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Results for DLC and PVD Coating

31,618 articles · 166 videos found · page 79 of 1060

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.

My Year in Watches: Outgrowing Your Author Bio Worn & Wound
Dec 17, 2024

My Year in Watches: Outgrowing Your Author Bio

In today’s “My Year in Watches” editorial, contributor Nathan Schultz reflects on how his perspective as a collector changed (for the better) in 2024. It’s been two years since I pitched my first article to Worn & Wound. The concept for Why Every Parent Needs A Tool Watch was simple: to share a light hearted take on how robust purpose built watches can be incorporated into everyday life. The article is ripe with evidence of the admiration I once felt for tool watches. Reading it again with fresh eyes, I was in awe of their ability to operate at depths that would quickly kill any person wearing them, and smitten with their noisy rotating bezels that served as both useful gadgets and fidget spinners that inspired me to look for every opportunity to incorporate their intriguing ruggedness into my life. To my surprise, my rambling pitch was accepted, and I was asked to submit a brief bio to accompany the article. I excitedly hammered out three short sentences that summed up my current mentality as an experienced writer and gear enthusiast that was taking a stab at shoehorning watches into those existing interests. Here is what I landed on: Nathan Schultz is a New Hampshire based writer, equally obsessed with watches and outdoor gear. He specializes in dad jokes, breaking NH35s while modifying watches, and testing the limits of recreational equipment. Micro brands hold a special place in his heart, and he aspires to stop buying and selling so many darn watches. At the t...

Mythbusting: 3 Persistent Patek Philippe and Rolex Myths Debunked Quill & Pad
Patek Philippe Dec 17, 2024

Mythbusting: 3 Persistent Patek Philippe and Rolex Myths Debunked

The rise of the internet, and the consequent evolution of the watch-watching community, has inevitably amplified the phenomenon whereby certain objects have come to exert an extraordinary hold over the collective imagination. Here, Colin Alexander Smith debunks three watch myths circulating widely and freely online and in print concerning former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's Rolex and Patek Philippe, the Khanjar Rolex Sea-Dwellers, and what in fact Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were wearing on their wrists as they summited Mount Everest.

Fratello On Air: Questionable Vintage Watches Fratello
Dec 17, 2024

Fratello On Air: Questionable Vintage Watches

Welcome back to another episode of Fratello On Air. In this episode, we stray from our original topic and discuss questionable vintage watches. Lately, too many questionable watches have received universal praise from “noted experts.” We get on the topic after approximately 15 minutes. This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. […] Visit Fratello On Air: Questionable Vintage Watches to read the full article.

De Rijke & Co.’s Miffy Moonphase Returns for the Final Time in Steel Worn & Wound
De Rijke & Co.’s Miffy Moonphase Dec 16, 2024

De Rijke & Co.’s Miffy Moonphase Returns for the Final Time in Steel

I’ve become a pretty big fan of De Rijke & Co. over the past few years, and am glad to see them experiencing so much success recently (I’m basing this on their booth at the New York City Windup Watch Fair being mobbed to the point that I couldn’t find room to introduce myself to brand founder Laurens de Rijke until the last day of the show). If I’m being honest, though, I’ve been a bit mystified by the whole Miffy thing. The Miffy Moonphase watches have become something of a viral sensation for De Rijke, but I’ve always assumed the limited editions were snatched up by an international audience with more Miffy familiarity than the typical American watch consumer. But earlier this year, traveling back from Geneva Watch Days, I had a connection in Amsterdam, and waiting at the gate I noticed an American family (the Boston accents gave it away) with two young children and several shopping bags full of Miffy memorabilia purchased, I assume, somewhere in Schiphol Airport. It dawned on me then that the Dutch cartoon was not some closely held regional secret – it was just I’m, as usual, painfully out of touch.  Today, De Rijke launches a pair of new Miffy Moonphases with green dials that follow the format of their previous releases closely. This, according to De Rijke, is the final Miffy Moonphase release in a steel case, and it consists of both a single and double moonphase, each in an edition of 50. The double moonphase watches have been particular favorites sin...

Trying On The 38.5mm Yema Navygraf Super Compressor In Marine Nationale Bleu Fratello
Yema Navygraf Super Compressor Dec 16, 2024

Trying On The 38.5mm Yema Navygraf Super Compressor In Marine Nationale Bleu

Yema and I go back, way back. Well, back to 2021, actually. One of the first articles I wrote for Fratello was on a Yema watch…and not just any Yema watch. The Navygraf Marine Nationale GMT Limited Edition I wrote about marked the start of Yema’s military career as an official partner of the French […] Visit Trying On The 38.5mm Yema Navygraf Super Compressor In Marine Nationale Bleu to read the full article.

