The clairvoyant watch collector – which brand will establish itself as a big player in the next decade?
In 2009, Rolex performed a miracle. Necromancy. A resurrection. Back from the dead was the oft-maligned sister brand of the Crown: Tudor watches. What followed in the seven years since was the most startling and effective rebrand the world of watches has ever seen. And thanks to an immense financial investment and influential vocal advocacy, underpinned by an excellent product, it looks likely Tudor’s star will continue to burn brighter still over the years to come. Watch collecting is not what it was. How could it be? Until 30 years ago the notion of “collecting” watches was as odd a pastime as collecting spanners – objects designed to be used, not fawned over. Now, everyone is looking for “the next big thing”, the double-red Submariner at a garage sale, the box-fresh Rolex Explorer II original stuffed in the back of your grandfather’s sock drawer. The problem is, it isn’t going to happen as often as it did, because we are, as a group of informed collectors, simply too aware to allow the collectibility of modern pieces to ever reach that of their forebears. Why? Because watches never used to be collectible. Sought-after models are sought after because they are scarce.…
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Yes, the technology almost single-handedly destroyed the Swiss watch industry, but whether you want to admit it or not, quartz watches are brilliantly impressive, and they have been the main proponents in democratising timepieces as we know them today. Ever since the ingenious battery-powered Seiko Astron first burst onto the scene on December 25, 1969, the Japanese watchmaker has been at the forefront of the uber-accurate mechanisms. But, crucially, many watchmakers now employ the use of quartz power, and we thought we’d take a look at four of the best quartz watches of 2019. GRAND SEIKO SBGN009 Released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first quartz watch, the SBGN009’s luscious blue dial has the kind of repeating pattern in the background that very few brands can pull off without it looking chintzy. Cue Grand Seiko, whose reputation for remarkable dial designs is now well entrenched. The colour-matched seconds hand, GMT hand, logo, and chapter ring provide true chromatic harmony with the two shades of blue on show. Limited to 2,019 pieces. Ref No: SBGN009 / Case size: 40mm / Case material: Steel / Movement: 9F86 / Price: $4000 UNIMATIC MODELLO TRE Every watch collector should make space for a…
I asked Jason, Time+Tide’s resident photographer, if he could tell me his favourite watch photos from 2019 that he had captured, without quite realising the sheer scope of the work that he had done this year. I soon found out. “Hey Jason, how many photos have you taken this year?” “How many have I edited, or how many have been published?” “No, how many times have you pressed the button on your camera?” “Oh, that’s a big number. Tens of thousands, easy.” So out of the tens of thousands of shutter clicks that happened since we last lapped the sun (these were my favourites), these are Jason’s favourites, in no particular order, for reasons he articulates below. Franck Muller Double Mystery Symmetry, colour and diamonds. So many diamonds. And such cute jewelled indices. Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph I spent time over this shot (I hope it shows). Itʼs crisp where it should be crisp, smooth where it should be smooth. The light shines beautifully off the brushed metal. Itʼs everything I like in a watch shot. Seiko Prospex SRPD50K Black on black is one of my favourite styles of shooting: just catching edges, reflections and highlights to bring the watch out…
Some boardroom discussions would be fascinating to observe. The brand decisions presumably make sense at the time, but can appear a little odd to the rest of us. Every so often, however, a brand makes a bold play to distinguish itself from its price-point competitors and it kind of works. Sometimes because the brand chose credibility and congruity over celebrity status, and other times because it’s so wacky, it’s hard to forget (and thus achieving its objective). So, let’s get to know a few watchmaking ambassadors from lesser followed sports. How good a fit do you think these men and woman are for the brands they represent? Breitling: Luke Bannister – Drone pilot It would be easy to treat this appointment cynically, but it seems likely that as little as drone racing had to do with watchmaking’s past, it may well have a fair bit to do with its future. As aviation evolves, so too must aviators. Luke is Breitling’s spokesperson for the next generation. Chamberlain: Stuart Bingham – Snooker This partnership is enough to put Chamberlain on the map (even if it is just for Bingham’s adorable mug shot on the website). The 2015 World Champion may not have…
Many people who I respect in this industry have opined that 2019 hasn’t been a particularly exciting or fruitful year for watch releases … and I couldn’t disagree more. This, the final year of the decade, has given birth to an absolute plethora of new and innovative timepieces that have captured the imagination of many a horological enthusiast. And while I could wax lyrical for hours about said cornucopia of new releases, I’ve had to whittle down all of them and pick my five favourites. Here they are (in no particular order): DOXA SUB 200 130th Anniversary One of the biggest shocks of 2019, DOXA’s sublime GPHG-nominated SUB 200 caused quite the stir when it was unveiled at Baselworld, and it’s very easy to understand why. Here is a fit-for-purpose dive watch that looks great, offers a shedload of heritage, genuine water-resistant credentials and is powered by one of the most bulletproof movements in the game – the ETA 2824/2. This particular example, the limited edition 130th Anniversary, caught my eye immediately. Everything about it was just inherently right, and I adored the playful splashes of DOXA’s signature orange on the second hand and “130 Years” text emblazoned on the…
