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Best Super NEWS Watches
Taking An Omega Speedmaster Professional For Omega Authorized Service
The problem of getting a watch serviced Cwhen to do it, whether to do it, and whether its worth it Cis something many of us prefer to avoid for as long as possible, and for several fairly transparent reasons.?First of all, it can be expensive Canywhere from the cost of a decent dinner and drinks for two in Manhattan, to something approaching the price of a fairly decent car, depending on the watch, the maker of the watch, whos doing the watchmaking, and how much needs to be done to get the watch working again. ?Secondly, it takes a while. ?We all know that as a general rule, good work and fast work dont go hand in hand, but it can come as a nasty shock to hear that it is going to be sever...
The Unique Blancpain Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar Wristwatch For The Only Watch Auction
Blancpain has just released a unique piece that they will be contributing to the Only Watch auction coming up in November. This year they will be donating a special and unique version of the Villeret Traditional Chinese Calendar wristwatch. The watch was exclusively designed for the Only Watch auction. The Chinese Calendar complication, developed in-house, is a tribute to the age-old culture. The dial features the hours, minutes, and the Gregorian calendar alongside the Chinese calendar's major indicators. This includes the traditional double-hour indication, day, month (with leap months), signs of the zodiac, and the five el...
Hands-On: With The Panerai Radiomir 1940 Three Days GMT Oro Rosso PAM00570
Before I start, I would like to state that this watch is big. Nay, HUGE. If you are a vintage 36 mm case lover (male or female), you may want to avert your eyes. The Radiomir 1940 3 Days GMT Oro Rosso (PAM00570) was released in April of this year and is the latest special edition from Panerai. It is the first Radiomir 1940 to feature the new caliber P.300/10 movement with 72-hour power reserve. With only 300 pieces in production, it is the newest addition to the Radimoir 1940 family and it is a good mix of flash and function. First, a brief history of the Ra...
The Breguet Special Type XXI Chronograph In Platinum For The Only Watch Auction
Breguet has announced that it will be donating a unique Platinum Chronograph Type XXI to the Only Watch auction to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. The new unique piece stems from the first chronograph made by Breguet in 1935, the type XX, which was created for the French military. The Only Watch Type XXI 3813 features a special flyback function featured on the original 1950s model. This allows for the chronograph to reset to zero and restart in one smooth motion. Additionally, the minute-register is centrally located allowing for easy reading. The automatic caliber 584Q/1 movement is housed in a platinum case for the ver...
AkriviA Introduces The Tourbillon Chiming Jump Hour
Building a complicated watch is all about choices. Grand complication watches contain as many complications as possible, in a show of virtuosity. Complicated watches are more restrained, containing a selection of complications that work well together. Akrivia is doing the complication game right with their newest watch, the Tourbillon Chiming Jump Hour. At the top of the dial we see the hour chiming hammer. A chiming complication sounds the hours as they pass, not on demand like a minute repeater. It is a really fun complication that is not seen very often in wristwatches. If you need to silence the hour chime, just push the ...
Hands-On: The IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar Reference 5035
The IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar debuted this year at the SIHH, as one of the most talked-about introductions from IWC. Its essentially a variation on the Portuguese Automatic, which launched as the reference 5001 in 2004 but which was preceded by the limited edition Portuguese Automatic 2000, which housed the now-legendary IWC caliber 5000, the forefather of an entire family of movements in the Portuguese/Portugieser line of watches. (The Portuguese Automatic 2000 was available C in the year 2000, natch C in three metals C red gold, steel, and platinum C and you could buy all three as a boxed set the year they came out, for about $45,000.) The caliber 5000 featured a very technically in...
The Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Paillonne For The Only Watch Auction
Jaquet Droz has released their donation to the Only Watch auction coming up on November 7, 2015. The unique piece exemplifies what Jaquet Droz is best known for by using the historical technique of paillonn enameling. The 43 mm, 18k yellow gold case features a deep red paillon enameled dial, a technique that was handed down from the goldsmiths of the Renaissance. The motif is created by carefully placing tiny pieces of gold leaf on the dial, followed by the red Grand Feu enamel, which creates the translucent sunburst pattern and intricate trellis-work. In a...
