4,409 articles · 677 videos found · page 67 of 170
Monochrome
Across its three-handers, GMTs, and even moonphase watches, the indie British brand has built a catalogue full of lively dials while keeping its Swiss-made watches at an accessible price point. That said, it is perhaps safe to say Farer has hardly been shy about colour. Most models stick to the round case, though the brand […]
Monochrome
Few timepieces showcase the technical sophistication of traditional watchmaking as clearly as minute repeaters. The new Girard-Perregaux Minute Repeater Flying Bridges introduces this complication with its demanding mechanism, combined with a tourbillon and an automatic micro-rotor winding system. The watch is built around the brand’s recognisable Three Bridges architecture, presented in a modern openworked interpretation […]
Hodinkee
The Japanese baseball superstar is a rare global ambassador for Grand Seiko as the brand continues its international push.
Worn & Wound
Otsuka Lotec has emerged as one of the most exciting Japanese independent brands, a corner of the enthusiast world that is greatly expanding at the moment. Otsuka Lotec has found a niche with (mostly) affordable watches with a steampunk aesthetic, with lots of exposed gearing and an overtly mechanical look and feel. I’m an owner of the No. 5 Kai, and it’s one of the most satisfying watches in my collection – there’s really nothing else quite like it, at least under $10,000. Prior to this week, the latest release from the brand was an ultra high end complicated piece with a tourbillon and chiming mechanism with a retail price soaring into the low six figures, but they’ve returned to earth with the all new No. 8, which once again combines complications unexpectedly and gives the wearer a unique view of the mechanism inside. Like the haute horlogerie adjacent No. 9 linked above, the No. 8 features a square case fashioned from stainless steel. Time is read via a jumping hour display on the left side of the dial, and a retrograde minute display on the right (there is also a running seconds indicator at roughly the 12:00 position). Figuring out how to read the time when you first encounter a watch like this is part of the fun, but once you grasp what’s going on, it’s quite intuitive. The current hour and minute are easy to see at a glance if you look for the red indicators that correspond to each. A video posted on Otsuka Lotec’s YouTube channel makes the drama...
Teddy Baldassarre
When we look back to mid-century watchmaking, some of the industry’s most iconic designs were originally conceived as essential, life-saving instruments. The Rolex Submariner, for example, was originally created for professional divers working in cold, deep waters while breathing compressed air. The Omega Speedmaster was a vital analog calculator for astronauts traveling through the vacuum of space. The Rolex Explorer is another example, forged to survive the brutal, oxygen-deprived ascent of the Himalayas. These tool watches were designed with a clear purpose and were built to endure knocks, scrapes, and harsh conditions without missing a beat. Fast forward to today, and while modern iterations are undeniably better engineered than their vintage ancestors, boasting superior metallurgy and tighter tolerances, their exorbitant price tags have put some collectors off regular, daily use. A modern steel sports watch can easily demand anywhere from $6,000 to well over $15,000 at retail, and that’s assuming you have the willpower to ensure the waitlists to acquire one. And while some collectors are happy to invest that kind of money, others are on the lookout for something more accessible. Enter Traska watches. This psychological friction has spawned a new enthusiast community for the ultimate Everyday Carry (EDC) watch, or the “go-anywhere, do-anything” (GADA) watch. Many collectors today are looking for a watch that slides effortlessly under a tailored cuff during a hi...
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Monochrome
“Kollokium is not a brand. As pretentious and cliché as that sounds, it’s true.” So, how could we define Kollokium? It’s a collaborative project between three friends, all fairly established names within the watch industry: Manuel Emch, Barth Nussbaumer, and Amr Sindi (The Horophile). Rethinking the way to approach watchmaking, and especially branding, Kollokium frees itself […]
Hodinkee
Over-the-top watchmaking meets a design full of character for a showcase of the brand at its best.
Fratello
Hublot regularly makes headlines. Most of the time, however, these headlines revolve around marketing and branding. A new superstar ambassador or a crazy limited edition is more likely to generate exposure than pure watchmaking prowess. Now, in part, this is down to Hublot’s doing. The house focuses on being radical, and it doesn’t mind stepping […] Visit Talking In-House Movement Manufacturing With Hublot’s Chief Product Officer, Sadry Keiser to read the full article.
