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The Arceau model has become the canvas of choice for Hermès to express itself in more artistic ways. Over the years, this has resulted in tantalizing creations, each surprising in its own right. This is also true of Hermès’s latest model, the unexpected Arceau The Three Graces.
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Since its launch in April 2021, the watch world has been at odds with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Marvel Black Panther Flying Tourbillon. And while it has polarized opinions, that didn't stop it from selling out quickly. Now Christie's has the first Black Panther up for auction at its online "The Marvelous Sale."
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Charlie Watts passed away on August 24, 2021, at the age of 80 after having been hospitalized for heart problems. He had been the beat-keeper for the Rolling Stones for half a century. Unlike his bandmates, the famed drummer of the Rolling Stones kept a low profile, and so identifying his watches wasn't easy . . . but we managed to spot one.
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Mumm Champagne has wonderful history, but then for a period it seemed to descend into little more than a discount producer. More recently, there appeared to be a serious intent to return to the glory days when this house was seen as one of the greats. Ken Gargett thinks that Mumm's RSRV R. Lalou 2006 is a revelation. Rich and complex with honeycomb notes and some butterscotch. Great length. Finely balanced.
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With its bronze case, deep red dial, and dark brown strap, the Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver Red Bronze captures the essence of the aesthetics of the best of 1970s design: dark richness. It’s also why Joshua Munchow loves it and thinks it may be his favorite BR 03-92 to date.
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The Opus 5 by Felix Baumgartner/Urwerk for Harry Winston is one of the best of this series of exceptional timepieces. But, as this drawing by Urwerk designer Martin Frei from June of 2003 shows, one of the original ideas behind Urwerk’s Opus 5 was a digital display in a model christened with the working title "Time Bandit." Check out this superb almost-was timepiece!
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A client once asked John Keil if there are any benefits to using automatic watch winders. The short answer is that he has two viewpoints on them. Click to learn the pros and cons as he sees them.
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The “great lockdown of 2020” gifted us with something outstanding: from the depths of an anxiety-inducing existence arose an online exhibition called “The Persistence of Memory,” which can be described as an !online museum" honoring some of the most influential and important independent watchmakers of the modern era. Here Elizabeth Doerr speaks with its creator Michael Tay for an inside view on what this "exhibition" surveying 50 years of independent watchmaking is. And what it isn't.
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While the last 18 months have wreaked havoc on the big (and not so big) watch fairs – and everything else – there have been two rays of horological sunshine in the last couple of years: in November 2019 (just months before COVID-19 hit) the biannual Dubai Watch Week took place, which was bigger and better than ever. And then in August 2020 the inaugural Geneva Watch Days was held during a lull in the pandemic and it was superb. Here Ian Skellern explains why these two fairs have become his favorites.
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A collaboration between renowned watch designer Alain Silberstein and the founder and director of the Utinam Besançon clock manufacture, Philippe Lebru, this imposing, colorful timekeeper meets the eye and runs away with it.
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Breguet has a stronger legacy than nearly any other brand and is strongest in Joshua Munchow's opinion when it drifts more toward heritage than trends. A great example of this is the Breguet Type XX Only Watch 2021, a historically inspired version that does away with the aspects Joshua isn't a fan of in the current Type XX/XXI collection. And its auction price will be fully donated for a great cause.
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Oskar Pascal is the brainchild of a pair of Swedish brothers who were neither previously involved in the watch industry nor are they watchmakers. The engineer and designer have created a cleanly designed chronograph housed within the world's first watch case in ZR01, an amorphous alloy based on zirconium, one of the hardest metals in the world and even used by NASA. And then there are the Pods!
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To’ak makes chocolate, but not as you know it. This is manna from heaven, or perhaps chocolate from angels. Ken Gargett takes a deep dive into what is quite possibly the world's finest chocolate.
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Philippe Dufour's daughter Daniela has now completed her formal watchmaker studies and has begun working with her famous independent watchmaker father. Notably, she just completed her first new-generation Simplicity.
