Two Broke Watch Snobs
Casio vs Seiko: 10-Year Affordable Watch Brand Review - Here’s the Winner
Explore which brand delivers better value, durability, design, and performance before you buy your next watch.
24,737 articles · 226 videos found · page 21 of 833
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore which brand delivers better value, durability, design, and performance before you buy your next watch.
Teddy Baldassarre
"Made in America" is a label that is much rarer to find on products now than it was 100 years ago, and that is especially true when it comes to watches. Once a bustling industry in the U.S.A., watchmaking largely migrated away from its traditional American hubs in the early 20th Century to countries like Switzerland and Japan, which still import oodles of watches to the States every year. However, American watchmaking has been seeing a slow, somewhat quiet renaissance over the past couple decades as a new generation of trailblazing entrepreneurs, from all across the U.S., strive to bring the horological trade back to these shores. Each of them takes a slightly different approach; some, like RGM, make nearly the entirety of their watch, including the movement, in the U.S., while others, like Shinola, import the majority of components but assemble the watches in an American factory, providing dozens or hundreds of local jobs. Here we take a look at 25 notable American watch brands, spotlight their leading models, and briefly examine how "Made in America" each one really is. [toc-section heading="RGM"] Founder: Roland G. Murphy Headquarters: Mount Joy, PA Notable Models: Pennsylvania Series 801, Pennsylvania Tourbillon, 801-A “Aircraft” “RGM” are the initials of Roland G. Murphy, the trained watchmaker and former Hamilton Watch Company technical manager who founded his own watch brand in Lancaster County, PA, one of America’s ancestral watchmaking centers, in 1992...
Worn & Wound
One of the most exciting releases of the year that has weirdly gone a little under the radar is the Formex Essence Ceramica Skeleton, which debuted in March just ahead of Watches & Wonders craziness. The timing of that release, in retrospect, may have somewhat dampened the response – it’s just an insanely competitive time on the novelties calendar. But I imagine anyone who has had a chance to handle these watches in person, at a Windup Watch Fair or elsewhere, comes away with a similar positive reaction. It’s just incredibly impressive that Formex is able to offer a watch with a full ceramic case and bracelet at the price point that these watches sit at (around $5,000 at today’s exchange rate). If there was a single loud objection to that initial batch of watches, it was likely centered around the skeletonized dial, which is just a bridge too far for some. It was only a matter of time before Formex announced non-skeletonized versions of the Essence Ceramica, and lucky for ceramic watch loving enthusiasts, that time is now. The new Essence Ceramica references arrive with the same full ceramic construction as their predecessors. The 41mm case still features the Formex Case Suspension System (a feature that allows the case to “flex” with your wrist for comfort and to mitigate shock) along with a screw down crown and that fantastic ceramic bracelet with micro-adjust on the clasp. The ceramic material is lightweight (30% lighter than steel) and much harder, so it...
Deployant
Casio released an interesting addition to their Casioak styled collection which is designed to be worn as a ring. I bought one and here are my impressions.
SJX Watches
The fabled Breguet no. 160 “Marie Antoinette” (pictured above, image credit Baruch Coutts) was reputedly made for the last queen of France, but was so complicated that it took decades to complete, by which time the queen was long dead. Stolen in 1983 and then recovered in 2007, the legendary watch started by Abraham-Louis Breguet will be on display for the first time outside of the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art In Jerusalem since its recovery. From December 12, the Breguet “Marie Antoinette” will be on show at the Science Museum in London (which is also home to important George Daniels creations, including the unfinished watch and the Space Traveller II). The Breguet Marie Antoinette is part of Versailles: Science and Splendour, an exhibition dedicated to the scientific and technology discoveries related to the French royal court in the 17th and 18th centuries. The exhibition explores a 120-year span of scientific progress at Versailles, illustrating the scientific endeavours accomplished during the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. The mythical watch While the exhibition will include over 100 exhibits, watch enthusiasts will know the highlight is Breguet no. 160, the grand complication commissioned in 1783, by Marie Antoinette’s lover according to legend, hence its longstanding nickname. A no-expense-spared commission, watch no. 160 was only completed in 1827, having been delayed by A.-L. Breguet’s exile during the French Revolution. By the t...
