Best Super NEWS Watches
Recommended Reading: Why Your Perpetual Calendar Is Doomed To Become Obsolete
We are all accustomed to thinking of hours, days, and years as more or less immutable: There are 24 hours in a day, 365.25 days in a year, and so on C and of course that quarter of a day at the end of the year is the reason we have the Gregorian calendar, perpetual calendars, and endless proposals for calendar reform (most if not all of them as unwanted as they are impractical). However, the arrow of time points in just one direction and along the course of that arrow, all things are mutable, even the length of the day. A recent report in the Guardian notes that scientists studying the Milankovitch cycles (the effect of alterations in the Earth's rotation and orb...
Business News: Swiss Watch Exports Soar In April
In the clearest sign yet of a sustained recovery for the Swiss watch industry, Swiss watch exports jumped 13.8% in value in April to 1.76 billion Swiss francs ($1.77 billion).?Over the year's first four months, exports are up 11% (CHF6.74 billion/$6.78 billion) versus the same period in 2017.?The strong start to 2018 follows a 2.7% rise for the full year in 2017 after declines in 2016 and 2015.?The figures, compiled by Switzerland's Federal Customs Administration, represent the value of watches shipped from Switzerland to subsidiaries and agents in foreign countries. They do not indicate sales to consumers.?Hong Kong, Switzerland's top market, had a monster April. Exports rose 43.4% versus M...
Interview: A. Lange & Sohne CEO Wilhelm Schmid Talks Cars, Watches, And Concorso
Standing in the considerable heat of the early Italian summer, Im surrounded by millions of dollars' worth of incredible vintage cars, a sea of well-dressed people, and the stunning backdrop of Villa dEste. Located about an hours drive from Milan on the banks of the heavenly Lake Como, Villa dEste is a hotel and estate that plays host to the biggest little car show in the world, the annual Concorso dEleganza.? Villa d'Este as seen from the waters of Lake Como. Held (almost) continuously since 1929, the weekend has two shows, the aforementioned private Concorso dEleganza at Villa dEste and a public show the following day...
Recommended Reading: What You Learn From Watching A Bunch Of Clocks Very Carefully For Over A Decade
While an article Jack recently found in the Guardian demonstrates that the way we measure minutes, hours, and days here on Earth might be shifting ever so slightly over time, a story recently published by Wired cites a scientific study working to prove that the laws of physics, as best as we can tell, are constant. This was something originally posited by Einstein in his theory of general relativity, but a group of scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, spent the last 14 years intensely studying an array of atomic clocks to actually prove it.The experiment itself is rather complicated (though Wired's Sophia Chen does a good job making it unders...
Introducing: The Bremont Supermarine Waterman
This limited edition of 300 pieces from Bremont is a new take on the Supermarine diver, simply called the Waterman. Bremont has worked with Mark Healy, a noted free diver, surfer, and environmentalist, in testing the watch. A portion of the proceeds from the Waterman's sales will benefit Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, a charitable clean water initiative too. As you can see, in addition to indications for the hours, minutes, seconds, and date, this watch also comes with a GMT function. It's also a COSC-certified chronometer. Bremont has cased its BE-93-2AE GMT movement (a modified ETA 2892-A2) in the durable S500 case style, notable for its crown placement at two o'clock.? ...
Sunday Rewind: A Look Inside The Audemars Piguet Archives
When you venture into the Valle de Joux, you don't always know what you're going to get. Sometimes you see a cutting-edge watchmaking facility, sometimes you meet artisans doing work you didn't know existed, and sometimes you get bucket-list looks into the history of watchmaking. This week's Rewind story definitely falls into that last category. Back in 2014, Ben had the privilege of sitting down with the folks at Audemars Piguet tasked with keeping the brand's history cataloged and in tip-top working order. This of course included going hands-on with more than a dozen exceptional watches, many of which you won't find anywhere else on planet Earth. ...
