Best Super NEWS Watches
Hodinkee Radio The Panel Discussion And Q&A From The 'Keeper Of Time' Premiere
Earlier this month, a new film called Keeper of Time premiered in New York City and the event ended with a panel discussion, audience Q&A, and some solid watch spotting. For those of us who couldn't make it to the premiere, this episode of HODINKEE Radio features the audio from the discussion and Q&A.? The panel (which was moderated by our own Jack Forster) includes a great number of illustrious and well-known personalities, including the film's director, Michael Culyba, HODINKEE's founder Ben Clymer, AP's Head of Complications Michael Friedman, author Gary Shteyngart, Horologist William Andrewes, William Massena (of Massena LA...
Sarah Miller Visits Max Busser
My editor kept saying to me: You have to meet Max Bsser, you have to meet Max Bsser, you have to meet Max Bsser. I had an important question: Who is Max Bsser? Regular readers of this column will know that my mind has been preoccupied with other concerns. First, I was fixated on my pink Hublot and then busy mourning its loss. Next, I was attempting not to enrage my docents at the Vacheron Constantin manufacture. And before I knew it I was in Geneva walking up the cobblestone street to M.A.D. Gallery realizing that, wow, this was really too late to google Max Bsser. Max Bsser did not seem to care that I knew nothing about M...
Ed Sheeran On His One-Of-One Ceramic Royal Oak Chronograph
I love to wear the right watch on stage. Whether it's John Mayer's HODINKEE G-Shock, a Patek 5970, or any steel sports watch, I choose each one specifically for any given gig. Depending on the country or city or venue, it can be anything. Over the years, I've gotten to know Francois [Bennahmias], the head of AP. I love his sense of humor; we seem to be on a similar wavelength. I imagine that being European and a bit off-the-wall helps. I cheekily asked him if he would make me a one-off watch for this new upcoming tour of mine, and to my surprise he said yes. He asked me for some guidance, I sent him a bunch of ideas, and one day ...
Inside The Collection Of Joel Laplace, AKA @jojlamontre
It's hard to get Jo?l Laplace's Instagram account (@jojolamontre) out of your head. Laplace's approach to social media and buying and selling watches is just straight-up different from your typical vintage watch lover. On the @jojolamontre account C?which is at 11,800 followers and rising at publication C?the pseudo-serious world of watches is gone. Instead of weird props (if I see another half-empty espresso cup I'm going to scream) and prose-drenched captions, what we have are simple, honest images of interesting, often funky-looking vintage watches draped across highlighter-colored backgrounds. Instead of diluting or hiding any scratches or wear, the contrast ...
Watch-Theft Videos: Why Do We Watch?
If you're a watch enthusiast who has even a passing acquaintance with the internet, you've seen the news. Watch-related robberies are up. And behind the headlines C?"Luxury Watch Theft is on the Rise Across Europe"; "Luxury Watches Targeted in at Least 20 San Francisco Armed Robberies"; PSA: Don't Wear Your Rolex on the Subway; watch theft up 50 percent in Los Angeles, 60 percent in London C are the cautionary videos that show the robberies. Almost surely you have seen these, too, being circulated on WhatsApp and Instagram and YouTube. There's one that takes place in a bustling beach town. A younger m...
APs Blue Ceramic Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Reviewed
We should be really honest with ourselves upfront on this one: a blue ceramic Royal Oak (fully blue!) is a crazy thing. Like, it's not normal, and it wouldn't be normal to wear one. But since when is watch enthusiasm a normal activity? We don't call ourselves nerds and geeks for nothing. Those monikers are badges of honor, the kind of thing that keeps us from lusting after the same steel sports watch over and over again. Of course, today we're looking at a six-figure, integrated bracelet watch from Audemars Piguet that amounts to unobtanium to anyone not named John Mayer, Kevin Hart, Draymond Green, or LeBron James. To some people, that represents everythin...
