HANDS-ON: Heavy metal – the Casio G-Shock Full Metal GMW-B5000D-1
Anyone else ever play this game? Sitting at my desk during school, my friends and I would quickly double tap the start/stop button on our digi-stopwatches, trying our best to beat one another and see who could do it the fastest. I actually remember getting a digital watch just so I could play (and totally not to secretly practise at home). The watch I ended up getting, or at least what my now faded memory recalls, was a square 5000 series G-Shock. And this year the legendary resin-cased design celebrates its 35th anniversary, with Casio releasing the very first all stainless-steel version of the icon. First things first, this Full Metal take is every bit as tough as that very first bulletproof G-Shock – the DW-5000 brought to life in 1983 by Casio engineer Kikuo Ibe. Only now, instead of an entire outer case made of resin, the timekeeping module inside is suspended in all stainless-steel, with fine-resin cushioning sandwiched between. Everything else is much the same. The multifunction LCD screen is modelled on the original, except now it features Tough Solar technology with the familiar brick motif – as seen on various other G-Shocks – surrounding the outer edge…
The post HANDS-ON: Heavy metal – the Casio G-Shock Full Metal GMW-B5000D-1 appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I’m fairly sure Arthur C. Clarke didn’t have Hublot — or even watches — in mind when he made the now famous futurist statement. But it’s certainly something that rings true for Hublot’s latest ceramic marvel. Because while most watch fans are familiar with the use of ceramic in horology these days, there’s still an aura of power and mystique around this oh-so-red watch. We’ve seen polished ceramic before, and we’ve seen red ceramic before (though none-so-vivid as this), and we’ve certainly seen Big Bangs before. But the combination of all three is a little overwhelming and, for me at least, awe-inspiring. Hublot, for all they seem to delight in their role of watch brand provocateur, are showing us glimpses of the future here. And it looks bright. Hublot Big Bang Unico Red Magic Australian pricing and availability Hublot Big Bang Unico Red Magic, limited to 500 pieces, $33,800
Here at Time+Tide we have a soft spot for smaller brands that are built on passion. Oak & Oscar definitely fits that bill. Chase Fancher (the man behind the brand) has made a series of retro-ish classics with loads of thoughtful details — the sort of details appreciated by true believers. These details are still very much apparent on Oak & Oscar’s Humboldt, a solid 40mm steel three-hander that’s built with adventure in mind — quite literally, in fact, as the watch is named after 18th century explorer and scientific traveller Alexander von Humboldt. The dial, offered in either charcoal or navy, will be familiar to those aware of Oak & Oscar’s previous offerings, with Arabics at the cardinal points and a sandwich-style construction that punches well above the Humboldt’s price point. The watch also comes with a steel 12-hour bezel, perfect for ad hoc GMT duties. The 20mm lugs are drilled (one of my favourite user-friendly watch features) for ease of strap change, and, impressively, comes with a steel bracelet option. Now, getting a stock third part bracelet isn’t too hard, but the fact that Oak & Oscar have gone to the effort of doing their own bracelet (slightly…
There are few brands that take as much pride in their heritage as Longines. Not surprising, really, when you consider that the winged hourglass brand pioneered the way for the reissue. In fact, the Saint-Imier manufacturer is so proud of their history that their own museum is home to more than 10,000 historic pieces, while the brand also routinely holds competitions around the world in search of their oldest watches. Until recently, that honour fell to the 335th piece produced by Longines, but now, with the help of a dedicated Japanese-American collector, Longines have found a pocket watch with the serial number 183, dating the “savonnette” type silver pocket watch to the year 1867. A big year for Longines, 1867 was not only the same year that Longines began manufacturing their components under a single roof in their brand-new factory in the long meadows that the brand is named for, but also the year they began consecutively numbering the watches they produced. It was this system, as well as the brand’s diligent archiving of information, that made it possible for their historians and watchmakers to establish exactly when the pocket watch was made. Identifying it as one of the very…
When the watchfam get together, it’s only a matter of time before the hot topic of grail watches rears its curious head. It’s no surprise, either, that for many collectors, their ultimate goal is usually found at the higher-end of the watchmaking spectrum. Perhaps a Patek Philippe or something of the Vacheron variety? Or maybe the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. Brought to life by Gérald Genta, when he famously sketched the design for the “unprecedented steel watch” on the eve of the 1971 Basel watch fair, it was almost a year to the day later when the luxury sports watch made its debut in 1972. Taking its inspiration from traditional diving helmets, with an octagonal case featuring exposed screw heads and an integrated bracelet, the Royal Oak is widely considered as the very first luxury sports watch and sparked the trend that has since become the much-loved norm. Forty years later, in 2012, Audemars Piguet released this version of the Royal Oak, the ref. 15202ST, their most faithful tribute to the original yet, and one that is still in production and winning countless watch fans the world over. Matching the original’s 39mm case diameter – a size once considered huge…
