Under the cuff: Our 5 favourite dress watches of 2019
Staples, all good watch collections need to have staple pieces. A versatile daily beater, a rugged weekend warrior, a lauded grail watch and, of course, a great dress watch. But what are the characteristics of a great dress watch? Well, for a start it needs to be slim so it will fit under a cuff easily — there’s no greater sin than wearing a monolithic timepiece that awkwardly sits atop the cuff of a shirt or suit jacket. Another requisite is a leather band, as very, very few dress watches can successfully pull off a matching metal bracelet. And finally, a great timepiece to wear with a suit has to have a beautiful dial — it doesn’t need to be overtly complicated, nor should it be overtly OTT; it just has to be aesthetically pleasing. With all this in mind, we thought we’d share with you five of the best dress watches of 2019. LONGINES MASTER COLLECTION The appeal of a blue-dialled watch has much to do with the way it pairs with almost any outfit. But it’s also about how its softer aesthetic compares to the starkness of some black or white dials. The Longines Master Collection nails this…
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As we float about in the liminal space between Christmas and the new year, it’s a great chance to reflect on the year that the watch world was in 2019. Andrew mentioned in his Letter from the Editor that 2019 could be defined by the hysterical focus on SSR (stainless steel Rolex), as well as similar watches from both Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. As a result, this has certainly been a part of almost daily discussion in the Time+Tide office. It might be an eye-watering auction result, a watch listed for sale online at double retail, or a question we receive about what the next watch will be to “hold value”, but the fact that there is very strong demand in a very narrow section of watch collecting can’t be ignored. Andrew articulates the many reasons this is a problem for the watch-loving community, and rather than repeating him, I wanted to take a closer look at the three other areas that I found interesting in the watch industry this year. Watch Fairs vs. Watch Conferences Earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending the 4th Dubai Watch Week, which was maybe the first time the event hit scale.…
It pains me so to admit this, but oftentimes a story is only as good as the photos that accompany it — especially when you’re writing about something as intricate and nuanced as watches. A good snap of a timepiece is not only the glorious icing on a particularly wordy cake, it actually assists us scribes in helping to articulate different facets of a given wristwatch. In short, a good photo is crucial in this game. Luckily for us here at Time+Tide, our photographer is a chap named Jason … and he’s a bloody wonderful photographer. And when Deputy-Editor Nick Kenyon said he wanted me to pick my favourite watch photos from 2019 that Jason had taken, I did so with verve. Here they are.
In 2009, Rolex performed a miracle. Necromancy. A resurrection. Back from the dead was the oft-maligned sister brand of the Crown: Tudor watches. What followed in the seven years since was the most startling and effective rebrand the world of watches has ever seen. And thanks to an immense financial investment and influential vocal advocacy, underpinned by an excellent product, it looks likely Tudor’s star will continue to burn brighter still over the years to come. Watch collecting is not what it was. How could it be? Until 30 years ago the notion of “collecting” watches was as odd a pastime as collecting spanners – objects designed to be used, not fawned over. Now, everyone is looking for “the next big thing”, the double-red Submariner at a garage sale, the box-fresh Rolex Explorer II original stuffed in the back of your grandfather’s sock drawer. The problem is, it isn’t going to happen as often as it did, because we are, as a group of informed collectors, simply too aware to allow the collectibility of modern pieces to ever reach that of their forebears. Why? Because watches never used to be collectible. Sought-after models are sought after because they are scarce.…
Yes, the technology almost single-handedly destroyed the Swiss watch industry, but whether you want to admit it or not, quartz watches are brilliantly impressive, and they have been the main proponents in democratising timepieces as we know them today. Ever since the ingenious battery-powered Seiko Astron first burst onto the scene on December 25, 1969, the Japanese watchmaker has been at the forefront of the uber-accurate mechanisms. But, crucially, many watchmakers now employ the use of quartz power, and we thought we’d take a look at four of the best quartz watches of 2019. GRAND SEIKO SBGN009 Released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first quartz watch, the SBGN009’s luscious blue dial has the kind of repeating pattern in the background that very few brands can pull off without it looking chintzy. Cue Grand Seiko, whose reputation for remarkable dial designs is now well entrenched. The colour-matched seconds hand, GMT hand, logo, and chapter ring provide true chromatic harmony with the two shades of blue on show. Limited to 2,019 pieces. Ref No: SBGN009 / Case size: 40mm / Case material: Steel / Movement: 9F86 / Price: $4000 UNIMATIC MODELLO TRE Every watch collector should make space for a…