Sunday Morning Showdown: Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Vs. Rolex Explorer II Ref. 226570 Fratello
Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Vs Dec 15, 2024

Sunday Morning Showdown: Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Vs. Rolex Explorer II Ref. 226570

It’s Sunday morning, so it’s time for your weekly dose of early-morning caffeine! Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee, grab a seat, and let’s get going. This week, Jorg and Mike return to the battlefield with another interesting duo of contenders. We read your comments, dear Fratelli! Today’s matchup is a much-requested battle that […] Visit Sunday Morning Showdown: Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT Vs. Rolex Explorer II Ref. 226570 to read the full article.

[VIDEO] Review: the echo/neutra Rivanera Worn & Wound
Tudor Black Bay Dec 13, 2024

[VIDEO] Review: the echo/neutra Rivanera

Over time, I’ve come to realize that my favorite emotion to experience in this hobby is surprise. That could be because I work in the watch industry and am therefore exposed to so many watches that are the opposite of surprising. Predictability, in any job, leads to a certain amount of drudgery. But those moments of surprise, seeing or reading about a watch that you didn’t expect or couldn’t have conceived of, more than make up for it.  By the same token, I understand that for some in our community, surprise or any rocking of the boat is less desirable. If you view watches from a strictly classicist perspective, you might roll your eyes at purely adventurous designs in the same way I do at watches that seem to just be repeating what has come before. Part of me, I have to admit, envies the watch enthusiasts who can see a vintage inspired, black dialed dive watch and be ready to throw the rest of it away. There’s an idea that I keep turning around in my head, that watches were never really intended to be “collected,” that one good one is all anyone really needs, so there’s something correct about seeing a watch like a Tudor Black Bay (a watch I own and love, and even won a Thunderdome with) and feeling like you’ve just a met a watch that will be with you forever.  At this point, that’s just not me, and I find myself seeking out watches that feel obscure, strange, or neglected somehow. I want to discover new, under the radar, and risky designs made by crea...

Hands-On With The New Venezianico Arsenale Ultrablack And Blue Fratello
Venezianico Arsenale Ultrablack Dec 13, 2024

Hands-On With The New Venezianico Arsenale Ultrablack And Blue

Roughly six months ago, I penned my first article on a Venezianico watch. It was impressive considering I hadn’t heard of the brand. Since then, I’ve covered several of the company’s watches from a distance. I finally met the team and saw the watches in person at the WatchPro Salon 2024. Among the pieces we […] Visit Hands-On With The New Venezianico Arsenale Ultrablack And Blue to read the full article.

Hands-On: The Cartier Santos De Cartier Dual Time Is Great In Numerous Ways Fratello
Cartier Santos De Cartier Dual Dec 13, 2024

Hands-On: The Cartier Santos De Cartier Dual Time Is Great In Numerous Ways

Among all watches, the Cartier Santos de Cartier is my muse. My Santos Galbée XL is my favorite watch in my collection, so I’m always curious to see what new variations will debut among the novelties at Watches and Wonders. This year was particularly exciting because Cartier announced the new Santos de Cartier Dual Time […] Visit Hands-On: The Cartier Santos De Cartier Dual Time Is Great In Numerous Ways to read the full article.

Insight: The Modern Performance Chronograph Movement SJX Watches
Vacheron Constantin has Dec 10, 2024

Insight: The Modern Performance Chronograph Movement

High-end chronograph movements of today tend to have in common a vertical clutch and column wheel. Such “performance” chronographs are typically also automatic, and practically every high-end watchmaker, from Audemars Piguet to Vacheron Constantin, has its own take on the modern “performance” chronograph. The chronograph movement as we know it today is actually a fairly recent invention. Despite being common in today’s chronograph constructions, the vertical coupling, or at least its concept, is decades-old. The Pierce cal. 130/134 launched in the 1930s is regarded as the first commercially available wristwatch with a vertical clutch. There are examples of even older stopwatches that relied on crude forms of the vertical clutch, but most were either prototypes or small-batch production. But the large-scale use of the vertical clutch only started in the late 1960s, when Seiko debuted the cal. 6139. Launched in 1969, the Seiko cal. 6139 was a vertical clutch movement produced on an industrial scale. Not only was it among the first-ever automatic chronographs, but the cal. 6139 also was objectively the most advanced amongst them. Compared to the modular construction of the Breitling-Heuer Chronomatic Caliber 11 and the fairly classical architecture of the Zenith El Primero, the Seiko cal. 6139 was endowed with a vertical clutch and a novel construction all around. It was, however, an industrial, no-frills movement at heart. The one that started it all – the cal. ...

