INTRODUCING: The Nomos Ahoi neomatik, in eye-popping ‘siren red’
Nomos may be one of the younger players in the watch scene, but they’ve already well and truly stamped their mark on the industry. A very minimalist-looking one, to be sure, but that does not mean that their purist Bauhaus/Deutscher Werkbund-inspired designs are boring. Far from it. There’s nothing ho-hum about a manufacturer who has been making its own movements since 2005, and whose latest calibre – the DUW 3001 – not only uses their own designed and built escapement system but is also their thinnest automatic movement yet. Now that excitement of thin in-house goodness is combined with an extra visual punch on the outside, as they’ve added not just a splash but an entire bucket of colour to the Ahoi collection with the introduction of two new ‘Aqua’ colourways – signalblau (siren blue) and signalrot (siren red). We’re already familiar with the silvery-white and Atlantic-blue dials of the sporty Ahoi, and while – at the risk of contradicting my earlier self – they were safe and rather plain choices, these new dial colours add a couple of vibrant, fresh faces to the collection. I know what you’re thinking: “Bauhaus designers don’t do bright colours… do they?” Well, while the vast…
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Believe it or not, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is one of the original sports watches. The oft-quoted origin story about this iconic rectangle is that it was the dusty polo fields of colonial India that gave birth to the reversible watch, which could be easily flipped to protect the delicate dial during the rough and tumble of the chukka. That was way back in 1931, and in the subsequent decades the perceptions of the Reverso have, much like its ingenious case, done a complete about-face. In 2017 the Reverso stands out as one of the default black-tie watches. Nowhere is that more apparent than with this Tribute Duoface, which looks absolutely stunning in pink gold. The case size is reasonable – but by no means overwhelming – at 25.5mm wide by 42.9mm high. The one thing that shines brighter than the gold on this watch is the clever and varied use of texture. Everywhere you look there’s a different finish. The front dial is described by JLC as a slate grey, but I’d be much more inclined to refer to it as a silver, with a rich eggshell texture. Whatever you call it, it looks good. The second dial is just…
I’m no prop master, but I know when I’d reach for a Reverso to dress a character’s wrist. It would be when they had a scene in a suit. It would be at a point in their character trajectory where they were at peak confidence, when their outward style is tapping into the classic, the iconic, the timeless. And also when the brand of badass they’re seeking to project is more brains than brawn. You suspect this was precisely the thought process of the art directors and prop masters that did just that with these kings of the screen. Pierce Brosnan. Ah, Pierce. He may have bombed as Bond but the man knows how to work black tie. The key is having an accessory in the mix that pops on the monochrome backdrop, and few accessories can compete with a gold dress watch with white face and black leather strap. The additional fact that it’s an unusual shape also catches attention. This is a five-star power play. Bravo, Brosnan. Leo. Damn, Leo! Has the boy put some thought into this outfit or what, pairing not only a dress watch and band to his formal attire, but also dial colour to…
Today’s list is, without doubt, one of the most meta we’ve done in a while. We’re looking forward… to the past. There’s no escaping that vintage reissues are a part of the watch collection landscape, now being a ‘key pillar’ for many brands, and guessing what they’re going to pull out of the archives is always a fun game. So Andy and I polished off the crystal ball and had a stab at what we’re going to see at SIHH and Baselworld 2018. Omega Flightmaster Andy: The Omega Flightmaster is one of those watches that was made for such a short period of time (about four years) that you really wonder what happened. It was a pretty significant watch for Omega, being the last time they specifically developed a movement for pilots. It was basically superseded, technologically speaking, by the Speedmaster X-33. Which at the time, the late ’60s to early ’70s, made sense. Now that we live in an age where practicality doesn’t really matter, the Flightmaster is due for a comeback, and I think it’s going to happen. Likelihood: 7/10 Felix’s take: Much like Mulder, I want to believe, but the Flightmaster is a complex watch… maybe too complex? Likelihood:…
In Australian rules football (AFL) there is a particular type of defensive move called the ‘don’t argue’. It involves fending off an opponent with an outstretched arm, usually at full pace. This image pretty much sums up the move, but if you need a 9-second tutorial, check this out. It’s brutal if you’re on the receiving end of one, and it’s exhilarating when you’re the instigator. The undisputed king of the ‘don’t argue’ is Dustin ‘Dusty’ Martin, pictured. What he lacks as a wordsmith, he makes up for in neck tattoos. A good percentage of Australian readers will know that Dusty is this year’s Brownlow Medal winner, which basically means he’s the best AFL player in the world right now. Arguments have everything to do with being a watch lover. What does this have to do with watches? Not all that much, but it has everything to do with life for us. If you didn’t already know, we are based in Richmond, Melbourne. Richmond are in the AFL Grand Final tomorrow, and will play the Adelaide Crows in front of over 100,000 people in the biggest sports stadium in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, we have been under siege in our…
