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Best Super NEWS Watches
There's something really exciting happening in Fleurier these days. That's what I told you at the end of August, when Parmigiani's new Tonda PF collection was released during Geneva Watch Days. And I stand by that. I recently handled the entire collection and spoke with new Parmigiani CEO, Guido Terreni, formerly of Bulgari (aka, the man who brought us the Octo Finissimo), about it. The Tonda PF is meant to be an entirely fresh look for Parmigiani. Available in a time-and-date model, a chronograph, and an annual calendar C?plus a highly-limited platinum rattrapante we'll cover later C these are the first batch of watches released...
The cottage industry of web-based micro watch brands has expanded rapidly since the concept was born on the forums in the early 2000s. Microbrands learned to crawl during the infancy of online shopping and industrious sole operators soon realized they could run an entire watch brand from their garage, basement, or even a cramped New York apartment. The Brew Metric from my recent Hands-On. Microbrands took the cut-out-the-middleman marketing approach that directly challenged the stalwart C and arguably quite stale C distribution method of selling watches at retail. With fewer steps in the chain, there were fewer players request...
Entry Level look at the Omega De Ville Prestige Chronometer
Welcome to Entry Level. One of the things you hope for from watchmaking is that the entry price points are treated with as much thought and respect as any Grand Complication. In Entry Level, we look at watches?which may be less costly, but which still express the values of the company that makes them. There is an unfortunate tendency these days for discussions about price to dominate discussions about watches, although it's not hard to understand why it happens. Let's face it, mechanical watches, over the last five years or so and especially over the last couple of years, have become almost incomprehensibly expensive and at the same time, often simply unobtainabl...
An In-Depth HODINKEE Look At The Apple Watch Series 7
The Apple Watch has been with us now for six years, and in all that time it has largely eschewed dramatic changes and updates, in favor of more incremental improvements. These, however, have added up considerably and what we have today, in the Series 7, is by far the most mature version of the world's most popular smartwatch. In fact, the changes in case design, materials, processors, sensors, and displays, mean that the Apple Watch is now not so much a wearable extension of other devices, as a device which does what I suspect Steve Jobs wanted it to do all along: define a new category of mobile devices which stand on their own, rather than feel and function like accessories. ...
A Week On The Wrist: The 43mm IWC Big Pilot Automatic
The best way to think through a watch is putting in the context it's made for. In the case of the IWC Big Pilot Automatic, that's in the cockpit. Anyone can read off the specifications from a press release. I'm not here to do that. If a brand is telling me it's made for flying, then the only way to understand C and judge C the watch is to take it flying. That said, I understand that most of these watches will never see the inside of a cockpit. There are roughly 665,000 pilots in the United States and 329 million people, and the US is one of the most popular countries in the world to earn a pilot's lic...
The history of skull watches, and modern skull wristwatches
Headline image, Fiona Krger Calavera watch. There is probably nothing more on-the-nose than taking a look at skull watches when All Hallow's Eve rolls around, but behind the clich is something sort of weird. You can do a roundup of skull watches nowadays without breaking a sweat, but for most of the history of watchmaking, this was manifestly not the case C certainly, not to the extent that it is today, when it sometimes feels like it's easier to name the brands that don't make skull watches, than the brands that do. There are some outliers, sure, and big names, too C maybe Rolex, Omega and Patek have done skull watches at some point, but not so you'd notice. B...
What's So Special About Glashtte Original's New Watch?
Back in 2016, Glashtte unveiled a new movement, the caliber 36, which earned the German company a great deal of attention. For a brand focused on the more cosmopolitan side of watch design it was quite a treat to see a movement that, in addition to its good looks, put the focus squarely (well, I guess roundly) on accuracy C featuring timekeeping metrics that exceeded COSC chronometer certification standards. It also featured a silicon balance spring. Since that time, Glashtte has been iterating on the movement and building all manner of complications off of it. A year after the initial launch of the caliber 36, the Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar came along. Today, we find ourselves ...
