Best Super NEWS Watches
Introducing: The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Perpetual Calendar
In a couple of days, we'll be heading to Geneva for the SIHH, but already many of the new watches are starting to hit our inboxes. Their press releases, that is. Not actual watches.? Here we have a perpetual-calendar version of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato presented in stainless steel. All the tell-tale elements of the Laureato are there C the integrated bracelet, the octogonal bezel, and the clous de Paris dial. This watch, however, adds GP's perpetual calendar movement to the equation.? Initial Thoughts The display itself eschews the more commonly seen symmetrical layouts t...
Happenings: The Horological Society Of New York To Hold Weekend Classes In San Diego And Chicago
The Horological Society of New York's award-winning classes are on the road again! Classes will be held in San Diego, California, over the weekend of February 2-3, hosted by Passion Fine Jewelry. Next, over the weekend of February 16-17, HSNY heads to Chicago, Illinois, for classes hosted by Oak & Oscar. At HSNY's Horological Education classes, students discover what actually makes a watch tick. The hands-on classes are taught by HSNY's staff of professional watchmakers. Students work on a mechanical watch movement, studying the gear train, winding and setting mechanisms, and escapement. The weekend half-day classes cover everything taught during the individu...
In-Depth: Five Things I Learned About The Royal Oak From AP's New Anniversary Book
Audemars Piguet has a new book out!?Published by Assouline and written by British GQ veteran Bill Prince, Royal Oak: From Iconoclast To Icon is an inside look at the 50-year history of the legendary luxury sport watch. Across 287 pages, the text digs deep into the Audemars Piguet archives to unearth behind-the-scenes details of the Royal Oak's initial development and release, focusing on the business decisions of former AP CEO Georges Golay, the creative choices made by the one-and-only Grald Genta, and the powerful influence of Audemars Piguet's distribution network.? Audemars Piguet was kind enough to send me an advance copy o...
Pre-Owned Tudor Picks From the Hodinkee Shop
The Tudor Rose was a symbol of English kings, so when Rolex C who were originally based in England C wanted to make a second brand, the king chose the same symbol. Tudor was always meant to be the less expensive brand in the foundations lineup, and as a result, we saw in the early days that Tudor was often made from the spare parts bin at Rolex. However, since Tudor released the Heritage Black Bay in 2012, they have found their own identity and have become an industry favorite by offering some of the best watches in their price range, introducing in-house movements, with some watches even becoming METAS-certified. Tudor has grown out from under the shadow of Rolex to earn a loyal following a...
The office is dead, long live the office. Whether you're headed back or COVID actually managed to eradicate the word office from your vocabulary (as a writer, it's never really been in mine), I'm going to imagine most of us have times when we need to be "around colleagues in a professional capacity" which I would say is close enough to "going to work." This means you'll need a watch that makes your co-workers envious of you, and sufficiently intimidated. You don't want them to be so cowed by your sense of style that they can barely speak in your presence, but maybe just enough that they won't text during ?Zoom meetings when you have the floor. I am traveling for work right now, and meeting l...
New Vintage Watches In The Hodinkee Shop
To view the entire current selection of vintage watches available in the Hodinkee Shop, click here. This Week's Vintage Watches With Labor Day passing and the unofficial end of summer here in the US, these first few weeks of September can feel like a period of winding down from highs. While we all kick back and relax before buckling down into the end of 2022, the selection of vintage watches in the Hodinkee Shop is poised to ramp up. Over the next few weeks, our team will be offering more great examples of the most asked-about vintage watches. In search of an early glossy-dial Explorer ref. 1016? We've got you covered this week. Did y...
Omega Speedmaster Automatic (Reduced) Ref. 3510.50.00
It's not like there was anything wrong with the classic Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch. It's one of the most recognizable watches of all time. But in the late 1980s, Omega wanted a way to get the Speedmaster on more wrists. Enter the Omega Speedmaster Automatic, also known as the Speedmaster Reduced (reference 3510.50.00). Wrist size: 5.5in (13.97cm) In 1988, Omega introduced the Speedmaster Automatic as a practical, everyday alternative to the classic Moonwatch. At 39mm, it was a few millimeters smaller than the Moonwatch, making it more wearable for more folks. It owes its Automatic name to the Omega caliber 3220 ticking inside...
