Buying a "birth-year" watch for your kids is the excuse you need to beef up your collection
Why do we have children in the first place? To anchor our rudderless lives with a faint sense of meaning? To give and receive unconditional love? To experience the most profound and humbling experience that is available to humanity? No, no and thrice no! We have children, of course, as a half-arsed excuse to buy ourselves more new watches. Never has this justification been needed as urgently as right now. With the global economy tanking, mankind is facing the worst recession since the Great Depression. Meanwhile, as we all get increasingly lax about social distancing, a second wave of COVID looks more and more likely. Facing an uncertain future, the received wisdom is that now is the time to bunker down. Play things safe. Build up your emergency funds for when it all starts to get properly Mad Max. In short, it’s not the easiest time to justify blowing thousands on another chronograph just because this one has a bronze case and the patina effect will be “really interesting”. This is where your kids come to the rescue. Consumer analysts often describe children as being “recession-resistant”. What that means is that even in a tough economy, spending on kids is…
The post Buying a “birth-year” watch for your kids is the excuse you need to beef up your collection appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Editor’s note: The recent video and segment that explored Rolex predictions with our talented friends at Monochrome caused us to go back through recent releases with fresh eyes. One watch that stood out, for not standing out, is the Rolex Yacht-Master 42mm in white gold. This curious dichotomy was picked up on by Sandra, the writer of this review, at the time. She dares to call it “the most discreet model in Rolex’s entire line-up”. That definitely warrants a second look! If you weren’t paying close attention you could easily miss the new Rolex Yacht-Master 42 in white gold. And I mean that in the best way. It’s a handsome timepiece, with a quiet presence that (despite its newness) feels reassuringly familiar in some hard-to-define way. Despite being 2mm bigger than its Everose Gold brother (and a 42mm Oyster case wears quite big), it’s the opposite of in your face. In fact, thanks to the monochrome colour scheme of the dial, bezel and case, and the matt black Oysterflex strap, it may be the most discreet model in Rolex’s entire line-up. I’m not suggesting that it can’t be a love-at-first-sight piece – but the more closely you look, the greater the…
In part three of our epic digital Baselworld event, Time+Tide’s Andrew McUtchen and Luke Benedictus spoke with Aussie swimming legend Michael Klim. Our timing was perfect, as Michael has just been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as part of Class of 2020. Swimmingworldmagazine.com reports that “Michael Klim has been called the best relay swimmer ever”. He is a three-time Olympian, multi-time world champion and 21-time world record holder. Congratulations Klimmy! The Olympic gold medallist and all-round legend spoke to Andrew and Luke about some of the antics the trio got up to at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Klimmy may have just about everything when it comes to awards and recognition, but the one thing he doesn’t have is a watch suitable for free-diving. In the video, he mentioned he was in the market for a new watch, something that could handle the pressure under water, something capable and robust … in other words, a diver’s watch. So we reached out to you guys to see which amphibious timepiece the swimming hero should be looking at, and this is what you said: Breitling Superocean 48 As some of you accurately pointed out, the big dog of butterfly himself said it:…
Often in the watch community, it’s difficult to celebrate the art of horology in any other way than simply wearing a watch. I mean, sure, you can consume editorial content (bravo, you’re already nailing this), wear a pair of socks covered in watches and maybe even pick up a copy of your favourite watch magazine (I can definitely think of one or two). But, for the most part, expressing your passion for this all consuming hobby is not easy. There’s one locally owned and operated Aussie business that’s looking to change that though, and to give you plenty more ways to show your colours – no matter where you are in the world. That’s why, for this Micro Mondays feature, we’re looking at the family-run jewellery maker AHW Studio. Hailing from 81 George Street in Sydney’s lovely sandstone-laden The Rocks precinct – but shipping to the world via our marketplace – AHW Studio are creating horology-themed jewellery and accessories that are so unique, and quite frankly wonderful, that we had to find out more. So, we sat down with Angus from AHW Studio to discover the story behind his business, as well as his best sellers. Q: Who was AHW Studio…
Looking at these two Grand Seiko GMTs, it’s easy to see how the world has changed from the time when the complication was invented. What began as an essential tool for pilots crossing the skies with a priority on legibility and simplicity has evolved into a different artform altogether. This centres around the creative, and aesthetically pleasing combination of two colours on the bezel. Grand Seiko has furthered this trope with specific attention to the way this code plays out on the bezel when both the sun and moon are in the sky. The colour scheme chosen by Grand Seiko in these models are not the boldly contrasted primary colours we’ve become accustomed to on modern dual-time zone watches. These hues take on a dark but slightly pastel shade, evoking the sense of some sun-drenched fading and giving the watch just the right amount of vintage flair. While the crisp icy-white highlights and bezel section add to the summer zing of the watches, they also serve a function. Anything white on the sapphire-covered bezel is actually Seiko’s legendary LumiBrite, making it easy to read the GMT time in low light conditions. Plus, who doesn’t love showing huge globs of lume…
