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Best Super NEWS Watches
First Photos: The Zenith El Primero A386 Revival In White, Rose, and Yellow Gold
Maybe it was right near where I was standing, or maybe it was a hundred yards away. Either way, 50 years ago, folks in Baselworlds Hall 1 gathered to see the brand new Zenith El Primero for the very first time. It was 1969, and the year was all about the debut of the automatic chronograph. Zeniths A386 reference was the vehicle of choice to debut this soon-to-be-legendary caliber. The watch has a streamlined case and a bold dial with three different colored sub-registers and an angled date window at 4:30. Combine that with the high-speed automatic chronograph movement inside and the watch was unlike anything the world had ever seen. Fast-forward to 2019 and Zen...
Watch Spotting: Akrivia Founder Rexhep Rexhepi Wearing A Steel Prototype Chronomtre Contemporain
If you followed our coverage from last year's Baselworld, you might remember that when asked to choose my "grail watch" of the fair, I picked the Akrivia Chronomtre Contemporaine without a moment's hesitation. I had never really given much thought to the small independent brand before seeing that watch, sort of by accident I might add. I knew they did objectively good things, but it wasn't really in my wheelhouse. However, the Chronomtre Contemporain is a watch that has haunted my dreams for a full year now and when it came time to make our Baselworld 2019 schedule, booking my appointment with Akrivia was one of the first things I did.Stepping into the booth this morning, I immediately not...
Introducing: The Breitling Navitimer 1 Automatic 41
Last year in Basel, we saw a 38mm three-hand Navitimer with a beaded bezel equipped with a slide rule. Sure, it was on the smaller side for a Breitling, but it was also a clear signal that under its then-new new management, Breitling was going to be open to trying new things to reach a wider range of watch buyers. This year, we see the same aesthetic applied to a 41mm mid-size three-hander with date. It's a good looking watch that takes the aesthetic of the Navitimer, a tool watch if there ever was one and definitely Breitling's most iconic design, and applies it to a fashionable time and date in a wide range of executions incorp...
First Photos: The Solid Gold Doxa Sub 200 T. Graph Limited Edition
You're looking at Doxa's latest vintage-inspired limited edition, the new SUB 200 T. Graph in solid 18k yellow gold. With a retail price of $70,000, while it's certainly a hilarious watch, it's also an undoubtedly puzzling move for a historic brand known for dive watches under $3,000. Made in reference to the 1969 Sub 200 T. Graph (which is celebrating its 50th birthday), this new edition is 43mm wide (in solid yellow gold), it uses a Valjoux 7734 hand-wound movement with a date at six and a two-register layout offering a 30-minute chronograph with central seconds. Using the brand's tonneau case, this wild chronograph is limited to just 13 units. Yes, 13.?Thirteen.?In solid gold. For $70,000...
HODINKEE Radio: Baselworld 2019 Round-Up, Day 3
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 the best things about Baselworld is that pretty much the entire watch world descends on the small Swiss town for a few days and it's nearly impossible to walk 10 feet without running into someone you know. After an impromptu encounter with longtime HODINKEE editor-at-large Jason Heaton, we decided to do today's recap episode with him and James Stacey, making it something of a HODINKEE Radio/The Grey NATO crossover. We get into all the stuff you'd expect ...
Baselworld 2019: Five Of The Coolest New Independent Watches
My favorite part of Baselworld every year is when I get to take a few hours to leave Hall 1.0, with its grandiose booths and internationally recognized names, for the comfort of what has come to be called "Les Ateliers." Each year its physical location seems to move, but Les Ateliers is where you'll find many of the high-end independent watchmakers. These are the guys who, for the most part, are making tens or hundreds of watches per year, mostly by hand, and with distinct points of view. Names like Urwerk, MB&F, Kari Voutilainen, and the like are all there. The booths are at a slightly more manageable scale and the person you're sitting down with is likely the person whose name is on th...