Industrial Designer Ini Archibong Shares His Watch Collection
Switzerland-based, American Industrial designer Ini Archibong's watch journey began in his early 20s with a Valjoux 7750-powered Sector chronograph. It's a simple enough watch, but the fact that the famous movement could also be found in more expensive watches was a point of pride for Archibong. A fitting start for the multi-hyphenate industrial designer, whose varied work in several fields often blends form, function, technology, and storytelling. Around the same time, Archibong's older brother started collecting. An industrial design student at the time, Ini noticed a Panerai catalog on his brother's table, and from a design standpoint, found Panerai to be perf...
Another Olympic Watch From Omega?
If it feels like we just got through with the 2020 Summer Olympics, it's because we literally just did. The 2020 games taking place in 2021 meant the 2022 Winter Olympics are hot on the heels of the Tokyo games. Omega is celebrating early C about four months early to be exact C getting the party started with a new (and customary) special edition commemorative timepiece. Today, it announced and unveiled the Seamaster Aqua Terra Beijing 2022, which takes the standard 41mm Aqua Terra and sticks it in the freezer, giving it an icy aesthetic and some nice pops of color. This piece comes fitted to a stainless steel bracelet with its typical combination of brushed and p...
Understanding The Heuer Black-Coated Monaco
Its easy to get lost in the romance, particularly when it comes to vintage watches. Todays enthusiasts know the story of the Steve McQueen Monaco chronograph: In 1970, the King of Cool wore a midnight blue Heuer Monaco for the filming of Le Mans and it all appears beautifully serendipitous. McQueen was at the height of his career, with Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair both being hits in 1968. Le Mans was his passion project, the movie that he had always wanted to make, with driver Michael Delaney emerging victorious in this most grueling and glamorous endurance race. He does not win for himself, but drives heroically to ensure that the team Porsches finish 1-2. ...
HODINKEE Pre-Owned Dress Watches
It's been far too long, but it's looking like C?maybe C?we'll get to have a somewhat ordinary holiday season this year. People will be traveling to see family and friends that they haven't seen in almost two years, and if that sounds like you, have you decided what watch you're going to wear to see them? Might we suggest a new dress watch? It's a surefire way to catch your in-law's attention, while also pulling double duty when you find yourself back in the office on a more frequent basis at the start of 2022. We've gathered a few of our favorite dress watches currently available in HODINKEE Pre-Owned below, so read on to check them out or head over to the HODINK...
Introducing The The Certina DS PH200M
"Watch by straw poll" may not seem like the most sophisticated of marketing or design strategies but that's exactly what Certina has done for its new women's watch C and the result is set to be a hit. In March of this year, the Swiss watchmaker wanted to create a women's version of its bestselling DS PH200M diver, an affordable tool watch known for its quality and robust specs around precision and shock resistance (the DS stands for Double Security). Rather than assuming it knew what women want C or worse, lazily reverting to the anachronistic formula of "shrink it, pink it and add diamonds" C Certina instead took to Instagram and Facebook, asking its followers t...
Here at HODINKEE, we believe that just about everything in the world has a watch angle. And so, to celebrate the ghoulish holiday equally beloved by sugar-rushed kids and grown-up Theater majors, we've summoned up the spookiest, scariest, Halloween-iest stories we could pull out of our content cauldron.?Today and all weekend you will find horological thrills and the occasional chill. From Jack "O'Lantern" Forster's deep dive into skull watches to Genevieve Walker's haunted grandfather clock (aren't they all a little bit haunted?), we're celebrating Halloween the only way we know how.?Now join us in the comments to debate how many watches that gigantic Home Depot skeleton can fit on its bony ...
Why Do Grandfather Clocks Seem So Creepy?
