EDITOR’S PICK: The Longines collection hiding in plain sight that offers value and quality
Editor’s note: Sometimes we can miss things that are right in front of us. That’s how it is with the Longines Master Collection – which happens to be one of the bestselling lines for the brand. Watchmaking know-how does not just happen overnight, it is acquired over decades and centuries, and Longines offers such a rich history for new consumers to leverage – bringing quality and value-driven offerings to modern buyers looking for something classic on the wrist. Time+Tide always strives to bring awareness to all quality watch offerings, so it would be remiss if we didn’t remind you of the value found in the Longines stable. Let’s revisit the time Andrew personally went to see the watch in the metal, and how pleasantly surprised he was with the lineup … When it comes to Longines’ yearly new releases we are like heatseeking missiles for the vintage fire the brand has at its disposal – few archives are as deep or as versatile as Longines, and it means they can pick and choose between adventurers’ watches, avant-garde designs, classic dress … the options are almost endless and they impress with regularity. But we rarely look at the everyday collections that,…
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If you have been holding your breath for the 5711 you put your name down for seven years ago, it’s time to listen to Queen Elsa and let it go – alternatively, you’ll suffocate. Like all watch manufacturers in these unprecedented times, Patek Philippe has taken a hit to its productivity for the year, enduring lockdowns and, later, staggered workforces and interrupted production. The brand has also had to adapt the way they engage with and present to consumers – allowing authorised dealers to list their watches online and recently launching their first watch via a digital announcement. By no means is the esteemed brand in financial trouble, as their years of success have built a nice fiscal cushion, or “a lot of reserves of cash”, as Thierry Stern puts it, for moments such as this. But for a brand that does not produce Swatch Group-level quantities, many cannot help but wonder what this means for watch availability and production quantity for this year. In a recent interview with Forbes magazine, Thierry Stern has provided us the answer: Patek Philippe production is down 30 per cent, due to COVID-19. Thierry Stern explains, “For Patek, we have a lot of reserve…
Earlier this year, in April, the IWC Portugieser 2020 Collection was announced at Watches & Wonders. The Portugieser was created in 1939 due to a demand for a marine-deck chronometer experience that could be translated into a wristwatch. Legibility and accuracy are the two pillars that hold up the Portugieser line, and IWC has changed very little to the winning formula over the years. As IWC puts it, this year was the evolution of a classic. In order to maintain the Portugieser aesthetic we have all come to know and love, the majority of the evolution throughout the lineup is actually internal – with new in-house calibers raising the bar more than ever. IWC Portugieser Automatic 40 The Automatic 40 is the most compact watch within the collection, and also the most faithful to the original Portugieser profile found in the original reference 325 from 1939. Water resistant to 30 metres, the cases are 40.4mm in diameter with a thickness of 12.3mm – providing a sporting yet elegant profile on the wrist. The dial has the same traditional layout with large Arabic numerals surrounding the dial, and sub-seconds complication found at the 6 position. The dial crystal is made with…
Watching on from the sidelines, consumers on social media constantly beg the watch industry to put the novel in novelties, asking for original, fresh, and forward-thinking designs in a conventional and traditional industry. Instead, we get 1mm variations in size, a new dial colour, and the crowd goes wild to the extent that boggles the mind. In other words, people don’t know what they want. If you’re a watch lover that genuinely seeks a different view of things, the Ulysse Nardin Freak X Magma is for you, and it’s coming in hot. The case The 43mm case is made of both carbon fibre and titanium. The carbon fibre is composed of a red polymer, while the titanium is DLC treated to a shade of black. The bezel is rendered in DLC-treated titanium, with both brushed and sandblasted finishes. This pairing of carbon fibre and titanium not only provides the watch with a magma-like aesthetic to live up to its name, but also a robust case that will protect the carousel tourbillon within. The watch is water resistant to a depth of 50 metres, so you do not have to worry about the fire going out if the watch gets wet.…
Pilot’s watches have always been a strong category for watch consumers around the world, drawing an emotional and heritage-driven connection to the symbiosis between aviation and horology. Inspired by a Harrier XV741 flown in a 1969 Transatlantic Air Race from London to New York, AVI-8 offers a value-driven pilot’s watch designed with a clear and detailed love for all things aviation. The brand has worked very hard to appropriately pay homage to Tom Lecky-Thompson and his team through subtle nods to the pilot and plane that won more than 50 years ago. Code-named “Blue Nylon” by Lecky-Thompson and his team, AVI-8 decided to make their second limited edition celebrating the victory a watch that tastefully pairs with blue leather and nylon-velcro straps – the AVI-8 Hawker Harrier Blue Nylon Limited Edition. The AVI-8 Hawker Harrier Blue Nylon Limited Edition features a 44mm stainless steel case that is 13.5mm thick and approximately 52mm across the wrist lug to lug. Water resistant to 50 metres, the watch will make a nice companion for daily wear. In tribute to Lecky-Thompson and his Harrier XV741, the watch has a custom self-winding rotor designed to resemble the famed Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine that powered the plane’s flight. With…