Historical Perspectives: Four Fascinating American Watchmaking Films
Today we often see brands producing short, commercial-like videos to promote their new watches. Not very long ago, American watchmaking brands produced full-length films, detailing their manufacturing methods. These films are wonderful to watch, and remind us of an industry that has changed dramatically. For your viewing pleasure, two hours of vintage American watchmaking films C enjoy!...
Found: General Patton's Five Minute Repeating Split Second Chronograph Pocket Watch
We see a lot of watches at HODINKEE C complicated, simple, new, and vintage. Every once in a while a watch comes across our desks that makes us stop and think about history and time. Recently, we had the pleasure of seeing a unique pocket watch from the early 20th century. This gold Tiffany & Co. watch features a five minute repeating split second chronograph movement made by Patek Philippe. The engraving on the cuvette reads, "Lieut. George S. Patton U.S.A., from his Father and Mother, June 11 1909," confirming that this is General George S. Patton's pocket watch. General George S. Patton ...
The Escale Time Zone, A New Manufacture World-Timer by Louis Vuitton
Before we even get into the new Louis Vuitton world-timer, its best to start off with some horological name-dropping. Michel Navas. Enrico Barbasini. They are watchmakers whose work youve probably admired if youre familiar with Laurent Ferrier and his double spiral tourbillon. About ten years ago, Navas and Barbasini were part of a movement manufacture named BNB Concept. They made glorious hardware and specialized in tourbillons. Their bespoke calibers were housed in a couple dozen established Swiss brands, before they left BNB to start La Fabrique du Temps (LDT) circa 2007. In buying La Fabrique du Temps in 2011, Louis Vuitton (LVMH) acquired some serious talent, which immediately showed...
Bring a Loupe: A NOS-Zenith Rainbow, A Ticking Rolex Tru-Beat, A Full Set Polaris, And More
This weeks Bring A Loupe will be all about useful complications. We will look a new old stock cult classic Zenith, two very rare JLC alarm watches, a new (yes, modern!) Universal Geneve dual-time, and follow up on some truly amazing watches sold this week.This is your Bring a Loupe for July 10, 2015. A Rolex Tru-Beat 6556 Our watchmaker at HODINKEE just reviewed the nuts and bolts of the 1040 movement, the only dead-seconds complication from Rolex. It is wonderful to wear and very unassuming, except for discerning enthusiasts. To the others, you could still explain that, no, this watch is not one of ...
The beloved independent brand, NOMOS, has just announced that they will be making an addition to the Lambda collection by including a 39 mm version in three color variations. The NOMOS Lambda, which we reviewed here, was first introduced in 2013 and has since won a number of awards. Originally designed with a 42 mm case, the new 39 mm has the same in-house caliber DUW 1001 NOMOS Glashtte manual-winding movement as its predecessor. The 39 mm case is a welcome addition to the Lambda family and will be appreciated by those who may want something a little smaller than the original case size...
Introducing The MB&F MusicMachine 3, A TIE-Fighter Inspired 10th Anniversary Music Machine
MB&F, Maximilian Bsser's horologico-mechanical collective think-tank, has just announced the latest in its collaborations with Switzerland's famous maker of luxury music boxes, Reuge: the MusicMachine 3, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of MB&F.As you might have deduced from the name, this is the third collaboration between the two firms; all three draw their inspiration from the imaginary worlds of science fiction that have informed so many of MB&F's other designs. (Check out some of our exclusive coverage of the very first MusicMachine right here.) In the case of MusicMachine 3, the most obvious influence is the TIE fighter from the Star Wars series of films, although th...