This year is the 20th anniversary of Grand Seiko's unique Spring Drive technology (which you can learn all about right here, if you're not already familiar). As you'd expect, a celebration is in order and the Japanese watchmaker is doing so in a number of important ways. We already showed you the limited edition hand-wound anniversary dress watches and the new hand-wound Elegance collection, but now we've got something else entirely for you to enjoy: Meet the SBGA403, a new sports watch that brings together an automatic Spring Drive movement with a new style of case and an absolutely stunning dial. The entire package is inspired by the lion, a longtime symbol of Grand Seiko. ...
First Photos: The Oris Aquis GMT Date
Creating a watch that immediately feels as though it has always been around, Oris has made the move to add a GMT feature to their 43.5mm Aquis dive watch. With a steely blue metallic dial and yellow GMT accents, the new Aquis GMT Date uses a second time zone display that slides in nicely next to the execution of radial date displays on watches like the Aquis Source of Life LE or the new Aquis Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III.? On a full steel bracelet or either a black or dark blue rubber strap, the Aquis GMT Date uses an Oris-modified Sellita SW 330-1 with a date display at three and a 24-hour independent GMT hand. Functio...
HODINKEE Radio: Baselworld 2019 Round-Up, Day 4
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 it, but for team HODINKEE, Baselworld 2019 is a wrap! After four days of non-stop watch madness, we're getting ready to head back home, but with a lot to think and talk about. Today I sat down with Cara, Cole, Jack, and Joe to talk about a few brands we hadn't gotten to yet, not least of which was Grand Seiko (a real stand-out, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Spring Drive this year). After that, Joe gave us the inside scoop on the mood ...
First Photos: The Seiko Presage SPB093 & SPB095 With Arita Porcelain Dials
There are few collections of watches that offer better value across the board than Seiko's Presage collection. You get beautifully designed watches with solid movements and various extra little touches for generally affordable prices. Back in 2017, Seiko introduced a collection of stainless steel watches that featured fired white enamel dials in a few different configurations. This week we got new versions of two of those watches with Arita porcelain dials, bringing a bit of a different traditional Japanese craft to the wristwatch party. Aside from the new dials and an upgraded movement with a longer power reserve for the time-and-date model, these watches retain all the features we love fro...
Hands-On: The Zodiac Aerospace GMT Limited Edition
The Aerospace GMT reissue is funky, it's got some historical significance, and it's accessible C well, maybe not totally accessible, but more on that later. It's a watch that I was looking forward to seeing at Baselworld, and I finally had the opportunity to spend some time with it and speak to the folks responsible for its development.? Zodiac used to be a massive presence in the market. The company was built on value and volume. The slogan "Twice as much time for your money" C referring to the ability to track two time zones C was used in the original Aerospace GMT ads along with illustrations that looked like your typical '50s...
First Photos: The Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT
Designed in collaboration with Ferrari's Centro Stile (the brand's in-house design group), the new Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT is a marked departure from the sharply angular and structural design common to most Hublot watches. Designed by the same people behind the jaw-dropping Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2, the Ferrari GT is curvy, a bit strange, and to my eye a rare example of successful design that overlaps elements from both cars and watches. Available in titanium, King Gold, and a special polymer matrix composite called 3-D carbon, the Ferrari GT is 45mm wide and uses Hublot's in-house UNICO HUB1280 flyback chronograph movement.? ...
First Photos: The Greubel Forsey Quadruple Tourbillon GMT
The Greubel Forsey Quadruple Tourbillon GMT looked and sounded like a new candidate for Best Superwatch Of 2019 on the basis of the specs and press release alone. And in person, it's overwhelming. We had a chance to look at it in the metal and talk about the evolution of the GMT complication at Greubel Forsey, with co-founder Stephen Forsey in Basel last week, and it's an extraordinary and I think necessarily divisive watch. ?Yes, it is absolutely over the top in terms of design, and in terms of price, but it's also over the top intentionally C a megawatch with two double tourbillons, two time zones, a universal time display/worldtime function via a miniature globe, and more traditional labo...
