Best Super NEWS Watches
Introducing: The Ulysse Nardin Diver Le Locle (Live Pics & Pricing)
Think Ulysse Nardin, and generally the first thing you think of is the Freak. Behind the Freak, however, is the fact that Ulysse Nardin was the very first company to introduce a watch with silicon components, and since the Freak debuted nearly 20 years ago, UN has been introducing silicon components in a wider and wider range of watches. The in-house caliber UN-320 uses a silicon lever and escape wheel C both in a proprietary configuration C as well as a silicon balance spring.? The SBDX014, which was shown to us under embargo at the SIHH in January, represents the first use by Ulysse Nardin of its in-house UN-320 caliber in a di...
Introducing: The MB&F LM1 Final Edition (Live Pics & Pricing)
It's time to say goodbye to the Legacy Machine 1. Sort of. This is the LM1 Final Edition, the last member of the LM1 family, first released back in 2011, kicking off the entire Legacy Machine project for MB&F. To close out the much-loved model, MB&F is introducing three major updates for this extremely limited piece. The LM1 is a relatively straightforward watch, and one that gave people a totally different look at MB&F when it debuted. There are two totally separate time displays on white lacquer dials with blued hands, over which hangs a massive balance wheel on an arched bridge. Just below that is a unique vertical indicator for the 45-hour power r...
Introducing: The New And Improved HODINKEE
After months of work, we couldn't be prouder to present the new-look HODINKEE. The changes are way more than skin-deep and we truly believe that now we'll be able to tell you better stories and show you more compelling images than ever before. Let's take a look at what's new. The first thing you'll notice is the new homepage. We're now showing you a lot more content right when you arrive on HODINKEE. Our editors can curate top stories, thematic collections, and packages of stories, keeping the homepage fresh and always flush with exciting things for you to explore. You can also see the most read stories and the most discussed stories, letting you jump into the co...
Auctions: Unusual Daniels Millennium Sets A New World Record
Sothebys set a new record for a George Daniels Millennium wristwatch this morning when a white gold model sold for 187,500 including buyer's premium (approximately $240,750 at time of publishing). The reason it did so well? For a start, George Daniels made only seven white gold Millennium wristwatches during his lifetime C and this particular watch, which Daniels delivered in 1999, is even more unusual since it features yellow gold chapter and calendar rings.? According to Roger Smith, who worked on the Millennium series alongside Daniels, there are only two watches with this particular combination in the entire series. The present lot also comes with a letter ...
Hands-On: A Mighty Trio Of Vintage Watches From The Longines Museum
A very exciting package showed up at the HODINKEE office recently. Despite a lot of good watches making their way though our office, rarely do we have the opportunity to spend any time with museum pieces outside of glass cases and museum walls. But Longines had a nice little surprise for us. Each of the three watches in this special roll offered up a side of the brand's past that definitely deserves to be examined. We've got watches delivered to Argentina, Italy, and Mexico, the first in 1919 and the last in 1967, two chronographs, one time-and-date. Let's get into it. 1910s Mono-Pusher Chronograph In man...
Watch Spotting: Buzz Aldrin Rocking Three Omega Watches At Once
All of us probably know exactly which watch Buzz Aldrin was wearing on July 20, 1969, when he touched down on the surface of the Moon. Neil Armstrong left his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster on board that day, but Buzz's was still strapped to the outside of his suit. Many consider it to be the most important wristwatch ever made. Too bad no one knows where it is. So what does Buzz wear in its place today? A lot of people want to know. Thanks to Omega, which today celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Speedmaster in London, we have the answer. And it's not one watch actually, but rather three that adorn his wrists. All at once. On his right arm, he wore the new Ome...
Chronographs are the big focus of this week, but a gilt Submariner 5512 reminds us how amazing a time-only vintage Rolex can be. This example was made in 1962, and comes with its original guarantee papers, documenting a sale two years later. Our selection also features an early Breitling Navitimer, as well as an Eterna chronograph with a distinctive "Spillmann" case. Eterna Chronograph With 'Spillmann' Case Proper water-resistance has always been a challenge for chronographs, which have obvious weak points at the pushers (as well as the fact that vintage chronographs often have snap-back cases). T...
