Best Super NEWS Watches
Introduction To Cartier Santos-Dumont Skeleton 2023
Over the past dozen or so years, Cartier has made a habit of releasing attention-grabbing skeletonized watches. It started with the Santos 100 in 2009, and this year Cartier is introducing the Santos-Dumont Skeleton in a trio of metals.? The three skeletonized Santos-Dumont models are powered by Cartier's new caliber 9629 MC, a micro-rotor caliber comprised of 212 components that Cartier says it took two years to develop at its manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The centerpiece of the new Santos-Dumont Skeleton collection is the yellow-gold version, which will be limited to 150 examples. The case and b...
Wooden dial watches fall into a category I like to call "weird design things that happened during the 1970s." I have a tendency to over-romanticize the disco decade, much to my French grandmother's chagrin. She told me over the phone the other night: "Ugh, mais non Malaika, the '70s was the worst period in fashion. So synthetic, so tacky. Not chic. Quelle horreur!" Well, Granny, this time we must agree to disagree. I'm all about stacks of gold jewelry, glittery spandex fabric, clunky platform shoes, and enormous bell bottom pants. And wood, plenty of wood. Wooden accessories belong to the bohemian side of ...
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Chronograph 2023
Read the title slowly. Reverso. Tribute. Chronograph. I know C rad, eh?? Among a handful of new Reverso releases for Watches and Wonders 2023, the good house of Jaeger-LeCoultre has announced a Reverso chronograph in the 1930s-themed aesthetic of their beloved "Tribute" models. Furthermore, it does exactly as it says on the tin and comes in a stainless steel version. The other option is rose gold. Both versions measure 49.4 (lug to lug), 29.9 wide, and 11.14mm thick and offer both a classic time-only dial or C in Reverso C a skeletonized dial with a large chronograph seconds measure and a 30-minute re...
The Problem With Red Carpet Watches
The end of award season is nigh and I have red carpet fatigue. I'm pulling up my journalist bootstraps for you though, dear reader, because a) it's the Oscars this weekend, and dissecting what people wear is my kind of entertainment. And b) I would like to lodge a formal complaint to the Academy about Hollywood's snoozy watch choices over the past few years. With my background being primarily in fashion, I freely admit that I've long paid close attention to red carpets for the parade of glamor and the clothes. These days, of course, I am also looking at people's wrists. And truthfully, both have gotten a lot less fun. ...
The New Cartier Tank Amricane 2023
Cartier is refreshing the Tank Amricaine, one of its more modern takes on the Tank shape. No, it's not the most modern Tank design C we see you Fran?aise C?but the Amricaine was introduced in 1989 in response to a trend towards larger watches.? The new-for-2023 Tank Amricaine lineup includes 11 total watches across three sizes: mini, small, and large (see below for case specs). Apparently this means we'll have to pour one out for the medium size, which we took for a Week On The Wrist in 2017. Across all sizes, the Amricaine will be offered in steel and rose gold; the mini and small versions also offer a diamond-treated case (and b...
Second Opinions: Its Time To Rethink Military-Inspired Watches
I dream about finding the watch my grandfather wore in the Navy. Unlike my mother's father C who also served in the Navy, who instilled in me a love of watches, and who I knew from the day I was born until he passed in my early twenties C I never knew my dad's dad. Lt. Commander Frank Kauzlarich served in World War II, the Korean War, and in Vietnam. Lt. Commander Frank Kauzlarich, in his early days in the Navy. If you look up the USS Leader (MSO-490) in Wikipedia, you'll see his name, noting the Leader became the first warship ever to visit Phnom Penh, making the 180-mile transit up the Mekong Riv...
Hodinkee's Premiere Of Watches in the Wild
Watches in the Wild season three is coming soon C?on March 13, to be specific. But we're so excited about this one that we just couldn't wait. So last night we rented out a movie theater in New York and hosted a whole bunch of friends, colleagues, and you C members of the Hodinkee Community. The popcorn was popping. The drinks were flowing. We even unveiled some movie posters (movie posters!) as we prepared to screen the first two episodes in front of a live audience C the first time we've done something like thatever. We think of this new season as a multi-part documentary, a proper movie tracking the history and future of American watchmaking. In our extremely...
A Week on the Wrist: The Seiko Astron Video Review
On December 25th, 1969, the Swiss watch industry took a respite from toiling away at its mechanical marvels and sat down to a holiday feast, blissfully unaware of the term "Quartz Crisis." At the same time, a few thousand miles away, Seiko released the world's first quartz wristwatch: The Seiko Quartz Astron 35SQ. With an accuracy rating of +-5 seconds per month via a tuning fork-shaped quartz oscillator and the open-step motor, this Christmas gift would end up changing the world. Within a short period of time, Seiko would go on to open the many patents it held on this new form of timekeeper, allowing quartz technology to rapidly spread. It caused a revolution or...
The Casio From 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'
Watching Movies is back! All it took to recharge the series was a multiversal adventure romp that quickly became a cult classic turned awards-season darling. I'm talking, of course, about Everything Everywhere All At Once C starring Michelle Yeoh (as Evelyn Wang) and Ke Huy Quan (as Waymond Wang) and directed by the duo known as The Daniels (both of them are named Daniel, which I think we can all agree is one of the great names). Waymond and Evelyn Wang (Qe Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh) in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Image courtesy of A24 Released last year and up for 11 Oscars this weekend, t...
Watchmaking Classes In Atlanta And Toronto
The Horological Society of New York's award-winning classes are on the road again! HSNY is traveling to Toronto on April 29, 2023, with hosts IWC and Moe Jaber. Then on May 20 and 21, HSNY Travels to Atlanta for classes with the Atlanta Watch Society. 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...
