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W Worn & Wound
Worn & Wound
Dec 22, 2024

A Week in Watches Ep. 96: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Speedmaster!

Well, it’s finally arrived, the end of 2024. Typically, around this time we put together an annual wrap, but the brands had other plans. You see, they kept releasing watches. So, for episode 96 of A Week in Watches, we’re still covering new releases, with a particular focus on that last-minute Speedmaster drop, and, boy, do we have some thoughts on that one. This episode was brought to by the Windup Watch Shop. When the winter break is behind you, and you’ve returned the awkward sweaters and novelty socks, head on over to the shop and get yourself something you really want. Perhaps some straps, a utility knife, or even a watch. And, if you happen to be near NYC, you can set up a time to come to the new showroom and pick something out in person by following this link. The post A Week in Watches Ep. 96: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Speedmaster! appeared first on Worn & Wound.

Hands-On With The New Excelsior Park Bi Compax Black Fratello
Dec 22, 2024

Hands-On With The New Excelsior Park Bi Compax Black

Excelsior Park re-entered the market with a boom in 2021. The brand released many models, created limited editions and one-offs, and then retreated until this year. This past summer, after a few years of hibernation, EP returned with a time-only model, the 884-SI. The watch received positive reviews for its appearance and competitive price. Now […] Visit Hands-On With The New Excelsior Park Bi Compax Black to read the full article.

Diving with the Ball Watch Engineer Master II Diver Chronometer Quill & Pad
Ball Watch Engineer Master II Diver Dec 22, 2024

Diving with the Ball Watch Engineer Master II Diver Chronometer

When Ball Watch asked Dietmar Fuchs to test dive one of the company’s newest watches, the Engineer Master II Diver Chronometer, he hesitated at first. Ball didn’t jingle a diving bell for him, but something else from its history jangled: a brand’s “history” section is always the first thing he checks before testing a watch and he discovered Ball Watch has the credentials. So he dove in and now shares his experience and thoughts on the watch here.

Hands-On With The New Yema Wristmaster Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition Fratello
Yema Dec 21, 2024

Hands-On With The New Yema Wristmaster Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition

Yema does not shy away from more creative uses of materials and colors. The French brand’s latest release proves this point brilliantly. You would be forgiven for thinking this was a forged carbon watch at first sight. You would be wrong, however. The new Yema Wristmaster Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition is made of hand-finished black […] Visit Hands-On With The New Yema Wristmaster Slim CMM.20 Limited Edition to read the full article.

My Year in Watches: Defining “Affordable Watch Collector” Worn & Wound
Seiko 6139-6002 Pogue I couldn’t Dec 20, 2024

My Year in Watches: Defining “Affordable Watch Collector”

My original idea when I was asked to contribute to this series was to focus on my favorite watch acquisitions of the year, explain why they’re noteworthy, and describe my thought process behind purchasing or trading for each. While I was writing about my Universal Geneve Ref. 842116 Tank and Seiko 6139-6002 Pogue, I couldn’t help but notice how far my collection has come over the last year or so. Since the purchase of my first wristwatch in 2012, it’s always been my goal to cultivate watch boxes filled with both timeless classics and rare oddities. Looking at my collection as this year concludes, I’m proud to say I’ve never changed this philosophy. It was with this realization that my plans for this article began to transform into a conversation about watch collecting identity. While 2024 has been quite the successful year for my collection and I, it’s also the year that I went from being an affordable watch collector to being …an affordable watch collector.  You see, the watch collecting hobby is filled with subjective terminology. Words and phrases like “rare,” “new old stock,” “like-new old stock,” “budget-friendly,” and of course “affordable” frequently see usage on online auction platforms, social media, forums, and advertisements. While these are often used as buzzwords for sellers wanting their post to be boosted in search algorithms or by collectors wanting to flaunt their new purchase, I’ve always been fascinated by how pliable...

