2,635 articles · 2,045 videos found · page 44 of 156
The Rolex chronograph born on the racetrack. History, references and specs.
The first self-winding waterproof wristwatch with a date window - and the reference Rolex.
The 1953 Rolex diver. James Bond's watch and the template every dive watch copies.
Founder of Rolex (1905) and Tudor (1946). Invented the Oyster case and the Perpetual rotor.
Fratello
This will be an article featuring some of my favorite watch brands out there. Here are a few examples of watches that, in my mind, earn their rightful place next to the Rolex “MilSub.” The so-called Rolex “MilSub” (short for Military Submariner) is a rare breed. MilSub watches don’t consist of any one reference. Rather, […] Visit Modern And Attainable “MilSubs” From CWC, Marathon, And Seiko to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Whilst many dream of owning a watch from one of the great Swiss watchmakers, the price points at retail can be discouraging for those on a budget. So where does this leave the enthusiast who wants to dip his or her toes into the world of high-end watchmaking? A little digging into lesser-known models, which we present here. We’re not just discussing the most inexpensive watches from Rolex and the “Holy Trinity”, since that’s too obvious and mundane. So instead, we bring you five watches that are not necessarily the most affordable, but amongst the best value propositions. Majority of the five presented below are ancestors of current-production models, and one is a less popular recent launch. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 116509, first-generation with meteorite dial Rolex is well known for dials in a variety of unique materials such as mineral stones and mother of pearl. Arguably more exotic, at least at the time of its launch, was meteorite. Whilst it’s not exactly known when the first meteorite dials were introduced by Rolex, the material has a constant in its catalogue for some two decades now. The latest meteorite additions to the line were the Daytona models of 2021, but the Daytona has in fact sported a meteorite dial before. In the early 2004 the material was combined with white gold for the first Daytona with a meteorite dial. It was available on a leather strap or a white gold bracelet, which is the version to go for. This first-generation Rolex ref. 1165...
Worn & Wound
Regardless of what’s in your collection now, we all had a piece that acted as a gateway drug – the one that first sunk the horology hook in. Maybe your fondest early wristwatch memories are illuminated in Timex Indiglo? Perhaps they take the shape of a Casio G-SHOCK? Could it have been an analog Armitron with one of the Looney Toons characters on the dial? Maybe your dad bought you a bogus Rolex “Pepsi” GMT on Canal Street and threw it on a rubber strap so you could wear it as a 7 year old, and maybe someone stole it out of your duffle bag at Tae Kwon Do and you’re still not fully over the loss at 37? Most of the manufacturers that helped us originally fall in love with wristwatches have found creative ways to grow with us and to evolve as watch collecting has shifted into the mainstream. Timex currently boasts a respectable line of vintage-inspired, entry level watches – including a few collaborative pieces with Worn & Wound that we, of course, think are fantastic. G-SHOCK has managed to stay exceptionally relevant via hyped celebrity collabs with the likes of John Mayer and Ed Sheeran. As for Armitron, they’ve maintained a comfortable station as a producer of affordable fashion watches that are generally sold at big box stores, and while their line has consistently included a few playful heritage pieces that hint at the potential for more, they’ve never really been a part of the conversation for enthusiasts. However, that might be changing as Armitron h...
Time+Tide
Rolex only? Or are there some even worse opinions in here? The post You revealed your sensible, and less sensible, watch collecting rules appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Fratello
Geneva-based Pragma is the brainchild of Christopher Wegener and Kai-Hsuan Liu. Wegener has 21 years of experience in watchmaking; he worked for Rolex and F.P.Journe, for instance. Liu is the brand’s Creative Design Director. He has a background at Hermès and a studio of his own, and his forté is fusing natural and technological elements. […] Visit Introducing The Pragma P1 – Perseverance: A 100% Swiss Chronometer Made With 82.7% Recycled Materials to read the full article.
Video
“Leica” looms over cameras much like Rolex does watches. It’s a name with both meaning and stigma. On one hand, it speaks to quality, provenance, tradition, and a culture of dedicated enthusiasts. Conversely, it speaks to snobbery, wealth, style over substance, and exclusivity. Being who I am, I’m always suspicious of overly adored things, especially when they are expensive, as I can’t help but keep value in mind. Over the years, I’ve avoided the red dot despite countless recommendations. They just felt like too much of a thing I didn’t want to be a part of. A brand name for people who wanted to appear to be photographers, regardless of whether or not they had any skill or even a desire to shoot. Or maybe they didn’t even care if they appeared as photographers; the camera just served as an accessory to a lifestyle. Part of a kit that said, “Yeah, I do alright,” and looked great with a vintage Sub. *Side note: I wrote this intro before Griffin Bartsch covered the new SL3, and thus, I still thought myself clever for the Rolex comparison. As I now know it’s quite banal, I feel a tinge embarrassed, and yet, it holds a true statement, so it remains. As a former art major, I’ve always felt that cameras were tools, much like my paintbrushes. They could be used to create art or to document life. They weren’t lifestyle objects; they were a medium. I only got into photography in the first place to shoot my work in grad school. And then, I had to learn more ...