IWC Porsche Design Compass Watch History
On my first trip to National Geographic headquarters as one of their newly-minted "Explorers" (grantees of the National Geographic Society) years ago, I found myself utterly and completely lost. Leaving a meeting, I got on an elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor to no effect. The door closed. I stood there for a few minutes before the elevator went to a different floor, another National Geographic Explorer got on, and we became trapped together. Over the next five minutes, we collected other Explorers who, without the necessary keycards and not knowing where the nearest stairs were, became comically trapped with us until the elevator was fin...
The Best Watches For Going Outside
I'm just going to lay my cards on the table. I hate summer. I hate being sweaty. I hate the bugs. I hate the pressure to have a nice time. But fall? Fall is perfect. The weather is both temperate AND unpredictable. You can wear a variety of layers and feel prepared for anything. The bugs are on vacation. It is the best time to go outdoors!? Josh Bernstein's Breitling Emergency. Depending on where you are in the world, outdoor activities can look exactly like they did a few weeks ago C or entirely different. Either way, there's a watch for that. From strapping on a wetsuit and dipping into a newly chilly lake or heading out for...
Dr. Jane Desborough To Lecture At The Horological Society Of New York
Early modern clock and watch dials mirrored changes in the wider intellectual and cultural context of which they were inextricably a part. At the October 3, 2022 lecture of the Horological Society of New York, Dr. Jane Desborough, Keeper of Science Collections at the Science Museum in London, will chart the significant changes that dials underwent in the period from 1550 to 1770, highlighting the many factors that eventually led to a more-or-less uniform design being adopted by 1770. This 220-year journey of development was a fascinating one in which different attributes of dial design were introduced to meet a particular user demand, such as the touch-pins which were added to help partially...
The Horological Society Of New York To Hold Classes In Toronto And Los Angeles
The?Horological Society of New York's?award-winning classes are on the road again! HSNY is returning to Toronto on October 22 and 23, 2022, with hosts?IWC and Moe Jaber. Then, on November 19, 2022, HSNY returns to Los Angeles with host?F.P. Journe. At HSNY's?Horological Education classes,?students discover what actually makes a watch tick under the guidance of the HSNY's staff of professional watchmakers. Students work on a mechanical watch movement, studying the gear train, winding and setting mechanisms, and escapement. The weekend half-day classes cover everything taught during the individual evening classes held in New York.Enrollment is now open?for th...
What watch does Jake Sully wear in Avatar?
In 2009, James Cameron reminded us that he had been one of the lucky few to board a lifeboat off of the RMS Titanic (1997) along with Rose (as we all know, Jack Dawson didn't fare quite as well.). Avatar splashed into theaters that holiday season with its Papyrus typeface title card, bringing the groundbreaking digital effects to the silver screen that Cameron had allegedly been working on since he devised the film in the mid-'90s.? We all saw Avatar, literally all of us (including you, reader). It became the highest-grossing film of all time and remained that way until 2019's Avengers: Endgame took over the top spot. ?Not to be outdone, Avatar returned to cinema...
Best Watches At Goodwood Revival 2022
For the past few years I've attended England's Goodwood Revival, a three-day motoring festival that recalls the glory days from 1948 to 1966, when the Goodwood Motor Circuit was operational. The weekend sees the world's rarest vintage race cars from the period gather for wheel-to-wheel racing like it would have been back in period. And it's not only the cars that are in period, the people, the planes, and the environment are, too. It's a magical step back in time to an era when things were used and used hard. Every year a priceless race car meets a wall, and in typical English fashion, the attitude is very much "carry on old boy! chin up! get on wiv it!" ...
Dubai Watch Week NYC Photo Recap
Dubai Watch Week presented its eighth Horology Forum in New York over the weekend C and of course, we were there. It was a visit packed with panels, workshops, and hands-on time with some of the best watches from the past and present. We met collectors, enthusiasts, and fans from across the hobby, including a number of visitors who flew in from Dubai. The end result was one of the widest ranges of watches you can imagine, from New York's own Brew Watch Co. to major independents. George wearing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak RD#2 Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin. Image: James K The event's panels will be posted online in the coming...
