HANDS-ON: The Grand Seiko SBGW264 has one of the best green dials in the industry
Grand Seiko gets a lot of attention from collectors that’s well-deserved for the incredible artistry it delivers. If the Swiss were even capable of paralleling this Japanese craft and philosophy, the resulting products would likely be far more expensive. Grand Seiko continually brings high craftsmanship and value to the table, the brand name truly built on the merits of their products. While we typically see more steel and titanium watches from the brand, they are no stranger to precious metals. Zaratsu finishes on steel and titanium are absolutely exquisite in every way, but there is something about Zaratsu on precious metals that is downright phenomenal. The limited-edition Grand Seiko SBGW264 pairs an elegant Zaratsu-finished precious metal case, with a gorgeous green dial that needs to be experienced in the metal. The case The rose-gold case of the Grand Seiko SBGW264 is 39mm in diameter and 11.6mm thick making it the perfect size for a wide spectrum of wrists and slender enough to slide easily beneath a shirt cuff. The case is splash-resistant, so while you cannot swim with this precious watch you don’t have to feel like Indiana Jones swapping out the idol in Temple of Doom when washing your…
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Blown away by the first picture in the press release. Where to start? I’ll be honest with you, while we want to share the news from the LVMH Watch Week as soon as it comes out, it does create the luxury of frustration, very apparent in this story on the Hublot Big Bang MP-11 Magic Gold. My frustration is one of knowing I could easily write 2000 words on this indecipherable world of the hand-wound Calibre HUB9011 watch movement and still not fully comprehend its head-scratching complexity. But that is exactly what makes the MP-11 series so special and still immensely beguiling after being with us for a few years. It’s still the pinnacle of a wrist watch engine. Why? Well, had it been an electric car it would end all that anxiety about how far you can travel without charging, as this watch has the unbelievable prowess of a 14-day power reserve. That’s one hot engine under the hood, baby, and Hublot ain’t afraid of showing it. Gone are the laurels for 70 hours of power reserve. How much did you say, I must have misheard you? I repeat: 14 days. Read it and weep. And how? Seven barrels…
FINALLY! We cried in 2020 as Hublot unleashed their Integral series. With one fell swoop, the Masters of Bold brushed competition aside in the wristwatch MMA series of the Integrated Bracelet Battle For Supremacy. Ingeniously retaining the sharp design language of the Big Bang collection, now close to a contemporary classic, we got the chunkiest, edgiest bracelet on the market that’s (crucially) still very comfortable. With our integrated bracelet appetites supposedly sated with titanium, King Gold and black ceramic, today launched no less than three new colours, making the Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic a high-tech materiality showcase for Hublot. A classic white, formal grey tone and, maybe my favourite, that difficult to classify shade of navy that is just so. The well-defined details of the bold-bezelled Big Bang are just as sharp as we know them, like the colour-matched rubber on the muscular pushers. Then there’s the angular, strong case design made even more pronounced through the bracelet, its bold outer links echoing the broad, sharp stroke of bevelling that defines the case sides and dramatic sweep of lug. So what do these three watches do to us? They make us wonder why the Integral with its bracelet wasn’t…
Hublot is no stranger to coloured sapphire cases, but never have we seen this delicious colour in any wrist-worn wonder, from Hublot or anyone else. ..Well, who else would be up for this flavour of Vitamin See that will have everybody eyeballing your wrist? As the boldest, brightest spark of colour in the LVMH Watch Week press conference this morning, it literally caused me to jump a measurable few inches from my chair. Like a blood orange blood infusion of Haute Horologie, the (deep breath) Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Orange Sapphire has a name as long as its impact is strong (rhyme intented). The HBBTAOS is lit. Even if we are used to the Big Bang series being bold with capital letters, after all these years they still manage to knock our socks off with pure audacity. Again and again. How? The orange sapphire is a peachy sapphire tinted with titanium and chromium, incredibly hard to machine, and to give us another jolt of surprise, with a brand new semi-transparent automatic movement which comes tourbillon equipped. More full size Jaffa orange than demure mandarin, the 45mm x 15.3 is neither svelte nor slim, but what the hell, this dramatic…