651 articles · 47 videos found · page 22 of 24
Revolution
When Revolution x The Rake Covid-19 Solidarity Auction was first announced, an incredible Aussie gent named Vaughn, who goes by the Instagram handle @hands.faces.cases reached out to say, he wanted to donate this Baltic x Worn & Wound sold out Sector dial beauty. So we caught up with Vaughn to find out why he felt thus compelled to reach out and donate towards this cause.
Hodinkee
The colorful new editions will be joined by complementary faces.
SJX Watches
Three years after the debut of Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication boasting 23 complications, Vacheron Constantin has topped its own achievement at Watches & Wonders 2020 by launching Les Cabinotiers Grand Complication Split-Seconds Chronograph “Tempo”. Without going into the minefield of what counts as a complication; the new Grand Complication incorporates 24 complications, if each function counts as one – with everything displayed on a massive, two-faced case. A reversible giant In addition to showing the time, the Grand Complication includes a minute repeater, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph as well as a number of astronomical indications including equation of time, sunrise and sunset times, plus a retrograde moon phase. The reverse face Unsurprisingly, the case is enormous – 50 mm wide and 21 mm high. But it is intriguingly designed – perfectly symmetrical in profile, the case allows the watch to be worn with either side facing up thanks to a quick-release strap. Swapping faces is a matter of unlatching the strap, flipping the watch over, and reinstalling the strap. Time, chronograph and perpetual calendar on the front; tourbillon, running Equation of Time, retrograde moon phase and times for sunrise and sunset on the back Mechanical layer cake Inside is the cal. 2756, which is derived from the cal. 2755, a movement first found in the Traditionnelle Calibre 2755 grand complication that has since been iterated ...
SJX Watches
There was much anticipation in the lead up to A. Lange & Söhne’s launch of the Odysseus last year, which met with mixed receptions. The luxury-sports watch represented a few firsts for Lange – a first foray into sports watches, the brand’s first regular-production steel watch, and for the nerds, subtle technical features not seen before in other movements. Unsurprisingly, the inaugural steel model is now been joined by a precious metal version, the Odysseus in white gold. While the new watch is functionally similar to the steel model, the gold version is set apart with a handful of dial details, and the more obvious strap choices. Nips and tucks The dial gets a couple of tweaks to distinguish it, going with a muted, monotone grey instead of dark blue. More subtle are the differences in the dial finishing, with a stamped radial pattern reminiscent of the Langematik Perpetual Honey Gold, replacing the concentric rings found on the steel model. And the central portion of the dial is finished with a more conventional fine frosting, rather than the pronounced, granular surface found on the steel model. While the debut Odysseus was offered only with a steel bracelet, the white gold version is offered only with leather or rubber straps that connect to the watch via proprietary end-links incorporating a quick-release mechanism. While the leather strap is ordinary brown calfskin, the rubber is more than run-of-the-mill rubber strap and features raised vents on the reverse ...
Revolution
Revolution speaks with musician and English gent, Gary Barlow on his recent efforts to add positive energy into the communities around him with daily duets on Instagram and much more.
SJX Watches
MB&F; has always been about pushing the boundaries of aesthetic and conceptual creativity in watchmaking, lassoing in everything from pop culture to science fiction to build its Horological Machines. Reminiscent of the HM3 Frog and HM9 Flow, the HM10 Bulldog is the tenth watch in the series and another intergalactic timekeeper reassembling a robotic animal. While MB&F; has historically been all about less-than-friendly animals, like a cyclops-chicken, luminous jellyfish, or giant spider, the HM10 is modelled on a domestic favourite (and perhaps also takes inspiration from the LM1). The design language of the HM10 is a familiar one as it borrows liberally from MB&F;’s past machines. Bulging eyes in the form of rotating displays take their cues from the HM3, while the suspended balance wheel under a high domed crystal is also found in the Legacy Machine series, and finally the mobile jaw that’s also a power reserve display brings to mind the vertical indicator on the LM1. An elaborate body It’s a complex-looking watch, so an explanation is in order. Available in either titanium, or red gold with titanium accents, the HM10 has a flat, elongated body with a protruding pair of collets for the crowns, as well as two domed sapphire crystals on the front and back to accommodate the time display and power reserve indicator respectively. At 54 mm by 45 mm, the HM10 does have a large presence – which is usually the point of a Horological Machine – but the overall shape, pa...
