Results for Swiss vs Japanese Watchmaking

IWC Pilot’s Watch 41 Automatic TOP GUN Editions Review

This year, IWC launched 41mm time-only versions of their Lake Tahoe and Mojave Desert Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN editions. In a slimmer case size, but still with the looks and feel of the bigger chronograph siblings, we had to test them out! What We Love The white ceramic on the Lake Tahoe is super fresh. The size and lighter weight make these very easy-to-wear watches Both rubber straps are comfortable, and each has nice design touches. What We Don’t The Mojave Desert can blend into your skin depending on your skin type  The anti-reflective coating on the slightly domed crystal does make it hard to take a good photo! The luminescence on the hands and dial could be better and of a higher grade. Overall Rating: 8.9 / 10 Value for Money: 9/10 Wearability: 9/10 Design: 9/10 Build Quality: 8.5/10 First Impressions When I first saw the white Lake Tahoe Pilot’s Watch 41 Top Gun earlier this year, I was keen to get both it and the Mojave Desert model to compare them properly. My initial impression? They’re essentially the same watch, just in different colourways, with the Mojave on a fabric-inlaid rubber strap and the Lake Tahoe on straight rubber. But sometimes, that slight aesthetic difference makes all the impact, as I was to find out! The Lake Tahoe feels fresh and bold. With its all-white case and strap against a black dial, it jumps off the wrist. The Mojave Desert, with its sand-coloured case, strap, and matching indices on a grey dial, is far more subdued. It blen...

The Power of Community: Expanding My Watch Family at the Brew Summer Popup

Whether you’re a collector or working in the watch industry, the experience is never just about the watches themselves – it’s about the people you meet along the way and finding a sense of community. Not to sound dramatic, but when you do, it changes everything. There are so many subsets of the watch world, and discovering the people that align with you to nerd out, swap stories, and take wrist shots is what makes this hobby and this work fulfilling and, above all, fun.  First off, let’s get a little personal: a lot of people both within the industry and the community may not know I’ve been working in the watch sphere for 13 years. In that time, I’ve experienced firsthand that exclusivity is an inherent and at times more problematic part of horology and that there can be barriers to feeling a part of this incredible watch world, particularly as a woman.  For me, getting here – having opportunities for my voice to be heard on influential platforms like Worn & Wound that are vital to this industry and collector community – has been a slow burn. It took time for me to carve out my place in watches as a woman, as a millennial, and as a freelancer.  Early on, there were a few people who became the foundation of my watch community – people who didn’t care to measure my value by the number of outlets where you could find my byline or the number of watches in my personal collection. They saw my genuine curiosity and infatuation with timepieces and my abiliti...

13 Best French Watch Brands (2026)

Switzerland is the modern world’s center of watchmaking, with Germany a distant but respectable second in Europe and Japan having long staked out its own spot as the premier watch producer in Asia. Great Britain and the U.S.A., while no longer world leaders, both have a proud history of watchmaking and maintain a small but steadily growing cottage industry in the modern era. But France has its own respectable horological heritage, centered around the commune of Besançon (below), which borders Switzerland’s own heartland of watchmaking, the Vallée de Joux.  France was, in fact, a home for many historically significant watchmakers and clockmakers, including Julien Cordray, Jean-Antoine Lépine, Ferdinand Berthoud, and Abraham-Louis Breguet (actually born in the Prussian principality that would become Neuchâtel, Switzerland, but renowned as a Paris-based watchmaker to French royalty). The latter three all plied their trade in workshops on Place Dauphine at the western tip of Paris' Île de la Cité in the Seine. Watchmaking was a thriving industry in France for a century, up until KIng Louis XIV’s (below) revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which ushered in the religious persecution of Huguenot watchmakers, who fled to Switzerland to essentially establish that nation as a horological power. The French Revolution in the 18th Century, which halted the sales of luxury goods like watches in France, further eroded the country’s watch industry, and it has never ...

