Best Super NEWS Watches
Introducing: The SolarBeat Tank Must, The First-Ever Solar-Powered Cartier Watch
So far, Watches & Wonders has brought us some genuine surprises, and not the least of them is the new SolarBeat movement-equipped Tank Must. The watch is the first solar-powered watch in the Tank collection, but it is also the first solar-powered watch ever from Cartier. The watch is cased in stainless steel and comes in two sizes, at 33mm x 25.5mm for the large model, and 29.5 x 22mm for the small model. Cartier says that owners can expect, on average, a running time of 16 years before the watch requires a service (I assume that's the number of years that we can expect the rechargeable storage cell to last, as even rechargea...
Interview: H. Moser's CEO On Pixelated Erasers And Mega Cool Tiger's Eyes
Even with dozens of other brands competing for attention, H. Moser & Cie's new pieces managed to break through this week at Watches & Wonders. They're simply too bold, too different to ignore. We had a chance to sit down with Moser CEO Edouard Meylan to talk about new releases like the Mega Cool and the Tiger's Eye, plus last week's April Fools Day release C which we'll just call the pixelated eraser watch. Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept x seconde/seconde/ Where did the inspiration for a watch like this come from? From seeing the way seconde/seconde/ looked at brands com...
Interview: IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr On Digital Tradeshows And Desert Inspiration
IWC has had a big year. Not only has the company released two new downsized watches, Big Pilot 43 and the Pilot's Chronograph 41, but it also announced the release of the Big Pilot's Watch Shock Absorber XPL C a design built around proprietary SPRIN-g PROTECT technology, a cantilever spring that suspends the movement inside the case. We took a moment with IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr to recap IWC's latest wares and hear about the backstories behind them. What were some of the key lessons IWC learned from doing a digital show like this? There is a major gain in terms of the personal connection and the effic...
HODINKEE Radio: Watches & Wonders 2021 First Look C The Independents
Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review, and tell us which guests we should have on! Whether it was visiting the Palace at Baselworld or checking out the Carr des Horlogers at SIHH, discovering independent watchmaking has always been a big part of trade show time here at HODINKEE. Some of my favorite memories from covering the watch world are meeting watchmakers face-to-face in a slightly more low-key setting between appointments with mega-brands. And, lest we forget, there are also independent watch brands that do operate on a slightly larger scal...
HODINKEE Radio: Watches & Wonders 2021 First Look C Hublot, TAG Heuer, & Zenith
Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review, and tell us which guests we should have on! Despite hosting their own mini-show back in January, LVMH's watch brands came back this week with some serious stuff to release at Watches & Wonders 2021. We've already covered the new drops from Bulgari, so today, we're going to focus on the sport watch brands: Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Zenith. Each has its own distinct personality and approach, and each clearly came to play at the year's biggest horological showcase. ...
Found: A Golf Icon's Patek Philippe
Gene Sarazen, who passed away in 1999, aged 97, is one of the legendary figures in the history of golf. His name lives alongside those of?Woods, Nicklaus, Hogan, and Player in the exclusive club of golfers who captured all four majors in their lifetimes. For each of them, these triumphs of course include the Masters, whose third round of play is going down right at this very moment. In honor of that, we thought we'd share some photos of a cool old Patek Philippe with golf history attached to it C an Art Deco-style wristwatch that once belonged to Gene Sarazen. The watch is an 18-karat gold cushion inscribed, "PRESENTED TO GENE SA...
Introducing: The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Small Seconds In Green
For me, one of the most attractive modern Reverso watches has always been the Reverso Tribute models, which have beautiful faceted dauphine hands, colored dials, applied bar indexes, and a small seconds display at 6:00. The first Tribute watches came out in 2011, and that same year, JLC also released what I think is still the nicest time-only Reverso of the 21st century, which is the Tribute to 1931 New York edition.?JLC has just released, for Watches & Wonders 2021, the latest Tribute Reverso, this time with a deep green dial. Technically, it's identical to its predecessors C the reversible case is 45.6 x 27.4 mm, and 8.5mm ...
