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Best Super NEWS Watches
Over 16,000 Fake Watches Seized In Raid Of Dubai Home
img credit: Dan HellerPolice in Dubai raided a private apartment complex just yesterday and seized (almost) 17,000 fake swiss watches.? The website Arabian Business reports they found an entire assembly line that was run by Chinese nationals.? There is no word on what type of watches were being counterfeited or what they plan to do with those involved.? For more details on the story, click here....
Hands-On: With The Christopher Ward Harrison Jump Hour (Video)
At HODINKEE we all really like Christopher Ward. We like them because they make really nice, classical watches at a very fair price. We also like them because of their refreshing and transparent approach to after sales service.The watch Ive had the pleasure of wearing for the last week marks something of a departure from the traditional Christopher Ward formula. Its a bit different for two reasons; its a fair bit more expensive than the rest of the range, coming in at just north of $1500, and also because this watch has something a little unusual under the hood.The Harrison Jumping Hour is (you will be entirely unsurprised to learn) a watch with a jump hour complication. The jump hour com...
A question that journalists love to ask watch execs is, "What watch would you wear if you weren't in your position?" Most of the time, they laugh it off so as to not offend the powers that be, or give praise to a competitor. Ask an independent watchmaker the same question, and you'll get a real answer.In fact, one of the leading independents, Mr. Max Bsser of MB&F, went beyond answering that question, he's showing us exactly what we would, and is wearing. Max is the proud owner of a brand new watch, a watch not from MB&F, but rather from his long-time friend and some-time collaborator Peter Speake-Marin. The watch Mr. Busser is wearing is the Speake-Marin Spirit Pioneer, a watch we ...
In-Depth: On Trend: A Look At The Time-Only Tourbillons Of SIHH 2012
We're not really one for "trend" here at HODINKEE.? The term "trend" is used by fashion magazines when putting together a photo spread on watches with, for example, a blue face, or by the New York times to describe something that happened three years ago (hey-ho! jk, love you guys!).? So, in this case, we're going to call this micro-trend of SIHH a theme, instead.?One theme we noticed while in Geneva was the introduction of a type of watch that is a juxtaposition upon itself - a refined, elegant, time-only tourbillon of reasonable size - or a "timid time-only tourbillon."? Tourbillons are rarely of interest to people that truly understand wristwatches.? The are, most of the time, kind of sil...
A Check From Clark Gable To Cartier, Circa 1948
click to enlargeOne of my favorite parts of SIHH this year wasn't a watch, it was actually the window display of Cartier. They put on a really interesting (and beautiful) exhibit of the Cartier Tank throughout the years (we're going to show you much it in the coming weeks). But, one of the cooler items on display with this check above - written from Mr. Clark Gable to Cartier, North America on October 18, 1948.You have to wonder, what cost Mr. Gable $18.36 back then? Related Content: To see a hands-on look with the new Cartier Tank Louis Cartier XL Slimline, click here....
Basel World 2012: Introducing The Tissot Heritage PR 516
This is a great looking new introduction for BaselWorld 2012 from Tissot.? The Heritage PR516 is a throwback to the PR 516 from the 1960s and 70s, one of Tissot's most favored vintage pieces.? To be specific, the Heritage PR516 is actually an homage to the Tissot Seastar PR 516 GL - and this new piece retains the same dial markings as the original.Sized at 40mm with a sapphire caseback (notice the rotor?) the Heritage PR516 will be available in steel or PVD gold and on either a leather racing strap or a steel big-hole bracelet as seen in the picture.?We don't have word on pricing yet, but it will be between $500 and $1000. FYI: If you like the looks of this new T...
Jay-Z and his watches. ?Historically, he's been an AP man. ?He even had a limited edition watch created in his honor, and donated his personal Audemars Piguet Las Vegas Tourbillon to charity, which ended up selling for $220,000 to this man. ?Then, with the release of Watch The Throne, the world heard him say "New Watch Alert: HUBLOT" ?and he can be seen wearing a Hublot Classic Fusion in the video.Then, over the summer we saw Jay wearing one of the coolest watches on the planet, the incredible Richard Mille RM027, while sitting court-side at the US Open. After that, we spotted a Rolex GMT gifted to an engineer on his Watch The Throne album with Kanye West. ?And now, after Jay-Z's historic tw...