As one of the most important model series in the world today, the Rolex Daytona is used to living life in the spotlight. What that means is that there are very few things to say about the Daytona that haven’t already been said, but here’s a rundown of five milestone changes to how the Rolex Daytona is built, which may or may not have popped up on your radar at their time of release. The Daytona was released in 1963 It all began in the early ’60s when Rolex decided to nickname one of their new Cosmograph chronographs (reference 6239) after the Daytona race track in Florida. It would go on to become one of the most famous and sought-after models the company has ever produced. The Daytona didn’t always use an in-house movement We take Rolex’s status as an in-house brand for granted, but it wasn’t always the case. Amazingly, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the Daytona had a movement to call its own. Before that, it had used movements made by Valjoux and Zenith (which themselves had been updated several times over the years). The subsequent Rolex calibre 4130 set a new benchmark for the brand…
For lovers of Haute Horlogerie, the term “fashion watch” is often akin to a cuss word. But one doesn’t have to dig very far into the history of fine watchmaking to realise just how much we have to thank fashion labels for, and how the best fashion watch brands are serious watchmakers. In the 1980s, following the darkest period in luxury horology’s history, during which time quartz watches had threatened to extinguish the craft entirely, it was fashion brands that changed the way watches were seen and worn. Although it seems a bit counterintuitive these days, the idea of a watch as a throwaway accessory helped the luxury industry prosper, simply because it suddenly made watches seem desirable when, in the past, they’d just been viewed as necessary. And rare as it is, there are some excellent watchmakers in the world today that began life as fashion brands, before making a huge investment in proper manufacturing. These are some of the brands that successfully crossed the divide. Bulgari When it comes to transforming a reputation, Bulgari wrote the book. With some of the most impressive manufacturing feats of the past decade to its name (who can forget the Bulgari Octo…
I’ve certainly had less turbulent years. In 2019, I quit a stable job, hurled myself into start-up life and lived with my in-laws for 10 months (!) before moving into a house that can euphemistically be described as “a renovator’s delight”. I changed a gazillion nappies and failed miserably to persuade my two sons — aged one and two — to sleep through the night. Over the last 12 months I’ve rarely worked so hard or slept so little. That’s probably why I was particularly drawn to vintage-inspired pieces this year. Their nostalgic designs hark back to a simpler time that, we imagine, was calmer, kinder and marginally less batshit-crazy. But I’m also now living right by the beach. That means that for the first time in my life, I’ve suddenly found myself hankering for a diving watch, something rugged and waterproof that can stand up to building sandcastles and retrieving small children from rock-pools. GLASHÜTTE ORIGINAL SEVENTIES CHRONOGRAPH PANORAMA DATE Bow-chicka-wow-wow! That’s the sound this retro-tastic chronograph would make if it could talk. Sadly, it can’t. But we’re prepared to overlook that minor disappointment on account of the wondrous green fumé dial — made at Glashütte’s in-house facility in Pforzheim – housed…
Mastering the creation of a material that was first conceived more than 400 years ago while simultaneously bringing it into the 21st century is no mean feat. But that’s exactly what Seiko has done with its silky smooth Presage Arita Porcelain Dial SPB093. Widely regarded as some of the nicest and most ornate on the planet, Arita porcelain hails from the small town of — as the name would suggest — Arita, which is located in the Nishimatsuura District of the Saga Prefecture, Japan. It is a gorgeous material to behold, and its esteem is most certainly founded. However, it is quite fragile, and Seiko ran numerous tests with traditional Arita porcelain before ascertaining that it was not strong enough as a dial material to withstand the rigours of a daily worn timepiece. The Japanese watchmaker surely thought that some reinventing of the potter’s wheel was in order. Luckily, though, a new type of Arita porcelain had in fact already been developed just three years ago, and it was said to not only retain the defining aesthetic qualities of the famed material, but possess a strength four times that of normal Arita porcelain. The rest, as they say, is history, and having…
What’s the single most important component that dictates whether a new watch will be lauded or loathed by enthusiasts? Personally, I think a timepiece’s dial is the ultimate barometer of whether or not it’s a success. It’s what we look at most, and a beautiful dial has the ability to capture the imagination. There have been a bevy of wristwatches released in 2019 with gorgeous dials, and while we’d like to mention all of them, these five stood out as some of the best: ANORDAIN MODEL 2 TORR BLUE Scotland is not a location that immediately comes to mind when you think of watches with handmade enamel dials, but that is exactly what anOrdain offer. There is a reason you don’t see many watches with enamel dials, and that is because they are so challenging to produce. With each dial that anOrdain create taking a minimum of 12 hours, they are as rare as they are beautiful, with a glossy depth that only grand feu enamelling can achieve. Ref No: Torr Blue / Case size: 36mm / Case material: Steel / Movement: Sellita SW-210-1 / Price: $1970 MING 17.06 COPPER For a brand that has only been producing watches for…