I have a question for you: How many black dialed-dive watches do you own? The black dial, black bezel format has long been the central aesthetic for the dive watch derived from the format's intensely toolish origin story. But today, SCUBA diving has finned well beyond its military start to become a safe and exciting leisure sport. Furthermore, watches aren't even commonly used as a safety device for diving C so can't we all have a little fun? For the young British brand Farer, the answer is a resounding "yes," and the brand's latest dive watch, the AquaMatic, applies Farer's boldly colorful charm to a dive watch that should suit ...
Hodinkee Radio Podcast Geneva Watch Days And Apple Goes Ultra
We're back from summer break with Danny and Logan joining me for a chat about all the new watches to come out over the past few weeks. From Geneva Watch Days, to the new Pelagos 39, and even an early consideration of the new Apple Watch Ultra, there's a little something for everyone this week and it was a blast to hear about Logan's experiences in both Geneva and Cupertino.? As mentioned in the episode, HODINKEE Radio will be moving to an every-other-week publishing schedule for the foreseeable future. Thank you so much for listening and if we missed your favorite release from the past few weeks, do let us know in the comments.? ...
The New Futuristically Fluid HYT Hastroid Supernova Blue
Fresh off of HYT's revival, earlier this year, with its Hastroid Green Nebula, the brand has announced a new color of the watch with an equally out-of-this-world name, Supernova Blue. With the brand's signature bellows-driven liquid hour display, the watch pulls aesthetics from HYT's Supernova Blue Moon Runner and pairs them with the company's time-only format. The HYT Hastroid Supernova Blue is sizable. Its anthracite-coated titanium and carbon case measures 48mm wide, 52mm long, and 17.2mm tall, but when you see all that case contains, and the complexities of the case itself (with 64 components), it's easy to understand why it's so large. The case features a do...
Dubai Watch Week In New York City
As the watch world continues to return to a full slate of events, trade shows, and meet-ups in the post-pandemic era, Dubai Watch Week, as a part of their Horology Forum concept, is filling the year between their biennial trade show with a new event called "Moves New York," which will take place in New York City on September 24th and 25th. For those who might find traveling to New York now a bit easier than a trip to Dubai in 2023, "Moves New York" C Horology Forum's 8th Edition C features a packed calendar with a diverse slate of big names from a variety of industries leading panels, hands-on workshops, and interactive activations throughout the weekend. ...
Best Hodinkee Comments Week of August 29
Hello and happy Sunday. We're back with another call-and-response where our editors answer some of the most pressing comments of the week. Please continue the happy cycle by commenting on the comments in the comments. Time is flat circle.? Why We Keep Covering Royal Oak Variations The story: Logan Baker kindly introduces us to the new Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon and Royal Blue Ceramic Perpetual Calendar.? The comments: "I have some kind of fascination for 'swimming pool' dials I always love these dials that you'd want to wear by or in a swimming pool know w...
Tim Murray Discusses His Uncle's Breitling Blackbird Chronomat
In?Watch of the Week, we invite HODINKEE staffers and friends to tell us a personal story they have about a watch. The author of today's feature is Tim Murray, Senior Sales Manager of Brand Partnerships at HODINKEE. He's telling us the story of his uncle's Breitling Blackbird Chronomat from 1996. I wore this watch nearly every day for a decade. It was on my wrist all throughout college, during interviews, and on business trips and vacations. From weddings to weekdays in the office,?you name it,?this Breitling was on my wrist. But the watch was on a different path in New York from 1996 to 2001; its life started very differently.This Breitling Blackbird Chronomat w...
