Back in March, as the world plunged headlong into global lockdowns, the watch world (amongst pretty much every other retail and industrial sector) was understandably thrown into chaos, as the industrys key tradeshows were canceled, leaving major watch brands to their own devices for a new release plan. But feathers were decidedly unruffled at Breitling, where two years previous, brand CEO Georges Kern had already put in place a digital marketing strategy that didnt rely on the traditional trades [...]

Strangely enough, I had little trouble wrapping my head around cable-suspended movements, sophisticated tourbillons inexplicably worn during top-tier tennis matches, or wristwatches with mechanical G-force sensors, even. The?Richard Mille RM 028 Diver in red gold has, rather unexpectedly, become the first Richard Mille that I feel sticks out from the complex, but unique parallel universe that Richard Mille watches have carved out for themselves over the years.If you want me to go on about the pr [...]

Jaeger-LeCoultre, among other things, makes damn nice dress watches as part of their Master collection. I am going to be honest when I say that I rarely have use for a dress watch. Whether it is my generation, job, or where I live, there just arent that many social events I go to that demand a formal timepiece to go with formal attire. In some ways that is a shame, because most of the timepieces for men that I would actually refer to as beautiful are actually dress watches. Lets face it, there a [...]

Audemars Piguet rolled out some pretty impressive new hardware this year at SIHH, as per usual.? While the focus over the past few years has been on their iconic Jumbo (which celebrated a 40th Anniversary in 2012 or some of their lesser known Haute Horology pieces (such as the Jules Audemars Tourbillon), this year is all about that other collection stalwart: The Royal Oak Offshore.The original Royal Oak Offshore was released to the public in 1993 as a follow up to Gerald Gentas much applauded A- [...]

There are reasons why people love and wear their watches.? Maybe their watch has some emotional connection to an event in their past, maybe it was a gift, and if you are like us (watch nerds) you simply love having a useful mechanical toy on your wrist that also has style. While I usually readily understand my fellow watch enthusiasts, I will be the first to admit that initially I did not understand the subgroup of watch nerds who are quite frankly fanatics of the Officine Panerai brand, otherwi [...]

The A. Lange Sohne Zeitwerk watch was certainly controversial when it first came out but has become one of the most iconic watches of the well-regarded German luxury watch brand. Since its release, A. Lange Sohne has perhaps come out with more truly interesting versions of the Zeitwerk than any other model save for perhaps the brands flagship Lange 1 collection. Today, we take a hands-on look at the most prestigious and complicated Zeitwerk to date the A. Lange Sohne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater [...]

Ever since the release of last years Luminor Marina 8 Days (PAM 510) with the new in-house P.5000 movement, there has been talk of Panerai discontinuing its entry-level Luminor models. The PAM 510 is a doppelganger of the PAM 111, with the exception of the words 8 Days on the dial and the movement underneath, the two watches are practically identical.At this point, it is worth talking a bit about this new P. 5000 movement, which only debuted last year. First and foremost, this is a hand-wound mo [...]

The pursuit continued of life in the house of troubled luxury brand has a method. Bulgari has recently announced news that should be considered uncommon at the least. In a strange move that I would have never predicted, the Bulgari brand actually eats two other brands that it already owns. The result will be a unified brand in image and manufacture, such that each watch coming from the super brand will have the name Bvlgari (Bulgari as I care to say it) on each watch that is released. A hint in [...]

Sponsored Post written for by advertiserWith an increasingly informed watch-buying public hungry for new retail destinations where their passions can be indulged and their minds overrun with interesting facts, The Optimist, Los Angeles premier gentlemens outfitter, has decided to open its very own watch boutique. Having started up in October 2019, The Optimist, which champions the pioneering, optimistic, and easygoing spirit of Los Angeles, is ready to align the most famous names of horological [...]

It is difficult to believe that Hublot is already entering their fourth calendar year of partnership with Ferrari as their official timekeeper and high-end watch maker. The relationship was debuted in late 2011 and at Baselworld 2012 brought you a hands-on look at the evolved Big Bang pieces that became the Hublot Ferrari watch collection. According to Hublot Chairman Jean-Claude Biver the Big Bang Ferrari collection is the most important modern Hublot timepiece not only in terms of what it mea [...]

