Results for Charles Vermot

TGIFriday: How to take large format portraits

Master watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi was in Singapore recently. Here is the Behind The Scene of the portrait session using my Sinar large format camera.

The new TAG Heuer Carerra Skipper merges the coveted reference with new Glassbox format

Once enough collectors discover a vintage reference, prices can really drive up as their collectability rises. Due to the age of a watch, and how perspective has shifted on how to appropriately maintain or service a watch, the available number of collector-grade condition watches can be rare. One such coveted, historic, and rare watch is … ContinuedThe post The new TAG Heuer Carerra Skipper merges the coveted reference with new Glassbox format appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

TGIFridays: Quick look at the Sinar X large format camera

Its Friday again! And letting our hair down, we taken a quick and closer look at my (new to me) Sinar X large 4×5 format camera with Nikkor W 180mm f/5.6 lens. We have covered large format film photography and cameras in our earlier TGIFriday articles. My first hands-on encounter was with the Sinar PRead More

New: Alpa 12 STC Silver Edition Medium Format Technical Camera

Alpa, a high end technical medium format camera company releases a new version of their 12 STC in collaboration with Hasselblad.

Large format watch photography – the image gallery on Chillout TGIFridays

Last week we took the first step towards attempting to make macro photographs of watches using large format cameras and lenses with sheet film. This journey begins in small steps, the first being to start with a 4×5 large format camera and lens, but using a digital back, as it allows us immediate feedback, andRead More

Chillout TGIFridays: Shooting watches with large format cameras! Part 1. The preparation and the cameras.

In this Chillout TGIFridays episode, we begin our exploration into using large format cameras and lenses to do watch macro photography.  Large format cameras for watch photography Large format cameras have historically been the mainstay in professional work, where maximum image quality is of critical importance. These are large cameras, often reduced to the essenceRead More

Strap or Bracelet? Ming’s Laser-Formed Titanium Mesh is Both

Ming has unveiled the Polymesh strap, described by the brand as the world’s first 3D-printed titanium watch bracelet. Blurring the line between bracelet and strap, it’s comprised of 1,693 articulating grade 5 titanium components. Designed to fit any Ming case with 20 mm lugs, the Polymesh strap reflects the brand’s growing ambitions. Initial thoughts The Polymesh strap illustrates the important function that independent brands like Ming play in the watchmaking ecosystem; they can explore concepts that big brands cannot. Large industrial brands are, to some extent, locked in a cage of their own making. On one hand, they have scale and distribution, but on the other, any innovation must be tested exhaustively to ensure it won’t complicate service channels. Ming exists in a sweet spot, with enough market traction to confidently invest in the development of new ideas, and the nimble size to take decisive action. In this context, it’s not surprising to see the first 3D-printed wristwatch bracelet come from a brand like Ming rather than an industrial powerhouse like Rolex or the Swatch Group. The concept itself is inherently interesting. It might be called a bracelet or a strap, but regardless of the nomenclature, it’s intended to offer both the dense, draping feel of a bracelet with the supple flexibility of a strap, made possible through additive manufacturing. As with any truly novel concept, the Polymesh strap likely needs to be experienced firsthand to be fully...

Breitling and Charlize Theron celebrate the release of new Navitimer models in 36 and 32mm

Analog Photography: hands-on with a large format camera, developing and making a direct negative print

At the Lange Exceptional Masterpieces exhibition, currently on till Dec 5, we participated in a special activity, showcasing analog photography.

Breaking News: Watches & Wonders Geneva to Return in Physical Format

Even before the pandemic took hold, the last couple of years have been chaotic for Switzerland’s major watch fairs, with many an unexpected turn of events before COVID-19 put an end to the physical event in 2020. But now it appears the world is back on track, with Watches & Wonders (W&W;) slated to take place at end-March 2022 – as a physical event in its traditional Palexpo venue. The return of W&W;, now Switzerland’s only large-scale watch fair, feels long overdue. Arguably the saga began in 2018 when watchmaking giant Swatch Group exited Baselworld, then still the largest jewellery and watch fair in the world. Its departure triggered a chain reaction that would eventually prove fatal for Baselworld. Stalwart exhibitors including Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Chanel pulled out of Baselworld, sealing the event’s fate – and resulting in a small kerfuffle over exhibition-fee refunds. The brands departed Baselworld to join the fair in Geneva, then still known as SIHH. It was renamed W&W; to welcome the new exhibitors – and ran headlong into a major public-health crisis. Only one physical watch fair took place in Switzerland in 2020, albeit it on a small scale. It was only in China that a full-scale W&W; did happen, twice no less, demonstrating the frenzied demand for luxury watches there. A scene from SIHH 2019, the last time a full-scale watch fair happened in Switzerland After a two-year hiatus, W&W; till take place from March 30 to April 5, 2022, at Palexpo, the con...

