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Monochrome
After the large impact of the main release of 2025 for Rolex, the highly discussed, technical and unexpected Land-Dweller, it is time this year for the Crown to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the legendary Oyster case. And for that, the main focus of the year is the entry-level, playful Oyster Perpetual collection. But that’s […]
Worn & Wound
Louis-Ulysse Chopard founded his eponymous watch company in 1860, but it took over 100 years for the brand to truly come into its own. In 1996, and after three years of development, the company debuted its own in-house movement. The wait seemed to have been worth it. The L.U.C 96.01-L immediately drew acclaim for beautiful finishing, embracing the microrotor, and COSC certification. It, and the subsequent L.U.C. 1860 dress watch, marked a sea change from reliance on third parties to true independence, arriving at a resurgence in fine mechanical watchmaking. Thirty years later, the L.U.C. family has expanded into dozens of variants, complications, and movements. But at 2026’s Watches & Wonders, Chopard pays tribute to 30 years of in-house manufacturing with a continuation of that vaunted original. The L.U.C 1860 Chronometer uses the same dial and microrotor movement from 1996, albeit with their own upgrades and unique design tweaks. The intricate white-gold dial features guilloché finishing in the center, emanating in scalloped waves from the Chopard logo and nameplate. The concentric circles are separated by thin bands of white gold, and delicate spear-shaped markers point inward, toward the dauphine hands. At 6 o’clock, the small-seconds dial echoes the twin-circle pattern of the overall dial, and Chopard specifically mentions the lack of a date window “to preserve purity.” Where the first L.U.C. 1860 had a white dial with gold accents, this Chronometer wears...
Monochrome
Last year, Roger Dubuis released a nostalgic watch that paid homage to Mr Dubuis, the brand’s talented watchmaker and founder. Using a restored and remanufactured RD72 bi-retrograde perpetual calendar module (launched in 1999) combined with the automatic RD14 base calibre, the Hommage La Placide was presented in a compact and classically styled 38mm gold case, […]
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Explore the best dive watches under $500 with hands-on picks that balance value, everyday wearability, and real-world capability.
Worn & Wound
At Watches & Wonders 2026, Grand Seiko’s newest addition to the Elegance Collection brings together the things it does best. Namely, intricately textured dials with a nod to Japanese artistry, and its flagship Caliber 9R Spring Drive. Engraved to resemble a weathered rock face, the SBGY043’s striking dial suggests the appearance of a mountain at dusk: Grand Seiko calls this pattern iwao, which translates to rock or crag. Depending on the angle it’s viewed from behind its domed sapphire crystal, different facets take on intermingling light and dark tones of blue, purple, and black. Its color is inspired by the tradition of katsuiro dyeing, a centuries-old technique and reportedly a favorite among the samurai class, which produces a deep indigo hue. Set against bright silver markers and hands - no blued seconds hand here, which is almost its own Grand Seiko tradition - it makes for an especially understated contrast. This Iwao Blue version runs on the Caliber 9R31, a manual-wind Spring Drive movement with a 72-hour power reserve and visible through a clear caseback. The case is among the slimmest in the Elegance Collection, with standard zaratsu polishing and soft, rounded lugs. A nine-row stainless steel bracelet is the only option, which reflects the craggy-faced dial’s aura of ruggedness. Grand Seiko enthusiasts, of which there are many, might remember this dial from 2021 - albeit in a sharp-angled Heritage case and with a Caliber 9R65 Spring Drive mov...