Just Because: You Should Probably Follow @WatchesAndSucculents On Instagram
Instagram can be a strange place sometimes. Well, most of the time, if we're being honest. For those of us with horological interests, there is a great variety of options for indulging our pursuit on Instagram as well. Whether you're looking for a little humor, auction previews, or an inside look at the life of a high-end vintage Rolex dealer, it's there. But this might be the strangest watch account we've ever seen. Watches and Succulents is exactly what it sounds like C an Instagram account dedicated to photos of watches draped over succulent plants. Yeah, it's that simple. We stumbled upon the account earlier today, and I'd be lying if I didn't say it surprise...
Breaking News: Breitling Sells Controlling Stake To CVC Capital Partners For $870 Million
Rumors have been circulating for months that Breitling might be for sale (as we reported last November) and now, according to a Bloomberg report from earlier today, a deal has been made. A controlling stake in Breitling will be acquired by CVC Capital Partners, in a transaction expected to close in June and reportedly worth $870 million. Theodore Schneider, Breitling's current majority shareholder, will "reinvest in exchange for a 20 percent stake." Breitling is one of the last major Swiss brands to operate independently, rather than under the umbrella of one of the major luxury groups. Bloomberg also reports that a major focus of the new ownership will be buildi...
For the second installment of our new live video series, we've got Jack and Stephen tackling a variety of topics. In addition to sharing their favorite stories from the week, they'll talk about the big Breitling news that broke earlier today, look at a few watches that are currently in the office for in-progress stories, and even share what watches are on their wrists today. Finally, they'll turn to the comments section below and answer some questions live....
Breaking News: Valentin Piaget, The Creator Of The Calibers 9P And 12P, Has Died At Age 95
Piaget was a family-owned manufacture until 1988, led only by Piaget family members. Valentin Piaget (right, in the image above) was the grandson of founder Georges-Edouard Piaget, and he played a key role in the company's development beginning in 1945. While his brother Gerald was CEO and focused on the business, Valentin worked more on the products themselves, developing some of the thinnest calibers ever made, which helped make Piaget the paragon of elegance it is today. He was deeply involved in the creation of the calibers 9P and 12P, which were respectively ultra-slim manually-wound and automatic movements, with the 12P holding the title of the world's slimmest automatic movement for d...
Hands-On: The Faberg Visionnaire Chronograph
One of the most surprising things we saw at Baselworld this year was from Faberg, which is a name not historically associated with fine watchmaking. The House of Faberg's most famous for the Imperial Easter Eggs C elaborately crafted and spectacularly luxurious objets d'art made for the Romanov family during the last decades of Imperial Russia. Today, however, the company has been revitalized (it's now owned by Gemfields, a mining company which purchased Faberg in 2013) and it's back in the jewelry business C as well as in the fine watchmaking business C in a big way. The Faberg Visionnaire Chronograph is one of the most technically unusual chronogr...
Auctions: The Patek Philippe Ref. 565 With Breguet Dial For Sale At Phillips
By now, you've probably heard about the top lots from the upcoming Phillips sale. The Bao Dai, the stainless steel 6062, and the Patek 2523/1. Their rarity, their condition, and the high estimates that Phillips has been placed on these watches automatically make them the highlights of the auctioneer's next sale. Their status also makes them incredibly popular during previews, and, sure enough, when I arrived at Phillips in London to preview the May sale, these were already on a tray with a small group of collectors huddled around them in one corner of the room. Id come back for them in a bit, I figured. Opposite them, on the ot...
Hands-On: The Vacheron Constantin Overseas 37mm
A few weeks ago, I introduced you to the latest watch from Vacheron Constantin, the Overseas 37mm without diamonds. It was a huge hit and I remember really liking it when I got an early peek at SIHH back in January, so I definitely wanted to spend some quality time with this puppy sooner rather than later. While this watch isn't groundbreaking by any means, I think there is a lot to love about it and that it does bring something genuinely compelling to the table. What Is The Overseas? If you are an avid reader of HODINKEE, you likely know what the Overseas is. But in case you are new here (welcome!) or new to Vacheron Constantin, let me b...
