, in both duration and display. The Eichi II’s 7R14 has a single barrel and a 60-hour power reserve, indicated on a fan-sha...
Time+Tide
Rolex vs. Omega is an age-old debate that has seemingly raged since time immemorial in the horological community. However, the watches in question have always been the Rolex Submariner vying against the Omega Seamaster, or the Rolex Daytona vs. the Omega Speedmaster. And while the arguments for and against these aforementioned watches could go on … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED WATCHING: Rolex Yacht-Master Vs. Omega Seamaster appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
If Zenith’s showing at LVMH’s Dubai Watch Week is anything to go by, 2020 could well be the year of the eccentric collaboration for the Swiss watchmaker. Not only were members of the press treated to the unveiling of the handsome, if slightly odd, Zenith DEFY El Primero 21 Land Rover Edition, but they were … ContinuedThe post Superstar DJ Carl Cox remixes Zenith; feat. Lume appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
To say that we’ve been humbled by the support we’ve received from our peers in the watch industry would be understating it. Discovering, through this crisis, the depth of feeling others have for our country, our people and our wildlife has been truly unforgettable. A searing, life-affirming experience. If I could choose one quote to sum it up - and … ContinuedThe post The world’s watch media unites to support our Australian bushfire crisis watch auction appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Maverick survivalist, TV host and ex-British special forces soldier Bear Grylls has teamed up with Californian-based watchmaker Luminox to create the ultimate range of tough and ready timepieces. Judiciously called the Bear Grylls Survival Collection, there will be six watches in total to … bear Bear’s name. In fact, each and every one of the … ContinuedThe post Survival of the fittest: Bear Grylls and Luminox have created some tough timepieces appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Martin Green thinks that nearly any serious brand can put a truckload of diamonds on a watch and attach a phenomenal price tag to it. But he also believes that very few could create a watch like the Bulgari Octo L'Originale with its more than 50 carats of nearly flawless colorless diamonds. Find out why here.
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...
SJX Watches
Chanel’s best known watch is unquestionably the all-ceramic J12, now in its refined and upgraded second generation. But its most interesting watch – from a mechanic and design perspective – is the Monsieur de Chanel. Originally offered only in precious metals, the watch was last year given a stylish makeover with the Monsieur Édition Noire that’s clad entirely in matte black ceramic. A jumping hour with retrograde minutes, the Édition Noire is powered by the Calibre 1, an original, integrated movement produced with help from independent watchmaker Romain Gauthier. But equally important is its design, which is discreetly brilliant. The watch has the sort of thoughtful aesthetic that pays attention to the whole but also the details – the typeface used on the dial was designed expressly for the watch – that is expected from the grand Parisian fashion house. In fact, the design is more coherent and informed than many watches created by traditional watchmakers. The Chanel elements of the watch are subtle, like the octagonal frame for the hours inspired by the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle The long road Like other luxury fashion houses, Chanel has been working hard to make proper timepieces, watches that are well made and equipped with respectable movements. Earlier this year it took a 20% stake in movement maker Kenissi, in a joint venture with Tudor, which now produces calibres for the face-lifted J12. Kenissi is merely the latest investment in Chanel’s gradual...
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.
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