This hour-long Watch & Chill video about the Audemars Piguet [Re]master01 starring Eric Ku is essential viewing
There are certain projects that draw you in from the minute they commence. When Michael Friedman, the Head of Complications at Audemars Piguet, and his team floated the idea of a round table on Zoom with collector and watch dealer Eric Ku on the subject of a watch I find insanely compelling – the [Re]master01 Selfwinding Chronograph – it took me no time at all to jump. Hell yes, we were in. But before you jump in, may I offer a serving suggestion? Clear your diary for the next hour (and four minutes). Sit somewhere comfortable. Don’t grab a drink, grab the ingredients of your drink, too. The ice, the lot. Because this is as close to Joe Rogan, or a podcast, as we’ve ever gone. It’s all about the incidental conversation as much as it is about the key points. However you consume it, do so as responsibly or as irresponsibly as you like, and enjoy it as much as we did making it. These are the elements I found most unusual, and downright spicy, about the prospect: It would be a long-form project. No time limits. No stage-managed script. Limited editing. “Andrew, we want to tell the story…
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Some Friday Wind Downs are long, some have a point, and others are just the last thing standing between me and a cold, cold beer. That’s a dangerous place to be at the best of times — in Australia we talk about “murdering” a beer, we don’t mess around — but after a week like this, it’s truly ill-advised. Why? Because I’m excited! In just over three hours, we’ll be hitting the button on a video project with Audemars Piguet that is one of the most significant and substantial of my time in watches. It stars collector and watch dealer Eric Ku, as well as Head of Complications at Audemars Piguet, Michael Friedman, and what is vying to be my favourite watch release of the year, the glorious [Re]master01 Selfwinding Chronograph by Audemars Piguet. I want to get a few pre-games in before the drop, so, if you’ll excuse me … Hope to join you watching it all over again in an hour and a half! Between now and then, enjoy the most popular stories of the week. TAG shows off its elegant new racer TAG Heuer has just unveiled the new Carrera Elegant collection, adding another feather to the Carrera…
Editor’s note: We published this story at the height of Stranger Things mania, but it’s just as fun to check in on anytime for ’80s kids like me. Well, fun? Depends how well you deal with the flashbacks… The ’80s were Nerd City, peppered with popped polo shirts and pie-crust collars, Slime, The Breakfast Club, pommes noisettes, Pop Rocks candy and brine shrimp pets masquerading as Sea-Monkey kits. Against this neon, fad-filled haze emerges the ’80s saving graces – the best pop music in history and watches that either embraced new technology or new money. Here’s 11 (see what we did there) watches we’d be happy to see in season two. Swatch Watch – 1983 The simple plastic quartz Swatch flipped the way we looked at watches on its head, bringing a sense of play to the fore, and decreeing them style consumables. It was a democratic move away from Swiss watches predicated on careful craftsmanship to be cherished for a lifetime. Swatch meant there was a colour and design for every personality. Casio G-Shock (DW-5000C) – 1983 The durability of the game-changing Casio G-Shock managed to avoid a prohibitive price bracket while earning cult cool status. Its engineer, Kikuo Ibe,…
Unimatic’s tough Italian exterior gets the touch of Japanese designer Mihara Yasuhiro in a marriage of crisp white Cerakote™ and extreme minimalism. Unimatic, based in Milan, has a strong reputation for their no-nonsense tough 40mm tool watches, with their bold cases and stubby-perfect 49mm lug-to-lug length. With the Unimatic x Mihara Yasuhiro they have managed to bridge the divide between horology and Hypebeast. This is their second collaborative project this year, with the previous project being the instantly sold out Unimatic x Massena Lab neo-vintage version of this same U1. This time they’re back with a focus on purity, both in terms of aesthetic and shade, cranking the minimalist Unimatic design language up a notch – or a calm downturn, depending on your point of view. One thing is certain, in a world of lookalike vintage divers, this is a super-fresh ticket to a proper summer watch, not just in name but in nature, disguising what is a solid 300m Goldilocks-sized diver. Apparently stealth no longer comes only in black or grey, as a crisp white case can conceal a bulletproof tool watch. Upon closer inspection you will recognise the Unimatic language of the dial – highly legible round applied…
An automatic dive watch that brings value to both your wrist and environmental efforts, the Seiko Prospex Save the Ocean SRPE33K is the latest special edition made in honour of protecting the ocean. Across the board, Seiko is known for providing high horological value at lower price points than its Swiss peers and the “Save the Ocean” special editions are an absolute exemplar of this. They have consistently been knockout watches with some of the best blue dials for your dollar. And boy, have they truly outdone themselves with this one. The case and bracelet The case is robust, made of stainless steel. True to its ocean and diver nomenclature, the watch has a screw-down crown (protected by surrounding crown guards), a unidirectional bezel, and a water resistance of 200 metres. Do not let the diameter of 43.8mm fool you into thinking this watch is too large for your wrist. Its lug-to-lug of 48.7mm makes this watch very wearable and compact for its size. The Seiko Prospex Save the Ocean SRPE33K is only 0.7mm larger in length than a modern Rolex Submariner and, being 12.8mm thick, is only 0.3mm thicker. This watch is more than capable of sliding under a cuff…
