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If you love De Bethune and you love green, you will find this new version of the DB27 Titan Hawk mesmerizing. And its verdant, microlight-finished dial center isn't all there is to love: unusually for De Bethune, the Titan Hawk is now powered by an automatic movement.
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The first day of Watches and Wonders 2021 highlighted that green is not a trend color anymore; it is a movement. Martin Green (perhaps unsurprisingly) has always had a particular fondness for his namesake color and thought it was good time to zoom in on five very different watches introduced during the fair that put green on center stage.
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Chambertin, one of the truly great names in the world of wine, is an appellation created in 1937. The range of vineyards throughout the region, different makers, and various vintages all provide variations on the theme, but in general these wines tend to the fuller, firmer style of Burgundy. Ken Gargett explains why these wines are so special.
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The Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver is a very solid new diver’s watch from a brand focused on haute couture and whimsical timepieces more than practical tool watches. It's very good but Joshua Munchow isn't quite convinced that it's "all killer, no filler." He explains why here.
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Elizabeth Doerr takes a look at five of Van Cleef & Arpels’s artful SIHH 2018 introductions from the Le Jardin (“Garden”) collection and compares them with their natural namesake blooms.
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Please join this Quill & Pad round table discussion in which we discuss what we did and didn’t like at the inaugural (and hopefully final) digital edition of Watches and Wonders Geneva 2021. There were plenty of highs and more than a few lows during the week-long watch fest, and a sheer avalanche of new watches.
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A world-class micro-engineer, industrial designer, metalwork artist and accountant walk into a bar, and the barman asks . . . yes, Marton Radkai is talking about independent watchmaker Paul Gerber. Find out more about this genius right here!
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The Cohiba Maduro 5 consists of three cigars – all using maduro leaf as wrapper, which gives the cigars a much darker, almost chocolaty appearance. These are upper leaves that have been through fermentation but have seen five years' worth of aging, more than twice the norm. And that's only part of why Ken Gargett thinks these Cuban cigars are so special.
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The Grand Seiko Nature of Time is a collection of four watches celebrating the Japanese system of dividing the year into 24 small seasons called sekki. Two of the watches have stainless steel cases and are powered by a mechanical high-beat caliber, while the other two are housed in titanium and run on Spring Drive Caliber 9R65. And let's have a look at those 'seasoned' dials!
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Absolutely nobody needs an expensive high-end mechanical belt buckle built like an expensive high-end wristwatch. But then nobody needs an expensive high-end wristwatch either. For those with deep pockets and an itch that another Richard Mille, F.P. Journe, or Greubel Forsey timepiece can’t scratch, the Roland Iten R18 Superdriver might just do the trick.
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In his occasional series on great wines of the world, Ken Gargett tells the story of an extraordinary pigeon pair, Lindeman’s Twin Bin wines from 1965, the Hunter Burgundies Bin 3110 and Bin 3100. Their story is fascinating and includes drought, overproduction, grapes that were far riper than usual when picked, and a mysterious dollop of Pinot Noir. The result is one of the world's greatest wines.
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It would be relatively easy, and pretty interesting, for GaryG to tell you the story of his two days one summer with artist Alexa Meade and her team. And he’ll get to that, but there’s more: the flood of sensations and emotions that came from considering why time and space are so important to him and from inhabiting a work of art that melded GaryG's vision of himself with the artist’s interpretation and self-expression. And there was even a watch.
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Back in 1988, Chronoswiss was the first brand to bring the regulator display to the wrist. Recently at Watches & Wonders 2021 the company presented several new regulator-style watches in a variety of stunning colors and techniques. Anders Modig shares five of his favorites here.
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In recent years, the world of high-end watches has become a far more colorful place. We have evolved from decades of conservatism in which a blue dial was daring to a kaleidoscopic era where anything is possible. And now it's red's turn, which has the advantage of the richness of hues available. Here Martin Green looks at 4 new red-dialed watches from Bell & Ross, Oris, Rado, and Omega.
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Our planet earth is not doing so swell. Hoping to make a difference, Panerai experiments with new materials and ways to promote conservation. Here Joshua Munchow looks at the brand's innovative use of recycling materials in the new Submersible eLAB-ID PAM1225 and Luminor Marina eSteel watches among other initiatives.