If you are anything like me, you have seriously considered what you would do in a survival situation on a deserted island. Do I ever anticipate being in this situation? Well no, but as a dedicated lover of the survivalist genre (from Robinson Crusoe to Castaway), I do take the time to ponder such issues. Likely or not, it makes for good conversation, and an interesting tactical decision, thinking about what watch would be perfect. Lets see what some of the considerations you need to take when ch [...]

If you would have asked me before I visited SIHH 2010 what brand would have impressed me the most, I dont think that Cartier would have been one of my top choices. The maker of high-end watches usually focuses on the jewelry side of watch making more than the complex mechanical side. At least it used to be that way. Part of their current and future goals is to assert themselves as a true master watch maker. As such, SIHH was filled with interesting and complex watches. Of course not all of their [...]

For 2015, Cartier has released the brand new Cle de Cartier collection of watches for both men and women. We included the Cle de Cartier as one of our top 10 new watches for SIHH 2015, and for good reason it sports not only a completely new case design, but also a new movement. While the 2015 Cle watches are exclusively going to be offered in 18k gold (various colors), we anticipate that Cartier will flesh out the Cle de Cartier collection more over the next few years and likely offer steel mod [...]

The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda 1950 has been around for just under a decade, and this year the brand gave this watch a subtle but visually significant dial refresh. The Tonda (round in Italian) line is Parmigianis broadest, as it basically encompasses all of the round-cased watches that arent in the Toric collection (which themselves are easily identified by the hand-knurling on their cases). Named after the year Michael Parmigiani was born, the Tonda 1950 is the quintessential Parmigiani Fleurie [...]

Were still a little over a month away from SIHH, but that hasnt stopped many of Richemont group brands from spilling the beans on a few key 2019 releases. The latest to join the year-ending tease is IWC, who has just announced a new limited edition Pilots Watch Timezoner (ref. IW395501), as part of a Spitfire refresh which joins three other Pilot releases.The Timezoner movement with its signature ceramic worldtime bezel made its debut in 2016 with ref. IW3905-the brands first in-house manufactur [...]

It was back in 2013 when Swiss Maurice Lacroix first released one of the most beautiful contemporary dive-style watches with the Pontos S Diver. The sporty Pontos watch collection has had a number of members over the years, and arguably Maurice Lacroix would be well-advised to clarify the collections naming conventions, as, in my opinion, there have been too many Pontos watches. With that said, the Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diver that now comes in a few versions is a great mini-family of Pontos w [...]

Most of the time in the watch industry, big (no pun intended), news takes the form of something previously large being engineered to be smaller. Nearly every piece of watchmaking technology in a wristwatch began life in larger form- sometimes from an entirely different industry. Rarely is there a press release in which the announcement is, We made something bigger! With 2020 nearly under our belts, I dont think we should any longer expect history to dictate our future. Swiss Hublot delights the [...]

Although the current luxury watch market is awash with tributes to motorsports and classic cars, the vast majority of this automotive inspiration is decidedly Eurocentric. While brands like Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Bentley, and McLaren have a wide range of associated designs to choose from, watch collecting fans of American cars are comparatively underserved. Breitlings latest release for Geneva Watch Days 2021 aims to solve this problem, reimagining its sporty vintage-inspired Top Time c [...]

RM25-01 FULLFRONT RGBAs obnoxious at is, I love this Richard Mille Tourbillon Adventure uber-luxury wristwatch toy. Sure, only the likes of Sylvester Stallone and anyone else able to afford its $983,000 USD price tag will be able to own one but its fun to imagine. Though, I wont stay up at night lusting for the chance to own one as I know better than to put myself up there with John Rambo. In fact, the title character of the Rambo movie franchise is who Sylvester Stallone was thinking to equip w [...]

The return of the Gerald Genta brand had been rumored for a while before the wristwatch community got word of its resurrection in 2019 with a platinum-cased version of this particular Arena Bi-Retro watch (with a simpler blue dial). Almost exactly one year ago (as of this writing), LVMHs BVLGARI (which acquired the Gerald Genta brand and name in the year 2000) announced the debut of this particular titanium-cased version of the watch known as the Gerald Genta Arena Bi-Retro Sport. In that produc [...]