Category: Reviews

The Iridium Torpedo arrives to offer a different take on the budget-friendly dive watch with monster specifications for minimum spending. With looks that stray closer to glamour than “tool watch”, it doesn’t shy away from being highly capable and seriously tough. The Torpedo is available with a black, blue, grey, or green dial, and the green is the variety I got to spend some time with. The sunburst texture is extreme, creating lush, undulating flashes between shades of teal and emerald, honing in on the aquatic themes of the watch in general. The applied diamond indices at the quarters are glamorous with their polished-steel surrounds complimenting the large handset, while the circular indices are stretched and pulled by the sapphire crystal’s distortion to create all manner of interesting shapes. The date window is nicely integrated with a steel frame and does well not to interrupt any symmetry on the 42mm dial. The bright orange seconds hand is attention-grabbing no matter which dial colour it appears over, and its length reaches far into the printed minute track for easy time-setting.  While it is an impressive thing to look at during the day, the Iridium Torpedo really comes alive when the lights…

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It’s fair to say that most people hate spinach. Generally with good reason too. But if there was ever anyone to convince you that eating spinach was a good idea, it would be the one and only Popeye. He’s a character who loves his pipe nearly as much as he loves his leafy greens and, for the second time in recent years, is gracing the dial of a watch in the Bamford London GMT Popeye Limited Edition. The first time Popeye and Bamford collaborated was for the 90th anniversary of the American sailor’s earliest public appearance way back in 1929, producing another nautically themed limited edition of 50 pieces that also used the Bamford GMT as a template. This year we get another edition, this time with a black coating over the 40mm stainless-steel case with Popeye now running across the dial. Just like the first edition, this second Bamford London GMT Popeye Limited Edition uses Popeyes arms as the hour and minute hands, with a white and red GMT hand cutting a contrasting line over the dial. The Bamford GMT is a watch we are familiar with at Time+Tide after launching our own limited edition watch at the end…

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Polarising did you say? Well, this is like nothing else, I’m back and forth between love and, well, indifference is not a word. Right now, I’m very much in the LOVE camp, and still trying to work out what the hell the KITH for G-Shock GM-6900 Rainbow looks like. A burnished heat shield from a re-entry heat shield fallen off a Space Shuttle? Gold plating gone chemically wrong? A petrified oil slick? I don’t care, I want it anyway. On the wrist, this is a conversation stopper like no other wristwatch (save perhaps a domed MB&F), but at a knockout price. This is not the first, but the third collaboration with KITH, the New York-based streetwear chain and eponymous clothing label, and it’s based on the nineties classic GM-6900. But here, on its discretely elegant, logoed KITH resin strap (it even comes with another one), all the stops have been pulled out for the iconic case. Personally, I’d say this is the first time I’ve felt a real pang of desire for the rather bulbous case of the GM, too, I felt the last collab from Hodinkee was a bit too muted (I didn’t say boring). For their 10th anniversary…

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First impressions: a stealth black UFO. perhaps? And then a red pulsating zig-zag that I feel like illustrating with a comic book “ZAP!”. This is my introduction to the Hamilton Ventura Elvis80 Skeleton. Fresh from being inspired by the vintage purity of the Intra-Matic chronograph we recently covered here, I was not expecting this dark futuristic visage from the Hamilton brand. Anyone conversant with watches past a certain age instantly equates the Hamilton Ventura with Elvis Presley. This, however is not a vintage reissue of his quirky triangular wristwatch from 1957 that was the first-ever battery-powered watch. Pretty damn far from it, in fact. The Elvis Aaron Presley wearing this was not born in the US of A, but in a parallel universe, on The Death Star. Yes, this is the watch worn by Elvis the Sith Lord, a wristworn dynamic sweep of a soft alien shape – no easy circles or rectangles here, son.  In order to wrap your head around it and make sense of it, you have to consider the visual references of ’50s American design. Because the basic shape, one suspects, is informed by that world of chrome tailfins and UFO-shaped diners. Theorising aside, it’s a…

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I’ve said it many times, but I will say it again: blue was absolutely the colour of 2020. With such saturation of the dial colour, manufacturers really had to explore varying shades of blue to have their products stand out in the marketplace. Fast-forward to 2021 and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Diamond Set collection introduces a duo of light blue dialled references alongside a familiar black toned dial configuration – all of which are cased in precious metal and set with diamonds.   As Jumbo models, each of the precious metal cases are 39mm in diameter and a sporty slender 8.1mm thick. On the front facing elements of the watch, where you would typically find brushed surfaces on the case and bracelet you are instead greeted with masterfully set diamonds all throughout its externals. Each watch is set with 1,102 brilliant-cut diamonds (〜7.09 carats), and each will likely become major candidates for celebrity watch collections. While almost all of its surface area is dedicated to diamonds, the 2021 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Diamond Set collection still boasts the renowned polished bevels to the shoulders of the tapering bracelet links, eight polished facets of the octagonal bezel, brushed…

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Fears Watch Company is a big part of the renaissance of British watchmaking and yet another sign of the new roaring 20s as UK horology continues to regain its momentum. The most important model in the Fears catalogue is the Brunswick and I had the impression that it peaked with the beguiling vertical striations on the salmon-coloured reference we covered here. Today they turn their hand-crafted dial up to 11 with the Fears Brunswick Pt. I admit to this now being on my own wish-list, as I do have a tendency to wave the flag for the spirit and determination of the smaller, independent maisons. I had a peek behind the proverbial curtain last week, and the pleasure of chatting with their managing director Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, and was knocked out by the audacity of this launch. The sheer enthusiasm and intuitive horological understanding – while not adhering to trends – is thoroughly refreshing and apparent from the timeless designs in their repertoire. The Brunswick in itself is a wristwatch close to my heart in terms of its 38mm size with the pebble-smooth oeuvre of a Laurent Ferrier. This says a lot for the design nous of Bowman-Scargill and his team…

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I’ll bet many people weren’t even aware of the name o2T, and that’s a big credit to TAG Heuer. It takes guts to downplay the micro-wonders of the mythical tourbillon, swirling slowly inside its cage at 6 o’clock. While we daily see references with less dazzle but 10 words to their model designation, here it’s simply the Heuer 02 calibre we know, with a very quietly spoken T, in the revamped TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer o2T. This understatement is in direct contrast to the clean-cut opening at the base of the dial, a small haute horologerie marvel peeking out at us fixed by a navy blue cage. The 250 pieces of what is the pinnacle of TAG Heuer’s Carrera range has been upgraded with a razor-sharp titanium version of their larger sports case, and a formal, dark tone of blue befitting its stature. We will absolutely forgive TAG Heuer for using a rather large 45mm case, as we remember that this is a self-winding chronograph movement with a flying tourbillon, a big heart for even a large case. But wouldn’t you agree that here it is absolutely worth every extra millimetre, in a case that seems even a bit more…

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