Best Super NEWS Watches
Business News: Hong Kong In Swiss-Watch Recession (Again)
Normally, the Swiss watch export data for September, released last week, would have triggered hearty high-fives among Swiss watch executives.?Exports rose 10.2% for the month versus the previous September. Ten of Switzerland's top 11 markets reported increases, eight of them by double-digits. Of Switzerland's top 30 markets, 22 were up.But, as good as it was, there were few high-fives over the September export report. That's because the one top-10 Swiss-watch market that fell was the most important one: Hong Kong.Hong Kong is Switzerland's largest watch export market, and the ongoing political turmoil there is clobbering Swiss-watch sales in the city. The 4.6% drop in Swiss watch exports in ...
Introducing: The MIH Ga?a Watch
Today we have something special to introduce C the second watch released to date by Switzerland's Muse International d'Horlogerie (MIH for short). Many readers will remember the first MIH watch, which was released in 2005 and quickly became a cult hit with for minimalist design and use of a simplified, nine-part annual calendar module atop a Valjoux 7750. That original MIH Watch was created by the museum's then-curator, Ludwig Oechslin (of Ulysse Nardin and Ochs und Junior fame), and master watchmaker Paul Gerber. While this simple and affordably priced annual calendar chronograph is a watch that I never owned, it's a watch that I remember wanting to own. (The original MIH Watch did inspire...
Introducing: The Oris Movember Edition 2019
For the third year in a row, Oris is releasing a special edition watch for Movember, the global men's mental health charity. The original 2017 Movember Edition was based on the Divers Sixty-Five, and last year's model was a variation on the Big Crown Pointer Date. This year we're getting a take on the ChronOris, a vintage-inspired piece that was added back into the Oris catalog two years ago.?The Movember Edition still has the same 39mm stainless steel case, the same dual crown configuration, the same domed crystal, and the same internal rotating bezel as the other ChronOris models, but it's distinguished by a new color scheme that recalls vintage gilt dials, with rose gold dial accents on t...
Hands-On: The Patek Philippe Henry Graves Jr. Minute Repeater
A few weeks ago, I reported that the famous minute repeater that Henry Graves Jr. commissioned from Patek Philippe in the 1920s is coming up for sale again at Christie's Geneva on November 11. In addition to this watch having a ton of historic value C for Patek, for collectors, for watchmaking more generally C it's also a watch that has intense personal significance for me. You can read all about that here, but the tldr version is that reporting a story about this watch when it last sold in 2012 is how I ended up on my professional path in the watch world and at HODINKEE. So last week, when I had a chance to see this legendary watch in the metal for the very first time, you can bet I jumped ...
Auctions: A Gold Carrera Once Owned By Motorsport King Mike Hailwood Races Past Auction Estimates
Last weekend a significant watch to the motorsport community traded hands at the Bonhams Autumn Stafford Sale auction in England. Among the classic motorcycles and racing ephemera up for auction was a Heuer that once belonged to legendary bike racer Mike Hailwood. It sold for 56,312, four times its estimate. ? Racing has always been a dangerous game. But it was an especially perilous endeavor during an era when the go-fast technology curve took a sharp turn upward while the safety standardization curve didnt. This was was very much in ?the case with F1 racing in the early '70s. In 1973, Roger Williamson and Francois Cevert both...
Hands-On: The Bell & Ross BR05 Collection
In September, Bell & Ross introduced its new BR05 collection, which married some of the basic design tropes of the modern steel integrated bracelet sports watch to the existing visual language of its BR01 collection. The BR01 family of watches was originally conceived as a wristwatch version of aircraft instrument gauges. Over the years, it's become a general purpose platform for a wide variety of timepieces, which include the original designs in various sizes, a diver's watch model, and even a skeletonized automatic tourbillon with micro-rotor. The BR05 collection is visibly connected to the BR01 collection. But there are al...
The Grey NATO: Episode 92: TGN Film Club 3
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.? As summer fades and the days get shorter, we thought it would be fun to get another TGN Film Club on the books. As we in the Northern Hemisphere start to spend a bit more time inside, Jason and James have 10 great movies to make the most of any time you have to spend on the couch. From James endless love of Denis Villeneuve and Michael Mann to Jasons fondness for Redford as he sports a Doxa Sharkhunter, this list spans seven decades of amazing movies....
