The only Barakuda you'll ever need – the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Barakuda Only Watch
With Only Watch 2019 now just a mere 11 days away from kicking off, we thought we’d take a look at Blancpain’s Only entrant – the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Barakuda. The unique piece from the storied Swiss marque is, rather obviously, based on the standard Fifty Fathoms Barakuda. However, the Only Watch Barakuda sports very fetching hints of baby blue that can be observed on the edges of the hour indices, seconds hand tip and the numerals of the unidirectional rotating bezel. The blue signifies the reason why the Only Watch event exists – to support the research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Another unique feature of this Fifty Fathoms Barakuda is that the oscillating weight has been engraved with the words “Only Watch”, which is a really nice touch. The movement itself is Blancpain’s in-house Calibre 1151, a self-winding movement that benefits from 210 components, 28 jewels, silicon balance spring, 100 hours of power reserve, and ticks away at a relaxed 21,600 vibrations per hour (3Hz). The Only Watch Fifty Fathoms Barakuda’s stainless steel case measures 40.3mm and a relatively slim 13.23mm and, as a result of being a purpose-built diver’s watch, the Barakuda is capable of 300 metres of…
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Longines offer a great many different styles of timepieces across five unique collections in their portfolio of wristwatches. And while each of the five collections provides a distinctive interpretation of what a timepiece should offer, in my opinion, the Swiss watchmaker’s Heritage collection resonates the most with horological enthusiasts. These are the timepieces that hark back to some of Longines’ most important watches of the last century and, more importantly, while the aesthetic presented is decidedly vintage, the innards of these Heritage watches are bang up to date, offering the latest and greatest engineering cred that the Longines has to offer. And when you can combine vintage flair with modern reliability and accuracy, it really is a “have your cake and eat it too” scenario. Anyway, with all this in mind, here are five examples of Longines Heritage timepieces that tick all the boxes of a great collection, no matter the context: The Dress Watch – Longines Conquest Heritage Every good watch collection needs a decent dress watch. And when we say decent, that means leather band, minimal complications, a case size preferably no bigger than 40mm and an arresting dial design. This Longines Conquest Heritage meets this criteria…
Whether watch enthusiasts want to admit it or not, there is definitely a curiosity when it comes to celebrity watch spotting. It’s a guilty pleasure for most of us, and I have no shame admitting that I will regularly spend hours going down the virtual rabbit hole on Instagram, scoping what iced-out timepiece Mark Wahlberg has been spotted wearing this month. But it’s not all frosted APs, Richard Milles and Patek Philippes. It seems that some of the Hollywood elite have broader taste. For example, these four famous Britons from vastly different backgrounds appear to be rather fond of a certain independent British watchmaker; stars of the silver screen, comedians and death-defying survivalists all find something that suits them in the Bremont range. Tom Hardy – Bremont ALT1-ZT Hollywood A-Lister Tom Hardy has been linked to the brand almost since it was born, and the Venom actor — not well-renowned for toeing a party line on set — has even verbalised his support for the British watchmaker on his Instagram account: Sheer Engineering ♠️ BREMONT rugged precision focus flow somewhere under the radar way up high… Bear Grylls – Bremont ALT1-P That’s right, the maverick, renegade, and man-with-an-iron-stomach Bear Grylls fancies a Bremont…
Editor’s note: Everybody loves a watch with a party trick, and the party trick of the two-faced Reverso is hard to beat. Especially when you add a moon into the mix, as is the case with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Moon. It’s fair to say that, for most people, Jaeger-LeCoultre in 2017 has been synonymous with the Master Control series we’ve spoken about at length. On the one hand, these watches deserve their time in the sun; on the other hand, you might have missed the truly stylish Reversos JLC released this year. For me, the star of the swivelling show is this two-faced beauty, the Reverso Tribute Moon in steel. Last year, JLC launched a Reverso subcollection – the Tribute Line – that honours the spirit of historic Reverso models, a mission the Tribute Moon well and truly delivers on, with equally beautiful night and day dials. I’m always struck by just how much watch you get with a Reverso. Of course you get one elegant watch with two distinct personalities, but on top of that you get the practicality of two time zones and, in this case, the romance of a moonphase (matched with the less-romantic but eminently practical date),…
A Collected Man recently interviewed Daryn Schnipper, and if you don’t know who she is … you really should. Schnipper has been working at Sotheby’s in New York since 1980, first as a watch expert, and now as Senior Vice President of the auction house and Chairman of the International Watch Division. What’s more, Schnipper has been responsible for selling some truly amazing timepieces over the years, not least the Henry Graves Supercomplication pocket watch, which she has sold not once, but twice, for $11 million and $24 million respectively. Schnipper also talks about how the horological landscape has changed so drastically in the last 40 years, and how the quartz crisis simultaneously almost killed the mechanical wristwatch industry, and in doing so, made wristwatches collectible for the first time. Anyway, it’s definitely worth a read, and you can do so by clicking this link.
