Best Super NEWS Watches
Happenings: Join Us For A Talk With Facebook At Cannes Lions
Every summer, thousands upon thousands descend upon the small French Riviera town of Cannes for Cannes Lions, the international festival of creativity. This year we will be part of the 65th rendition of the festival, hosting a talk with Facebook called The Power of Belonging, in which we'll explore how media, products and meeting spaces work together to build communities around shared passions.The talk will take place on Wednesday, June 20 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM Central European Time. It will be hosted by Facebook's Matt Jacobson (himself a Talking Watches alum) with a panel consisting of IWC CEO Chris Grainger-Herr, Soho House CMO Dan Habashi, and our own CEO/Founder, Ben Clymer. The tal...
Introducing: The Urwerk UR-105 CT Kryptonite
While the hunter-cased design of the UR-105 CT is not new, Urwerk has just announced a rather cool expression of the form with the new UR-105 CT "Kryptonite". Essentially little more than the application of a dark case finish and a bright green luminous display, the Kryptonite combines the strong color use of the UR-105 TA "Clockwork Orange" with a look that certainly won't be mistaken for anything other than that of an Urwerk. Additionally, if you don't love lume, why are you reading this? Who hurt you?? Initial Thoughts I have to admit I have a long-standing soft spot for Urwerk. I dig the mechanics, the design, and the unique wrist pre...
Editors' Picks: The Best Entry-Level Vintage Watches
There are many different ways to get into watch collecting. Some people start with something like a Seiko 5, others save up and jump right into the deep end, while others still buy and sell rapidly to experience as much first hand as they can. One question we get all the time though is, "What should I buy as my first vintage watch?" That's a complicated question, but the good thing is that there is a wealth of outstanding answers. The best answers however fit a number of key criteria. A first vintage watch should be affordable, it should be something with enough watch-nerd cred that you'll be excited to tell everyone about it, and it should be something that you'll be proud to wear as your c...
Gary Shteyngart's award-winning novels have made him a household name for fiction lovers, and his work C including The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story, and his recent, hilariously depressing, depressingly hilarious memoir, Little Failure (his mom's childhood nickname for him C you'd become a satirical novelist too) are both immensely entertaining and cuttingly insightful. His newest novel, Lake Success, will be out this September, and The New Yorker has published an excerpt that finds the hero C an up-and-coming hedge fund founder, whose company is (possibly) about to self-destruct, and whose personal life is, shall we say, problematic C having a bit of a...
Sad news this week from Casio, as the brand announced the passing of their CEO, Kazuo Kashio. Having held the position of CEO with Casio Computer Co since 1988 (during which time he was also President, and later a Chairman), Kashio founded Casio with his three brothers in 1957, and became a fixture in Japans expanding role and worldwide presence in consumer electronics over the past several decades of Casios success.? From the original development of Casios calculator technology, to recognizing the demand for tough yet wearable watches, Kashio's impact spanned phones, instruments, and even the very early development of mass market digital camera technology.? ...
Introducing: The TRIWA Humanium Metal Initiative Watch
TRIWA is a line of affordably priced watches that are designed in Sweden. And indeed, they have that very clean, very Scandanavian look that tends to do well in the sub-$500 price segment. Who among us hasn't owned a Skagen? What we have here is a watch that TRIWA recently launched on Kickstarter and is being made in partnership with the Humanium Metal Initiative. Humanium Metal is a material forged in a foundry from confiscated illegal firearms "in El Salvador and elsewhere." The basic idea is that when a person buys a product made from Humanium Metal, he or she is incentivizing the transformation of illegal firearms into harmless and useful products.? ...
Editorial: That Time I Wrote That 'Swatch Group' Was A Dumb Name, And What Happened Next
Watch companies adore anniversaries. In this age of hyper-marketing, any anniversary divisible by five is worthy of fireworks and commemorative limited editions. (Only anniversaries divisible by 25 used to get that treatment.)There is, though, an industry milestone coming up that is not likely to get much attention. In fact, the only person giving it any thought may well be little ole me.? Twenty years ago, on June 24, 1998, the world's largest watch company changed its name from the SMH Group to the Swatch Group. While little remembered today, the decision was controversial at the time. Especially within SMH. If you were an executive at, say, Omega or Longines o...
