INTRODUCING: The Farer Roché World Timer
Boutique British watchmaker Farer have just released what many in the horological community are calling their best watch to date – the Farer Roché World Timer. Hewn from 316L stainless steel, the svelte 39mm case of the Roché World Timer is a mere 11mm thick, ensuring that the timepiece offers a great amount of bandwidth when it comes to wearability, while simultaneously landing it firmly in what many consider to be the “Goldilocks zone” of watch sizes. Housed inside the polished steel case is ETA’s venerable 2893-1 “Top Grade” movement, a self-winding job that offers a great many features, including 48 hours of power reserve, world time complication, date complication, 21 jewels and 28,800 (4Hz) vibrations per hour. Navigating and setting the various features of the Farer Roché World Timer has also been made easy thanks to two separate crowns. The first, which is located at the traditional three o’clock position, allows wearers to adjust the time, date and universal 24-hour disk. While the second crown, which can be found on the opposite side of the case at 10 o’clock, controls the inner bezel of the 24 different time zones.In addition, owners can fully admire this workhorse of a movement…
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The story in a second: The Bremont H-4 Hercules offers a tool watch, which could pair with a dinner jacket, and doesn’t lose any Bremont DNA. In any piece of design, there is a source of inspiration that is at least, in part, responsible for the final product that you are looking at. In the case of the Bremont H-4 Hercules, the source of inspiration requires a look back over 70 years into the history books. The year was 1942, and the Second World War was at a peak in the conflict, with fierce battles being fought across land, air and sea. It was the battle of the seas that the Allied powers were losing however, with the Nazi U-boat proving to be a formidable weapon against supply and troop ships, sinking 681 vessels by the middle of that year. Despite the war machine industrialising the ship-building process to improve the completion speeds of ship builds by more than 700%, the Germans were still torpedoing them faster than they could be made. In an example of the simplest solution sometimes being the best, American industrialist Henry Kaiser had the bold idea to simply get out of the water. His answer…
Today is a big moment in the short history of Time+Tide. It’s the day we bid farewell to Felix, who is stepping down from his role as Editor. We know that this will be sad news for many readers and viewers who have enjoyed all of the stories, videos and sass, delivered just about all day, every day, for more than five years. If it feels like you’ve read literally thousands of Felix’s articles over the years, that’s because you probably have – a quick search shows he’s written 1643 posts. Which might go some way to explaining today’s announcement. That’s a lot of words. Incredible and intense is how I would characterise the wild ride that is being on the inside of Time+Tide. I’m pretty confident Felix would say something similar. Felix’s journey with T+T started back in 2014. They say startups live and die by their first hire. In that sense, we were lucky, because Mr Scholz was ours. What began as occasional contributions quickly scaled into daily posts and then a full-time position. Posts upped to twice daily and then, this year, four times daily, but increasingly with a little help from his friends, namely Sandra Lane,…
It’s fair to say that Seiko has dropped quite a few limited edition anniversary timepieces in 2019, and you definitely could’ve been mistaken for thinking that surely the Japanese watchmaker had nothing left in their product arsenal … and then they released this – the Seiko 1969 Quartz Astron 50th Anniversary Limited Edition. As the name suggests, the new Seiko 1969 Quartz Astron has been made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Seiko Astron, which was first unveiled on Christmas Day 1969. Arguably one of the most important timepieces of the 20th century, the Seiko Astron was the genesis for the quartz wristwatch, and it also started a technological revolution in the horological industry that dramatically and permanently changed the way that watchmakers went about their business. The tonneau-shaped case of the new Astron is fashioned from solid 18k yellow gold, and the distinctive markings found on the case are completely hand-engraved, giving each watch — of which there will be 50 in total — an inimitable quality. Housed inside the famed case, which measures a relatively svelte 40.9mm, is Seiko’s Caliber 3X22 GPS solar-powered movement, which offers customers a GPS-controlled time and time zone adjustment, perpetual calendar accurate to…
The Twelve Labours of Hercules were impressive, sure, but not quite as impressive as the aircraft that provided inspiration for the new Bremont H-4 Hercules. Killing lions and hydras requires strength and focus, but building a plane in 1947 that makes a modern-day Airbus A380 look small, requires the unbridled ambition and enthusiasm of a Texan billionaire – Howard Hughes. The H-4 Hercules (nicknamed the Spruce Goose thanks to its wooden construction) inspired the most recent limited edition from Bremont that pays respect to the history of the aircraft. Limited to 75 pieces in Rose gold, we were fortunate to take a closer look at this very special watch, which holds something very special within its case. Inlaid in the watch’s automatic rotor are pieces of wood from the original H-4 Hercules, allowing rarefied owners to keep a piece of the historically important plane on their wrists. Bremont H-4 Hercules Australian price and availability Bremont H-4 Hercules in Rose gold has an Australian RRP of $31,995, and is avilable from Bremont’s Melbourne boutique. Made in partnership with Bremont. However, the opinions expressed in this article are our own in accordance with our Editorial Policy.
