HANDS-ON: The Ulysse Nardin Freak X Magma is the creativity you asked for, but do you really want it?
Watching on from the sidelines, consumers on social media constantly beg the watch industry to put the novel in novelties, asking for original, fresh, and forward-thinking designs in a conventional and traditional industry. Instead, we get 1mm variations in size, a new dial colour, and the crowd goes wild to the extent that boggles the mind. In other words, people don’t know what they want. If you’re a watch lover that genuinely seeks a different view of things, the Ulysse Nardin Freak X Magma is for you, and it’s coming in hot. The case The 43mm case is made of both carbon fibre and titanium. The carbon fibre is composed of a red polymer, while the titanium is DLC treated to a shade of black. The bezel is rendered in DLC-treated titanium, with both brushed and sandblasted finishes. This pairing of carbon fibre and titanium not only provides the watch with a magma-like aesthetic to live up to its name, but also a robust case that will protect the carousel tourbillon within. The watch is water resistant to a depth of 50 metres, so you do not have to worry about the fire going out if the watch gets wet.…
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Pilot’s watches have always been a strong category for watch consumers around the world, drawing an emotional and heritage-driven connection to the symbiosis between aviation and horology. Inspired by a Harrier XV741 flown in a 1969 Transatlantic Air Race from London to New York, AVI-8 offers a value-driven pilot’s watch designed with a clear and detailed love for all things aviation. The brand has worked very hard to appropriately pay homage to Tom Lecky-Thompson and his team through subtle nods to the pilot and plane that won more than 50 years ago. Code-named “Blue Nylon” by Lecky-Thompson and his team, AVI-8 decided to make their second limited edition celebrating the victory a watch that tastefully pairs with blue leather and nylon-velcro straps – the AVI-8 Hawker Harrier Blue Nylon Limited Edition. The AVI-8 Hawker Harrier Blue Nylon Limited Edition features a 44mm stainless steel case that is 13.5mm thick and approximately 52mm across the wrist lug to lug. Water resistant to 50 metres, the watch will make a nice companion for daily wear. In tribute to Lecky-Thompson and his Harrier XV741, the watch has a custom self-winding rotor designed to resemble the famed Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine that powered the plane’s flight. With…
Despite my Nordic roots and name, it’s beginning to occur to me that I’m not cool enough for the new Linde Werdelin. The Swiss-Danish watchmaker is well known for their decidedly strong design language. Increasingly, they’re nearly as well known for their stoic refusal to be deterred from banking all on it. Today, it’s the same. They’ll stand their ground with a very special 88-piece limited edition of their first diver, the Linde Werdelin Oktopus Blue Sea. Immensely strong looking, and dainty like, well, an anvil or a block of arctic granite. Which is exactly why we enthuse about these large pieces of horology: broad at 44mm, but lugless, with a comfortable 46mm length, and shaped to fit the wrist, so comfort? Yes. Presence? Like wow. The Oktopus is a big tool diver, seemingly bulletproof with the milky-white strong LW alloy, with a dark bolted-down bezel and tough rubber strap. The multi-layered dial is an architectural gem, and while it seems a very calm light grey tone, something magical happens as soon as you enter a dark corner of the room, or even sit in your car. A transformation into a multi-coloured, Miami Vice-sorbet colour-infused light-bomb. How did they do that? …
Divers! We love ’em. I’m wearing a technical diver as I’m writing this — helium escape valve and all. Does it mean I’ve got a diver’s kit packed up, in the boot of my car, ready to go? Not unless you count the defunct photo props I have in a box, dry since 2010. It’s not about the action itself, it’s about knowing you can. We’ll show you some of the best dive watches of 2020 over $10K, safe in the knowledge that you can jump on a plane, charter a speedboat out to an atoll in the Pacific, and jump in. Specially this year, we deserve it, if only for the tingly rush of pre-adventure. But remember, even bone dry, these watches are tough enough to climb that peak too (what do you mean you haven’t got crampons or rope?). Seiko Prospex 55th anniversary SLA039 Let’s take the bull by the horns: yes, this is a very expensive Seiko, at more than $10K, and you will surely not understand why until you try it on, as I did here. It might still seem expensive, but will blow you away with its Grand Seiko finished Ever-Brilliant steel, and seem way too…
While you adjust your sunnies, so as not to be blinded by the yellow and baby blue show, let’s ask some pressing questions. Do we expect these colourways from Puma? Yes. Do we expect atomic daffodil orange and bright Tiffany blue in the most traditional model from Rolex, the Oyster Perpetual? Not exactly. The OP has favoured pops of colour over subdued colour ways in recent times, so no, not at all. And yet here we are a month or so later, colourful Rolex references in blue, orange, pink and coral being viral candy on Instagram, like a fresh breeze, reminding us of the hot takes on Rolex from the ’70s with the dazzle of the Stella dials. Do we love them? Yes. Can we get them from our local AD? Probably not. But we can certainly try. Check our story here and be dazzled by Rolex’s new and sunny outlook on life. If you didn’t pay attention, you’d think it was a custom mod job. But how to match up that brightness to your wardrobe? While these colours from the Crown will do plenty to fire up your spirits – naughtily peeking out from your cuff in that business…
