Two Broke Watch Snobs
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If we’re considering new brands coming onto the scene, this watch is pretty atypical compared to the wave of 1000m divers you’ll find on Kickstarter.
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Two Broke Watch Snobs
If we’re considering new brands coming onto the scene, this watch is pretty atypical compared to the wave of 1000m divers you’ll find on Kickstarter.
Quill & Pad
Martin Green relishes discovering an exquisite watch in peace and quiet with plenty of time; it's a luxury he appreciates. All the more so in a quiet comfortable salon on the first floor of the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique at Place Vendôme, Paris, with a Duomètre Sphérotourbillon Blue.
SJX Watches
French watchmaker Cyril Brivet-Naudot made his debut two years ago with the Eccentricity, a time-only watch that’s fascinating and impressive on many fronts. Not only is it almost entirely made by hand, the Eccentricity is intriguing in design and mechanics – from the overall architecture to details like the key-winding mechanism and regulator-style time display with a twist, and above all, the proprietary escapement. Just 29 years old, Mr Brivet-Naudot began working on the Eccentricity after graduating from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of Switzerland’s best technical universities. Prior to that, he earned a diploma in watchmaking from the Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau, a small town in eastern France that borders Switzerland. The school has gained a reputation for producing imaginative watchmakers, many pursuing a similar style that’s inspired by 19th century pocket watch movements, including Theo Auffret, a peer of Mr Brivet-Naudot. The result of three years of development, the Eccentricity is very much in the same vein as the watches produced by Mr Brivet-Naudot’s fellow graduates. It artfully combines a 19th century aesthetic sensibility with exotic features, including a novel, free-eccentric escapement, for which the watch was named. And it is built by hand: with the exception of the mainspring, hairspring, jewels and crystals, every component of the watch was made from scratch by Mr Brivet-Naudot, without the aid of CNC machine...
Time+Tide
The unending pursuit by watch companies of the most commercially successful blue dial watch with integrated steel bracelet has left a lot of empty space for other expressions of a blue dial wristwatch. With their latest expression of the Big Date, Mido have grasped this empty space with both hands, producing a watch that has … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The perfect date night, Mido Baroncelli Big Date Limited Edition appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Media and watch collaborations: in theory, they should be a match made in heaven … and, let’s be honest, they almost always are. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, considering the people behind these industry hybrids are writing, reviewing and critiquing myriad watches every single day. We should know what’s best. And it turns … ContinuedThe post Do media make good watches? We say yes (of course we do), these are our four favourites appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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Hodinkee
The Monochrome founder's thoughts on researching, finding, and buying a watch.
Hodinkee
This week features an exciting round-up of watches and watch-related ephemera from around the web.
SJX Watches
Rumours were percolating for some time that Audemars Piguet was going to unveil a vintage-inspired watch to mark the opening of its recently-finished, hairspring-shaped museum. But when the Audemars Piguet [Re]master01 Selfwinding Chronograph 40 mm was revealed, it was still surprising. In the metal, the “remastered” watch is appealing; it looks good and the execution is impressively high quality in all aspects. The dial in particularly is sharply done, with even the tiniest details done right. And the movement inside is modern – and looks modern – but is impeccably constructed. But at the same time, the watch is a bit thick, and also expensive. The [Re]master01 in steel and 18k pink gold The ref. 1533 As with many reissued or “remastered” timepieces, the inspiration for the [Re]master01 is a well-known and well-documented watch: the ref. 1533, a chronograph wristwatch produced in the 1940s. It was 36.5 mm in diameter, extra-large for the period, and a three-counter chronograph, instead of the two registers typical then. Only nine of them were made, three with two-tone, steel-and-gold cases. The archive photograph of the ref. 1533. Photo – Audemars Piguet Two examples of the steel-and-gold ref. 1533 were sold in recent years at Phillips auctioneers, both setting price records for the most expensive vintage AP chronograph sold at auction. The first sold for 305,000 Swiss francs in 2015 – going to the Audemars Piguet Museum – and the second, 384,500 franc...
Quill & Pad
Swedish boutique brand GoS may be inspired by Viking aesthetics and Scandinavian northern lights, but the appeal of its timepieces to the watch collecting community is global. And now the first of only five GoS Skadi models, named for the Norse goddess of winter, is on its way to its happy owner in the USA. What makes this watch so special? Anders Modig reports.