Video
On this channel, we review watches that are available for purchase on TeddyBaldassarre.com
Time+Tide
Switzerland's watchmakers are increasingly paying attention to the world's second-most popular sport - which is good news for watch fans.The post From Rado to Hublot: why watch brands are finally padding up for cricket appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Teddy Baldassarre
When you think of James Bond watches, the first models that likely come to mind would probably be from Omega, or Rolex, or - depending on which Bond era you prefer - maybe even Seiko. But one of the most memorable wristwatch scenes in Bond’s cinematic history has a Breitling as its star. In 1965’s Thunderball, the fourth movie in the popular series starring Ian Fleming’s Agent 007, star Sean Connery spends most of his screen time wearing the same watch that he wore in his previous three outings as Bond: a Rolex Submariner Ref. 6538, now known by many collectors as the quintessential “James Bond Rolex.” However, in one key scene, Bond swaps out the Submariner for another watch: a heavily modified Breitling Top Time Ref. 2002, a steel-cased, black-dialed chronograph with two white subdials, applied baton hour markers, and a tachymeter scale surrounding the dial. (The actual watch is pictured above, sans strap, photo via Christie's.) In the movie’s fictional universe, the watch - one of many gadget-packed timepieces assigned to Bond by MI-6 weapons supplier Q throughout the film series - is also equipped with a built-in Geiger counter; Bond uses it to track a cache of stolen nuclear warheads hidden deep underwater by his adversaries from the criminal organization SPECTRE. The watch was the only Breitling ever worn by any James Bond actor on screen - though, interestingly enough, another Breitling, a Navitimer 806, also appeared briefly in Thunderbal...
Monochrome
For about a year and a half, basically since the launch of the 5 Sports Style GMT collection, it seems that the dual-time complication has become the main focus of Seiko, applying this convenient feature across most of its ranges. We’ve seen it in the SPB381, SPB383 and SPB385, the first mechanical GMT divers of […]
Time+Tide
Editor’s Note: Watches & Wonders means a bombardment of fresh releases, so we’re offering a quick overview of each brand’s new novelties – touching on each new reference or collection and their headlining points. Stay tuned throughout the week for deeper coverage, some of which will include live pics and our hands-on perspective. But for … ContinuedThe post WATCHES & WONDERS: The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun collection expands appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
And you thought the brand only made tool watches.
Video
Vintage Rolex, vintage jacket, and now... a vintage rifle! Today is "new gun day" and I just picked up my very first rifle: a rare 1963 Winchester Model 70 chambered in .300 Win Mag. This American icon is coming with...
SJX Watches
I’m familiar with IWC pilot’s watches, having once owned a Mark XVII, which I bought as the quintessential flieger watch. But the Mark XVII didn’t last too long in my collection because it is very much military-inspired, and I’m not much of a military man, making it hard for me to connect with the design. When I got the chance to test drive the new Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 (ref. IW3881) – the latest version of IWC’s longstanding bestseller – I figured it was an opportunity to see if the fliegerchronograph would appeal to me where the time-only Mark XVII did not. Initial thoughts On paper, the 41 mm Pilot’s Watch Chronograph is an evolution rather than a revolution, perhaps unsurprising given how popular successive versions of the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph have been over the three decades they have been in the catalogue. The various elements that make up the watch are familiar – the blue dial can be found on the larger “Le Petit Prince” Pilot’s Watch Chronograph from 2016, while the cal. 69000-family movement inside a reduced, 41 mm case was exactly the revamped Spitfire Pilot’s Watch Chronograph launched in 2019. But still, the new chronograph manages to be a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. While constituent parts might be similar, but they arguably work better together here than in any prior watch. I was surprised at how much I liked the watch. For one, the 41 mm case is significantly more wearable than the previous-g...
