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Best Super NEWS Watches
Hands-On: The Maen Hudson 38 Automatic
Given that its origins as a tool have largely eroded under the steadily rising tide of technology, it's easy to deride the increasingly watered-down concept of a dive watch. For dive watches, what used to be a piece of gear worn by Heaton-esque characters of a bygone era, is now little more than a sub-class of the sport watch. Thankfully, everything that makes a dive watch good for diving, also makes for a fetching sport watch. Even if, like many, you have no intention of ever diving, it's still hard to argue with the versatility, flexibility, and fuss-free philosophy of a dive watch.? 38mm wide with a black sandblast-finished dial and red accents. ...
You may remember that back in December 2018 my colleague James had the rare opportunity to see a collection of unique creations produced by Vacheron Constantin's Les Cabinotiers department C you can see a few of the highlights here. Well, I have some good news for you: It turns out that the Genevois manufacture has decided to bring these incredible watches to the United States for a one-month road show, during which they'll be available for viewing at Vacheron Constantin boutiques in Los Angeles, Orange County, Miami, and New York City. If you're going to be in one of those four cities, this is something you should definitely check out (even if the more ornate, complicated pieces aren't your...
Hands-On: The Armin Strom Masterpiece 1 Dual Time Resonance GMT
Resonance watches are one of the rarest types of watches, and for an excellent reason: They're extremely difficult to pull off, certainly with any reliability. Beat Haldimann makes a resonance tourbillon (in extremely small numbers) and of course, F. P. Journe is celebrated for his Chronomtre Rsonance, but in the modern watchmaking world, which is, as far as complications are concerned, increasingly populated by endless variations on just about every complication imaginable, the resonance watch remains extremely scarce. A resonance watch is one in which there are two balance wheels, rather than one. There are double balance wheel watches that are not resonanc...
HODINKEE Radio: Episode 30: Chris Bruss
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! One of my favorite things about HODINKEE has always been the community. Ive worked for a handful of publications over the years and have never experienced anything quite like it. Over the last two years or so, weve been spending more time in Los Angeles, and Ive been fortunate enough to be there for a number of our events and meet-ups, getting to know the incredible West Coast watch scene in the process.?At one of our first LA events I met todays guest, Chr...
Introducing: The Grand Seiko Elegance Collection 'Slim' Hand-Wound Limited Editions
The Elegance Collection is a group of watches from Grand Seiko which have one thing in common C they all skew slightly dressy, with nary a GS Dive watch nor, for that matter, even a steel bracelet among them. The eight watches in the existing Elegance Collection include both hand-wound and automatic movements, which clock in at about 11.6mm thick for the hand-wound models, and a more-typical-for-Grand-Seiko thirteen and change for the automatic models (13.10mm for SBGR261, which is a date-and-time-only model, and slightly thicker for GMT and Spring Drive GMT models). Grand Seiko has just announced the addition of four new watches to the Elegance Collection. Two watches feature Japanese urush...
Talking Watches: With John Mayer, Part 2
It's hard to believe it's been over five years C half a decade (!!) C since I sat down with John Mayer at a little cafe down the road from our office, a four-person WeWork rental that we hadn't even filled out yet. The HODINKEE team back then consisted of myself, Mr. Will Holloway, and the one and only SJPeezy C Stephen J. Pulvirent. Our team was small but strong, and all we needed back then was a free afternoon with a rock star to make some content that we are still proud of to this very day. I am proud to say that both Stephen and Will are still very much a part of this business, even now that we are over 10 times the size, and our offices are, well, a little bigger too. Talking Watches Wi...
Happenings: Swiss Watchmaker Turned Artist To Exhibit In New York
Horology and graffiti may not seem like they have much in common, but one artist has merged them in an intriguing way. Xavier Magaldi is a Swiss artist with a horological background, having graduated from the Geneva Watchmaking School and worked in the watchmaking industry for many years (including for Patek Philippe). Magaldi's love of graffiti started in the 1980s with the complicated wildstyle letter form. Today, Magaldi describes his work as "post graffiti" and he has exhibited around the world. Beginning later this month, Magaldi's latest work will be on exhibit at BOCCARA ART Brooklyn. "Magaldis paintings are rooted in a p...