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Worn & Wound
I vividly remember when Hermes first launched the H08 five years ago. It marked yet another moment of the brand solidifying its place beyond its roots in fashion and firmly into the horological landscape. Prior to the H08, we had seen more classic, refined, and dare I say quintessentially Hermes collections from the Maison like the Kelly, inspired by the padlock from the famous handbag; the Arceau, drawing from the iconic horse motif; and the Cape Cod, a traditional rectangular design. In 2012, Hermes had a defining moment for its watches with the debut of its first in-house caliber. Still, the H08 marked a new moment of the brand doing something markedly different – decidedly modern and yet distinctly Hermes. In the years since its initial introduction, the H08 has continued to be a success and as such, the Maison has doubled down on the collection, following up with a slew of iterations on the original H08 lineup, which was pretty impressive in its own right, consisting of five variations. We have seen the addition of complications like a chronograph, new sizes ranging from the original 39mm up to 45mm, as well as new styles and colors. Today, at this year’s Watches and Wonders, Hermes offers up the next evolution with the H08 Squelette, the Maison’s interpretation of a skeletonized model. We have seen this openworked style in the brand’s other staple collections, like the Arceau and the Slim d’Hermes, so this seems like a natural next step for the H08 line....
Worn & Wound
One of the most interesting things to observe in recent years among brands that have been around for decades is how they handle reissuing vintage watches from their back catalog. Often, we see releases that seem to have been conceived in a boardroom by bean counters, with a lot of concessions to the original design made for modern consumers. This usually means making watches larger than they need to be, and using newer, higher performance materials when the old fashioned ones would have been just fine. So it’s a real treat when a brand releases a “new” old watch that is about as close to the original as possible. That’s the vibe we’re getting from the new Oris Star Edition, a mostly faithful interpretation of one of the more important watches in the brand’s history, dating back to the 1960s. The original Star was the brand’s first watch with an in-house lever escapement, something that was only possible thanks to the overturning of the Swiss Watch Statute, a law originally introduced in the 1930s to counter anti competition measures taken by watch manufacturers during the years of the Great Depression. An unintended consequence of the statute was that it limited brands like Oris to using pin-lever escapements. The law was eventually repealed with the help of Rolf Portman, a lawyer employed by Oris and tasked with fighting the statute. Portman is now Oris’ Honorary Chairman. Here we have a watch that is uncommonly true to the character of its vintage ins...
Monochrome
Oris rose to become one of Switzerland’s top ten watchmakers by the end of the 1960s, fuelled by automatic models like the Star and its early dive watches. Introduced in 1966 and inspired by the modernist spirit of the era, the Oris Star featured a tonneau-shaped case with seamlessly integrated lugs and was powered by […]
Worn & Wound
A. Lange & Söhne had one of my, and many others’, favorite releases at Watches & Wonders 2025. It wasn’t a super complication and had no bells-and-whistles. Rather, it was simple and small. The 34mm 1815 three-handers in white or rose gold exemplified confident, understated luxury like no other watches at the fair. For 2026, Lange has brought back a watch that had been out of production with a new movement and in a new, smaller size, following suit from last year’s release. Unlike the 1815s, these feature one of the less common complications in the Lange catalog: the annual calendar. The Saxonia Annual Calendar was a very cool watch. It combined its eponymous complication with Lange’s signature outsized date and was powered by a since-retired “Sax-0-Mat” three-quarter-rotor automatic movement. These funky movements were featured in the Langematik watches and represented Lange’s first foray into automatic calibers. In addition to a distinctive look, they featured a hidden complication: zero-reset seconds, meaning that when the crown was pulled out, the seconds hand would jump to zero. In 2011, the Sax-O-Mats began to be replaced by central rotor calibers with up to 72 hours of power reserve, an increase from 46 hours, but the zero-reset seconds disappeared. Though comprising many different calibers, most of Lange’s currently in-production automatics have a central rotor. I am unsure when the previous generation of the Saxonia Annual Calendar went out of pro...