Earlier this year, the amazing docu-series from ESPN & Netflix The Last Dance gave viewers an intimate look into the dynasty, the mind and the life of Michael Jordan, his Bulls teammates, and the staff around him. If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it, as even those who are not basketball fans will love the insight it provides into one of the most legendary athletes of all time. Throughout the series, it becomes very clear how close Michael Jordan was to those around him. He either loved or hated you, with no in between. One individual he clearly had affection for was his personal security guard John Michael Wozniak, a former narcotics officer who served as Jordan’s personal security guard for 20 years – so much so that Michael Jordan gifted him a Rolex Datejust. Anyone who has ever been in a team locker-room knows that shenanigans ensue in between training or even in the hours before/after a big game. MJ, a lover of all things competitive and gambling related, would never miss an opportunity to make wagers with his peers both on and off the court. Not many people can say they beat Michael Jordan at anything,…
Watch enthusiasts and automotive enthusiasts have a lot in common. It’s not just that the demographics intersect, but there is definitely a link in the appreciation for outstanding feats of engineering. Both can be artistic expressions, with form meeting function, and both can be all-out utilitarian objects with pure performance in mind. The TAG Heuer X Grand Prix de Monaco Historique is a watch that sums up one of the age-old arguments between both watches and cars: old versus new. The dial The Monaco’s classic squares-in-a-circle-in-a-square look is undeniably attractive, and the Coca-Cola style of the white centre-dial and vivid red highlights just feel so satisfying. Though it’s not exactly white. The silver sunburst offers flashes of white and grey, as the sunburst brushing continues to radiate through the outer red sections, offering tones as light as salmon and as dark as oxblood. The red on this watch is a perfect hue, looking neither too saturated nor too flat. The sub-dials are matte in texture, leaving the registers perfectly legible. Although the main hands aren’t very contrasted being steel-on-silver, the minute hand extends out to the applied indices so it’s a bit easier to read at a glance. To top…
There’s a reason why office dress codes are more confusing than ever. On the whole, they no longer exist. Unless you’re obliged to wear a uniform or work in one of those dwindling industries where the suit and tie still prevails, most offices have loosened their collars. But this apparent lack of rules does not mean that sartorially anything goes. Every workplace maintains a set of unspoken conventions and it’s up to you to figure them out. The sad reality is your working wardrobe is less about “dress to impress” and more “dress to fit in”. This might seem like soul-crushing advice that stifles your individual swagger. Yet, broadly conforming to your workplace is a tacit demonstration that you understand the office culture. One British study even found that a “cohesive sense of style” in an office helps to create a good team spirit and foster higher levels of productivity. Presumably, this is why co-workers often start to subconciously develop a uniform “look” whether that’s bankers’ penchant for pinstripe or bikies’ soft spot for leather and facial tattoos. Even more depressingly for any fashion maverick, it’s specifically your boss’ style cues you need to observe. In the same study, commissioned…
The Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5711 might be your grail of grails, or simply the perfect taste of ’70s glamour. There is a reason so many love the porthole-inspired steel perfection, which – in the present day – is flat out unattainable even with cash to spend. So, that pampering AD appointment with $40-60,000 ready to despatch, the complimentary espresso in a gold-rimmed cup, the satin-gloved handover … Not any time soon. Do we have alternatives? We found five. Piaget Polo S The unusual alternative, the unsung hero, a Piaget that isn’t ultra-thin? Yes, the Polo S will confound and surprise you, and what can we call this shape? This sports watch from the maison of Piaget is as confusing as it is different, but with its indefinable shape and vertically striped dial, a quirky but viable value alternative to the Nautilus. What triggers your synapses is the bright emerald dial, on which the polished pink gold indices pop like crazy. What gets you are similitudes like the horizontal stripes combined with a smooth rehaut minute track. Like the 5711, the back edges of the indices follow the squaround (I’ll copyright that!) inner edge of the bezel. Classic sword hands…
With December around the corner, the end-of-year party season should be kicking off around about now, with Christmas drinks and all manner of other festivities. Alas, with the UK still awaiting its COVID fate, any cocktail parties on Bond Street or Mayfair are on ice for now. Indeed, as lockdown ponders its own timeframe, it’s all a bit bleak for us Brits at the moment. Cue a timely pick-me-up in the form of Ralph Lauren’s ‘Negroni Bear’ Polo Bear limited-edition watch in collaboration with The Rake. When it dropped on my doorstep, it got me feeling fuzzy, furry and celebratory. Because Polo Bear is an icon with a rich history and his sartorial style has become legendary over the past three decades. So, Negroni time, yes please. In fact, I went one step further and dusted off the tux for the occasion – something Mr Ralph Lauren and our good friend at The Rake, Wei Koh, would surely approve of. I also dug out my Polo Bear lookalike from my childhood to share a toast to the party season that might never be this year, because there’s no harm in embracing a bit of silliness once in a while and…