Rolex, Patek, Tudor and TAG plus 34 other brands to show at Watches and Wonders in April
I will be perfectly honest, ever since starting to write about watches, my sincere wish has been to meet up with the Time+Tide team at Basel, SIHH or even some far-flung Far Eastern destination. But then, KER-CLUNK! It was as if a giant hand pulled down a large POWER OFF handle, the lights dimmed and it all went eerily quiet. COVID-19 signalled the temporary end of watch fairs. Yet thanks to the determination of Jean-Christophe Babin at Bulgari and various other horological powerhouses that pulled together Geneva Watch Days, things didn’t end as glumly as they might have. The GWD sent a signal to the world that we might be looking at a new future of watch fairs that are up close and personal (well, as close and personal as you can get with a mask on ). Now Watches and Wonders have announced their 2021 dates and it’s “phygital”! Yes, Watches and Wonders, the extravagantly monikered version of SIHH, is now back according to the press release (phygital is a cross between physical and digital, apparently). Five main brands are on board for the 2021 Watches & Wonders Geneva digital show: Rolex, Tudor, Patek Philippe, Chopard, and Chanel. They…
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Editor’s note: It only debuted 12 months ago, but the Hublot Big Bang Integral collection has already established itself as a mainstay within the brand’s lineup. Launched with variants in King Gold, titanium and black ceramic, the bracelet is so cleanly designed with its artful blend of polished and brushed surfaces highlighting its razor-sharp facets, that it almost feels like the Big Bang was designed with this specific idea in mind. Now, Hublot has presented the extension of the collection with the all new Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic in three fresh new colours. So let’s take a look back at Andrew’s initial thoughts from LVMH Week 2020 on why a bracelet can make such a difference, and why it will be a big part of Hublot’s future. OK, let’s dispense with any hype and get down to it. Sixty per cent of watches are sold on a bracelet and this is a fact that Hublot are finally set to take advantage of with the Hublot Big Bang Integral, a new collection, freshly launched at the LVMH fair in Dubai in early January. But first, if we’ve set a tone of #realtalk, let’s address a glaring contradiction. Doesn’t the very…
Now that 2021 has arrived, a return to normality seems to be lurking on the horizon (fingers crossed). We still have some work to do around the world, but with a vaccine in circulation it is fortunately no longer a matter of “if” but “when”. In anticipation of these brighter days, Omega is getting a jump-start on the fun to come when the Beijing Winter Olympics arrives next year. To celebrate the 30th year of being official timekeeper of the games, Omega is introducing their Omega Seamaster Diver 300M “Beijing 2022” Special Edition. The watch is every bit the modern Seamaster watch we have come to know and love, but with a few subtle twists that really tie the watch to the Winter Olympics. The stainless-steel case is still 42mm in diameter, 50mm lug-to-lug, and 13.7mm thick. It maintains the 300 metre water resistance expected of the collection, with a screw-down crown and Reese’s peanut-butter cup style helium-escape valve. Interestingly though, like the Nekton Seamaster released last year, Omega has opted to pair the Special Edition watch with a grade 5 titanium bezel with a 60-minute diving scale in positive relief. The sun-brushed blue ceramic dial features the same laser-engraved…
Digital watches are generally overlooked by the tastemakers of the horological elite, but we don’t think that’s really fair. Not only do they provide an interesting way of communicating the time that is easier to read (just ask your child), but they’re also a little more unusual and cut through the sea of analogue watches that we are used to seeing everyday. Because while you obviously have a range of digital watches that tell the time via an LED screen, there are also some seriously cool mechanical digital watches. So with that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at some of the best digital watches of 2020, which range from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred thousand dollars. CASIO G-SHOCK DW5600 NASA LIMITED EDITION There’s no shortage of watches clinging onto a legacy of space travel, but if any of them would be relevant in a modern world, then it would be a G-Shock. This limited edition DW5600 is clinically eye-catching, with its pure-white case and integrated rubber strap, smoothing over the usual bulk of G-Shocks. Pops of colour with the NASA logo and US flag complete a package fit for any space cowboy. Ref No.…
At a time when there is limited opportunity for travellers to jet around the world, there is a perverse brilliance in the timing of the British designed, Swiss-made Christopher Ward C1 Worldglow – a source of much-needed light at the end of the tunnel, and that’s before we even mention the lume factor. The genesis of Christopher Ward’s latest brainchild comes from its sister watch, the C1 Moonglow, which landed in July 2019. That was released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landing of the first Apollo that landed on the moon and was a roaring success for the British brand that only formed in 2005 (from a chicken shed in Berkshire I might add). It is now one of several brands driving a burgeoning UK market forward, thanks in part to co-founder and CEO Mike France (no, he’s not French). “Building on the success of the C1 Moonglow, we are out to establish an even stronger foothold and put our own flag, if you like, into glow watches that are part of the dress category,” France tells us. “Nobody’s really ever done anything in terms of lume on dress watches. But we thought, ‘How do you spark something…