When is it OK to wear a gold watch?
Editor’s note: Steel is all the rage these days, with premiums for coveted models exceeding that of the comparable gold version. This fact alone is a compelling argument for gold. But it can be tricky to know when and how to wear it. After all, you may not want to rock into the office with a full gold watch, or look like your uncle. Andy breaks it down … You know who you are, and you know why you’re here — and it’s totally fine. You’ve found yourself at the inevitable crossroad that all collectors come to. You’re finally in the position to buy something that you never thought you’d like, but as your tastes have evolved, you’re struggling to resist it. When you first started collecting watches, you swore it was too obnoxious, gaudy and ‘flashy’ … yet, here you are, lusting after a gold watch — not knowing how to handle it. Firstly, it’s okay. Like I said, we’ve all been there, often without realising. Maybe it happened when you were at your local dealer, who only had that model you wanted in white gold. Maybe you tried on a friend’s piece and fell in love with the weight of the…
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Editor’s note: There’s no denying that dual time, or GMT watches are useful. They’re also a bit of a pain if you want to change time zones on the fly. Well, the ingenious Oris Big Crown ProPilot Worldtimer takes that minor irritation out of the equation, and how! The story in a second It’s all in the bezel. One of the more interesting watches to come across my desk in recent months is this Oris ProPilot Worldtimer. Now, at first glance, you might wonder why, as it looks every inch a regular ProPilot, albeit one with a second time zone on display. But this sturdy pilot’s watch has a trick up its proverbial sleeve – an innovative and awesomely user-friendly time zone adjustment method. Add this novel feature to Oris’ already proven robust build quality and versatile style and the ProPilot Worldtimer is an automatic finalist in the ‘Best dual-timer of 2017’ awards. The case First things first. The case. This particular Big Crown definitely lives up to the ‘big’ moniker, coming in at a substantial 44.7mm across and sitting roughly 12mm high. Getting the watch wet isn’t too much of a concern, thanks to the grippy screw-down crown and…
Editor’s note: A little more than a year has come and gone since the new Jubilee Rolex Pepsi entered the world (and it’s since been joined by Batgirl), but the chances are good that you’re still waiting for yours — so how about another look at what’s still one of the most desired wrist accessories in the world right now. Take it away, Andy. You’ve either been sleeping or taking a break from social media to have missed the news on this one. As part of their new Baselworld 2018 releases, Rolex have released for the very first time a ‘Pepsi’ GMT-Master II in ‘Oystersteel’ (which is the new Rolex terminology for their 904L steel). Yes, a two-colour red and blue Cerachrom bezel insert, WITH a Jubilee bracelet. Vital statistics The five-link Jubilee bracelet is also made from Oystersteel and features an ‘Oysterclasp’, which allows for 5mm of adjustment. It’s also worth noting that this is the first time we’ve seen a Jubilee bracelet on a sports Rolex in modern times. The Oystercase also received some changes and has been redesigned. It’s noticeably different in comparison to the GMT-Master II BLNR (Batman), which is also still in production. Aesthetics aside, the…
Editor’s note: Last Baselworld (2018, not 2019), I decided to mix things up a little and leave my normal bunch of plain and simple three-handers at home for something a little, um, busier. Well, a lot busier if we’re honest. But trust me, all the colours and text on the dial of the Montblanc Orbis Terrarum didn’t detract from its awesomeness … There’s a lot of important planning that happens in the lead up to Baselworld. But perhaps the single most important question is — what watch do I wear? In previous years I’ve taken a handful of pieces, something I wasn’t keen to do this year, as I find it vaguely stressful travelling with more than one (what if I leave it on a plane!), and I typically end up wearing only one the whole week. So this year I decided to travel with just one, and I also thought it was the perfect opportunity to put a travel-oriented watch through its paces in a real-world setting. So, a bit of back and forth later, one watch emerged at the top of my short list. The Montblanc Orbis Terrarum, released back in 2015. I’ve always liked this watch; it looks…
Editor’s note: The Santos de Cartier is the perfect dress watch for modern times. Adaptable, versatile and restrained — but with a clear personality. It’s also based on a watch that’s more than 100 years old. Which really is a testament to good design. Long live the Santos! Few watches can rival Cartier’s Santos in terms of on-the-wrist recognition and sheer weight of history. The design debuted in 1904 and has remained fundamentally unchanged in form since. But while the new Santos might look familiar, quite a lot has changed. Small changes have been made to the design and ergonomics of the case, resulting in a watch that looks and wears better on the wrist. Bigger changes have been made to the inside, with an in-house movement upgrade and, most excitingly of all, a new QuickSwitch strap change system that allows you to swap your strap quickly and painlessly. This is something I’d be really excited to see rolled out more widely across the Cartier collection. On a related note, there’s a similar functionality for the bracelet, allowing you to add and remove links without tools. These changes on their own are all fairly incremental, but package them up together, on…
