Until relatively recently, if you wanted one of Roger Dubuis cool skeletonized Excalibur watches, you were going to spend over a $100,000 easily. Then, last year in 2015, Roger Dubuis released the brand-new Roger Dubuis Excalibur 42 Automatic Skeleton watch collection that removed the tourbillon and added a micro-rotor based automatic movement. I wouldnt go so far as to suggest that these skeletonized Roger Dubuis Excalibur watches are now affordable, but the core experience in a very wearable [...]
For 2014, Oris has released a new timepiece which is the worlds first automatic mechanical watch with an altimeter. Called the Oris Big Crown ProPilot Alitmeter, the piece continues the brands notion of attempting to include useful complications in its watches for racing, diving, and of course aviation. In a sense, the Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter watch is a follow-up model to the 2013 Oris Aquis Depth Gauge watch with a simple yet highly effective depth gauge used for diving.Oris did not a [...]
SIHH 2013 is in full swing and A. Lange Sohne is not pulling any punches. ALS has announced the new 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar, and it looks to be a complete knockout. Featuring a new Lange calibre, the L.101.1, the 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar combines some of the most sought after complications into one dazzling package that has been designed as a tribute to early A. Lange Sohne pocket watches. The L.101.1 movement, which consists of 636 separate parts,? incorporates a rattr [...]
It isnt unusual to see new trends emerging on the back of current ones. In the days of small, delicate wristwatches, the IWC Portugieser Yacht Club Worldtimer would have been dismissed for its proportions. But in this age of behemoths, worldtimers are afforded the requisite dial space to breathe. This not only favors historical models from IWC, but also their latest globe-trotting tool.Its kind of fitting that IWC should be good at making worldtimers: Founded in Schaffhausen by a Bostonian whose [...]
Busting fake watches is his game and FakeWatchBuster is his name. Below, we interview the FakeWatchBuster himself, learning about the most common replica watches he sees, how to spot a fake watch for yourself, and what drives him to dishonor those people who wear and share fake timepieces. In writing The Truth About Replica Watches, you probably already know how I feel about fakes.A sensation among pop culture followers and watch lovers alike, the mission of the anonymously named FakeWatchBuster [...]
The Chanel J12 reference?H2129 is a rare model produced as collaboration with Audemars Piguet. Still on my ceramic watch kick I thought it necessary to mention the young spawn of what happens when a designer meets a watch manufacture. I dont know if it was love at first sight, or how much courtship was involved, but the result was the best of both world. The Chanel J12 is a wildly popular watch design from everyones famous favorite French design house Chanel. While not the first ceramic watch, R [...]
Josh G. was the winner of our September 2014 Hamilton watch giveaway and has come back with this watch winner review for that we thank him and recognize his passion for the art. Please see our current giveaway for Maurice Lacroix Pontos S dive watch here.First, thank you Ariel Adams and for sponsoring the monthly watch giveaways. Also, thank you Hamilton for generously providing this watch for the September giveaway.After a week of owning the Hamilton Khaki Pilot Day Date, I still remain impr [...]
This is the new Omega X-33 that we have been waiting for. Our hands-on time with the 2014 Omega Speedmaster X-33 Skywalker ref. 318.90.45.79.01.001 proves that this is the real heir to the cult favorite Omega X-33 aviation/aerospace watch of the 1990s. What about the Omega Speedmaster Z-33 (hands-on review here)? That is a good questionWhen Omega released the Speedmaster Z-33 in 2012, it was to be the follow-up to the acclaimed X-33 watch, which took the Speedmaster to a new futuristic place in [...]
One of the new 2012 Timewalker models from Montblanc was this Timewalker ChronoVoyager UTC watch. It faithfully follows in the (rather large at this point) Timewalker collection tradition offering a new flavor to the table. There is actually nothing in this model that hasnt been offered in one form or another previously in the Timewalker collection, but the ChronoVoyager UTC offers a different look and price category for fans of the timepiece family.This Timewalker ChronoVoyager UTC is placed in [...]
High up in the Swiss mountains above the city of Neuchatel is the small town of La C?te-aux-Fees. It has a population of less than 500, and it also happens to be the home of Piagets fine watchmaking. Down the mountains and along the lake is the city of Geneva, where Piagets main watch case manufacturing and assembly headquarters is located. This is a precise analog to the traditional dynamic in Swiss watchmaking where movement makers would bring their work down to Geneva where it was cased and p [...]