Time+Tide
Louis Vuitton, the watchmaker. As time goes on, this statement is gaining credibility and intrigue. And intrigue is certainly the word I would use to describe this shoot, which involved the Time+Tide team flying to Queenstown in New Zealand with Louis Vuitton to explore the brand’s high watch collection 2019. The setting was, sparing all … ContinuedThe post If you’re interested in Geneva Seal standard watchmaking, this Louis Vuitton ‘high watch collection’ wants to meet you appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
The new Baselworld 2017 Lang & Heyne Georg has movement architecture which breaks with tradition to show new depths to an otherwise simple calibre
Revolution
Cartier announce their latest Métiers d’Art timepiece ahead of SIHH 2017, which brings a whole new craft into the maison’s knowledge set.
WristBuzz
IWC drops a bold purple-dialed Pilot chronograph timed to the Singapore Grand Prix, and it's one of the more striking F1 collabs we've seen from Schaffhausen in a while.
Video
On this channel, we review watches that are available for purchase on TeddyBaldassarre.com
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Unimatic Modello Uno UT1-PD brings a 300m rating, MIL-STD-810H durability, and a shock-housed Seiko VH31 movement to a 250-piece run.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Casio G-Shock GRAVITYMASTER GWR-B3000 adds shock detection that re-aligns its hands after impacts. A look at the new Tough Movement, specs, and pricing.
Hodinkee
Just last week, we published a Reference Points video on the Patek Philippe split-seconds wristwatch. The complication itself—a.k.a. the rattrapante—is incredibly important in the brand's history, forming the backbone for some of its greatest and most coveted watches of all time. However, you can't talk about the history of the split without understanding Patek's pocket watches. It's a story that eventually led to one of the brand's most meaningful relationships with a supplier that helped it grow into a powerhouse, a relationship that would last over a century. Instead of going deep in the weeds on pocket watches in our main Reference Points, we're spinning it off into this secondary article—an addendum of sorts—for those who want a bit more background. The story won't be exhaustive; Patek continued to make split-second pocket watches long after they began making the same complication in wristwatch form, and some such watches deserve (and have had) their own standalone stories. There are also many different versions because Patek, at the time, didn't make things in batches the way they would starting in the 1930s. You could probably write 20,000 words on these pocket watches, but rather than go that deep, here's an overview of Patek's split-seconds pocket watches, with a focus on Victorin Piguet's movements. Understanding Patek's History of Split-Seconds Pocket Watches (1878 to 1970s) and the Importance of Victorin Piguet If you read the first part of our story, y...
WristBuzz
The three-week search, the forum deep-dive, the caliber compare tabs, the fantasy of it on your wrist. then the parcel arrives, and by Friday it is just a thing in a box. a confession, a little neuroscience, and a topic for the office drinks.
WristBuzz
It is July, my wrist has grown two millimetres since Tuesday, and my clasp is not ready. a serious question, delivered with love: why is on-the-fly micro-adjust still a Rolex + tudor + Omega perk instead of an industry standard?
Video
The world may have gone crazy for the AP Swatch collaboration, but what they really missed is this Hamilton Khaki Mechanical in a 36mm size. Why is this so important? Well, it not only celebrates the 250th anniversary...
WristBuzz
From Nivachron to besançon, from ISO 6425 to the quartz crisis. a working glossary built for people who read spec sheets for fun and want the concrete answer, not the marketing line.
Teddy Baldassarre
Follow along with this guide for specs on the best Tissot watches, as determined by our audience.
WristBuzz
More colors, a reshaped case, and a movement upgrade, the 02Series Gen 2 fixes almost everything the original left on the table
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Timex Marlin Jet Automatic America 250 is a 38mm limited edition of 500 pieces, with red-white-blue styling, a domed crystal, and an exhibition caseback.
WristBuzz
The honorary president who kept the family independent, survived the quartz crisis, and built a generational legacy
Video
On this channel, we review watches that are available for purchase on TeddyBaldassarre.com
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