Despite my Nordic roots and name, it’s beginning to occur to me that I’m not cool enough for the new Linde Werdelin. The Swiss-Danish watchmaker is well known for their decidedly strong design language. Increasingly, they’re nearly as well known for their stoic refusal to be deterred from banking all on it. Today, it’s the same. They’ll stand their ground with a very special 88-piece limited edition of their first diver, the Linde Werdelin Oktopus Blue Sea. Immensely strong looking, and dainty like, well, an anvil or a block of arctic granite. Which is exactly why we enthuse about these large pieces of horology: broad at 44mm, but lugless, with a comfortable 46mm length, and shaped to fit the wrist, so comfort? Yes. Presence? Like wow. The Oktopus is a big tool diver, seemingly bulletproof with the milky-white strong LW alloy, with a dark bolted-down bezel and tough rubber strap. The multi-layered dial is an architectural gem, and while it seems a very calm light grey tone, something magical happens as soon as you enter a dark corner of the room, or even sit in your car. A transformation into a multi-coloured, Miami Vice-sorbet colour-infused light-bomb. How did they do that? …
Divers! We love ’em. I’m wearing a technical diver as I’m writing this — helium escape valve and all. Does it mean I’ve got a diver’s kit packed up, in the boot of my car, ready to go? Not unless you count the defunct photo props I have in a box, dry since 2010. It’s not about the action itself, it’s about knowing you can. We’ll show you some of the best dive watches of 2020 over $10K, safe in the knowledge that you can jump on a plane, charter a speedboat out to an atoll in the Pacific, and jump in. Specially this year, we deserve it, if only for the tingly rush of pre-adventure. But remember, even bone dry, these watches are tough enough to climb that peak too (what do you mean you haven’t got crampons or rope?). Seiko Prospex 55th anniversary SLA039 Let’s take the bull by the horns: yes, this is a very expensive Seiko, at more than $10K, and you will surely not understand why until you try it on, as I did here. It might still seem expensive, but will blow you away with its Grand Seiko finished Ever-Brilliant steel, and seem way too…
While you adjust your sunnies, so as not to be blinded by the yellow and baby blue show, let’s ask some pressing questions. Do we expect these colourways from Puma? Yes. Do we expect atomic daffodil orange and bright Tiffany blue in the most traditional model from Rolex, the Oyster Perpetual? Not exactly. The OP has favoured pops of colour over subdued colour ways in recent times, so no, not at all. And yet here we are a month or so later, colourful Rolex references in blue, orange, pink and coral being viral candy on Instagram, like a fresh breeze, reminding us of the hot takes on Rolex from the ’70s with the dazzle of the Stella dials. Do we love them? Yes. Can we get them from our local AD? Probably not. But we can certainly try. Check our story here and be dazzled by Rolex’s new and sunny outlook on life. If you didn’t pay attention, you’d think it was a custom mod job. But how to match up that brightness to your wardrobe? While these colours from the Crown will do plenty to fire up your spirits – naughtily peeking out from your cuff in that business…
Earlier this year, the amazing docu-series from ESPN & Netflix The Last Dance gave viewers an intimate look into the dynasty, the mind and the life of Michael Jordan, his Bulls teammates, and the staff around him. If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it, as even those who are not basketball fans will love the insight it provides into one of the most legendary athletes of all time. Throughout the series, it becomes very clear how close Michael Jordan was to those around him. He either loved or hated you, with no in between. One individual he clearly had affection for was his personal security guard John Michael Wozniak, a former narcotics officer who served as Jordan’s personal security guard for 20 years – so much so that Michael Jordan gifted him a Rolex Datejust. Anyone who has ever been in a team locker-room knows that shenanigans ensue in between training or even in the hours before/after a big game. MJ, a lover of all things competitive and gambling related, would never miss an opportunity to make wagers with his peers both on and off the court. Not many people can say they beat Michael Jordan at anything,…
Watch enthusiasts and automotive enthusiasts have a lot in common. It’s not just that the demographics intersect, but there is definitely a link in the appreciation for outstanding feats of engineering. Both can be artistic expressions, with form meeting function, and both can be all-out utilitarian objects with pure performance in mind. The TAG Heuer X Grand Prix de Monaco Historique is a watch that sums up one of the age-old arguments between both watches and cars: old versus new. The dial The Monaco’s classic squares-in-a-circle-in-a-square look is undeniably attractive, and the Coca-Cola style of the white centre-dial and vivid red highlights just feel so satisfying. Though it’s not exactly white. The silver sunburst offers flashes of white and grey, as the sunburst brushing continues to radiate through the outer red sections, offering tones as light as salmon and as dark as oxblood. The red on this watch is a perfect hue, looking neither too saturated nor too flat. The sub-dials are matte in texture, leaving the registers perfectly legible. Although the main hands aren’t very contrasted being steel-on-silver, the minute hand extends out to the applied indices so it’s a bit easier to read at a glance. To top…