Happenings: Seventh Annual Madison Avenue Watch Week To Be Held May 8-13
Next week, watch brands and retailers up and down Madison Avenue will be opening their doors for special events, for the seventh spring in a row. While those of us at HODINKEE HQ have obviously had a chance to see the watches debuted at SIHH and Baselworld, in many cases they're just now starting to make their way out to boutiques, and many participating brands will be showing them off to the public for the first time. If you're a watch lover in New York, chances are there's something you'll want to check out. This year's participating brands and retailers are A. Lange & Sohne, Asprey, Chopard, David Yurman, De Beers, Djula, F.P. Journe, Georg Jensen, Hublot,...
Watch Spotting: Hasan Minhaj Wearing A TAG Heuer Carrera At The White House Correspondents' Dinner
While the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner will be remembered not for who was there but rather for who wasn't there, headliner?Hasan Minhaj made news with several quips about both the current commanding officer and the news media C some landed, and some did not. This year's dinner, void of the President of the United States and suffering from competition from comedian Samantha Bee's own event at the same time, was however a perfect proving ground for the young Minhaj and reviews have been generally positive, especially considering the admittedly difficult circumstances. But we're here to ask the important question: did he wear a watch, and if so, what was it?? ...
Watch Spotting: Serena Williams Wearing The Audemars Piguet Diamond Outrage At The 2017 Met Gala
You probably know by now that last night was the Costume Institute Gala, better know as The Met Gala. Often called the "East Coast Oscars," The Met Gala is an annual fundraising event chaired by Anna Wintour (editor-in-chief of?Vogue magaine) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City that celebrates an annual fashion exhibition, which also serves as the evening's theme. This year's Met Gala celebrated the the Rei Kawakubo and Commes des Garcons exhibition opening May 4.? There is always a strong turnout of actors, musicians, models, and athletes wearing the finest couture, ranging from the safe to the scary. In addition to the clothes, the accessories ar...
Hands-On: The Citizen Eco-Drive One, The Thinnest Light-Powered Watch Ever
Making extremely thin watches has been a challenge tackled by makers of quartz watches for many years, and in fact, the thinnest watches ever made have all been quartz. The Concord Delirium, for instance, was released in 1979 and the first version was 1.98mm thick (that's overall, not just the movement) which represents meeting challenges in not just movement design, but in case-making and battery technology as well. The very thinnest Delirium was less than one millimeter thick C only 0.98mm C but as with the thinnest mechanical watches, it was really more an exercise in technical extremism than it was a practical watch. The Eco-Drive One is the world's...
Hands-On: The Blancpain Mtiers d'Art Shakud Watches
At Baselworld this year, we saw two really remarkable unique pieces from Blancpain's?Mtiers d'Art workshops. These watches were made to show off the Japanese craft of working with an alloy known as shakud, which is a mixture of gold and copper that traditionally was used for sword fittings, such as the tsuba (handguard) and menuki (a decorative element found on the grip). Shakud?was generally used only on smaller metal objects, due to the cost of the gold in the alloy, and it can be combined with a compound known as rokusho, which includes copper acetates, chlorides, and sulfates, to produce a wide range of decorative patinas. ...
Hands-On: The Breitling Navitimer Rattrapante
Breitling is a pretty polarizing manufacture. Sure, they used to make true classics like the Top Time, but somewhere along the way they seem to have gotten lost. The watches got bigger and the advertisements more offensive. However, love them or hate them, you can't fault them for maintaining a strong brand identity and following it to the end (ask your average non-watch person and they will likely list Breitling as one of the brands they know next to Rolex and Omega). But despite all this, sometimes they come out with a cool watch that we here at HODINKEE can really get onboard with C and the Breitling Navitimer Rattrapante?is definitely one such watch. ...