INTRODUCING: The Oris Carl Brashear Chronograph Limited Edition
Oris have just unveiled the latest take on their popular Divers Sixty-Five line — the Oris Carl Brashear Chronograph Limited Edition, a follow-up to 2016’s popular bronze LE, named in honour of US Navy Master Diver Carl Brashear. The overall look and feel of this 43mm LE is familiar: a bronze case with deep, inky blue dial — with one notable difference. This is a chronograph, and a really neatly executed one at that. The dial is clean, with the large sub registers offering balance and symmetry, with no half-eaten numbers, date windows or overly busy scales to detract from the clean, simple good looks of the watch. Oris decided to keep the rotating elapsed time bezel, which I think is the right call. The crown and pushers are all bronze, and, interestingly, the chrono pushers don’t screw down, which goes some way to explaining the 100m of water resistance. Of course, this calls into question the dive watch bona fides of the Carl Brashear Chronograph, but honestly, it’s more of a lifestyle diver — a great-looking watch inspired by the marine world. Yes, purists will moan about it, but I don’t think that really matters. The watch is powered by…
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In the last days of last year we decamped from our regular, air-conditioned office for a sun-drenched bar high above the Melbourne CBD. But unlike every other company who had the same idea, we were more work-y, less party. We were recording a series of ‘best of’ lists … like this wrap-up of the year’s best watches of 2017 under $1000. Seiko Presage Cocktail Time The international launch of Seiko’s dressy Presage Cocktail Time caused a stir (or is that a muddle?) this year, and with one of the best dials under $1K it’s very easy to see why. From $650 Timex Marlin If you had told me three years ago that Timex would release a heritage, mechanical reissue in 2017 I would have called you a liar. And I would have been proved wrong. This little guy is a winner. $199 USD Seiko Prospex SRPB53K ‘Samurai’ It should come as no surprise that Seiko know their way around a well-priced diver, and this year they delivered again with a revamped Samurai, with just the right balance of classic and contemporary. From $675 Halios Seaforth This summery little stunner is from Canadian microbrand Halios, and with its sensible design and…
Yesterday we published the first part of our most-read reviews of 2017, covering off Bulgari, Grand Seiko, Rolex, Longines and some more Rolex (for good measure). Today we go through the top five watch reviews of 2017, with some expected and some more surprising results … 5: IN-DEPTH: Tudor’s Black Bay Chrono – greater than the sum of its parts? Baselworld always delivers a surprise or two, and this year it was courtesy of Tudor, and their first in-house, integrated chronograph. The biggest surprise wasn’t that the Black Bay DNA could handle a chrono, but rather that much of the movement architecture was provided by Breitling … 4: IN-DEPTH: The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Master Chronometer The Omega Aqua Terra — with its robust build and subtle flash — has always been a solid choice for daily duties, but this year’s upgrade to Master Chronometer status made it that much more compelling. 3: HANDS-ON: Return of an icon – the TAG Heuer Autavia TAG Heuer’s Autavia reissue was highly anticipated, and it did not fail to deliver. The good looks and good size rounded off by the welcome return of the CH80 movement (albeit under the name of the Heuer-02).…
Reviewing watches isn’t everything we do, but it’s certainly the heart of it. And this year we’ve photographed, videoed and generally dissected some of the best. So, in the tradition of end-of-year wrap-ups we thought it an excellent idea to run through our top 10 watch reviews of 2017, according to the cold hard stats of our analytics engine. Today we’re going through numbers 10 to five, kicking off with Bulgari’s slender superstar … 10: HANDS-ON: Barely there brilliance – the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic Some watches have a serious honeymoon period, starting with that first blush of excitement at Basel and gradually softening as the year goes on. For Bulgari though the honeymoon isn’t over as the Octo Finissimo is as fresh today as it was on the first day we saw it. 9: HANDS-ON: Grand Seiko has just released their first professional diver, the Hi-Beat 36000 Professional 600m (refs. SBGH255, SBGH257) and we find it intimidating Grand Seiko’s first professional dive watch is this mighty (and massive) monster, a 46.9mm chunk of titanium that still looks every inch a Seiko diver … 8: HANDS-ON: A classic, redefined – The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust 41 in steel The Datejust…
I have good news for the Time+Tide team. You all kept me properly entertained, informed and amused this year. You can stay. Andy stepped up to help us hide our watch obsession from family, friends and workmates; Felix and I captured a moment in time when we basically transcribed our most heated Basel arguments, a tradition we started the year before; Melissa found five billionaires who care little for luxury watches; Sandra tackled the topic of collecting watches that might actually appreciate on a budget; and Felix and Jason combined to work their evil, seductive magic on me, via Grand Seiko. My five favourite stories had it all. P.S. Picking just five favourite stories proved more difficult in 2017 than any other year. What about Cam’s six months with his beloved Tudor Pelagos LHD? What about when we worked with the Omega museum manager on spotting the watch in Dunkirk? HOW TO: Hide your watch obsession, 9 handy hints Sit down a minute, let’s have some #realtalk. Time+Tide is a supportive, enabling place for people like us. We can meet, share, comment, show our feelings, good or bad. The best thing? It can be all about watches all of the time. The…
