HANDS-ON: The Seiko SNE566P is the new root beer in town, and it's bigger, bolder and available to buy
Seiko in 2020 is like a bull incensed: never slowing, threatening in intent and thrilling to watch. Amongst the slew of limited editions across all of their ranges, one of the most attention-capturing is the Seiko SNE566P — a professional-grade diving watch in a sumptuous ‘root beer’ colour scheme, and available now only to Australians at a recession-friendly price. As much as Seiko is renowned for having legible dials, this particular reference is up there with the best. The indices are large and filled with Seiko’s proprietary LumiBrite, guaranteeing that you’ll have no trouble reading this watch in the dark. The hands are easily distinguishable between hours and minutes, using a similar hand set as the beloved ‘SKX’ style, albeit with a slightly shorter hour hand. The date window has been given a magnifier, which may not be to everyone’s taste, though it does make it much more legible from a variety of viewing angles. The white printing on the dial is crisp and not too distracting, from the precise minute track around the chapter ring to the Prospex ‘X’ logo and ‘Diver’s 200M’ text proving the watch is up to ISO specifications for a diver’s watch. As with the SNE435P,…
The post HANDS-ON: The Seiko SNE566P is the new root beer in town, and it’s bigger, bolder and available to buy appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Many of us are re-evaluating our preferred size of watches, as the trend is ever-increasing (or should that be shrinking?) towards 36-40mm watches for men, with vintage vibes. In my case, it’s a matter of practicality. My wrist is on the slender side and I wear a shirt most days, so a 45mm wrist chunk is not going to work. The increasing range of options is a godsend for many of us. But have diminishing sizes hit all categories? Let’s say we’re looking for a tough, no-nonsense modern tool watch that can take a beating. In other words, a diver. The editor threw down the gauntlet with the seemingly unattainable goal of a full-on technical 300-metre ISO-spec diver being a key pre-requisite at a size of less than 40mm. The bonus round was to find five without vintage cues or cream-coloured lume. Modern in style, please. Surely this is an impossible quest? Seek and you shall find, I say. 1. Oris Aquis Date – the bestseller What can we say, the Aquis Date from Oris in Hölstein, Switzerland has been a resounding success, and has transformed into what is now a considerable range. The Aquis has, for many, made Oris…
I swear we didn’t collaborate on it. It was pure and unintended serendipity. The two most popular stories this week on Watchville (an app you should download here if you don’t already have it, if only for the clock to set your watches to!) were titled: ‘How to steal a watch clean off someone’s wrist…’ and ‘How dangerous is it to wear your watches in public?’ The first story was written by our man, Mr Luke Benedictus, who has an incredible knack for getting people to read his stories in their entirety. The second, much more responsible story, was by Quill & Pad. Oh man, did we have a laugh when this dawned on us this afternoon! From there, of course, it’s an endless scroll of new Rolex releases, on account of the fact that the Big Crown went large with an unusually prolific number of releases this week, finally putting to rest the rumour that they were sitting 2020 out. So, to recap, the world this week was interested in theft, staying safe and Submariners. It’s a telling mix. Regarding stories one and two, there is no doubt that the long-term effects of the pandemic are affecting our sense…
Eric Ku is the kind of watch collector who does it his way. If he sees the bezel of another watch that better matches the case and the dial than the factory one, he’ll source it, and he’ll change it. Granted, though, when he did exactly this with a no-date Rolex Submariner around five years ago, times were different. “Back in the day, parts availability on the secondary market were easier to come by,” he says. When the watch we’re discussing was posted on his Instagram feed (an essential follow – @fumanku), the comments lit up. What? How? When? I had a quick chat to Eric to find out the story of his Rolex ‘Shark’. “I always loved the blue bezel of the white gold Submariner, but I like a no-date Sub, so I decided to get that part and just put it on a no-date Sub. The funny thing is, I don’t believe I’m the only one that did that. Because, when I posted it recently, there were all these people in the comments calling it ‘the shark’. So they had some nickname for this watch, which means somebody had to have done it. I just can’t find other…
If you were to travel back in time and ask a circa 2010 horological enthusiast what some of the big players in the mainstream watchmaking game were, there’s a fair chance that Raymond Weil would get a mention. However, a lot has happened in the subsequent decade that’s followed – it could even be argued that the last 10 years have been the industry’s most transformative, full stop. Loads more eyeballs, lots of new watchmakers and a whole heap more punters. Because of these factors, Raymond Weil just hasn’t got the same recognition it once did. No question about it, you don’t see nearly as many on people’s wrists these days. That’s what happens in an increasingly competitive market. But the brilliant thing about competition is that it has the ability to breed success. As the Roman poet Ovid once said, “A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.” And in 2020, Raymond Weil is starting to gallop. Their latest effort, the Freelancer Calibre RW1212 in a striking shade of green, proves it, and here’s why. The case Raymond Weil may well be trying to recapture the fanfare of the watch…
Glashütte Original has had a year that few, if anyone, could have ever predicted. They have gone from eye-catching but niche Sixties Editions in lurid colours in 2019 and 2018 to what was declared by many that watched our video earlier in the year to be the best watch released at Virtual Basel – the Sixties Edition with Glacier Blue Dial. The momentum has been further intensified by mainstream dive watch beauties in the new SeaQ divers, in fetching and once again eye-catching combinations of two-tone and even diamonds in a 39.5mm model. It’s all vibrant, and exciting stuff from a brand that may still be considered obscure to many. At this rate, they won’t remain that way. Enjoy this quick recap of the watches that caught everyone’s attention in 2020. For the full-length Basel videos, check out the below! 
