Revolution
Rapport: Reasons to get wound up
There are only a handful of brands who specialise in such items, one of which is Rapport, founded in 1898 by an ambitious 20-year-old watchmaker by the name of Maurice A. Rapport.
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Revolution
SJX Watches
Panerai Introduces the Luminor Luna Rossa Collection
Back in January, Panerai unveiled the Luna Rossa Challenger Submersible Carbotech, which kicked off the watchmaker’s official sponsorship of Luna Rossa, the challenger of the 36th America’s Cup that takes place in 2021. And now the brand has introduced three Luminor watches – the Luna Rossa Regatta (PAM01038), the Luna Rossa Chrono Flyback (PAM01037), and the Luna Rossa GMT (PAM01036) – dedicated to the sailing syndicate, which has fellow Italian brands Prada and Pirelli as its main sponsors. Only just unveiled at the Salón Internacional Alta Relojería (SIAR) watch fair in Mexico City, the three watches are characterised by high tech materials that also used in Luna Rossa. The watches share the same monochromatic palette, with a distinctive “sandwich dial” made up of a lower dial plate with luminous paint for the numerals that’s capped with an upper dial plate covered in sailcloth from Luna Rossa. Though each use different case materials, they all share the same titanium case back engraved with the Luna Rossa and the team logo. Luminor Luna Rossa Regatta (PAM01038) A dedicated yachting chronograph, the Luminor Luna Rossa Regatta is the flagship model of the range. It has a 47mm case in Carbotech, a proprietary carbon fibre-reinforced polymer, making it massive but lightweight. First introduced in 2015, the material is produced by layering sheets of carbon with a polymer resin in between to create a light and strong composite with a woodgrain appearance. ...
SJX Watches
Rolex Unicorns Part II – Ref. 8171 Triple Calendar “Padellone” in Steel
If I had a million dollars, or maybe two, to buy a Rolex, I could perhaps buy a ref. 4113 split-seconds, which is very large, very flat – a bit too large and flat for me – and exceptionally rare. Or I could buy a ref. 8171 triple calendar in steel, one in almost “new old stock” condition, as Phillips has in its upcoming Geneva auction. The ref. 8171 in question reminds me of the 369-year old Jehan Cremsdorff pocket watch Sotheby’s sold in the summer – it’s hard to believe something that old, admittedly not quite four centuries, can be so well preserved. The “Padellone” is incredibly – incredibly – clean and crisp. Up close, the ref. 8171 speaks for itself. The dial looks like the watch left the factory recently. It is clean, neat and the date track is in pure, vivid blue. Similarly, the hands are free of marks, meaning they were seldom, or never, removed from the dial. The condition of the dial is all the more unusual due to the fact that the ref. 8171 is not an Oyster. Instead, it has a snap-on back, instead of the water-resistant, screw-on back found on the Oyster watch case. Over time, snap backs tend to lose their water-resistance as a consequence of corrosion or deformation from repeated opening, which is why most ref. 8171s have dials that show obvious ageing. An example of a ref. 8171 with a dial showing ageing, this one offered at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2017 The steel case is similarly well preserved. Fortunately, steel is nota...
SJX Watches
Business News: Rolex to Replace New York Headquarters with 25-Storey Building
A year after the opening of the Rolex Building in Dallas, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, London-based David Chipperfield Architects just announced it won an international design contest for the new Rolex skyscraper in New York City, beating out big names like Foster+Partners and Bjarke Ingels Group (which designed the new Audemars Piguet museum), according to industry publication Architects’ Journal. “Our team is committed to creating an exemplary building befitting the heritage and culture of the Rolex brand, as well as its prominent 5th Avenue location,” says Mr Chipperfield, speaking in the press announcement. Modernist and fronted entirely in glass, much like the rest of its work, the Chipperfield design will replace the watchmaker’s existing building located at 665 5th Avenue, on the corner with 53rd Street. Originally built for Danish silversmith Georg Jensen in 1924, the 12-storey building was revamped with a glass and aluminium facade when Rolex acquired it in 1977 for its American headquarters. The current Rolex Building, home to the company since the 1970s. Image – Google Maps A rendering of the new Rolex Building. Image – David Chipperfield Architects According to industry lore, the then chief executive of Rolex, Andre Heiniger, decided to buy the 5th Avenue building during a visit to the United States, closing the deal before getting the approval of the company’s board. Heiniger also led Rolex to acquire several dozen lo...
