No products in the cart.
Best Super NEWS Watches
The New Montblanc Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen LE290
What do the summits of the 14 peaks that Nimsdai Purja climbed in 2019 have in common with Montblanc's new Geosphere Chronograph? They both contain far less oxygen than the air at sea level. Of course, a lack of oxygen at elevation is predictable, but as for the watch, it's been entirely encased without oxygen. The thinking behind this is that it can both eliminate fogging, which can happen during latitude changes, and preserve the movement by preventing oxidation.? If the Zero Oxygen tech works, then the caliber MB 29.27 inside the watch will stay newer for longer. It's a complex caliber, with a chronograph function, the date at...
Hey HODINKEE do any watches make you mad?
Welcome once again, watch-curious viewers, to yet another episode of Hey, HODINKEE C that never-ending cavalcade of visuals and verbiage, where you, our community, ask questions and we, your humble horological servants, attempt to answer. Today's questions, as always, cover topics ranging from the general to the highly granular, the historical to the histrionic. One viewer wants to know why the 24-hour dial isn't more common, and another wants to understand what solid end links are and what, if any, are the benefits of having them. Another, who has recently entered the noble profession of physician, wishes to know if there are any watches that are particularly as...
Fractional Evolutions: The 2022 Aquastar Deepstar 39mm Chronograph
One of my favorite things about small watch brands C so-called "microbrands" C is their ability to engage with the most enthusiastic element of their customer base to iterate upon their format and give people what they want. Color, spec, style, mount, and, of course, size, are all part of that feedback loop. The newly announced Aquastar Deepstar 39mm Chronograph serves as a welcome case in point. For those who might be out of this niche loop, Aquastar is a legacy dive watch brand from the 1960s known for its kooky designs, outright innovation, and Cousteau provenance. The brand was relaunched in 2020 and their first release was a...
Photo Report For Geneva Auction Week May 2022
The ever-talented @waitlisted and I returned from Geneva earlier this week, after 10 non-stop days of auction previews, workshop visits, photography sessions, and more. We encountered plenty of drama, intrigue, and exciting new releases that I can't wait to show you over the next few weeks and months, but in the meantime, I wanted to take a beat before the week is out to share some of the incredible images snagged by our man behind the camera.? Royal Oaks certainly took a dominant position on the wrists of attendees during the spring season auctions, given the ongoing 50th-anniversary celebration for the watch. But there were plenty of other interesting pieces to...
What Watch Did Tom Cruise Wear In Minority Report?
The early aughts were an interesting era of big-budget, blockbuster filmmaking. George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (the preeminent visual effect house in all of filmmaking) was really feeling itself having just come off a run of two new Star Wars films C and creating an entirely CG character by way of Jar Jar Binks. The same can be said of another effects shop, WETA whose claim to fame came via Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings where they too crafted a full computer being though the Andy Serkis voiced (and bodied) Gollum ( or Smeagol depending on who you ask). It appeared there was nothing that could not be accomplished with a bunch of green screens and CGI. Movie magic was being red...
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Extra-Thin RD#3, reference 26670ST.OO.1240ST.01 (if you can keep 20-character alphanumeric reference numbers in short- and long-term memory, bless you, because I can't) landed with maybe a little less impact than it deserved when it launched last April. There are probably several reasons why. First of all, I think a lot of us were still suffering from a bit of Royal Oak overload from the announcement of the ref. 16202 Jumbo when it launched in January, along with several other models (including a non-Jumbo flying tourbillon). Secondly, the Jumbo Tourbillon RD#3 appeared in the context of a larger world in which Bulgari more or less ...
A Former CIA Officer On Their Breitling Aerospace
In?Watch of the Week, we invite HODINKEE staffers and friends to explain why they love a certain watch. The author of this story, a former clandestine officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, has asked to remain anonymous. As the vintage Russian MI-17 helicopter lifts off from Kabul International Airport, I scan the bustling capital of Afghanistan, mentally noting points of interest. It is the late 2000s and I am working as a civilian for the US Department of Defense, prior to joining the CIA. Kabul is relatively safe at the time, but it's still a war zone. This morning's Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack in downtown Kabul is a reminder...
