INTRODUCING: The TAG Heuer Connected Golf Edition, pre-loaded with 40,000 golf courses
It was only three months ago that the latest TAG Heuer Connected watch was launched, the third generation of the luxury Swiss smartwatch that first hit the market in 2015, the same year as the first generation of the Apple Watch. One (eventful) quarter later and we see the launch of the brand new TAG Heuer Connected Golf Edition, a watch that offers the same generation-on-generation improvements as the latest TAG Heuer Connected, as well as being packed with golfing-specific features. If you aren’t across the updates found in the latest TAG Heuer Connected watch, you should check out this video where our own Andrew McUtchen spends a week with it on his wrist (including a brief athleisure cameo from myself). In a short summary, the latest generation of smartwatch from TAG Heuer offered the best of Silicon Valley with significant improvements to the operating system and battery life, as well as the best of Swiss watchmaking, with a case that better sits on the wrist, and bracelet and strap options that have serious build quality. It turns out you can have your cake and eat it too, in a move that surprised some who are used to seeing the…
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When I had my great-grandfather’s 1958 Omega Seamaster restored, I was convinced that I’d never wear, or need another watch again. It looked great, performed fantastically, and I had a personal connection to it that just didn’t exist for anything else. But as my interest in watches and time spent researching them grew, it was inevitable I’d realise I wasn’t a one-watch guy. Rather irresponsibly, I settled on another Seamaster for my next watch. Specifically, a 2008 Planet Ocean (PO) with the caliber 2500C co-axial movement. It was robust — I didn’t need to worry about it when washing my hands or, more importantly, getting it a bit scratched up when working in live music. It was modern — although my smaller wrists are more than comfortable wearing a 34mm watch, sometimes the 42mm big brother felt more appropriate for casual wear, and it seemed poetic to own a Seamaster exactly 50 years younger than my heirloom. It was mechanical — which was important, because my newfound appreciation for traditional timepieces also birthed a prejudice. For a time, I looked down on quartz. After some more time, this wore off, and I could appreciate the history and importance of quartz…
“I haven’t read your article yet about which action stars are wearing which watches,” IWC CEO Chris Grainger-Herr begins the interview by saying. “I just very much hope you haven’t got Jason Statham in there with his one Rolex in that one film, even though he buys and owns all his IWCs himself and wears them in all the other movies.” To which I point out, as gently as possible – because we have indeed got Jason Statham wearing precisely that watch – that Jason appears to be a Richemont man, with many other notable Panerai watches worn in multiple action films over the years. “It’s the same with The Rock. It’s a bit of an internal CEO joke because we text each other images of The Rock wearing various watches. It goes around and around. You have almost every brand covered. But it’s true that he [The Rock] mostly wears Panerai these days. “Jason wore an IWC in that silly shark movie, what was it called?” The Meg, where Statham wore an IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Edition La Cumbre Volcano (photo courtesy Warner Bros) as spotted by our friends at Quill & Pad. “That was also his personal watch.” This banter…
First, we had the Limited Edition ‘Moonlit Night’, and now we have a brand new Limited Edition porcelain dial model inspired by Suigetsu, a Japanese tradition which celebrates the beauty of the moon reflected in water. If you needed another reason to be entranced by this stunning, liquid white porcelain dial, there it is – a poetic backstory. Seiko have pursued excellence in dial making for decades, with their skill in ceramics being widely regarded as unparalleled. Japan is a country that has been extremely well known for high-quality ceramic crockery and vases for hundreds of years, so it’s not surprising that the Seiko craftsmen excel in porcelain and enamel dial making. This is exactly what we are getting with the new limited edition Seiko SPB171, with an Arita porcelain dial. Arita is a small town in the south-western part of Japan that came to prominence when porcelain clay was discovered, something it is still known for today. Seiko has leaned on this expertise in its dial making before, specifically for another member of the Presage family, the Seiko SPB093, another example of a beautifully executed hand-finished dial. The process to produce such a dial is done over several steps, all…
Hot on the heels of the launch of the latest TAG Heuer Connected watch in March, their LVMH watch sibling has launched the new Hublot Big Bang e. And while it’s not surprising in itself — Hublot already play in this space — its execution has some genuinely eccentric touches. But first, the specs, because they’re far more palatable for average-sized wrists than the first smartwatch Hublot released. This new 42mm smartwatch, 7mm smaller than the original model, is available with either a ceramic or titanium sandwich-style case, and features the same overall design as the first-ever Big Bang way back in 2005, keeping its core aesthetic consistent with the rest of the existing collection. It was two years ago, for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, that Hublot first threw its hat into the luxury smartwatch ring, when they released the Hublot Big Bang Referee to be worn by officials during the games. It was a smart advertising play, with the brand proudly displayed at every player change on the substitution board, and showed another indication of LVMH’s intention in the smartwatch business. The first Hublot smartwatch was seriously large, however, measuring a gargantuan 49mm across and 13.9mm thick. This was…