Historical Perspectives: Rarely Seen Documentary Video Featuring George Daniels And Seth Atwood
In 1975, a collector named Seth Atwood visited George Daniels in his London workshop to check on the progress of a watch he had commissioned. Atwood had also commissioned a video recording of his visit and conversation with Daniels. This video was recently found in Daniels' archives by Daniels' protege, Roger W. Smith. He did the sensible thing, digitizing the footage and publishing it on YouTube. While it may seem like this video is just another interview with George Daniels, it is much, much more. It provides a close look at the development of a very important pocket watch: the Atwood. Seth G. Atwood Atwood (1917-2010) was a...
Found: Two Cool Pocket Watches At Christie's That Did Not Belong To Steve McQueen Or Paul Newman
There are any number of factors that can drive impressive (or irrationally excessive, depending on you who are) results for a watch up for auction. Condition and originality usually trump everything else, but a watch with an interesting history apart from both can do very well also, as witness the otherwise not especially remarkable pocket watches owned by Einstein and Gandhi. ?Two pocket watches up for auction at Christie's on June 13 come with interesting pasts, and each with connections to some very interesting people. The first of these is a pocket watch that was owned by the founder of Tiffa...
A Week On The Wrist: The Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000 Full Metal
When I first heard about this watch in the midst of Baselworld and all its associated craziness, I kind of didn't believe it. An all-gold, all-metal G-Shock? Why? But then I saw it and I immediately understood exactly why. It all boils down to one word: fun. It's easy to forget in the competitive world of horological one-upmanship that ultimately, in the 21st century, watches are about nothing more than pleasure. We don't need mechanical timekeepers any more than we need sundials, so if you're not going to look down and smile every time you see that thing wrapped around your wrist, then you're doing it very, very wrong. Sure, there's plenty of enjoyment to be der...
Hands-On: The Montblanc 1858 Automatic Chronograph
Montblanc arrived at SIHH this year with a new collection that takes its design inspiration from Minerva, the esteemed Swiss watchmaker with a specialty in chronographs and stopwatches that Richemont purchased way back in 2006. When Richemont bought Minerva, the group took the unexpected step of folding it into Montblanc. At the time, Montblanc was already one of the largest brands within the Richemont Group, with a category-leading fine writing instruments business and a burgeoning leather goods trade to boot. Montblanc had made recent inroads in watchmaking, opening its first manufacture in a sprawling Art Nouveau mansion in a traditional center of watchmaking C Le Locle, Switzerland C but...
Introducing: The Montblanc Heritage Chronomtrie Perpetual Calendar Sapphire
Creating affordable complications is nothing new for Montblanc. For the last few years now it's even been one of the watchmaker's signature moves. Today we're getting a refreshed take on a perpetual calendar first released in 2014 with the Heritage Chronomtrie Perpetual Calendar Sapphire. This watch is a pretty straightforward 40mm stainless steel perpetual with an automatic movement, but with a twist: the dial is smoked sapphire so you get a good look at what's going on underneath. Stylistically it's a nice balance of traditional and modern, and the blue accents at a lot of richness to the dark sapphire. Importantly the price is still well under $14,000, making this one of the more afforda...
Recommended Reading: The FHH Weighs In On The Year's Biggest Watch Trends
It's not secret that the watch industry is going through a lot of changes right now. From changes in the global retail environment to the emergence of e-commerce as a major force to changing consumer tastes, there's a lot going on and the big watchmakers are trying to figure out the best path (or paths) forward. In an effort to suss out exactly what's going on and how the industry is adapting, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) has just published its Watchmaking Trends Report 2018.?The 35-page document details plenty of business case studies and more brass tacks details, but it also covers the softer side of watchmaking, looking at the people involved today and how the emotional side...
Just Because: Watchmaker Roger Smith Receives OBE In The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List
This week the yearly list of of the Queen's Birthday Honours was published in the United Kingdom and we spotted a familiar name. Mr. Roger W. Smith, one of the finest watchmakers on planet Earth (and a hell of a nice guy, if I may say so myself) has been made an OBE or Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The chivalric title is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a British civilian and it marks a public contribution to society outside of the civil service, which can include contributions in the arts, sciences, sports, or other fields. Later this year Roger will have the opportunity to attend a ceremony at either Buckingham Pa...