If you care about watches, Geneva is the place to be right now. The Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (better known to its friends as the GPHG) has recently wrapped, and a prestigious jury of who’s who in watchland has determined what the best watches of the year are. Well, at least the best watches of the year that were submitted by their makers for consideration, which is a much smaller pool, notably free of crowns and calatravas — but that’s another story. Anyway, the submitted watches were divided into 12 categories, including some obvious ones like men’s and women’s, as well as some less obvious, and particularly Swiss ones, like mechanical exception and artistic crafts. And then there’s the discretionary categories like the ‘revival’ prize. Anyway, arcana of Swiss watch award bureaucracy aside, here are the GPHG 2018 award winners, and our 10-second take on them. The best ladies’ watch of 2018 CHANEL BOY.FRIEND SKELETON A strong, diamond-set pack including dead-set stunners from Bulgari, Chanel and Piaget. But the strongest contender was the Chanel Boy.Friend Skeleton, with its bold look and strong in-house movement. The best complicated ladies’ of 2018 VAN CLEEF & ARPELS LADY ARPELS PLANÉTARIUM Diamonds plus…
It goes without saying really, Raymond Weil have a penchant for the melodious methods. Releasing scores of limited-edition pieces that pay tribute to all things musical – from Gibson guitars and Marshall amps, to Aussie rockers AC/DC and Ol’ Blue Eyes, Mr Frank Sinatra. The latest note in their sonata of releases revisits a collection the family-owned Swiss-made brand first introduced in the early 1990s, taking you to the opera and drawing its inspiration and name from Richard Wagner’s famed oeuvre, Parsifal. Designed for the everyday, with just the right amount of dressy appeal, Raymond Weil’s latest sees the Parsifal collection’s key design elements refined with a contemporary touch, with its curved outlines and unique cross link bracelet updated subtly and reflecting the model’s recognisable aesthetic. As does the stainless-steel case with its characteristic gadroon bezel. For that classic two-tone look, the bezel is also available with a yellow gold PVD plating that is mirrored on the central links of the bracelet as well as on the inner crown guards and on the dial’s Roman numeral hour markers. An embellishing of blue lacquer on the crown then gives each version of the Parsifal a subtle pop of colour, which can…
Michael Woods loves travelling, playing basketball and is a proud dad. He’s also a third generation watchmaker who previously managed After-Sales for Rolex Melbourne. Hi Michael, what’s your daily watch? It depends on my mood, what inspires me, or what I’m doing for that day or week. It’s not uncommon for me to wear a few different watches in the same week. What does your collection look like? I have gathered quite a collection over the years, but I’ll mention the ones that mean most to me or the ones that get the most wrist time. I have an Omega Constellation Day-Date from 1972, which was left to me by my grandfather who passed away in the early ’90s. He was the first watchmaker in the family, so it’s a very sentimental piece. I also have an IWC Automatic in steel from 1962, which I actually found on eBay. I was attracted to its simple, elegant look, and it is very comfortable to wear, so I restored the movement and it’s stayed in the rotation. There’s also a Rolex Deepsea, which I purchased not long after the model was first released. I received training on the specifics of the case construction…
Blancpain’s Bathyscaphe is one of those rare, chameleonic watch designs. A watch that, broadly speaking, owes great fidelity to its primogenitor, but a watch that doesn’t look dated. It’s a neutral watch — something that gives the Bathyscaphe broad appeal and great versatility. In steel, it’s a classic, traditional dive watch, but here, in black ceramic, it’s something much more modern in style. And the execution of the ceramic really is gorgeous. Crisp lines, even brushed finishes, really lovely stuff — the material is finished like metal, but with ceramic’s advantages of light weight and scratch resistance. No matter how you slice it, the case of this watch is cool. The dial isn’t half bad either, and I quite like how reserved Blancpain has been, keeping the hour markers quite small, when it must have been tempting to scale them up. The result is, to my eye, a more subtle, versatile watch dial, which doesn’t scream ‘diver!’ at the top of its lungs. This is a watch you could definitely wear daily, with a suit (especially in the smaller case size), or for any Cousteau-esque underwater adventures you might have planned. Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe black ceramic Australian pricing Blancpain Fifty…
October was a fun month for watch-spotting, with no discernible theme, other than perhaps gold? Even then, we kept things real — here’s a look at some of the more random pieces that crossed my camera throughout the month … Kicking off October, I caught up with local pilot Dale (who goes by @MrAceKProductions on Instagram), who you might recognise from a recent interview we did. Well, Dale had recently acquired a pretty unusual piece, something I’d never seen before — a Breitling Chronospace, which he was appropriately wearing on a grey NATO. Like a lot of pilots, Dale has strong ties to Breitling, and puts a high value on the reliability of his timepiece. Dale landed on the Chronospace as he sought a robust and reliable watch to wear in the air, highlighting the constraints of a cockpit, and the endless corners to beat a watch on. Later in the month, I found myself attending an event hosted by Bulgari, to celebrate the Italian Film Festival. Naturally, I expected to see a few pieces around, but the piece that caught my eye was on the wrist of Alexandra King, Bulgari’s Marketing and Communications Manager who was sporting a Serpenti Tubogas. The…