Hands-On With AP's New Black Panther Watch (Live Pics, Pricing)
It's here. We've heard rumblings for weeks now about a mysterious Audemars Piguet and Marvel collaboration. The watch internet has been blazing with theories about what a watch like this could be. We saw some interesting guesses (and even mock-ups) of a Captain America or Iron Man watch. My money was on Thor C with some long flowing blonde hair hanging from the side of a case shaped like a hammer. But we were all so very wrong. Audemars Piguet today unveiled C straight from the Vibranium-rich mines of Wakanda C the Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon, the first in a continuing partnership with Marvel (so keep the theories flowing). The announcement ...
Zenith has been on a serious hot streak recently. The hits include laser-accurate vintage revivals in the Chronomaster Heritage series, the mechanically innovative and aesthetically bold Defy collection (most recently updated with the Defy Extreme), and the 2021 debut of the new-look Chronomaster Sport line that's so popular Zenith can't keep up with demand. A pair of 2021 Zenith novelties. (Chronomaster Revival A385; Chronomaster Sport.) The man behind the brand is Julien Tornare, the charismatic leader and CEO who's entering his fourth year at the helm of the Swiss watchmaker. We caught up with him (over Zoom) during Watches...
Few things are certain in the wild world of watch auctions. One certainty is that Patek Philippe ref. 2523 and 2523-1 world timers are rare beasts and generally fetch a pretty penny. But there's rare, and then there's rare C and Philips is set to offer one of the rarest 2523s there is at this May's auction in Geneva. On the block as Lot 33 is a previously unknown cloisonn enamel, Eurasia dial ref. 2523 in yellow gold. The current estimate is $3.3 million C which is no joke. What makes this watch so rare is C like all things C the details. Patek world timers from the 1950s weren't mass produced and ?generally were purchased by magnates and mega-millionaires (sorr...
Introducing: This Diamond-Set Tourbillon Glows In The Dark
"At Roger Dubuis, excess and madness are part of our DNA," said brand CEO Nicolas Andreatta in a video welcoming attendees to the 2021 virtual Watches & Wonders show. What you're looking at might be the most excessive Roger Dubuis watch this year. Prized since ancient times for rarity, value, and the capacity to reflect and refract light, the diamond sits at the very top of the jewelry-making pyramid. It's the ultimate medium for ornamental luxury; and watchmakers, working in a jewelry-adjacent craft, have of course been known to use them too. In addition to tourbillons and movements skeletonized to within an inch of their life, Roger Dubuis has got the carat...
Introducing: The Patek Philippe Calatrava "Clous De Paris" Ref. 6119
Earlier this morning, Patek Philippe announced new pieces in a launch separate from Watches & Wonders, and, alongside a brand new perpetual calendar, the brand also announced a new two-reference Calatrava collection, dubbed the "Clous de Paris." Offered in rose gold and white gold as the reference 6119R and 6119G respectively, while the watches are certainly classic and conservative in their styling, this is a big move for the Calatrava range as these models use Patek's new 30-255 PS movement, which is meant to be the next generation of their long-standing 215 PS hand-wound caliber. With applied markers and the traditional hobnail bezel, this is kind of your grandpa's Patek C but only be...
Introducing: The Patek Philippe Ref. 5236P-001 In-Line Perpetual Calendar (A First For Patek)
Despite the fact that Patek Philippe has become best-known, in the past couple of years, as the maker of a somewhat quirky blue-dial stainless steel sports watch originally designed in the 1970s, it's worth occasionally reminding ourselves that they've been doing just a couple of other things for quite a bit longer, representing just a smidge more in terms of meaty horological content than the you-know-what and its successor. You might have thought that this week would be, at least for Patek, remembered as the the one where that watch debuted, but today, Patek's announced a new piece that is, if not a return to form per se, certainly a firm and emphatic reminder that this revered Genevan fir...
Introducing: All The New Chanel Models
Care to dance? At Chanel, it's time to get your booty out on the floor with a rainbow-infused Electro collection that chases our pandemic doldrums away. Arnaud Chastaingt, director of Chanel's watchmaking creation studio, set out to channel the pulsing club vibe of the '90s electronic music scene (driven by acts like Technotronic) and developed the neon theme across Chanel's watch pillars C from J12 and Premire to Code Coco. "In the nineties, this musical movement created a radical new visual universe, which could be described as eccentric, a reflection of nightlife and its atmosphere," Chastaingt said in a video introducing the new ...
