No products in the cart.
Best Super NEWS Watches
Hands-On: The Norqain Freedom 60 GMT
Editor's note: This article features a watch currently available in the HODINKEE Shop. For a long time, I considered myself a chronograph guy. I'd time all manner of kitchen tasks, steaks on the grill, my lunch break, my commute. Only more recently, about three years ago, did I really learn to appreciate the more genteel pleasures of the GMT, a watch with the capacity to be every bit as useful as a chrono C perhaps not at this very moment, global circumstances being what they are C but that has to be enjoyed more or less passively. You might adjust on the occasion of having traveled to a new locale, or upon deciding it was time to call someone on the other side o...
From Stonehenge to the marine chronometer to the co-axial escapement, Britain has an undeniable horological history. Today, there are more than 50 watch and clock makers in Britain, and the need was felt for an organization that could bring together both new and established makers to benefit their common interest. With this in mind, the Alliance Of British Watch And Clock Makers was recently founded by famous British watchmaker Roger W. Smith OBE and Mike France, founder of Christopher Ward watches. Roger W. Smith OBE The Alliance Of British Watch And Clock Makers has four main goals. The alliance aims to promote British watch...
Editors' Picks: The Most Meaningful Watches To Us In The Phillips Retrospective Auction
Auction season is upon us, and rest assured that we will be bringing you a ton of auction coverage over the coming weeks. Just yesterday, we had an exclusive live look at some amazing watches Phillips has for sale in December: Paul Newman's Daytona Ref. 6263 and a rare Monaco worn by Steve McQueen in Le Mans.Speaking of Phillips, the auction house has the upcoming Phillips Retrospective sale taking place in Geneva on November 8, which takes a look at the last 20 years of watchmaking, with a focus on demonstrating why 21st-century watchmaking is distinct from that which came before. Normally, we would do a rundown or highlight some of the lots in the sale, but given that this auction focuses ...
Auctions: Watch Bracelet Worn By Stirling Moss To Sell At Silverstone Auctions
Earlier this year, Stirling Moss, one of the best Formula One drivers of all time and regarded by many as the greatest not to win the World Championship, passed away at the age of 90. Moss' racing career was prolific, as were the watches he wore. One interesting aspect of Moss' watch ownership was that he often wore them on a special twin-bar bracelet. The story goes that Moss had grown tired of leather straps becoming soiled with oil when racing, and the interchangeable bracelet allowed for easy cleaning.? The bracelet was a key part of a great driver's watch-wearing history, worn in numerous races and at important events for 38...
Following its acquisition of vintage seller AnalogShift, the Watches of Switzerland Group continues to make strides to connect with the New York watch community with the addition of one of the industry's most lauded gatekeepers, Kelly Yoch, in a newly created role of Director of Client Relations. Previously, Yoch served as Tiffany & Co.'s Senior Patek Philippe Consultant for North America at the Patek Philippe Salon at the Tiffany flagship store in New York City, where she worked with some of the world's top clients. Prior to that, she held management positions at Saks Fifth Avenue and Tourneau. Kelly Yoch Yoch has made ...
Sunday Rewind: Understanding The Record-Setting Paul Newman Daytona
Earlier this week, we learned that Phillips would be auctioning another Rolex Daytona owned and worn by Paul Newman. It's a huge piece of news for the vintage collecting scene, and it's a watch that is well known to the community and has been in the care of Paul's daughter, Clea, for many years. As one of two banner lots for Phillips' December "Racing Pulse" sale, this non-Paul Newman Daytona that was owned by Paul Newman will be auctioned in support of several charities, and the estimate is said to be "in excess of one million dollars."? That figure may leave you scratching your head as the previous Newman-owned Daytona famously...
