Two Broke Watch Snobs
Looking Beyond Swiss Watches? These 6 French Watches Impressed Us
Hands-on with standout French watches from Baltic, Yema, Serica, and Wolbrook that offer collectors something different from the usual Swiss choices.
20,243 articles · 165 videos found · page 33 of 681
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Hands-on with standout French watches from Baltic, Yema, Serica, and Wolbrook that offer collectors something different from the usual Swiss choices.
Hodinkee
This week on The Business of Watches, we sit down with the business leader who has headed the reborn Czapek & Cie. brand for more than a decade now. Xavier de Roquemaurel didn't come from the watch industry when he co-founded Czapek with fellow entrepreneur Harry Guhl, with help from watchmaker Sébastien Follonier, in 2015. He's had to learn the industry on the job, and while Czapek burst on the scene by winning the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) Public Prize in its debut year in 2016, the company and de Roquemaurel have faced plenty of challenges along the way. From the novel financing and shareholder model they created to fund the startup, to reckoning with a massive surge of back orders for their popular Antarctique integrated bracelet sports watch model during the boom times of the post-pandemic era, as well as serious health and medical ordeals. Reconsidering all the tests he and the company have faced, de Roquemaurel says he now believes that "adversity gets the best out of you." Today, Czapek has just opened a new boutique on the historic Quai des Bergues in Geneva on the same banks of the Rhône River where François Czapek himself had his first atelier in the 1800s. In a wide-ranging interview, the Czapek CEO traces both the path of the reborn brand and how it has found inspiration in the legacy of the watchmaker who opened what is believed to be the first watch boutique on Place de Vendôme in Paris while producing timepieces for Napoleon III and t...
Worn & Wound
Last month, Girard-Perregaux announced its latest involvement in the Formula 1 scene with the Atlassian Williams F1 Team. We knew a collaborative watch would soon follow, and the moment has unfolded. Here, we get the debut duo of watches in the new Laureato Williams Edition lineup. If you’ve been reading my take on timepieces for a while, you know I’m a longtime fan of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato. In the vast world of integrated bracelet sport watches, I’ve always found it to be one of the most refined and easily dressed up while remaining subtle and effortless enough for daily wear. With these new interpretations of the iconic design for the Atlassian Williams F1 Team, we get some of the sportiest takes on the model, proving the Laureato offers a versatile canvas that can truly embody both the “luxurious” and “sporty” sides of the luxury sport watch. As the brand’s flagship line, the Laureato has long served as the foundation for Girard-Perregaux’s collaborations and has taken many sizes, styles, and shapes over the years. However, the choice of this particular collection for the debut models in partnership with the Atlassian Williams F1 Team runs deeper. The Laureato was born in 1975, and the Atlassian Williams F1 Team was born just two years later in 1977, giving the duo roughly 50 years of shared history and evolution. Girard-Perregaux brings us two iterations for its inaugural line honoring the partnership: a chronograph alongside a classic time an...
Hodinkee
What We Know Marathon Watches, the Canadian watch brand best known for its line of military-issued and -inspired watches, and Watches of Espionage, the online journal that has made a name for itself exploring the very tangible connection between watches and militaries around the world, have teamed up to launch a new watch that's sure to grab attention: The Marathon x W.O.E. Titanium SAR. The new watch, which officially launches this Thursday, includes a host of firsts for both Marathon and Watches of Espionage. For Watches of Espionage, which launched five years ago and is run by a secretive (some might say "sketchy") former CIA Case officer, the Marathon x W.O.E. Titanium SAR is a first venture into the world of collaborative watches. For Marathon, the fourth-generation family-run company with a slightly longer history than Watches of Espionage, the Marathon x W.O.E. Titanium SAR is the brand's first foray into titanium watches. On the surface, the new watch won't seem like much of a departure for Marathon, especially to those familiar with the brand's past offerings. The new watch draws heavily on the original Marathon SAR, first released in 2001, but modernizes the package and brings Grade 5 titanium to the table for the first time. Like other SAR watches from Marathon (such as the GSAR, TSAR, or OSAR-D), the new watch measures 41mm across, 48mm lug-to-lug, and 14mm thick, with much of that thickness coming from the toothy bezel. Just because this watch feels familiar d...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
After years of testing military watches, we break down what spending more actually gets you, from better engineering and materials to genuine military provenance.