I’ve been a big fan of Hublot’s Meccano-inspired Meca-10 ever since I saw it in the metal. For me it manages to be super new and exciting for Hublot, yet also 100 per cent on brand. At the heart of this watch (and its appeal) is the movement. The HUB1201 is a big old manual wind, with two barrels packing in a potent 10 days of power reserve (hence the 10 in the name), and spiced up with some typically Hublot skeletonised architecture. It’s a cool movement, but this new golden incarnation gives it a whole new mood. Other versions play to contrast, all black and steel. This version, however, is suffused with light, giving you an unobstructed view into the depths of the movement, every barrel and bridge lit up like they’re under lights. And the whole (very pretty) picture is framed beautifully by the King Gold case. Years ago, Hublot came to fame for their big, bold and brash designs. These days, they’re certainly still big and bold, but there’s also an increased level of sophistication and unique style at play in their watches. Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 in King Gold Australian pricing Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 in…
Way back in 2013, Panerai released the PAM 389, a big, 47mm titanium beast with antimagnetic innards and an oh-so-sexy ceramic bezel. This powerful diver is a watch entirely in keeping with Panerai’s core values. Fast forward to 2017 and we’ve got a new and improved version of this Luminor Submersible, with an updated reference number to match — PAM 1389. Functionally and aesthetically not too much has changed, it’s still the same Luminor 1950 case, complete with that iconic crown guard. The bezel is still ceramic, with those excellent recessed interval markers and large lume pip at 12. But a few things have changed. Dial proportions have been given minor modifications — slightly fatter hour markers and a bright blue seconds hand, for example. The major change though is the one beneath the dial. This PAM is packing the latest in-house automatic movement, the P.9010, offering three days of power reserve across two barrels and an hour hand that can be quickly adjusted in one-hour increments. This movement is still safely ensconced behind a soft iron Faraday cage, as indicated by the Antimagnetic text on the dial. These are all incremental modifications that improve the functionality and legibility of this Submersible…
‘Novelty’ is one of the most abused words in the watch industry. Practically, it’s used to describe the steady stream of new models and designs being produced by watchmaking brands. But on top of that, it conveys a sense of newness and — marketing departments fervently hope — excitement. For example, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 2017 novelties were their Master Control trilogy — they excited people, and rightfully so. And while this grey-dialled Master Ultra Thin Moon is a new release, it’s not really a novelty — it didn’t make headlines at SIHH, and doesn’t showcase any innovations in mechanics or material. But despite this (or perhaps because of it), this serious, ghostly grey Master Ultra Thin Moon is an exceptionally beautiful piece of watchmaking, the sort that JLC excels at. If you’re not familiar with the MUT Moon (as it’s sometimes known), here’ s the two-minute rundown. First introduced in 2012, this perfectly sized 39mm white gold dress watch is a case study on just how well Jaeger-LeCoultre does thin watchmaking. At 9.9mm tall it’s slender, but not exceptionally so, partially due to the complicated nature of the movement. On the other hand, it does feel pleasingly solid on the wrist, avoiding that anxiety-inducing…
In 2017 the Black Bay is a force to be reckoned with, a retro reissue that has fuelled Tudor’s ascendancy to the powerhouse it is today. And while these days we’re used to having a range of colours and case finishing to play with, it’s hard to overstate just how hot this watch was when it was first released in 2012, and how it got even hotter the following year, when the blue version dropped. The Black Bay isn’t just a (very excellent) dive watch, it’s a tribal marker of community. So we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get as many Bays as we could lay our hands on in the one place, and run through the evolution of this modern-day classic. 
The story in a second: When the going gets tough, wear a Black Bay Steel. Did you know that this year the Black Bay family is five years old? Well, it is, and the fundamental design isn’t showing any signs of flagging. Case in point is this watch, which represents the Black Bay stripped back to its essentials. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay Steel. The case There’s not too much to be said about the case of the Black Bay Steel that hasn’t already been said about every other Black Bay. It’s steel, it’s 41mm across and has those high, smooth sides that make the Black Bay such an easy watch to spot from under a cuff — though it must be said the big Tudor rose on the crown is a bit of a giveaway too. The real point of difference here is, as you’d expect, the bezel. The watch takes its name from the radially brushed steel bezel, and while in style and design it’s unchanged from other Black Bay bezels, this simple bezel gives the Black Bay Steel a different look and feel to other members of the Black Bay clan. To me it feels much more…