I asked Jason, Time+Tide’s resident photographer, if he could tell me his favourite watch photos from 2019 that he had captured, without quite realising the sheer scope of the work that he had done this year. I soon found out. “Hey Jason, how many photos have you taken this year?” “How many have I edited, or how many have been published?” “No, how many times have you pressed the button on your camera?” “Oh, that’s a big number. Tens of thousands, easy.” So out of the tens of thousands of shutter clicks that happened since we last lapped the sun (these were my favourites), these are Jason’s favourites, in no particular order, for reasons he articulates below. Franck Muller Double Mystery Symmetry, colour and diamonds. So many diamonds. And such cute jewelled indices. Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph I spent time over this shot (I hope it shows). Itʼs crisp where it should be crisp, smooth where it should be smooth. The light shines beautifully off the brushed metal. Itʼs everything I like in a watch shot. Seiko Prospex SRPD50K Black on black is one of my favourite styles of shooting: just catching edges, reflections and highlights to bring the watch out…
2019 has seen the rise of many, many trends in watchmaking — steel sports watches with integrated bracelets, bronze cases, limited editions … you get the drift. Another incredibly vogue tendency has been watch manufacturers introducing homage models or watches that aesthetically borrow heavily from vintage timepieces. And, unquestionably, the genre of watches that has most felt the effects of this yesteryear savoir faire is pilot’s watches. Don’t get us wrong, though, that’s not a bad thing … not at all. In fact, this year has given birth to some of the most arresting examples of pilot’s watches that we’ve seen in quite some time, and here are three of our favourites: BLANCPAIN AIR COMMAND While most would think of diving watches (specifically the Fifty Fathoms and the Bathyscaphe) or dress watches when the name Blancpain pops up in conversation, the oldest surviving watchmaker in the world (founded in 1735) is also a dab hand at producing watches for the skies. The Blancpain Air Command is a particularly retro pilot’s flyback chronograph brought up to date by modern manufacturing techniques. Limited to 500 pieces, this one is unlikely to hang around in the hangar for long. Ref No: AC01-1130-63A / Case…
Some boardroom discussions would be fascinating to observe. The brand decisions presumably make sense at the time, but can appear a little odd to the rest of us. Every so often, however, a brand makes a bold play to distinguish itself from its price-point competitors and it kind of works. Sometimes because the brand chose credibility and congruity over celebrity status, and other times because it’s so wacky, it’s hard to forget (and thus achieving its objective). So, let’s get to know a few watchmaking ambassadors from lesser followed sports. How good a fit do you think these men and woman are for the brands they represent? Breitling: Luke Bannister – Drone pilot It would be easy to treat this appointment cynically, but it seems likely that as little as drone racing had to do with watchmaking’s past, it may well have a fair bit to do with its future. As aviation evolves, so too must aviators. Luke is Breitling’s spokesperson for the next generation. Chamberlain: Stuart Bingham – Snooker This partnership is enough to put Chamberlain on the map (even if it is just for Bingham’s adorable mug shot on the website). The 2015 World Champion may not have…
Many people who I respect in this industry have opined that 2019 hasn’t been a particularly exciting or fruitful year for watch releases … and I couldn’t disagree more. This, the final year of the decade, has given birth to an absolute plethora of new and innovative timepieces that have captured the imagination of many a horological enthusiast. And while I could wax lyrical for hours about said cornucopia of new releases, I’ve had to whittle down all of them and pick my five favourites. Here they are (in no particular order): DOXA SUB 200 130th Anniversary One of the biggest shocks of 2019, DOXA’s sublime GPHG-nominated SUB 200 caused quite the stir when it was unveiled at Baselworld, and it’s very easy to understand why. Here is a fit-for-purpose dive watch that looks great, offers a shedload of heritage, genuine water-resistant credentials and is powered by one of the most bulletproof movements in the game – the ETA 2824/2. This particular example, the limited edition 130th Anniversary, caught my eye immediately. Everything about it was just inherently right, and I adored the playful splashes of DOXA’s signature orange on the second hand and “130 Years” text emblazoned on the…
As one of the most important model series in the world today, the Rolex Daytona is used to living life in the spotlight. What that means is that there are very few things to say about the Daytona that haven’t already been said, but here’s a rundown of five milestone changes to how the Rolex Daytona is built, which may or may not have popped up on your radar at their time of release. The Daytona was released in 1963 It all began in the early ’60s when Rolex decided to nickname one of their new Cosmograph chronographs (reference 6239) after the Daytona race track in Florida. It would go on to become one of the most famous and sought-after models the company has ever produced. The Daytona didn’t always use an in-house movement We take Rolex’s status as an in-house brand for granted, but it wasn’t always the case. Amazingly, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the Daytona had a movement to call its own. Before that, it had used movements made by Valjoux and Zenith (which themselves had been updated several times over the years). The subsequent Rolex calibre 4130 set a new benchmark for the brand…