Monochrome
Otsuka Lotec… The Japanese brand (or should we call it an atelier) that makes some noise in the global watch collecting community, despite being unavailable outside of Japan – which might partially explain its popularity. A true JDM sensation, Otsuka Lotec is the brainchild of Jiro Katayama, a car designer turned self-taught, independent watchmaker, specialised […]
Monochrome
When it comes to finding a solid, accessible yet appealing watch meant to be a reliable companion for most of the moments in your life, from the office to the weekend fun, the choice is wide, to say the least. With its Commander collection, Swiss brand Mido has a strong alternative, with a modern, sleek […]
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Time+Tide
We chat with the Aussie tennis star about his bona fide passion for watchmaking, as well as whether he's ever broken a watch playing tennis.The post Australia’s very own tennis Maestro, Alex de Minaur, on falling in love with watches and designing his ideal daily appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Monochrome
Founded in New York in 1921 by Romanian-born brothers Benjamin, Oscar, and Ralph Lazrus, Benrus relied on Swiss production, centred in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and during the 1930s and 1940s, it became known for its pilots and military watches. Early models such as the Flyer and Airman were popular among the airline pilots, helping establish the […]
Monochrome
Suppose you know the Dutch indie watchmaking scene, then De Rijke & Co. is the name you must be familiar with. Founded by Laurens De Rijke, the brand began almost by accident during a vintage Vespa trip, when the idea for a watch specifically designed for driving emerged. De Rijke’s concept of a driver’s watch […]
Hodinkee
An introduction to 1970s Cartier, when the Paris house moved its watchmaking to Switzerland, starting with an in-depth look at the Tank Louis.
Fratello
Morgan Stanley Investment Management published its Ninth Annual Swiss Watcher on February 19th. The report dives deep into the commercial performance of the Swiss watch market on a brand-by-brand level. I assume very few watch enthusiasts read the whole thing, but one table is rather famous: the top 50 Swiss watch brands ranked by turnover. […] Visit Subprime Reporting? Thoughts On The Recent Morgan Stanley/Swatch Group Controversy to read the full article.
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SJX Watches
Last month Vontobel published its annual report on the Swiss watch industry, revealing a startling shakeup for the pecking order, with a rapidly growing share of the market going to industry giants, anaemic growth, and a few signs of hope. Another of the key points made in the report published by Vontobel, a family-controlled Swiss private bank, is influence of external factors beyond the industry’s control, like the strong Swiss franc and continuously climbing gold prices, but which have nonetheless played a major role in its recent development. Long the go-to publication for industry insiders, the Vontobel watch report has been published annually for well over a decade - and since 2021, the report has been authored by Jean-Philippe Bertschy, the bank’s head of Swiss equity research (pictured above). The strong franc Before getting into the numbers, it’s worth looking at the broader macroeconomic environment affecting the industry. The strong franc and weak dollar are headwinds for the export-oriented Swiss watch industry, and, like erratic US trade policy and soaring gold prices, entirely outside its control. In nominal terms, total Swiss watch exports declined for the second year in a row, down 1.7% to CHF25.5 billion, following a 2.8% decline the year before. However, the Swiss franc’s appreciation casts a more sympathetic light on these numbers. For example, if you sold a watch for US$100 this time last year, that revenue would have converted to about CHF90....
Worn & Wound
It’s a fair assumption that if you’re the kind of enthusiast that’s interested in independent watchmaking, the allure of something a little different isn’t lost on you. The independent watch space is a wildly diverse one that’s full of outsider artisans, but even in a field of outsiders, English watchmaker James Lamb is something of an anomaly. Lamb’s watches genuinely don’t look like anything else on the market. While they’re all time-only affairs, they feature an offset sub-dial layout that frees up the outer portion of the dial to be used as a decorative space. With his Origin Series, Lamb applies strikingly colorful enamel work to the outer dial section. With his latest release, the Linea Edition, Lamb has collaborated with one of the UK’s most respected ornamental engravers, Joanne Ryall, to create a line of watches with beautifully hand-engraved titanium and gold outer dials. While the dials are showstopping displays of handcraft, Lamb’s watches also feature completely handmade cases (read: no CNC machines used), which he crafts out of Argentium silver. Lamb’s case designs are robust and understated; they do a fabulous job of grounding the watch’s bold dial designs, but the craftsmanship that goes into them is something serious horology enthusiasts fawn over. For Lamb, a self-proclaimed watch industry isolationist, doing things like crafting his cases entirely by hand is kind of the whole point of making watches. Lamb deliberately avoids...
