Best Super NEWS Watches
Hands-On: The Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph Limited Edition
At last year's SIHH, Montblanc introduced a totally reimagined 1858 collection all inspired by the idea of adventure and travel. There were time-only watches, chronographs, a unique worldtimer, and even a crazy pocketwatch. This year is mostly about aesthetic updates, with familiar models rendered in bronze with green dials, but there's one all-new watch being added to the sporty collection, the 1858 Split Second Chronograph. The limited edition looks every bit the part of an 1858 sports watch, but lurking inside is a seriously high-end chronograph movement made in-house at Minerva. This watch is definitely no joke. The 1858 Spli...
In-Depth: Taking The Richard Mille RM25-01 Into The Colorado Backcountry
During the Second World War, the U.S. military saw the wisdom in having a division of soldiers proficient in mountaineering and skiing. The rugged peaks of France, Italy, and Germany might be key battlefields, where a skilled alpine fighting force could take and hold the literal high ground. Thus was born the 10th Mountain Division, an elite cadre of soldiers trained in rope-work, rappelling, climbing, and backcountry skiing. The men selected for this division were recruited by the National Ski Patrol and drawn from a pool of experienced skiers, a novel process that was deemed easier than training existing soldiers mountain skills. The center of this divisions training was Camp Hale, in the...
HODINKEE Radio: Episode 27: Marc Newson
Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review here, and tell us which guests we should have on! It's hard to believe that the 2019 SIHH started a full week ago and that I've already been back from Geneva for a few days. My head is still spinning from all the new watches and we're far from done with coverage of the show. That coverage will include plenty of hands-on looks at watches and thoughts on the state of the industry, not to mention conversations with the likes of Audemars Piguet CEO Fran?ois-Henry Bennahmias and IWC CEO Chris Grainger right here on...
Hands-On: The A. Lange & Sohne Richard Lange Jumping Seconds In White Gold With Black Dial
The Richard Lange Jumping Seconds was an extremely interesting debut from A. Lange & Sohne when it launched in 2016. It was at the time the latest addition to the Richard Lange family of watches, which are generally built around the notion of an observation watch C that is, a watch intended as an aid in making scientific observations and also as an essential element in navigation (aerial, nautical, and terrestrial).?There are a number of different watches in the family, ranging from the time-only Richard Lange, all the way up to the Terraluna, which is a perpetual calendar watch with a very spectacular tellurium on the back (a tellurium shows the relative positions of the Earth and Moon ...
Hands-On: The Montblanc Heritage Spirit Pulsograph With Salmon Dial
Although to some, Montblanc's history as a pen manufacturer continues to overshadow its identity as a maker of wristwatches, the company's wristwatches have show such an impressive level of commitment and craft in the last decade, that even some holdouts are beginning to allow that whatever you may think of the name on the dial, you have to take the watchmaking seriously. This is especially the case for Montblanc watches that house movements coming out of the Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie C Minerva, in short, which is probably best known to collectors as a maker of very fine chronographs and chronograph movements, beginning in the 1920s. Ironically, for those who obsess o...
Hands-On: The TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph
The balance spring is arguably the single most critical component of a wristwatch. It's responsible for making sure that the oscillations of the balance are consistent, but to do so, it has to address C both metallurgically and in its configuration C a number of challenges. Magnetism, temperature changes, and the fact that the balance spring needs to be shaped so as to expand and contract as perfectly concentrically as possible, are all issues with which watchmakers have grappled over the centuries. Innovations such as overcoil outer terminal curves (Breguet and Phillips), and the use of materials like, in the past, glass and even bamboo, and in the modern era, silicon, are all intended in o...
Recommended Reading: Bloomberg Reports Patek Philippe 'May Come Up For Sale'
A surprise report by Bloomberg's Corinne Gretler, which was published earlier today, cites a report by analysts at Berenberg that Patek Philippe may be for sale. Obviously, if true, this would be the single largest piece of business news coming out of Switzerland's watch industry in a very, very long time C Patek Philippe is owned and directed by the Stern family, with the company's president, Thierry Stern, having in recent years taken over the reins from his father Philippe. Speculation about if and when the Stern family might sell has been a staple of idle gossip in watch industry and watch enthusiast circles for many years, but if the company were to be sold, it would obviously command a...