Happenings: HODINKEE Is Hosting Meet-Ups This Week In San Francisco And Los Angeles
This week, a contingent of HODINKEE editors and producers are heading out to the west coast to work on some awesome editorial projects (stay tuned...), and while we're out there we want to see all of you! We'll be hosting a pair of good old-fashioned HODINKEE meet-ups on back-to-back nights, with the first taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 27, and the second happening in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 28. Both events are casual and about getting the community together so we can all nerd out a bit and share some drinks together. Space is limited for both events and admission will be on a first come, first served basis. Please click this link to RSVP ...
Hands-On: The Seiko Prospex SRPC44, A Healthy Dose Of Golden Nostalgia
From a quartz pocket watch my mother gifted to my father, to a tiny wristwatch on an expanding bracelet worn by my grandmother when I was quite young, my earliest memories of Seiko are all gold. Even years later, as I was just getting into watches, I recall being on a cruise to the Cayman Islands and seeing a huge Seiko chronograph in the duty-free shop. It was an SNA414, with a full gold finish, and recall asking myself who would wear that? More than a decade later, that chunky gold chronograph has kinda stuck with me. Today, it's a golden Seiko diver as I dip, not a toe, but rather fully step into the moving current of gold watches.? 44.3 mm wide wi...
In-Depth: Diving With The Omega Seamaster Professional 300M
Taking a luxury dive watch underwater for review purposes seems both logical and quixotic. On the one hand, very few people who scuba dive actually wear an analog mechanical wristwatch anymore, and the great majority of luxury watch buyers have no intention of ever getting their watches wet. So whats the point of proving a product in an environment where it will seldom find itself? Well, as long as a watch company brands a watch suitable for diving, I think it's important to reality check its functionality. Case in point, Omegas latest iteration of the Seamaster Professional 300M, a watch that debuted at Baselworld this past spring, which I took for a week of diving in the Caribbean. ...
Business News: Blue Skies For Swiss Watch Exports In May
Swiss watch exports rose again in May, up 5.3% to 1.8 billion Swiss francs ($1.82 billion). That marks the 13th consecutive month of export increases. The jump came "despite an unfavorable base effect and one fewer working day" in the month, said the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH).?Through the first five months of 2018, Swiss watch exports globally are up in value by 9.9% versus the same period last year.?The data, compiled by Switzerland's Federal Customs Administration and released by the FH, represent wholesale, not retail, sales. They indicate the value of watches shipped from Switzerland to watch company subsidiaries and agents in foreign countries for resale to consumers.?...
Historical Perspectives: Manufacturing Jewel Bearings In North Dakota
Historically, the American watchmaking industry was a world leader. Today there is not much industry to speak of, but remnants are still around if you know where to look. The Bulova Watch Company building, now known as the Bulova Corporate Center, is easily seen off the Grand Central Parkway when driving to LaGuardia Airport in New York. It now houses offices for the New York Department of Correction, among others. The Hamilton Watch Complex in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now it exists as luxury apartments. The same goes for the Waltham Watch Factory near Boston, Massachusetts, now apartments overlooking the Charles River. But there is one ...
Introducing: Two New 'Siren White' Dial Additions To The NOMOS Aqua Series
NOMOS has just announced two new white dial additions to their water-ready Aqua series. Now offering a bright white dial for both the 36mm Ahoi Neomatik and the 37mm Club Neomatik, these two new models manage to split the difference between NOMOS's more stoic coloring (like the Ahoi Atlantik), and their most bold (like the Signal red Ahoi). Dubbed "Siren White," the dials are balanced with blue hands and red accents for the markers and sub seconds hands. Replete with lume for both the hands and markers, this pair offers a strong mix of versatility while not forgetting the brand's signature use of color and levity. ? A bright flat white with red accents ...