Worn & Wound
Last year, Parmigiani Fleurier had one of the strongest showings of any brand at Watches & Wonders, led by a pair of absolutely gorgeous, traditionally styled perpetual calendars. This is a brand that for me has been somewhat hard to get into, personally. While the quality of the watches themselves is never in question, I don’t always identify with the design choices, and think occasionally they lean a little too subtle for their own good. That’s why last year’s Toric Quantieme Perpetual was such a surprise. It’s not the kind of watch that usually lands in my wheelhouse, but I found that it was executed so perfectly that I just couldn’t ignore it. This year’s big novelty for Parmigiani at Watches & Wonders takes an entirely different approach, but follows a pair of recent creations that have been much admired flagships for this current generation of the brand. The Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux follows the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante and the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante with a new complication that is hidden until called upon by the wearer, and in doing so have created a chronograph that is impossibly minimalist at first blush, with no obvious indications that it is, in fact, a chronograph. That, of course, may or may not be appealing to you if you’re a chronograph fan. Part of the appeal of these watches for many is in how a chronograph naturally segments the dial and presents a variety of hopefully useful information in a cluster. The Chronograph Mystéri...
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Deployant
New minute repeater from Armin Strom, wth a special feature to strike 12:59 on demand or to strike the actual time in a 42mm case.
SJX Watches
Patek Philippe updates its Celestial line for the third time, following the addition of a pointer date in 2012 this generation adds the time of sunrise and sunset, and a daring new design for the formidable, space-age 47 mm lug-less case. It also introduces a novel way to account for the transition between summer and winter time, solving a significant shortcoming of astronomical watches for users in Europe and the Americas. Initial thoughts I’ve long thought that Patek Philippe’s greatest strength, other than its massive industrial investments, was its remarkable design diversity. Today brands seem to pursue a unified design language across all of their watches. And while this result is a strong visual identity for the brand, it is extremely limiting. Patek Philippe has no such limits, and the brand has about two dozen different case styles in the current collection, and hundreds in its back catalog. While this leads to its fair share of design misses, at least to my sensibilities, it can also lead to striking successes. I’m sure many will disagree, but I see the new Celestial as the latter. A wristwatch with the time of sunrise and sunset is long overdue from Patek Philippe, and this watch adds the ability to adjust those indications to account for daylight savings time. This addresses the complication’s greatest flaw, but as it is pre-programmed for Geneva, it is somewhat moot if you live at very different latitudes, a flaw the planisphere also shares. Historical...
SJX Watches
Patek Philippe updates its star chart “Grand Complication” for the third time with the Celestial Sunrise Sunset Ref. 6105G. The ref. 6105G adds the time of sunrise and sunset – cleverly integrated into the date scale – and a daring new design with a formidable, space-age lug-less case in white gold that’s 47 mm across. The ref. 6105G also introduces a novel way to account for the transition between summer and winter time, adding a corrector that shifts the sunrise and sunset scales, solving a significant shortcoming of astronomical watches for users in Europe and the Americas. Initial thoughts I’ve long thought that Patek Philippe’s greatest strength, other than its massive industrial investments, was its remarkable design diversity. Today brands seem to pursue a unified design language across all of their watches. And while this result is a strong visual identity for the brand, it is extremely limiting. Patek Philippe has no such limits, and the brand has about two dozen different case styles in the current collection, and hundreds in its back catalog. While this leads to its fair share of design misses, at least to my sensibilities, it can also lead to striking successes. I’m sure many will disagree, but I see the new Celestial as the latter. A wristwatch with the time of sunrise and sunset is long overdue from Patek Philippe, and this watch adds the ability to adjust those indications to account for daylight savings time. This addresses the complication...
Worn & Wound
Tudor is at its best when they surprise. Sure, there have been some controversial pieces over the years, like the North Flag and P01 (though I’d argue they were both very successful as attention grabbers), but watches like the BB54, BB58 925, and even FXD took us off guard when they first dropped. This year, Tudor has followed suit with the Monarch, a watch that took us off guard in the press release but impressed in person. Before getting to the watch, it was made clear to us that although this year marks 100 years of the brand, they aren’t throwing a big celebration for themselves, nor did they release a watch specifically dedicated to the centennial anniversary. The Monarch, which is a spiritual recreation or tribute to an early 20th-century Tudor model, is meant to acknowledge said birthday. So, basically, don’t call it an anniversary watch, just an anniversary-like watch. Ok, with that out of the way, let’s take a look at this surprisingly cool new model. Measuring 39mm in diameter, 11.9mm thick, and, I’m estimating, as this dimension was not provided, in the neighborhood of 48mm lug-to-lug, so basically BB58 sized, the Monarch, despite some vintage cues, looked and felt pleasantly modern on the wrist. The case, made of stainless steel, was quite different from others in the Tudor lineup. It had hooded, aggressively chamfered lugs, with a sharply faceted drop-off. There were also flat segments on either side of the case, emphasizing a geometric overall shape...
