Hodinkee
Talking Watches: With Bethenny Frankel
The entrepreneur and reality TV star dishes on building a collection for the long haul, why she loves the Rolex Daytona, and why every watch should have a story.
41,778 articles · 258 videos found · page 915 of 1402
Hodinkee
The entrepreneur and reality TV star dishes on building a collection for the long haul, why she loves the Rolex Daytona, and why every watch should have a story.
Quill & Pad
‘F.P. Journe Invenit et Fecit’ by Jean-Pierre Grosz narrates the story of François-Paul Journe, one of the most successful independent watchmakers of our time. This book outlines both Journe’s incredible and – dare I say – courageous career and delves into his personal life, which wasn’t always rosy and light. A very atypical career that deserves the attention it receives with this book, Elizabeth finds it is a must-read.
Time+Tide
$16,450 – that’s the Australian recommended retail price of the Oystersteel Rolex Daytona ref. 116500LN. But, as I’m sure 99 per cent of people reading this are already patently aware, if you actually want to own one of these fabled watches, you can’t merely walk into an AD and pick one up. No, if you … ContinuedThe post Hype dodger: 3 steel Professional Rolex watches you can actually buy appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
With the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime in steel taking first place, the second-most expensive watch at Only Watch 2019, will inevitably be the F.P. Journe Astronomic Blue. The last time a one of a kind F.P. Journe went on the block at Only Watch, it sold for US$1.15m. On most metrics the Astronomic Blue is a record-setting watch for F.P. Journe. It is the most complex wristwatch ever conceived by Francois-Paul Journe, boasting 18 functions. The Astronomic Blue is also the biggest F.P. Journe watch ever, and might become the most expensive ever after the Only Watch auction in November. Remembering 1987 The Astronomic Blue actually traces its lineage back to a timepiece Mr Journe made in 1987, the “astronomic planetary watch”, a double-faced pocket watch. That, in turn, was inspired by the George Daniels Space Traveller, hence the similar, symmetrical dial layout. The astronomic planetary watch of 1987. Photo – F.P. Journe Going even further back, Daniels modelled the Space Traveller on a handful of Breguet pocket watches from the 19th century, namely pocket watches no. 2807, 3862 and 3863. These featured similar, symmetrical twin sub-dials that indicated both mean solar time and apparent solar time. The Astronomic Blue, in short, is the 21st century take on Breguet’s masterpieces. The George Daniels Space Traveller Large and complicated The Astronomic Blue is a complicated-looking watch, but easy to grasp thanks to the helpfully labelled diagrams provi...
SJX Watches
The Phillips Perpetual boutique in London officially opens this week with 40 watches encompassing all important genres of watch collecting, from a Rolex Daytona “John Player Special” to a Patek Philippe Nautilus “Jumbo” ref. 3700 (from the collection of Jean-Claude Biver no less). But one of the flagship offerings is an important example of independent watchmaking – a Roger W. Smith Series 2 “Edition 2” that’s “No. 1”. It is very much a quintessential, early Roger W. Smith creation with the hallmark elements of his watchmaking. But the watch is also historically interesting, being an example of the road not taken for Mr Smith. The forgotten “Edition” This watch illuminates an intriguing bit of early Roger W. Smith history. Shortly after Mr Smith delivered the first batch of Series 2 watches in late 2007, he decided to create the “Edition” concept. According to Mr Smith, the idea was to produce Series 2 as a limited edition of 90 watches in total, with 30 watches in each colour of gold. All Edition watches had 38mm cases and solid silver dials; the Edition 1 was in yellow gold, Edition 2 in rose, and Edition 3 in white gold. At the same time, Mr Smith also offered custom versions of the Series 2, which were also available in a platinum case. But as it turned out, most clients wanted a custom watch, rather than an Edition example. So Mr Smith discreetly abandoned Edition not long after, and only a five of each Edition were made. This is on...
Deployant
And we end our first day with FP Journe. The Vertical Tourbillon. More info later. But for now, a live pic of the watch. Francois-Paul said, “the tourbillon is dead. Long live the tourbillon.” Retail is CHF 230,000 in plat and CHF 226,400 in RG. Peter Chong Live from Geneva
Deployant
This week, we take a look at six alternatives to highly popular watches - such as the Rolex Daytona, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and Patek Philippe Nautilus.
Deployant
The Daytona Ultimatum and Geneva Watch Auction: SEVEN will be exhibited at Malmaison by The Hour Glass, Singapore from 4th to 8th April 2018.