Vermont state trooper allegedly stole a Rolex watch from evidence room

Trying to get a new Rolex watch can be frustrating, but is it frustrating enough to steal one? Jokes aside, watch theft in any form is, of course, immoral, and you would think a supposed man of the law would know better. Sure, police corruption is a very real and unfortunate reality. But it was … ContinuedThe post Vermont state trooper allegedly stole a Rolex watch from evidence room appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Omega Kicks Off Partnership With Ladies European Golf Tour And Rising Star Charley Hull

Showing its commitment to both women’s watches and the women’s sporting arena, Omega has just announced a new 10-year partnership with the Ladies European Tour (LET) – a truly international organisation with 23 golf tournaments played in 18 different countries in 2014. Of particular relevance to the UK is Omega’s decision to enlist 18-year-old Brit […]

Just Because: A Few Standout Pieces From Quincy Jones’ Collection Are Heading To Auction

Quincy Jones was an absolute king. He was a towering figure in the music industry, leaving an indelible stamp on popular culture through his producing, arranging, and film score work. From early collaborations with Count Basie, Ray Charles, and Frank Sinatra to producing one of the top-selling albums of all time (Thriller by Michael Jackson), not to mention We Are The World, he made the soundtrack for many of our lives. During a well-lived lifetime spanning 91 years, he was rewarded with accolades, including the entertainment industry grand slam 'EGOT' (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards).  There were also plenty of watches and jewelry gifted and collected during his epic life and career. Now some of Quincy Jones' unique pieces are heading to auction at Christie's in Geneva this month. We got a sneak preview of some of the catalog, including these three pieces, that the family has consigned. A couple of them were gifts from notable celebrities to Jones. They all give a sense of some of the objects worn and cherished by one of the most important figures in entertainment history.  Girard-Perregaux World Time Control Shadow 'Quincy Jones' Sized at 43mm in diameter with both a flyback chronograph and a worldtime complication, this Girard-Perregaux, dated from 2011, has a lot going on. The beefy case features a smooth black ceramic exterior, a titanium caseback, and an interior housing, in a size and style that's very representative of the era for the Swiss brand. The watch...

Introducing – The Squale SUB-37 Legend, Back to Essentials, Back to the Depths

Founded in 1959 by Charles Von Büren, Squale is a famed name amongst the fans of professional dive instruments; the company produced its own models and made cases for numerous brands during the golden age of underwater exploration. To mark the return to these origins, last year the brand introduced the Squale 2001, a late […]

First Look – Chapter Two in the Revival of L. Leroy with the New Elyor Flying Tourbillon

Parisian watchmaking maison L. Leroy was founded by Basile-Charles Le Roy in 1785 and became the official watchmaker to King Louis XVI and later to Napoleon I and Queen Victoria. Expanding operations to Switzerland, L. Leroy produced marine chronometers for the French Navy and amassed 384 gold medals in chronometry competitions. Iconic masterpieces like the […]

Tissot Visodate Automatic Review

Tissot traces its long history back to 1853, when it was founded in Switzerland’s Jura Mountains by the father-son watchmaking team of Charles-Félicien and Charles-Émile Tissot.  Today part of the Swatch Group, Tissot can lay claim to several watchmaking milestones throughout its history, including the first pocket watch to display two time zones in 1853; the first watch built to resist magnetism, the Antimagnetique, in 1930; and the first tactile-screen multifunction digital watch, the T-Touch, in 1999, years before the smartwatch would come into existence. Today, Tissot markets more than 4 million watches per year to more than 160 countries and is known for producing what its parent group terms “midrange market” watches that are prized for their price-to-value ratio.  Tissot’s 1950s-era Visodate was among the first fleet of watches to introduce an integrated date complication, but the line’s contemporary renditions have continuously flown under the radar within the enthusiast community – until today, that is. New for 2026, the brand has given the collection a complete overhaul, revamping the Visodate to be more everyday-carry friendly than ever without sacrificing its quintessential retro flair.  [toc-section heading="History And Context"]  Vintage 1950s Tissot Visodate Advertisement The original Tissot Visodate hit shelves in 1953, marking 100 years since Tissot’s founding. It was not the first wristwatch with a date display in a window - that woul...

Gatherings: UBS House Of Craft Celebrates Independent Watchmaking With Laurent Ferrier

Laurent Ferrier's Head of Americas, Charles Marin, joined Hodinkee's Deputy Editor Tim Jeffreys for cocktails and a fireside chat in Palm Beach.

