437 articles · 63 videos found · page 8 of 17
Revolution
“Coast Guard, this is motor-vessel Bonsai, we have a missing diver in the water. Repeat, missing diver.” I scanned the choppy water as we motored in increasing arcs, realising the near-impossibility of spotting a person in the 7ft (2m) swells. I’d rehearsed this scenario in my head a hundred times, but nothing could prepare me […]
WatchAdvice
The Longines HydroConquest GMT is one of Longines’ most modern references, but has it stood up to two years’ worth of my father’s ownership standards? Let’s ask him! Purchasing Expectations: A utilitarian watch, fit for my dad’s lifestyle Clever micro-adjustment system A Flyer-style GMT, helpful for international travel Ownership Reality: Some design elements we disagree with Durability of the rubber strap Can you see the date? Overall Rating: 8.5/10 Value for Money: 9/10 Wearability: 9/10 Design: 8/10 Build Quality: 8/10 When it comes to dive watches, very few can genuinely be called underrated. It’s a thoroughly complete subgenre of horology, filled with some of the most iconic collections in watchmaking history. Submariner, Fifty Fathoms, Seamaster, Aquaracer, Black Bay… these are just a few names that define the dive watch enthusiast’s vocabulary. But more often than not, the price-to-performance ratio is heavily skewed. These collections carry not only cultural weight but a sense of luxury as well, and their prices rarely reflect their intended purpose. Tangentially, I told a friend earlier this year that I believed Submariners are the most mistreated watches in history: built to withstand extreme pressures, yet typically left to gather dust in a safe. Diving Into The New Longines Hydroconquest GMT 43mm One dive watch that avoids this fate is the Longines HydroConquest. Luxurious yet fairly priced, high-performance without pretension, it has consis...
Fratello
When you think of Blancpain, you probably see a mental image of the Fifty Fathoms, Bathyscaphe, or perhaps even a Villeret model. At least, those were the watches I had in mind when the folks at Blancpain invited us over to Le Brassus and see their latest creation a few weeks ago. This video is […] Visit Hands-On With The New Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie to read the full article.
SJX Watches
Blancpain has just unveiled its most complex modern-day watch, the Grande Double Sonnerie, to mark its 190th anniversary. This CHF1.7 million grand complication signals Blancpain’s return to the highest tier of haute horlogerie. One of the most technically ambitious chiming wristwatches ever made, the Grande Double Sonnerie incorporates traditional complications: grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, flying tourbillon, and retrograde perpetual calendar, but also offers an unexpected twist with two distinct chiming melodies, a Westminster chime plus a a bespoke sequence composed for Blancpain by Eric Singer of rock band Kiss. Initial thoughts It has been some time since Blancpain unveiled a truly headline-grabbing complication. The manufacture made its name in this arena with the 1735 of 1991, but in the decades since, its output has leaned toward more conventional high-end offerings - perpetual calendars, tourbillons, carrousels, and chiming watches - while its commercial momentum has come largely from the Fifty Fathoms and Villeret triple calendar. The unexpected Grande Double Sonnerie is therefore a reminder of what Blancpain can do at the very top level of watchmaking. The Le Brassus-based manufacture tends to be overlooked when speaking of high horology today, but the Grande Double Sonnerie should remind enthusiasts how sure-footed Blancpain is in this regard. Even before considering the many complexities of the timepiece, the watch impresses from the fir...
Worn & Wound
You have to give credit where it’s due: Omega teased a big update to their Seamaster Planet Ocean, and they delivered. The collector community will surely debate every aspect of the new fourth generation Planet Ocean, but this is not an iterative change or a minor tweak. It’s a fairly radical rethinking of the style and aesthetic of Omega’s premier professional diving watch, and when you put an early version of the Planet Ocean next to the new gen, it’s honestly hard to see the connection between them. Not impossible, but by “iconic dive watch” standards, which keeps stalwarts like the Submariner and Fifty Fathoms looking much like the watches that they started life as, this is a different kettle of fish entirely. We’ll start with the case, because that’s really where the heart of the Planet Ocean’s rethinking really comes into play most clearly. The knock on the Planet Ocean, since its inception, has always been that it’s overly thick. Of course, being that this is a pro diver with double the water resistance of most other consumer oriented divers, a little heft is to be expected. Still, the general proportions of previous Planet Ocean cases were always a cause of consternation among a subset of die hards. The new watch measures 42mm in diameter and is 13.79mm thick, a significant reduction over the previous Planet Ocean’s 16.1mm case height. The new case also benefits from a flat sapphire crystal and a new titanium caseback, both of which ought ...
