Results for Tantalum (Watch Cases)

Mr Jones Beam Me Up! Review: A Different Kind of Mechanical Watch

A hands-on review of the Mr Jones Beam Me Up! mechanical, exploring its playful dial, unconventional time display, and more.

The Most Versatile Watch for Under $5,000 - Tudor Black Bay One

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

Reviewing The Ballon Bleu de Cartier: A Unique Take On Your Classic Round Watch

In a world of round watches, the Ballon Bleu de Cartier stands out thanks to its unique design, as only Cartier can! What We Love: The unique style that is very Cartier The great-looking dial that stands out on the wrist Ease of wearing at 36mm for a variety of wrist sizes What We Don’t: The double-folding friction clasp could be upgraded to a push button in this model While unisex, some with larger wrists will most probably need to upgrade to the 42mm The crown was slightly harder to access to change the time for me Overall Rating: 8.25 / 10 Value for Money: 8/10 Wearability: 9/10 Design: 8/10 Build Quality: 8/10 When people think of Cartier watches, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a maker of shapes. The brand has built much of its identity around distinctive case designs rather than traditional round watches, with icons such as the Santos, Tank, Tortue, Crash and Cloche, to name a few, all standing out as examples of Cartier doing things a little differently. That approach to design has long set the Maison apart from many other watchmakers who tend to lean more heavily on classic round cases. So when Cartier introduced the Cartier de Ballon Bleu in 2007, it represented something slightly different for the brand. On paper, it’s a round watch, which might sound straightforward enough, but as with most things Cartier, it’s not quite that simple. Rather than just producing a traditional circular case, Cartier added its own distinctive twist with the n...

Longines Redesigned Its Flagship Dive Watch From the Ground Up

The Longines HydroConquest gets its biggest update in nearly 20 years, with a ceramic bezel, new dial options, and pricing under $2,500.

Breaking News: Hazemann & Monnin Wins The Second Edition Of The Louis Vuitton Watch Prize For Independent Creatives

The Swiss-based watchmakers pick up their second major award in three years.

Finally, a Japanese Manhole Inspired Watch with a Cloisonné Enamel Dial

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 ...

Seiko Gave Its Most Important Dive Watch An Overdue Refresh

The updated Seiko Marinemaster HBF001 and HBF002 models bring a new movement, ceramic bezel, and real upgrades. Here's what stands out.

Eco-Drive Turns 50 and Citizen Is Celebrating With a Wild Titanium Watch

The new Citizen Eco-Drive Photon pairs Super Titanium construction with a dial that creates color through light alone.

The ABCs of Time – All About Watch Crowns, the Small but Crucial Interaction with your Watch

For almost all modern watches, besides a few exceptions (there is always an exception to the rule), the crown is literally the command centre that winds the mainspring, sets the time and controls common complications like dates, calendars and GMTs. Supplementary controls like pushers complement the crown, but they’re limited to specifics like chronographs or […]

Christopher Ward’s In-House True GMT Is The Watch Fans Have Been Waiting For

Christopher Ward's CW-002 is its first in-house True GMT, built from scratch after Swiss suppliers offered no viable option.

Introducing: Girard-Perregaux Minute Repeater Flying Bridges, Its First In-House Chiming Watch

A highly technical release shows off the brand's full capabilities, fully skeletonized.

Talking Watches: With Jean Todt – Ferrari Formula 1 Boss, President Of The FIA, Philanthropist, And Passionate Watch Collector

From Dakar to Le Mans, WRC to Formula 1, to road safety and spinal cord research, Jean Todt's collection of watches reflects the remarkable and multifaceted passions that have defined his life.

Talking Watches: With Marcus Stroman, All-Star Pitcher, And Absolute Watch Obsessive

The Gold Glove winner and All-Star pitcher gives us an inside look at his evolving collection of Cartier, Patek Philippe, and more.

Introducing – Dominique Renaud Launches New Brand and Presents the One-Hertz-Beating Pulse60 Watch

If high-frequency is often marketed as the pinnacle of precision in modern watchmaking, things are actually more nuanced and more about managing the inevitable trade-offs. Every gain in one area usually comes with a drawback elsewhere. Although he has already worked on high-frequency, low amplitude oscillators, industry veteran Dominique Renaud is now taking the opposite […]

Four Times I Was Wrong About Watch Collecting

Try to think of an objective fact about watches. If you’re anything like me, it’s a task that sounds simple at first, but quickly turns into a surprisingly difficult thought experiment.  After some head scratching, my attempt at this exercise ended with a relatively short list, made up mostly of historical facts and a small number of all-encompassing physical descriptions: Watches were invented in the 16th century. They tell time, generally, and are powered by some sort of movement- quartz, mechanical, electric, tuning fork, or otherwise. They are round, or not. And have three hands, or more… and sometimes none at all.  As it turns out, objective facts about watches are in short supply, which by default makes mastering the subjective a primary element of watch collecting. Luckily for me and all the other self-proclaimed voices of authority spamming the forums alongside me, becoming an expert boils down to the ability to pick (usually meticulously researched) standpoints where the stakes are low and our personal beliefs are inherently never wrong. In the very first article I wrote for Worn & Wound back in 2023, I stated that forming opinions was one of my favorite things about the hobby. In the time since I picked the premise of individual stances as my first published words on this site, I’ve formed countless of them, and still find tremendous joy in doing so. Watches are round…or not Some of my early opinions (such as a logoed counterbalance on the second hand...