SJX Watches
Last month IWC premiered a limited edition that has all the qualities of a hit: a bestselling classic in an exotic material, made in a very small run – and also incorporating nerdy, collector-oriented details. Instead, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition Black Carbon was debuted quietly, delivered to clients, and pretty much went unnoticed around the world. The first ever Big Pilot with a carbon fibre composite case, the Big Pilot Black Carbon has a black dial with grey hands and markings, replicating the colour of the composite case. It’s livened up by red accents on the power reserve indicator and seconds hand (and also the date disc, for a small number of special watches, more on that below). The famous “fish” More unusually, the Big Pilot Black Carbon has a “fish” crown – the oversized, onion-shaped winding crown has a stylised fish logo on its top. Despite being a seemingly trivial detail, the “fish” crown is dear to IWC enthusiasts, being a memorable element from IWC’s 20th century history – one many collectors regard as a golden age. From the 1950s until the mid-2000s, most water-resistant IWC watches featured a “fish” crown. The very first generation of the Big Pilot, the ref. 5002 introduced in 2002, featured a “fish” crown. Not long after, the “fish” crown was dispensed with in favour of a crown featuring the IWC “Probus Scafusia” emblem. This happened sometime in 2006, first with a “transitional” ref. 5002 that was equi...
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SJX Watches
Following the faithful and well-received Navitimer 806 and AVI Ref. 765 1953 re-editions – both very much instruments for pilots back in the day – Breitling has now recreated a distinctly different watch from the archives – the Top Time “Zorro”. And while the new Top Time takes its cues from the past, it will be sold entirely online via Breitling’s website, at least initially. Produced from the 1960s to the 1970s, the Top Time was Breitling’s simpler and more affordable line of chronographs designed to appeal to younger buyers – which is also the rationale behind the new remake. Unlike the Chronomat or Navitimer, which were mostly no-nonsense tools equipped with slide-rule bezels for pilots to do in-flight navigation, the Top Time did away with the slide-rule bezel and relied on a more generic style emblematic of the era. The Top Time limited edition Despite being an entry-level mode, the original Top Time had a starring appearance on the big screen: a Top Time ref. 2002, with a “reverse panda” dial and a fictional Geiger counter, was worn by Sean Connery in Thunderball. The very watch worn in the movie sold for £103,875 at Christie’s in 2013, not long after surfacing at a car boot sale where it was purchased for £25. While the “panda” or “reverse panda” variants are arguably the iconic versions of the Top Time, the new remake is modelled on the more unusual Top Time ref. 2003 equipped with a gold-plated case and “Zorro” dial (or the r...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Hamilton PSR is a faithful reimagining of the original Hamilton Pulsar P2 2900 LED watch. The original release of the P1 in 1970 was quite a big event. While LED technology had been developed and used by scientists for decades prior, it was an expensive technology to produce, particularly for a consumer product.
Time+Tide
Unimatic watches such as the Modello Uno Ref. U1-ML6 have been making waves in the watch world. But who is Unimatic? Let's find out.The post Everything you need to know about Unimatic appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Hodinkee
The ever funky brand continues its revival with a mechanical offering.
SJX Watches
Seiko produces a wide – really wide – variety of dive watches. Many are based on historical watches, with several of the high-end models in particular being inspired by the brand’s first 300 m dive watch of 1968. As a result, a good number of Seiko dive watches look pretty similar. When Seiko unveiled the Prospex LX line at Baselworld last year – the range is made up of six sports watches catered for air, land, and sea – the diver’s watch seemed, well, pretty similar to other Seiko dive watches. But the LX was not a typical range of sports watches, because it was designed in collaboration with Ken Okuyama, one of Japan’s most famous car designers – specifically, Mr Okuyama is best known for his work for Ferrari. The Prospex LX Spring Drive Diver SNR029 is a typical Seiko dive watch – it’s functional and solidly engineered, with a notably high quality of construction. But Mr Okuyama’s design adds a surprising degree of refinement to the design, which reimagines the retro style of the classical Seiko Hi-Beat diver of 1968 by sharpening the design and refining the details. Initial thoughts Seiko dive watches are highly regarded for their strong price-performance ratio at every level of the price spectrum. The Prospex LX Spring Drive Diver SNR029 is a mid-range model, more affordable than a Grand Seiko but more upscale than the base-model Prospex diver. In terms of functionality, fit and finish, the SNR029 scores highly. Legibility is excellent, Spring Dr...