Fratello
In this edition of Fratelli Stories, we learn more about Fratello reader Andre. He combines his passions for diving and underwater photography with his love of horology. This includes his fondness for his favorite diving companion, a Rolex Sea-Dweller. Underwater photography is a passion of mine as well. The underwater world is both enchanting and […] Visit Fratelli Stories: How Andre Combines His Passions For Watches And Diving to read the full article.
Fratello
In March 2022, the global watch market was at an all-time high. A stainless steel Rolex Daytona was worth just over €50,000, any new limited-edition watch would sell out in a matter of minutes, and sites like Fratello attracted a lot of new readers. Since then, things have cooled down substantially. According to Chrono24, that […] Visit Weekend Contemplation: The Watch Market Isn’t In Crisis, But How Should We Describe Its Current State? to read the full article.
Monochrome
Watches & Wonders 2024 and The Geneva Watch Week are now far behind us… But it’s the perfect time to look back, with more relaxed minds, at the best watches we’ve seen around town. These fairs are primarily bringing the spotlight on large brands, such as Rolex, the Richemont Group or LVMH. But thankfully, it […]
Worn & Wound
One of the prevailing narratives to come out of Watches & Wonders 2024 was that it was, across the board, a pretty quiet year. That may have been true for some, but others, like IWC, came to play. A good portion of the attention IWC got this year was (justifiably) directed at the new Portugieser Eternal Calendar that Zach Kazan introduced a few weeks ago, but that watch was far from the only Portugieser IWC brought to Geneva this year. The Portugieser is not the first watch that springs to mind for most of us when contemplating IWC - far more likely would be some sort of Pilot’s Watch or, more recently, the Ingenieur - but it has been, at times subtly, possibly the most important collection in the IWC catalog. I know so many collectors for whom the Portugieser was their first nice watch, and it is a model I continue to see in the wild, especially in cities like New York or London where people still routinely wear suits to work. IWC, like Rolex, is a brand that prefers evolution over revolution when it comes to its designs - one only has to look at the slow transformation of the Pilot’s Watch for evidence of that. The last few years have seen the brand slowly tinkering with the Portugieser line, bringing it up to date and refining what was already a great watch to make it better. This year, they continued that process and introduced a slew of new models and colorways, all of which come together to make up possibly the best lineup of Portugiesers ever assembled. Co...
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SJX Watches
As a sister brand of Singer Vehicle Design, the “restomod” outfit specialising in Porsche 911s, Singer Reimagined naturally got its start with auto-racing inspired chronographs, namely the Track 1. Now the brand has pivoted and debuted its first diving watch, the Divetrack Chronograph. Decidedly oversized – the diameter is 49 mm – the Divetrack has the aesthetics of a dive timer, but also the functionality thanks to a clever case and dial construction. And like the Track 1, the Divetrack is powered by the smart AgenGraphe movement that consolidates all of the chronograph indicators onto the central axis. Initial thoughts Oversized dive watches are cool. Watch nerds appreciate them for the technology, design, and function even if no one really uses them for the intended purpose. This applies to the Seiko Tuna, Rolex Deepsea Challenge, and now the Divetrack. At 49 mm in diameter and almost 20 mm high, the Divetrack is unabashedly oversized. It has an appealing instrument-like design along with a clever decompression scale on the dial. And the Agenhor movement inside ranks amongst the most inventive chronograph movements on the market. But the Divetrack is priced at CHF85,000, which is surprisingly high. In comparison, the Track 1 in titanium or aluminium costs about CHF50,000. The number is difficult to justify regardless of how you slice it. Although the movement has been modified for a 24-hour counter, the modification isn’t a major one. Still, the small edition ...