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A fellow journalist friend asked Elizabeth Doerr for a subjective listing of her “top” Patek Philippe watches of the twenty-first century. In her article, though, she cited only one of Elizabeth's top five choices. So here Elizabeth shares the full list. You may be surprised at some of her very subjective picks.
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In the world of fine Swiss watchmaking, the name Breitling is synonymous with top-notch chronographs. And in the 2021 Premier Heritage collection, Breitling commemorates its technical pioneers Léon, Gaston, and Willy Breitling with three new very attractive vintage-style chronographs.
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England’s 'Decanter' magazine's judges selected the House of Arras E.J. Carr Late Disgorged 2004 as the best sparkling wine of 2020 against top competition including the 2006 Krug champagne. Here Ken Gargett takes a look at just how good this Tasmanian wine producer is.
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The perpetual calendar (along with the split-seconds chronograph) ranks among Martin Green's favorite complications. Here he highlights 5 perpetual calendars that caught his eye during Watches & Wonders 2021.
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As the resident gentleman of Quill & Pad, Martin Green feels that the time is soon approaching to write an obituary announcing the death of the dress watch. He thinks that its passing is coming and it's not an isolated event. But it still hurts.
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Unisex watches are the future. As watches continue the trend to smaller sizes, unisex styles are a natural progression allowing brands to market their watches to more people. Martin Green highlights 5 sensibly sized watches from Watches & Wonders 2021 that he thinks will look good on the wrists of all genders.
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The Nomos Metro Neomatik 41 Update was introduced at Watches & Wonders 2021. As Nomos enthusiasts might conclude from the name, it sees the brand’s latest interesting date complication, first seen in 2018, introduced into the progressive Metro line.
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The 180th anniversary of Dresden’s famous Semper Opera takes place on April 12, 2021. Home to the Saxon State Opera and the Saxon State Orchestra concert hall, the historic building also features the innovative Five-Minute Clock, which was the inspiration for A. Lange & Söhne's now iconic large date. Sabine Zwettler shares the story behind this clock and how it inspired the most powerful visual element of A. Lange & Söhne's Lange 1.
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Joshua Munchow highlights five pieces from some of our favorite independent brands that have just been released at Watches & Wonders 2021. From sapphire crystal-encased tourbillons and constant force fusée-and-chain-powered movements to stunning art pieces, these watches span genres and the spectrum of collector dreams.
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Ken Gargett thinks that the 2001 Château d’Yquem is the finest young wine he has ever experienced, red or white, and remains convinced that it will go down as one of the greatest Yquems, if not the greatest of all time. But he was also able to experience something else: drinking "twin" vintages of this amazing Sauternes.
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The chronograph remains one of the most popular complications – and for a good reason. While most of us only use it as a mobile egg timer, chronographs both add a lot of dynamic to the look of a watch and give the wearer a sense of control. Watches & Wonders 2021 is not short on chronographs, which come in their usual wide variety of interpretations. Martin Green highlights five of the most interesting from the digital fair.
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While it was the UR-103 that first brought Urwerk attention from serious watch aficionados, it was the Harry Winston Opus V that really launched the boutique independent brand to the world. Ian Skellern takes a trip down memory lane with a deep dive into the history of Urwerk, the story of the Opus V, and a review of the UR-103.03.
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Transparency fascinates Elizabeth Doerr, who believes there’s no better way to reveal the inner workings of something and build an intimate relationship to it than to remove the covers. Here she shares four fascinating sapphire crystal-encased watches from Watches & Wonders 2021. Let there be light!
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In 2021, Corum releases several new Admiral timepieces, all with variations of the much-loved original colorful pennants marking the hours on the dial. But the pinnacle of these new additions is the Admiral 45 Automatic Openworked Flying Tourbillon Carbon & Gold as Elizabeth Doerr explains.
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It isn’t likely to come as a surprise that many brands today are putting their own twist on the sporty spirit of modern watchmaking. However, it may come as a surprise that Hermès is joining them. Elizabeth Doerr recently had the chance to enjoy a week with three variations of the new H08 and shares her thoughts and feelings on them here.
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