Lord Nelson is one of the most famous figures in naval and military history, and much of his renown rests on his command of the British fleet during the Battle Of Trafalgar. The Battle Of Trafalgar took place at a most dangerous moment for Great Britain. Napoleon had been successful at assembling a large invasion force on the French coast, across the English Channel, and the only thing preventing an invasion of England was the British Navy, which was keeping the main body of the French fleet bottled up with a blockade of the harbors at Brest and Toulon. In 1805, the British fleet at Toulon was blown off station by a storm, allowing the French ships to escape.? ...
Watch Spotting: Sir Paul McCartney Wearing A Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5165A On Carpool Karaoke
While I'm not an avid watcher of James Corden, once in a while I have been known to enjoy a Carpool Karaoke episode or three (did anyone else sob like a baby in the Stevie Wonder episode?). Well, Corden has outdone himself with the latest episode featuring Sir Paul McCartney. The segment shows the two of them driving through Liverpool singing along to hits like Penny Lane, Let It Be, and Blackbird, all while visiting Paul's childhood home and other local hot spots. The video clip is worthy of your attention alone (who isn't a Beatles fan?) but furthermore Sir Paul can be seen wearing a rather sporty Patek Philippe Aquanaut reference 5165A (and Corden with an Audemars Piguet 15400). ...
Hands-On: The Angelus U50 Diver Tourbillon
At a functional level, a dive watch should be a specifically simple thing. A big minute hand, a visible seconds hands, an elapsed time bezel, decent water resistance, and some lume. Job done. If said watch happens to be in titanium with a rubber strap, all the better. Much further down the list of possible and desirable complexity would be a tourbillon. And yet, here we are. With the U50 Tourbillon Diver, Angelus poses something of an existential question to the dive watch, a meditated reality that recognizes the media of a dive watch but rejects the historical perspective of a dive watch as a tool.? 45mm in titanium with a rubber strap. ...
Recommended Reading: New Report Shows Radium Dials Might Pose Serious Danger
It is generally conceded by most reasonable (and hell, probably some unreasonable) individuals, that radiation in excess, like anything else, can do more harm than good. Now, we all know that radium dials are a feature of vintage watch and clock collecting. We all also know the cautionary tale of the Radium Girls, who received fatal doses of radiation from the practice of licking the tips of radium paint brushes, in the early 1920s. We jested light-heartedly about the subject on the late lamented Friday Live. And we all know that such dials should pose little in the way of actual hazards as long as you don't make the mistake of opening up the watch, and accidentally inhale a fragment of radi...
Review: The Panerai Luminor Due 38
Panerai has a reputation for being the OG oversized watch. The Italian-born watchmaker, which manufactures in Switzerland, started a trend that began on the wrist of Sly Stallone in the 1990s and became a legitimate force in style by the early aughts. But more recent times have witnessed a reaction in the other direction C a shift toward smaller, less obtrusive wristwatches. Panerai is still making plenty unabashedly oversized watches, with several coming in at 44 to 47 mm (and wearing even larger thanks to their cushion case shape and frequent use of large crown protectors). This kind of watchmaking is, if youll pardon the cliche, a part of Panerai's watchmakin...
Editors' Picks: The Most Exciting Independent Watches Of 2018
Anyone who thinks that creativity in mechanical watchmaking is dead clearly isn't paying attention. There are more independent watchmakers every year trying to inject new ideas into the often conservative industry, some looking to the past for inspiration and others imagining what watchmaking can look like in a uniquely 21st-century context. Here are the independent watches from this year's crop of new introductions that our editors found most exciting and interesting. Trust us, narrowing it down to just five was definitely the hard part here. Cara Barrett C Romain Gauthier Insight Micro-Rotor Lady This y...
Talking Watches: With Don McLean
If you've never caught yourself singing along to "American Pie" by the legendary Don McLean, then you're doing it all wrong. If you are unfamiliar with the American ballad, stop what you're doing, Google it right away, and take a listen. McLean wrote the iconic song back in 1971 and it spent nearly two months at the top of the Billboard charts before going on to collect innumerable accolades, the most recent being selection for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress (not to mention being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004).? Since the stratospheric success of "American Pie," McLean h...