Monochrome
When Hermès introduced the H08 back in 2021, it was met with rave reviews for its playful flair. The shapes, the colours, the materials… it all worked together perfectly. The French luxury goods house is known for its sophisticated eye for design, and it showed with the H08. It was refreshing and intriguing, thanks to […]
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Monochrome
Some watches follow the established path of horology, refining proportions, improving calibres, and adjusting aesthetics within well-defined and safe boundaries. And then some watches question nearly everything that is considered conventional and classic. When the Ulysse Nardin Freak was unveiled in 2001, it introduced a new design, a new movement, but it also proposed an […]
Monochrome
Chopard marks the 30th anniversary of its first in-house movement produced in the brand’s Fleurier Manufacture. A pivotal moment for Chopard, the calibre 1.96 was released in 1996 and is still regarded as one of the finest ultra-thin micro-rotor movements today. The first watch to feature the calibre was the L.U.C 1860, presented in a […]
Worn & Wound
Tudor continues to expand their Black Bay 54 collection at this year’s Watches & Wonders with the Black Bay 54 “Blue”. Since the launch of the original Black Bay 54, the diver has settled into a role as a favorite among enthusiasts for its slender, compact proportions. The original release was a straightforward black dialed, black bezel affair, and last summer saw the surprise launch of the “Lagoon Blue” reference that re-characterized the watch as a fun, more jewelry oriented diver than we would have expected. A diver with a blue dial and bezel is frankly something expected in a dive watch lineup these days, so this release is not so much a surprise, but it’s interesting to see how Tudor executes on a dive watch standard. In terms of specs, there are no big surprises here, and this edition of the 54 follows those that have come before. The case in stainless steel measures 37mm in diameter and has water resistance to 200 meters. It runs on the same MT5400 movement, which is COSC-certified and has a silicon balance spring and 70-hour power reserve. It’s available on both a rivet style three link bracelet or a rubber strap. The blue dial is very, very blue. Tudor refers to it as “sapphire blue” and in the bright lights of their booth at Palexpo the sunray finishing and almost purple-ish hues are quite prominent on the dial. It’s very saturated, and I think even in less intense lighting it will have a lot of presence. If you compare it to other blue wa...
SJX Watches
Patek Philippe celebrates the semicentennial of its coveted sports watch with the 50th Anniversary Nautilus Collection, a trio of two hand precious metal watches in white gold and platinum – and an unexpected pocket watch desk clock. The deletion of the seconds hand is a return to the line’s aesthetic roots, also demonstrated by a new 38 mm case size, very close to that of the original. But, it remains on the precious metal path Patek Philippe began in 2021 when it axed the steel ref. 5711. Initial Thoughts These anniversary editions are the truest to the original Nautilus that we’ve seen in recent memory. The sans seconds ref. 3700/1A, launched in 1976, was powered by the JLC 920-based cal. 28-355C, which the calibre 240 was meant to replace. While Audemars Piguet stuck to the two hands plug date format with the Royal Oak Jumbo, Patek Philippe migrated the Nautilus to its new sweep-seconds platform. I believe something was lost when Patek Philippe added a sweep seconds hand to the Nautilus, though understandable from a business perspective given that watches with seconds hands generally have broader appeal than those without. That is recovered here, and the deletion of the calendar sets it apart from the original enough to not be a “reissue”. A smaller 38 mm Nautilus, with better proportions than the existing Ladies models, in also appreciated. The 38 mm platinum ref. 5610/1P-001. It is a shame then that the return of a two hand Nautilus is to be a fleeting one,...
