F.P. Journe released the Centigraphe Souverain to mainly support the ICM Institute in Paris, contributing to medical research to help fight brain and spinal cord disease. In the process of doing so, Francois-Paul Journe has created a mechanical chronograph unlike any that has ever been made before. The Centigraphe sports three…
A wristwatch that is out of this world – literally – the De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Meteorite both awesome and shocking. Awesome, because the wondrously blue watch case is remarkably fluid in form but milled from a meteorite, while containing a cutting edge movement with a tourbillon regulator. And it is shocking because the Dream Watch 5 costs almost half […]
The Rolex Day-Date has been at the top of their non-sports collection since 1958. This year, celebrating its 60th Anniversary, Rolex released the Day-Date 40 in 18k white gold and Everose with a distinctive green dial. But the piece which has attracted our attention all this while is the Day-Date 40 in platinum revealed in Baselworld 2015. We…
Perhaps the most famous luxury watch ever, the Rolex Datejust is over 70 years old, but looks much the same as it did decades ago. The unchanging aesthetic belies the significant improvements Rolex has made to its bestseller, culminating in the latest Datejust 41, powered by the next generation calibre 3235 movement. Though the new ceramic […]
The use of bronze dates way back to the 5th Millennium BCE, with the oldest artefacts coming from the Iranian plateau during that era. Known for its durability at that time, bronze was widely used for a variety of items, including tools, weapons, and even ornamental products.…
First launched in 1997, the Langematik is the first self-winding watch from A. Lange & Söhne. A brave move by the brand and also a watershed release, the Langematik is arguably one of the most characteristic watches from the brand. Particularly due to its spectacular new manufacture movement; the L921.2 was one of Lange’s earliest…
Baselworld 2016. The halls were abuzz…with news from Seiko. The first ever Seiko Credor Tourbillon wristwatch from this much loved, ultra conservative watchmaker from Japan. We made the beeline to see it. First through the showcase. The first impressions was one of moderate surprise. No, we lie. We were shocked! Then we had our…
In the small but fascinating world of watchmaking, some timepieces deeply influenced the whole industry. The Submariner almost defined what a dive watch should be. The story behind the Speedmaster is still an immense source of fascination. The Royal Oak created his own and so-respected category, the luxury sports watch. In a much more discreet way, Ulysse Nardin, in 2001, introduced a watch that deeply changed the face of modern watchmaking: the Freak, a watch that can be considered as the mother of concept watches and of silicon. Its time for us to review its successor, the Ulysse Nardin FreakLab.
Watchmakers are like all boys. When it comes to numbers, being first or having the greatest is always better – even if having the biggest (watch of course…) is not always desirable. Watchmakers always looked for the most complicated watch, for the watch with the most features, for the most precise movement or for the lightest case. And even when it comes to a specific complication, being the most accurate is a very good marketing argument – which of course always implies stupendous technical developments and immense watchmaking skills. In terms of MoonPhase, the title for the most precise was already in the hands of Andreas Strehler, but it’s now even better with his new Papillon Sauterelle à Lune Exacte.
The Blancpain Ladybird was born more than half a century ago and in 1956, it was considered to be the world’s smallest round watch. This feat was made possible with the unveiling of the smallest round movement made back then, the R550 caliber was impressive and at a mere 11.85 mm in diameter, it boasted a power reserve of up to 40 hours that…