We spoke to Jean-Claude Biver recently for an upcoming feature-length video, and while we were on Zoom, the conversation turned to the pandemic. We took the opportunity to ask him some pointed questions about the industry’s recovery. How long does he think it will take? Who will be the winners and losers? He also shared a “magical equation” that applies if you can “make the crisis your friend.” How is this crisis different to others you’ve experienced? “It’s not the first crisis we’ve seen, certainly for me. I’ve been in the watch industry since 1974 and this crisis that we have now is a global crisis. It’s a crisis because of a virus. It has nothing to do with a structural crisis of the industry, as we had when quartz came, that was a structural crisis. When you have a structural crisis, the recovery is totally different to when you have a pandemic crisis.” When do you think we’ll be out of it? “The first thing I can say is some brands will be out of the crisis in September, they will have a January comparable to last year. They will have a typical ‘V-shaped’ recovery. Some other brands will…
It’s been a great year for new watches, and one of the biggest contributors to this slew of attractive wristwatches is TAG Heuer, who continue their run of strong releases in 2020. The latest release from the La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaker is the TAG Heuer Carrera Elegant collection, adding another feather to the Carrera cap after the announcements earlier this year of the TAG Heuer Carrera Sport Chronograph collection. But in a year when the Carrera collection has been such a focal point for the brand, what does this latest release offer? The TAG Heuer Carrera Elegant collection continues exploring the vision of blending the past and the present, vintage design cues with contemporary flair, but rather than the bold vitality of the Carrera Sport Chronograph collection, the Carrera Elegant collection is a sleek and refined expression of the same source DNA. You won’t find any utilitarian tachymeter bezels here – instead you’ll find a much more subtle thin steel bezel that serves up a much less imposing presence on the wrist. Within the new range, there are three references with variously black, blue and anthracite dials, as well as a silver dial with rose gold dial furniture rounding out the…
It cannot be refuted how much Switzerland has influenced horology and the luxury watch industry at large. As a result, designs across brands can seem familiar when they all draw from the same well of inspiration and technique. Bulgari, however, continues to stand out from the pack, blending its Swiss watchmaking know-how with its Italian mastery of design. The Bulgari High-End Watch 2020 Novelties are clear examples of the fact that “high-jewellery” and “high-watchmaking” artisans can work in tandem to create pure magic for the wrist. All of these watches are true works of art from the Roman Jeweller of Time. The Octo Roma Arabesque ref. 103403 The Octo Roma Arabesque ref. 103403 is a gorgeous museum piece of a watch. Its 40mm 18k pink gold case is adorned with a baroque embroidery of pink sapphires, tourmalines, emeralds and diamonds. According to Bulgari, “The Arabesque shape is a key figure in baroque architecture, a touchstone of the romantic eclecticism that defined the era’s churches and palazzi.” You would think the dial cover would make the watch quite thick, but this is not the case (see what I did there?). Powered by the manufacture caliber BVL 268 — the thinnest tourbillon on the…
The Apple Watch has been a point of contention with watch collectors since its debut in April of 2015. When the dust settles from the rants and snobbery, one fact becomes clear – the Apple Watch is the most complicated piece of wristwear for the dollar in the entire world. The Apple Watch Series 6 and SE models are the latest smartwatches from Apple, and you are sure to see plenty of coverage on these releases across the web. So rather than recap the specs and features, let’s focus on five things that are new to the Apple Watch lineup. WatchOS 7 WatchOS 7 continues to advance the capabilities of the Apple Watch. While watchOS 7 introduces seven new faces into the mix, the two that are sure to be fan favourites will be the new Chronograph Pro and GMT face configurations. These new faces are also very customisable – with the wearer being able to adjust everything from the colour scheme to the style of numeral display on the bezel. This arguably makes the Apple Watch Series 6 the most compelling Apple Watch yet for horology fans – as you can change the aesthetic in many different combinations without…
As most watch collectors will agree, there are few things better than getting a new watch in your collection. It’s the thrill of having a new watch on your wrist that you’ve been thinking about for weeks or months, and is the culmination of researching, considering and finally pulling the trigger on that special piece that you’ve wanted. But while that thrill might not be an everyday occurrence, the next best thing is a new strap or bracelet to wear your watch on. In that regard, the Rado Captain Cook interchangeable straps has both spots covered. With the new offering from the Swiss watchmaker, the Rado Captain Cook interchangeable straps offers, in effect, three for the price of one. The same vintage-inspired Captain Cook aesthetic as you would find across the rest of the collection, and more. Not only do you get a classy-looking three-link bracelet, but you also get a comfortable fabric strap and a subtly textured leather strap, all of which are simple to swap with Rado’s strap-changing mechanism. So if you’ve been eyeing off a Rado Captain Cook recently but haven’t yet taken the plunge, the diversity of these different straps might be the thing that makes…