There are some sweeping generalisations in the watch world when it comes to the watches preferred by professionals in different fields – Breitling for airline pilots, Hublot for NBA players, Nomos for architects… but reality doesn’t quite conform to prevailing watch-lover logic. The fact is those that leap from high altitudes don’t choose a Zenith as their wrist machine of choice, like Felix Baumgartner. Formula 1 drivers no longer don chronographs, they’re more likely to be painted on their gloves. We put our usual watch-only criteria aside to learn what these watch-looking machines actually do and why they are necessary. Luke Rogers – Australia’s leading wingsuit skydiver Brisbane-based Luke Rogers, one of the country’s top professional wingsuit skydivers or pilots, thinks nothing of flying through a 1,000-foot zone at 250 km/h. Sure, it might be one of the most dangerous sports on earth, but the exhilarating hit of the supreme glide ratio of 2.5:1 or more (or, in civilian terms, for every metre dropped, two and a half meters are gained moving forward) hooks anyone who has ever dreamt of flying. “That large watch looking thing on my wrist is my altimeter which tells me what height I am for safety,”…
Tudor’s Black Bay has evolved from a straight-up tool-like diver to an all-encompassing collection that has your wrist covered from dress to diver and any point in between. The Black Bay 41 is the dressier face of the line. Simple steel but not lacking in polish (both on the case and in the style sense), the BB 41 is a larger incarnation of last year’s Black Bay 36. This watch doesn’t stray too far from the winning formula, offering everyday functionality and a strong graphic design. All in a size that’s much more palatable for many more men. Tudor Heritage Black Bay 41 Australian pricing Tudor Heritage Black Bay 41 on leather, $3150; on steel $3500
Grand Seiko is known for many things: mirror-like finishes, incredibly crisp casework and a design style that veers from conservative to downright quirky. But this is not a brand that springs to mind when you think of professional-grade dive watches. Until now. At Basel this year Grand Seiko released this mighty beast that we (in the best tradition of Seiko-related nicknames) have dubbed ‘The Kraken’. Now to be honest, unless you’ve got arms like Dwayne Johnson, I’m willing to bet you don’t have the wrist presence to rock this 46.9mm-wide by 16.9mm-thick behemoth (which is surprisingly light, thanks to the titanium construction). However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go, especially given the suitably grand level of fit and finish on display. And while the blue dial is our pick, it’s quite limited at 500 pieces, so the regular-edition black-dialled version might be the easier fish to land. Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 Professional 600m (refs. SBGH255, SBGH257) Australian pricing and availability Grand Seiko Hi-Beat 36000 Professional 600m, ref. SBGH255, $14,200; the blue-dialled SBGH257, limited to 500 pieces, $14,600
Soon after the introduction of the motor car came the introduction of motorsports. Our inherently competitive nature driving us in our search for speed and steering what was one the greatest inventions in human history towards its inevitable competitive use. From motor racing’s early days, timepieces were used to measure the difference separating victory and defeat, and, ever since, cars and watches have cosied up in the back seat with an inexhaustable (unlike these fast-paced puns) roll call of pairings. At the beginning of the 1900s, one of the main players in motorsport timekeeping was Minerva. The manufacturer was one of the first to produce movements capable of precisely measuring fractions of a second. Fast-forward to the 21st century, and Minerva’s motorsport heritage – which is now part of Montblanc’s – is being honoured in the latest Montblanc TimeWalker collection. This collection is not only home to limited-edition rally timers and UTC chronographs but also simple three-handers – the black, and the silvery-white dialled TimeWalker Date Automatics. This sporty pair shares the same basic design architecture – clean dials with large Arabic numeral hour markers and a date aperture at 3 o’clock – with their only differences being the colour and…
At Time+Tide we’ve been following the successes of Oak & Oscar’s founder Chase Fancher with interest. We’ve met him in Basel and New York, but most of the time we’ve been watching the evolution of his brand from afar. Overnight we saw the release of their third watch, the Jackson FlyBack Chronograph, which – if the pictures are anything to go by – is another winner. The Jackson is offered in three variations, two of which are stainless steel, with either a grey or navy-blue dial. The third has a charcoal PVD case, with a grey dial. All three watches have identical case specifications – 40mm in diameter – which is a smart choice and a size that will work for most. In terms of case height, the Jackson is 14.5mm, which sounds a little on the thick side, but with these things its best to reserve judgement until the watch is actually on the wrist. Mechanically they are also identical, and the flyback chronograph is powered by an uncommon and interesting choice of a hand-wound Eterna movement (Cal.3916M) with a 60-hour power reserve. Aesthetically, it’s great to see Oak & Oscar further develop their identity. The grey-dial stainless-steel Jackson has the…