43,003 articles · 254 videos found · page 19 of 1442
Monochrome
Kiwame Tokyo, the independent Japanese microbrand, is something of an anomaly in a country dominated by big players like Seiko, Orient, Citizen and Grand Seiko. Based in Asakusa, the historical centre of Tokyo, the brand founded by Masami Watanabe produces stylish Calatrava-inspired dress watches at relatively affordable prices. Named after the Japanese word for roof […]
![[Video] Extreme Watchmaking Revealed: The Formex Aria And How It’s Made](https://www.fratellowatches.com/cdn-cgi/image/anim=false/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Formex-Aria-Manufacture-Chronometer-Denso-Blue-9.jpg)
Fratello
Formex may be a relatively young name in Swiss watchmaking, but the brand has already made a name for itself thanks to its unique approach. Founded in 1999 and based in Biel, Formex has built its identity around combining mechanical watchmaking with engineering-led solutions. Its watches are known for features such as the patented Case […] Visit [Video] Extreme Watchmaking Revealed: The Formex Aria And How It’s Made to read the full article.
Deployant
We organized a special collector event for Piaget recently and got intimate with the Polo 79 Sodalite . Here is our hands-on review of this amazing watch.
Worn & Wound
When this one came across my inbox earlier this week, it honestly took me by surprise. How is it, I thought to myself, that Seiko hadn’t already made a bonsai themed watch at one point or another? Look, there are certainly dozens, if not hundreds, of Seiko releases over the years that are simply a blind spot for me, so it’s completely possible that they’ve done a bonsai watch in the past and I simply wasn’t aware of it. But doesn’t it seem like the most natural thing ever? Seiko, through their Presage collection, has long explored traditional Japanese craft techniques, and bonsai has to be among the most internationally recognizable and quintessentially Japanese of crafts. Bonsai is also connected to nature, another theme that runs through Seiko and Grand Seiko’s work pretty consistently. The new HCC009 is a new limited edition in the Presage family made in partnership with Tradman’s Bonsai. Tradman’s Bonsai was founded in 2015, and has a “ a mission to share the traditional Japanese art of bonsai with the world.” Since their inception, they’ve worked with collaborators in the fashion and art world in an effort to both preserve what’s important about traditional bonsai while simultaneously “redefining the concept of Japanese cool,” according to a press release. The watch itself has a 38mm gold tone case and matching gold tone bracelet. The dial is inspired by Japanese black pine bonsai when illuminated by the moon, and is rendered in mat...
Fratello
Friday is here, which means it’s time for another list! This week, we follow up on a discussion we had on Fratello Talks two weeks ago. In that episode, Robert-Jan, Nacho, and I discussed the ultimate decade for watches. RJ and I chose the nineties as our favorite decade for watches because new technology significantly […] Visit The Top 5 Rolex Models From The 1990s to read the full article.
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Monochrome
For 25 years, MeisterSinger’s signature single-hand watches encouraged a more relaxed perception of time, focusing on the broader flow of the day rather than its smallest divisions. Earlier this year, the German brand presented the Edition Unitas 1Z, a limited anniversary model that revived the original 2004 Edition 1Z, its first watch to feature a […]
Fratello
What’s the best watch-related invention ever? I realize it’s not an easy question to answer, but please, give it a go. I asked myself the exact same thing, and I concluded that it has to be the crown. We have Jean-Adrien Philippe to thank for that. Now we have the Minerva, The Unveiled Crownless, the […] Visit This Bezel Does It All: Introducing The Minerva The Unveiled Crownless to read the full article.
WatchRider
IWC introduced the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet 140 Years Mercedes-Benz on August 13, 2026. Reference IW329603 is limited to 140 pieces, one for each year since the invention of the automobile in 1886. The anniversary edition combines a 42mm stainless steel case with a black-and-gold dial and IWC’s new ProSet perpetual calendar, which can be corrected both forward and backward. The limited IW329603 combines a 42mm steel case, black dial and gold details. Image: IWC. The dial is the best part I like the design, especially the dial. The glossy black surface gives the four subdials enough visual separation, while the solid gold appliqués and gold-plated hands make the display warmer without making it look gaudy. A white minute track keeps the outer edge clear. The date sits at 3 o’clock, the month at 6, the day at 9 and the Double Moon display at 12. A four-digit year window appears between 7 and 8 o’clock. The angled view shows the solid gold appliqués, gold-plated hands and four calendar subdials. Image: IWC. The brushed and polished steel case is 42mm wide and 14mm thick. It remains a substantial watch, especially on my 6.5-inch wrist, but these dimensions are easier to imagine wearing than the traditional oversized Big Pilot format. A convex sapphire crystal has anti-reflective coating on both sides, while the sapphire caseback carries the first joint Mercedes-Benz logo from 1926, combining the three-pointed star with a laurel wreath. That histori...
