This Panerai Submersible BMG-Tech is a killer summer watch
Editor’s note: A summer watch can be many different things, however, there is one prerequisite – it needs to be water resistant. I’m not talking about a mere 3-ATM either … a timepiece to wear December through February has got to be able to hang poolside or 100 metres below the deep blue. Panerai’s Submersible BMG-Tech is more than capable of these requirements, and it also shows off the Italian marque’s innovative new material “BMG-Tech”. Late last year, we went hands-on with the avant-garde amphibious timepiece, and these were our initial impressions. At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a 47mm Submersible much like any other. On second, or perhaps third glance, the truth becomes more apparent. This is a Panerai unlike any other, and that difference is thanks to the case, the BMG in BMG-Tech. BMG is short for Bulk Metallic Glass, and it’s what the case is made out of. When I learned this, it took a while to get my head around it. Glass is in the name, but this case is far from fragile. BMG is a glass-like alloy of zirconium, copper, aluminium, titanium and nickel. These components are formed at high pressure…
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Owning a watch that has been given to you as a gift has a sentimental element that can get even more meaningful over time. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to have received a watch as a gift, a milestone or something to mark an achievement, will know what I’m on about – it’s an emotional thing, it becomes more than ‘just a watch’. …if you’re contemplating buying a watch for someone you care about, you should abide by one simple rule: keep it classic. But not all watch gifts are equal. What can make the experience slightly less nostalgic as the years go on is if the watch in question was made with a particular aesthetic or trend that is no longer en vogue … think the vast majority of fashion watches from the ’90s, for example. That’s why, if you’re contemplating buying a watch for someone you care about, you should abide by one simple rule: keep it classic. And the parameters set by Longines’ range of heritage timepieces are some very safe guide-rails indeed. Why? Because they offer tried and tested watch designs with a high level of refinement that’s verging on unparalleled in the price bracket. And,…
Editor’s note: In a recent discussion with a respected watchmaker who knows a thing or two about Rolex, I posited the question, “So what’s your next timepiece going to be?” Without a moment’s hesitation, he replied: “Bremont, definitely a Bremont.” When I asked why, he said that increasingly, he was observing more similarities between Bremont and, if you can believe it, Rolex. He went on to explain that a huge part of Rolex’s history was providing military-spec watches for armed forces across the globe, and while the Swiss marque had ceased doing so, Bremont had more than carried the torch since. Back when Bremont opened their Melbourne boutique, we spotted quite a few of these military-issue timepieces on some servicemen and women of Oz and beyond. Walking into Bremont’s brand new Melbourne boutique, it doesn’t take long to work out the brand’s military and aviation connection. If the spartan style of the watches didn’t give the game away, the pictures of planes on the walls, the hanging model biplane, and the actual, very battered looking ejection seat sitting front-and-centre kind of give it away. Not that all those fine details were too easy to spot last night, as the space was…
Here’s a question for you: how do you modernise something as traditional as a time-only dress watch? Do you utilise new-age materials? Or maybe blow-out the proportions of the timepiece? It’s a conundrum that Baume & Mercier faced with their understated range of Baume & Mercier Classima wristwatches. Their solution was to give owners the chance to physically see their mechanical watch in action, by skeletonising a portion of the dial and exposing the beating heart of its movement, the escapement. It’s a novel idea that gives the Classima a thoroughly modern aesthetic, and, perhaps more importantly, wearers a greater appreciation of the complexity of a mechanical movement. Speaking of the power source, the Classima utilises Sellita’s tried and true SW200 BV, which features self-winding, 38 hours of power, 26 jewels and an operating frequency of 4Hz. Shrouding the movement, the Classima’s traditional 40mm stainless steel case is quite slim, measuring just 8.95mm, and it’s also water resistant to 50 metres. The rest of the dial hosts all the standard accoutrements you’d expect of a dress watch such as this — Roman numerals, blued steel hands … it’s all present and accounted for. The conforming stainless steel bracelet features both…
I’m fortunate to be able to say I’ve met a couple of world number one tennis players in my time. Ash Barty, current women’s number one, is not like any of them. She has no star vibes as such. No X Factor. No celebrity aura. What she carries with herself, which comes across in person, is more powerful – and rarer – than that. It’s total ease with herself. And a level of self-belief, to back herself in every word she says. It’s borderline frightening. All answers are direct, honest, sincere. This one, for example. I’d asked, “Is Serena Williams intimidating to play against?” The response was instantaneous: “She is,” and with this a squint and a nod. “The first time. But not the second.” This answer frames exactly why the 23-year-old Australian is the best player in the world. She has a rock-solid self-belief. She has no doubt she is up where she belongs. The Number 1 seed for the Australian Open next month, who lists Alicia Molik, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin as her heroes, has steel in her eyes. Friend of Time+Tide and tennis commentator Miguel Seabra describes her this way: “She’s a great player. Or should…
