INTRODUCING: The Glashütte Original SeaQ
Think Glashütte Original and the chances are good that ‘diver’ isn’t a category that immediately springs to mind. The German brand is known for many things – from 3/4 plates to Panorama dates – but undersea adventure isn’t really one of them. That’s not to say that the brand doesn’t have form in the area. Fifty years ago the brand did indeed make a specialist underwater watch, for both military and civilian markets, and now they’ve decided to take the plunge again, with a brace of SeaQ watches. There’s a limited edition piece, and a version that comes in a few different dials with a Panorama date, but today we’re looking at the regular production SeaQ. The Glashütte Original SeaQ is a well-sized, handsome watch that ticks all the right boxes. It’s 39.5mm wide, 12.5mm tall, comes with a nice galvanic black sunray dial, large numerals and hands in a pleasingly vintage style (down to the Super-LumiNova, in a shade that echoes old radium), and a date that fits nicely into the overall equation of the dial. Likewise, the case shape is simple, with a hint of the mid-century skin diver about it in the angles and the style of crown. …
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When we were shown the new Blancpain products at Time to Move, we expected to see Fifty Fathoms and Villeret. We did not expect a pilot’s chronograph. But, oh boy, was the Blancpain Air Command a pleasant surprise. On its face, this 500-piece limited edition is a very handsome heritage-styled number, with a 42.5mm steel case, topped with glass box sapphire and a distinctly Fifty Fathoms-esque rotating bezel, with that lozenge-shaped pip at 12. The handset is particularly elegant, with matchstick-shaped hands in white, filled with an ivory-toned, vintage-look lume. The heritage feel is picked up on the dial, which is a bi-compax flyback, with the same vintage-look luminous Arabic numerals, and a tachymeter scale. The movement is the F388B, a 5Hz movement that is buttery smooth to actuate. The overall historic tone of the piece is finished off with a nicely patina’d calf strap. It might not have been the Blancpain we were expecting, but it’s very, very nice indeed. Blancpain Air Command price Blancpain Air Command, limited to 500 pieces, $24,750 AUD
Last year, Breguet introduced a stunningly simple, surprisingly asymmetrical addition to the Classique family, the Tourbillon Extra-Flat. This year, at Time to Move, they’ve premiered the next chapter. It’s still a Classique Tourbillon, but it’s been dramatically skeletonised. Meet the Breguet Classique Tourbillon Extra-Flat Skeleton 5395. First things first – the fundamentals: 41mm across by a truly slender 7.7mm thick, offered in platinum or rose gold cases. The dial is sapphire, to show off the movement. The hands are (obviously) Breguet. On paper, the 3mm thin movement, designated 581SQ (for squelette, or skeleton), is the same as the existing 581. But in reality it’s a completely different beast, and absolutely beautiful. Firstly, and most obviously, the closed dial is gone, leaving the inner workings of the watch exposed. And those inner workings have been significantly stripped back, with about 50 per cent of the mass of the movement removed, leaving a fine tracery of extensively hand-worked bridges. These bridges are made from a specific red gold alloy that is harder than usual, so as to effectively support the weight of the movement. Not much of that weight is coming from the off-centre tourbillon — the titanium and silicon carriage weighs in…
The Seamaster Planet Ocean, with its bright orange details, is a favourite in the modern Omega lineup, a compelling combination of brightness and brown. And now we’ve been treated to a brand new version. First of all, this watch is large: 45.5mm across, and tall on the wrist. It’s also heavy thanks to the steel case. If you really want to double down on the weight, there’s a steel bracelet option, which sees the entire package weigh a hefty 260 grams. If that sounds a little too intense, there are options on a NATO strap — Omega is offering two different bright 5-stripe straps, which are lovely. The other notable new feature is the orange ceramic. The colour is less bold than previous iterations, as adding certain colours to ceramic is notoriously difficult. To my eye, it’s more of a burnt orange — perhaps even pumpkin. It’s an attractive look. The design of the bezel has been updated to bring it in line with the third-generation PO bezel designs, with all the salient numerals and hash marks filled with white liquid ceramic and Super-LumiNova. Finally, there’s the dial. The soft, matt grey dial is a nice foil for the shiny, bright…
Like it or not, the origin story of Blancpain’s famous diver is inseparable from that of naval warfare. The development of the original watch was driven by two men, Captain Robert Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud, who were in charge of a newly formed French unit, the Combat Swimmers — or Nageurs de Combat. They came up with a list of ideal characteristics for the perfect underwater wristwatch, one suited to their very specific needs. And, in 1953, Blancpain managed to meet these requirements, which came to define the needs of modern dive watches. To celebrate this legacy, Blancpain has released a limited edition Fifty Fathoms (of 300 pieces). And even though the shape is familiar, the overall effect is far more tactical than we’re used to. The 45mm case is steel, with a black dial and bezel. The caseback is solid with a very nice engraving of the Combat Diver Qualification Badge, an anchor flanked by winged seahorses. This detailed caseback means you don’t get a look at the 135 automatic movement, which is pacing a silicon balance and 5 days of power thanks to the three barrels. As you’d expect, this watch is good to 300m. The final subtle…
