103 articles · 6 videos found · page 3 of 4
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Mike and Kaz dive into the unknown as they learn more about Credor, one of the world's most obscure and inexplicable high-end watch brands around. They also prepare for a very merry TBWS Thanksgiving, announce a new special episode, tease some details about the next giveaway, and cry about things on the Internet.
Deployant
The Philippe Dufour Simplicity and Credor Eichi II are two of the most finely crafted watches to grace horology. How do they compare against one another?
Deployant
Review: Credor Fugaku Tourbillon. With much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, we bring you the full hands-on review.
Deployant
Review: Credor Eichi II. A hands-on analytical review of the elusive watch from Seiko's Micro Artisan Studios. High res pics, comparisons, specs and price.
Deployant
Credor Spring Drive Minute Repeater: The Japanese Strike Back striking watches, decimal repeater
Deployant
I have written and photographed the amazing Credor Eichi before. See this post for the details. And I still hold this wonderful watch with the highest regard, this is the first I have encountered this piece on the wrist of an owner. Beautiful, in a zen like way. Quality of this photograph leaves much toRead More
Deployant
The Japanese have a passion, when they often do, and will be prepared to be totally obsessed and fully committed to the task. Such is the wonderful story behind the extreme high end Credor series by Seiko. As many of us know, Seiko makes many low end watches…chances are, most of us have owned one,Read More
Revolution
Revolution
Teddy Baldassarre
The IYKYK Japanese brand teases a trioMore
Revolution
Monochrome
Over the past few years, the name Gérald Genta has become one of the most famous in the watch industry. There are multiple reasons for this. First, thanks to the work done by Evelyne and Alexia Genta (respectively his wife and daughter), with the Gerald Genta Heritage Association. Second, the so-called “Picasso of Watches” was […]
Revolution
Quill & Pad
Quentin R. Bufogle has always been a Swiss watch snob. He knows Grand Seiko turns out some truly excellent timepieces. But for all of impeccable engineering, and craftsmanship, for this watch enthusiast, the brand has always lacked something in spirit. Until he discovered the Kumakawa Worldtimer GMT Limited Edition.
Revolution
Hodinkee
We talked to Evelyne Genta to learn why the Locomotive – and Seiko – were so important to the late designer.
Monochrome
Gerald Genta is surely mostly known for his work with Audemars Piguet (1972, Royal Oak), Patek Philippe (Nautilus, 1976) or his own bold and original creations. There is, however, much more to the man than just these two icons of the luxury sports watch category (think Universal Geneve Polerouter, Omega Constellation or Rolex King Midas). […]
Hodinkee
The low-key peak of Japanese watchmaking.
Hodinkee
New. Blue. Eichi II.
SJX Watches
As Seiko’s 145th anniversary celebrations unfold, the brand expands its value-oriented Presage Classic “Craftsmanship” collection with two new commemorative limited editions. The HCC007 features a gradient blue Arita porcelain dial in an appealing 39.6 mm size, while the 36 mm HCC004 answers the call for smaller dress watch options. Initial thoughts Seiko has been making incremental improvements to its Presage line of entry-level dress watches since the collection debuted in 2010. Almost since the beginning, Seiko has used the Presage as a vehicle to experiment with ways to make traditional craftsmanship accessible, starting with fired enamel dials in 2012 and Arita porcelain dials in 2019. Since then, the Presage has benefited from a movement upgrade, and now boasts a weekend-proof three-day power reserve. The 145th anniversary editions prove that Seiko hasn’t run out of ideas, and the HCC007 in particular brings an additional layer of artisanal individuality to the execution that is rarely seen at this price range — its gradient blue dial has echoes of the Credor Eichi II in ruri blue. The charming and compact 36 mm HCC004 offers a little something for everyone. Powered by the same cal. 6R51 as its porcelain-dialled sibling, it features an embossed dial with a silk-like texture — the latest in a long line of Seiko watches with fabric-patterned dials. Both models appear aimed at the enthusiast market, as neither features a date window. This gives each watch a ...
Hodinkee
This week on The Business of Watches, we sit down with Akio Naito, the President of Seiko Watch Corporation. Seiko's Credor brand, the ultra-premium offering showcasing artisanal creations, unique craftsmanship, and design, made its Watches and Wonders debut this year. We discuss Credor's positioning within the Seiko Group and its expansion into international markets. Photo credit: Mark Kauzlarich The biggest challenge for Credor, Naito says, will be increasing production for more markets, as the skills required to produce the timepieces are highly specialized and take years to master. We also get an update on Grand Seiko. Naito says the brand has increased its international sales by more than 15x over the past decade, driven largely by success in the U.S. market. Grand Seiko is continuing to update and improve its offerings, including a new ultra-accurate and ultra-luxurious dive watch in a more compact size that clients have been asking for. We also hear about the growing interest and awareness of Grand Seiko's class-leading 9F quartz movement technology, which is increasingly popular with some clients. But first, Hodinkee Senior Editor Mark Kauzlarich drops in for a fresh analysis on some of the record watch auction results from the spring sessions in Geneva. Pocket watches were hot, Journe was surging, and Patek showed continued strength with a record result for a rare Patek 2523. So what isn't hot right now? Tune in to find out. There's plenty of watch business and...