SJX Watches
Kiu Tai Yu (1946-2020) was famed for achieving several firsts in watchmaking. He was the first watchmaker in Asia to build a tourbillon wristwatch – he debuted the Kiu Tai Yu tourbillon no. 1 in 1991 – and also the first Asian member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI). Kiu preceded today’s Asian independent watchmakers by some two decades. He joined the AHCI in 1992, making him one of the earliest entrants into the trade body for independent watchmakers that counts George Daniels (1987), Francois-Paul Journe (1988), and Philippe Dufour (1997) as pioneer members. Working out of a tiny shop named Kew & Cie. in Hong Kong’s Central business district, Kiu did one better after building conventional tourbillons – he invented his very own Mystery Tourbillon that had neither a cage nor visible bridge, for which he was granted patents in China, Switzerland, and the United States. Though he was inactive since 2007 when he suffered a stroke, Kiu was prominent internationally in the 1990s, being a regular at Baselworld where he exhibited his exceptionally distinctive watches. His timepieces encapsulated his philosophy of watchmaking – he did it his way. Kiu Tai Yu in his shop. Photo – Vincent Calabrese Inimitable design The aesthetic of his watches was strikingly Chinese and evocative of a particular period in East Asia. It was not so much the elegant, classical style of historical China, but the over-the-top, exuberant look of Hong Kong and ...
WatchAdvice
“Beauty drives our decisions. In beauty, we find attraction, love even, which drives us to invest. We buy what we love. With a watch, that’s very true. Most often, the heart rules the head.” Those words are from Oris’s Joint Executive Officer; Rolf Studer. The brand celebrated a very important historical role of the Big Crown Pointer Date by giving the latest edition a solid bronze casing and a unique finish on the dial that makes each watch different from one another. The original Big Crown Pointer Date played a significant role for Oris during the 1970s Quartz Crisis and the revival of the Swiss watch industry. When Oris decided to only build mechanical watches during the mid to late 1980s, the Big Crown Pointer Date was vital in this decision. The watch carried a presence of history and emotional value along with a driven purpose that many of the quartz-powered timepieces in the era of the Quartz Crisis couldn’t compete with. The Big Crown Pointer Date become a signature for not only Oris but also the revival of the mechanical Swiss watch from the Quartz Crisis. In 1938, the creators of the Big Crown Pointer Date designed the watch so that it was well suited for the aviation industry. Timepieces that were designed in the early days for the aviation industry had to be easily readable at a glance so that pilots were able to do calculations quickly. They also needed to be easily adjustable while also being sturdy and reliable enough to withstand the turbulenc...
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!
Hodinkee
A memento of the post-Apollo 11 "Giant Leap" world tour.
Time+Tide
Continuing their creative collaborative partnership, luxury Japanese streetwear label Bape and Japanese watchmaker Seiko have just unveiled their latest limited edition creation … and we like it. Water resistant to 200 metres, this matt black marvel is, much like their first joint effort, sporting Bape’s quintessential “ABC” camouflage, which has been masterfully applied to the … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: Bape and Seiko have done it again with their latest collaboration appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
A premier watch auction is an inspiring event. Last week, I joined the bidders at Phillips auction house on Park Avenue in New York. As we progressed through the 74 lots on offer, I was struck by the truly global nature of the vintage watch market. The auctioneer and impresario Aurel Bacs flawlessly switched between … ContinuedThe post In the room for the Phillips Game Changers Auction appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
If you like technology, watches, and sports – and you like them all together – you’re in luck: Richard Mille has just joined a McLaren co-created professional cycling team as one of the main sponsors: meet Team Bahrain McLaren!
SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet (AP) recently named Stefanie Ng to lead its operations in Southeast Asia, India and Australia. She succeeds Jonathan King, who departed the brand in April 2019. Having started her career at Swatch Group, Ms Ng joined AP in 2012 as marketing manager for the region, where she helped execute projects like the Royal Oak 40th anniversary exhibition and a giant floral clock at Gardens by the Bay. The past two years have been formative for the brand, both in Asia and the wider world, as it has steadily trimmed its third-party distribution while growing sales within its own stores, making the marketing efforts of Ms Ng and her team vital, particularly with the launch of the all-new Code 11.59 collection earlier this year. As chief executive, Ms Ng will work alongside two board members of AP, which is unusual amongst Swiss watchmakers in having shareholders resident in Singapore: Oliviero Bottinelli, whose family inherited its stake from former AP chief executive Georges Golay (1921-1987), and Sunil Amarasuriya, who was once the distributor for AP in the region and acquired a minority stake in 1990. The Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 tourbillon made for Only Watch, which sold for a record 1m Swiss francs at the charity auction in November Though the watch industry in the region, like that back home in Switzerland, is dominated by men, it’s noteworthy that two of the most important brands – coincidentally both family owned – are now run by women. The Patek Philipp...
SJX Watches
A year ago, H. Moser & Cie. debuted the Heritage Pilot’s Watch, a retro, aviation-inspired watch with grey fumé dial for Swiss retailer Bucherer that was then a one-off unlike anything else in the brand’s line-up. Now the watch has officially joined the collection as the Heritage Centre Seconds Funky Blue, positioned as an entry-level model priced under US$14,000. The watch has a familiar design, for good reason: it’s modelled on early pilot’s watches from the 1920s that were produced by a host of brands including Longines and Zenith, and also Heinrich Moser, the predecessor of H. Moser & Cie. At the same time, according to Moser chief executive Edouard Meylan, the Heritage watch takes some inspiration from early 20th century wristwatches that were converted pocket watches with wire lugs soldered on for wear on the wrist. While the Heritage measures 42mm in diameter like a majority of Moser’s watches, it is just 11.1mm high, making it one of the brand’s slimmest models. Its stainless-steel case features an onion-shaped crown and thin lugs to mimic wire lugs. The case is largely polished, punctuated with fine, vertical fluting on its flanks, a detail taken from another watch in the Moser line-up, the Pioneer. The dial is a dark, metallic blue finished with sunburst brushing and the brand’s signature fumé treatment that gradually darkens towards the edges. But the most distinctive feature are the large Arabic numerals – modelled on the painted radium ...
Quill & Pad
Montegrappa has joined forces with renowned Australian artist Timothy John to create an extraordinary pen whose proceeds go to support the Michael J. Fox Foundation in its fight against Parkinson’s disease. Martin Green shares his thoughts on the collaboration here.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Like most watch guys, my dad got my brothers and me into watches. My dad was a huge watch lover; one of my earliest memories was trying on his giant (well, it seemed giant to me at the time) Seiko 6319-5040. I also still vividly remember his first Rolex. It was a second-hand gold Datejust and it always inspired awe in me.