Earlier in the year, Omega celebrated 50 years of Man stepping off our terrestrial sphere with the release of a very faithful reissue of the 1969 commemorative gold Speedmaster (even though the alloy itself is very new). But everyone kind of figured that wouldn’t be the only celebratory Speedy to step out of the brand’s Bienne factory. And everyone was right. Meet the Omega Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition in a steel case. Now, though the 42mm case is traditional steel, the bezel is Moonshine gold, Omega’s new, more muted take on traditional yellow gold. But the special touches don’t end there. The dial is grey in the centre and black at the edge, there’s a nice Moonshine gold ’11’ on the dial instead of the usual baton, and a rendering of Buzz Aldrin climbing out of the landing module at nine. The subdial is also Moonshine gold that’s been blackened and laser-engraved. The caseback shows that famous footprint, and hidden behind it is the new 3861 calibre, a Master Chronometer certified version of the classic 861. The other major visual difference is the bracelet, which is a modern interpretation of a vintage bracelet. The links are flat,…
Omega, as you would expect from the Swatch Group powerhouse, had a panoply of new watches on display at Time to Move. We were treated to a total of 67 new watches (often minor variations in case/dial/etc, but still), and two special vintage pieces thrown in for good measure. Suffice to say there’s a lot to get through, and that will happen over the course of the year. But here’s my hot take on the best Omega watches for 2019: Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Ceramic Titanium We were expecting updates to last year’s hero, the Seamaster Diver 300M, and we were not disappointed. There’s a ceramic and titanium version, with a larger 43.5mm case (which apparently wears smaller), no date, and hands in PVD-coated titanium. All these tweaks to the norm are because this watch is intended to be more tool-like in its aesthetic. $11,100 AUD Omega Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition There was a lot of expectation riding on this one, fuelled in no small part by the exceptional gold tribute released earlier in the year. This steel 50th anniversary piece is distinguished by Moonshine gold details, a tiny illustration at nine, a nifty solid caseback and…
Editor’s note: The competition is mounting and mounting fast, but when the SRPC49K – or ‘Darth Turtle’, as it was coined by followers in a Time+Tide poll – was first released it was at the front of what would prove to be a vanguard of dark Seiko divers at still reasonable price points. The advent of the Seiko Prospex LX SNR029J at Baselworld 2019 has introduced even more contenders, but again at a much higher price. Which leaves this model as perhaps the ultimate blacked-out Seiko diver prospect for the money. Fair warning that the model is long sold out, but still can be found without too much digging. Seiko dive watches are a perennial favourite. They’re tough-as, look the business, and have a history as long and proud as any. Whether it’s the coveted SLA017, or the classic Turtle, they’ve got a strong rep, and cult following. The Seiko faithful are going to be very happy with this latest limited edition – the SRPC49K, which we’ve taken the liberty of nicknaming ‘the night diver’ (I’m really hoping this catches on). We’re going to let these stunning pictures do most of the talking, but here are the details we have so far: The SRPC49K is a blacked-out variant of the…
Personally, I don’t need an excuse to buy a watch for myself. But I have, many times, used certain milestones as justification for a purchase whenever they have come under scrutiny. So whether or not you genuinely want to buy a timepiece to commemorate a special time in your life, or whether you just want a decent excuse to present to your family/partner/colleagues when you admit that the huge withdrawal from your savings account wasn’t fraud, read on. Graduation/Coming of age Stepping out into adulthood and graduating from high school and college are conveniently linked by the ages of 18 and 21. Both significant ages that occur at particularly tumultuous and stressful times in our lives — you could do with a treat to make it all worthwhile. Perhaps using a child’s first luxury watch as the carrot might be an effective route for parents to take if they are trying to encourage their progeny to study. I’m not sure bribing a child to work is an ideal way to encourage responsibility in later life, but at least it follows the notion that if you work hard you get rewarded. And given the pomp and rigamarole that can attend the purchase of a…
It’s a modern-day escape from Alcatraz, where the escapee is a defect on a watch that makes it to market, and Alcatraz is the Rolex manufacture. That, I suspect, is flattering Alcatraz. Because, the fact that a modern Rolex with a defect you can actually see even exists is unthinkable to the point of immediately being suspected as a hoax. But here it is. Not only does a ‘double nine’ Rolex Air-King 116900 — with a nine where the ‘3’ numeral should be — allegedly exist in the wild, it’s been captured by Watchfinder & Co., who used the occasion to do a proper exposition on just how extraordinary that fact is. To summarise the excellent post by Watchfinder & Co., here are three key reasons the ‘double 9’ Rolex Air-King 116900 is practically a miracle: Rolex now has fully verticalised production. Unlike in other eras, when accidents would happen, “from mild nuisances like deviation in fonts and design, to full-on critical failures like extreme paint discolouration and cracking lacquer”, a third-party supplier cannot be blamed. Rolex’s QA processes may even exceed “NASA’s JPL”: “From the iris scanner-protected automated stock system, its 60,000 storage compartments patrolled and operated just by robots; to the…