Until you have it on your wrist it’s hard to appreciate just how thin the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater really is. Introduced back in 2016, it measures a mere 6.85mm thick cased up, with the complicated movement inside accounting for only 3.12mm of that. By way of comparison, a British one pound coin is …
Traditionally speaking, Parmigiani has always reserved the Toric name for its most complex pieces, such as the Toric Quaestor Labyrinthe or the Toric Resonance 3. In 2017 however, we’re getting a different type of Toric timepiece. One that is more subdued, inherently less complex and altogether delightful. Meet the new Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronomètre, a contemporary interpretation of the first watch designed by Michel Parmigiani, which displays the time and date only. Of course, there are a few extra embellishments that make this watch more than just your standard three-hander with a date. This is Parmigiani after all. Read on to learn more.
While we see a huge number of small brands that operate off the beaten path, some stand out more than other. We can’t cover them all, and we are critical about which one we bring you, but every now and then we come across a project that is worth our (and guess yours) time. Today we investigate a brand dedicated to aviation founded on a lineage of three generations of pilots: Orologi Calami, and their CR42 Chronograph.
Finding a great dress watch, it seems, is a never-ending challenge. On the one hand, you want a watch that complements your outfit and stands out, but at the same time doesn’t draw too much unnecessary attention to itself. It needs to be different enough to set you apart from every other person in the room wearing a nice suit and a (insert major brand name here) watch on their wrist, but still have a sufficient degree of brand recognition so you’re don’t have to spend the entire night explaining to people why it’s a nice watch. The Speake-Marin Resilience in 18k red gold doesn’t quite satisfy all these criteria, but it does come close.
Ulysse Nardin made their name way back in 1846 making marine chronometres – highly accurate ship’s clocks that were an essential navigational tool in the times before radio and GPS. These days the Le Locle-based brand still makes chronometre-style timepeices, but as a celebration of heritage rather than a practical tool. This isn’t to say that Ulysse Nardin has given up on the sea; far from it, as their new Marine Regatta demonstrates. Developed with the support and input of Artemis Racing – the Swedish sailing team the brand sponsors – the Marine Regatta is, as the name suggests, a regatta timer, one of the more specialised complications in horology. For those of you not familiar with competitive sailing, yachts don’t begin from a standing start, but rather jockey for position and aim to cross the starting line as soon as the starting gun goes off (boats are penalised for crossing early). So in the minutes before the race starts there’s a signal that lets skippers know that a countdown period (typically five to 10 minutes) has begun, and that they should head towards the starting line. Which is where the regatta timer comes in. In the simplest terms a regatta…
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Aside from Big Bangs, Hublot is perhaps best known for their prolific, and occasionally surprising, partnerships. One of the most interesting, from a design and technique perspective, is Hublot’s relationship with Italia Independent and their famous frontman – Lapo Elkann. If you pay even the slightest bit of attention to the world of men’s style, you’re probably all too aware of Elkann. If you’re not down on the difference between spritz and sprezzatura, Elkann – grandson of billionaire industrialist and sartorial icon Gianni Agnelli – is a staple of the style and society pages. He’s also the founder and driving force behind Italia Independent, which is best known for producing high-fashion eyewear, but is also a fully-fledged design agency in its own right. It should come as no surprise that Hublot’s Italia Independent collaboration focuses on unusual materials. While we’ve previously seen Texalium-infused timepieces, this time around they’ve opted to play with more traditional textures – the classic cloth of fine tailoring. The full collection consists of six different Classic Fusion watches, each incorporating a different woollen cloth – tartan, Prince-of-Wales check or houndstooth – on the dial and strap. It’s a bold look, but one entirely in keeping with both Hublot’s ‘art of fusion’…
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I don’t want to sound like a jaded watch journalist because – let’s be honest – those guys are the worst. But having said that, there were not too many surprises at Baselworld 2017. I knew we’d be seeing Speedmasters from Omega, a Sea-Dweller from Rolex and some crazy-but-cool collabs from Hublot. I didn’t expect to be blown away by a simple, smart little dress watch from Chopard. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of time for Chopard’s fine watchmaking (and indeed their high jewellery – though I’m not the target market there), but the way the Chopard L.U.C XP managed to combine proper high horology, classical restraint and a youthful energy really struck me. It might not have made our Top 11, but it was very much in the running. Before we get to the good looks of the L.U.C XP, let’s talk about what’s going on behind the scenes. The slim (7.2mm) steel case houses a brand new movement, the L.U.C 96.53-L, a very neatly finished ultra-thin (3.3mm) automatic powered by a tungsten micro-rotor and boasting an impressive 58 hours of power reserve (compared to 44 hours for Piaget’s 1200P and 43 hours for the Caliber 896, which…
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Cars, it seems an everlasting inspiration for watches. Many of the big brands feel the need to join forces with racing teams, car manufacturers or “people of the industry” to create a bond or dedicated watches. And, in all fairness, some of these become highly desirable! Smaller brands tend to follow this line too, with a wide range of automotive-inspired designs spurring every year. Entire brands are created with the automotive soul in mind. With Don Kylne & Co, this is also the case. Not the entire brand, but at least with the newest Kickstarter-project: The Time Master.
If you’re an avid follower of our Instagram stories, you might have overheard my candid thoughts on the new entry level Nomos as we captured some scenic pre-Basel scene-setting. As Andrew live-panned a view of the Rhine, I could be heard distinctly in the background saying, “Ooh, new Nomos … huh, not sure about that.” The reason for my reticence (I’m typically effervescent about my favourite German watch brand) was the dial, particularly those two Roman numerals on the bottom half. First, some background on the Club. This round, slightly less classical Nomos has been a stalwart of their line-up for years. It’s always been billed as a watch for younger people, or your first ‘good’ watch. The Club Campus is, in many ways, the extension of this concept. The proposition of the Campus is that it’s explicitly aimed at students, whether as a watch to wear while you study, or as a tangible way to celebrate your graduation. What this means is that the Campus is a watch that’s been stripped back to the essentials in terms of both functionality and price. The Club Campus is offered in a white-dialled 36mm version and larger 38mm versions in white or…
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Here at Time+Tide we make no bones about being greatly enamoured of Longines’s heritage offerings, so it’s understandable that we made a beeline for the Lindbergh and 1945 models. However, our attention was rapidly drawn to the comparatively pared-back Record, which intrigued us with one simple word on its dial – ‘chronometer’. Now, in case you’re not up with your watch jargon, a chronometer is a essentially a very precise and accurate timepiece. And while in the past the task of certifying chronometers fell to astronomical observatories, these days it’s the duty of Contrôle Officiel Suisses des Chronomètres, Switzerland’s chronometer testing institute. COSC conducts extensive testing of uncased movements over a period of 15 days, ensuring that they achieve an average daily rate of -4/+6 seconds in five positions and at three different temperatures. Some brands, notably Rolex and Breitling, submit all their watches for chronometer certification, but this is the first time Longines has released an entirely COSC-certified collection. The movements that meet this standard are produced by ETA exclusively for the brand, and incorporate a crystal-silicon balance spring. That Longines has committed to this level of accuracy at their competitive price point is impressive, to say the least. So that’s…
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