Time+Tide
Rolesor in the deep – the Rolex Sea-Dweller Reference 126603
To say there was quite a bit of controversy when Rolex unveiled the two-tone Sea-Dweller ref. 126603 at this year’s Baselworld is, at the very least, an understatement. In fact, there was nothing short of a litany of disparaging comments, which varied greatly in context, and ranged from questioning the two-tone Sea Dweller’s validity as … ContinuedThe post Rolesor in the deep – the Rolex Sea-Dweller Reference 126603 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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The Making of James Bond 007's Watch in SPECTRE | OMEGA
Quill & Pad
Focus On Technology: Plastics In Watches And Why We Are Likely To See More Of Them – Reprise
Exotic materials: love them or hate them? And where are you in regard to plastics, which are ever-increasingly appearing in wristwatch cases and movements? This might help you decide.
Time+Tide
INTRODUCING: The Grand Seiko STGK011 & STGK013
Grand Seiko has expanded their offerings of ladies watches with two new additions to their Elegance Collection – the Grand Seiko STGK011 and STGK013. The bezel-less beauties have drawn inspiration from the Japanese watchmaker’s original sans-bezel timepiece, the Grand Seiko 62GS, which was first unveiled in 1967. And, to really dial up the glitz, the … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Grand Seiko STGK011 & STGK013 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
VIDEO: The snakelike excellence of the Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori
Most of the time we spend talking about Bulgari at the moment is dedicated to the gorgeous Octo, which, if I’m frank, makes perfect sense. But that’s far from the only arrow in Bulgari’s gem-set quiver. On the more feminine side of the fence there’s also the venerable (and not at all venomous) Serpenti, which … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: The snakelike excellence of the Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
HANDS-ON: The Seiko Automatic Chronograph 50th Anniversary - SRQ029J
Celebrating five decades since its first automatic chronograph was released, Seiko has just unveiled this, the new Seiko Automatic Chronograph SRQ029J 50th Anniversary. First revealed in 1969, the original Seiko Automatic Chronograph featured the Japanese watchmaker’s historic Calibre 6139 movement, which utilised an integrated vertical clutch and column wheel chronograph architecture. 1969 was a competitive and interesting … ContinuedThe post HANDS-ON: The Seiko Automatic Chronograph 50th Anniversary - SRQ029J appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
HANDS-ON: The Seiko Chronograph 55th Anniversary - SRQ031J
Some of the coolest and cultiest of vintage Seiko watches are their calibre 5719 monopusher chronographs, released to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 (an event for which Seiko were the official timekeepers btw). These watches didn’t look much like a chronograph, with only a single seconds hand and a bidirectional bezel to track … ContinuedThe post HANDS-ON: The Seiko Chronograph 55th Anniversary - SRQ031J appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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Squale 101 ATM/1000m Automatic Dive Watch Review - A Re-release Of An Iconic 70s Classic - Ref. 2002
Time+Tide
INTRODUCING: The Aquadive Poseidon – paying tribute to the golden age of diving
Diving is a pursuit - more than most - that relies on gear. Which is why it’s an area full of storied suppliers that are as much a part of pioneering and evolving diving as the divers themselves. Of course, watch brands fall into this matrix - but they’re a relatively small part of the … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Aquadive Poseidon – paying tribute to the golden age of diving appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Introduces the World Time Chronograph Singapore 2019 Ref. 5930G (With Price)
To mark the Singapore Grand Exhibition, which is now into its second day, Patek Philippe has unveiled a special-edition World Time Chronograph ref. 5930G-011 for the Southeast Asian market. Limited to 300 pieces, the watch has a white gold case paired with a smoked, red guilloche dial that darkens towards the edges. It features a dark grey city disc, on which “Singapore” replaces “Beijing” for the time zone of GMT+8. The rest of the watch is identical to that of the standard version that was first unveiled in 2016 with a white gold case paired with a blue dial. It measures 39.5mm wide and 12.8mm in height, which is rather impressive considering it houses a full-rotor movement, with a vertical-clutch, column-wheel flyback chronograph as well as a world time module. A corrector pusher at 10 o’clock advances the cities disc, hour hand and 24-hour scale in one-hour increments. All that needs to be done is to set the city corresponding to the local time zone to the 12 o’clock position. The local time will be indicated by the hands while the time in all other time zones can be read off the 24-hour scale. The 30-minute counter for the chronograph is located at six o’clock, while the seconds scale for the chronograph is located between the cities and 24-hour discs. Visible through the sapphire case back, the CH 28-520 HU movement is based on the CH 28-520 chronograph caliber, controlled by a vertical clutch, with the addition of a world time module based on the co...
Deployant
Modestly priced watches in review: Luminox Atacama Adventurer 1760 Series
Luminox introduces the Atacama Adventure Series 1760 with four new watches which are cool enough to conquer the urban landscape. We look in detail.