SJX Watches
Switzerland’s biggest watch and jewellery fair will see one of its biggest exhibitors, Seiko, depart next year reports Yasuhito Shibuya of Chronos Japan. A Baselworld exhibitor since 1986, the Japanese watchmaker joins the stream of brands that have been departing the event since industry giant Swatch Group’s shock exit last year. According to Mr Shibuya, Seiko’s official reason for leaving is “because the opening time of Baselworld in 2020 is later than usual”, happening in May instead of the traditional March. Mr Shibuya also adds: “The fair happens a month later, coinciding with the Golden Week in Japan – a period with four consecutive national holidays within seven days. This is a particularly disappointing time for Japanese watchmakers.” “From the location of the booth to the floor plan of the fair [with Seiko’s booth on the second level], I do not think that Seiko has received equal treatment [as compared to Swiss brands]” noted Mr Shibuya. Despite its importance, both commercially and culturally, Seiko, along with fellow Japanese brands Casio and Citizen, has been relegated to the upper floor of the main exhibition hall since the venue’s lavish redesign in 2013. The loss of Seiko is no doubt a major blow to Baselworld, which has historically been a cash cow for exhibition organiser MCH Group, which also owns the Art Basel franchise. Instead of Baselworld, Seiko will launch its new products earlier in the year. However, according to a Seiko...
Hodinkee
Can giant Google help little Fitbit in its battle with Apple?
SJX Watches
Luxury giant LVMH has made an offer to buy Tiffany & Co., America’s leading luxury jeweller (and the biggest retailer of Patek Philippe watches in the country), according to the Bloomberg. The French group made an all-cash offer of US$120 a share, a premium of about 22% over Tiffany’s last done share price and valuing the company at about US$14.4 billion. That would make Tiffany’s the biggest acquisition ever for LVMH, which has seen its shares hit record highs recently, bringing its value to over US$210 billion. Despite being the world’s largest luxury group – its brands include Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Rimowa, Hublot and DFS – LVMH is relatively weak in high-end jewellery, especially compared to Swiss rival Richemont, which owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Piaget, and only just picked up Buccellati. Buying Tiffany would give LVMH a bigger presence in jewellery, as well as greater exposure to the United States, which is the jeweller’s biggest market, account for around a third of sales. LVMH only just opened a bag factory in Texas, the Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch, in an event attended by Donald Trump and LVMH chief executive and controlling shareholder Bernard Arnault, who’s also the third-richest man in the world. Best known for its diamond engagement rings and blue boxes, Tiffany suffered from a weak spell in recent years, with its former chief executive Frederic Cumenal, an LVMH alumni, lasting barely two years. After he departed in 2017, to be...
SJX Watches
From 2020 onwards, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) will be known as Watches & Wonders Geneva, adopting the name of an event that first started in Hong Kong before migrating to Miami in the wake of the slowdown in the Chinese territory. Last year’s shock announcement by industry giant Swatch Group that it would depart Baselworld permanently set up off chain of events: a botched response that led to the resignation of the chief executive of the fair’s organiser MCH Group, and then a full-year loss for MCH. Some prominent brands like Breitling also decided to leave Baselworld, though the giants, like LVMH and Rolex, have opted to stay. Since then Baselworld’s new management has announced a flurry of new initiatives and programmes, starting with Baselworld announcing it would unite with SIHH after a decade’s separation. It’s also revealed an unimpressive hotel deal and more recently, a concierge service for visitors. All of that seems to have compelled the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), the organiser of SIHH – a watch fair in healthy condition compared to Baselworld – to do something as well. And so they have, with the goal of making the event more consumer centric. Rebranded but pretty much unchanged Palexpo forever Despite the name change, the format of the event appears pretty much the same. The Salon with its 30 exhibiting brands will take place as it always has, at the Palexpo conventional hall beside Geneva airport, loca...
