Twenty years ago, the luxury branch of Seiko, named Grand Seiko and now a company in its own right, unveiled a technology that would make history. With precision, reliability, and practicality in mind, the brand developed a hybrid movement, based on the beauty and perpetuity of an automatic calibre, and benefitting from the precision of […]
Following the recipe used on the recreation of the 62MAS, with the 2017 reference SLA017, and the recreation of the 1968 Hi-Beat Diver, with the reference SLA025, Seiko is about to bring a new, limited edition diver’s watch that is a faithful recreation of yet another icon, the reference 6105-8110, a 1970 watch that replaced […]
Grand Seiko has just announced its latest releases at Basel 2019 and, boy, does the Spring Drive — that unique trifecta of electronic, kinetic and magnetic energy — feature strongly. But not just the Spring Drives you know and love, with that arching power reserve at eight. No, in honour of the movement’s 20th anniversary, there are new manually wound versions, including this super-slender, refined and dressy option. Shown here in steel, it’s known as SBGY003 This is a Grand Seiko like you’ve never seen before. First, the case is so well-sized — 38.5mm across by 10.2mm thick is elegant, restrained proportion. With a simple case, with swooping lugs, a grippy crown (important for manual winding) and a black alligator strap, it’s a refined piece. It’s interesting to note that this is one of the few GS models where the lugs aren’t drilled. Of course, the dial is impressive, too: a radial starburst-like guillochage, reminiscent of the popular Seiko Cocktail Time; it’s bright and crisp, with all the details you’d expect from the masters of the art. It’s also very clean, with no date or power reserve on show, as you might expect. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean…
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There’s a unifying theme to Grand Seiko’s 2019 collection – and no, it’s not the exquisite dials or case work, though those are all very much in evidence. No, this year it’s all about the mighty Spring Drive, a movement (which we’ve explained here) that is unique to Grand Seiko, and appropriately enough, 20 years old. There’s a new take on the most complicated Spring Drive of all, the 9R96, with a GMT and Chronograph. This year we see it like never before — in a watch that’s a suitably plus-sized tribute to Japan’s most famous monster, Godzilla. The SBGC231G is a truly gargantuan titanium watch that is about as statement watch as they come. No, the real evolution of the Spring Drive family is a new movement, the 9S63, a manually wound offering that sees small seconds and power reserve neatly balanced across the dial, which — thanks to that superb dial execution — results in a watch that’s a joy to look at. And thanks to the slimmer case profile (11.6mm), the watch is a joy on the wrist, too — the domed sapphire and rounded bezel certainly help in this regard. Grand Seiko’s offering has been increasingly…
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Prospex is Seiko-speak for “Professional Specification”, a family of professionally oriented tool-watches that was born in 1968 and built to last. And, Seiko being Seiko, that build quality is legendary. As such, these watches have attracted a cult following, in both the actual and desk-diving fraternities. Now, at their press conference at Baselworld 2019, Seiko just upped the stakes once more, with the Prospex LX. A series of (for now) six watches that are gloriously over-specced, premium Prospex watches. There are three watches in plain steel, and three blacked-out variants. Prospex LX — built around the timeless pillars of sea, land and sky — is a series that has the Swiss mainstream sports watches firmly in their sights. And they’re priced to match. Australian RRPs for the line are in the range of $7000-9000, which I suspect might have more than a few fans (and professional peers) doing a quick double take. For a Seiko-labelled watch, these are definitely premium prices, but does the quality match up? Well, from my handling of these pre-production prototypes, I’ve got to say yes. The cases have many of the hallmarks you’d associate with Grand Seiko, and the movements, well, they’re Spring Drive. But design-wise, these watches…
The post VIDEO: Seiko has just announced the Prospex LX collection – these are the watches and what you need to know about them appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Few brands have watches that are instantly recognizable as their own. The Bell & Ross BR series won’t be mistaken for any other brand. Developed in 2005 with the BR01 and modelled after cockpit instruments, the BR series features a somewhat polarizing square case with round dial, and some models have evolved beyond the military motif. The BR 03-92 Blue Steel with its clean, deep blue time and date dial is a good example, maintaining the iconic square case with a dressier, non-military finish. The new model presented for Baselworld 2019, named the Bell & Ross BR 03-92 MA-1, is however all about military inspiration. Back to the roots!
Tudor’s Baselworld 2019 collection is always a hotly anticipated affair, and this year the Shield offered some stylish new takes on existing models, and a distinctive diver no one saw coming. Tudor Black Bay P01 One of the more interesting, unexpected and downright surprising releases of Baselworld 2019 has to be the Tudor Black Bay P01. To paraphrase that guy from Star Trek: it’s a Black Bay, Jim — but not as we know it. Based on a prototype watch developed in the late 1960s with the US Navy in mind, this Black Bay is pure tool watch. The party trick here is that the bi-directional bezel (which is graduated for hours — something I’ve been wanting on a Black Bay since forever) is locked in place via the ingenious mobile end link at 12. And for all its blocky shape, this 42mm works really well on the wrist. 3750 CHF Tudor Black Bay Bronze The Black Bay Bronze is dead! Long live the Black Bay Bronze! Well, by that I mean the original brown-dialled bronze Black Bay has been removed from the catalogue, replaced by this handsome fellow. All details are unchanged, except for the dial, which is now a shaded…
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When Tudor first introduced its Black Bay Chrono model in 2017, there was a hullabaloo about incorporating chronograph functions on board a 200m water-resistant vintage-inspired dive watch. A diver without a rotating bezel replaced by a fixed tachymeter scale for the chronograph functions? For many, the combination of functions was unwarranted but over time, the […]
“If you analyze the function of an object, its form often becomes obvious,” was the credo of Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (founder of Porsche Design). “Form follows function” is something we often hear in the watch world but with Porsche Design, it is a matter of fact. Apparently simple yet perfectly functional, this has become […]
It’s no secret that the Octo Finissimo has been a watch that’s kick-started the heart of Bulgari’s recent string of critical hits. And now the collection has — in addition to the core time-only model, minute repeaters and tourbillons — a chronograph. And not just any chronograph, the world’s thinnest. This watch took Bulgari almost three years to develop (which, in watch terms, is rather quick), and the movement is a slim 3.3mm, shredding a fair bit of width off the previous thinnest – a 4.65mm manually wound movement from Piaget. This movement isn’t just thin — it’s got a peripheral winding rotor and a nicely finished movement. It’s also got a second time zone display at three, which is set in sync with the main hands. Altering local time is a cinch, as hitting the pusher at nine advances the hour hand in one-hour increments. Design-wise, not too much has changed. We’re still looking at that classic sandblasted titanium case — only now with a bit more going on with the dial. I really love just how integrated the faceted pushers are to the case. From a distance you’d struggle to know more. It wears just as well as you’d expect on…
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