Worn & Wound
Last Thursday evening, the Windup Watch Shop Showroom filled up fast as we welcomed our friends from Islander for the worldwide debut of the brand-new Islander Saltaire Solar Diver. All evening, the room buzzed with the particular energy that only a first-look launch can bring—the chance to be among the very first people anywhere to see, handle, and try on a watch that, until that night, most of the enthusiast world had only seen in renderings. The Saltaire Solar Diver took center stage from the moment the doors opened. Displayed for the first time in the metal, the new release drew a steady crowd around the display trays, where attendees leaned in to study the dial textures, the case finishing, and the solar-powered movement that gives the watch its name. Being in the room for a debut like this is its own kind of experience; there’s a real difference between reading a spec sheet and feeling a watch land on your wrist for the first time, and the Showroom gave everyone the space to do exactly that. Adding to the occasion was the Islander Watch team themselves, on hand throughout the evening to talk through the new diver and answer every question the crowd could throw at them. Chief among them was the one and only Marc Frankel, whose brand leadership and enthusiasm for the community was on full display all night. Getting to hear directly from the people behind the watch, turned a launch into a genuine conversation between a brand and the enthusiasts who love it. Of co...
Hodinkee
New watch season is right around the corner, and our friends at Time & Tide are among the first to move, thanks to not one but seven new watches arriving in September. The watches coincide with the launch of the brand's own watch fair, FounderFest, a show built around independent watchmaking and live music in equal measure. Rather than one exclusive location, FounderFest spans Time & Tide's three Watch Discovery Studios: New York (460 Broome St), Melbourne (178 Collins St), and London (Portland House, 4 Great Portland Street), running 19–20 September, with New York serving as the event's HQ, hosting founders, live interviews, and musical performances. I recently had the chance to see—and photograph—every new piece coming next month. The watches go up for sale globally on 22 September via thefounderfest.com, which will also host the festival online for anyone not on the ground in one of the three cities. Let's jump right in! AWAKE — Sơn Mài Frosted Leaf 'Ultraviolet' Awake may only be seven years old, but in that short time, word has spread quickly on the Sơn Mài and its lacquer dials. For those unfamiliar, these dials are built from layers of natural lacquer applied by hand to the dial surface, then carefully sanded back, worked, and reapplied, a process repeated until the desired depth, texture, and visual effect are met. For the 'Ultraviolet' edition, they've added pure silver-leaf gilding and natural purple and black pigments, resulting in pieces of silver s...
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NEW 2026 Omega Speedmaster 38 Reduced review
Time+Tide
This September the Time+Tide Studios in London, Melbourne, and New York will host a watch fair reimagined like you've never seen before.
WatchRider
Seiko has introduced two new Presage Classic Series Craftsmanship watches that return to one of the most important designs in its history. The HCC005J1 uses a handmade white enamel dial while the HCC006J1 takes a darker route with black Urushi lacquer and a yellow-gold-coloured case. Both were announced on 13 August 2026 and are scheduled to reach Seiko boutiques and selected retailers in September 2026. These are not simple colour changes. Each model uses a traditional Japanese dial technique and each has its own character. The white version is the clearer tribute to Seiko’s original Laurel wristwatch from 1913. The black model keeps the same basic layout but changes the mood completely through lacquer, gold details and a warm case finish. A Return to the 1913 Laurel The Laurel is important because it was Japan’s first wristwatch. Its white enamel dial, expressive Arabic numerals and red 12 became a clear visual signature. Seiko has used those details before, but the HCC005J1 brings them together in a convincing modern package. The red numeral at 12 immediately catches the eye while the curved black numerals and blue hands keep the design easy to recognise. The new watches also add a 24-hour display at six o’clock. It gives the dial a little more depth without disturbing the balance of the numerals. This is not an independently adjustable second-time-zone function. It follows the main time and shows whether the watch is indicating the first or second half of the day...