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Teddy Baldassarre
The story of Tornek-Rayville is one that represents a significant chapter in both watchmaking and military history, from the earliest purpose-built watches for divers in the 1950s up to the re-emergence of the cult-classic brand (in a notably new form) in the 21st Century. And it begins with the development of the world’s first modern dive watch: the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. [toc-section heading="Blancpain Fifty Fathoms History"] Founded in 1735 in Villeret, Switzerland, Blancpain is the oldest luxury watchmaker in the world, but its most famous timepiece in this modern era began its life as a tool watch for military divers in the (relatively) recent year of 1953. Jean-Jacques Fiechter, who headed Blancpain at the time, was an avid diving enthusiast who had long wanted to develop a watch that would be ideal for his hobby. Fiechter worked with Captain Robert Maloubier, a French naval officer, to design a reliable, mission-ready timepiece that Maloubier’s elite combat diving team could wear. The watch’s 42mm steel case - exceptionally large for the time - was water-resistant to 91.45 meters, or 50 fathoms, the maximum depth recommended for scuba divers. Its dial was black and its numerals were luminescent for greater legibility underwater. It was the first divers’ watch with a self-winding movement, the first with an antimagnetic case, and the first to employ the patented, double-sealed crown that Fiechter had developed. Most notably, the Fifty Fathoms was the ...
Fratello
Today, we’ll look at tasteful updates by Blancpain to its Villeret collection. Aside from the well-known Fifty Fathoms, these are the watches most people think of when considering the brand. After all, this collection was an integral part of Blancpain’s relaunch in the ’80s. For today, three models have been reinterpreted with golden-hour hues. Let’s […] Visit Introducing: The Updated Blancpain Villeret Golden Hour Collection to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
The designer and artist Romaric Andre (better known as Seconde/Seconde/) has had a string of hit limited edition watches over the last few years. Seriously, Google his name of Seconde/Seconde/, or just search our site, and you’ll see collaborations with brands large, small, expensive, affordable, and everywhere in between. He is, quite simply, one of the more prolific figures in the watch industry over the last five years or so. I have to confess I’m not sure if anyone has yet attempted to make a list of the best of most viral Seconde/Seconde/ creations, but if such a list exists and it doesn’t have his Halloween themed collaborations with Spinnaker on it, I’m here to tell you it’s incomplete. This is the type of watch that when it was launched, the inevitable shortage produced vitriol and anger on Instagram (quickly corrected with the announcement of an additional, less limited batch). Now, Spinnaker and Seconde/Seconde/ have reteamed for another bite at the apple with the Fleuss Automatic Seconde/Seconde 2025 Edition. The new release maintains the “phantom” dial concept (a take off on “Fifty Fathoms,” get it?) but this time around there are two case sizes to choose from, 40mm (“Phantom Steel”) and 43mm (“Phantom White”). Both have a textured gray dial with lume filled indices and hands, and of course a whole bunch of those little lumed ghosts, completing the visual pun. In addition to the option for multiple case sizes, both variants also ...
Teddy Baldassarre
Join us for a special celebration of Blancpain, the world’s oldest watchmaking brand and a true pioneer in haute horlogerie. This exclusive event will highlight the breadth of Blancpain’s artistry, from its iconic tool watches to its most refined expressions of elegance. Discover the legendary Fifty Fathoms, the origin
Time+Tide
After years of fan feedback asking for more versatile sizing in the Fifty Fathoms collection, Blancpain took just a few months to make that reality, though it undoubtedly took years of product development. First came the Fifty Fathoms Automatique 42, with all the features you know and love from the 45mm model, but carefully downsized … ContinuedThe post We hosted two Blancpain events 17,000 kilometres apart, filling out both the London and Melbourne Discovery Studios appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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Two Broke Watch Snobs
Discover the new Blancpain x Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms 'Green Abyss'-a $400 automatic dive watch dropping June 7, blending playful design with mechanical credibility.