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For many years, I have brought up the debate between Rolex watches vs other luxury watch alternatives such as Omega. Today, this watch collector discussion still lives on, though perhaps it is time to consider trying...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Looking beyond G-Shock? These watches pair serious durability with analog styling, practical specs, and everyday comfort.
Monochrome
In watchmaking, pretty much every complication started with the quest for a solution to a common problem. The tourbillon solved the influence of gravity on the balance spring, the chronograph provided the ability to time events as they happened, and repeater watches served as an audible timepiece for when the lights went down. Perhaps above […]
Worn & Wound
J. Press’ Vintage Watches New York Fashion Week wrapped this week, and I was lucky enough to attend a few shows, most notably J. Press, which is now under Jack Carlson’s leaderhsip. From my front-row seat, there was plenty to take in, from the Fall-Winter 2026 collection and the debut of J. Press womenswear to John Slattery from Mad Men sitting across the runway from me. But once the show started, I was more focused on the models’ wrists than anything else. For the show, Jack Carlson worked with Eric Wind and Wind Vintage, who brought a collection of 50 vintage watches to New York for Carlson to choose from. Pieces from Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Heuer, Universal Genève, Tudor, and Dunhill found their way onto the runway, selected and paired with looks throughout the collection. Now showing his second season, Carlson’s vision for the brand is coming into focus, where his knack for worldbuilding and getting the fine details perfected continue to shine through. Insta360 Luna Pro I’m going to be 35 years old in two weeks and, I have to tell you, thank God I’m not any younger. I grew up at the perfect time for being online. While I’m not a digital native, I’d say I’m a digital green card holder. I’ve been online long enough to understand the lingo, but I didn’t grow up completely immersed in the culture. Had I been, I definitely would have had a YouTube channel. And an embarrassing one at that. I would have sung on there (à la Millie Bobby Brown), tried m...
Fratello
Arctic surfing — why not? And why not do it in style? Charlie, a small independent watch brand from Paris, adds five updated Concordia GMT watches to its lineup, and not only are they adventure-proof, but they also have a certain je ne sais quoi flair. It must be the subtle dial colors of the […] Visit Bone-Chilling News: Charlie Adds Five Updated Concordia GMT Watches To Its Lineup to read the full article.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
These GMT watches stay compact, comfortable, and practical on the wrist without giving up useful travel functionality.
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Fratello
IFL Watches does not sit still. The Dubai-based brand has been knocking out some remarkable collabs with a string of brands. The latest of these is the Spinnaker Spence Underwater Dancers. The watch celebrates World Manta Ray Day, which takes place every year on September 17th. The day celebrates manta rays and raises awareness of […] Visit IFL Watches And Spinnaker Team Up For The Colorful Spence Underwater Dancers to read the full article.
Fratello
Another Friday, another list. Last week, we picked five watches that never should have been discontinued. You had a lot to say about it, making it one of this year’s most-commented-on Top 5 articles. It made us think of creating a second part with five more watches, but we’ll save that for later. This week, […] Visit The Top 5 Titanium Watches Released in 2026 to read the full article.
Time+Tide
The watch world’s biggest moment just got even bigger. Earlier today, Watches and Wonders announced nine new brands joining its extensive roster of exhibitors: Akhor, Alain Silberstein, Berneron, Breva Genève, Fortis, Kerbedanz, Porsche Design, Singer Reimagined and Stollenwurm. This brings the total number of new exhibitors for 2027 to 13, with Breitling, Damiani, Gallet and … Continued
Worn & Wound
Watches and Wonders 2027 is still months away, but the specifics of the event are beginning to come into clearer focus. News broke this morning that the roster of brands has grown once again, and now numbers 75 in total. It had previously been announced that Breitling (along with their House of Brands cohorts Universal Geneve and Gallet) would be joining the fair, and this morning’s news sees several additional brands joining them that sit across a variety of price points and segments of the industry (including a brand that has attended its fair share of Windup Watch Fairs). The headline grabbers in terms of participation are likely Berneron and Porsche Design. Porsche Design has grown considerably in recent years with an aggressive release schedule iterating on their iconic Chronograph 1 design. Berneron is arguably the hottest independent brand at the moment, and has been the subject of much discussion just in the last weeks following the public sale of a Mirage for over $500,000 on Loupe This (the retail price sits around CHF 51,000). While those two brands likely have the highest profiles of the newcomers to Watches & Wonders, there are several others that I think are interesting from an enthusiast and business point of view. Kerbedanz, a Swiss brand that for much of its 15 year history has made custom watches exclusively for private clients, has been making a concerted effort to get their name into the minds of watch lovers this year, exhibiting at Geneva Watch ...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
From Timex and Bulova to smaller independents, these are the sub-$750 watches that impressed us most once the specs gave way to real wrist time.