Monochrome
Albishorn, an independent Swiss brand founded in 2024 by Sébastien Chaulmontet, focuses on “imaginary vintage” watches, “what if” models that are visually grounded in the past – but which never existed. A year after its debut, Albishorn released the Marinagraph, a robust skin diver with a patented 10-minute regatta countdown function that “could have” been […]
Hodinkee
What We Know Swiss brand Albishorn, carving out a niche with "imaginary vintage" designs, just released a simplified version of its regatta chronograph with the Marinagraph Classic. I first covered this complication in my hands-on review two years ago with the Albishorn Maxigraph, the brand's debut model and a collaboration with Massena LAB. Since then, the regatta chronograph has lived on under Albishorn's "Water" collection as the Marinagraph, combining the complication with a tide bezel. Today's Marinagraph Classic isn't all that different from the Marinagraph Classic Racing. Visually, the biggest difference is the swap from that colorful aluminum insert tide bezel to a large bidirectional sapphire bezel with more traditional, lumed markings. And yes, there are new dials too. While the sunray-brushed black dial remains, the new dial comes in the form of a white fumé color, with what could have been misconstrued as a shadow in the brand photography actually a subtle dark fade around the edges of the white dial. The black dial sports contrasting silver hands and markers, while the ones on the white fumé dial offer a stark black contrast. On both dials, the ten-minute retrograde regatta countdown scale at 7 o'clock is colored in blue and red, while the chronograph and regatta seconds hands are matched on each dial in either red for the black dial or blue for the white. My favorite feature since the first Maxigraph has been the aperture at 3 o'clock, serving as a running ...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Looking for one watch to do it all? We tested these watches hands-on to find the best one-watch collection picks under $1,000.
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@longineswatches
Monochrome
Some brands flourish in the field of heritage watchmaking, at least for inspiration. Remakes, re-editions, re-designs and whatnot all rely on successful designs of the past. Nivada Grenchen is one of those brands, bringing back several very popular models from its rich history, yet it also has a more quirky side. Recreating a rather obscure […]
Fratello
There’s a particular kind of contentment that comes from wearing a watch that asks nothing of you, and the master of this is the field watch. No complications to set, no bezel to align, no story to tell anyone who asks. Just a black dial, white numerals, two hands, and maybe a date. I feel […] Visit The Simple Pleasures Of Field Watch Design to read the full article.
Monochrome
The Presage Classic collection has become Seiko’s showcase for traditional Japanese decorative arts. Within the collection, the Craftsmanship line celebrates centuries-old artisanal techniques through enamel, porcelain and urushi lacquer dials. This year, Seiko expands its catalogue with two refined additions that honour an important milestone in the company’s history: the 1913 Laurel, Japan’s first wristwatch. […]
Time+Tide
Timed to coincide with a solar eclipse casting its shadow across parts of Spain, the latest MoonSwatch is the Mission to the Sun – Solar Eclipse.
Worn & Wound
Bernhardt’s Captain collection is a new range of dress watches that I think loosely falls in the Calatrave-esque trend that has been emerging, most notably through a variety of Japanese indies and micros, over the last few years. As interest in chunky divers and sports watches appears to wane a bit, enthusiasts are (finally) willing to look at watches in other genres, and brands are delivering with a variety of takes on the dress watch format. This is a fundamentally good thing for the community, but it’s not easy to make a dress watch. It is, conversely, very easy to attempt to make a dress watch and actually make a regular old daily driver, the type of watch that most people who had any desire to wear any watch at all would have owned in the middle part of the 20th century. $749 Hands-On: the Bernhardt Captain Case Stainless steel Movement Miyota 9039 Dial Silver Lume None Lens Sapphire Strap leather Water Resistance 50 Dimensions 38 x 45mm Thickness 9.55mm Lug Width 20mm Crown Push/pull Warranty yes Price $749 A dress watch, to me, is a very specific thing. If it’s mechanical, it’s manually wound. It’s more likely to not have a seconds hand, and indices and other markings should be minimal. It obviously should be quite thin and relatively small in size, and if I were really being a snob about it, I’d insist it should be in a precious metal, but I’m not a snob and that’s ridiculous. It does speak, though, to the idea that when you use the word “d...