TAG Heuer has unveiled the fifth and final iteration of its limited edition series of timepieces celebrating 50 years of the heroic Monaco wristwatch. Like the rest of the limited-run watches, which each celebrate a separate decade in the history of the Monaco since its inception in 1969, the 2009-2019 example will be limited to just 169 pieces. Taking styling cues from TAG Heuer’s design language of the last decade, the 2009-2019 Monaco looks rather handsome thanks to a dark slate grey dial with complementing black gold-plated indices and hands, while bursts of contrasting red can be found on the hands of both sub-dials, the seconds hand and the centre of the 12 o’clock marker. Housed inside the iconic 39mm stainless steel case is TAG Heuer’s venerable Calibre 11 movement, which offers customers a date and chronograph complication, 40 hours of power reserve, 59 jewels and 28,800 (4Hz) vibrations per hour. The 2009-2019 edition is paired with a perforated black leather band that harks back to the Monaco’s late ’60s/’70s stylistic roots. The stainless steel case, which is topped in domed sapphire crystal and water resistant to 100 metres, also features an engraving on the back signifying the limited nature…
It has been a stellar year for Grand Seiko, with the Japanese watchmaker releasing not only a bevy of new iterations of some of their most popular models, but also a completely new manual-wind dress watch, the SBGK series. And, as is always the case with Grand Seiko, the arresting dials adorning these new timepieces have been received with a fairly large amount of adoration within the horological community. So, with that in mind, we thought we’d whittle down all the new dial designs produced by Grand Seiko in 2019 and pick our five favourite examples: Grand Seiko SBGH269 We couldn’t make this list without mentioning the current hype beast of Morioka, the Grand Seiko SBGH269 ‘Autumn’. There’s no two ways about it – the dial of this watch is gorgeous, with a bright red centre bleeding into a deeper and darker almost-maroon around the edges. Then there’s the vertical pin striping in slightly brighter shades of red, giving the watch’s dial an overall aesthetic akin to that of a boiled candy. Contrasted with gold accents that can be found on the Grand Seiko logo, minute markers and second hand, the SBGH269 certainly deserves its ‘Autumn’ moniker and is…
Editor’s note: OK, I’m guessing that 99 per cent of people reading this are already well aware of Rolex’s eponymous Daytona … and, admittedly, it’s hard not to be. Here is a watch that is deeply desirable, seemingly unobtainable, and a cashed-up speculator’s veritable dream timepiece. And, of course, it’s not just the modern iterations of the Daytona that are so revered, with some models from years gone by now commanding price tags that would normally be associated with three-bedroom homes. Just a few weeks ago, for example, Ellen DeGeneres purchased an incredibly rare, solid 14k yellow gold Daytona ref.6241, and while we can’t know for certain how much she forked out for the uber-rare timepiece, the last similar ref.6241 that sold at auction went for well over one million Aussie dollars. However, the Rolex Daytona is so much more important than its sizeable aftermarket value – this is a timekeeping device that is steeped in the history of motorsport, and has been utilised by several doyens of the car racing world, like Enzo Ferrari and, of course, Paul Newman. Earlier this year, Alan Seymour wrote a history of Rolex’s famed Daytona for Sotheby’s. If you’ve got the time, hit…
Bremont brand ambassador and former British Special Forces serviceman Nirmal “Nims” Purja has destroyed the world record for scaling Earth’s 14 tallest mountains, completing the amazing feat in just six months and six days, eclipsing the previous record, which stood for more than eight years. Project Possible kicked off in April this year, and Purja proceeded to scale, in order, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2, Broad Peak, Cho You, Manaslu and finally Shishapangma. All 14 of these mountainous peaks tower more than 8000 metres above sea level, which means that every single one of the summits is well and truly qualified as sitting in the “death zone” – an area in which it is said human life cannot survive. Speaking about the astonishing accomplishment, Purja said, “I believed in this project and I made sure to surround myself with people who believed in it too. This was never just about me, which is the reason I’ve been able to overcome some huge obstacles on this journey. By achieving this goal, I knew I could inspire people from all generations, across the world. I hope to have shown that anything is possible when…
Editor’s note: An attractive neo-vintage diver is a de rigueur part of any self-respecting watch brand’s lineup in 2019, and Bremont is no different. In fact, these days the brand has a few offerings in their stable. And one of the first options out of the gate was the handsome Supermarine S301 … Bremont is a brand fuelled by avgas and the spirit of Icarus. The fledgling British brand has their roots in the sky, as it were. But that doesn’t mean they’ve neglected other spheres of influence, including motorsports and, as we can see here, diving. The Supermarine (even their dive watches have an aviation tie-in) first entered the catalogue in 2010, in the form of the Supermarine 500, a large 43mm steel piece with a distinctive ‘crown-at-two’ case design. This year the Supermarine has evolved, with several new references joining the family — the S300 and the S301. These divers — while still having plenty of Bremont DNA, such as the Trip-Tick case — are much more traditional. They’re smaller, at 40mm across, and slimmer, with a 13mm height. And if the proportions are constrained, so too is the style. The S301 plays the vintage card, with its…