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Hodinkee
Watches and Wonders, the year's largest and most significant horology event, held each spring in Geneva, will welcome ten more brands for the 2027 edition, including Berneron, Porsche Design, and Singer Reimagined, bringing the total to 75. This new group will join Breitling's House of Brands, which announced earlier this year that it will participate. Watches and Wonders organizers said the diversity of the 13 brands attending the show for the first time in 2027 underscores the varied slate of watch industry participants now part of the event, ranging from Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe, to now Stollenwurm, an upstart Swiss high-horology marque named for a mythical creature and founded by a former Boston-based biotech executive. Berneron will also join the roster for Watches and Wonders 2027. Launched in 2022 and led by designer (and ex-Breitling executive) Sylvain Berneron, the brand has earned accolades from the industry and collectors; its limited production, shaped case, and full-gold movement pieces have soared in value on the secondary market. A rare example of the Mirage in 34mm, the white gold Viridian with a chrysoprase dial, sold by the brand to a client for about CHF 51,000, recently fetched $521,400 on the auction site Loupe This. The Berneron Quantième is the brand's second model line.Photo credit: Mark Kauzlarich Berneron recently told Hodinkee in an interview that the prices paid for his watches on the secondary market are "unsustainable," and...
Worn & Wound
Maybe this would be better saved for a Hot Takes episode of the podcast, but I’ll go ahead and spill it here instead: the new Bremont Terra Nova 35mm Jumping Hour watches are the best they’ve made since the big rebrand a few years ago. The fact that they are part of the Terra Nova collection is itself interesting, as this collection in particular was met with so much skepticism (including by us) when they were launched. But now, over two years removed from the drama of the brand’s big shift, there is a real sense that they’ve settled in, and the watches, when laid out on a table together in the way you experience them at a Geneva Watch Days meeting, feel more coherent. I’ve always felt that these Terra Nova Jumping Hour watches were charming, but there was something a little ungainly about the size. The smaller montre à guichet style jump hour pieces at 38mm in diameter, wear every bit of that dimension and a little more simply because most of what you see when you look down to check the time is bare metal. The larger 40.5mm Jumping Hour pieces with an aperture arrangement running right to left across the dial felt similarly oversized for a complication that historically is characterized as something kind of delicate. But when I picked up the new 35mm pieces, particularly the montre à guichet on a bracelet, the size felt really dialed in. I’ve been thinking a lot about the “correct” size for certain watches after reviewing smaller versions of Moser’...
Monochrome
Fresh off the avalanche of releases during Geneva Watch Days, we’re revisiting a Buying Guide topic from earlier this year. Sparked by watches like the De Bethune DB25 Digitale, one of this year’s absolute best of the fair, and the refreshingly cool M.A.D.3, we take another look at Jumping Hour watches. From brands high and […]
Worn & Wound
“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear. You Can See Everything Trailer Next to my wedding day and the birth of my niece, I can’t think of anything else that I’ve been this eager for in my entire life. This week, the trailer for You Can See Everything, the latest project by Nathan Fielder, dropped. For those unaware of Fielder’s work, there is no way to explain it properly without it sounding absolutely insane. His early hit Nathan for You followed the comedian giving bizarre business advice to real people, which led to, among other things: a fake Starbucks, a gas rebate that required hiking up a mountain, and an escape stunt where failure meant exposing himself to a group of children. His HBO series The Rehearsal brought on something of a Fielder renaissance, with the latest season culminating in Fielder flying a plane of paid actors in a Boeing 737. Just pure insanity. For You Can See Everything, Fielder’s latest subject is Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder convicted of fraud after the collapse of her blood-testing company. Co-directed with Lance Oppenheim, the documentary follows Holmes in the 34 days before she reported to prison (and features an unsettling interaction between Fielder and Hol...