SJX Watches
Business News: Richemont Acquires Milanese Jeweller Buccellati
Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont has just added Buccellati to its stable of luxury brands, which include watchmakers like A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, Panerai. Richemont is buying the 100-year old Milanese jeweller from Gangtai Group Corporation Limited, a Chinese conglomerate that bought a majority stake in 2017 that reputedly valued the jeweller at €230m, or about US$271m at the time, according to Forbes. Gangtai had owned 85% of Buccellati, with the remainder held by the founding family, but like many of its peers the Chinese group has been forced to sell assets as the Chinese government put a stop to the debt-fuelled overseas expansion that was earlier fashionable. The terms of Richemont’s acquisition were not disclosed, although Chinese news website Jing Daily reports Buccellati was valued at US$313m, including debt, equivalent to about 15% of Richemont’s net cash position in the last fiscal year. According to Richemont, Buccellati family scion Andrea Buccellati as well as several other family members will remain with the jeweller after the takeover. Buccellati gives Richemont a more diverse presence in high-end jewellery, where its business is concentrated the Parisian jewellers Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, which together account for the bulk of group sales. In contrast to the French style of both Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati’s Italian sensibility gives Richemont a stylistic counter to Bulgari, the Roman jeweller owned by French luxury ...
Time+Tide
RECOMMENDED READING: Seiko’s 9F Quartz Movement
SJX Watches recently published an in-depth look at Seiko’s prodigious and fabled 9F Quartz movements, which are now in their 26th year of production. And there’s no question the 9F is a genuinely high-end movement that has taken decades of engineering to perfect. It’s actually a remarkable feat of timekeeping when you think about it … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: Seiko’s 9F Quartz Movement appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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The Best Automatic Dive Watch Omega Ever Made? - Watchco Seamaster 300 Full Review - 166.0324
SJX Watches
Ulysse Nardin Introduces the Marine Torpilleur Monaco Yacht Show
First introduced two years ago as an entry-level model styled on vintage marine chronometers, the Marine Torpilleur has just received an upgrade. The Marine Torpilleur Monaco Yacht Show is a limited edition fitted with a grand feu enamel dial, created to mark the watchmaker’s sponsorship, now in its 11th year, of the annual yachting event in Monte Carlo harbour. While the standard model has a brass dial, the Monaco edition has a three-part dial made of vitreous enamel that’s fired in an oven – a desirable feature that increases its retail price by a modest 20% or so. Like all of Ulysse Nardin’s enamel dials, it is produced by Donze Cadran, a subsidiary of the watchmaker that’s one of the few dial makers in Switzerland able to make fired enamel dials in substantial numbers. An old school dial The dial starts out as a copper disc that is covered with white enamel powder that’s then baked in a small oven, several dials at a go, to melt the enamel and fuse it to the dial. The dial has two apertures for each of the sub-dials, which are separate pieces that are covered in grey enamel and fired separately. After they are fired, the dials are printed with enamel markings, resulting in another trip to the oven to set the markings. Then the apertures on the main dial, as well as the edges of the sub-dials, are filed by hand to ensure a perfect fit with each other. Once complete, the sub-dials are soldered to the main dial. The dial is marked “09.19” – the m...
Time+Tide
INTRODUCING: The TAG Heuer Monaco 1999-2009 Limited Edition
TAG Heuer has unveiled its penultimate limited edition 50th anniversary Monaco, and this one pays homage to the wonderful era that was the noughties. This is the fourth iteration of the limited-run watches, which are celebrating 50 years of the fabled original Heuer Monaco, first released in 1969. We’ve already seen the eclectic mix of … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The TAG Heuer Monaco 1999-2009 Limited Edition appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Introducing the Badger Islander Wristwatch
Badger Watches makes it debut on Kickstarter with the Islander, an automatic wristwatch with an interesting tonneau-shaped case. While most tonneau cases are made up of multiple curved lines, the Islander case is composed of several straight lines and flat surfaces, giving it a slightly 1970s vibe. The brand is based in Singapore – a city-state that’s an island – which is where the model name comes from. Affordable watches like the Islander usually work best if most of the effort is concentrated on one element; here the focus is undoubtedly the case. Measuring 38mm in diameter and 48mm long, the case is steel with alternating brushed and polished surfaces. It’s stamped from a block of steel, giving it softer edges and corners than if it were milled, but with a price tag of under US$400 that’s more than enough. Four dial colours are available, including one in silver with blue accents that’s a 99-piece limited edition. With only minimal text on the edge, the dials have the same stamped radial motif, along with tapered hands reminiscent of the Marc Newson-designed Ikepod watches. The date window is placed at six o’clock to maintain the symmetry of the dial. The Islander is powered by a Sellita SW200-1, which is a clone of the ETA 2824. A low-cost but robust movement, the SW200 has a shortish 38-hour power reserve. Key facts Diameter: 38mm Height: 11mm Material: Steel Water resistance: 50m Movement: SW200-1 Functions: Hours, minutes, and second; date W...