Video
On this channel, we review watches that are available for purchase on TeddyBaldassarre.com
Hodinkee
What We Know This one is orange. That's the news here, really. It's a bit shocking to think that since TAG Heuer's reintroduction of the mighty Formula 1 with an updated Solargraph movement, back in early 2025, in part to mark its return as the official timekeeper of the top-level motor sport race series, they have yet to release a model with an orange color scheme. Well, they have now, and I'm here for it. (And if you haven't read the great Jeff Stein's in-depth story on the surprising origins of the Formula 1, I implore you to stop what you are doing and click here). It's with relief that we welcome the latest iteration of the TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraph. It comes as a limited edition in two versions: one on a rubber strap, the other on a metal bracelet. The orange, grey, and red colorway is ostensibly a tribute to the upcoming Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, a seaside track on the Dutch coast near Amsterdam. The race weekend, beginning August 21, will be the last Dutch Grand Prix—at least in its current iteration. Best known internationally via the Dutch national football team's kit, orange is a beloved color in the Netherlands, tied to the Dutch Royal Family and the House of Orange-Nassau. A TAG watch resplendent in orange (or oranje in Dutch) seems a fitting tribute to the final F1 race in the home country of Max Verstappen, the lead driver for Red Bull Racing - also sponsored by TAG Heuer. The watch features an orange uni-directional timing bezel, orange cha...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Casio's new F-91WF trades the resin strap for cloth, turning a decades-old enthusiast mod into a factory product. Here's what changed.
Hodinkee
What We Know As one of the more recognisable watch designs, period, the current Panerai Luminor shape has been rendered in many different materials since the 1955 introduction of the crown protection device. This latest take, the Luminor Marina PAM01707, is cased in Carbotech, a composite material combining carbon fibre sheets and polyether ether ketone, resulting in excellent anti-corrosion properties and lightness. Though Panerai’s products now comfortably sit in the luxury watchmaking category, it hasn't stopped them from using avant-garde materials suited to the original intent of their designs. Measuring 44mm across and 14.5mm thick, the PAM01707 has all the hallmarks of a classic Panerai, with its cushion-shaped mid-case sandwiched by a round, striated Carbotech bezel and a DLC-treated titanium caseback. The signature bridge, which spans the right-hand side of the case and protects and locks the crown, is also rendered in carbon, matching the uneven, textured finish of the rest of the case. This sanga-based analogy can be expanded on for the dial, another Panerai hallmark. The textured, matte top plate features cut-outs for the stick indices and Arabic numerals at the cardinal points, as well as the small seconds indicator at 9 o’clock, allowing the fauxtinated Super-LumiNova bottom layer to shine through. Here pictured on brown calf leather, Panerai also includes an “Officine Panerai”-branded black rubber strap so you can actually take the watch swimming, th...
Worn & Wound
Just last week, I wrote about the stone dial trend and how it’s all getting just a little tiresome. And while I certainly stand by my position, we have to acknowledge and accept that there will continue to be stone dial watches announced and released while the trend continues (or peters out) that are interesting and worth covering. Being able to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time is an essential piece of being an adult, after all, and certainly it matters in the watch world as well, and is something we do all the time (we know buying watches is an objectively bad financial decision, we do it anyway, etc.). With that being said, Brew has introduced a new watch with a stone dial that I think is actually very nice and not part of the crop of stone dial watches that we’ve seen as of late that appear to be haphazardly slapped together for the sake of capitalizing on an opportunity. The new Retrograph Stone Blend Automatic is a new limited edition featuring a pietersite stone dial inspired by the signature visual element of coffee culture: the moment when milk is poured into a coffee and begins to swirl and blend together. Specifically, Brew says that the Stone Blend is meant to conjure the patterns created as milk is added to cold brew coffee, which of course is often served in a translucent glass that allows one to see the two liquids come together in a sometimes dramatic way. Who hasn’t been transfixed by this at one point or another? Pietersit...
Deployant
As Singapore celebrated its National Day on August 9, I had the Cartier Santos Chronograph as a fitting companion for the Sunday.
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