Girard-Perregaux was established in 1856 in the watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, thanks to the marriage of Constant Girard and Marie Perregaux. The workshops origins were actually as early as 1791, but were not acquired by Girard-Perregaux completely until 1906. Though its history and heritage is in line with brands such as Patek Philippe (1839), Vacheron Constantin (1755), and Audemars Piguet (1875), Girard-Perregaux has not necessarily achieved the same brand power as the holy trinity mentioned prior. That being said, the brand has always made great watches both aesthetically and horologically — and the new Laureato Infinity Editions are a powerful case that the brand deserves a seat at the top table. A year before the introduction of the Patek Philippe Nautilus, and three years after the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Girard-Perregaux was one of the first to offer a sporty elegant model equipped with an octagonal bezel and an integrated steel bracelet in 1975. The design of the Laureato stands out in this category with contrasting lines and curves through a blend of polished and satin-brushed surfaces. Girard-Perregaux’s goal was to create a ‘sporty-chic’ watch, complementing both casual/sporting and formal attire. It is an extremely versatile watch in function, form and…
While it pains us as Victorians to write this, for we remain in the dark depths of our second lockdown, the Sydney Hublot boutique is open for business. And with Father’s Day just a few days away, it had us thinking we should loudly remind you of that fact, and then go virtually shopping for six of the best watches currently in stock. The challenge for this list was – like all the different dads out there – about showing diversity, which was in fact, not as difficult as it once was. The brand may have re-entered the world with the Big Bang, and one setting, which was full on, all the time. But now it’s different. There is light and shade. And there is the chance once again to gratuitously showing Andrew’s favourite bracelet of the year, the Hublot Big Bang Integral in King Gold. Hublot Big Bang Integral in King Gold The Hublot Big Bang Integral in King Gold was launched at the LVMH watch fair in Dubai earlier this year to resounding praise for its bracelet that is as innovative as it is spectacular. As the name suggests, the bracelet integrates perfectly with the case of the…
During my visit to the Grand Seiko “Nature of Time” exhibition, in my home town of New York City, I was fortunate to learn some lesser-known facts that have whet my appetite for the brand even more. Here is Part 2. If you missed Part 1, be sure to check it out here. 4. How the hands are blued Many brands will chemically dye watch parts blue, or blue them in batches via an oven-like machine that can lack consistency. This is the reason why the craftsmen at Grand Seiko will only heat-blue the hands one hand at a time. Aside from independents, the vast majority of brands blue them in batches, whether it be 20 hands at a time or possibly more. This can lead to a high defective rate. When the specialist at Grand Seiko is blueing the hand, this is what they do all day. They stare at second hands or even smaller power reserve hands. There’s no timer. They have to tell completely by their trained eye that it’s the perfect shade of blue. Only then will they take it off the heat. With this time-consuming method, the consistency is more perfect. The blue is matching every…
The launch of any new Rolex model this year is a hugely exciting event, but the complete overhaul of the Submariner collection is a moment in time that will be looked back on as the beginning of a new chapter in the history of one of the most celebrated watches ever. Typically, when Rolex moves to update a specific model, they move gradually, perhaps introducing a reference in precious metal or two-tone, before adopting the update across the stainless steel references. But 2020 is no normal year, and after fears we would see no new models from the Big Crown this year, we have the opposite outcome – the entire Rolex Submariner collection has been updated. Included in this update is the new Rolex Submariner Ref. 124060 41mm no-date, which may be the most distilled expression of the dive watch, and now with a different movement, case size and bracelet. The Rolex formula for success can be boiled down to a simple core idea – evolution, not revolution. And this doesn’t mean being out of touch with the times. It refers to the gradual and considered progress that each of their watches goes through and how, over decades and decades,…