Editor’s note: The Seiko Samurai ‘Save The Ocean’ feels like it’s been around forever. It probably has claims, as much as practically any other modern watch, and certainly on any other diver, on being something of a modern icon with its striking ‘ventral pleats’ horizontally striping the dial, and its top to bottom blue graduation designed to emulate the ocean. It has seen many variations on a theme that is perfectly set out with the SRPC93K. This was first published midway through 2018, and boy, does it look as good as ever two years later. The story in a second: Same great watch, brand new dial. The centrepiece of Seiko’s 2018 Prospex collection is, without doubt, the brand new and very blue ‘Save The Ocean’ series, offered in Turtle, Samurai and solar variants. It follows on from the recent Black Series and Blue Lagoon. But while last year’s limited edition was purely a cosmetic update, the Save The Ocean release has an element of social responsibility. Seiko has teamed up with Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau), who is himself a marine conservationist, to raise funds and awareness for Cousteau’s Ocean Learning Centre. Part of this awareness-raising involves prominent displays of what…
Serica was born only late last year when they were announced to the world as a brand that would offer a well-designed and robust timepiece at a fair price. They delivered in spades with their first watch, the Serica W.W.W. (standing for Wrist. Watch. Waterproof), inspired by the watches of the Second World War, where legibility and reliability were a priority that could not be compromised. The idea behind the brand was seeded when its founders — including the magazine magnate and Instagram influencer Matt Hranek (who spends his days jet-setting around the world with a Negroni in hand, living a life that many dream to pursue) — found themselves unable to find a good-looking wristwatch that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. In response to this frustration, they looked to the middle of the last century for a design, arriving at a cleanly executed military-inspired form that was both customisable and without branding. That’s right, a watch launched in 2019 without a logo on the dial. An unusual approach, but one that works beautifully with the no-nonsense philosophy that was the driving force behind its development. Cased in a vintage-faithful 37.5mm stainless steel case, the watch can be altered according…
Editor’s note: Few stories in the Time+Tide back catalogue get the comments section humming quite like Ceri David’s piece on how to impress her with your watch. Also, Ceri extrapolates, women in general. But reading this back, and knowing Ceri well, this is very much her voice, and her kind you’ll be striking the right chord with should you take the – overall quite excellent – advice. Who is Ceri, and why should you listen to her? She was only the second woman in the world to be a longstanding editor of GQ. Trust us, she’s the bomb. Firstly, let’s not delude ourselves: your timepiece is going to impress more men than women. That’s a given. Unless, of course, it’s awful. If that’s the case, you’ll be slaying precisely no one — and also, how did you find your way to Time+Tide? However, there are a few ways you can maximise your chances of making an impression on the fairer sex with your choice of wristwear, at least a little. Listen carefully. Step 1: Choose something less obvious Less obvious than what? Less obvious than the one you’re most likely to choose, obviously. Because even though that un-aerodynamic chunk of metal on your…
Just a few short weeks ago, Time+Tide had the distinct pleasure of globally unveiling the last of the 50th anniversary special edition Zenith El Primeros. Called the Zenith Chronomaster Manufacture Edition, this gorgeous watch was the result of a surprise discovery that the team at Zenith had found in a dusty old cupboard in their fabled attic at the watchmaker’s manufacture in Charles Vermot. It’s a great story … in fact it was so good that we made an epic 35-minute video about it – the second episode of Watch & Chill. So, why am I telling you all this? And what’s it got to do with the Chronomaster El Primero 38mm? Well, in case you still haven’t seen the above video, Time+Tide’s fearless leader, Andrew McUtchen, was given this watch by Zenith to wear on the show. Sadly, a few short days later, it had to go back to Zenith. But before it did, I was fortunate enough to temporarily purloin the stainless steel chrono, Ref.03.2150.400/69.C713 for a IN-DEPTH review, and these were my impressions. The dial I’m not going to beat around the bush with this one – the dial of the Zenith Chronomaster El Primero 38mm is pure horological…
If you haven’t heard of James Thompson, aka Black Badger, you’ve probably seen his brightly lit work online. He’s done collaborations with independent watchmakers such as MB&F, De Bethune, and Sarpaneva, and has more recently been working with the King of Customisation himself, George Bamford. While much of what Black Badger is known for is his impressive work with different luminous materials, lighting up jewellery and watches like you’ve never seen before, his work with the Bamford Watch Department has seen a slight departure from these illuminated beginnings, focusing instead on exotic materials. In his first collection with Bamford they used fordite for the dial, a material that is essentially a buildup of layers of industrial paint on the floors of car manufacturers. These psychedelically swirling dials are all unique and handmade by James in his workshop. The most recent collaboration between Black Badger and Bamford is the ambitious BWD X Badgerworks TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 and features a dial made out of ground coffee beans. That’s right, the coffee. Black Badger credits his design school training for his ability to consider materials that those in the watch industry might overlook, and the results speak for themselves. While not…