Monochrome
Any watch bearing “Hybris” in its name represents the pinnacle of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s mechanics and craftsmanship. Representing the third pillar of the elite Hybris family, the new Inventiva series is dedicated to single, groundbreaking complications. The first in line is the extraordinary Master Hybris Inventiva Gyrotourbillon à Stratosphère Calibre 178. Building on two decades of multi-axis […]
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SJX Watches
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the first waterproof watch produced by the brand. Rolex just announced two new Oyster Perpetual models to mark the occasion. One is a sombre 41 mm Rolesor Anniversary model (Ref. 134303) which blends gold with steel and the other is a playful 36 mm Jubilee Dial (Ref. 126000) which focuses on colour and patterns. Initial thoughts Celebrating 100 years of the landmark Oyster case is certainly important to Rolex, as that original invention has been defining the brand ever since. Choosing arguably the plainest model line to mark the occasion is both meaningful and inspired. The entry-level Oyster Perpetual line manages to still bridge the gap between what Rolex has become and what the brand was 100 years ago. This back-to-basics approach gave birth to interesting models, which couldn’t be more different. The restrained 41 mm anniversary Oyster Perpetual is dressed in 904L Oystersteel paired with a yellow gold bezel and crown. Complemented by the gold accents on the dial and hands, the final look is very reminiscent of some configurations of the beloved “Bubbleback” Oyster era. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the new 36 mm Jubilee loses all celebratory sobriety and instead relies on a colourful reinterpretation of the Jubilee monogram dial introduced back in the 1970s. The blocky letters printed in vivid colours make for a look that is split between vintage inspired and excessively modern. This Oyster...
SJX Watches
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the first waterproof watch produced by the brand. Rolex just announced two new Oyster Perpetual models to mark the occasion: the Oyster Perpetual 41 mm Rolesor Anniversary (ref. 134303) in an unusual blend of gold and steel, and the playful Oyster Perpetual “Jubilee Dial” that’s all about colour and patterns with a dial reminiscent of the works of Alighiero Boetti (and is available in 41 mm, 36 mm, and 36 mm variants). Initial thoughts Celebrating 100 years of the landmark Oyster case is certainly important to Rolex, as that original invention has been defining the brand ever since. Choosing arguably the plainest model line to mark the occasion is both meaningful and inspired. The entry-level Oyster Perpetual line manages to still bridge the gap between what Rolex has become and what the brand was 100 years ago. This back-to-basics approach gave birth to interesting models, which couldn’t be more different. The restrained 41 mm anniversary Oyster Perpetual is dressed in 904L Oystersteel paired with a yellow gold bezel and crown. Complemented by the gold accents on the dial and hands, the final look is very reminiscent of some configurations of the beloved “Bubbleback” Oyster era. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the new 36 mm Jubilee loses all celebratory sobriety and instead relies on a colourful reinterpretation of the Jubilee monogram dial introduced back in the 1970s. The blocky letters pri...
Monochrome
Tudor was founded in 1926 by Hans Wilsdorf with a clear-cut mission to offer Rolex-level dependability at more accessible prices. Stepping out from under the shadow of its big brother in 2010, Tudor has developed a distinctive personality built around a mix of vintage and modern tool watches, spearheaded by the 2012 Black Bay line. […]
Monochrome
Among other watches presented in Geneva this week, Cartier unveils a new interpretation of one of the brand’s celebrated models, the Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph, to expand its highly desirable Cartier Privé collection. Following the model’s praised return in 2024, the brand introduces a platinum edition with a dial inspired by the Collection Privée Cartier Paris […]
Monochrome
In 2023, Tudor brought a new case size to its Black Bay collection, shrinking the Black Bay to 37mm, while staying true to the overall design codes of the series. At Watches and Wonders 2026, the brand presents a new variant that shares the tech specs with the earlier all-black 79000N reference but looks a […]
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