SJX Watches
London-based Bamford Watch Department’s latest is the B80 Limited Edition, a collaboration with Ace Jewelers of Amsterdam. In keeping with Bamford’s vintage-with-a-twist house style, the B80 boasts a “ghost” dial with a gradient finish and numerals inspired by historical military watches. The 39 mm titanium case has a black finished that’s been treated to appear aged. Initial Thoughts There is something about all-black watches that makes them cool. Part of it is the no-nonsense, military-instrument look they evoke. Black-coated watches, at least most of them, suffer from a major drawback - coatings wear off in time, resulting in a worn look that is more often than not unappealing. But here the wear has been done in advance for a fuss-free watch. According to the duo behind the B80, this is a “tool” watch conceived according to the notion “if [the watch is] too perfect, fix it”. Bamford, a company that got its start by modifying Rolex watches, often with vintage inspired styling and black-coated cases, is perhaps poking fun at its roots with the worn-out PVD finish of the B80. Even the dial features a “smoked” patina along with hands and indices with aged lume, thereby creating a “vintage” watch. But as with most Bamford watches – the brand now mostly makes original watches under its own name – the B80 is affordable and imbued with a spirit of fun. The back, for instance, is engraved with “You’re Ace”, and the watch is delivered with a...
Quill & Pad
The WatchCharts March 2024 watch market update discusses a potential stabilization in secondary market prices, the recent interesting dynamics of the Rolex Pepsi market, and share some of the best and worst performing brands and collections of last month.
Worn & Wound
Sports watches have been produced primarily in stainless steel throughout their history, with the occasional special release of precious metal variants. Recently though, titanium has taken the spotlight as an improved alternative to even high-end stainless steel alloys like 904L used by Rolex. Titanium is touted as lighter, stronger, more corrosion and scratch resistant – but is it aesthetically as attractive as stainless steel? This would depend on personal taste, and it would also come down to many aspects that can only be judged from a watchmaker’s viewpoint. Some watch brands, and specific models of watches from these brands, are going to vary greatly in the quality of titanium they choose and the level of detail and craftsmanship they’re going to dedicate to a titanium sports watch variant. It is indeed possible to make a titanium watch a work of art in its own right in comparison to stainless steel, but it will always have a darker more tool-like luster to it than our favourite tried and true metal. Titanium is also harder to work with, and requires more time and precision to shape into a watch case, bracelet, or even a small part like the crown – with these challenges comes the average watch collector’s largest obstacle: an increased price point. Someday, if it’s lucky, this titanium could become a watch There’s a few common grades of titanium watchmakers have been working with, with Rolex always setting the premium standard and using a special alloy...
Worn & Wound
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Leica is the Rolex of cameras. It’s a bit of a tired comparison, but it’s not an invalid one. They are each known for their impeccable build quality, a wonderful user experience, and for making beautiful objects. Both Rolex and Leica draw as much, if not more, attention to their vintage product as their modern, and each has a passionate and devoted fan base. And, at the end of the day, Leica and Rolex both make wonderful things. Today, we get to see a new wonderful thing from Leica; the SL3. The SL3 replaces the SL2 as Leica’s flagship full-frame, interchangeable lens mirrorless camera. At first blush, the new SL3 looks a lot like the SL2, but take a closer look and you’ll start to see major differences. Working from the outside in, the SL3 is smaller and lighter than the SL2. According to Leica, the SL3 has shed about 70g from its predecessor, and the overall dimensions of the camera have been shrunk down slightly. The SL3, despite these changes, remains weather-sealed to the IP54 standard. The SL3 also gets, for the first time in the model line, a tilt screen for its rear display, similar to the one the Q3 got last year. The 3.2” LED display has a slightly higher resolution than the display on the SL2 (2.3 million dots vs 2.1 million on the SL2) and the SL3 also comes equipped with a 5.76 million dot EyeRes EVF. The control layout of the SL3 has also seen a revision. Like with last year’s Q3, the introduction of a ti...
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Worn & Wound
Big news from Seiko today, as the brand announces a follow up to their wildly popular SPB143 diver (and its many siblings). The new SPB453, SPB451, and SPB455 use the same 62MAS derived format but offer small changes in specs that make the new versions of the watch correspondingly more appealing. It’s not a revolutionary update in design or anything, but a series of small changes that should result in a better experience for just about everyone, and reinforces the idea that this watch, the “1966 Diver’s Re-Interpretation,” is the core diver in Seiko’s lineup and will be forever tinkered with in an almost Rolex kind of way. Let’s start with the big changes, which are actually quite small in a literally sense. The new references have been tidied up a bit in their dimensions and are slightly smaller in every dimension watch enthusiasts care about than their predecessors. The diameter is down half a millimeter to a clean 40mm, and the case height has been reduced to 13mm, which is a barely perceptible 0.2mm thinner than the SPB143. The lug to lug measurement is 46.4mm, which is a more noticeable 1.4mm shorter. The new case size is welcome, in my opinion. It’s not that the SPB143 wore too large or was too aggressively chunky, but for a diver like this a little extra refinement is a good thing. A skin diver style dive watch isn’t meant to be a behemoth on the wrist, but rather the ideal combination of wearability and performance for regular folks. Getting this ...