Happenings: Joshua Shapiro To Lecture At The Horological Society Of New York
The engine-turning technique (guilloch in French) has produced some of the most mesmerizing dials in the history of clock and watch making. Makers such as Breguet, Daniels, Smith, Voutilainen, and Murphy have perpetuated this horological art form to the present day. At the same time, much of the history of engine-turning is little-known. At the February 4, 2019, meeting of the Horological Society of New York, Joshua Shapiro will discuss the history and technique of engine-turning. Shapiro's lecture will delve into the mysteries of engine-turning, beginning with an in-depth look at exactly how engine-turning is done and the diffe...
Introducing: The Zenith '50 Years Of El Primero' Anniversary Set (Live Pics & Pricing)
The year 1969 was a watershed for the world of watchmaking in a big way. It was the year that marked the beginning of what nearly turned out to be the end C the first commercially available quartz watch, the Seiko Astron, debuted on Christmas Day in Tokyo. As it happens, something else debuted that year, whose fate would turn out to be profoundly affected by that launch. The Zenith El Primero was the world's first full-rotor automatic high-beat chronograph, and one of a trio of self-winding chronograph movements that debuted that year, along with Seiko's own caliber 6139, and the Breitling/Heuer/Buren collaboration, the caliber 11. Of those three movements, only one is still in production, a...
Hands-On: The Herms Arceau LHeure De La Lune
The moonphase is a complication which perhaps more than any other, invites attempts to create variations. The conventional moonphase has its own charms C tradition not the least among them C but there are a whole plethora of other ways of doing things, including spherical moonphases, telluriums, orbital moonphase indications of one form or another, and so on. The double hemisphere moonphase is another sub-genre C this is a moonphase indication which shows the phase of the Moon as it appears from both the northern and southern hemispheres.? Often this is done simply through the use of a single rotating disk with two apertures rotating over a fixed Moon-disk (IWC i...
Introducing: The Omega Seamaster Diver 300M In Ceramic And Titanium
Last year in Basel, we saw a pretty major update to Omega's Seamaster Diver 300M lineup. As you may recall, these updates took the form of a new version of the ceramic bezel, a ceramic dial engraved with a wave motif,?a redesigned helium-escape valve, and an upgrade to the Master Chronometer / METAS-certified Caliber 8800. With the 42mm model in the range in stainless steel on a rubber strap coming in at just $4,750, the Seamaster Diver 300M is one of the best value propositions in all of modern watchmaking. A thoroughly tested, highly water-resistant, chronometer-rated, amagnetic sports watch with ceramic bezel that will set you back less than $5,000 is really hard to argue with. ...
Introducing: The Omega De Ville Trsor 125th Anniversary Edition
With 2019 marking the all-important 50th anniversary of the Moon landing and the Speedmaster's trip to the lunar surface, the fact that Omega is also celebrating its 125th anniversary has sort of gotten lost in the mix. Well, no more. Today Omega has announced a few special watches to mark its first century-and-a-quarter, including this stunning three-hander, the De Ville Trsor 125th Anniversary Edition. The watch starts out simply enough with a 40mm case in yellow gold but quickly becomes much more sumptuous from there C the dial and strap are both a rich burgundy red color that feels very appropriate for a celebratory watch like this. Matching that is a red enamel medallion on the solid c...
Introducing: The Omega 19 Ligne Pocket Watch Caliber 125th Anniversary Edition
Omega, prior to 1894, was Louis Brandt & Frre C a watch company based in Bienne, which produced watches, prior to the adoption of the Omega name, under a variety of different brand names, including Jura, Patria, and Helvetia. In 1894, however, the company began production of a movement that was to change watchmaking history, and whose name was to become established as one of the most important in the history of Swiss watchmaking. This movement was the Omega caliber C a 19? (19 ligne; for more info on the ligne as a unit of measurement, check out our story from last year) with several important characteristics. It was one of the very first Swiss watch movements that was designed to be pr...