Introducing: The Chronoswiss Open Gear Tourbillon
Chronoswiss is a company rather dear to my heart C the company, which was originally founded in 1983, was one of the first new watch brands to emerge from the Quartz Crisis in response to not only a nascent demand, but also a growing faith in the fascination to be found in mechanical horology. The company has, since the late 1990s and early 2000s, had some ups and downs in terms of visibility and direction, but in the last couple of years, it has been introducing a range of new watches which are intended to draw on its historical strengths while, at the same time, attracting new customers as well (Chronoswiss actually accepts payment in bitcoin, speaking of inhabiting the contemporary world)...
Sean Connery Passes Away At 90
This morning the world received the sad news of the passing of Sean Connery at the age of 90. Connery was an award winning actor whose stature and personality eclipsed virtually every role he assumed on stage or in film. While his performances in The Untouchables, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and The Hunt for Red October all stand out, there was of course a single role and character, reprised many times, for which Connery will forever be remembered.?As the original James Bond, Sean Connery set the tone for what the gentleman spy from the pages of Ian Fleming would embody on the silver screen. To many, myself included, Connery was James Bond. And as Bond, he of course wore watches C fr...
Auctions: Five Charmingly Idiosyncratic Lots From The Upcoming Auction At Sotheby's
Let's face it: For most of us, luxury watch auctions are little more than a spectator sport. While the metrics within which I am rendered unfit for participation may change (natural talent, hard work, money, even more money), be it pro ball, first seat on an orchestra, or bidding on some amazing lot in this fall's sales, the outcome is the same. And from slam dunks to perfectly played solos, and the occasional blockbuster multi-million dollar lot, for those of us "in the crowd," it had better be fun to experience.? With that in mind, here are a few loosely modern oddball lots from Sotheby's "Important Watches Featuring Masterworks of Time" that stood out to me be...
Auctions: Three True Tool Watches From Antiquorum's Upcoming November Geneva Auction
On November 8, Antiquorum is holding its "Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces" Geneva Auction which, due to the current state of the world, will take place both in person C at the Beau-Rivage Gene?ve hotel C and online. The sale consists of a wide array of modern, vintage, and even neo-vintage timepieces (there is even a Rolex urn and a Rolex vacuum chamber being offered).? While there is no specific theme to this auction, I wanted to highlight a trio of (what can best be described as) true tool watches. All three of these pieces are dive watches, and each share one thing in common: None were available for purchase at retail, at any time. These were either is...
Welcome to another installment of "My Watch Story," a video series starring HODINKEE readers and their most prized watches. The submissions continue to stream in, and we couldn't be happier to share them with the watch community. Today, we have five new stories submitted by Paul Jones, Abdusalaam Hussein Soud, Alexander Delgado, Paul Guyot, and Stephen Damico.Feeling inspired, or just discovering this project? Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to learn how to submit your own video. But first, we hope you enjoy this installment of My Watch Story. Paul Jones And His Rolex GMT-Master Paul, an atto...
The Value Proposition: The Waldan Heritage Collection
One of the first names I remember hearing when I started covering watches in 2005 was that of Oscar Waldan, who passed away in 2018. The owner and operator of the New York-based Waldan International brand, which he founded in 1979, Oscar had an amazing life story and a prolific career in watches, a good deal of it overlapping with the Quartz Crisis. In fact, his fortunes in watches were forged by that crisis in an unexpected way: He saw value in mechanical watches at a time when many others didn't.?Now Oscar's only son, Andrew, who succeeded him as head of the family business, is paying tribute to his father with a new collection of Waldan watches called Heritage. It honors designs created b...
We believe every vintage watch has a story to tell. That's what HODINKEE was founded on, and since 2016, we've used our knowledge to bring you a curated selection of vintage watches in the HODINKEE Shop that you won't find elsewhere, all delivered with an emphasis on education, transparency, and storytelling. And now, we're kicking things up a notch.? A 1989 Rolex Submariner ref. 5513, now available in the HODINKEE Shop. You'll still find us here every Wednesday morning, and we'll still be highlighting what we love and what you should know about every vintage watch that appears in the HODINKEE Shop. You'll also see every angle...