Monochrome
There’s certainly no shortage of simple, versatile watches that can hang at the beach and complement a suit within a 12-hour period. The legendary Rolex Oyster Perpetual and related models always come to mind, but Traska’s Commuter collection brings this stylish versatility in affordable packages. Offered in 34.5mm, 36.5mm and 38.5mm cases, there’s truly a […]
Monochrome
The watch industry and its market are in constant evolution, with new brands appearing almost daily. The distribution has to face intense volatility due to the duplication of selling channels, the increased pressure of business combinations and the recent rise of certified pre-owned (CPO), which concerns Rolex but also many more brands. A handful of […]
Worn & Wound
This month I had the pleasure of speaking with Nathan Bobinchak, Head of Watchmaking for the independent brand Oak & Oscar. Nathan is a former journalist and TV news writer turned watchmaker, with an obsession for finding the best way to experience sound through home audio setups. Watches “I had my midlife crisis at 26.” Nathan delivers a dry joke as he recounts his career shift from local TV news, to his decision to go to watchmaking school. Specifically, Nathan attended The Litiz Watch Technicum, a watchmaking school outside Lancaster, PA that was founded in 2001 by Rolex. After graduating from Litiz, Nathan worked for a shop in Connecticut, eventually moving to Chicago at the beginning of 2020 and landing the job at Oak & Oscar. “I first got into Oak & Oscar with the Jackson. The Jackson is a very cool chronograph with the Eterna 3916 movement in it. It’s a very neat, super complicated, pretty movement. It has a column wheel and flyback chrono…just very cool.” Nathan explained to me that in modern watchmaking you do a lot of the same things, but said he was fortunately certified to work on watches like the Rolex Daytona, as he has a lot of fun servicing chronographs. “I can go on all day about the art of lubricating a chronograph. That is some nerdy stuff. It’s like paint drying.” I was interested, so I asked him to expound. “The only thing that makes watches hard to work on is the user. We knock them, move them around, a movement will run grea...
Worn & Wound
Climb up to the top rope with me for a few minutes, and let’s look upon the roles we play within the watch enthusiast community: are we a face or a heel (or likely somewhere in between)? The Iron Claw, my personal favorite film of 2023, forces this type of introspection onto its viewers. The audience is dealt heaps of toxic masculinity and likely some generational trauma, dumped from Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) onto his sons Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson), and Mike (Stanley Simons). Much of this hinges on Fritz’s perceived failures and an idea he states early on in the film, “If I want to be a star, I need to act like a star […] The only way to beat IT is to be the toughest, the strongest, the most successful. The absolute best.” In more ways than one, we all wrestle with being our best selves and wanting to be perceived as something we aren’t. The theme of becoming and appearing as if you’re the best plays a role, at times, in the watch world. And, wouldn’t you know it, Rolex makes an appearance on the wrists of at least three characters to subliminally drive this theme home. In the film Rolexes are worn by Fritz Von Erich, his son Kevin Von Erich, and Ric Flair (Aaron Dean Eisenberg). Holt McCallany as Fritz Von Erich In the opening scene of the film, when Fritz is speaking with his wife, Dottie (Maura Tierney), about what it means to be and appear as a star, he is trying to defend the decision to lease a ...
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![[VIDEO] Hands-On: the Havid Nagan HN00](https://wornandwound.com/library/uploads/2024/01/HAVID_NAGAN_03.jpg)
Worn & Wound
I think there’s a certain trajectory to watch collecting that the vast majority of enthusiasts will be familiar with. It’s been discussed at length, and might even represent something of a self fulfilling prophecy at this point. It goes something like this: you start out with the fan favorite affordables, dabble in big Swiss brands that take a depreciation hit and can be found readily on enthusiast buy/sell/trade platforms, discover the insane variety and value of microbrands, and then eventually, if it’s a brand that has meant something to you before you even knew that watch collecting was a thing, you wind up at Rolex. This is vastly oversimplified of course, but a version of this has happened to me and many collectors I know personally. Muy own observation though is that it’s what happens next that really determines where you go in the hobby. Because there’s a path where you just keep acquiring Rolex sports watches like Pokemon. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – they are objectively excellent watches to own. But I think a certain number of collectors have a Tony Soprano, late season 6 moment sometime after picking up that GMT-Master or Submariner, and ask themselves: is this all there is? $8000 Hands-On: the Havid Nagan HN00 Case Titanium Movement Schwarz-Etienne ASE200 Dial Plum Lume Yes, hands and markers Lens Sapphire Strap Leather Water Resistance 100 meters Dimensions 40.7 x 49mm Thickness 11.6mm Lug Width 22mm Crown Push/pull Warranty Ye...