In-Depth: Citizen Starts Its Second Century
Japan's Citizen Watch Co. turned 100 last year. The company evolved out of a watchmaking venture called the Shokosha Watch Research Institute, established in Tokyo in 1918.?Citizen's centenary celebration, however, by American or Swiss standards, was subdued. At Baselworld last March, the company held a cocktail party at a redesigned booth, dominated by 100,000 hanging mainplates signifying its century of watchmaking. It also introduced some 100th anniversary Eco-Drive watches, including a concept pocket watch containing the most precise Eco-Drive movement ever (Caliber 0100), accurate to +/1 one second per year.That was it. Citizen certainly could have made a bi...
Hands-On: The Piaget Altiplano Automatic 40mm With Meteorite Dial
One of the most interesting things about ultra-thin watches is that, on a certain level, they shouldn't exist at all. In terms of their ability to function as precision measuring instruments, watches are like any other C the more solidly they are built, as a rule, the more exactly they will do their job. Thin watches, however, do provide something a little more intangible than precision; they provide a certain kind of elegance, and so the art of the ultra-thin watch is essentially to provide an easy-seeming, devil-may-care aura while sacrificing as little as possible in terms of durability and reliability. This is a neat trick needless to say, as the watchmaker C and the casemaker and maker ...
The Grey NATO: Episode 73: Downhill Adventures With Oris
Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Google Play). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review here, and tell us what topics you'd like us to chat about.? James' choice for an easy ski trip watch, an old Breitling Aerospace in titanium on a grey NATO. Recorded face-to-face at the annual Oris preview event in Colorado, Jason and James catch up fireside after a tough day of skiing and looking at new watches (ie, not tough at all). From exploring the endless runs in Vail to failing to keep up with Oris CEO Rolf Studer, the guys had a solid morning before getting a sneak p...
Photo Report: The Fashion And Watches Of SIHH 2019
It's no secret that SIHH is one of the busiest weeks on the horological calendar. There are dozens of brands showing off their latest wares and most of our editorial team spends three or four full days in Geneva's Palexpo event center hunting down the very best so we can bring them to you right here. There's a lot to get excited about.Walking the well-manicured halls though, it can be hard to stay focused on the booths and watches with all the interesting people swirling about. Some are friends we've known for a long time, others familiar faces from previous SIHH and Baselworld run-ins, and others totally new people we've never before had the pleasure of meeting. In what's becoming an annual...
From the time it was announced two years ago, the Club Campus line from NOMOS has been about finding younger mechanical watch buyers, and in particular, recent graduates. Today we have three new references in the line to introduce. All of these new releases come with the self-winding NOMOS Caliber DUW 3001, a first for the Club Campus line. The DUW 3001 is a sturdy yet thin caliber that has already proven itself in several of the brand's lines. With prices roughly twice that of the first Club Campuses, which still feature NOMOS's hand-wound Alpha caliber, these new automatics are a higher-end offering with the same familiar case shape and California-style dial.?Two of the new additions to Cl...
Introducing: The Oris Aquis Date Relief (Live Pics & Pricing)
Continuing what has become something of a tradition, Oris introduces another of its popular Aquis dive watches tied to an environmental cause and with unique visual cues. In the past weve seen Hammerhead and Staghorn coral editions, the Clipperton edition, and the Source of Life edition. Today marks the release of the Aquis Date Relief, which has the aim of raising awareness for the importance of the Earths fragile supply of freshwater (less than 3% of the worlds water is unsalted), and tied to the efforts of endurance swimmer, Ernst Bromeis. The watch itself features a sunburst grey dial, red seconds hand and, for the first time on an Aquis, a relief bezel. ...
Editors' Picks: My Favorite Ladies' Watches Of SIHH 2019
Well guys, I may have missed SIHH this year, but lucky for me (and you) I was able to follow along on the good old H.com to get the scoop on all the new releases. There were quite a few stand-out releases, including the Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph Limited Edition and the Herms Arceau L'Heure de la Lune. Overall, viewing the?trade show from afar allowed me to spot this year's watch trends more easily. And one of the trends I want to focus on is C you guessed it C ladies' watches! So here is a round up of my favorite ladies' pieces from SIHH this year. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 38mm The new 38mm Royal ...