Introducing – The Chronoswiss Delphis Firestarter, with a World-First Material Monochrome
Chronoswiss Dec 20, 2024

Introducing – The Chronoswiss Delphis Firestarter, with a World-First Material

Chronoswiss, founded by Gerd R. Lang in 1983, gained a reputation for its classical regulator-style displays and was one of the first brands to manufacture this distinctive dial arrangement in a wristwatch. In the hands of the Ebstein family since 2012, Chronoswiss has maintained the regulator and other traditional displays but injected new life into […]

Explained: The Rolex Parachrom Hairspring SJX Watches
Patek Philippe turning Dec 20, 2024

Explained: The Rolex Parachrom Hairspring

Over the last decade, metal alloy hairsprings seem to fallen out of favour across watchmaking, with even conservative, haute horlogerie brands like Breguet and Patek Philippe turning to silicon balance springs. Not to mention large-scale makers of sporty watches like Omega and Tudor, which already transitioned to silicon balance springs. Rolex, however, stands out. The Geneva marque continues to employ a hairspring fabricated of its proprietary blue alloy – the Parachrom hairspring. The Parachrom hairspring inside the cal. 4131 of the Cosmograph Daytona The advantages of alloy The use of blue Parachrom is rooted in the simple fact that the right metal alloy boasts performance that is at least on par with its silicon counterpart – while offering some distinct advantages missing in silicon. Alloy hairsprings are traditionally made of Nivarox (and its family of related alloys), a special alloy that neither oxidises nor change its dimensions with variations in temperature. Invented in 1933 and almost a century old, Nivarox is a mix of nickel and iron, making it a ferromagnetic alloy, thus susceptible to influence from magnetic fields.  The cal. 3255 of the Day-Date 40 is equipped with a Parachrom hairspring. Image – Rolex In order to make its hairsprings more resistant to magnetism and to bypass the Swatch-imposed monopoly on Nivarox hairsprings (Nivarox-FAR being one of the key companies of Swatch Group), Rolex set out to develop its own hairspring alloy in the early 2...

My Year in Watches: ‘Cause You Only Turn 40 Once Worn & Wound
Dec 19, 2024

My Year in Watches: ‘Cause You Only Turn 40 Once

At the end of last year, we made “resolutions,” and while I forgot we had done that until writing this post, I stayed pretty true to what I had said. I wanted to consolidate, focus, and potentially go big on a watch for my 40th birthday. I had to do the first to make the last part come true, and the second just kind of happened naturally. My tastes have changed quite a bit over the last two years, perhaps starting with the Bel Canto (shameless review plug). As such, I find myself drawn to a specific type of indie watch more and more, and frankly, I find most releases from large brands kind of boring. While that might be more of a “it’s not you, it’s me” kind of thing, I don’t see it changing anytime soon. But, back to my birthday, turning 40 was something I ignored until it was upon me. I’m not a big birthday celebration guy, but 40 felt different; it’s a bit of a terrifying number, thus it needed to be marked meaningfully. And, well, I can’t turn down a good opportunity to horologically spoil myself. However, to go big, I had to let several things go. While I’ll avoid the details, all said and done, I sold six watches and traded one, though in fairness, not all before making my purchase (you know how it is). I went down a rabbit hole of options, obsessing, as I tend to do, to such an extent that I even dreamed about scrolling Chrono24. Custom pieces, indies, vintage, big Swiss, maybe nothing; I pondered them all, even creating renders of potential be...