Crossing generational and gender divides: the best watches for girl dads and their daughters

We often hear about watches being passed down from fathers to sons, but what about daughters?The post Crossing generational and gender divides: the best watches for girl dads and their daughters appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Review: The New Patek Philippe Cubitus Ref. 7128/1R-001

Patek Philippe adds the smaller, more refined Ref. 7128/1R-001 in full rose gold to the new Cubitus collection announced late last year.

Introducing - The Micromechanical Embroidery Dial of the Fil d’Or Louis Erard x Wire Art

There’s no stopping Manuel Emch’s relentless drive to democratise watchmaking by producing highly original content and métiers d’art dials, thanks to collaborations with designers, artists, studios and artisans for Louis Erard. The latest collaboration is a surprising marriage of traditional embroidery executed with a machine designed to bond microcircuits reprogrammed by Wire Art, Switzerland, to […]

Watch Brands Of Yesteryear: Whatever Happened To The Heroes?

I wrote this article after hearing a 1977 punk/rock song on the radio and reading an introduction to a new watch. The song “No More Heroes” from British band The Stranglers asks, “Whatever happened to all the heroes? All the Shakespearoes?” The song was still playing in my head when I read an introductory article […] Visit Watch Brands Of Yesteryear: Whatever Happened To The Heroes? to read the full article.

Hands-on with the new Piaget Altiplano Ultimate 910P Khaki Green

Piaget releases two new in Kaki Green. The first is the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon and the second is the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic.

First Look - The new Parmigiani Toric Petite Seconde Platinum Golden Hour and Rose Gold Dune

The name Toric at Parmigiani Fleurier carries great importance. It was, after all, the very first made by founder Michel Parmigiani when he decided to fly solo. An elegant watch characterised by its gadroons and knurled surfaces, it underwent a significant update last year with the launch of the new Toric collection. But more than just an […]

Hands On With The New Zenith Chronomaster Sport Meteorite

It was only a matter of time before Zenith added a meteorite dial to the Chronomaster Sport collection, and now, they have! We’ve gone hands-on with it to test it out on launch. What We Love The meteorite dial, obviously! The El Primero movement The versatility of the watch itself What We Don’t The subdials can blend into the grey meteorite dial The bracelet still needs improving Lack of lume on the dial Overall Rating: 8.6 / 10 Value For Money: 8.5/10 Design: 8.5/10 Wearability: 9/10 Build Quality: 8.5/10 Believe it or not, this is the first time I’m officially reviewing the Zenith Chronomaster Sport. And lucky me, it just so happens to be the newly released meteorite dial version. Ok, it’s not that I haven’t worn the Zenith Chronomaster Sport before, I gave my thoughts on the green dial variant post its release at LVMH Watch Week in 2024, and then I subsequently took it on tour with me to New Zealand to see how it holds up as a watch you can travel and holiday with. But I never reviewed it in the true sense of the word, or gave it a rating. Until now. Hot off the press, or should I say, from the Manufacture in Le Locle is the new Zenith Chronomaster Sport Meteorite Dial. The new Zenith Chronomaster Sport Meteorite Dial Meteorite dials are nothing new, but they do transform the look of a watch. The use of meteorite also elevates the price, too, thanks to the difficulty in working with the rock, not to mention the obvious fact that you’re not just creating ...