Time+Tide
If you’re a fan of supercars and rare timepieces, tapping into Paul Maudsley’s social feed will be a click you won’t regret. Meet a real English gent and a true superstar of the watch world. NAME: Paul David Maudsley OCCUPATION: Renowned watch expert, lover of things vintage, and international specialist of the London Watches department at … ContinuedThe post WHO TO FOLLOW: @PaulDavidMaudsley appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
Deployant Q&A; with Charles Tearle, featuring live photos and some interesting facts about Paul Newman's personal Rolexes.
Revolution
Baume et Mercier knows a thing or two about elegance. Actually, elegance is what they do best. This could have something to do with the fact that in 1918 William Baume joined forces with jeweler Paul Mercier, forming the companiey’s current name, which resulted in a collection of remarkably shaped watches the year after. Their steel […]
Revolution
What makes a luxury watch more coveting than its entirety designed and manufactured in-house plus being sold exclusively in only ten boutiques in the world? Described as a monomaniac by some, 57-year-old French self-taught watchmaker, François-Paul Journe took five years to make his first and very own tourbillon which earned him a reputation in the watchmaking […]
Revolution
There is no watchmaker, independent or otherwise, quite like Francois Paul Journe –a notable iconoclast; famously perfectionistic; famously idiosyncratic in approach; famously irascible; a man who sees himself as the spiritual heir to the great French watchmaking traditions and masters of the late 18th and early 19th century –Berthoud, Breguet, Janvier, Le Roy. F. P. […]
Revolution
MB&F;’S NEW LEGACY MACHINE NO. 1 “These are the days of miracle and wonder” - Paul Simon, ‘The Boy in the Bubble’ The only thing about the Legacy Machine No. 1 that concerns Maximilian Büsser, really, is the fact that it’s vintage-looking, just when the wave of vintage-looking watches is at its peak. What if […]
Deployant
Francois Paul Journe. A talented watchmaker. I had the pleasure of meeting with FP way back when he was yet a nobody…and had just made his first tourbillon remontoir d’egalité. The original looked like it was made in his garage, and indeed it was. But recently, I had the pleasure of spending a week withRead More
Deployant
Ludovic Ballouard: innovative genius? Ludovic Ballouard is a funny, quirky fellow. His humour extends to the location of his show during the SIHH – the Hotel du Midi – with its quirky furniture in the lobby and large, loud sculptures, to the watches he makes. Formerly working at Francois Paul Journe, Ludovic was formerly inRead More
Hodinkee
When Keith Mitchell tapped in for par on the 72nd hole of last week's U.S. Open, it secured a tie for fourth—the best finish of his career in a PGA Tour major. Ten days earlier, Mitchell wasn't even in the field; he'd had to play his way in through a last-minute qualifier. After an opening front nine of six-over, he clawed his way back and, by the third round, sat tied for eleventh. At the post-round press conference, he was wearing a pièce unique Laurent Ferrier. Months earlier, we got the backstory behind this watch—and his entire collection—and we're thrilled to bring you that today in our latest episode of Talking Watches. Mitchell is as well known for his style on the course as for his ball-striking, the product of a longtime collaboration with Atlanta-based clothier Sid Mashburn. But the discerning eye will notice that the style extends to the wrist. Mitchell has long been a watch guy—he made a brief appearance on Ben Clymer Presents—but in this episode, he gets the full Talking Watches treatment, sitting down with us to walk through his collection, including how it started, the time a family Rolex was stolen (and remains missing), and the story behind his Tweety Bird Baby G. After more than a decade on tour, Mitchell remains one of the most likable guys in the game, and that comes through in his collection. There are some serious Rolex and Patek Philippe pieces, sure, but he's just as enthusiastic about his G-Shock. He draws a parallel between watches a...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The new Unimatic Swimming Pool Collection pairs shimmering poolside dials with the obscure Seiko VH31A quartz movement across six limited references.