Worn & Wound
eBay Finds is back! This bi-weekly installment will feature a selection of watches currently listed on eBay that have caught the eye of editor Christoph McNeil (@vintagediver). If you come across any hidden gems on the ‘Bay drop us a note at info@wornandwound.com for potential inclusion. Vintage Seiko 6139-6009 “Pogue” There are many famous vintage Seikos, but few are as iconic as the 6139 “Pogue” automatic chronograph with the yellow dial. Made famous of course by Col. William Pogue wearing one on his Skylab 4 mission in 1973, making it the first automatic chronograph worn in space! While this example isn’t the exact model, pretty much all the vintage 6139-600X models with a yellow dial are considered a “Pogue” by collectors. This example looks all original and in good shape. The case is unpolished with crisp edges and the original brushed finish, but it does have a few dings from honest use. The bright yellow dial is nice, and there is some aging to the lume on the dial and hands, not uncommon. The watch comes on the original and correct Seiko H-link bracelet. No movement picture but the watch runs per the seller. View auction here Vintage Eterna KonTiki Here’s a fantastic vintage Eterna KonTiki 20 with the original bracelet. Eterna made a plethora of various KonTiki models, both divers and sport/dress models. This version is the latter. The steel case is probably in the 36mm range although the seller doesn’t specify. But the case is in great sh...
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SJX Watches
In exactly a week, Sotheby’s Hong Kong will stage Important Watches, an impressive, two-day auction that includes a selection of outstanding pocket watches from Switzerland and Great Britain, namely timepieces by Patek Philippe and Charles Frodsham, with most of the latter made by Nicole Nielsen. Three watches stand out from this already elite herd, built by the best of London and Geneva – a modern grand complication, one of the first-ever flying tourbillon watches, and a minute-repeating pocket chronometer. Despite a recent uptick in interest, pocket watches still offer phenomenal value, and are often the most interesting lots in auction catalogues for movement nerds. The pocket watches in Sotheby’s upcoming sale exemplify this. Lot 2293 – Patek Philippe ref. 942/2 “Grande Complication” This is a relatively recent example of a historical Patek Philippe genre, the grande complication pocket watch, one that dates back over a century now. The common watch complications fall into three categories: chiming, timing, and calendars. Chiming watches include repeaters in all their resolutions, plus clock watches, alarms, and hour strikers. Chronographs, rattrapantes, dédoublantes and independent seconds functions are timing complications. Calendar complications, besides the obvious, include moon phase, time of sunrise and sunset, and equation of time. A triple complicated watch combines complications from all three families. For Patek Philippe this traditionally meant ...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
From field watches to GMTs and chronographs, these picks offer the water resistance we want without the usual dive-watch formula.
Fratello
Another Friday, another list! After the hustle and bustle of Geneva Watch Days last week, we are slowly getting back into the normal swing of things. This allowed us to think about a good Top 5 topic for this week that isn’t about the best releases we have seen lately. This new list is all […] Visit The Top 5 Watches That Should Never Have Been Discontinued to read the full article.
Hodinkee
In case you somehow missed it, last week was Geneva Watch Days. While not the absolute busiest week of the year for new watch releases, it's not far off the mark, and 2026 saw dozens of brands converging on Geneva to show off their latest and greatest novelties. We covered a lot of those watches as they dropped, but now that we've had a few days to process what we got to see (some of us in person, the rest vicariously), we thought it would be a good moment to share some of the watches that stood out to us from a week full of new watches. And please forgive us: while we did our best to hold ourselves to Geneva Watch Days proper, as was inevitable, a few ancillary picks made their way into the mix, but I think we can all agree they're still watches worth talking about. Of course, our ragtag team of editors can only cover so much here, so once you've seen all our picks, be sure to drop a line in the comments — we'd love to know which watches from Geneva Watch Days stood out to all of you. Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon Dusk in Yellow Gold (plus the M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese) [Ben Clymer] Can I pick two? I have to. Because this year kinda felt like the old days – the two watches I'd actually buy of GWD 2026 are from brands I've loved (and owned) a long, long time - Laurent Ferrier and MB&F;. The first is Laurent Ferrier's new limited run of "Dusk" annual calendar moonphases in yellow gold. As you probably know, I love yellow gold, and this is the first iteration of a lovely w...
Teddy Baldassarre
A look at 12 watches with unusual complications you've never heard of ranging from brands like Rolex to Blancpain.
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In economics, most products follow a basic rule: when prices go up, demand goes down. But Veblen goods do the opposite. Here's why (luxury) watches are the PERFECT Veblen good and what that means for you as a collecto...
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