Teddy Baldassarre
The Longines Legend Diver, introduced in the mid-aughts but tracing its origins all the way back to the embryonic era of modern dive watches in the 1950s and ‘60s, is the epitome of retro-vintage cool for many lovers of sport watches. Here’s how the watch, and its hallmark and still-rare Super Compressor case design, found a successful niche, and an avid audience, in the 21st century. 1959: The Inspiration As with many now-common watchmaking innovations, Longines was one of the pioneers in waterproofing timepieces, making its first water-resistant case as early as 1937, and introducing its first wristwatches purpose-built for recreational diving in the late 1950s. Unlike many of its predecessors and contemporaries in that fertile era of iconic dive watches - like the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Rolex Submariner (both 1953), and Omega Seamaster Professional (1957) - Longines’s Super Compressor Diver Ref. 7042, launched in 1959 and the most direct ancestor of today’s Legend Diver - did not employ the now-ubiquitous, external, unidirectional rotating bezel for its dive scale. Instead, the watch was designed in the so-called compressor style, also used by brands like Jaeger-LeCoultre, Enicar, and Universal Genève, whose case design included an inner dive-scale ring, positioned on the dial’s flange and mounted under the crystal, which rotated in both directions, operated by an additional crown at 4 o’clock. The “Super” in Longines’ “Super Compressor”...
Hodinkee
The Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Gets A Bold Makeover With Three New Black Ceramic Models And A Selection Of Seductive Green Dials
Monochrome
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 […]
Fratello
After Swatch’s Speedmaster MoonSwatch and Scuba Fifty Fathoms collections, we were waiting for the next Swatch Group classic to undergo a Bioceramic metamorphosis. But now it looks like Citizen Group is entering the competition with its new Bulova Snorkel collection. The inspiration for these Hybrid Ceramic watches comes from the brand’s iconic Oceanographer Snorkel, nicknamed […] Visit Introducing: The Bulova Snorkel Collection With Hybrid Ceramic Cases And Tropical Colors to read the full article.
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Fratello
Blancpain has been hard at work filling out its Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe collection. Earlier this year, we saw the introduction of two new ceramic Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet models. Several months later, we were treated to the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune and Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback, both in 18K […] Visit Hands-On With Three New Ceramic Blancpain Bathyscaphe Models to read the full article.
Teddy Baldassarre
Blancpain is the oldest Swiss watchmaker in existence, founded in 1735, as well as one of the most respected and, it is fair to say, one of the most intimidating for a newcomer to approach. This is not just because of the uniformly high prices - nearly all fall within a five-figure range - but also because of the vast diversity within the maison’s collection, which has emerged naturally after literally centuries of uninterrupted watchmaking. Many savvy watch enthusiasts, even ones relatively new to the game, are at least passingly familiar with the brand’s Fifty Fathoms dive watch and its place in that popular category’s historical pantheon, but remain largely unaware of other intriguing timepieces within Blancpain’s portfolio - some simple and understated, others paragons of horological complexity. Moreover, some of these aspirational aficionados are likely seeking out their first Blancpain watch, and attempting to decipher exactly what an entry-level timepiece from the venerable brand would be - what it costs and what it offers for that price. Continuing our “Price of Admission” series (which kicked off with Bilal Khan’s spotlight on Cartier), I will be examining the least expensive choices for an entry-level Blancpain, covering dress and sport options as well as a variety of case materials. Like most any watch brand in the luxury category, Blancpain’s most approachable models from a price perspective are those in cases of steel, rather than pr...