Watch collecting is a funny pursuit, in that enthusiasts are both always in search of that next great thing and healthily skeptical of anything that they haven't seen before. When a watch is discovered that is unique, unusual, and properly documented, it's a perfect storm, and that's what we have here for you today. Phillips has announced that as part of its Geneva Watch Auction: Nine, taking place May 11, 2019, it will offer up a Vacheron Constantin minute repeater with retrograde calendar that, until recently, only existed in a single black-and-white photograph. So here's the short version of the backstory. If you flip through ...
Introducing: The Oris Divers Sixty-Five 'Bico' In Steel And Bronze (Lives Pics & Pricing)
Bronze watches are big right now. Two-tone gold and steel watches are totally in right now, too. But can you have both? Oris thinks so, and the Divers Sixty-Five is the platform on which theyre testing out that theory. They call it the "Bico," a crafty contraction of bi-color. You still get the the 40mm case, the domed sapphire, and the vintage looks, but it comes in the novel combination of bronze and stainless steel. Last Baselworld, Oris introduced the Divers Sixty-Five Bronze Bezel, which mixed steel and bronze in a way that resulted in about a four out of 10 on the in-your-face bronze scale. The bezel was made from bronze, but the typical insert was still...
In-Depth: TAG Heuer's Guy Bove And The New Autavia Isograph
Sometimes things dont work out as planned. Early in 2017, I spoke to Guy Bove, then product director and designer at Chopard. Hed recently completed the exciting designs of sister brand Ferdinand Berthoud, which had scooped up the main prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genve a few months before. But even though he is a sincere watch lover, Bove was talking about seeking another direction in life. Perhaps getting out of watches. Perhaps traveling more. Perhaps focusing more on his photo-based art. A few months later, all of that went out the window.?A familiar number had appeared on Guys phone C that of Georges Kern, with whom Guy had previously worked at IWC. Kern had just been app...
Grand Seiko is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Spring Drive in style, with a new Grand Seiko Sport design that features a faceted, highly polished case that's a radical departure from Grand Seiko's past design language. The new cases, whose angular case, sharp lugs, and dial pattern are all said to be inspired by the claws and mane of the Grand Seiko mascot, have a visual and tactile presence that's probably going to be pretty challenging for at least some of Grand Seiko's very engaged fans to accept. Whether or not the new design finds rapid acceptance, or instead will take a little getting used to, remains to be seen, but in terms of quality of execution, fit, and finish, they're very ...
The Grey NATO: Episode 77: Face-To-Face At The Bremont Townhouse 2019
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.? Recorded live at the annual Bremont Townhouse in New York City, this episode has the boys face-to-face in the same place (a rarity!). Each spring, Bremont hosts press at a pre-Basel preview of their latest watches and this is actually the third time weve recorded from the Townhouse. Its always a great time getting to see and try on the new stuff from a brand like Bremont and this year has a lot to offer, with new ultra-deep divers, an ejection seat ...
Introducing: The Citizen Eco-Drive Caliber 0100, The Most Accurate Wristwatch Ever Made
Last year, Citizen showed, with surprisingly little fanfare, a fanfare-worthy achievement. This was the Caliber 0100, which was presented in a pocket watch case, as a non-production prototype. Though it was clear at first glance that the movement could easily be used in a production wristwatch, at the time there was no specific commitment from Citizen that this would happen. However, this year at Baselworld, Citizen debuted the Caliber 0100 wristwatch, in white gold and titanium cases, making a new record-holder for world's most accurate wristwatch a reality. The new watch is housed in a 37.5mm x 9.1mm case and is being released ...
Watch Spotting: Frank Ocean Wearing The Richard Mille RM 37-01 Automatic Kiwi
Late last night, the one and only Frank Ocean posted a wrist shot to his Instagram account in which, next to a gem-set flower chain bracelet, he flashed a colorfully controversial piece from Richard Mille's Bonbon collection. Originally shown at SIHH this past January, the candy-themed Bonbon collection was met with mixed reactions. I think it's a wonderful pick by Ocean.? Adorned with fruit slices and tiny candies, the RM 37-01 Automatic Kiwi has a carbon TPT case and a bright green rubber strap. Ocean, who has been heralded for his distinctive style and taste (alongside his generation-defining ...