Smallternatives: A Few Great Watches That Actually Shrunk For Watches & Wonders
When it comes to case sizes, even a millimeter or two can make all of the difference. So it felt like a sea change in the 2000s and 2010s as the industry trended toward ever-larger sports watches, Panerai exploded in popularity, and 45mm+ watches became increasingly in vogue. Brands like Breitling, IWC, Omega, and even Rolex were willing to upsize their offerings in the face of consumer demand. Lately (perhaps because of the boom in vintage watches, which tend to be smaller), we've seen a demand for more modest sizing C not just in terms of case width, but also for the other two crucial metrics: thickness and lug-to-lug (how long the watch is North-to-South, incl...
Introducing: The Ulysse Nardin UFO, Blast Hourstriker, And Diver X Skeleton
When it comes to Ulysse Nardin, it's hard not also to think about innovative, avant-garde design. With a steady focus on the use of uncommon materials, novel mechanics, and artistic thinking, the brand in its modern history has made a name for itself with collections like the Freak, and so many individual watches like the Marine Mega Yacht and suggestive Classic Voyeur Minute Repeater, among so many others. This is not to say the brand doesn't also tread in classic watch design from time to time, which they certainly do. In fact, much of the Marine, Diver, and even aptly named Classico collections do work in-step with very traditional styles and materials. But for these classic looks, it is ...
Found: Ettore Bugatti's Personal Mido Is Up For Grabs This Weekend
A few months ago, I purchased the new Mido Ocean Star GMT for myself. And it's been getting a whole lot of wrist time recently. I'd even wager that if 2021 ended today, it would be my selection for HODINKEE's annual Watch I Wore The Most article.As you might expect, that acquisition was the culmination of a lot of research and reading about the brand. I was absolutely aware of Mido, the company, as it exists today as part of the Swatch Group, but I wouldn't say I was necessarily familiar with its entire 100-plus-year history. It's rarely explored in-depth these days, and you have to do a decent bit of digging to go beyond a simple surface-level understanding of how Mido developed into the co...
Introducing: The Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Ref. 4947/1A
With the new 4947/1A, Patek Philippe is offering an annual calendar with a round Calatrava-style case in steel. At 38mm in diameter, it's right in the sweet spot of what a lot of enthusiasts might consider to be an ideal dress-watch size, paired with a matching five-row bracelet in steel. It's a beautiful watch, though it's not the first 4947, a reference Patek has previously used for ladies' references, putting diamonds on the crown and bezel. Besides the fact that this round annual calendar is steel, what's unexpected about it is that this time around, at least according to anything I've seen, Patek isn't assigning this watch to any gender. To the contrary...
Introducing: The Baltic Aquascaphe Dual-Crown (Live Pics, Pricing)
When it comes to relentlessly pursuing the classic watch ideal in a modern package, few independent brands can top Baltic. It has the vintage-inspired game on lock with dive, chronograph, and field watch designs across its collections. Now, it's taken a core model, the Aquascaphe, and adorned it with a second crown (because, you know, two is better than one). Say hello to the Baltic Aquascaphe Dual-Crown, a super-compressor-style evolution of the existing vintage-inspired diver. This new watch features a double-crown design, but also an internal bezel. In typical Baltic fashion, it's available in multiple dial variations and case materials. There are two steel mo...
In her seminal ode to the perversities of the human heart, "I Hate Myself For Loving You," that most able and lyrical chronicler of la condition humaine, the enduringly trenchant Joan Jett, observes, "I think of you every night and day/You took my heart, and you took my pride away." So it is with HODINKEE editors and these, the watches of Watches & Wonders (And More) that we simply cannot stop obsessing over.Horological earworms, if you will, these timepieces have burrowed into our heads and rented space in our brains. We love them despite ourselves. They are watches that, based on what we know or thought we knew! of our own characters, we should at least dislike and, at most, roundl...