HSNY Announces The Simon Willard Award For School Watches
The Horological Society of New York (HSNY) recently announced a new financial aid initiative for watchmaking students in the U.S. the Simon Willard Award for School Watches. Watchmaking schools often ask their students to create a school watch before graduation, allowing students to showcase the multitude of skills learned in watchmaking school. The finished product can be the first step towards independent watchmaking an art that preserves traditional watchmaking techniques. Making school watches is important, and HSNY wants to help motivate watchmaking students to go the extra mile in their last school project. This award is named for Simon Willard, a pione...
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon RD#3 37mm purple
Recently announced as part of Audemars Piguet's ongoing celebration of the Royal Oak's 50th birthday, this is the new Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Extra-Thin RD#3 and it has a very purple dial. While this is far from the brand's first time fitting a Royal Oak with a purple dial, the dial isn't the only change to the RD#3 platform. Just as Mark teased in his introduction for the 39mm blue dial 26670 back in April, the new 26660ST wraps that metallic purple dial in a 37mm steel case. Maintaining the same 8.1mm thickness of the 39mm RD#3, the new 37mm model is also water resistant to 50 meters and has a steel bracelet wit...
Sotheby's To Auction Off Gaston Rahier's Unique Cartier Cheich
There's a long history of watches being gifted to the winners of motorsport races and rallies. Rolex is likely the most famous practitioner, awarding a special Daytona to each of the winners of the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona endurance races. The watches used as the prizes for these events are typically variants of an existing production model, featuring a special engraving, material, or colorway; they aren't unique pieces specially conceived for the occasion. There is always an exception to the rule, and in this case, the outlier comes from 1980s Cartier, when Alain Dominique Perrin, the jeweler's then-CEO...
You Should Be Able To Watch TV On Your Apple Watch
While our modern world has brought innovations and technologies the likes of which few of us could have predicted, there are still some promises of the future that have yet to become a functioning reality. In a recent post on The Verge, writer Andrew Marino rehashes the dream of watching television on your wrist. Sure, it's a bit of a silly premise, but within a limited use case, I think he might be on to something. ? Unlike flying cars, teleportation, or hoverboards that can actually hover, the technology to deliver elements of a TV-like experience to our wrist is literally at our fingertips. But, just because we can doesn't always mean that we should, and manuf...
Talking Watches With Cooper Zelnick of Cloister Watch Co.
Earlier this month, on this very website, we published a brilliantly persuasive story that said custom watches are awesome and should no longer be taboo. Okay, fine, it was my story. And in the days that followed, I heard from many like-minded souls who would love a little more control over what they put on their wrists.? For all of you who agree C?and also for those of you who still aren't sure C I'd like to introduce you to Cooper Zelnick. He's the founder of Cloister Watch Co., which is a tiny New York City studio devoted to restoring, refurbishing, and (yes!) reimagining vintage watches.? Zelnick ...
Santos de Cartier Medium Steel and Gold
Back in 2018, Cartier relaunched the Santos de Cartier. In a world where the term "icon" is so overused as to be nearly meaningless, we skipped such hackneyed characterizations when we went A Week on the Wrist with the Santos C instead, simply describing it ?as "one hell of a watch." A few years later, that phrase still pretty much sums it up. What else is there to say about a design that's been around since 1904? About a watch that was doing exposed screws on the bezel 70 years before it was cool? About a watch that's been on the wrist of everyone from Gordon Gekko to?Adrian Brody?to?Jesse Plemons? Wrist Size: 6.5in | 16.51cm ...
Why Are Custom Watches Controversial?
Before joining up with HODINKEE, I worked for Levi's. And one thing everybody there agreed upon was that our jeans were meant to be, as we put it, "a blank canvas for personal expression." In the creative department, we practically had that phrase tattooed inside our eyelids. We were always showing our customers how to customize their 501s. Rip them, cuff them, patch them, stitch them. Splatter them with paint. Whatever. Just make them your own. When I arrived in the watch world, I was startled to see that this is emphatically not how things work. The norm here is to preserve originality at all costs. Watches depreciate in value when you start messing with ...