Monochrome
When you think about Kurono Tokyo, the side-brand of Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka, you should picture something compact and elegant in your mind. Watches often focus on traditional crafts, with restrained cases and classically Japanese. The sportiest models the brand has ever created were mid-century-styled chronographs. Well, this is about to change as Hajime […]
Teddy Baldassarre
When surveying the horological landscape, most roads lead back to Switzerland, Germany, or Japan. But there is a burgeoning watchmaking scene emerging in India of all places and it certainly deserves our attention. Here we are going to adjust our loupe to the vibrant, burgeoning powerhouse that is Indian horology, specifically the microbrand Bangalore Watch Company. When you survey the broader horological landscape today, microbrands have become the absolute frontier of enthusiast watchmaking. These small independents are giving collectors access to serious mechanical specifications and originality without the traditional luxury markups. India is finally translating its massive cultural and technological footprint into this segment of watch collecting, and Bangalore Watch Company appears to be at the forefront of this transition. In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into what makes these watches so unique and what you need to know before you add one to your collection. [toc-section heading="Filling the Void After HMT"] To truly understand what you’re getting with Bangalore Watch Company, you have to understand the massive void it stepped into. For decades, the Indian watch market had been dominated by state-run enterprise Hindustan Machine Tools, better known as HMT (the undisputed king of South Asian watchmaking during the 1960s and 80s). Estimates suggest that HMT’s lifetime production exceeded a staggering one hundred million timepieces, generating an appetite ...
Monochrome
Let’s be a bit of nerds for a minute… You probably have heard the concept of JDM (in cars and watches), the contraction for Japanese Domestic Market, objects created exclusively for Japan and, in principle, not accessible outside of the Island. Which makes them cool. Next, the so-called California dial, a design that dates back […]
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Monochrome
It seems that promoting traditional watchmaking, its crafts and techniques, to protect watchmaking know-how and the women and men behind it, as well as supporting the emergence of new talents, has become quite a recurring theme these days. Don’t get us wrong, we most certainly encourage initiatives such as the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for […]
Fratello
The name Leica often comes up in the Fratello office. Usually, it’s in reference to its famous cameras, but ever since the German brand introduced its first mechanical watches, we’ve also begun associating it with horology. This shows how closely connected mechanical watchmaking and photography are. In both, high-precision instruments are vital, and Leica certainly […] Visit Hands-On With The Remarkable Leica ZM 1 And ZM 2 to read the full article.
Fratello
Time flies when everything resonates nicely, doesn’t it? It sure does for Armin Strom. No fewer than 10 years have passed since the independent Swiss house launched its breakthrough resonance mechanism. Although not actively marketed as an anniversary model, I reckon it is safe to say this rather exuberant version, the Armin Strom Mirrored Force […] Visit Introducing: The Armin Strom Mirrored Force Resonance Ruby to read the full article.
Monochrome
In 2016, Armin Strom rocked the watchmaking scene with the release of its Mirrored Force Resonance, an incredible technical breakthrough that miniaturised the centuries-old concept of synchronised motion into the confines of a wristwatch. Using two independent oscillators coupled by a patented resonance clutch spring, Armin Strom breathed life into Christiaan Huygens’ observation that two […]
Quill & Pad
In my experience, few things in high-end watchmaking catch the eye like the tourbillon. Its hypnotic motion is mesmerising, turning timekeeping into a visual performance. The post The Dancing Cage: 10 Best Tourbillon Watches appeared first on Quill & Pad.
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