Holthinrichs Ends the Year with a Limited Edition Collaboration with The Horology Club Worn & Wound
Holthinrichs Ends Dec 19, 2024

Holthinrichs Ends the Year with a Limited Edition Collaboration with The Horology Club

One of my favorite stories to cover over the course of 2024 has been the evolution of Holthinrichs, a brand I’ve long been fascinated by for their unique Horlogerie Brut design language and apparently boundless ambition. The brand shifted course quite dramatically in 2024, moving away from a reliance on 3D printing for their case construction, and focusing on a more affordable CNC-machined product that they hope will allow them to scale and reach new clients without sacrificing the brand’s vision. At the same time, they’ve also developed an insanely complex haute horlogerie piece that is easily their most ambitious watch to date. We covered the new affordable Signature collection earlier this year, as well as Ornament Nouveau, and we even had brand founder Michiel Holthinrichs on the podcast to walk us through all of it. To say it’s been an eventful year at Holthinrichs would be an understatement, and yet they’ve found time in the last days of 2024 to unveil yet another new piece, a collaboration with The Horology Club, a Hong Kong based collector community.  The limited edition Signature Ornament “Concrete Jungle” can perhaps best be viewed as a creative spin on the current stone dial trend. The dial is made from lume infused concrete, which according to Holthinrichs makes this the first luminous concrete dial ever made. We believe them, simply because concrete dials are incredibly rare (though not completely unheard of). Concrete, of course, is not a natur...

Hands-On: the Beaucroft Element “Forest Green” Worn & Wound
Dec 19, 2024

Hands-On: the Beaucroft Element “Forest Green”

Since their founding in 2020, Beaucroft has worked to blend historic timekeeping techniques with a bit of modern style to create watches at an affordable price point and attract a new generation of watch enthusiasts. Located in Cambridge, England, this independent British brand has partnered with Horologium for final assembly, testing, and regulation, creating a collection of watches with notable British provenance. Beaucroft’s newest watch, the Element, aims to become your new “GADA” (Go Anywhere, Do Anything”) watch with a touch of modern flair while retaining classic sport watch features. With six different dial colors currently available, you can find an Element to be as bold, or as stealthy, as you want. Within the independent and micro-brand space, first impressions of a brand are a critical moment in the relationship with the consumer, setting a tone that will either be reinforced or broken over time. For many consumers out there, the unboxing of a watch is often this first impression, as many of our favorite brands ship directly to consumers. While unboxing the Beaucroft for the first time, I was greeted with a dark teal leather service pouch, embossed with Beaucroft’s logo on the front flap. While service pouches are quite common in the industry, I always like seeing one included with a watch as it allows your watch to have a transportable “home”, for those moments when it does leave your wrist.  More so, it gives an appearance that the brand knows ...

W Worn & Wound
Worn & Wound
Dec 19, 2024

Ultimate Gift Guide for the Zombie Apocalypse Featuring Terra Cielo Mare’s Orienteering Quota 8611

Yes. It’s the holiday gift guide to end all gift guides. When the grid goes down and there’s nowhere else to run, we’ve gathered the ultimate guide of goods for surviving the zombie apocalypse in style. Helmed by the Orienteering Quota 8611, created by our friends at Terra Cielo Mare-a younger sibling to the watch worn by Brad Pitt’s character in the Hollywood epic World War Z-these essentials are designed to help you hide, hunker, and hike your way out of harm’s way. Infected or not, these gifts are ideal for that fan of the genre, or that gear-minded guru in your life. Now follow us into the abyss through a series of journal entries discovered from the zombie apocalypse that could have been.   Journal Entry – Day 8 of the Zombie Apocalypse – 9:12 AM I glance at my wristwatch to check the time. It’s been three hours since we last heard the inhuman howls of the undead. Thankfully, the large, lumed numerals on the dial of this 44mm, burly timepiece are easy to read. They were absolutely everywhere, and the only thing standing between me and becoming their next meal was my Terra Cielo Mare Orienteering Quota 8611. Its rugged, Italian design was perfect for the chaos, but it was the internal bezel compass feature that truly saved me. As the horde closed in, I rotated the bezel to align with my escape route. Thanks to the precise markings and the luminous dial, I could navigate the streets with ease. The shock-resistant build held up as I scrambled over ru...