How to get Taylor Swift’s engagement Cartier watch look without breaking the bank - no fakes, no homages

Like Taylor Swift's engagement watch, but don't have a spare US$20K lying around? Here's a great affordable alternative.The post How to get Taylor Swift’s engagement Cartier watch look without breaking the bank – no fakes, no homages appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Isotope Officially Debuts the Long Awaited OVNI Jumping Hour

If you’ve attended the Windup Watch Fair, British Watchmakers’ Day, or any other watch event in the last few years where Isotope and brand founder Jose Miranda have been in attendance, chances are you got an early look at the OVNI, their long in the works watch with a jumping hour complication. Like the Moonshot before it, the OVNI Jumping Hour represents Isotope at their most ambitious, creating a watch with a design that seems to be dropped from another world entirely, and with a unique interpretation of a classic complication. Lots of enthusiasts have been waiting for the OVNI to land, and its general release is a big milestone for the brand, which happens to coincide with Isotope’s tenth anniversary.  Like other watches in Isotope’s collection, the OVNI borrows heavily from science fiction in its design language, most notably with the saucer shaped case, which the brand proudly admits was inspired by UFOs (the name of the watch, OVNI, comes from the Iberian/French abbreviation for “UFO”). It’s crafted from 904L steel and measures 40mm across and 13.6mm tall. Virtually every surface is either brushed (the body of the case) or sandblasted (the crown) for a look that is unmistakably industrial. The crown at 12:00 is mirrored by an Isotope badge on the 6:00 side of the case (wisely, there’s no branding on the dial).  The sci-fi vibes are perhaps even stronger on the dial, which is where Isotope reinterprets the jumping hour concept in their own way. It’...

Max Büsser collaborates with British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori on the colourful M.A.D.1S ‘Grow Your Dreams’

Featuring bold mismatched colourways plus lightened rotors for extra spin time, these colourful pieces feel very M.A.D.The post Max Büsser collaborates with British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori on the colourful M.A.D.1S ‘Grow Your Dreams’ appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Vianney Halter And Massena LAB Unearth “Old Soul”, Using A Vintage Minerva Movement

Massena LAB and Vianney Halter Team Up for the “Old Soul”

Before there was MB&F;, before there was Richard Mille or Greubel Forsey or De Bethune, there was Vianney Halter. Alongside brands like Urwerk, Vianney Halter helped to reimagine what watches could look and feel like coming into the 21st century. Writing in 2025, it’s hard to think of a time when the weird and wonderful wasn’t a core part of watch collecting, and Vianney Halter deserves no small amount of praise for his role in bridging the gap between a more traditional interpretation of independent watchmaking and the wide-open world of watch design we now get to enjoy. Still, nearly three decades on from the release of his first watch in 1998 (the inimitable Antiqua Perpetual Calendar), Vianney Halter is still working, and his latest release, the Old Soul - designed and executed in collaboration with William Massena and Massena LAB - is a sterling reminder that the old master isn’t out of tricks just yet. Like Halter’s last collaboration, the Louis Erard x Vianney Halter Regulator, which was released around Thanksgiving last year, the Old Soul leans into Halter’s Steampunk sensibilities, but blends the unique aesthetic with Massena’s signature eye towards historic watch design. The resulting piece is something both classically beautiful and wholly contemporary. Cased in a sedate and handsome 42mm, 12mm thick steel case, the Old School by Vianney Halter and Massena LAB is powered by the Minerva calibre 17’22, a vintage pocket watch movement first introdu...

Introducing - The Piaget Altiplano 910P and Ultimate Concept Tourbillon in Khaki Green

As one of the main competitors in the battle for the thinnest watches, Piaget has had quite a few records on its hands, using the emblematic Altiplano watch collection as the vessel to deliver record-thin models. The Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC) made some noise by becoming the thinnest mechanical watch ever in 2016, and the […]

Introducing: Ming Celebrates A Dazzling Eighth Birthday With The New 57.04 Iris Monopusher Chronograph

The Malaysian brand introduces its fifth generation design language with a bold new chronograph at a lower price point.