Hodinkee
What We Know If the current generation of Jaeger-LeCoultre's Polaris didn't quite do it for you, namely in the 42mm case sizes across the board in the Polaris lineup, this new 40mm version of the Polaris Date might just be a more compelling option. The new 40mm steel case is not only smaller in diameter, but actually thinner too, measuring 12.9mm compared to 13.92mm with the 42mm casing. No, it doesn't make for a slim time-and-date watch, but it's still an improvement for the sporty case. The new diameter, paired with an already compact lug profile, means that this version of the Polaris should be quite wearable for an even smaller subset of wrists now. Dial-wise, this 40mm Polaris Date uses the same lacquered fumé blue dial as the 42mm version, with a dramatically gradient sunray-brushed center section surrounded by a snailed minutes track and an outer grained section for the applied markers and date window. The inner bezel, complete with orange accents, is controlled through the second crown at 4 o'clock and can be used to track elapsed time. But while the dial doesn't offer anything new in the way of color, there are actually two small details modified from the 42mm version that I think are major improvements. First is the positioning of the Jaeger-LeCoultre logo, now placed in the center brushed section rather than crammed right underneath the "12" markers in the 42mm version. And thankfully, "Automatique" is now gone from the dial, leaving only "Swiss Made" at the ...
Hodinkee
In two recent conversations, I repeated my frequently used adage: "I can't collect the watches, so I collect the knowledge." This was said when talking to two world-class collectors; one has one of the most complete collections of Patek Philippe split-second wristwatches, and the other has probably the most important collection of Lange, F.P. Journe, and historical watches in the world. Both of them said the same thing, which I'll paraphrase. "I didn't have the money to collect these watches until X years ago, but before that, I was learning." That's why I own a lot of books—even if I probably will never reach those heights—and I'm always looking for more. Knowledge means a lot. Watch books often fall into two categories: either overly esoteric, with a ton of information, or overly broad, without a ton of information but with a lot of nice pictures. I have a bit of each, but I find myself returning to the former most often. You can glean a lot of information from books like AP's "20th Century Complicated Watches" or Patek Philippe's two-volume museum collection tomes, but you only need them once or twice a year. My books on Rolex Day-Dates or Khanjar Daytonas are awesome, but a bit less visited after the first pass. Dr. Helmut Crott's "The Dial" is maybe the most important book on my shelf, but sometimes more information than I want to sit and mindlessly digest. Taschen's new two-volume offering, "Ultimate Collectors Watches" by Charlotte and Peter Fiell, bridges the g...
Time+Tide
Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Only a month ago in this very column, we had just about got over the new release season, but I alerted you all to the fact that we were far from done. Technically, we’re halfway through 2026 now, and it feels like every week there’s been at least one … Continued
SJX Watches
For episode 42 of the SJX Podcast, we visited Roventa-Henex chief executive Jérôme Biard at the company’s secretive manufacture in the sleepy Swiss village of Tavannes. The discussion covers the emergence of the ‘micro-brand’ (including whether that term is still relevant), the factors facing the Swiss watch industry today, the role suppliers play in shaping trends, and what it takes to start a watch company. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Hodinkee
Congrats on conquering another week, even if this one felt particularly expensive with the loss of Sonny Rollins. I know jazz is probably supremely uncool, but man oh man, if you've not had any experience listening to old Sonny stuff, pull up his classic The Bridge and dive on in (and, yes, his time out, alone, practicing sax on the Williamsburg Bridge, lent the album its title). But you're not here for that sort of cultural enrichment. Let's get to the real stuff. Scorekeeping earlier picks, the Hamilton RAF from two weeks back sold for €1,600, which is a cheering result. Last week's Omega Marine Chronometer went for CHF 2,000, the Marvin "Ocean Chief" sold for $1,000, and Rare Bird's Jaeger-LeCoultre Étrier sold as well. Strays Photo courtesy GALERIE DES VENTES D'ORLEANS. Photo courtesy Craft + Tailored. Photo courtesy Bonhams. Here's a beautiful Zenith Respirator on its original Zenith-signed NSA bracelet for all you square-cased Ballers to start things off. The Dennison ALD Dual Time seemed to scratch an unsuspected itch for a lot of folks, and certainly there are excellent vintage examples of double-dialed watches, but if you happen to find yourself hooked on the idea that more=better regarding dials, boy oh boy is this 18k gold Chopard with its four separate dials for you (with, yes, four separate manual-wind movements, for the fidgeters among us). Girard Perregaux alarms look fantastic for eschewing the typical fourth hand for setting the alarm, and this example ...