Five Cult Classic Citizen Dive Watches And How They Got There
Headline photo, Gishani Ratnayake? The very first time I can remember seeing a Citizen "EcoZilla" watch was in the early 2000s, at the 26th Street Flea Market here in New York. In those days there were any number of colorful vintage watch dealers and there were still quite a few great finds, although the watch internet was already doing its part to turn us all into what the father of cyberpunk, William Gibson called, in his watch essay, "My Obsession," a nation of pickers. One of the most entertaining of the dealers to watch in action was a guy I called "Yuri The Retired Russian Wrestling Coach," who was one of those individuals who seemed less interested in stri...
There's Still Time To Bid On Astronaut Michael Collins' Gold Speedmaster
For those on the dark side of the moon when it comes to Speedmaster collecting, Heritage Auctions is offering something that is both exceedingly collectible, undeniably cool, and incredibly rare C?a solid gold commemorative Speedmaster given to Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins. You remember Apollo 11, right? It was kind of a big deal. On July 20th, 1969, man first set foot on the moon. Omega marked the achievement with a special run of solid gold Speedmasters. Of the 1014 examples made, the first thirty of the Omega Apollo XI Speedmasters (reference BA145.022) were offered as gifts to those who made the moon land...
HODINKEE's Top Observations From Geneva Spring Auction Week 2022
The watch auction circuit is a strange and fickle beast that resembles a circus more often than it doesn't. The conductors of these horological carnivals are always elevated above the rest of the room and seemingly have the power to conjure six- and seven-figure dollar signs with a wave of their hammers. After working the watch auction beat for a few seasons at this point, there are clearly some macro-level similarities that remain true from sale to sale. But underneath those, there's a nonstop current of micro-trends that can change with every single passing lot. And trust me, there are a whole lot of lots. Our team on the groun...
New Vintage Watches in the HODINKEE Shop
To view the entire current selection of vintage watches available in the HODINKEE Shop, click here. Value is always included in conversations around watches, vintage or not. While some may disagree, value is a consideration. These include conversations around buying a watch all the way down to explaining why we enjoy wearing a given watch so much (or so little). Value can be price-related, sure, but value in a pure sense is simply relative. Watch A presents greater value compared to watch B because it offers more features or someone might wear it more often. From date windows at 4:30 or simply unfinished, even if cut in the "correct" ...
The 4:30 Date Window is the best date window for a watch
Although it doesn't seem to happen as frequently nowadays, the date window C no matter where you put it C is something that seems to reliably arouse anything from mild dislike to indignation on the part of those who think of themselves as serious watch enthusiasts. Sometimes the dislike amounts to little more than an emotionally uncharged preference. I don't like sugar in my morning cup of joe but if the guy at the bodega happens to put a teaspoon in, it's not a deal-breaker. I'd rather he didn't but I'll still drink it, and so it is with many folks and date windows. The date window certainly is something which, if sales figures are any indication, are pref...
The New Naoya Hida & Co. Watch
The independent watch brand Naoya Hida & Co. was founded by Naoya Hida, a luxury watch sales and marketing veteran of 30+ years, back in 2018. He creates his ideal watches incorporating vintage design elements from the 1930s C 1960s while utilizing modern manufacturing techniques. He has been updating and releasing the core models on an annual basis, and he just launched this year's offerings on May 12th, including the very first collaboration piece for the brand. L: Mark Cho; R: Naoya Hida The collaboration partner Hida chose to work with was The Armoury, a menswear specialist with boutiques in Hong Kong and New York. You...