Grand Seiko 55th Anniversary Spring Drive Chronograph Limited Edition
A 55th anniversary doesnt seem quite as important as, say, a 50th or a 60th, but Seiko released a new watch this weekthe Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronographthat challenges this preconceived notion. Seiko isnt notorious for releasing extortionately priced or over-the-top watches, and most consumers are familiar with their more accessible products, like the Seiko 5 line. Seiko isnt often cited as the purest embodiment of haute horlogerie, and it isnt typically considered to be luxury. Enter Grand Seiko.Since its inception in 1960, Grand Seiko has served as a higher-caliber, costlier, punchier effort to prove that Seiko can compete with the luxury Swiss playersto prove, essentially, t...
DKSH Holding AG Announces Sale Of Maurice Lacroix
Bloomberg Business has just announced that DKSH Holding AG, the owner of Swiss watch brand Maurice Lacroix, has put the brand up for sale.Bloomberg cites the surge of the Swiss franc against the euro as a major factor in "reducing the value of the revenue that Swiss watchmakers make abroad," and also says that niche fan-favorite Glycine may be sold off as well.Full story here on Bloomberg....
Talking Watches: With Jonathan Ward
Watch lovers come in all forms C whether it be news photographers turned Spanish-language talk show hosts, late 1990s hip hop stars, or just all around cool guys. Another form a watch lover might take could be that of Jonathan Ward, founder of Icon 4x4. For those who aren't familiar, Icon just might be making the most advanced and best all around SUV's on planet earth. This isn't us saying that, it's a well known fact. Jonathan Ward's Icon 4x4s are built from the ground up, keeping the vintage styling that we all love so much in the early Ford Broncos and Toyota FJ's, but now they are carbon coated, and feature absolutely cutting-edge technology. Icon makes just ...
Introducing: Manufacture Royale's 1770 Voltige, Focusing On the Escapement And Balance Wheel
Paris, France, 1764: Jeane-Antoine Lpine has the revolutionary idea of placing a watch movement's escapement and balance wheel in-line with the rest of the components. Vallorbe, Switzerland, 2015: Manufacture Royale introduces their delightful 1770 Voltige wristwatch, harkening back to a time before Lpine's calibre. The escapement is arguably the most important part of any wristwatch. Usually it is difficult see, hidden underneath the oscillating balance wheel. Manufacture Royale's 1770 Voltige brings both the escapement and the balance wheel up above the dial, making the watch a visual treat. ...
Hands-On: The Grand Seiko Spring Drive Divers 200m
The modern dive watch is in a peculiar, and some might say even precarious position, having been pursued for many years by the wrist dive computer. There is little that the divers watch can do to escape the fact that a modern dive computer has rendered it functionally redundant, but divers are nothing if not interested in equipment, and many still wear divers watches against the chance a dive computer fails C after all, in hazardous situations, redundancy in equipment is a virtue. Of course, the majority of divers watches arent worn by divers, but we still like to feel, when we wear one, that what we have on our wrist is a tough, uncompromising tool watch that isnt afraid of hard knocks...
Roger Dubuis Launches Excalibur Star Of Infinity For Watches And Wonders
Watches and Wonders Cthe September, Hong-Kong based counterpart to Januarys SIHH --isnt exactly just around the corner, but the days are counting down (the shows at the end of September) and Roger Dubuis has just announced a high jewelry version of their Excalibur Double Tourbillon. The Excalibur Star Of Infinity is a skeletonized double tourbillon, fulfilling the criteria of the Geneva Seal (true of all Roger Dubuis watches) and for this limited edition, the case and part of the movement have been ornamented with diamonds. The star-shaped bridge that supports the mainspring barrel is diamond set and the rest of the movem...
Brandon MooreI am wondering if the modern interpretations of the Breguet Natural Escapement (F.P. JourneOptimum,Kari VoutilainenVingt-8, and Laurent FerrierAutomatic) have implemented specific solutions to the shortcomings of this design, namely the 'backlash' between the escape wheels, that Breguet experienced, and which caused him to ultimately abandon his design.Nicholas Manousos This is a wonderful question, that deserves a careful response.Before we can talk about the natural escapement, let's get on the same page about what an escapement does. In a mechanical wristwatch, an escapement translates rotational energy into lateral impulses --that is,...