Introducing – The Holthinrichs x The Horology Club Signature Ornament ‘Concrete Jungle’ Monochrome
Holthinrichs x Dec 19, 2024

Introducing – The Holthinrichs x The Horology Club Signature Ornament ‘Concrete Jungle’

Six years ago, Robin wrote about Michiel Holthinrichs, an up-and-coming young Dutch architect-turned-watchmaker using 3D printing techniques to create his cases. The result, with its raw industrial finish, can be appreciated on Holthinrich’s second watch with its grainy concrete textures, although other cases were partially polished and hand-finished for a more refined look. Given the […]

Fratello Talks: Non-Swiss Watch Brands That We Love Fratello
Dec 19, 2024

Fratello Talks: Non-Swiss Watch Brands That We Love

Welcome back to Fratello Talks. Everyone knows Switzerland is home to some of the world’s greatest and most renowned watch brands. But plenty of brands outside the Alpine region - and even outside Europe - produce high-end mechanical timepieces that can stand shoulder to shoulder with their Swiss contemporaries. Some of these non-Swiss brands have […] Visit Fratello Talks: Non-Swiss Watch Brands That We Love to read the full article.

Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Review Teddy Baldassarre
Tudor Dec 18, 2024

Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Review

The FXD is a watch that gets under your skin. Since Tudor introduced this strange offshoot of the Pelagos collection at the end of 2021, it’s turned into something of a fan favorite, and while it’s not without its detractors, Tudor has steadily fleshed out the concept into a full fledged collection. The newest member of that collection, the FXD GMT, is arguably the most versatile of the bunch, delivering on an often-requested feature set without compromising the size of the case. On paper, the FXD GMT is the full package, but practical chops are only half the story when it comes to the ultimate charm of this watch. On personality, the latest FXD has some ground to cover, and after spending a week with the watch, it very nearly gets there. Released into the Pelagos collection (where it remains to this day), the FXD was originally a spec-built dive watch for the French Navy, aka the Marine Nationale. Today's models represent a return to a relationship that began in the 1950s, when Tudor provided dive watches for the French Navy's Underwater Study and Research Group. As such, the watch is more than a mere co-branding exercise. The design of the watch, which uses a fixed-lug construction (FXD) for which it is named, is based on the needs of a very niche group of individuals. These needs included a bi-directional countdown bezel, a quality-of-life feature for divers navigating via dead reckoning at relatively shallow depths. The result was a rather unusual watch, but one t...

Hands-On With The More Elegantly Proportioned Ressence Type 9 In Gray Fratello
Ressence Type 9 Dec 18, 2024

Hands-On With The More Elegantly Proportioned Ressence Type 9 In Gray

Have you ever heard of UTOs? Unidentified time-telling objects can appear on the wrist out of nowhere, as sightings around the world indicate. Today, one appeared on my left forearm, and I got to try it on for a day. As it turns out, it may be spaceship-esque in appearance, but it isn’t entirely unidentifiable […] Visit Hands-On With The More Elegantly Proportioned Ressence Type 9 In Gray to read the full article.

Introducing – The Oris ProPilot X Year of the Snake Limited Edition Monochrome
Zodiac animals Dec 18, 2024

Introducing – The Oris ProPilot X Year of the Snake Limited Edition

Swiss watchmakers are ushering in Chinese New Year with exclusive limited-edition models inspired by zodiac animals and Asian cultural traditions. To celebrate the year 2025, which is believed to bring personal growth, strategic planning and embrace transformation, Oris releases a special Year of the Snake timepiece, a modern, highly technical 44mm watch featuring a skeletonized […]

Introducing – The New Black Dials of the C by Romain Gauthier Titanium Edition Bracelet Monochrome
Dec 18, 2024

Introducing – The New Black Dials of the C by Romain Gauthier Titanium Edition Bracelet

In 2021, esteemed independent watchmaker Romain Gauthier unveiled his first luxury sports watch, the Continuum, aka the ‘C’, and a year later designed an integrated titanium bracelet for this watch. Since its debut, the C has appeared with cases in titanium and luxury editions in platinum, fitted with rubber straps or integrated metal bracelets, flaunting […]