Sean Lim, Inside a $5 Million Watch Vault | The Collector’s Perspective

Luminox Updates Its Navy SEAL Chronograph Watch With a Desert-Ready Colorway

Luminox's Navy SEAL Chronograph XS.3587 arrives in a new coyote tan and black colorway, bringing tactical styling to a diver-chrono combo.

Introducing – The Eska Amphibian 250 Destro, a new Lefty Take on the Tool Watch

In a market overcrowded with vintage-inspired dive watches, ranging from truly affordable models to high-end watches produced by esteemed brands, Eska, a name with over 100 years of history (with a stop from 1987 to 2024), has managed to find a place for its cool-looking, well-built and fairly priced Amphibian 250 collection. Modelled after a […]

Vostok Amphibia Review: The $70 Russian Dive Watch With Global Appeal

The Vostok Amphibia has long been recognized by in-the-know enthusiasts as one of the most affordable yet reliable dive watches on the market, as well as one that retains a quirky appeal like no other, owing both to its origins in Soviet Russia as well as its more recent turn as a character-defining prop in a cult-classic Wes Anderson movie. Here’s everything you need to know about the Vostok Amphibia and a brief hands-on review of one of the current models.  [toc-section heading="Russia’s Watchmaker: Chistopol Watch Factory"] The backstory of the Vostok Amphibia is one that is winding and complex, and it actually can be traced back not only as far as World War II Russia but even farther, to the Hampden Watch Company of Canton, Ohio. In 1930, the bankrupt Hampden sold its machinery, equipment, and technical designs to the First State Watch Factory, soon to become the First Moscow Watch Factory, founded in Russia (then the Soviet Union) on the order of Joseph Stalin. It was the nation’s first state-owned manufacturer of watches and mechanical movements. With Nazi Germany’s army advancing on Moscow in 1941, the factory was evacuated to Chistopol, a town in Tatarstan on the banks of the Kama River. The renamed Chistopol Watch Factory produced not only watches and movements but also equipment for the Soviet military, both during the war and in the decades afterwards. Chistopol Watch Factory became the official watch supplier of the USSR Ministry of Defense in 1965 and...

An Owner’s Long-Term Review Of The Serica 5303-2 Dive Watch

Discover the Serica 5303-2 in our detailed review, highlighting its vintage-inspired design and professional-grade features.

The ABCs of Time – The Most Popular Watch Styles Explained

There’s an endless amount of mechanical wristwatches on the market today from a seemingly endless amount of brands (large and small), but almost all watches fall into a specific style (assuming it’s not from MB&F; or Urwerk). However, many take on multiple roles and blur those lines – an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak is a […]

Introducing – The Benrus Sky Chief Chronograph, a Historic Pilot’s Watch Reborn

Founded in New York in 1921 by Romanian-born brothers Benjamin, Oscar, and Ralph Lazrus, Benrus relied on Swiss production, centred in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and during the 1930s and 1940s, it became known for its pilots and military watches. Early models such as the Flyer and Airman were popular among the airline pilots, helping establish the […]

Hodinkee Insurance Heads To Windup Watch Fair Dallas

Windup returns to Dallas this March-and Hodinkee Insurance will be there all weekend to talk watches, coverage, and everything in between.

Does Anybody Want This? Kalshi and Bezel Now Offer Watch Futures Trading

I used to really enjoy watching sports. But over the last few years, it’s become almost impossible to enjoy, as it feels like telecasts exist for the sole purpose of driving viewers toward gambling websites like FanDuel and DraftKings. It’s truly pervasive, and depending on how you view sports betting it’s either a mild annoyance or the sign of something darker and more insidious: the steady financialization of every form of entertainment.  This isn’t an editorial on the ethics of gambling (or capitalism) but I’ve been thinking about both over the last several hours after we learned that Bezel, the online watch retailer that acts as an authenticated marketplace for many sought after watches from Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and others, has teamed up with Kalshi, the prediction markets platform that lets users place bets not just on sports, but on questions like “What will Pete Hegseth say during his press conference?” and “Which bank will take SpaceX public?” Now, Kalshi users and presumably watch collectors and speculators can bet on changing watch valuations, as well as the likelihood of potential new releases. This seems like a uniquely terrible idea, and I hate everything about it.  First, and this goes almost without saying, as watch enthusiasts, we are always trying to divorce ourselves from placing a high degree of importance on the value of any given watch. While nobody wants to lose money on an expensive watch purchase, real joy in this hobby comes ...

Orient’s Affordable Automatic Watch Lineup Just Got a Lot More Interesting

The new Orient Stretto collection adds four vibrant dial colors to one of the most compelling affordable automatic watches under $400.