A Week On The Wrist With The Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch
I am a huge fan of the current generation Omega Speedmaster Professional. I know it's an icon for something to do with space exploration, but I actually like it because it's a badass-looking watch with a design that never seems to age. So when I heard I'd be testing one out for a week, I was pretty excited. Then when I found out it wasn't the regular stainless-steel version, but the new Moonshine Gold Speedmaster with the green dial, I was over the moon! (Yup. I went there. My dad would be proud!) I must warn you, my watch-testing procedures are quite strenuous. They include but are not limited to, wearing the watch to my favorit...
Hands-On With The MB&F LMX "Steel And Brass"
The watches C?or horological machines C?produced by MB&F are a world unto themselves. The first one I ever had the pleasure of handling, around this time five years ago, was the HM6 Alien Nation when it first launched. That watch quite literally places a squad of four minuscule alien figurines throughout the movement as if they're crew members on a spaceship repairing their craft, all visible through a sapphire crystal case. From that moment on, I was hooked. But not all of MB&F's creations are as otherworldly as the Alien Nation. In 2011, founder Max Bsser and his team extended the company's horological language to a slightly C?just slightly C more conv...
QPs If You're Nasty C Perpetual Calendars Are The Complication Of The Day, Month, And Year
Perpetual calendars are inarguably the peak of date complications, capable of tracking day, date, month, year, and leap year (and often moonphase, for kicks). Casually referred to as "QPs," as an abbreviation of the french Quantieme Perptuel, the ability to mechanically track and display so much information has become a calling card for brands that operate in the upper echelons of watchmaking and every brand that ventures into QP territory does it with their own distinct flavor.? Some, like Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, keep this traditional complication at the very core of their identity (though to varvious levels of production and iteration), while other...
Meet Benjamin Chee, A Rising Watch Industry Power Player
Lead image: Andersen Genve BCHH Celestial Voyager 'Sunset Over Cappadocia' Benjamin Chee, 37, of Singapore, was introduced to watches by his watch-collecting father, but his passion for fine mechanical watchmaking didn't really kick into high gear until he moved to London for university. "The area where I lived in London had a lot of really amazing antique shops," he says. "So I got to see vintage watches as well as antique clocks, which cultivated this love and passion for beautiful things, for historical objects." Benjamin Chee (Image, BCHH) His growing appreciati...
Every Thursday, we bring you a selection of the latest pre-owned watches to arrive in the HODINKEE Shop. This week we have some really special picks, from a classically designed Grand Seiko with one of watchmaking's most captivating movements to a Cartier that has "share watch" written all over it. All of them come on stainless steel bracelets, which ought to come in handy with warmer weather on the horizon. Grand Seiko Heritage Spring Drive SBGA283 Very few watches today can touch Grand Seiko in terms of dial finishing, and none have a movement technology quite like Spring Drive. This 39mm SBGA283 ticks both boxes while coming in an extr...
The Regrets of Buying and Selling Watches
Have you ever sold a watch and later realized you wish you had just held on to it? Or maybe you bought a watch and instantly realized it wasn't for you? Well, this episode should hit home as I gathered Danny, Cole, and Jack for a face-to-face recording in New York City to chat about our watch-buying regrets.? It's a consideration of the perils of living the flipping lifestyle, the early days of microbrands and sales forums, weird experiences when selling watches, and everything that comes with accidentally forming a group of watches one might call "a collection." Also, the room was way too hot and we all got a little weird C I hope you...
Tag Heuer Is Now Accepting Cryptocurrency For US Online Purchases
Starting today, you can now buy a TAG Heuer with crypto. That's right, if you're in the US, you are now able to use your holdings in a handful of well-known cryptocurrencies (commonly called "coins") to buy a TAG Heuer right from the brand's own e-commerce platform.? Accepted coins include many you likely know (even if you've been actively avoiding the crypto scene) like Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), and several stable coins that are pinned to the USD C including USDP, BUSD, DAI, USDC, and GUSD. The functionality is being supported via a partnership with BitPay, a well...