SJX Watches
IWC’s latest limited edition is a surprisingly small run – 80 pieces to mark the 80th anniversary of the flight of the giant Latécoère 521 flying boat Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris from New York to Lac de Biscarrosse in Southwestern France. Starting on Bastille Day, July 14, in 1939, the flight was the first nonstop crossing of the North Atlantic by flying boat. A passenger on the 28-hour, 27-minute journey was French aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry. And it happens that one of IWC’s most popular sub-collections of pilot’s watches watches is Le Petit Prince, named after the famous novel by de Saint Exupéry. So the Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Chronograph Edition “80 Years Flight to New York” is an offshoot of the Le Petit Prince collection, with a few tweaks. It retains the vaguely retro flavour, with Gothic-esque numerals and lozenge hands, but instead of the standard blue dial of Le Petit Prince, the anniversary watch has a brown metallic dial, matched with brown ceramic bezel. The edition is based on the Timezoner Chronograph, usually available only in the standard black and white livery of IWC’s basic Pilot’s Watches. It’s an unusual watch that combines both a flyback chronograph and IWC’s proprietary “timezoner” mechanism. Originally developed by the defunct watch brand Vogard, the timezoner mechanism has a rotating world time bezel linked to the second time zone, so turning the bezel moves the 24-hour hand in one-hour ste...
Time+Tide
In their latest joint venture, IWC Schaffhausen and surfboard designer and entrepreneur Hayden Cox have teamed up to create a unique concept – the world’s first floating surfboard design studio. This very Australian activation was also designed to highlight the brand’s recent efforts to reduce their environmental impact, by – for example – using 90 … ContinuedThe post IWC ranked as top Swiss watch brand by WWF for reducing environmental impact, celebrates on tiny floating house appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Designer of some of the most striking wristwatches of the 1960s, jeweller Gilbert Albert (1930-2019), passed away in his hometown of Geneva on October 1 , 2019. He was 90. Son of a newspaper deliveryman, Albert trained as a jeweller at Geneva’s l’Ecole des Arts Industriels and was only in his mid 20s when he joined Patek Philippe in 1955 as a designer. In his seven years at the watchmaker, which was then led by Henri Stern, himself a trained jeweller, Albert was responsible for some of the most radical watch cases of the era. These strikingly asymmetrical timepieces, like the Asymétrie wristwatches and Ricochet pocket watches, are still incredible designs six decades on. Gilbert Albert. Photo – lenouvelliste.ch He then set up his own workshop in 1962, where he became known for the use of unusual materials like coral and meteorite, all installed in quirky, unique jewellery desirable enough that frequent fakes eventually emerged. Albert also designed watches and jewellery for other watchmakers, most notably Omega, where he created several collections, including the Maille d’Or and Arabesque d’Or, all characterised by a distinctive, almost organic style. With his success, Albert built a small but highly regarded jewellery business. He opened his first store in his hometown in 1973, sited on rue de la Corraterie, a street just outside the walls of Geneva’s Old Town. Ten years later that was followed by a boutique in Zurich. Albert’s boutique in Gen...
Revolution
Panerai takes over the Harrods Fine Watch Room with a giant octopus tentacle and the Panerai Submersible Chrono Guillaume Néry Edition PAM00982.
Hodinkee
Apple, Fitbit, and Samsung have joined Rolex and Patek Philippe as America's five best-selling watch brands.
WatchAdvice
The 21st of July 1969 at 02:56:15 GMT marks a momentous step in world history, as this was when the Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 Lunar Module “Eagle” to become the first human to stand on another planet. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin accompanied Neil Armstrong in achieving this incredible feat when he also joined his compatriot on the lunar surface. Buzz Aldrin who has been an Omega ambassador since 2009, wore the Omega Speedmaster Professional on the Apollo 11 space mission, which is when it became the first watch to be worn on the moon. The Omega Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th Anniversary limited edition not only celebrates the historic occasion of celebrating the 50 years since the first Speedmaster on the moon, but is also the first watch in history to use Omega’s new patent-pending alloy; 18k Moonshine Gold. This pioneering new Gold alloy offers a lighter tone than a normal yellow Gold alloy would, while also having a much higher resistance to colour fading. This 18k Moonshine Gold alloy has been used on the dial and the casing which helps accentuate the colour from the darker tones used throughout these parts. The bezel along with the Omega logo, diamond polished indexes and the highlighted 11 on the 11-hour mark are all done in the 18k Moonshine Gold alloy. Omega has cleverly made the 11 o’clock hour marker in Arabic Numeral instead of the beveled indexes as a tribute to the Apollo 11 Lunar module “Eagle”. The hour and minute hands are designed...