Hodinkee
William Stafford wrote, "I'd just as soon be pushed by events to where I belong." While I wouldn't claim it is great or wise to have a single line from a single poem weigh too heavily on anyone's life, those dozen words have exerted a monumental pull in my own existence. I'm not by nature much of a planner, and the line offered itself as a little sophisticated rejoinder I could tell myself when confronting my chaotic life, but I also think the wisdom the line offers is useful. And you're sitting there at your computer or on your phone going "Dude, I came here to see watches, not some diatribe about poetry or chaos or whatever," but the line, oddly, has played out in my own life in watches more than anywhere else. If you're familiar with Bring A Loupe as it has existed over the years, you've maybe noticed I include fewer dealer picks than was common in the past, and I am 100% blaming a line from an old poem for that. While I know there's nothing inherently better or worse about buying watches through auctions or dealers, auctions are most interesting to me because of their inherent unpredictability. Over a decade ago, a vintage Tudor Ranger popped up on eBay. It was cheap enough that I wouldn't lose money selling it if I didn't like it, so I bought it. I thought nothing at all of whether I loved the watch, had never had any deep desire for that particular model—it's just what was there, that day. Most of the watches I've fallen hardest for—a '69 Speedmaster on Craigslis...
Hodinkee
What We Know For me, a De Bethune has to take a cue from Miles Davis. It better be "Kind of Blue." Over at EsperLuxe, the indie retailer outside of Boston, it seems like they agree with me. There are a few firsts in the new DB27 "Night Hawk," at least for the DB27 collection. Normally called the "Titan Hawk," it's previously come in a slightly more straightforward package, with concentric "microlight" circles engraved on the dial, the patented articulating lugs, and the crown at 12 o'clock. But there are many features here that the DB27 hasn't had before. For the first time, a titanium flame-blued "Starry Sky" motif appears on the dial, with stars laid out to mark the date and location where EsperLuxe finalized its partnership with De Bethune in 2021. Not new, but a good look, are the printed silver Roman numerals on the sloping middle dial, the printed railroad track, and the 5-minute intervals. The watch features mirror-polished flame-blued titanium hands with silver tips. The case is polished grade 5 titanium, with a midcase engraved in De Bethune's microlight style. But the kicker is the super-cool (again, first time ever) matte-blue titanium short, articulating lugs. I know that it's weird to go on and on about lugs, but some of you haven't had a chance to try on a De Bethune. Yes, the case is 43mm in diameter, 9mm thick (which is pretty good, considering it has an automatic movement), but with the hinge on the lugs, the lug can vary in range from about 50mm to 47mm...
Time+Tide
Apologies for missing last week’s appointment; there were simply too many great watches to cover without making the selection overly long. If you’d like to catch up on everything, you can check out our full coverage of Watches and Wonders here. That said, the past seven days didn’t slow down at all. De Bethune introduced … Continued
Fratello
This year, I wasn’t looking for something I could own. This year’s Watches and Wonders, I was ready to be amazed, surprised, and blown away by impressive stuff. I was in the mood for complications, not retro-chic dress watches or buffed-up icons. Well, the salon didn’t disappoint, and the participating brands made it complicated for […] Visit It’s Complicated To Choose: Lex’s Three Favorite Watches And Wonders 2026 Releases to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
What better way to celebrate the first day of Windup Watch Fair San Francisco than playing padel on the scenic shoreline of the bay! Join Worn & Wound and our friends from Frederique Constant in collaboration with Pro Padel League on Friday, May 1, 2026, from 6:30–8:30 PM for an evening of food, fun, physical activity. Whether you’re a padel pro or it’s your first time with a pala in-hand, all are welcome to come celebrate this incredible new partnership of heritage watches and cutting edge athletes. Experts can walk you through the basics of the game, or challenge you in the next set. There’ll be bites, beverages, and exclusive swag to commemorate the collaboration and its commitment to redefine tradition with new energy and contemporary culture. Members of the Frederique Constant, Pro Padel League, and Worn & Wound teams will be in attendance to talk shop and hit the courts. Hope to see you there in your best athleisure! Bring your sneakers! Friday, May 1, 2026 6:30-8:30PM Park Padel Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco An RSVP is required to attend. Please RSVP in the form below to register once for each person in your party. The post Frederique Constant and Pro Padel League Invite You to Party at Park Padel on Day One of Windup SF appeared first on Worn & Wound.
Deployant
DEPLOYANT - The watch magazine for collectors, by collectors We got our hands on with our favourites from Piaget this WWG26, and here are the highlights. First up the Piaget Polo Signature, now the release with a stone solalite dial. The dial is made in gold with the gadroons which is inspired by the original Piaget Polo. Then the sodalite, a hard stone is [...] The post Live from WWG26: new releases of Piaget appeared first on DEPLOYANT.
Time+Tide
Piaget flexes its stone dial mastery at Watches and Wonders 2026, debuting a new Polo 79 Sodalite, Polo Perpetual Calendar Onyx, and more.The post Piaget leans into stone dials for Watches and Wonders 2026 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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