Just in time to celebrate your latest hostile takeover or portfolio windfall, a new "ultimate luxury toy" package of a private jet/sports car combo also includes a special timepiece in the prospectus. But you'll have to pony up for the whole deal to strap it on your wrist.In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and performance carmaker Porsche have joined forces to create just 10 pairings of a special co-designed Phenom 300E business jet and a Porsche 911 Turbo S vehicle, elegantly dubbed Duet, for a projected sticker price of about $11 million. In their quest to create "a truly seamless experience from road to sky," the partners tasked sibling watchmake...
The Grey NATO: Episode 129: So Many New Watches
Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Google Play and Spotify). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review here, and tell us what topics you'd like us to chat about (or email [email protected]). thegreynato The Grey NATO - 129 - So Many New Watches This week, Jason and James have attempted to fill in some blanks concerning new watch coverage on the show. As the past few episodes have been busy and in-depth, the TGN boys wanted to make sure they highlighted some of the great new watches that have come out since the summer.? From Rolex to ...
It's Complicated: Patek Philippe's Travel Time Legacy
Sometimes called "Dual Time Zone" or "Travel Time" by the brand, this is a long-standing Patek Philippe complication that adds a second hour hand to the dial designed to display the time in another time-zone. The added hand is usually rendered in a manner distinct from the local hours and capable of being hidden under the local hour hand when not in use, and Patek mounts a pair of buttons in the left case flank to advance or retreat the extra hour hand.? A series 1 Patek Philippe 2597, with a double-signed Tiffany dial. For Patek, the original goal of this complication was to make the process of updating to a new time-zone as ...
Sunday Rewind: A Unique Platinum Audemars Piguet Minute Repeater
As we're now deep in the fall auction season, we thought it might be fun to take a look back at a special and very cool unique minute repeater from Audemars Piguet that was offered by Christie's in November of 2016.? In this post written by our good friend and HODINKEE alum Arthur Touchot (he was also the guest on this past week's episode of HODINKEE Radio), we find an exceptional example of just how good AP can be, especially when they listen to a client with solid taste. This example was made unique when the original owner had Audemars Piguet make a few considered changes. With a minimal dial made somewhat more impactful throug...
Just Because: Unlocking The Patek Philippe Naviquartz
There is a special space reserved for watches C and clocks C which have proven to be timeless. There is no such space currently reserved for the Patek Philippe Naviquartz. It is very much a product of the time it was made, so much so that you may never have even heard of it. The Naviquartz is a nautically themed, quartz-powered clock released by Patek in the 1970s.?It was originally designed as a back-up navigational system for ships, but later relegated to dryer environs. As watches became collectible, this clock ?fell out of favor. At one point, the Naviquartz was a status symbol. It is symbolic now only of a time gone by. But just because we don't talk about it, doesn't mean we shouldn't....
In the inaugural installment of The Video Vault, we looked back at three of the most revered independents in the world of watchmaking. Today, we shift our focus to some of the most interesting vintage timepieces we've had the honor of spending time with and filming. Below, I've curated three videos that I think capture the ethos and beauty of vintage watches. They include Rolex, Tudor, AP, and Patek Philippe C generally special or unique references that in many ways represent the veneration of vintage that informs much of the contemporary conversation about watches both old and new.If you're new to HODINKEE, you probably haven't seen these; if you have seen them, it's probably been a while. ...
Auctions: Philippe Dufour Simplicity Fetches CHF 1.36 Million At Phillips
A brand new, limited-edition Simplicity watch made by legendary Swiss watchmaker Philippe Dufour sold today for CHF 1.36 million (the equivalent of $1.51 million) at a Phillips watch auction in Geneva, setting a new record for a Simplicity watch at auction. The watch, called "Simplicity 20th Anniversary," is the first of a 20-piece collection Dufour is producing to mark the launch of the Simplicity collection in the year 2000. The watch was the top performer at Phillips' just concluded "Retrospective: 2000-2020" thematic auction of 95 watches showcasing technical and aesthetic innovation in watchmakin...