No products in the cart.
Best Super NEWS Watches
The votes have been counted and the results are in. The winner of watchmaking's most prestigious industry award is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin. This is the serially produced, commercially available version of a watch that readers may remember from its initial debut as the Royal Oak RD#2.?Presented at the SIHH 2018, it was made of solid platinum and was an experimental prototype.? Today's winning watch is?made from titanium with a platinum bezel and polished platinum bracelet interlinks. Like the RD#2, the Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin measures just 41mm x 6.3mm wit...
Recommended Reading: Phillips Presents 'Jean-Claude Biver: A Retrospective' Exhibition
Phillips auction house recently announced a new non-selling exhibition featuring a collector with whom we have some experience.?Entitled "Jean-Claude Biver: A Retrospective," the exhibit is supported by a lovely video and a complete overview written by HODINKEE-alum Arthur Touchot. It will tour Geneva (November 7-10), Hong Kong (November 21-26), and New York City during the upcoming Phillips "Game Changers" sale (December 5-10). The video is definitely worth a watch as Arthur tours the collection with both Jean-Claude and his son Pierre, who recently started working for Phillips in London.? Jean-Claude Biver has a very impressive...
Sunday Rewind: A Deeper Look At Depth Gauge Dive Watches
If you want to talk about actually taking dive watches underwater, the man for that conversation is our Jason Heaton. In this piece, which is now more than five years old, Jason takes a look at a handful of dive watches that double down on their underwater duties by offering depth gauge complications.? Heaton being Heaton. From the clever passive display of the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge to the wildly complex Blancpain X Fathoms or the teutonic vibes of the IWC GST Deep One, while these models may tackle the same function in vastly different manners, they all offer a diver a crucial view of their depth. Esoteric by nature an...
Four + One: Cole Walliser, The Man Behind The GLAMbot, Is Hot On Watches
Meet Cole Walliser, the self-proclaimed CEO of Slo-Mo. He's the director behind the #glambot videos you may have seen circulating around social media highlighting stars on the red carpet. While he may be sidelined this awards season, you can usually find him operating a motorized arm that swings around to capture a 180-degree view of some of the biggest names in popular culture. He does it by teasing out a cheeky pose and coaching the stars to reach their full glamourous potential. But there's also something else he's also doing on the red carpet.? Wrist checks.? ...
How To Make A Better Wrist Shot
If you love watches and you have an Instagram account, you've probably snapped a wrist shot. Or two. Or a million. And that's ok! This is a safe space. Over the past several years, what once began as scrolling fodder on niche forums and dusty Web 1.0 message boards has, thanks to social media, become the default currency of online watch enthusiasm.? So let's take a closer look at the art of the wrist shot. But don't worry, all of the basics are identical to the ones I laid out last month, in How To Take Better Photos of Your Watches (Without Buying a New Camera). Following in the format established by that previous post, this is an entry-level guide meant to mini...
Welcome to another installment of "My Watch Story," a video series starring HODINKEE readers and their most prized watches. The submissions continue to stream in, and we couldn't be happier to share them with the watch community. Today, we have five new stories submitted by Victor Cinesi, Nick from Chicago, Ken Hurst, Dan Warren, and Turner Herbert.?Enjoy! Victor Cinesi And His Vacheron Constantin Overseas Victor, from S?o Paulo, Brazil, has big plans for 2021. Later this year, he's going to go to Europe to celebrate his 10th anniversary with his girlfriend and also plans to go to Everest Base Camp in Nep...
Winds Of Change: The Speedmaster 'Master Chronometer' Thomas Wolfe wrote, "you can't go home again" (in fact he made a whole book out of the sentiment), but for watch enthusiasts, the attraction of a number of different watches is that you can. The Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch is a classic example. To paraphrase another fine author, Tolkien on Bilbo Baggins, you could call it well-preserved, but unchanged would be nearer to the mark. The Moonwatch got its last movement update in 1996, with the caliber 1861, but that movement is mechanically almost identical to the 861, which rolled out in 1968-1969.? Sure, the external...