We watch enthusiasts love an excuse to come over all opinionated, don’t we? A little “controversy break” from our worship of calibres and references. So how about this: after-market customising. Would you or wouldn’t you? Is it cool to ice-up a Patek and black-out a Rolex – or is it a crime against horology? One thing is sure: it makes some very prominent watch producers quite hot under the collar. But why the controversy? When you buy a watch it becomes your own property – so shouldn’t that mean you can do whatever you want with it? Change the colour, pimp it up in whatever way makes you happy and makes the watch feel more “yours”. It’s never been an issue for cars: take your Bentley to Mansory or your BMW to the local foiling shop and you’ll be praised rather than disparaged. Weirdly, though, different rules seem to apply for watches. Modifying high-end timepieces is far from new (1980s; Hip-Hop; the early days of Jacob & Co with the iced-up Cartiers …) but even so, having a watch customised by a third-party workshop is, apparently, close to sacrilege for many. Is that because of some deep-rooted conservatism in the…
Editor’s note: There’s a lot of Black Bays out there, but one of the coolest, in our humble opinion, is the 2017 Tudor Black Bay Steel – a version that strips the colour from the model to reveal its purest, most tool-watch attributes … 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…
Editor’s note: In one of our favourite Sandra stories of all time, she takes aim at all the sacred cows of watch collecting, and skewers them. In style. When I talk with other women about watch collecting, the most common reaction runs along the lines of, “Oh, that’s just a sad guy thing” or “I totally don’t get why my husband bought such an expensive one/has to own so many/is so geeky about them …” Or even, “Ha! Boys’ toys – you know what they’re a substitute for …” So yeah, a luxury watch is really just a much more portable version of a muscle car or a mid-life Harley-Davidson. Compensation. For something. Sure, it’s also “a reward for all those years of hard work”. But, in truth, that watch/car/bike is a grown-up security blanket. And, as Linus knows, it’s hard for a guy to live without one. OK, so I’m heading deep into cultural/gender stereotyping territory here. But there’s science and study to back it up – from the seriously academic (Cambridge Professor Simon Baron-Cohen) to the pop psychology of John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. (And let me say it now: I do know…
Omega’s recently updated line of De Ville Trésor presents as a compelling proposition for anyone looking for a beautifully made, elegant dress watch. And, for the first time in the De Ville Trésor family, there’s now the option of steel-cased models, which can be had in a few different iterations. For a start, there’s this gorgeous blue dial example, ref. 435.13.40.21.03.001, which looks positively replete with its almost linen-like textured aesthetic. And when paired with slender and sophisticated 18k white gold indices, as well as hour, minute and second hands, this is a watch that offers a great amount of wrist presence, but without shouting about it – it’s a charming timepiece. In addition, the dial, as well as the sapphire crystal, is domed, which gives the Trésor an impression of real depth. Inside the svelte stainless steel 40mm case, which measures just 10.6mm thick, the new dress watch houses Omega’s prodigious Calibre 8910, a manual-winding movement that benefits from a great many impressive features. These include a date complication, the Swiss marque’s signature Co-Axial escapement, 72 hours of power reserve thanks to twin barrels, Master Chronometer certification approved by METAS, silicon balance spring, and magnetic resistance rated to 15,000…
Editor’s note: Grand Seiko is typically seen as a restrained brand design-wise (dials excepted), but this 46mm chunk of titanium and ceramic proves that the brand has it in them to pull a modern sports chrono out of the bank when it matters … To be honest, when I first saw Grand Seiko’s contemporary-looking new modular ceramic Spring Drives, I was on the fence. I didn’t expect it, and wasn’t sure what to think. Of course the quality and technical precision were very much in evidence, but the aesthetics were well outside the norm for the brand. But over time the slick looks grew on me – Grand Seiko’s trademark crisp lines look great in black ceramic, and the sporty style was well-suited to the Spring Drive Chrono. So, in the lead up to Basel this year, I was looking forward to seeing where they’d take the nascent collection, and I was not disappointed. It’s fair to say the blue and gold limited edition requires a somewhat outgoing personality to pull off on a daily basis; this black version, while not quite stealthy given the 46.4mm case, is far more restrained on the wrist. I’d go so far as to say…