Hands-on – L.Leroy Osmior Bal du Temps, Sounding the Return of a Famed Name

If I had to describe the return of L.Leroy, once one of France’s most illustrious watchmaking houses, with its name respected as much as those of Breguet and Ferdinand Berthoud, it was very theatrical. Founded in 1785 by Charles Leroy in Paris, it became famous for its marine chronometers, regulator clocks, and commissions for European […]

Gatherings: A. Lange & Söhne in Focus: UBS House of Craft Shines a Light on German Craftsmanship

An evening of cocktails and conversation with Charles Langlois, Brand President of A. Lange & Söhne Americas, and Hodinkee's Mark Kauzlarich.

A Deep Dive Into Minerva In The Montblanc Era

It’s October 9th, 2006, and this news flash appears on the Richemont website: “Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Fabrique d’Horlogerie Minerva SA in a private transaction from G. P. P. International SA, Luxembourg. The watch brand Minerva was established by Charles Robert in 1858 and is […] Visit A Deep Dive Into Minerva In The Montblanc Era to read the full article.

Book Review: The Inconvenient Truth About the World’s First Waterproof Watch by Stan Czubernat

Watchmaking is full of gratuitous claims and overinflated marketing. One of the oldest is Rolex’s claim, still on their website today, that the Oyster Perpetual was the world’s first waterproof watch in 1926. These claims were the basis for Rolex’s reputation for reliability and ruggedness. While Rolex’s Oyster Perpetual was highly water resistant, it was not the first company to create a successful water-resistant design. That title belongs to Charles Depollier, who was fulfilling orders for the U.S. Army as early as 1919.

Seiko Celebrates 75 Years of Peanuts and Snoopy with Vanac SDKV011

Seiko celebrates 75 years of the Peanuts with a King Seiko Vanac Peanuts 75th Anniversary SDKV011, with everyone’s favourite Beagle on a newspaper-inspired dial. Limited to only 150 pieces for Japan only, foreigners will need to get creative if they want one. Initial Thoughts Peanuts is huge in Japan – or more accurately, Snoopy is. Grandberry Park in Tokyo plays host to a three-story tall Snoopy museum that receives several times as many yearly visitors as the Charles M. Schulz Museum in California. It should be no surprise then that the new Vanac is for the Japanese market only, which is unfortunate as it is an appealing watch for a relatively reasonable price. While a bit late to the integrated bracelet sports watch craze since it was only launched earlier this year, the Vanac is competitive in its segment thanks to standout case finishing and a highly competent movement. The new edition retains all the appeal of the standard model; the two-tone dial with gilt accents and Peanuts characters is subtle and a little retro in keeping with the design’s origins. A Snoopified King Seiko King Seiko is a Seiko sub-brand positioned just below the better-known Grand Seiko. The marque emerged from a multi-decade hibernation in 2021. Seiko launched original King Seiko Vanac line during the early 1970s, with sharp angular cases, colourful iridescent dials and faceted crystals – but the latter is missing on the modern Vanac. That absence stings as a faceted crystal would be an...

Introducing – A New Era for a Historic Name as L.Leroy Returns with the Osmior Bal du Temps

Founded in Paris in 1785 by Charles Leroy, L.Leroy was once one of France’s illustrious watchmaking houses, known for its marine chronometers, high complications and commissions for European royalty. After years of dormancy, the brand, acquired in 2004 by Miguel Rodríguez of the Festina Group, is staging a comeback. Following its first step with a […]

Snoopy Watches: How Brands are Embracing the Beloved Peanuts Character

Charles M. Schulz published his first Peanuts comics strip in 1950, setting the foundation for a world of iconic characters like Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, and perhaps most famously, Charlie Brown’s dog Snoopy, an irrepressible beagle originally based on a drawing of Schulz’s childhood pet, Spike. Peanuts grew from humble beginnings (syndicated in just seven newspapers)  to become the most popular and influential comics strip in the world, published in more than 2,600 newspapers from 1950 to 2000 and claiming a worldwide readership of 355 million in 75 countries. It also spawned an entertainment and marketing phenomenon, with numerous animated film and TV specials that have stood the test of time and a flood of branded products that continues into the modern era. Snoopy, including all his various, beloved “fantasy life” iterations - like the World War I Flying Ace and the beatnik-inspired, shades-wearing “Joe Cool” - remains one of the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. His likeness can be found on merchandise from backpacks and sweatshirts, to notebooks and wrapping paper, to mugs and glassware, to the world’s most famous giant parade balloon. It was more or less inevitable that Snoopy, and others from the Peanuts gang, would also find their way onto watches, the first one coming from New York-based Armitron in 1956 (above). The last original Peanuts cartoon strip ran on February 13, 2000, one day after Charles M. Schulz die...