Its been a great week in the world of vintage watches, with all sorts of exciting mechanical curiosities having surfaced over the last seven days. This week, were taking an in-depth look at every piece and then some, with picks like an untouched Zodiac Sea Wolf, an Enicar Sherpa in new-old-stock condition, and a Breitling Premier believed to be coming from the collection of its original owner. All collecting tastes have been taken into consideration this week, with the inclusion of fun and mildly gimmicky pieces like the Seiko worn in Ghostbusters, and at the more serious end of the spectrum, an insanely rare Patek Philippe ref. 2526 in white gold with diamonds on the dial. Were also spre...
Business News: Swatch Group Sales Jump 6% In 2018
Net sales at Switzerland's Swatch Group jumped 6.1% to 8.47 billion Swiss francs in 2018. (The figure is roughly the same in U.S. dollars.) It was the second consecutive increase after declines in 2015 and 2016. Net income rose 14.8% to CHF867 million.The Swatch Group is the world's largest watch company (measured by watch revenues) and has a portfolio of 18 brands.Blancpain, Omega and Longines were the star performers last year, achieving the strongest sales growth, the group said. (Swatch Group does not disclose sales by brand.) All three brands are powerhouses in China, which enjoyed a second year of double-digit growth in 2018, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.?Bla...
Sunday Rewind: How To Avoid Classic New Watch Guy Mistakes
We've all been there. Some of us are still there. You're new to watches, you're excited to learn as much as you can and to buy a few nice things, but you don't really know where to start. Or maybe you know where to start, but you're not sure where to go from there. Or, even worse, you think you know what you're doing, but you're woefully mistaken. It's tough. Watch collecting is a passion that's all about the details and there's quite a lot of misinformation out there. But even beyond studying the minutiae, memorizing reference numbers, and knowing your way around a complicated movement, there's a lot you can do to raise your chances of success and to get even more out of this fun little hob...
Recently announced, and well-covered by our friends at Fratello Watches, is the creation of a new association in honor of Gerald Genta. Founded by Genta's wife Evelyne, the Gerald Genta Heritage Association looks to preserve and support the legacy of watch design, both by highlighting Genta's genre-defining work and by helping to support new talent in the world of watch design.? The association's new website offers a deep dive on Genta's formidable work within the watch industry, including the Polerouter, the Royal Oak, and the Nautilus. He is an icon and his design work is regarded as such and,?truth be told, those are just the highlights of his incredible caree...
Hands-On: The New Additions To Baume & Mercier's Clifton Baumatic Collection
Newly announced at last month's SIHH fair in Geneva, Baume & Mercier has expanded their Clifton Baumatic line with new dials, new case materials, and the option of COSC certification (though this last bit was available in last year's model too). These new models grow the Baumatic collection in the hopes of translating the classic design and tech-forward philosophy to a wider audience.? The updates are straightforward enough, with the 40mm stainless steel Clifton Baumatic now available with a blue gradient dial that transitions from a ric...
Talking Watches: With Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart is well known to the HODINKEE community for a reason. He's a watch collector and watch enthusiast, certainly, but he's also a world-famous, award-winning novelist who's written about watches and watch collecting, and about what watches can mean to us in a larger context. He's done so for publications like the New Yorker, in "Confessions Of A Watch Geek," and more recently in his latest novel, Lake Success, which chronicles the journey across America of a man seeking to escape his family, his imploding career, and all the trappings of success that define him C pretty much everything, in fact, except for his small collection of hand-picked wristwatches, which he brings along fo...
Hands-On: The Romain Gauthier Prestige HMS Stainless Steel (With Meteorite Dial)
One of the coolest watches I saw at SIHH 2019 is one I had to keep secret until today. While we often head into the show knowing roughly what to expect from the bigger brands, what the little guys unveil is typically a secret until you step into their booth. While visiting Romain Gauthier, he showed my colleague James and I this beauty: the HMS Prestige Stainless Steel, a new take on one of his foundational models. However, the name doesn't tell the full story. In addition to being the indy watchmaker's first serially produced model in stainless steel, this limited edition also comes with a special meteorite dial taken from a rare sample sourced from northern Australia. Like I said, the name...