Ming Debuts their Fifth Generation Design Language with the 57.04 Iris

It comes up, somehow, in almost every article you read about Ming: they have an incredibly distinct design language all their own. How many times have you read something like, “you can spot a Ming from across the room!” I admit, we’re as guilty as anyone. But it’s undeniable that the look of these watches defines them, and that they’ve landed on something with that flying blade lug design that is both easily identifiable and well suited to building a supremely comfortable case. It’s something that’s always been there, but has slowly evolved over the course of Ming’s still relatively short history. Today, the brand announces the new 57.04 Iris, the first watch in what the brand terms as their fifth generation design. It’s at once both a radical departure from previous Ming designs, and very much related to all that’s come before.  The new 57.04 is influenced rather unapologetically by Art Deco design cues, particularly the dramatic stepped lugs, still with the same flared design. Ming says that the lugs make use of nine separate pieces in what has to be one of the most complex case designs the brand has attempted to date. The top of each step is polished and sides (which have very small surface areas by design) are brushed. It’s a bold design for sure, and makes an immediate impression, and strikes me as being quite a bit more ornate than the inherently minimalistic case designs Ming has produced in the past. Still, the shape is unmistakably Ming.  T...

Hands-On With The New Ming 57.04 Iris Chronograph

The folks at Ming showed us a host of upcoming releases and conceptual drawings during our time with them at Time To Watches in Geneva. As the two biggest fans of the brand on the Fratello team, Balazs and I have had the difficult task of keeping our traps shut until these pieces are eventually […] Visit Hands-On With The New Ming 57.04 Iris Chronograph to read the full article.

Hands-On With The Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph Limited Edition In Burgundy

A rattrapante, split-second, or double chronograph is not something you see every day. Such a chronograph, capable of measuring intermediate times without interrupting the ongoing measurement of a longer elapsed time, is a seriously complicated watch. For many, including me, the double chronograph is one of the most fascinating complications the world of Haute Horlogerie […] Visit Hands-On With The Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph Limited Edition In Burgundy to read the full article.

Favre Leuba Chief Chronograph - two new striking dial colours

Favre Leuba releases two additional dial colour options to their Chief Chronograph collection, viz British Racing Green and Dune.

Sunday Morning Showdown: TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph × Gulf Vs. Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25”

It’s Sunday morning, so fire up the engines and prepare for a nice weekend drive. The question is, what is the racing chronograph of choice for today? Two suggestions go head to head in this week’s Sunday Morning Showdown. Mike’s pick is the classic-looking TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph × Gulf in titanium. This lightweight version […] Visit Sunday Morning Showdown: TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph × Gulf Vs. Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25” to read the full article.

The Evergreens - The History of the Rolex Datejust, The Crown’s Quintessential Watch

Many companies have that one model that really epitomises the brand, even if it’s not the flagship product. Toyota has the Camry, Omega has the Speedmaster, and Rolex has the Datejust (you thought I was going to say Submariner). It’s among the longest running models in Rolex’s portfolio and boasts many of the signature features […]

Photo Report: Watch Week Aspen Returns For Its Second Year

The second annual Watch Week Aspen brought 16 brands and over 200 attendees together to share in the passion for watchmaking amidst the beautiful backdrop of Aspen, Colorado.

TAG Heuer Carrera Date Twin Time Review: A Classic GMT For Life On The Move

In this review, I take a closer look at the new TAG Heuer Carrera Date Twin-Time, a watch that blends heritage with modern functionality. From its striking green dial to its versatile GMT design, this is a timepiece built for both everyday wear and global travel. What We Love The new Twin-Time design pays homage to the 1955 original while feeling distinctly modern. The green sunburst dial is stunning in person, offering both visual depth and excellent legibility for the GMT hand and time display. The H-link bracelet not only enhances the luxury aesthetic but also introduces an innovative, tool-free link removal system. What We Don’t The absence of Super-Luminova on the indices reduces nighttime readability. The bracelet lacks on-the-fly micro-adjustment, limiting quick comfort changes. The redesigned GMT hand, while modern, may not appeal to everyone’s taste. Overall Rating: 8.7 / 10 Value For Money: 8.75/10 Design: 9/10 Wearability: 8.5/10 Build Quality: 8.5/10 Introduced during this year’s Watches & Wonders is the revamped TAG Heuer Carrera three-hander collection. As you would have seen by now, a total of six new Carrera models were released, with the collection taking on the same silhouette as the older Carrera Day-Date with changes that make the timepiece modern and impactful. The New TAG Heuer Carrera Takes A Victory Lap When this collection was released, our very own Mario covered each model, dubbing the collection ‘Victory’ due to TAG Heuer’s upgrad...