SJX Watches
Shin Ohno is the winner of the 12th F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition. The young Japanese watchmaker clinched the prize with the Fuyu-Geshiki, a small grande et petite sonnerie tourbillon clock inspired by the winter landscape of Nagano, a northern prefecture of Japan. Made by one man with a watchmaker’s lathe, desktop CNC mill, and not a lot of sleep, the ebony-cased timepiece is one of the most impressive works produced by the competition yet. From Nagano Mr Ohno describes Nagano as “defined by the purity of its air, by the flow of spring water, and by melting snow”. It is also the heart of Japan’s watch industry, boasting the country’s largest movement assembly plant (Citizen’s Saku plant) and is home to Mr Ohno’s employer — Seiko Epson. Specifically, Mr Ohno works as an engineer within the company’s watch division, but it should be noted that this timepiece is entirely unrelated to the (now discontinued) Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie and Credor Minute Repeater. Mr Ohno designed the movement from the ground up, citing the creative works of past winner Norifumi Seki and Masahiro Kikuno as key inspirations. A closer look at the tourbillon cage. The teeth are polished to catch the light like slick stones. While he learned how to design watch parts at his day job, it was someone else’s job to manufacture them. With the Fuyu-Geshiki, Mr Ohno had to master production as well as design. He cites his colleague, master watchmaker Ikukiyo Komatsu, as a mento...
Worn & Wound
Sinn makes their Watches & Wonders debut this year. It’s kind of a big deal, or should be, in our community, and honestly it’s not being talked about enough. Watches & Wonders is the premier trade show in our industry, but unlike Basel World (where Sinn was well represented before that show’s demise) it’s not a full representation of the watch industry. It’s selective, and focused primarily on luxury brands that are part of large luxury groups, and primarily Swiss luxury brands at that. This year’s show expands in a meaningful way with the addition not just of Sinn, but of Credor (a Japanese brand) and Audemars Piguet (technically independent, and inarguably one of the most important brands in our industry commercially). But Sinn feels like ours, they are an enthusiast staple through and through. Sinn has announced a small series of novelties ahead of Watches & Wonders, and we’ll be bringing you coverage of all of them after we get some hands-on time with the watches next week. But today we’ll focus just for a moment on what is likely the most straightforward, tool oriented release of the bunch, and maybe of the entire Watches & Wonders event this year, the 544 and 544 RS. I’m not a huge fan of the “Go Anywhere, Do Anything” tag that often gets lumped in with watches like this, but that, I think, is truly what we are looking at here. The 544 is a completely new offering from the brand, but collectors will likely notice that the case seems derived fr...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Credor's new Kuon GCLX995 pairs a blue ceramic dial with hand-wound Spring Drive in a 39mm steel case. Here's what stands out.
SJX Watches
Each year I find it surprisingly difficult to crystalise what I want to see from Watches & Wonders – perhaps I find it hard to hope for things I know will never come. Sometimes dreams aren’t logistically possible. For example, a compact Spring Drive chronograph probably isn’t reasonable given Grand Seiko already has its hands full scaling production of another new Spring Drive movement. At other times, imagination is bound by brand strategy: Cartier could easily steal the show with a quartz Crash Must priced along the same lines as a Tank Must – but never will. But I believe that the following watches, which I’d like to see from Patek Philippe, Grand Seiko and Credor, and Tudor are plausible enough to hope for. The following images were created without the use of generative AI. Patek Philippe In 2023, Patek Philippe launched the ref. 5316/50P, a minute repeating tourbillon with retrograde perpetual calendar and smoked sapphire dial. It remains among the brand’s best complicated offerings, other than the ref. 6301p, at least in my view. Last year Patek Philippe followed up with the ref. 6159G, which featured a smoked sapphire dial and the same perpetual calendar on a more pedestrian base movement. But if there is one reference more deserving of the smoked sapphire treatment than any other, it is the ref. 5236p in-line perpetual calendar, as imagined below in platinum. In 2021, Patek Philippe revived the historic in-line perpetual calendar, which is strongly asso...