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SJX Watches
MB&F; has always been about pushing the boundaries of aesthetic and conceptual creativity in watchmaking, lassoing in everything from pop culture to science fiction to build its Horological Machines. Reminiscent of the HM3 Frog and HM9 Flow, the HM10 Bulldog is the tenth watch in the series and another intergalactic timekeeper reassembling a robotic animal. While MB&F; has historically been all about less-than-friendly animals, like a cyclops-chicken, luminous jellyfish, or giant spider, the HM10 is modelled on a domestic favourite (and perhaps also takes inspiration from the LM1). The design language of the HM10 is a familiar one as it borrows liberally from MB&F;’s past machines. Bulging eyes in the form of rotating displays take their cues from the HM3, while the suspended balance wheel under a high domed crystal is also found in the Legacy Machine series, and finally the mobile jaw that’s also a power reserve display brings to mind the vertical indicator on the LM1. An elaborate body It’s a complex-looking watch, so an explanation is in order. Available in either titanium, or red gold with titanium accents, the HM10 has a flat, elongated body with a protruding pair of collets for the crowns, as well as two domed sapphire crystals on the front and back to accommodate the time display and power reserve indicator respectively. At 54 mm by 45 mm, the HM10 does have a large presence – which is usually the point of a Horological Machine – but the overall shape, pa...
Time+Tide
Seiko is a brand that is well accustomed to competing with itself. Both to raise the bar for the brand’s watches, and for the betterment of the global watch industry. From the revolution of bringing quartz-powered movements to the masses, to embarrassing the Swiss at their own Chronometer Trials, the intrepid Japanese pioneers can seem … ContinuedThe post Grand Seiko ups the ante – on itself – with the SLGH002, where classic meets cutting edge appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Though Cartier has a huge range of watch case styles, many are iterations from a handful of original designs that were usually created in the early 20th century. Only a handful stick closely to the design of the vintage originals, most notably the Tank Cintree and Crash, and now the new Santos-Dumont XL, newly launched at Watches & Wonders 2020. Originally (re)launched in last year in two sizes – both with quartz movements only – the Santos-Dumont is now available with a hand-wind, mechanical movement in a larger, but not too large, case. The elegant design that channels the spirit of the vintage original remains, with only the dimensions and movement changed. And the new hand-wind Santos Dumont XL is also well priced enough that it would be a value proposition in more ordinary times. Not only is the new model available in steel, which was absent before, the 18k gold version is almost 30% cheaper than the equivalent from the earlier generation. The Santos-Dumont XL in steel And in two-tone steel and 18k pink gold, which is a very 1980s look Since 1904… The watch gets its name from Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian inventor and aviator who spent his adult life in Paris. A minor celebrity in France for exploits in planes and airships, Santos-Dumont was a larger than life character: in the family history recently published by Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire, Santos-Dumont is described as travelling betw...
Time+Tide
What a difference two years makes. In 2018, I introduced this until now unpublished video by saying that - shock, horror - we were reviewing a collection of watches with quartz movements: the new Longines V.H.P. Collection. I’d go as far as to say it makes me grimace a little to watch in 2020. Because … ContinuedThe post The Longines Conquest V.H.P. Collection now comes on a leather strap, here’s a collection review from the Sydney QVB Longines Boutique appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
In its simplest form, the equation of time is defined as the difference between the time displayed by the position of the sun (as by a sundial) and the time displayed by any modern clock or watch. But that's just the beginning; watchmaker Ashton Tracy explains more.
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Two Broke Watch Snobs
Few watch releases have had as much impact as the CasiOak. But is the popularity justified? Check out our hands-on feature right here!
Deployant
IWC Schaffhausen has unveiled the Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Edition “Laureus Sport for Good”. With this special edition, the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer continues its support of the social sports projects run by its partner, Laureus Sport for Good.
Time+Tide
If you haven’t yet read Part I, find the full article right here. This year, to mark its 60th anniversary, Grand Seiko has introduced two new movements, representing each of the brand’s two pillars: Calibre 9RA5 is a Spring Drive movement while Calibre 9SA5 is a traditional mechanical movement. These are entirely new movements, with every … ContinuedThe post IN-DEPTH: Grand Seiko Movements – Part II, the Spring Drives appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
The Naked Watchmaker (TNW), aka Peter Speake-Marin, does a series of deconstructions of a broad selection of modern Breguet watches and movements, starting with the Classique 5177, a relatively simple (for Breguet) three-hand dress watch with date. Here Ian shares a few details that The Naked Watchmaker didn't reveal.
Time+Tide
Kayaking isn’t the sport that immediately comes to mind when you think of DOXA, given that your DOXA is most comfortable hundreds of metres under the water, not necessarily on a narrow boat above the water. But that is exactly where fellow watch writer Sophie Furley from Watchonista took two different DOXA models on quite … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: Taking the DOXA SUB 200 over the water, but not into it appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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