Business News: Credit Suisse Says Swiss Watch Indicators Bearish For 2019
The forecast for Swiss watches sales this year is worsening, according to Credit Suisse. Two indicators tracked by the bank's equity research division -- one a poll of Swiss watch manufacturers, the other of Swiss-watch retailers, are bearish about 2019.The first barometer is the business climate index of the Zurich-based KOF Swiss Economic Institute, which measures the sentiment of Swiss watch company executives. That index fell in January for the fifth consecutive month, Credit Suisse said. The index fell to 31 on a scale of 100, down from 38 in December. In August 2018, the index was at 61, the highest it had been since 2011."The sentiment among watchmakers continues to deteriorate," wrot...
In-Depth: David Candaux And His Debut Series Of Watches, The 1740 First 8
You may not be familiar with David Candaux, but you are likely familiar with the incredible watches Candaux has worked on in the past. To name just two, he was involved with both the Jaeger-LeCoultre Hybris Mechanica Grande Sonnerie and the MB&F HM6 Space Pirate. For years, Candaux worked behind the scenes at some of the most famous watch manufactures in Switzerland as a concepteur horloger, building movements that are among the most innovative and complicated in the world. Candaux has now stepped out on his own, and his first collection is definitely worth a very close look. 30 degree inclined tourbillon in the D.Candaux DC6 Half Hunter ...
Introducing: The Girard-Perregaux Quasar (Live Pics & Pricing)
Girard-Perregaux has been making movements with the Three Golden Bridges (capitalization theirs, not mine) for well over a century, as Jack has shown you before, and the distinctive movement architecture remains an important part of the brand and its visual language today. This latest take on the three-bridged watch takes that 19th-century principle to a totally new level, rendering the movement in matte black titanium and wrapping it in a solid sapphire case. The movement itself is based on that of the Neo-Tourbillon With Three Bridges Skeleton released last year, but the sapphire case is something totally new for GP. In this case, the sapphire takes over 200 hours to make and machine into ...
Introducing: The Swatch Flymagic
It's not too often that we get something entirely new from Swatch. Today, however, the company is launching the Swatch Flymagic, a new collection of proudly mechanical watches that feature anti-magnetic Nivachron hairsprings. The foundation of the Flymagic is the Sistem51 movement. For these watches, Swatch has reversed the caliber, setting it in the 45mm case with the mechanics facing the viewer, and added 15 components to make it function properly in this orientation. One of the side effects of this is that the running seconds actually run backwards, something Swatch is embracing as part of the collection's idiosyncratic personality. You'll also notice that the transparent winding rotor is...
Photo Report: A Night With Van Cleef & Arpels And The Entire Poetic Astronomy Collection
Last night, in snowy New York, we hosted an event with Van Cleef & Arpels at their boutique to celebrate the Poetic Complications collection, including the entire suite of astronomical watches. The evening was abuzz with talk about the Van Cleef & Arpels Plantarium watches (for him and for her). Additionally, the Lady Arpels Lumineux and Midnight Zodiac Lumineux lines were available and displayed a full range of astrological signs (from Aries to Aquarius) detailed in beautiful enamel. Unbeknownst to most, the jewelry maison has been around since 1898 and has been creating gorgeous timepieces since 1906. Each year they continue to push their poetic collection?by adding new and unusua...
Hands-On: The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Collection Excellence Platine
It was just yesterday that I told you one of my favorite watches of SIHH 2019 was one that I had to keep a secret at the time. Well, let's make that two of my favorite watches. While looking around the Vacheron Constantin booth ahead of my appointment, amongst the Twin Beat, Overseas Tourbillon, and Overseas Perpetual Calendar I spotted this: a simple time-only beauty that I had never seen before. When I asked, I was told that the Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Collection Excellence Platine was still a secret and I was politely asked to please keep it under wraps until further notice. Yesterday I got that notice. Lucky you. As a b...