Time+Tide
Credor, King Seiko, Grand Seiko, Prospex or Presage - how do these Seiko brands and collections actually stack up?The post A guide to every Seiko brand appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Citizen marks 30 years of its upmarket The Citizen collection with a matching pair of limited-edition 30th anniversary watches with aquiline ivory dials. Representing the best of both worlds, the pair offer Citizen’s best calibres in mechanical and analogue quartz watchmaking: one contains the automatic Caliber 0200, while the other boasts the top of the line, feature-rich Eco-Drive A060. The Citizen Caliber 0200 30th Anniversary Initial Thoughts While little known outside Japan and certain enthusiast circles, the eagle-crested The Citizen watches are arguably the best Citizen has to offer, and also a tantalising value proposition. Both models are good in their own right, though the automatic is the winner here. The Calibre 0200 model is probably the best made-in-Japan integrated bracelet sports watch currently available, combining the impressive case and dial finishing we’ve come to expect from premium Japanese watches, and a significantly more upscale movement than the King Seiko Vanac or Credor Locomotive. The quartz model is appealing, The Citizen has plenty of other quartz offerings with the same movement but more interesting dials. The Citizen Eco-Drive 30th Anniversary Eco-Drive cal. A060 The conical bezel and flat lug chamfers of the Eco-Drive model are flat polished using a spinning tin-plate, creating a near distortion-free mirror finish. A Duratec “Platinum” treatment, with a hardness of over 1,000 Vickers, protects the case and bracelet, and also gives ...
SJX Watches
The Orient Star M45 F8 Mechanical Moon Phase Hand Winding is the brand’s first manual-wind moon phase, and also the first in years with a solid dial, making it a refreshing change of pace from the brand’s usual fare that leans towards open-worked and occasionally over-designed styling. Initial Thoughts Excepting the vintage inspired Diver 1964, the M45 F8 moon phase is the most attractive watch in the Orient catalog to my eye. Most of the brand’s designs are too busy for my tastes, so these entries are a welcome departure that will certainly appeal to enthusiasts with more classical tastes. The moon phase disk itself, with mother-of-pearl inlay, is a highlight. And the absence of a seconds hand is a pleasant surprise, though the moon phase sub-dial feels naked without the traditional co-axial small seconds hand. Since the small seconds version of this calibre is not compatible with the moon phase module, Orient could have moved the Orient Star logo onto the sub-dial for more visual balance. Most importantly, this is a manually wound watch – with a competent movement – in a price segment where such things are hard to find. Looking at Japanese watches in particular, manual wind options from Grand Seiko and Credor are significantly more expensive, while Seiko, Orient, and Citizen dropped their entry-level manual watches years ago. Pleiades About two years ago, Orient Star reorganised its catalog by launching M Collections, a family of watches each named after astron...
Worn & Wound
The watch community woke up to a flurry of announcements related to Watches & Wonders 2026 this morning, which is (gulp) just about 6 months away. The news includes the addition of multiple brands, including one major and longstanding holdout, as well as others moving to higher profile locations in Palexpo. The big news is that Audemars Piguet, makers of the Royal Oak and a member of the so-called “Holy Trinity” of old school Swiss Maisons, will finally be exhibiting at Watches & Wonders. Audemars Piguet had previously been one of the main draws at SIHH, a predecessor of Watches & Wonders, also held at the Palexpo, so the brand is no stranger to the convention center’s cavernous halls. In a press release, CEO Ilaria Resta explains “Watches and Wonders is more than an exhibition – it is a space for meaningful exchange with our peers and a celebration of our shared heritage and craftsmanship. We look forward to welcoming visitors to Audemars Piguet’s world as we shape the future of watchmaking together.” Audemars Piguet is not the only brand being added to the Watches & Wonders roster. Ten additional brands have been announced as participants as of this morning. Joining AP at the show for the first time are Behrens, Bianchet, B.R.M Chronographes, Charles Girardier, Corum, Credor, Favre Leuba, l’Epée 1839, March LA.B and Sinn. This lineup is quite varied, with everything from elaborate mechanical clocks, to more accessible tool watches represented, and brands...
SJX Watches
Having last exhibited in Geneva six years ago, Audemars Piguet (AP) will return next year as an exhibitor at Watches & Wonders 2026 (WWG). The brand had departed the predecessor of WWG, Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), in 2019 along with Richard Mille, opting instead to launch the latest products at its own events. AP’s return to the exhibition reflects the importance of WWG as the most important trade fair on the horological calendar. It also underlines the importance of exhibiting alongside respected peers. The central hall at WWG 2025 Alongside AP, another ten brands will be showing at the event, ranging from clockmaker L’Epée 1839 to Chinese watchmaker Behrens, as well as Credor (the sister brand of current exhibitor Grand Seiko), and Favre Leuba, a recently rebooted historical name. This brings the total exhibitor tally to 66, a number that includes giants like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chanel, and Cartier. WWG will take place April 14-20, 2026, at Palexpo.
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