Category: independent watchmaking

Introducing – RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls

When you think about RJ-Romain Jerome, you know it’s going to be bold, to be large and to boast rather unique inspirations (well, there are few brands inspired by steampunk, the Titanic, Batman or PAC-MAN…). There’s another theme that RJ-Romain Jerome cherishes: skulls. Like it or not (the skull-head is a recurrent inspiration in watchmaking), the brand knows how to incrust them in a watch, with quite some style. And the RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls that we’re about to show you won’t break the lineage, but however adds more watchmaking content and lightness to these bold watches.

8 years ago

Up Close with the Raul Pagès Soberly Onyx and its Unstinting Hand-Finishing

Raul Pagès’ first wristwatch is simply designed but elaborately finished, and equipped with a carefully decorated vintage movement – a familiar formula that’s also found in work of Voutilainen, and more recently, Atelier de Chronometrie and Torsti Laine. But the Pagès Soberly Onyx manages to differentiate itself in subtle ways. The 34-year old Raul Pagès started his career with restoring antique timepieces, just like […]

8 years ago

Hands-on – Richard Mille RM 11-03 Automatic Flyback Chronograph, the facelift of an icon

The Richard Mille RM 011 is a watch that perfectly sums up the Richard Mille spirit. We know this watch for almost 10 years and we’ve seen it in dozens of editions – some linked to certain events (Le Mans Classic), made for special friends of the brand (Felipe Masse, Roberto Mancini…) and manufactured in all possible colors or materials (red quartz, ceramic, carbon fiber, titanium, gold…). This watch could certainly be the most popular RM watch – and is probably the brand’s best seller too. After so many variations, it was time for this icon to get some fresh air, and after a strong facelift, this watch becomes the Richard Mille RM 11-03 Automatic Flyback Chronograph.

8 years ago

Introducing – URWERK EMC TimeHunter X-Ray, the skeletonized version

The URWERK EMC TimeHunter is not just an impressive face. Like always with this independent manufacture, the design is… different, bold, aggressive, outrageous or futuristic (choose the desired adjectives). The EMC TimeHunter is far more than that, it is simply unique and revolutionary. Based on the self-adjustment of the movement so dear to the brand, this watch added the self-monitring capacity, in a very technical way. This highly-innovative watch receives a facelift and now comes in a skeletonized version, the URWERK EMC TimeHunter X-Ray.

8 years ago

Introducing the Urwerk EMC TimeHunter X-Ray

Fusing traditional watchmaking and electronics, the latest iteration of the Urwerk EMC features a skeletonised dial that reveals the mechanics of the movement. First introduced in 2013, the EMC attempts to perfect the old fashioned mechanical wristwatch with high-tech: an electronic rate monitor powered by a hand crank, which indicates whether the movement is running fast […]

8 years ago

Hands-on – The Speake-Marin Spirit Seafire Chronograph Titanium Red

When first introduced at Baselworld 2014, the Speake-Marin Spirit Seafire was the first chronograph of the brand (introduced alongside the Spirit Wing Commander, creating a new collection of sports watches). You’ll have to admit, coming from a man like Peter Speake Marin, more used to highly complicated watches and well known for his superior watchmaking skills, this was rather surprising. A more commercial-oriented piece for sure, plus also being a sportier development of a growing brand, the Spirit Seafire Chronograph is however still (very much) a Speake-Marin watch… just with a different perspective. Let’s look in details what a Speake-Marin for a larger audience can offer.

8 years ago

Introducing the DeWitt Academia Skeleton, Featuring a Jumping, Reversing Seconds

The latest from Geneva-based DeWitt is the Academia Skeleton, which boasts a truly novel seconds hand that travels in two different directions. Powered by an in-house, hand-wound movement, the key feature of the Academia Skeleton is the seconds display at seven o’clock. The seconds hand points to the seconds on a large, fan-shaped scale running from zero […]

8 years ago

My Summer with the Ressence Type 5 (and does it really have zero reflection under water)

If you remember, back in December 2015, when Benoît Mintiens (the founder of Ressence) showed me the Ressence Type 5 for the first time, I actually ended my article with a wish to have this watch as my summer watch. The team of Ressence heard my wish and granted it so here we are, with my review of this great, sort of unique watch, which I’ve been wearing for an entire summer. Usually I tend to be rather technical and factual in my reviews, but here I’m going to be slightly more focused on the wearability and on the feelings, trying to position myself as the owner of this watch. Here are my thoughts after my summer with the Ressence Type 5 on the wrist.

8 years ago

Introducing the Christian Klings Tourbillon Nr. 2, with Self-Starting Detent Escapement

Christian Klings is the quintessential independent watchmaker as imagined by most watch collectors: a artisan working on his own, building highly complex and beautiful timepieces – including some classically beautiful yet technically novel wristwatches – from scratch. Highly regarded by those in the know, yet not widely known, Klings is based in Wechselburg, a small town an hour […]

8 years ago