Insight: Hairspring Materials and Evolution Part II

Part I of our story on the evolution of hairspring materials covered temperature compensation along with the development of the first specialised balance spring alloy, Elinvar. The story brought us to the 1920s, when scientist and horologist Charles-Edouard Guillaume (1861-1938) finished his work on nickel-iron alloys and watchmakers begun embracing Elinvar springs paired with mono-metallic balances. In this second part we turn to newer hairspring alloys, like the now-ubiquitous Nivarox. Then we look at today’s landscape and the future, touching on research done by the Swatch Group with alternative, niobium-based alloys and also the specialised but obscure Seiko SPRON 610 hairspring. Lastly we discuss silicon springs, which are growing more prevalent across a range of timepieces. Elinvar’s weaknesses Elinvar was by far the greatest breakthrough in self-compensating alloy hairsprings at the time. Guillaume considered Elinvar good enough and not needing further improvement - unsurprisingly since he was its inventor - but other watchmakers and engineers continued to experiment with iron-nickel compounds because Elinvar’s inherent properties made it a good, but imperfect, material. Even though the alloy behaved predictably with temperature changes, its physical properties were not ideal to begin with. Elinvar was a soft metal, which posed its own suite of problems for spring applications. The importance of softness in terms of hairspring performance is not related ...

My Story of Buying a Pre-Owned Rolex Day-Date 36 in Platinum with “Glacier Blue Wave Arabic Dial”: a Caveat Emptor Scare but a Happy Ending

Niclas has arranged to meet the seller of a platinum Rolex Day-Date at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. If all goes well, the watch transaction should be completed within an hour the he would catch the next flightto Stockholm. What makes him nervous is that the deal is to be done in cryptocurrency. But that's not what went wrong.

Independent Watchmaking on Show in London

Phillips Perpetual will shortly open a three-day exhibition dedicated to independent watchmaking at its London showroom. Independent Spirit will comprise five notable watchmakers whose work encapsulate the diversity of the genre: Konstantin Chaykin, Raúl Pagès, Theo Auffret, Charles Frodsham, and David Candaux. The watch boutique arm of the eponymous auctioneer, Phillips Perpetual conceived the exhibition as a small-scale event that will allow personal interaction with each of the watchmakers, or in the case of the long-departed Charles Frodsham, the brand’s representatives. The exhibition will be a rare opportunity to meet some of the leading lights of independent watchmaking. Amongst them is Raúl Pagès, a true artisanal watchmaker in the traditional sense. Mr Pages will have on hand examples of the Soberly Onyx, his inaugural watch, and the RP1 Régulateur à détente that won him the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize. Raúl Pagès While all of the other watchmakers at the exhibition are relatively young, Charles Frodsham is a continuously-operating, centuries-old brand – proof that independent watchmaking innovation can come from unexpected places. The movement of the Charles Frodsham Double Impulse Chronometer The only watchmaker absent is Konstantin Chaykin, who unfortunately was not able to travel for the exhibition due to travel restrictions resulting from his nationality. That’s unfortunately as the Russian watch- and clockmaker is a technician and artist whom I ...

Introducing – The Cool Squale 2001 Dive Watch is Back as a Permanent Collection

Squale is often regarded as sort of a hidden gem of the dive watch scene, a brand that speaks mostly to hardcore divers and seasoned aquatic watch enthusiasts. Created by Charles Von Büren in 1959, who also made cases for multiple other companies (military Fifty Fathoms watches, for example), the brand gained fame thanks to […]

Introducing – The Squale 1521 Marina Militare Limited Edition

An emblematic name for the dive watch community, Squale has gained great credibility with its solid, no-nonsense models and recognition from military forces. Created in 1959, when Charles Von Büren registered the Squale name, this year, the brand celebrates its 65th anniversary. A few months ago, Squale released the Master Titanium 120 ATM, an appealing […]

Tennis Anyone? Timex Releases their Latest Peanuts Themed Novelty

Snoopy and the rest of Charles Schulz’s iconic Peanuts characters have graced newspaper pages since 1950 and for nearly as long, the gang has partnered with Timex to create special edition watch collaborations. Together they bring a playfulness to the wrist like few brands can. Whether you grew up reading the Sunday funnies or watching the holiday-themed specials, their collaborative collection is nostalgic, cheerful, and beloved by casual wearers and knowledgeable collectors alike. The first Timex x Peanuts watches were originally introduced in 1969, and everyone’s favorite characters have all found their way across numerous Timex watches in the 55 years since. New for 2024 is a gold-tone stainless steel Timex Marlin featuring The World-Famous Tennis Player, one of Snoopy’s alter-egos, which was first introduced in 1970. According to the legend himself, he hates playing against top players like Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors because they “keep hitting the ball back.” This manually wound timepiece is packed with delightful details, as Snoopy’s arms and his tennis ball are used to read the time. His racket arm tells the minutes, while his other arm displays the hours, and the tennis ball represents the seconds. There is a very neat animation on the Timex website that shows the hands in motion, depicting our favorite beagle in mid-swing.  Powering this one is a Japanese Miyota movement and measurements are 34mm in diameter by 10mm in thickness. The whimsical Time...