The third week in February is right around the time where a new year starts to feel comfortable and normal. Maybe you are only mistyping "2021" as "2020" once or twice a week. Hey, we improve every day. How are those resolutions doing, by the way? If you happened to promise yourself a new vintage watch, we can help. This week's vintage drop includes the heavy-hitting classics as well as a few off-the-beaten-path options C all with a story to tell, be it on your wrist or mounted near your stove (more on that below). 1967 Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675 ...
Designer Stefan Sagmeister didn't become one of the leading voices in his field by pulling punches. He's outspoken, but always with a sense of thoughtfulness and respect that lends his opinions the gravity they need. If you listened to his full episode of HODINKEE Radio back in December, you'll know exactly what we're talking about.?After we recorded that conversation, Sagmeister played a little game, and that's what we have for you today. We presented him with five of the most iconic watches of all time C the Omega Speedmaster, the Patek Philippe Calatrava, the Rolex Submariner, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and the Cartier Tank C?and asked him to critique them from a designer's perspectiv...
HODINKEE Is Getting Into Pre-Owned Watches. What Does That Mean for You?
From day one, HODINKEE has been in the business of inspiring more and more people to be excited about watches and celebrating the community which supports it. I think we have done a pretty good job. That being said, I wanted to give you a peek behind the curtain on how the managers of HODINKEE think and what drives our decisions. To put it simply, it is this C finding effective solutions to the problems of the watch world from the perspective of us as watch lovers and buyers. OK, maybe not problems, because it's just watches after all, but things that could be done better.? We've tackled the vintage watch world, the modern watch world, accessories, the printed an...
Beginner's Guide: Whats the Difference Between Vintage and Pre-Owned Watches?
New, vintage, pre-owned. Watch sellers often throw these terms around, assuming everybody knows what they mean. And yet, how many newcomers, poring over their options as they consider a purchase, have paused and wondered why a watch from one year is labeled as pre-owned and a watch from another as vintage and what difference it should make to the price? The author's vintage IWC cal. 89, dating from the early 1960s. We've got answers. And we'll keep it simple.? For our purposes, as of 2021, we tend to view watches made prior to 1990 as vintage. Pre-owned describes a watch that was made later, and ...
HODINKEE Radio: Want To See A Watch Appear Out Of Thin Air?
Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review, and tell us which guests we should have on! The past year has completely warped our sense of time, and one especially draining consequence is a sense of daily monotony. When each day is largely the same, we lose the spontaneity that delivers so many of life's joys. A few weeks ago, though, for about an hour and a half on a Saturday night, I forgot about all of that. I attended longtime-friend-of-HODINKEE Dan White's Zoom-based magic show, The Magician Online, and was completely gobsmacked.?I sat there with a ...
Sunday Rewind: Three In-House Automatics From Leading Watchmakers
Last year's updated Submariner was hardly the only new thing at Rolex in 2020. Across-the-board updates to the Oyster Perpetual were in abundance, including a host of colorful dials. With all its many variations, the full OP line is a lot to wrap one's head around. Last week, Danny laid down an in-depth guide to the current lineup of Rolex's entry-level automatic.? The 36mm Rolex Oyster Perpetual as seen in Three On Three. On the heels of this story, we'd like to turn your attention back to a Three on Three from late 2018 in which Jack, James, and Jon selected entry-level steel automatics from three of the leading luxury watch...
Happenings: Ann Micklos To Lecture At The Horological Society Of New York
At the Horological Society of New York's March 2021 lecture, former NASA Engineer Ann Micklos will discuss the general history of watches in spaceflight, which leads to her personal story about a watch that flew on a Space Shuttle. The watch was a gift that had the honor to fly on Columbia, STS-107. Unfortunately, Columbia and her crew were lost during her entry into Earth's atmosphere. However, the pain for losing the crew and Columbia was dulled ever so slightly with a watch which was meant to get back to her owner. About Ann Micklos Ann Micklos is a retired NASA engineer with 33 years of experience res...