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With the 2020/2021 Olympic Games now in the (record) books, Nick Gould and Elizabeth Doerr can look back on a record number of watch spots for one event – but they certainly didn’t flag up every single watch they noticed. Here Elizabeth shares a listing of ten athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games who wore watches while competing by Omega, the official sponsor of the Olympic Games.
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Chris Malburg highlights some of the finest examples of perpetual calendar watches today and dives into their history.
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When Nancy Olson first saw the Breguet Reine de Naples at Baselworld many years ago, she remembers being taken by its absolute gorgeousness. It was so much more than a jewelry watch and it seemed to be made just for her wrist. Many years and many “try-ons” later, the Reine de Naples is Breguet’s flagship ladies collection, the most recent of which is the Reine de Naples 8938, which is available in two beautifully diamond-set versions.
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Penfolds has recently launched the annual release of its wines, which the winemaker calls “the Collection,” and a couple of stellar new wines have joined the fold: the Superblends. However, it's the Grange that everyone wants to try, and Ken Gargett does. Luckily for us he tastes everything else too!
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The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Skelet-One Tourbillon is a more complicated version of the original Grande Seconde Skelet-One in which an inverted dial and streamlined skeleton architecture made for an impressive watch. This even more impressive version has also spawned a one-off piece for the 2021 Only Watch charity auction beautified by artistic plique-à-jour enamel.
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One of the inconveniences associated with COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings was that GaryG's local watch gang hadn’t been meeting in person so he wasn't able to borrow interesting watches to shoot. However, just prior to the lockdown in California he did pick up an intriguing piece from a pal: the Anniversary by Vianney Halter.
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Glenfiddich Grand Cru is a malt that is finely crafted and utterly superb according to Ken Gargett. Whether it offers value for money is up to each individual, but he thinks that there is no question that it's a really lovely whisky with some unexpected notes.
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Tim Mosso of YouTube and Watchbox fame recently hosted Elizabeth Doerr again on his podcast, “Talking Time With Tim” (episode 21). They discuss some of their favorite new watch releases so far in 2021, the democratization of independent watch brands and their products, and the brilliance of one their mutually favorite designers, Alain Silberstein. Give it a listen!
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The lead single from the new collaborative album by Tom Morello and The Bloody Beetroots is called “Radium Girls,” and its lyrics cannot be mistaken for anything other than what they are: a tribute to watchmaking’s Radium Girls. And Elizabeth Doerr is enamored of the music, too. Give it a listen!
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The Watches TV founder Marc André Deschoux shares his thoughts on celebrity watch brand ambassadors, starting with Tudor and David Beckham, which he personally felt was counterproductive: so much so that the announcement pushed him to not make a Tudor purchase he was leaning toward.
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Fino Viña Corrales Pago Balbaína is phenomenal sherry. Ken Gargett thinks that it is not simply an aperitif or simple quaffer, but a serious wine that should take its place at the table as a great white deserves. Here he gives us some history and tasting notes on the exceptional Spanish white.
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The new UR-100V P.02 brings together three parties: in addition to Urwerk and Collective, the project will benefit New York’s Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. And for GaryG it’s an example of combining concepts that at first glance seem contradictory: collaboration and exclusivity. In space.
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As our eagle-eyed spotter Nick Gould has remarked, not all sports are wristwatch friendly. But luckily there have been some athletes wearing watches while competing, and he and Elizabeth Doerr have seen a few interesting timepieces competing along with their owners in the Olympics. Together, they present four wrists to watch at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
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GaryG's charming wife MrsG is perhaps most enthusiastic about her collection of Southwestern Native American arts and jewelry, but let’s take a look at her interesting watches, which include excellent examples from Jaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Alain Silberstein, Audemars Piguet, and more.
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In eighteenth-century England, a typical sign outside a gin shop read, “Drunk for a penny. Dead drunk for twopence. Clean straw for nothing.” But by the twentieth century Sir Winston Churchill reported that, “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” Ken Gargett fills his glass and takes a look at the evolution of gin. Cheers!
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A.H.C.I. co-founder Svend Andersen has more than three decades of experience creating world time watches, and the stunning Andersen Genève Tempus Terrae Celestial Voyager, a limited edition commissioned by Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie (BCHH), is one of his best.
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