In a pleasant surprise, Longines invited us for the presentation of a new quartz movement that marks the return of their Very High Precision (“VHP”) watches. It is so important to the brand that Longines wanted to get ahead of the Baselworld 2017 rush.
January 2017 brought us the third and, sadly, final chapter of one of the coolest, yet least-known haute horlogerie collections from F.P. Journe. Enter the F.P. Journe Vagabondage III, a quietly debuted and most likely quick-to-sell-out exercise in horological muscle-flexing by François-Paul Journe.
Here’s a question for you: can there be such a thing as a cool Lange? Elegant, sophisticated, restrained, calculated… Yes. But cool? I wouldn’t have thought so until I went hands-on with the A. Lange & Söhne Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase “Lumen” watch.
As promised, here is our “live from London” hands-on with Bremont’s brand-new line up of vintage-inspired dive watches.
I still feel cautious when calling one of the most prominent and successful luxury brands a plucky underdog, but I’ll do it anyway because that is what Bulgari largely remains in the field of watchmaking; and that is also why I enjoyed going hands-on with their latest and greatest thinnest statement-watch if there ever was one, the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton.
The Oris Williams Valtteri Bottas Limited Edition is currently at the top of the ladder when it comes to Swiss Oris’ “motorsport” watch collection. When checking it out at Baselworld 2016, it struck me that the racing-themed Oris timepieces might not get as much attention as they deserve.
The old-new Da Vinci collection from IWC made its return at SIHH 2017, ditching the angular case from some ten years ago in favor of a classical, round design. As safe-play as that may sound, the IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph has – sort of unexpectedly – stepped up to be one of my favorites from this year’s new releases, and here’s why that is.
Roger Dubuis has been on a spree of material innovation lately. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor Cobalt MicroMelt which is the first watch in the world to feature a case constructed entirely out of cobalt chrome – a high-strength alloy that serves as a suitable backdrop for the watch’s impressive quad layout balance.
At SIHH 2017, Geneva-based MB&F released a new limited-edition version of the Legacy Machine No. 2 watch with a fascinating greenish-blue dial and a titanium case. It was back in 2013 that MB&F released its second iteration of the then still fresh Legacy Machine collection which eschewed the very modern design sensibilities of the brand for something more classic and traditional.
Among the solid gold glimmer of SIHH, we go hands-on with JLC’s new trio of lovely vintage-inspired steel Master watches.