Hands-On: The Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical Gets A Bracelet
It's a question that comes up all the time: "I'm thinking of buying my first mechanical watch that won't break the bank, what should I get?" My first answer is almost always to buy what you love, not what I love. But sometimes folks need a little direction, a starting point. I have a short list of options, and that list is anchored by the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical. Its versatile. Durable. Affordable. And handsome. But in the past, buying this watch meant doing one (if not both) of two things: Wearing a single-pass military-style strap in either leather or nylon, or investing in other more traditional strap options C which ...
A Week On The Wrist: The IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph Edition 'Tribute To 3705'
IWC has announced an homage watch that pays tribute to the ref. 3705 "Fliegerchronograph Keramik," a piece from the 1990s that today stands as a legitimate cult classic. It was not terribly popular at launch, it was only offered for a few years, only around 1,000 were made, and when the watch was discontinued, it seemed destined to fade into oblivion. Left, the original ref. 3705; right, the Tribute To 3705, 2021 However, as with so many cult classics (from Nick Drake records to The Big Lebowski), in recent years the 3705 has become increasingly popular C and the very features that made it non-mainstream to the point of obscur...
Introducing: The Grand Seiko GMT 'Seasons Collection' (Live Pics & Pricing)
Back in September of last year, the conceptual minds at Grand Seiko announced a limited edition model with a dial color inspired by the deep blue tones of sunrise over Mt. Iwate. Today, they're back with more nature inspiration via a four-watch series of GMTs. Dubbed the "Seasons Collection," each of the four pays tribute to one of 24 seasonal phases described by the Japanese as "Sekki." Based on the seasons many of us know and love (or hate C I'm looking at you Winter), each season gets one watch. Grand Seiko has opted for two "Hi-Beat" automatics for Spring and Summer, and two Spring Drive models for Fall and Winter. Spring C or Shunbun C as captured ...
Hey, HODINKEE!: What Does A Tourbillon Actually Do?
I know that watch movements can degrade if they're not regularly wound. But why is that? Shouldn't they simply stay the way they are? Time doesn't stop just because you're not wearing the watch. Would you expect your car to start up instantly and run like a top if you left it in the garage for a year? Two years? Five? Watches are machines. They'll wear like any other machine; they require maintenance even if you use them on a regular basis. And especially if you don't.? Movement components work best when they're used. Lubricants deteriorate over time, as do gaskets. But the biggest place you'll...
Originally launched in 2007, the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph was the brand's first chronograph. It combined the Japanese brand's remarkably accurate Spring Drive technology with a mechanical 12-hour chronograph, plus a GMT function and a date display. Today, to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Seiko, GS has released the SBGC240, a two-tone limited-edition iteration of the Spring Drive chronograph.That's right: Two-tone Grand Seiko. It's not unheard of, but (aside from some less common models like the SBGE251) it's a rare move that suits the specialness of the occasion. And hey, who wouldn't want gold on a birthday? After all, you only turn 140 once. ...
Culture Of Time: How Paul Newman's Daytona Inspired This Teenager's Painting
It's the eyes that grab you. They're arresting. Hypnotic. They're unmistakably Paul Newman's, even without the actor's famous Windex blue. In this portrait, an acrylic on canvas by Evan Sharma, a 1960s-era Newman wears a suit and tie set against a red corona overlaid with a floating crown. As any watch enthusiast can see, the floating crown, stylistically evocative of Marc Chagall or Jean-Michel Basquiat, happens to be the brand raiment of Rolex. Sharma, a wunderkind from Kingston, Ontario, is 17 years old. He digs Newman's movies, and in general has anachronistic interests that include jazz, Francis Bacon, David Bowie, and painting in the Fauvist or neo-expressi...