No products in the cart.
Best Super NEWS Watches
We got our hands on the Oris Divers Sixty-Five earlier this year at Basel World, and we loved it. The slim, 40 mm, vintage-inspired piece was well-received by both critics and readers alike C and we can't blame them. Oris has a history of offering sizable utility watches, like the ProPilot with a mechanical altimeter, or the Aquis, whose depth gauge we tested in the Caribbean coral reefs C making this this new slim diver a welcome alternative to their conventional lineup. The Divers Sixty-Five isn't necessarily a purpose-built utility piece. It was water resistant to "only" 100 meters (more than enough for recreational desk-d...
Wednesday Video Rewind: A Week On The Wrist With The Omega Speedmaster Dark Side Of The Moon
The Omega Speedmaster has remained a mainstay for watch enthusiasts for over half a century. Its not a stretch at all to call this watch an icon, a term we don't throw around loosely here. While purists may scoff at the concept of an all-black Speedmaster, it is precisely this kind of update that brings a historical icon into the realm of contemporary thinking. When presented with the opportunity to wear the new Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon for a week, I couldnt refuse. It's a watch I had been eyeing for some time, and while it isnt exactly perfect, it certainly got me thinking and was tough to take off my wrist when the week was up.To read our full original post, click here....
Introducing: Chronos, The Wearable Smart Disc That Wants To Turn Your Watch Into A Smartwatch
These are interesting times for anyone whos both a watch guy and a tech guy (as HODINKEE CEO Kevin Rose observes in his reactions to the TAG Heuer Connected Smartwatch) and indeed, for mechanical watch fans in general who are trying to figure out how they feel about the whole idea. In one corner, there are the diehards: mechanical watch enthusiasts who think the whole idea of any battery-powered electronic watch is dead in the water right from the start; and in the other corner, those who think smartwatches stand an excellent chance of finishing the job of nailing shut the coffin of mechanical horology that was started by quartz timepieces back in 1969. And then...
This week's Bring A Loupe will focus on quirky watches, and explain the special something that makes each stand out from the standard production of the brand. Among the beautiful oddities featured, you will discover an interesting Patek with removable lugs and an IWC that hides a compass. This is your Bring A Loupe for November 13, 2015. The IWC Compass Reference 3510A, True Tool Watch With A Twist The Compass model was launched in 1978 as a collaboration between Porsche Design and IWC; it offered a very astute way to combine a compass and an automatic movement. Detailed R&D C yielding six patents...
Introducing: The Autodromo Group B Watch
Few, if any, sub-$1,000 brands can carve out a niche for themselves and execute their craft with the originality and pep required to stay relevant C but Autodromo, with its automotive-inspired unique quartz chronos and groovy automatic timekeepers, continues to do just that. The new Group B watch, inspired by 1980s rally racing, is no exception. Autodromo's founder and creative director C and total motorhead C Bradley Price waxes lyrical about '80s rallying, insisting that Group B (1982-1986) was the last romantic era of motorsport. Group B refers to ra...
It gives us great pleasure to say that we are able to offer, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a limited number of invitations to an upcoming exhibition showcasing some of the most unusual, valuable, and remarkably beautiful timepieces ever made. "The Luxury of Time: European Clocks and Watches" preview will be held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this Thursday, November 19th at 6:30 p.m. There will be a host of amazing, very rare and extremely historically important clocks and watches on hand, and the exhibition is being co-curated by the Met's Mrs. Clare Vincent, a 40-year veteran of the Met, and Associate Research Curator Ms. Elizabeth Sullivan.These are just a few examples of...
Photo Report: The Ralph Lauren + HODINKEE Preview Of The New RL Automotive Skeleton Watch
Last week in New York City, Ralph Lauren and HODINKEE treated watch enthusiasts to an evening celebrating the new RL Automotive Skeleton watch at the Ralph Lauren flagship store on Madison Avenue. Guests had the opportunity to try on the new timepiece, which Ralph Lauren discussed at length in our recent exclusive interview, as well as other watches in the Ralph Lauren collection.Please enjoy our photo report on the evening, and for more on Ralph Lauren watches, click here. ...
