INTRODUCING: The Grand Seiko SLGA001 is their best dive watch yet
This year is a big one for Grand Seiko as it is the 60th anniversary of the brand, a number already made special with several limited editions. Over the last few days they have released several more, one of which is arguably their most impressive dive watch yet. Say hello to the Grand Seiko SLGA001, a titanium diving watch that is powered by a brand new Spring Drive movement, and is water resistant to 600m. Before we get to why the new movement is important, let’s focus on the case and dial. At 46.9mm x 16mm, the dimensions are initially daunting for anyone with wrists smaller than Dwayne Johnson, but they are actually significantly less hefty, thanks to the material of the case and bracelet. The watch is made of a special high-intensity titanium, which is 40 per cent lighter than the typical steel used in watchmaking, and has the added benefit of basically being impossible to scratch. This reduction in weight would contribute to a reduced sense of bulk on the wrist, which has sometimes been the feedback for the larger dive watches produced by Grand Seiko. The shape of the SLGA001 case features relatively short lugs, which make…
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Emerging watchmakers face the near-Sisyphean task of standing out in a sea of low-budget options all vying for market dominance and social media influence. When William Wood’s founder Jonny Garrett launched a crowdfunding campaign to commemorate his grandfather’s heroics in the British Fire Service, the passion in the story clearly resonated with the thousands of pledgers who wanted to make these watches a reality. In 2020, William Wood’s ‘Valiant Collection’ seeks to continue the tribute to the man himself and fire fighters around the world, all the while being stylish enough to pass under the radar as daily wear. At first glance, the dial isn’t really breaking new ground, but a first foray into mechanical watches for any brand should be glad they can play it safe and yet do so well. The sandwiched luminous layer beneath the matte black dial shines through well in low light, adding even more depth to what is truly a cavernous distance between the crystal and the hands. The William Wood script isn’t too distracting, while the applied helmet logo adds a touch of class to the otherwise tool-orientated design. It would be remiss to ignore the many easter-eggs left as references to classic…
One of the biggest perks about this job is discovering things that I previously wouldn’t have known about myself. Now, I know that sounds both simultaneously profound and clichéd, and I am talking about watches after all, not the meaning of life … but it’s true, this job has taught me a great deal about myself that I otherwise wouldn’t have known. That’s what this Franck Muller Color Dreams did when I went hands-on with it … it completely shook up my personal status quo. Allow me to explain. If you’d told me that I’d fall head over heels for a robust, brushed steel, utilitarian tool watch with a matt grey dial and a faded bezel, I would’ve told you duh, that’s about as shocking as getting wet when you jump into a pool. However, if you told me that I’d become completely enamoured with a solid rose gold, rectangular-shaped timepiece with full diamond bezel, technicolour Arabic numeral dial and a green alligator leather band, I would’ve said you don’t know me from a bar of soap. But, as it turned out, I did not know myself from a bar of Dove hand soap, because this Franck Muller Long Island…
Editor’s note: The Tudor Black Bay symbolised a new chapter in the journey of the Rolex-owned watchmaker, with the decision to look back into their archives to build their future collections proving a very popular one. Inspired by the Tudor Submariners of the mid-1950s, the Tudor Black Bay ref. 79220N is a thoroughly modern interpretation of an iconic tool watch that walks the tightrope of historical design cues and contemporary wearability. Let’s take a closer look at one of the watches that put Tudor back on the map. The story in a second: We’ve been waiting three long years for this watch. Now it’s here. The question is: does it live up to the anticipation? The Tudor Black Bay Black – sorry everyone, BBB is going to be the name, as unadventurous as it is – was the watch we had to have. When the Black Bay first came out back in 2012, a large part of its appeal lay in the warm combo of rich red and deep gold. Clearly this was not just another sterile diver. It had personality, and its vintage aesthetic both contributed to and created the zeitgeist. Just days after its release, speculation had already…
This review of the DOXA SUB 200 Professional by our friends at Hodinkee nails the good, the great and the not quite perfect details of what is proving to be a significant release. Not only for DOXA because — as James says, using a perfect music metaphor — the 200 “turns the funk down to a more standard volume”. No love for cushion cases? No problem! It is also significant because it is “punching very hard” in the hot sub-$1000USD price point. You’d pretty much have to have never read Time+Tide before to have missed the news that we have been pretty besides ourselves about this collection since we saw it at Basel 2019, which is why we’ve taken the unprecedented step to distribute the brand in Australia. Don’t just take our word for it, though. Please read and enjoy this thorough and thoughtful review by one of the best watch journalists in the game about a collection set to take DOXAto a whole new generation of wrists. Find the full review on Hodinkee right here.
Editor’s note: The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is, in the context of a fit-for-purpose dive watch, the original. Nothing like it had come before, and because of it, watches like Rolex’s ubiquitous Submariner exist – the Fifty Fathoms was the catalyst for what is arguably the most popular sub-genre of timepieces ever created. But, while recognising past achievements and acknowledging history is important, an inability to adapt can ultimately be a monikers downfall. That’s why Blancpain continues to push its fabled namesake forwards into the 21-century with watches like this – Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Black Ceramic. It stays true to the formula of it’s forebears, but is a resolutely modern timepiece, thanks to its large 43mm proportions, monobloc ceramic case construction and a manufacture calibre movement which offers no less that 120-hours of power reserve. Towards the end of 2018, we filmed our impressions of this imperious dive watch, and if you’ve got the time, it’s definitely worth a watch. Blancpain’s Bathyscaphe is one of those rare, chameleonic watch designs. A watch that, broadly speaking, owes great fidelity to its primogenitor, but a watch that doesn’t look dated. It’s a neutral watch — something that gives the Bathyscaphe broad appeal…
Launching a completely new watch collection (starting-from-a-blank-page new, not variations on an existing line) is a high-risk game that involves huge costs: the cost of design and development – and if it’s not a resounding success (heaven forbid), the cost to both brand equity and bottom line. No wonder it’s a rare event. Even rarer is the launch of an entirely new collection for women. Partly for the above reasons and also because women, to this day, remain a bit of an afterthought in much of the watch industry. The old “give her something with diamonds and a quartz movement” school of thought has remarkable stamina. So the first whisper that Vacheron Constantin was planning a new women’s collection prompted a discussion with some girlfriends – if there were such a thing as an ideal watch for the 21st-century woman, what would it be? On several points we were unanimous: it should have real presence on the wrist (no fluffy, girly nonsense – and bland is utterly taboo); its design should exude character and confidence (like the women who will wear it); it should be packed with beautifully crafted details; it should show some self-control in the bling department (yes,…