A spark of good news came in today with the surprise announcement of the Watches Wonders Shanghai Exhibition to be held between September 9th to 13th, 2020. I must confess, I had to triple-check if the date indeed said 2020 - and not 2021.You probably already know that the famed Genevan watch exhibition, SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) was recently renamed Watches Wonders. What takes sharper memory is recalling how Watches Wonders has, in fact, existed before. In 2018, we at [...]
As the watch world gears up for the 2017 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), Cartier has quietly begun to announce their plans for the luxury timepiece exhibition held in Geneva every year. While they certainly arent strangers to the fine watchmaking arena, Cartier is typically known for their rich history as a company that produces and distributes a wide variety of luxury goods. Still, we all know that theres always more to the story when it comes to their watches. For 2017, Cart [...]
Before the high-profile collaborations with celebrities, tattoo artists, and sports megastars; before the colorful, on-trend shock drops; and most definitely long before this crazy jewel-encrusted thing, the subversion weve now come to expect from Hublot was a whole lot simpler: a rubber strap, paired with a precious metal case. Thats it. Cast against a backdrop of current industry trends around casual luxury (to wit: omega jumping the shark with its newest gold Sky-Dweller on an Oysterflex rubb [...]
Audemars Piguet is pissed. If youve been watching the brand for the last 10 years or so, youd notice a lot of Formula 1 themed limited edition watches in the Royal Oak Offshore collection. Seeing them could easily lead you to believe that Audemars Piguet (AP) and F1 has some type of bond. And recently that relationship ended. Hublot yet again- took out from under APs noses, a valuable sponsorship including that with F1. Audemars Piguet is still pissed about it. While it will take a lot time bef [...]
Say what you will, but Panerai understands their core market perfectly. Adding to their Luminor line-up, Panerai has introduced the Luminor Marina PAM795 and PAM797, two hand-winders with the impressive 8-day power reserve P.5002 in-house caliber.Style wise, nothing is out of the ordinary as far as Panerai is concerned. At first glance, no one would blame you for not noticing this release is anything new at all. Both the PAM795 and PAM797 feature the usual 44mm Luminor case shape with the crown [...]
The phrase modern icon of watchmaking gets thrown around often, but is there anything else that you would use to describe the Lange 1? Didnt think so. The modern A. Lange Sohne that we know today presented its first watches 25 years ago in 1994. There were four: the Saxonia, the Arkade, the Tourbillon Pour le Merite, and of course, the Lange 1. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Lange 1, the brand has created a special limited edition version called the A. Lange Sohne Lange 1 25 Annivers [...]
Creating limited-edition timepieces based on celebrities and popular figures is nothing new in the luxury watch business, but few brands in the current market have embraced the concept as wholeheartedly or with as much variety as Oris. Over the past several years, the brand has amassed a dramatic collection of limited-edition designs celebrating notable personalities, including a host of influential jazz musicians and a legendary U.S. Navy diver. For its latest entry, Oris turns its attention to [...]
IWC has proven that they arent afraid to tap into their illustrious past to bring us some amazing watches. For SIHH 2017, its safe to say that theyre bringing out the big guns by?completely revisiting their Da Vinci collection. Following inspiration drawn from the established?Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar watch of?1985, IWC is bringing back the sleek, classic round case design for a revamped and revisited look. Perhaps the most impressive and mechanically interesting of the bunch is the IWC?Da Vin [...]
Putting on the new Raymond Weil Maestro Cushion, I didnt know what to make of it. Do I like the watch? Does it look flattering on the wrist. The old TV screen-style case has been a hit and miss historically as it seems to have made some watches nicer, while others not so nice at all. After looking at the Maestro Cushion on my wrist for a while, I think I like it. The price aint too bad either.I am typically much pickier with my dress watches than I am with sport watches. I dont usually wear form [...]
Is the big watch going to make a comeback for 2014? That is hard to say, but Swiss Maurice Lacroix has an XXL-sized horological entrant with their 48mm wide sized Pontos S Supercharged. It continues the Pontos S legacy that began in 2012, and last year in 2013 resulted in the Pontos S Extreme (hands-on here). The Extreme had some interesting colors and now the Supercharged is all about bold design and size.Weve always liked the Pontos S for its forward-thinking design and sharp modern looks whil [...]