Automatic chronographs are wonderfully complicated movements, and the race to produce the first ended with the announcement of the Chronomatic in 1969. This movement was used by Hamilton, Heuer and Breitling (to name just a few) all the way into the 1980s. Recently we were pointed to a fascinating article on OnTheDash detailing the disassembly of a Chronomatic Caliber 15, complete with scans of the official service manual. Even more interesting is who wrote this article: Gianluca C an Italian Formula One engineer for Ferrari. Check out the article on OnTheDash. Heuer Monza chronograph, powered by the Chronomatic Caliber 15 movement. ...
Zenith has just announced that three of its most complicated watches, which premiered this year in new case materials, are now available C and we had a chance recently to go hands-on with the new models, and gather some first impressions of these very exotic and very rarely seen timepieces. The new models are a limited edition platinum version of the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Georges-Favret Jacot, and titanium versions of the Academy Georges Favret-Jacot (with fuse and chain) and the El Primero Tourbillon. Above, Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Georges Favret-Jacot in platinum The Academy Georges Favret-J...
A Look At Last Week's Christie's Geneva Sale, And What It Says About The Market
Only Watch, and the Phillips Watch Auction: Two (read my analysis here) may have captured the most headlines from last weeks watch auctions in Geneva, but the Christies auction on Monday, November 9th was also an interesting event and deserves closer analysis too. The auction contained 367 lots and brought in a total of 13,380,562 Swiss Francs (CHF) with 80% of lots selling. While 367 is a lot of watches for an auction, the price of the watches was a bit lower in comparison to the Phillips sale and the Christie's Geneva sale in May, both of which brought in north of 20M CHF. ?But the most interesting part of the story concerns ...
Introducing: The 2015 Tudor Fastrider Black Shield
Tudor has just introduced the latest version of its Fastrider Chronograph, which is a part of its ongoing partnership with Ducati. The newest version of the Fastrider Chronograph Black Shield breaks somewhat with earlier incarnations of the Fastrider in offering a matte black treatment of the ceramic case and bezel, and was inspired by Ducati's new XDiavel, which has been described as "a cruiser with the spirit of a superbike." The partnership between Ducati and Tudor began in 2011. Ducati XDiavel, 1262 cc V-twin, belt drive, 156 bhp, new for 2015. As with previous Fastrider Black Shield m...
The Galet Micro-Rotor is, without any debate, one of the finest time-only watches in the world. The finishing, which we compared in a show-down of giants against the Seiko Eichi II and Philippe Dufour Simplicity, is really just a small piece of what makes this self-winding watch so special. The case work, the natural escapement, and the stunning bridge that holds the rotor all add up to one of the most visually appealing high-end watches in the world, even more so when you take the time to study each attribute with a loupe. This movement is absolutely architectural, and now, Laurent Ferrier has taken things to the next level C think platinum case, and grand feu enamel dial. ...
Introducing: The Urwerk EMC Pistol, With Intricate Case Engraving And Exceptional Strap Leatherwork
Last year, Urwerk introduced the EMC (Electro Mechanical Control), a mechanical watch that lets you check its rate electronically at the touch of a button. Urwerk's EMC won the "exceptional mechanism" and "innovation" categories at the 2014 Geneva Grand Prix d'Horologerie, as well as earning Felix Baumgartner the "Watchmaker of the year" award in Hong Kong. Today, Urwerk introduces a new and last version of the EMC, the Pistol, featuring intricate case engraving and exceptional strap leatherwork. The EMC Pistol's case is engraved by Florian Gllert, a master firearm engraver. Freehand engraving leaves its mark on metal in a m...
At The Bench: When Case Polishing Is A GOOD Thing: The Restoration Of A Doxa 300T Searambler
In most vintage collector circles the word polished is right up there with re-dialed on the list of big no-nos. This is not without reason. Indiscriminate polishing ruins the lines of cases, strips finishing, and turns a watchcase into a bizarre, over-shined, characterless blob of metal that never quite looks right (in fact it looks terrible). I cannot tell you how many examples of '70s watches I have seen that have been grossly over-polished. Apparently, it was standard practice a few decades ago that when a watch was serviced, the case would be carelessly buffed up on a polishing wheel to try to remove some scratches and make the watch look all nice and shiny. Fortunately, people have ...