The A. Lange & Sohne Odysseus is a first on several counts for Lange & Sohne. It is of course, the very first stainless steel, series-produced watch the company has ever made C there were 20 steel Lange 1 watches produced, as well as a single steel Homage To Walter Lange timepiece, and a single steel Double Split, but the company has steadfastly stuck to making watches in precious metals since its launch in 1994. It is also the first steel Lange timepiece with an integrated bracelet. It will be limited in production as are all Lange watches, but it will not be a limited edition; the watch also features a new movement, with a first-for-Lange big day-of-the-week and big-date display.? ...
HODINKEE Radio: Episode 63: Patrick Godfrey And Iconic Movie Watches
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! When you're in Los Angeles with some fellow HODINKEE editors and some time to kill, what do you do? You talk about watches and the movies, obviously. During last week's trip west, James and I found ourselves talking about our favorite horological easter eggs in classic movies, and eventually decided to pull out the microphones so we could share it with you. This is a topic with basically endless things we could touch on, so we focused and pinned down what we th...
Hands-On: The Breguet Type 20 For Only Watch, With A Vintage Valjoux Movement
For many vintage wristwatch lovers, Breguet's most interesting collection is the Type XX, a line started in the 1950s as a watch supplied by to the French military for use by aviators. The Type 20 continues today as one of the company's most popular collections, and along with the nautically influenced Marine, its sportiest of lines. Today, we're going hands on with a unique Type 20 created for the upcoming Only Watch auction in Geneva. There's been a ton of buzz about this watch since the Only Watch lots were first announced over the summer. And why not; it's great-looking. But there's much more to it than that. The watch you're...
Introducing: The TAG Heuer Monaco 2009-2019 Limited Edition
Announced at a star-studded event in Shanghai earlier today, this is the fifth and final limited edition created to celebrate the Monaco's 50th birthday. Inspired by the aesthetics of the past ten years, the Monaco 2009-2019 Limited Edition reflects the sleek and minimal aesthetic established in the era of the smartphone and the age of space grey everything. Fitted to a black leather strap with grey contrast stitching, the 2009-2019 Monaco offers a somewhat more low-key (and certainly more modern) feel with a matte sandblasted case and brightly polished chronograph pushers.? The somewhat smoky finish of the case is matched by a charcoal dial with brighter silver-...
It's Friday, and that means we've got another handful of the latest and greatest listings from around the web to share with you. There's a bit of an aeronautical theme going on this week, with the inclusion of an AOPA branded Elgin that predates the Ref. 806 Navitimer, along with a Universal Geneve Polerouter De Luxe, and a Paul Newman Daytona with high flying provenance. If two-register chronographs are your thing, you're in luck, as we have a Heuer Carrera and the mintiest Ref. 7413 Longines that you ever did see. Time to get down to it.? Heuer Carrera Ref. 3647N The way I see it, half the fun of huntin...
Review: The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Tourbillon
Of all the great Swiss watch manufacturers, Vacheron Constantin may be the one most bound by tradition. When it comes to the way they make watches, they tend to do things the old-fashioned way, finishing and certifying the vast majority of them in accordance with the Geneva Seal. They even operate a department for bespoke work, Les Cabinotiers, dedicated to the kind of high-end?and commissioned watches most often associated with the golden age of record-breaking, complicated pocket watches, when collectors pushed watchmakers to do their best work. But Vacheron is also a?modern company that is actively seeking to sell watches to a younger demographic. Just look at...
Bring a Loupe: The Curious Case Of The Amagnetic Patek Philippe 2509 Coming Up For Sale At Christies
The upcoming Christie's Rare Watches auction features a number of interesting Pateks, naturally, but one stands out: A Reference 2509 in Stainless Steel. A stainless Patek is something to get excited about, but this particular one is also marked "Amagnetic" on the dial with an anti-magnetic caliber to back it up. Not your average 2509.? Another watch, the Patek Philippe 3417, is the Amagnetic Patek reference. Released in 1958, it came shortly after a time when major Swiss manufacturers were rushing to bring models to market that featured antimagnetic properties. The Rolex Milgauss, the IWC Mark 11, and the Omega Railmaster all addressed the threat of magnetism by...