What Is A Tourbillon?

For many watch collectors, acquiring one's first tourbillon watch is a Holy Grail, a rite of passage into the upper echelons of horological connoisseurship. If you're new to the watch appreciation game, however, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. What is so special about tourbillon watches, anyway, and what makes them so desirable to so many while still being so prohibitively expensive for most? The short answer is that a tourbillon is, in this day and age, less of a necessity and more of a badge of historical high-watchmaking excellence. For a more detailed explanation, read on.  The First Tourbillons and Early Innovations The inventor of the tourbillon is a name that is likely familiar to watch connoisseurs. Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), a native of Switzerland who plied his trade as a watchmaker in Paris, was one of horology’s most significant historical figures, among whose many innovations was the first self-winding movement, the first repeater movement with a gong, one of the earliest constant-force escapements, and the device that he famously patented in 1801, the so-called tourbillon escapement.  While the tourbillon is today considered by many to be a complication, like a chronograph or calendar mechanism, its original purpose was a fully practical one, to compensate for the ill effects of gravity on the movement of a pocket watch and thus improve its long-term accuracy. Remember, in Breguet’s time, watches were not worn on wrists, where ...

H. Moser and Azuki Partner on a New Collaboration

It’s hard to believe, but with Labor Day just over the horizon, the first days of tolerable weather breaking into the mix, and the whole world picking up pace, there’s no denying that we’re fast approaching the end of summer. For many, the end of summer also marks the end of dive watch season, but we at Worn & Wound aren’t quite ready to pack up one of our favorite styles of watch for the year, and neither is one of our favorite brands, H. Moser & Cie. In fact, they’re doubling down with the release of what just may be the best collab dive watch of 2025, in partnership with anime-inspired digital art collective, Azuki. Their latest collection - which Moser and Azuki have dubbed the “Elements of Time” - draws from Azuki’s Elementals NFT Collection, with four new dial designs inspired by the elements of Azuki’s Element Universe: Fire, Earth, Water, and Lightning. Playing host to these elemental dials - each of which boasts a unique blend of guillochage and fumé finishing - is the Pioneer Centre Seconds Rotating Bezel, a dive watch–esque sports watch that has long been one of Moser’s great under-the-radar offerings. Though not technically a dive watch by the strictest ISO definitions, the Pioneer Centre Seconds Rotating Bezel certainly plays all the dive watch hits, and plays them well. First introduced as a stainless steel 42mm watch in 2019, the Centre Seconds RB has been subject to several reinterpretations over the years, including in collab...

First Look - Doxa and Art of Time Release the SUB 200 Dune

Born in 1889, Doxa is a storied and highly respected brand, mostly in the diving community. As of 1967, and the launch of the SUB 300 (the first dive watch to feature a unidirectional rotating bezel to calculate and monitor no-stop dive times), Doxa gained incredible popularity in the field and continues to do so. […]

First Look - A Fresh New Green Dial for the Bulgari Octo Roma Automatic

When it comes to watches for men made by Bulgari, it seems the multiple-time record-breaking Octo Finissimo range gets all the attention… Rightfully so, you’ll admit, as this collection is as spectacular visually as it is technically. Bold, ultra-thin, highly distinctive in its approach to design and materials and undeniably Italian, it is the brand’s […]

[VIDEO] 4 Great Dive Watches Under $500 from Least to Most Expensive

The post [VIDEO] 4 Great Dive Watches Under $500 from Least to Most Expensive appeared first on Worn & Wound.