One of the greatest things about Longines is their history — the Swiss marque was established almost two centuries ago, way back in 1832. This heritage gives the brand an advantage, and it gives the Longines wearer an edge, too. The depth and versatility of Longines timepieces is utterly expansive – and the back catalogue is a constant source of rich pickings, at prices available to the not-just-rich. This history, which has been focused on large-scale production of superior timepieces, hints at why Longines watches are lauded for always representing a value proposition — 187 years at the pointy end of the horological spear means that their R&D, innovation, manufacturing practices and techniques are so efficient and, more importantly, effective, that the savings are passed on to the wearer. $5000 Aussie dollars, for example, unlocks a veritable cornucopia of different timepieces from Longines’ vast catalogue, and chances are, no matter what sort of timekeeping you’re into, for a cool $5K, there’s going to be a wristwatch that ticks the boxes. With that goal in mind, finding the best of the brand at that budget, we present three markedly different timepieces that can be had for less than five big ones and can be…
Vertex is a brand with a wonderful history. Founded in 1916 by Claude Lyons, the brand produced watches for Allied troops in the Second World War, following the specifications of the British Ministry of Defence, alongside 11 other brands (a group of manufacturers now known by collectors as the Dirty Dozen). The brand continued to produce watches in the post-war years, until Vertex was forced to close its doors in February 1972, due to the quartz era which wreaked havoc on the watch industry. The brand remained the subject of history books until 43 years later, in 2015, when Don Cochrane, the great-grandson of Claude Lyons, revived the brand and produced their first watch in 2016. This watch was the M100, which was directly inspired by the Cal 59 watch that Vertex had produced for the military in 1944. The second watch to come out of the second-coming of the brand was the Vertex MP45 chronograph. A monopusher chronograph with similar links to military timepieces from the middle of the last century, it was a watch that James (@twentysix____) was so enamoured with, he bought it. When did you first see/hear about it? Military watches have always held a special…
Much as it shames me to admit it, until writing about this watch, I rather naively thought that Stan Smith was a shoe designer … how very Gen Y of me. As it turns out, Smith is rather more than a proponent of Adidas’s enduringly vogue white sneaker – he was a legend of the tennis court in the 1970s, with 100 professional tournament wins credited to his name. To celebrate this illustrious career, watchmaker Maurice de Mauriac has teamed up with the superstar of the sport to release this – the Stan Smith Signature Watch. Limited to just 100 watches each (see what they did there?) in green, blue and red, the Stan Smith Watch presents a clean and pared-back aesthetic, much like the sneakers that bear his name. According to Maurice de Mauriac, the timepiece is the result of two years of development between Smith and the watchmaker’s founders, Daniel, Massimo and Leonard Dreifuss. Additionally, Maurice de Mauriac reckon this limited edition timepiece can more than capably handle the rigours of a tense five-setter on the court, due to its tough and dependable build quality, as well as bearing the tennis star’s name. The traditional-looking case, which is…
If you’ve ever been on the internet you will have noticed one million and one articles about the watches James Bond has worn throughout his long and many-faced career. If this is your first time on the World Wide Web, welcome and, trust me, 90 per cent of what you’ve been missing out on comprises James Bond watch articles and funny cat videos. But here at Time+Tide, we want to take you on a journey to an alternate dimension. Here, we pick nine of the best James Bond outings and outfit the famous British spy with a timepiece more suited to either the plot, setting, or our incorrigible whimsy. Without further ado, allow us to present the watches James Bond should have worn but never did. From Russia With Love – Konstantin Chaykin Russian Time Russia is massive. So massive it has seven time zones. The Konstantin Chaykin not only allows the wearer to access all seven time zones with ease, but the graphical display is also a thing of beauty. It might also help charm the KGB agents into going easy on him if he’s caught wearing an example of Russian craftsmanship rather than a Rolex, which, let’s face…
Unlike Ferrari’s frankly dismal efforts in Formula 1 this year, 2019 has been a great 12 months for the Italian supercar manufacturer in terms of their commercial and creative partnership with watchmaking vanguards, Hublot. The curvaceous and inimitable Classic Fusion Ferrari GT was not only one of my personal favourites from the provocative Swiss marque, it was one of my favourite watches of 2019. Period. However, the other big standout wristwatch to bear the famed Prancing Horse badge this year – the Hublot Big Bang Scuderia Ferrari 90th Anniversary Sapphire – is by no means something forgettable. On the contrary, this leviathan of a watch perfectly demonstrates why Hublot is talked about time and time again as one of the industry leaders when it comes to material innovation. The gargantuan case, which measures 45mm across, is formed from solid sapphire with a polished finishing, and if that wasn’t impressive enough, the case is capped by a carbon-ceramic bezel. What makes the bezel not only interesting, but just downright cool, is that it’s been shaped to look like a Ferrari’s brake disc, and carbon-ceramic is the actual material the Italian marque uses for said brake discs. The dial is another standout…