Hands-On: The Mido Commander Shade In Rose Gold
While Ive never really had any interest in wearing anything other than steel watches, over the past little while I have started to become gold curious. Am I a gold watch guy? Can trying a few examples change my opinion? How will it change me??I'm going to do a little series of stories over the coming weeks in which yours truly, a self-professed steel watch enthusiast, attempts to warm up to the distinct appeal of gold watches. We'll start with something entry-level. A beach, a patio, a sunny rooftop. Get to it. For my first foray into these precious waters, I selected a watch that I really liked at Baselworld this past March,...
Introducing: The Leica L1 And L2 Watches (Live Pics & Details)
For its first earnest entry into the watch space, Leica is releasing a pair of new watches designed from the ground, the time-and-date L1 and the GMT-equipped L2. The camera maker has clearly done its homework and these watches are much more than just off-the-shelf components branded with a well-respected logo. Let's dig in. The origins of this project go back to around 2012, when, according to Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, Chairman of the Board of Leica Camera, they first started exploring the idea of creating a watch. The project went through many iterations and after speaking with people at brands ranging from Hanhart to Chronoswiss to A. Lange & Sohne they starte...
Hands-On: The Breguet Le Rveil Du Tsar Reference 5707ER With Enamel Dial
One of the things that most makes a Breguet a Breguet is its dial C the combination of fine, elongated blued-steel hands with a painstakingly engine-turned dial say "Breguet" instantly to most watch enthusiasts, to the point that any other brand which adopts the two design traits stands an excellent chance of being dismissed (with some justice) for plagiarism. However, Breguet also offers other dial options and some of its most crowd-pleasing designs come with fired enamel dials, rather than engraved metal ones. While in London this week, we had a chance to see one especially attractive example of an alternative dial treatment from Breguet: a Rveil du Tsar wristwatch with a fired enamel dia...
Anyone who's been watching Bulgari for the last few years knows that the company's kind of set the watchmaking industry on its ear. It's one of the world's best known jewelry houses, and it's been offering watches for decades, so you'd naturally expect strong design statements (and you'd be right) but the last thing anyone might have expected from Bulgari would be for it to become, in a fairly short period of time, one of the most forward-thinking, forward-looking, genuinely innovative watchmaking houses around, with a slew of world records to its name, as well as a portfolio positively bristling with everything from high-jewelry exotica, to some of the most interesting complications anyone'...
Just Because: The Prototype For The 10,000 Year Clock Of The Long Now, At The London Science Museum
Somewhere in the Texas desert, one of the most remarkable engineering projects in the history of clockmaking in particular, and horology in general, is unfolding. Underwritten in part by a $42 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Clock Of The Long Now C a gigantic mechanism sitting inside a 500-ft.-deep vertical tunnel C is designed to run for at least 10,000 years, with minimal human intervention. Prior to the installation of the full scale final mechanism, however, the Long Now Foundation (which was established in 1996 and which "hopes to provide a counterpoint to today's accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common") created a prototype that is in itse...
The Horological Society Of New York To Hold Weekend Classes In Toronto
The Horological Society of New York's award-winning classes are on the road again, and for the first time, will be held outside of the U.S. Classes will be held in Toronto, Canada, on July 7th and 8th, hosted at Charles Pachter's Moose Factory Gallery by Moe Jaber. Through HSNY's Horological Education, 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 individual evening classes held in New York. ...
Review: The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Automatic
HODINKEE has always been about making the world of watches easier to understand and more accessible for everyone. In that spirit, today we're launching a new Review column, in which we'll be bringing you our honest assessments of new watches that we think a lot of people want to know about. These stories will get into both the detailed technical specs of a watch as well as what it's like to actually wear it and why it might be worth considering for yourself. Enjoy.? New collections are a tricky business. Adding a new complication, a new color way, or a new design element to something familiar is far easier, especially if you already know that the existing foundat...