Time+Tide
Two customised Rolex, one winner. Which fared better at the Sotheby's Fine Watches auction: the Supreme Submariner or the Asprey Daytona?The post The Supreme Submariner versus the Asprey Daytona – which went for more? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
Seiko has recently expanded their Seiko 5 Sports Field series to include two new references, each with a GMT function. A first for this line of watches following the popular series that included rotating 24 hour bezels last year, the GMT function allows for a secondary timezone to be easily read in a tidy field watch format. Whether choosing the silver SSK023 or the more rugged black SSK025, each balances functionality against a backdrop of timeless design. As for the specifications of this watch, the Seiko 5 Sports Field series is a robust and reliable timepiece designed for everyday wear. Equipped with a 4R34 automatic movement, it offers a power reserve of approximately 41 hours and is equipped with 24 jewels. The watch incorporates practical functions such as a 24-hour hand for dual time display and a stop second hand function. Functionality is identical to the earlier Seiko 5 Sports GMT release, which means an independently adjustable 24-hour hand and “caller” GMT functionality. Its stainless steel case, measuring 39.4mm in diameter and 13.6mm in thickness, includes a curved Hardlex crystal and showcases Lumibrite on both hands and indexes for enhanced visibility. The watch has a water resistance of 10 bar and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m, making it suitable for various environments that really lives up to its field watch bona fides. Importantly, these watches feature a fixed 24-hour bezel in the style of a Rolex Explorer II, which naturally gives these watc...
Worn & Wound
Editor’s note: In this week’s 3 Watch Collection for $5,000, Griffin Bartsch (@cgriffinbartsch on Instagram), a seasoned collector and watch enthusiast, makes his case for value with a trio of watches that punch well above their weight class. In a watch environment where prices keep climbing, it can be tough to find quality and originality that’s budget friendly, and it can be even tougher if you can easily recall a time when these things just weren’t so expensive. But as Griffin points out, there are still great watches to discover at any price point. You can make your submission to the Three Watch Collection – Reader Edition by filling out the form right here. Talk to anyone who has been a watch enthusiast or collector long enough and a constant through-line will be that watches cost more than they used to. It’s hard to deny. In the near decade and a half that I have nominally been what could be called a watch collector, the market has experienced a dramatic surge. It’s gotten to the point where it is unavoidable that rising prices have become a pretty standard stop in the flow of conversation at meetups and on forums. Even I am not immune to the temptations of the topic - I have probably mentioned a few too many times that when I was 18 I could have bought a polar dial Rolex Explorer II Ref. 16570 for the same money as my Martin D-35 (around 3500 bucks). That Martin still floats right around that price today, the Rolex decidedly does not. A result of a...
SJX Watches
Just in time for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, IWC reveals another rendition of a racing chronograph, the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph. Available in two guises either titanium or Ceratanium, the new model retains the familiar visage of the standard Pilot’s Chronograph but with racetrack-inspired tweaks. Initial thoughts IWC has never quite had a bona fide racing chronograph with the gravitas of the Rolex Daytona or Heuer Carrera. Its past racing timepieces included the little loved and now discontinued Ingenieur and the more successful Pilot’s Chronograph Mercedes-AMG. With the success of the Pilot’s Chronograph Mercedes-AMG with its Tiffany blue-esque colour, it’s unsurprising that another iteration has come along. The new chronograph has a distinctive racing aesthetic despite being a Pilot’s Chronograph, thanks to the tachymeter scale and more pronounced dial markings. The Formula 1 feel is particularly evident in the Ceratanium model that’s distinguished by its predominantly black design embellished with white and mint green accents. That said, the paradox of a Formula 1-inspired aviator’s watch is hard to understand – the two themes don’t go together at all, although it is an appealing sports watch. IWC is relying on the strength of its bestselling Pilot’s line to build a racing offering, in part due to the Ingenieur’s historical lack of success. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team model The model starts at US$9,800 in ...
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