Photo Report: A Night Of Watches & Tailoring With Brunello Cucinelli In Los Angeles
Last week we traveled west to co-host an exciting event with Brunello Cucinelli in Los Angeles. Nearly 50 people joined us from all around the greater LA area at Brunello Cucinelli's private West Hollywood show room for an evening all about great watches and fine tailoring. Flying in from Solomeo, Italy, was Mr. Cucinelli's personal master tailor, who joined the brand's head men's buyer to share the latest collections and some personal styling tips with everyone in attendance. It was a masterclass in refined, relaxed dressing.In addition, we brought along some great watches C think vintage Daytonas and Vacheron Constantin Historiques pieces C though people turned up with some pretty spectacu...
Last week was a big one for A. Lange & Sohne, who celebrated 25 years since its introduction to the world, with an entirely new line that would drive it towards the 50 year mark. No matter what you think of the new Odysseus, or frankly any watch from the Saxon based manufacture, Langes are made with the absolute highest quality of any series-made watch. Period. And over the past few years, I've noticed a small but growing, and exceptionally dedicated, group of young collectors paying attention to special Lange 1 watches. The Lange 1 is Lange, and it is, as I've said many times before, one of the only true icons of horology introduced in the last quarter century. It is, also as I've said ...
Introducing: The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf 68 Saturation x Andy Mann Limited Edition
Zodiac has recruited underwater wildlife photographer and adventurer Andy Mann to help design a limited edition dive watch that puts an unconventional spin on a design originally from the mid-century design dive watch boom. The new limited edition watch started as a standard Super Sea Wolf 68 Saturation, but then Mann had a go at tweaking it to his liking. Mann has spent his career underwater photographing endangered wildlife, with a keen focus on sharks. The story goes that he went to Switzerland and "broke all the rules" by asking designers to step outside their comfort zone.? It's a great marketing story, but it's also true. I spoke with Mann about it last wee...
Just Because: Rare Vintage Omega Speedmaster Surprises Grandpa By Bringing In Ultra-Money
When Roger Cooper was a young man in the British Merchant Navy, he bought a Speedmaster for 45 in Hong Kong. That was in 1968 and he wore the watch sailing for the next 15 years. The Speedmaster was water resistant up to 200 feet, so why not? If Cooper knew the future value of his watch, I'm sure he wouldn't have taken it anywhere near the water, but of course, the Speedmaster wasn't an investment strategy or a rare collectible by any means. It was just a watch to Cooper, and it needed to tell the correct time regardless of what he was doing. It was special because he spent an entire month's salary on it and bought it in Hong Kong, which, in 1968, was still held by the British. In 1983 he s...
'Nims' Purja Just Set An Unbelievable Record While Completing Bremont Project Possible
One thing we like to say, perhaps to justify our collecting of outdated technology, is that wristwatches collect memories and can be worn during life's great adventures. But some people's adventures are a little more, shall we say, ambitious, than others. Take Nirmal "Nims" Purja, the Nepalese mountaineer and ex-British Special Forces Gurkha, who has just completed one of the most extraordinary feats in history. At 8:58am local time, Purja summited the Chinese peak, Shishapangma, completing his quest to reach the top of the 14 highest mountains on Earth in less than seven months. In fact, he had a few weeks to spare. On his wrist for all 14 peaks? A Supermarine 300 dive watch from the Britis...
As auction season in Geneva nears, exciting pieces are emerging in other less publicized areas of the market. This week's roundup is one of the best in a while, thanks to the inclusion of a number of extraordinary sports pieces. Between a confirmed Speedmaster prototype, a Ref. 5512 Submariner owned by a New York Mets pitcher, and a Heuer Montreal with racing provenance, there's a lot to love. Then factor in two of the finest anti-magnetic watches ever made from Patek Philippe and IWC, and you've got a roundup with some serious meat on its bones.? 1970 Omega Speedmaster Professional Prototype I'm not goin...