We can't stop looking at the 'gender neutral' Hublot Big Bang Millennial Pink and we don't know why
In a move to be expected of a brand like Hublot, the provocative wunderkind of the industry has just released a new limited edition in collaboration with Garage Italia and the grandson of the Rake of the Riviera himself, Lapo Elkann. The Big Bang Millennial Pink is based on the Unico 42mm chronograph and features what the brand is calling a gender-neutral soft pastel pink colourway that can be seen throughout the entire watch. The colour Righto, let’s call it. Pastel pink can only be considered ‘gender neutral’ if you factor in Don Johnson’s pastel-masculinising Miami Vice wardrobe. But somehow – through oddly pleasing fleshy tones, and weird colour alchemy – it hits the spot. It’s been considered attractive by both genders in the Time+Tide office. As for “can’t stop looking at it”, that’s me quoting Andrew in the headline. He’s said exactly that multiple times this week. At this point, I’ll throw to some imagery to thicken the plot. Here are some men in an office wearing it. (As well as one further down the page). Do they look wildly effeminate? We think not. First impressions First impressions aside, this does represent a departure. While Hublot has a reputation…
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Despite the temptation to re-tune our tiny violins and cry to the world that our virus numbers have skyrocketed and that we’re all on the brink of yet another endless day indoors, I’m going to flip this one to the positive and talk about the kinds of amazing, heartening and impressive letters and emails we get in here on a daily basis. Not every few days, or every few weeks. Every single day. It’s incredible. Please don’t stop. And if you’d like to start, do it here. (There is, as always, a standard and perpetual apology here to those who have not received a reply, please forgive me.) So let me start this Friday Wind Down by addressing all who have ever taken the time to pen us a letter, or send an email. Be assured of this: we have not only read it. We have shared it. Forwarded it to other team members. Sometimes to family members and friends to say — see, we have real people! See, my job matters! But in all seriousness, it’s usually to say, look at this effing cool letter we just received. As for the complaints, we read them too. And yes, my mates have had…
Patek Philippe’s first wristwatch of 2020 didn’t go down quite as well as the complicated models that have followed this week to practically unanimous praise. By contrast, the Calatrava Ref.6007A-001, limited to just 1000 pieces and made to celebrate the legacy brand’s new manufacture was met with many more brickbats than bouquets. Why? Well, according to many it didn’t quite manage that delicate dance between being inspired by existing models and, uh, borrowing too heavily from them. But are the criticisms well founded? Without deferring a judgment entirely (I’ll certainly get to that), the truth really is in the eye of the beholder in cases like this. Personally, it’s not what I’ve come to expect from the world’s greatest watchmaker. So, to get into it, and to see the comparisons side by side I present to you the three most cited models the Calatrava Ref.6007A-001 apparently owes a debt to. Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date limited edition Hmm … has the best watchmaker on the planet straight out copied the “watchmaker’s watchmaker”? While we’ll openly admit that there are some stylistic elements that are similar – the inner recessed chapter ring, the wide flange, the centre dial – and the dial of…
Baselworld, as we know it, is dead. But has it been offered a resurrection lifeline by James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch? The owner of Baselworld, MCH Group, has announced the investment of 104.5mCHF from the Murdoch-owned Lupa Systems for what is anticipated to be around one-third of the shares in MCH Group. This development does beg the question: why would James Murdoch invest in a failing show such as Baselworld? If you’re a regular reader of Time+Tide, you will have closely followed our coverage of the demise of the world’s biggest watch fair over recent months. Participation by brands at the fair had been dropping for half a decade, with 1500 exhibitors in 2016 down to just 520 in 2019, a decrease that was also reflected in the number of visitors to the show. In 2018 the entirety of Swatch Group (including brands such as Omega, Breguet, Blancpain, Longines and more) pulled out of the show, followed by Seiko, Grand Seiko and Breitling in 2019. These devastating withdrawals paved the way for the death blow in late February 2020. COVID-19 was still in its early stages of spreading across the globe, but after the second-largest watch…
Editor’s note: There’s the simple fact that Seiko are turning up the heat on the Swiss watch industry, and then there’s the way they’re doing it. Both are 100% worth taking note of. For example, let’s re-examine the Seiko Prospex LX SNR035J, a high-spec Spring Drive GMT at a shade under $8000AUD, that carries with it a murdered out vibe. In the metal, it borders on menacing. It is sleeker than your average Seiko diver, with muscular shoulders. It is pared back of anything that is not absolutely necessary for it to do its job to an elite level. It is awesome. Seeing this one in the archive took me back to the day we first discovered it. We had to take our collective breath then at the boldness of the aesthetics, and let’s just say it, the brazen nature of the price jump. A year and a few months later, it’s no less noteworthy, and it seems almost quaint that we would question the strategy, as the LX range has been wildly popular. It’s really not hard to see why. The force is strong – and the force is dark – with this collection. Prospex is Seiko-speak for “Professional Specification”, a family…