Pitching any ‘best of’ list is always more effective when you have very strict parameters and are forced to think sideways to come up with creative suggestions. Being asked to come up with a list of the best classic watches for different budgets is not easy. Less so, when one considers how open to interpretation the term ‘classic’ is. The TAG Heuer Monaco is a ‘classic’, but it is no dress watch, nor does it have ‘classic’ styling. For that reason I’ve chosen three price points, and decided to pick one sports and one dress watch that fits the bill in each. Feel free to @ us your agreement/disagreement/other options. Two choices under $5000 – Tudor and Oris For less than $4000 Australian, it is actually possible to get your hands on an ETA-powered Tudor Black Bay 41mm watch with a stainless steel bracelet. It’s a preposterous value proposition from a brand whose star is set to shine brighter and brighter as their presence continues to be bolstered by the mythic power that Rolex (the brand’s big brother) wields over the industry. At this price point my sporty suggestion is the Oris Divers Sixty-Five, on a bi-colour bracelet. In terms…
Even though the fine watch business might seem like a perpetual, slow-moving beast, it is one of constant, consistent progress. And as the mechanical movements improve and add things like silicon into the mix, it becomes obvious that they’re built to last longer than ever. The other side of that coin is a longer warranty period — it makes sense that if you’re offering a more reliable watch, you should stand behind it for longer. Clearly this is something that Jaeger-LeCoultre agree with, as they’re now offering an impressive eight-year warranty on all watches (and clocks). More than that, the brand is extending the warranty of watches that are still covered by their initial warranty, if the owner registers it through the Jaeger-LeCoultre Care Program. Eight years is a long time, and is now the longest regular warranty period in the industry — Rolex and Omega, for example, offer five-year warranties on their watches. It’s also a very smart move for the brand to build loyalty and add value. This announcement goes hand in hand with a push on the brand’s extensive personalisation and customisation options. Jaeger-LeCoultre might be the first with an eight-year warranty, but I doubt they’ll be the…
Editor’s note: Much of the ‘what’ of a watch can be summed up in the technical, the hard numbers and facts of the spec sheet. But there’s an element — an X factor — that transcends this clinical description, and transforms a watch from an object into an artwork. This Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Réserve de Marche is a watch that oozes with that X factor … There’s a running joke in the Time+Tide office about my proclivity for “beautiful blue” dials –I once managed to say it a few too many times in a short video review and, well, it sort of stuck. But in the case of this new version of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s classic Master Ultra Thin Réserve de Marche the accolade beautiful blue is well and truly deserved. JLC specialise in ultra-thin watches, and this design of the Réserve de Marche has been a part of the collection since 2012. It is an exceptional, traditionally styled 39mm steel watch with a complicated-but-balanced dial layout consisting of a radial date at two and a power reserve (which gives the model its name) at 10. There’s a small seconds subdial at six that rounds off the dial. Few brands putting together a watch…
So Tom Ford has started making watches. That’s not particularly surprising in this world of multi-category luxury labels. What’s a little more (or perhaps less, given Mr Ford’s frank personality) surprising is that Tom Ford, the man, has some pretty cut-and-dried rules for how to wear a watch in 2019. The full list is well worth a read (as long as it’s served with a healthy grain of salt), and good for a laugh and even a blush (see #14). But at its core, the advice is solid, if conservative. For example, when it comes to pairing jewellery with your watch, he doesn’t mince words: “I can’t stand all those cheap bracelets made out of beads threaded onto a string, likewise those armfuls of things you get on a beach in Brazil or the one your girlfriend tied on you and you have to wait until it falls apart to take it off. It feels a little desperate unless you’re really, really young.” Read the full story at GQ UK. 
If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame, don’t worry, we’re not going to spoil it for you. What has become clear over the sprawling Marvel Comic Universe arc is that one cast member has rocked serious wrist game throughout the entire series, whether in the films or on the red carpet — Robert Downey Jr (RDJ), who played Tony Stark aka Iron Man. He’s also not afraid to play fast and loose with his collection — treating them casually or even (shock horror) wearing a perhaps not 100 per cent real watch. For more on that, check out our story on his 2016 GQ video showing off his “epic watch collection”. But that was then, this is now. Here are three pieces we’ve seen from Robert Downey Jr’s watch collection recently. Robert Downey Jr wears an Omega Speedmaster One watch from that video that got a bit of attention was the Omega Speedmaster in RDJ’s collection. On his Instagram account, RDJ posted a photo of himself on the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron back in 2015 wearing the Speedmaster, but nothing looked out of place. In the GQ video they showed the watch up close and it revealed a dodgy dial, with…