The grandfather clock stopped working for absolutely no reason, again. When I noticed, I made a conscious effort not to memorize the time its hands pointed to, prophetically, no doubt.Didnt you just wind the clock? I shouted to my husband. Of course, he said, and I knew from the way he said it we were thinking the same thing. We would have to call Edward, the local clockmaker, whose disappointment neither one of us was ready to face. The grandfather clock is a classic Ridgeway. Above its face, a moon peers over two silver globes, its unblinking eyes painted to observe in a placid, detached sort o...
To view the entire current selection of vintage watches available in the HODINKEE Shop, click?here.Questions? Send us a note, or let us know in the comments. Want to sell your vintage watch through the HODINKEE Shop? Click?here. Want to sell your pre-owned watch? Click?here. This Week's Vintage Watches Vintage collecting comes down to the details C this is not a hot take. Digging deep into the details has become commonplace in our wonderful and welcomely weird world of watches. It takes a watch like the 1974 Rolex Daytona ref. 6263 with sigma dial in this week's selection to reignite the fire for the details that lives deep in our vin...
HODINKEE's Favorite Skeletonized watches
It's what's on the inside that counts, and today we celebrate the watches that have peeled back the layers to show you all the good stuff. If you've ever considered a closed caseback the coffin of watches, these skeletonized bad boys should make all of your movement-peeping dreams come true.? Cartier Priv Collection Tank 'Asymtrique Skeleton' On Halloween, I like to balance the spooky with the classy, which is why the Cartier Priv Collection Tank 'Asymtrique Skeleton' speaks to me so loudly (like a ghostly bellow). First of all, it nails the whole skeletonization vibe. There's the perfect amou...
Watch companies die for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it's a cataclysmic extinction event like the Quartz Crisis. Other times, good old-fashioned mismanagement. But in this industry, death is a temporary condition. For decades now, entrepreneurs in the watch space have found success by bringing dormant companies back to life. High-end premium watch brands like Jaquet Droz, Czapek, Moritz Grossmann, Angelus, and Louis Moinet all count. Even A. Lange & Sohne does. It's even more prevalent in the entry-level space. Last year saw the successful revival of both Nivada Grenchen and Ollech & Wajs. Yema, Benrus, Aquastar, and Doxa all fall under the revival umb...
For this special Halloween-themed episode of the show, Genevieve Walker, Jack, and Logan join me in a look at the spooky side of horology. From haunted grandfather clocks (featuring a Boyz II Men soundtrack) to skull watches and even some brands we are thrilled to see come back from the dead, if there is an intersection for watchmaking and Halloween, we found some of it during this chat.? So grab a handful of your kids' best candy and press play. Oh, and if you've got any grandfather clock knowledge, feel free to leave it in the comments. Thanks so much for listening.? 2:14 Genevieve's Grandfather Clock sto...
Revisiting The Most Famous Missing Watches
Gather round and listen to the tale of the famous missing watches. Back in 2014 an intrepid Ben Clymer reported on some of the most famous watches that were seen on the wrists of the notable and famous, never to be heard from again. Pablo Picasso and his Jaeger-LeCoultre triple calendar As with all truly terrifying tales, a few survivors have since resurfaced C Newman's Daytona and Brando's GMT-Master C but many are still missing, haunting the dreams of watch enthusiasts everywhere.? Read all about the watches that ghosted us, here....
Highlights From Phillips Watch Auction XIV Geneva
Headline image, possibly unique ref. 18058 Rolex Day-Date "Rainbow" On November 5th and 7th, at its customary Geneva venue C the Hotel La Rserve, home of the world's largest plastic elephant (just go look in the lobby, you'll see what I mean) C Phillips will hold Geneva Watch Auction XIV, with a total of 250 watches going under the hammer. The Phillips Geneva auction is a bellwether for the state of the watch industry, despite the fact that it is a sale of consigned lots, rather than new pieces, and the degree of avidity and activity shown by bidders is an indicator of the degree to which the market's ready, willing, and able to spend, and spend big, on de...