As a person who writes about and reviews timepieces all day every day, and as an avid enthusiast of horology since my mid-teens, there really isn’t too much that surprises me anymore in the watch world. Very few watches have the ability to stop me in my tracks, or, for lack of a better word, leave me feeling shook. This Longines Heritage Military Marine Nationale did exactly that. First impressions Ask anyone in the office who was there at the time … I completely lost it when I pulled this watch out of a plain cardboard box filled with Longines’ novelties for 2020. Sure, there were other nice watches in this box of horological goodies, but I just didn’t care. My eyes locked onto the Marine Nationale, and everything else faded into the background. A faithful re-creation of a mil-spec timepiece made almost 80 years ago for the French Navy (hence the name), this latest release is yet another exemplar of just how good Longines was in the first half of the 20th century. Now the watch I got Hands-On with was an early pre-production piece made specifically for the press, mainly for the purposes of taking very pretty photos…
One of the brightest and most dynamic minds in the world of watchmaking, Aldis Hodge, has been appointed as a Trustee of the Horological Society of New York today. His is a name that should be well known to Time+Tide readers, through his interview with Andrew McUtchen in the latest edition of NOW Magazine (of which you can read Part 1 and Part 2 right here), and as an award-winning Hollywood actor who has starred in films and TV shows such as City On A Hill, The Invisible Man, Brian Banks and Straight Outta Compton. In this exciting announcement, he officially joins the oldest watchmaking guild as one of 10 current trustees, a list that includes some of the best-known and most important names in horology today. Other trustees include watch historian Michael Friedman who currently works at Audemars Piguet, vintage Patek Philippe expert John Reardon, and former Managing Director of Timezone and CEO of Antiquorum William Massena. In addition to his new position at the HSNY, Aldis Hodge also serves on the academy of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, the most significant horological awards that are held every year. Founded in 1866, the Horological Society of New York…
Editor’s note: I don’t know about you, but all this turmoil and uncertainty in the world lately has had my watch browsing time going through the roof. It’s a safe place. A happy place. But with much browsing comes much danger. A few drinks. Late into the night. Then boom. You’ve hit the button. You’ve bought another watch. Cam compiled this handy checklist for avoiding bad decisions a couple of years ago, and it’s never been more relevant. Be safe out there folks, nobody needs to compound a crisis with gut-wrenching remorse. I think we’ve all found ourselves in a similar situation to this before: you wake up, the morning after a big night out and all is seemingly well. At least until the night’s events start trickling back into your mind’s eye, and an odd sensation begins to stir deep down inside, giving you the feeling that things are not quite as they should be. You then roll over and notice something lying there next to you, something that in the unforgiving morning light is not what you were first expecting to see … Flashing before your eyes is a notification from eBay, exclaiming, “Congratulations! You won this item.”…
From A. Lange & Söhne, we’ve learned never to predict what might be next. In this clip from our Watch Fair & Chill coverage of Watches & Wonders 2020, you’ll see exactly what we mean. When a wristwatch can cost as much as a house or a McLaren supercar, there are a certain amount of bells and whistles you want to see. With the German masters’ Zeitwerk Minute Repeater in white gold, there may not be bells, but you can see the aggressively sculpted hammers striking the snaking gongs in an ingeniously simple way. Instead of ringing the hours, quarters, and minutes like a ‘regular’ minute repeater, A. Lange & Söhne replicate the numerically digital time display with a low gong for hours, followed by double strikes for every 10 minutes, and then single high gongs for the minutes. Although the Zeitwerk collection has existed for some time now, this limited edition of 30 pieces is a celebration and affirmation of how revolution can still be found in luxury watchmaking. The second surprise of Lange’s 2020 releases was an adjustment to the controversial Odysseus — their answer to the blue-dialled steel sports watches that have been running away with the…
It’s Monday in July in 2020, folks, and that means two certainties for yours truly – the first of five full weeks stuck in lockdown, and a chance to focus on another independent watchmaker. That’s right, it’s MICRO MONDAYS, and today we’re taking a closer look at a brand that is already well known in the watch world – Spinnaker. The Hong Kong-based watchmaker creates cost-effective timepieces with a strong emphasis on yachting and nautical inspiration, hence their name and logo. All of the timepieces are hewn from hardwearing 316L steel, and Spinnaker sources all its movements from third-party Japanese manufacturers such as Seiko, Miyota and Hattori. A large and diverse array of timepieces has enabled the brand to amass a good following in the community, and thanks to borrowing archetypal stylistic cues and traits from some more well-known watches, the Hong Kong firm has also been able to cater to a pretty large audience. In fact, for quite a few budding enthusiasts, a Spinnaker may well be their first decent watch. But with such a breadth of different collections, traversing Spinnaker’s website, which is how you purchase one of their watches, can be a little daunting. So, we’ve trawled…