The most common, and irresistible, grist for the watch industry rumour mill each year is what new models Rolex and, to more of an extent than ever before, Tudor, will unveil each year at Baselworld. Further proof of this is the fairly fresh flurry of speculation around this little possibility right here. A blue Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight This prediction hasn’t come from Monochrome, who we worked with on the video with this post, but the image has been doing the rounds on Instagram (if you are the original creator, please let us know) and it’s a smash with the internet in terms of its appeal. Not only is the Fifty-Eight already the best watch that Tudor currently makes, it’s the best value watch for $5000 AUD that money can buy. In my opinion, this is incontestable. And adding a blue dial and bezel option is the very definition of a no-brainer. So, while we don’t mention Tudor in the following clip, the speculation is definitely building, and while Tudor might be out of sight in terms of new models thus far in 2020, the brand is certainly not out of mind. Why are we doing a post about Rolex…
You’ve screwed up. Big time. Worse still, your partner has found out and they mad as all hell. To get their own back, said partner embarks on a demented spending spree on your joint credit card in order to punish you for your (latest) transgression. That’s what most people think “revenge spending” means. But they’re wrong and probably have a guilty conscience about something (BTW, your wife will find out in the end). In fact, revenge spending is actually the phenomenon of hyperactive consumer spending after some sort of barrier has been removed. The notion of revenge buying was first seen in China in the 1980s after the Open Door Policy was implemented, allowing previously banned Western businesses to move in, enabling Chinese consumers to buy products — Walkmans, Levi’s Jeans, Rolex watches — they had previously been unable to obtain. Western companies flocked to take advantage of the enormous new market and their products were enthusiastically embraced by Chinese locals, excited to spend in ways they had never been able to before. Today, analysts of the luxury sector are hoping that revenge spending will help the market recover after the violent downturn caused by the coronavirus. The thought is that after…
There are hundreds of emotions that flood through you when looking at a Cartier watch. Authentic historical contributions to aviation timekeeping, coupled with more than 170 years in the jewellery industry, shrouds the French name in an air of romance, adventure and audacious style. With few models is this truer than the Santos-Dumont, originally designed in 1904 for the brave pilot of the same name, and revived in 2019 in an ultra-thin case echoing the century-old designs more accurately than previous Santos models. Although the SIHH release was an undisputed hit, perhaps the only drawback was the quartz movement, lacking that bite of heritage which can only be attained from knowing a complex series of gears and levers are working away on your wrist. Cartier answered prayers in 2020’s Watches & Wonders online edition when they announced an XL hand-winding model, plus four extremely attractive special editions. The first three aren’t especially mould-breaking, but that doesn’t make them any less stunning. Le Brésil pays homage to the aviator’s first flying balloon, deceptively simple with its monochromatic colour scheme comprised of a platinum case and grey strap — the only pop of colour being the red ruby cabochon crown. La Baladeuse is especially…
Patrick Bateman is an unlikely pop cultural icon. Yet that’s exactly what the anti-hero of American Psycho has become. Almost 30 years since Bret Easton Ellis’ book was published, and 20 since the movie’s release, Bateman’s Armani-clad mass murderer continues to resonate in the contemporary psyche. Type his name into Google and you’ll find a cosmetic brand named after him (Bateman Skincare), a LinkedIn post offering “American Psycho’s Top 10 Personal Branding Tips” and various first-person articles of the “I Followed Patrick Bateman’s Psychotic Skincare Routine For a Week” variety. Fascination with the film, in particular, has reached seriously nerdy levels. (FYI the “whoosh” sounds made when the characters brandish their business cards in the famous scene was made by slowing down the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath.) Anyone who’s read the book — still banned in the Australian state of Queensland — may find this fan-boy veneration slightly awkward. The film presented a sanitised version of Bateman as a fairly standard chainsaw-wielding maniac. But the book is essentially torture porn in designer threads. Unfolding with a stylised tone of glazed indifference, the novel reveals Bateman as a serial killer, necrophile and cannibal who occasionally snacks on his…
It’s been another big week of Covid-19 era life here at Time+Tide, with Zoom calls with the Girard-Perregaux HQ (up to 90 people joined in at its peak) to join in on, a live chat with Wei Koh of Revolution and the CEO of DOXA watches to discuss our involvement in the Covid-19 Solidarity Auction and what seems now like an endless schedule of video conferences, including our own team meetings. If this is the new normal, then I guess we’re getting used to it. Though, with a rotating schedule of the team visiting the office, with staff rarely overlapping in greater numbers than two, the teamwork making the dream work in person – as well as table tennis – is sorely missed! On a team note, I’d like to give a big shout out to our Deputy Editor Nick Kenyon, who you might know from his spectacular entrances to our Home Delivery Watch Fair videos. Nick just clicked over his first year at Time+Tide – congratulations Nick! Some highlights from his first year would have to be his coverage from his first watch fair, Dubai Watch Week, as well as joining me for a week in Sydney when we…