Parmigiani’s Latest Minute Repeater is “Mysterious” with No Hands SJX Watches
Parmigiani Fleurier created Dec 10, 2024

Parmigiani’s Latest Minute Repeater is “Mysterious” with No Hands

To mark founder Michel Parmigiani’s 74th birthday, Parmigiani Fleurier created the L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse, a minute repeater without a tangible time indication on the face. Instead, the enamelled, guilloché dial on the front is purely decorative, with the repeater to tell the time on the wrist. But there is the time on the back of the watch thanks to a pair of discreet, peripheral hands. Initial thoughts Among the many complications, the minute repeater is one of my favourites. The beauty of a minute repeater lies in its acoustic time indication, which makes hands redundant in some ways. The L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse takes this concept to its logical conclusion in a gorgeously executed manner. The elaborate dial and case, however, result in the watch being very large, big enough that it loses some of the refinement and details present in a smaller case. Several notable artisans contributed to the watch, including Vanessa Lecci for the enamelling. The movement was supplied by Renaud & Papi, which is a fine, high-end movement but it’s a bit of a shame that Parmigiani didn’t utilise one of its in-house repeater calibres. A fascinating complication Like many historical Parmigiani models, the styling of the L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is inspired by Ancient Greece. The fluted case middle is modelled on Doric columns, while the engine turning on the dial and the back are inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. It’s a large watch, w...

The Stunning  L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse from Parmigiani Fleurier Worn & Wound
Parmigiani Fleurier If you don’t get Dec 9, 2024

The Stunning L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse from Parmigiani Fleurier

If you don’t get what you’re looking at, don’t worry. You’re not alone - in fact, that’s sort of the point. A quick glance at the new L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is more likely to incite questions than offer answers, but the latest masterpiece from Parmigiani Fleurier, timed to release last week in time for founder Michel Parmigiani’s birthday, presents us with a watch unlike anything we’ve seen from the brand in recent years. The general architecture of the watch will be familiar to those conversant in Parmigiani’s chosen language - the straight squared-off lugs and pastel pallet are reminiscent of the Toric watches released earlier this year - but it won’t take long to realize that there’s something fairly significant missing from the celebratory watch: a dial. The Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is also the latest entry in a series of Minute Repeater wristwatches to deliberately de-emphasize the visible display of time we’re all so used to.  Recent examples of this trick have come from H. Moser & Cie., whose Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black opted for a clean Vantablack dial with nothing but a visible tourbillon; and Biver, whose 2023 OnlyWatch entry replaced its visible dial with a beautiful scene rendered in stone marquetry. But just because we’ve seen versions of this before, doesn’t mean the impact is any lessened here. In fact, this implementation is among the best I’ve encountered, and more than holds its own, while a...

Ressence Introduces the Smaller, Simpler Type 9 SJX Watches
Ressence Introduces Dec 9, 2024

Ressence Introduces the Smaller, Simpler Type 9

Continuing the development of scaled-down versions of its signature wristwatch, Ressence unveils the Type 9. Characterised by a 39 mm titanium case – the smallest model in the brand’s current catalogue – the Type 9 is similar to the Type 8 in being a time-only displaying just hours and minutes, with no seconds. In a first for the brand, the minute scale has been repositioned from the dial to the fixed bezel that now sports a five-minute scale. Initial thoughts The Type 9 is a logical evolution of the brand’s entry-level model that retains the trademark “planetary” time display but in a smaller, simpler format. With a diameter of only 39 mm and short lugs, the Type 9 is more wearable. Though the Type 9 is the most affordable watch in the line-up, the new model does not compromise on aesthetics, maintaining the distinctive look and feel. Priced at CHF12,500, the Type 9 is CHF1,000 less expensive than the next-most-affordable model, the Type 8. For me, it is an ideal Ressence wristwatch that combines a perfect proportions with affordability. Arguably the only downside of the Type 9 is that it adds to the ever-growing catalogue of fairly similar models. The overlap between the Types 8 and 9 are obvious and possibly confusing. Perfect size In traditional Ressence style, the case of the Type 9 has no crown. Instead time-setting and manual winding of the movement is done by rotating the case back. Due to its construction, the case is only water resistant to 10 m, “s...