De Bethune Commemorates Its Grand Prix Win With The Limited Edition DB28 Aiguille dOr
De Bethune is making some of the most interesting watches around right now, and its work was rewarded with a win at the 2011 Geneva Grand Prix of Watchmaking.? In fact, it won the Aiguille dOr, or "Golden Hand," the industry's highest award for its awesome DB28 (we showed you a gallery of live pictures of it here).To celebrate, De Bethune has just announced a special "Aiguille dOr" DB28 with a small, but meaningful cosmetic changes to the production model - a rose gold insert for the minute hand. Only 50 of the the De Bethune DB28 Aiguille dOr will be made.? No word on pricing but the standard DB28 is around 80,000 CHF.Here is what the caseback looks like:...
No, your eyes do not deceive you. The same brand that brought you this is now showing, for the first time ever, an extra-thin watch! The announcement from Hublot came out today that they would be expanding their Classic Fusion line to include the extra-thin skeletons you see above.The Classic Fusion Extra-Thin Skeleton will be available in a LE of 1000 pieces in titanium and 500 pieces in gold.? They are sized at 45mm and feature a brand new movement, the HUB1300 hand-wound, that is only 2.9mm thick, with a power reserve of 90 hours. The skeletonized movement has a sub-seconds at 7 o'clock and this wath, apparently, has hands that are designed with the original Hublots in mind.No word on pri...
Value In Stopwatches And The Joy Of Junghans (VIDEO)
At a certain point in your horological journey, you begin to realize that you don't have to spend a fortune to own a really interesting piece of watchmaking.? Complicated pocketwatches sell for a fraction of the equivalent wristwatch and allow you to own, say, a perpetual calendar Patek for the price of a time-only wristwatch.? Perhaps ever greater value can be found in stopwatches.Sure, they don't actually tell the time - all they do is time things, but occasionally, you can find some really interesting stopwatches for very cheap.? Heuer made some great ones, and a lot of them - they are always for sale on eBay (stay tuned to our Features section for more on that).? But, a stopwatch I came ...
A Closer Look At The Patek Philippe 5270 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
If there is one watch from one brand that collectors, journalists, and industry-folk alike all tend to revere, it is the perpetual calendar chronograph from Patek Philippe.? Launched with the 1518, this combination of complications from Patek just seems to inspire admiration from those that come into contact with it.? The 2499, the 3970, and the 5970 all are highly collectible in their own right, and it was just last year at Basel World 2011 that we saw the introduction of the very first Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph with a fully in-house movement, the 5270G.We showed you the 5270G the day it was released here, but recently we got to spend a bit more time with it so we though...
Hands-On: With The Ralph Lauren RL67 Safari Watch (Live Photos)
Ralph Lauren is getting serious about its watches. Over the past twelve months, they've tripled production, doubled its retailers, and increased staff by 20 per cent.? At SIHH this year, they showed a handful of really nice timepieces, but the shining star was this - a rugged looking piece called the RL67 "Safari."The RL67 Safari Watch is a sports-themed watch that, while still using the trademark RL roman numeral dial, is extremely masculine and very casual.? What gives the Safari watch its fantastic look is a galvanized steel, gunmetal case put in contrast to fantastic canvas strap.? In fact, I would say the RL67 Safari watch had the best strap of SIHH 2012.? Also, I really liked that the ...
A $464,500 Patek Philippe Reference 2481 With Cloisonn Eurasia Enamel Dial
Back in December, we got to play around with some amazing watches from the Christie's sale (like this one). One of them was the Patek you see here. It's a reference 2481 manufactured in 1956. It is, as you can tell, a relatively simple, tiime-only watch. Still, it pulled down $464,500. Why? Because the dial was Cloisonn enamel showing the historic "supercontinent" of Eurasia. Cloisonn dials are highly sought after by collectors and can make simple watches sell for extreme multiples of its mechanical value - as witnessed here.Click through for more pictures of this beautiful Patek Philippe 2481 with Cloisonn dial. For details on the sale, click here. DID Y...
In-Depth: Introducing Heritage Watch Manufactory, A Brand To Watch
It's not often we lead off a post with the back of a watch, but in this case, it's warranted. Heritage Watch Manufactory (HWM) is a privately held company based in Neuchatel, Switzerland. It is the manufacturer of classically made chronometers and its TENSUS model with force constant is high on the hit list of true horological aficionados the world over. We discovered Heritage while walking around the GTE over one year ago, and since then, we've been tracking this independent maker of some of the most beautiful movements in the world. Heritage's flagship model boasts a movement with a true constant force mechanism and five individual patents to its credit. The e...