Monochrome
First presented in 2019 as a steel limited edition, the Blancpain Air Command Flyback Chronograph was a re-edition of an elusive vintage watch that barely made it to reality. Yet, using one of the rare prototypes as a blueprint, the brand known for the elegant Villeret collection and the historic Fifty Fathoms diving range did […]
SJX Watches
Blancpain range of vintage inspired dive watches grows to include a pair of top-of-the-line models, the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet and Chronographe Flyback, both in 18k red gold with a matching red gold bracelet. Previously available only with a fabric strap, the new duo feature a gradient blue dial with a sun-ray finish and a matching blue ceramic bezel insert. Initial thoughts First released in 1956 as a more compact version of the Fifty Fathoms, the Bathyscaphe was reissued as a sportier and smaller sibling of the modern-day Fifty Fathoms. The Bathyscaphe line encompasses complications and various materials, including the recent all-ceramic models. The new pair continue to extend the line in terms of materials; they are the only models in the entire Fifty Fathoms range with a matching gold bracelet. The all-gold look is of course not for everyone, but the new pair have an extravagant appeal, particularly the chronograph that looks and feels like an ultra-luxe sports watch. The all-gold look, however, comes at a price. Both are cost US$55,300, which is far from the accessible price point of their all-ceramic counterparts. The price is arguably justified by Blancpain’s easily discernible quality, though the brand lacks the cachet of its peers in the same price segment, which makes these high-end models a very niche offering. The red gold models are also available with a fabric strap. Fully red gold Both the Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet and Chr...
SJX Watches
Blancpain just unveiled an all-ceramic bracelet to match the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe models in black ceramic: the time-and-date, flyback chronograph, and Quantième Complet (or triple calendar). Positioned as the entry-level model in the Fifty Fathom collection of historically-inspired dive watches, the Bathyscaphe has long been available in ceramic, so a bracelet is long overdue. According to Blancpain, each link of the bracelet unique in shape and size, so each link has to be manufactured individually, requiring an enormous amount of skilled labour – which helps to explain the price of almost US$8,000 for the bracelet. All three are now available with a matching bracelet Initial thoughts Though it was a pioneer in the dive watch as we know it, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms has remained fairly under the radar, despite its relatively strong price-quality ratio. The ceramic bracelet for the Bathyscaphe helps it stand out, as few brands offer a matching bracelet for ceramic watches. While ceramic watch cases are common and found across the price spectrum, ceramic bracelets remain relatively uncommon, especially bracelets that are hand finished with a brushed surface like this. All links are manufactured individually, with each link differing in shape and size The ceramic bracelet is expensive – it costs just under US$8,000 extra compared to the same on a strap. That means the three-hand diver costs US$21,300, while the flyback chronograph and triple calendar are both US$...
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Monochrome
A more streamlined and less instrument-oriented take on one of the most emblematic dive watches ever created (the Fifty Fathoms, if you ask), the Blancpain Bathyscaphe collection continues its evolution initiated a few years ago with the introduction of new materials and redesigned dials. This year will be all about ceramic. First, Blancpain introduces a […]
Time+Tide
Blancpain's first ceramic bracelets on the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe are as substantial as it gets, and Time+Tide has the exclusive scoop, straight from Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef.The post Blancpain unveils its first-ever ceramic bracelets for the Bathyscaphe on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (live pics) appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
Swatch welcomes more colors to the Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms Collection. Created more than 70 years ago by a passionate scuba diver, this iconic model revolutionized watchmaking by becoming the first true diver’s watch. The new designs are namely fitted on the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean models.
Worn & Wound
There are only a few certainties in life: death, taxes, and new MoonSwatches being released every five or six months. Yes, as you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, Swatch and Omega have once again taken over your Instagram feed, knocking out three new versions of the MoonSwatch. This release follows a pair of Snoopy themed MoonSwatch moonphases, and of course the Blancpain x Swatch “Scuba” Fifty Fathoms. These new MoonSwatches hew closer to the original idea of the watch, but each is just a little extra, like guacamole on a burrito, which one of them kind of looks like if you squint. The three watches seen here make up the MoonSwatch “Mission on Earth” series, and as the name would suggest are inspired by earthbound phenomena. The “Desert” variant has a tan BioCeramic case and taupe dial, with an aesthetic inspired by, well, the desert. Slightly more adventurous is the “Lava” MoonSwatch, with a bright red case and an orange chronograph seconds hand that pays homage to the Omega “Ultraman” Speedmaster. The third watch, and the best of the three in my opinion, is the “Polar Lights,” which features a turquoise case and a dial inspired by the aesthetic of aventurine. As many readers will surely recall, I’m not the biggest fan of the MoonSwatch. What was once a charming idea and perhaps a way to get new enthusiasts into the hobby quickly became something of a money grab. A predictable result, no doubt. But now that there’s a regular cadence to these...
Hodinkee
Plus a 39mm IWC Mark XVI, and a titanium Blancpain Fifty Fathoms.
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