Introducing: Montblanc's New Minerva Monopusher Chronograph
Last year at Watches & Wonders, Montblanc released two limited editions of the Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph in Lime Gold (limited edition of 18 pieces) and stainless steel (limited to 58 pieces). This year, they're back for more, with more watches in case you thought last year was a bit too limited. Just like last year, Montblanc execs are tapping into the 165-year heritage of famed manufacturer Minerva, which they've owned since 2007, to use a meticulously refinished Minerva MB M16.29 movement, flipped back to front and exposed under an openworked dial.? Despite an apparent sele...
JLC Reverso Tribute Duoface Tourbillon Review
Thirty years ago, Jaeger-LeCoultre designer introduced their tourbillon wristwatch C?and today they're honoring that achievement ?with the new hand-decorated Reverso Tribute Duoface Tourbillon in 18k pink gold. Using the brand's Calibre 847 introduced in 2018, the watch features two aesthetically different dials C one more clean and elegant with the time and tourbillon on a silver sunburst dial, and then the reverse with miniaturized black dial showing a second time zone and a day-night indicator. The movement, with 38 hours power reserve, is ultra-thin and hand-wound, with 254 components and measuring just 3.9mm thick. As a resu...
Cartier Priv Tank Normale Review 2023
Each year Cartier fans watch in anticipation for the unveiling of the maison's newest watch in the Priv collection, a selection of limited-edition numbered watches for what the brand calls "the collectors' collection" of its most historic and "mythical models." And nothing is more mythical than the Tank that started it all, the watch now joining Priv, the Tank Normale. The original Tank was designed by Louis Cartier in 1917 and released in 1919, taking cues from an overhead view the Renault tanks turning the tides of World War I trench warfare at the time. It's a brutal (l...
Hodinkee's Watches in the Wild: The Road Through America, Episode 1
The day has come. Watches in the Wild: The Road Through America is finally here. After a theatrical world premiere, we are so proud to bring this next chapter to you here on Hodinkee. Where past seasons have seen us travel to far-flung locales, this season reminded us that there are stories to be told right under our noses. The Waltham factory. So we set out on a cross-country adventure to track the rise and fall of the American watchmaking industry. Along the way, we discovered (and re-discovered) a resurgence in the fabric of the American horological consciousness. On The Road Through America, yo...
Review Of Vacheron Constantin Overseas Panda Chronograph
Panda dials, white with black subdials reminiscent of the spots around a panda's eyes and ears, are probably the most iconic dial variations in the pantheon of watch design. So it will probably surprise a lot of people to hear that, until last month, Vacheron Constantin had yet to do a proper "panda" chronograph.? That's right, in the 24 years since the launch of the Overseas chronograph, the brand has never made the obvious choice. Even more mind-boggling, Vacheron released a "reverse panda" (black with white subdials) all the way back in 2018, just two years after the redesign of the Overseas lineup, but waited five more years ...
The Watches Of The 95th Oscars
The 95th Annual Academy Awards are here. Whether this is your bag or not, tonight is the night that the biggest stars in the world take to the red carpet (and their seats and maybe also to the stage) wearing their best gowns, beautiful gowns, and, of course, watches. Yes, some of the timepieces you'll see tonight are part of brand relationships, but that's part of the game. Yesterday, our Style Editor Malaika Crawford addressed the state of "pay to play" as it pertains to watches in Hollywood while also envisioning what a better red carpet world might look like. "In preparation for the day, I spent today combing through the best Oscars looks of all time; and whil...
Introducing The Bulgari Octo Roma and Octo Roma Chronograph 2023
Bulgari introduced the Octo line in 2012, and since then it's become a pretty big deal, breaking records and winning over a lot of enthusiasts along the way. While the Octo Finissimo gets most of the attention C?and rightfully so C?today, Bulgari is updating the Octo Roma collection.? The updated collection is highlighted by a trio of time-and-date models, and, in a first for the Octo Roma collection, a pair of chronographs. While we won't focus on them in this particular intro, Bulgari also introduced a couple of Octo Roma tourbillons in a show of its watchmaking capabilities. The Octo Roma shares a ...
In the world of dress watches, the aptly named tuxedo dial design remains a classic because it's trs chic (that's French for "totally bougie"). Tuxedo dials generally feature concentric circles of alternating dark and light colors, usually black and white. The stark contrast is reminiscent of the sophistication of a black-and-white tuxedo and oozes class. And today, with the persistent proliferation of everything steel and sport, the tuxedo dial offers a welcome contrast to the casual trend. With the declining desire for formal attire, the advent of Casual Friday at the office, and the public's insistence on wearing Juicy Couture pajamas on airplanes, the tuxedo...
The New JLC Reverso Small Seconds With Colored Dials
Jaeger-Lecoultre knows how to do Art Deco style exactly right: This new Small Seconds Reverso is the epitome of 1930s elegance. The sleek profile and rectangular shape is as recognizable as ever, but this time with a few nods to the brands cosmetic heritage by way of vintage inspired dial colors and a look to the future with the new ultra slim case size.? In line with the previous Reverso Tribute models, these watches feature faceted dauphine hands, colored dials, applied bar indexes, and a small seconds display at 6:00.. The primary difference is the new pink gold, ultra slim case which has decreased by a full millimeter in thic...
Hodinkee Presents Watches in the Wild: The Road Through America Ep. 2
Yesterday we debuted Watches in the Wild: The Road Through America, our third season in the series. Episode One covered the New England region with an eye on the early days of American watch manufacturing via brands like Waltham. But that was just the beginning. Today, we present Episode Two, which takes us to the hallowed horological ground of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and its surrounding areas. We begin with a ride on an early 20th-century train through the Pennsylvania heartland to showcase the early days of standardized time C when the railroads played a pivotal role in how we perceive, measure, and understand time on little th...