Inside The 2.25 Million Home Of The Late George Daniels
The death of the great George Daniels was a tragic loss for the watch industry.? He was, according to many, the greatest living watchmaker.? Now that Mr. Daniels has been laid to rest comes the matter of his estate.? We've already told you that his incredible, $12.4 million car collection will be coming up for sale shortly via Bonhams.Now, it seems his home and workshop on the Isle of Man is on the market, and for 2.25 million.? The Georgian mansion is set within four acres of landscaped gardens, two semi-detached cottages, a workshop, and various outbuildings and several interlinked garages.?So, now that we know where his cars and home are going to be sold, that leaves just one (very) im...
A Look At The Watches Of The Australian Open: Richard Mille vs. Audemars Piguet
The final match of the Australian Open this past weekend was an epic battle between world number 1 Novak Djokovic and world number 2 Rafael Nadal.? It was, actually, the longest major finals match in the history of the sport, coming in at 5 hours 53 minutes and both players were quite literally exhausted during post game interviews.But, just after Djokovic's victory in Melbourne, we got to see both players both proudly wearing their respective sponsors' timepieces right next to each other.? You have Rafa Nadal at left wearing his Richard Mille RM035 and Novak Djokovic at right proudly wearing his Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver (a watch we reviewed in detail here).?And when Novak li...
Introducing The Panerai 448 and 449 S.L.C.: Two Special Edition Radiomirs
Last years release of the Historic Collection 1950 Luminor PAM 00372 , with its ecru lume and Plexiglas crystal, had salivating Panerai aficionados running to boutiques to get on waiting lists. This years Radiomir California and S.L.C. Special Editions should continue to feed the addiction for vintage-inspired Panerais. The two models, known by their references, PAM 00448 and 00449, respectively, are faithful versions of two famous Panerais of the 1930s.The California and S.L.C. models are differentiated by dial only. The former features the famous Arabic / Roman numeral dial that was originally made as a sample dial that Panerai used to show the different markers that could be had on thei...
In-Depth: The Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomtre Sphrotourbillon (Live Photos + Video Explanation)
If you ask most journalists which watch from SIHH most impressed them from a pure horological standpoint, I would venture to bet most would respond with "The Spherotoubillon." ?What they would be referring to is the big novelty from Jaeger-LeCoultre this year, a watch that goes by the name Duomtre Sphrotourbillon and according to JLC CEO Jerome Lambert, sets a new paradigm in high-complication pieces. ?In this in-depth article, we explain what makes the Spherotoubillon so special, and show you live photos of this incredible new piece. ?We also show you a video above of the watch in action, as explained by Mr. Lambert himself.The Dual-Wing Concept ...
Friday Afternoon Find: A Tudor Sub So Tropical, We Actually Have No Idea What We're Looking At
There is tropical, and then there is just downright ridiculous. As we've told you before, serious vintage Rolex collectors love it when the black part of a dial turns brown - they call it "chocolate" or "tropical."? In many cases, people will pay a large premium for tropical dials.The watch we spotted today over on VRF goes beyond chocolate and beyond tropical - in fact the damn dial is so faded it's illegible to the naked eye.What it is is a vintage Tudor Submariner Ref 7298 with pointed crown guards - a pretty cool and valuable piece.? But, the dial on this one is, well, really, really ridiculously faded.Besides the incredibly faded dial (seller claims you can read it with a loupe), the wa...
Introducing The Cartier Santos-Dumont Skeleton In Pink Gold (Live Photos)
The Santos-Dumont is a classic on the Cartier line-up, and the skeleton is something of cult favorite among collectors.? The deco numerals cut right into the structure of the watch are artfully done - in fact, the roman numerals are actually formed by the skeletonized bridges of the movement - and to see the Cartier calibre 9614 MC fully exposed in all its glory is really an impressive sight.? This year, the Santos-Dumont Skeleton is introduced in pink gold for the first time and the result is just stunning.?Each pink gold Santos-Dumont Skeleton will be individually numbered and retail for $47,000.Click through for live photographs of the Cartier Santos-Dumont Skeleton in pink gold from SIHH...