Time+Tide
7 fun facts I discovered at the Seiko Museum
Editor’s note: Seiko is a brand with a pretty incredible history. And a lot of this history goes under the radar, to be honest. Which is why, when Sandra visited Tokyo last year we strongly suggested she make a detour to Seiko’s Museum. Here’s what she learned … If you’re ever in Tokyo, I strongly … ContinuedThe post 7 fun facts I discovered at the Seiko Museum appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Urwerk Introduces the UR-100 SpaceTime
Known for its innovative, avant-garde complications and cases inspired by sci-fi, Urwerk’s latest creation is doubly interesting. The UR-100 SpaceTime takes the astronomical theme even further with two quirky, celestial indicators – and it is also priced as an entry-level model. The UR-100 utilises the brand’s signature wandering-hours satellite display, where conventional hands are replaced by a semi-circular minute gauge, across which three discs mounted on a carousel sweep successively. It was originally invented in the 17th century for a Vatican City clock, then popularised for wristwatches in the early 1990s by Audemars Piguet with the Star Wheel. But it was Urwerk that took the wandering hours into the 21st century when it launched at UR-103 in 2003; though it was not the first Urwerk wristwatch, the UR-103 was the watch that put the brand on the map (and the recent UR-105 is a nod to the original). Celestial hours On the UR-100 SpaceTime, the hours wander even further: once the red minute pointer completes 60 minutes (or an hour), it disappears under a bridge and reappears through a cutout at 10 o’clock to indicate the distance travelled from the Earth’s rotation on its own axis, as measured at the equator, or 555km every 20 minutes. Another red pointer at two o’clock measures the distance travelled by the Earth orbiting the Sun, which is 35,740km every 20 minutes. Both astronomical distance displays, however, are a philosophical exercis...
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WWT#28 - Why Every Gentleman Should Have A Wrist Watch, Sinn Watches & Amzdeal 8 Watch Case Review
Quill & Pad
Our Predictions In The Ladies Category Of The 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG)
Welcome to Quill & Pad’s predictions for the 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Ladies category in which the team picks favorites and explains why. Our panel isn't unanimous, but does have a clear favorite in this category. Read on to find out which watch should succeed here!
SJX Watches
Editorial: Movement Finishing in the Instagram Age
Thanks to Instagram, and social media in general, fine watchmaking has become something of a spectator sport. Roger W. Smith’s YouTube channel has over 10,000 subscribers, and though he produces only about a dozen watches per year, his video about polishing the flanks of pinions has been viewed more than 115,000 times. Akrivia, which produces watches on a similar scale, has almost 40,000 followers on Instagram and their videos, which focus on hand finishing techniques, get thousands of views and likes. These numbers suggest a huge appetite among watch enthusiasts for information about movement construction and finishing. Yet while collectors now have unprecedented access to this kind of information, finishing is a highly nuanced topic that doesn’t readily lend itself to the brevity of an Instagram comment. This can make it difficult, especially for new collectors, to understand how finishing fits into the overall value proposition offered by a fine watch. What is finishing and why it matters Finishing is the process by which the components of a watch movement are treated between fabrication and final assembly. At lower price points, finishing is done by machine. At higher price points, it is often applied by hand. The results of good hand finishing are unmistakable, often cited as the main reason for drastic price differences between watches. I asked Akrivia founder Rexhep Rexhepi about the value of hand finishing, and he replied, “Let’s face facts – the differe...
Time+Tide
VIDEO: Vintage style done right, the Tissot Heritage 1973 Chronograph
Broadly speaking, heritage-inspired watches fall into two significant camps - faithful reissues or modern interpretations. The Tissot Heritage 1973 Chronograph falls very much into the former camp. And, as far as faithful reissues go, it’s awesome. The big picture is the case, which is a hefty, hunky cushion - bonus points for the smart mix … ContinuedThe post VIDEO: Vintage style done right, the Tissot Heritage 1973 Chronograph appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
INTRODUCING: The Hour Glass celebrates its 40th with an awesome TAG Heuer Monaco LE
A few months ago we introduced you to the first in a series of limited edition watches made to celebrate The Hour Glass’s 40th anniversary. Well, we’ve just had a look at the latest in the series, which takes the form of a TAG Heuer Monaco. Now, if this were any other watch it would … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Hour Glass celebrates its 40th with an awesome TAG Heuer Monaco LE appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
RECOMMENDED READING: The complete Casio G-Shock buying guide
I don’t know about you, but I find navigating Casio’s iconic and uber-tough G-Shock family a tricky process. It’s a reference number dominated space which, to the outsider, is every bit as confusing as the worlds of vintage Rolex or Patek. Adding to the complexity is the sheer profusion of models. Limited editions, collaborations and … ContinuedThe post RECOMMENDED READING: The complete Casio G-Shock buying guide appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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