Charles Emslie On The Watch He Made At Watchmaking School
In?Watch of the Week, we invite HODINKEE staffers and friends to tell us a personal story they have about a watch. The author of today's feature is Charles Emslie, a HODINKEE watchmaker based in Atlanta. He's telling us the story of his school watch. I started watchmaking school shortly after I turned 21. I was halfway across the United States from my home in Colorado, and in an entirely unfamiliar world. I went from working as an apprentice jeweler under my brother to staking out my own path on a road that was a complete surprise to my family. The only watch I had ever owned before going to watchmaking school was a random Skagen I received in a trade during high...
An In-Depth Look At The Evolution Of AP's Code 11.59
Audemars Piguet's Code 11.59 collection was born in 2019 with a biblical-size bang. Thirteen total watches. Six different sub-collections, ranging from a three-hand with date to a minute repeater. Three brand-new in-house movements. An entirely new case. And more than 500 snark-filled comments on HODINKEE's initial Introducing post. The bang was heard around the world, but it wasn't entirely well-received. There was a lot to take in that day, honestly too much to formulate an immediate coherent opinion. One of Swiss watchmaking's most prestigious and oldest marques had launched an entirely new collection agnostic to the Royal Oak...
Vintage Porsche 550 and 718 RSK On The Grossglockner
Leering over the edge of the thin aluminum door tucked tightly under my right arm, I see the thin ribbon of mountain tarmac curve out of sight as the nearly 70-year-old race car negotiates yet another climbing off-camber corner, darting away from the dizzying vertical drop awaiting anyone who overcommits with the limits of grip and this old Porsche's manual drum brakes. The engine strains for revolutions as the next corner, another in a complex series of mountain switchbacks, sweeps by high above the idyllic Austrian hamlet of Zell am See.? Following closely behind a low-slung 718 RSK, our convoy of vintage German metal is laid u...
Why We Like The TAG Heuer Aquaracer WBP201B
There's a sizable chunk of the watch enthusiast community that will only look at a Heuer watch if TAG is absent from the dial. But to do that is to block out the past 40-ish years of horological history. TAG Heuer watches signify most collectors' gateway into the hobby. During the '80s and '90s, in particular, the TAG Heuer Professional line represented an affordable tool watch choice for those not quite ready to spring for the Crown. That line morphed into a model we know well today: the Aquaracer.? Wrist Size: 6.5in | 16.51cm Today, we're looking at the current generation Aquaracer in 43mm. Available in a v...
Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT SBGE253
Sure, Grand Seiko does a dress watch like no one else, but they also make a hell of a sports watch. This is one of them: the Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT SBGE253. It's pretty much everything you'd want in a modern GMT, packed in a 40.5mm stainless steel case: Ceramic bezel, 200 meters of water resistance, a robust steel bracelet, and a reliable Spring Drive movement C it's a watch that's up for anything.? Wrist Size: 6.5in | 16.51cm Throw in 48.6mm lug-to-lug measurement and 14.6mm in thickness, and the SBGE253 is a substantial, but wearable GMT. It's powered by a Spring Drive movement with 72 hours of power reserve. That's al...
When we talk about Zenith, the El Primero is the first string of words that springs to mind. And odds are, many are visualizing the more standard Chronomaster case design, with its conventionally round shape and tri-color dial. But that wasn't the only automatic chronograph from Zenith to grace the watch world at the end of the 1960s. To think that way would be to forget the A384 with its decidedly '70s (well, pre-'70s) tonneau case shape. It was distinctive then and remains distinctive now. And it's not like Zenith is allowing us to forget this piece, because the brand has gone ahead and revived it, with a name fitting of the ac...
An Introduction to Independent Watchmaker Remy Cools and His Souscription Tourbillon
Even his name is, you know. Cool. At just 25 years old, French watchmaker Remy Cools is one of the most exciting up-and-coming independent watchmakers right now. Cools first came onto the radar of many when he won the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition in 2018 with his?Mechanica Tempus Pendulette Tourbillon desk clock. Four years later, he's just finished delivery of his first series of wristwatches, the Tourbillon Souscription. Even before he pulled his chair up to the watchmaker's bench, Cools pretty much always knew he would enter the field. "I've wanted to be a watchmaker since I was 11 years old," Cools says. "One day, my uncle...