In-Depth: The Patek Philippe 2526, And Why It's A Watch To Pay Attention To
The Patek Philippe 2526 has long been the little brother, nay, old man in the family of vintage Patek Calatravas. It's not super sexy like a two-tone 570, or athletic like a steel 565. Nor was it the very first Calatrava like the little 96. What the 2526 is, in my extremely humble opinion, is one of the best buys in vintage Patek right now, if not all of vintage watches. In this report, Ill tell you why.But before I do that, I want to clarify what I mean by one of the best buys in watches. Do I mean its a bargain? No, because no vintage Patek above the price of $10,000 is a bargain, really. Do I mean they should be worth more? Not really, though on some level, I do believe the 2526 shoul...
Hands-On: The Bovet Sergio Pininfarina Split Second Chronograph 45
Purity of line, and harmony of proportion. If they are good, they are good forever. ?C Sergio PininfarinaBovet is not a company that has, historically, loomed terribly large on the horizons of most American watch enthusiasts, and my suspicion has always been that that's just fine with Bovet. The company is off the beaten trail (to the extent that there is a beaten trail for mechanical horology, despite the degree to which the art looms large in the lives of those of us who love it) and much of its production presents a challenge to the tastes of the average watch client, especially in HODINKEEs home in these United States. In the case of the present watch C the Bovet Sergio Pininfarina Sp...
This week's Bring A Loupe will cover rare and attractive watches, available right now on eBay and at upcoming European auctions. Among our picks, you should not miss one of the rarest Tudor Submariners: the reference 7923, an early diver with a manually-wound movement. You will also find a white dial chronograph from Enicar, and a highly controversial Heuer Autavia. Dive watches will be represented, with a rare Longines and a funky Universal Geneve. This is your Bring A Loupe for November 20, 2015. A Funky Polerouter Sub From Universal Geneve C A Lot Of Orange At Once The second execution of the Poler...
A Week On The Wrist: The Piaget Altiplano Chronograph With Caliber 883P
The Piaget Altiplano Chronograph has been on our radar ever since it was first introduced in December of last year, for a lot of different reasons. First of all, the world of ultra-thin chronographs is pretty static. New integrated chronograph movements are pretty rare beasts, despite the relative ubiquity of the complication. There may be a lot of chronographs out there, but the number of actual movements is really small, with the vast majority (Rolex and Omega aside) based on just two movements: the Valjoux 7750 and its derivatives, and the ETA calibers 2892 and 2824 with their respective modules. The world of extra-thin chronograph movements is even smaller; for many years the records hav...
Different watch companies are identified by collectors with different kinds of watchmaking for different reasons; if there's one company that is identified with horological enameling C one of the most high-stress, small-batch, nail-biting of all horological crafts C it's probably Jaquet Droz. There are certainly other characteristic traits of Jaquet Droz watches but they're justly famous for their enamel work, including enamel miniature painting. We have looked before at Jaquet Droz and one particular technique C that of paillonne C and we thought you'd enjoy a look at one absolutely amazing example of a Jaquet Droz unique piece with some very, very finely detailed and finely done enamel wo...
In Celebration Of Jack Heuer's Birthday, We Look Back At The Best Heuer Coverage On HODINKEE
Today is TAG Heuer Honorary Chairman Jack Heuer's birthday, and to celebrate, we're revisiting three HODINKEE articles that illustrate his importance to the brand that carries his name, as well as to watches and watchmaking in general. From early 2013, we have a video in which Mr. Heuer explains the design process behind the Heuer Carrera; from late 2013, we take an in-depth look at the very first Carrera; and from 2014, we have a video Week on the Wrist with the modern TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Chronograph. We hope you enjoy, and happy birthday, Jack! Jack Heuer Explains The Design Process Behind The Carrera Chronograph, Both Old And New ...