SJX Watches
Many great human endeavours that Rolex has been part of have a distinctly earthly ring to them. From Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summiting the world’s tallest mountain to Jacques Piccard reaching the deepest point in the oceans, or even Fidel Castro journeying through Cuba’s rainforests, a great deal of the planet has been covered with a Rolex keeping time. While Geneva watchmaking giant has sponsored various explorers over the decades, its focus has now shifted subtly, but substantially. Rolex will support ecologically minded explorers of the natural world, specifically to help them learn how to preserve it. Named Perpetual Planet, this doubtlessly well funded initiative consolidates three of the company’s key partnerships – the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, its longterm association with the National Geographic Society, and Mission Blue, led by American oceanographer Sylvia Earle. The Wilsdorf legacy While it is easy to be cynical about a maker of luxury watches claiming to do good, charity is not merely a box to be ticked at Rolex. The founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, had no children and upon his death in 1960, gifted his ownership of the watch brand to an eponymous foundation that’s one of the largest charitable foundations in Europe. Though it operates discreetly, the foundation does so on an immense scale, especially in relation to its home country, which is wealthy but small. From saving the Geneva’s football club to bankrolling the...
WatchAdvice
Founded in 1992 as a university project, Bell & Ross was formed by two friends; Bruno Belamich and Carlos Rosillo. These two young entrepreneurs had a joint vision of creating a watch that embodied the idea of combining functionality and robustness into one timepiece. When the manufacturing for Bell & Ross watches started, they had to get them made by a third-party manufacturer in Germany by who we know today as SINN. As the first models of Bell & Ross watches were released, they came with the inscription “by SINN” on the dial. SINN’s partnership with Bell & Ross lasted until 2002, when Bell & Ross were able to acquire their own manufacturing plant in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. After the acquisition of the manufacturing plant is when Bell & Ross wanted to expand their range of watch models and create a timepiece that carried their ideologies while keeping the aesthetics of the watch as simple as possible. To do this, they looked towards the military forces, diving commandos and air-forces to draw inspiration from. Bruno Belamich and Carlos Rosillo knew that the military forces and their counterparts used instruments that have easy readability while having toughness to endure the rough situations. This was the inspiration behind the first model the BR – 01 and also the start of their most iconic BR Instrument range, released in 2005. This watch became one of the most recognisable timepieces in the the watch industry and gave the brand the international exposu...
SJX Watches
Perhaps the most successful ladies’ watch design of the 21st century, the all-ceramic J12 made Chanel a significantly player in watchmaking. After a run of nearly 20 years, the first generation J12 finally bowed out at Baselworld 2019, where it was replaced by the new J12. Possessed of not just a new design, but a “manufacture” movement produced by a joint venture of Chanel and Tudor, the new J12 is a major event for Chanel not just because it will sell in vast numbers, but because it’s the first entry-level watch powered by proprietary movement. The man behind the revamp of Chanel’s star wristwatch is Arnaud Chastaingt, a modest man with a keen eye for detail who leads the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio. A graduate of two Paris-based design schools, the École des Arts Appliqués and Strate School of Design, Mr Chastaingt spent a decade styling watches at Cartier before joining heading across the city to Chanel. The Calibre 1 inside the Monsieur de Chanel Since starting at Chanel in 2013, Mr Chastaingt has overseen a slew of new designs, most notably the brand’s first in-house, high-end men’s watch, the Monsieur de Chanel (which really impressed me at its launch). Unlike most watch designers, Mr Chastaingt oversees the design of the entire watch, including the movement, explaining why Chanel’s own movements share a distinctive house style centred on repeating circles. I recently spoke with Mr Chastaingt explain the genesis of the J12. He wa...
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