A watch shaped like no other… A display that indicates the time in a unique way… Complications that you won’t find anywhere else… URWERK’s latest creation, the UR-100, takes the unusual spaceship-looking watch and makes it even more unusual. After two inaugural editions in steel or in black-coated steel, followed by a GunMetal model, the […]
Urwerk’s unique astronomical watch goes for gold in a galaxy far, far away.
Editor’s note: This week on Micro Mondays we focus our gaze on a British brand that has made waves in the space over the last few years, delivering affordably priced watches with ample character to make them stand out from an increasingly crowded segment of the market. Farer are not immune to taking cues from the watches of the last century, but do so in a way that pays respect to the adventurous spirit of early tool watches, while at the same time bringing them into the 21st century with playful moments of colour and reliable contemporary movements. This year the brand is celebrating its fifth birthday, no mean feat in the age of crowdfunding campaigns that sometimes cannot even make the step from render on a screen to metal on a wrist. As a result, their success cannot be viewed through the lens of chance, but is, in fact, the result of consistently making watches that an ever-growing in-the-know community of enthusiasts are excited to strap on their wrists. In specific focus is the Farer Oxley GMT, a wristwatch that breathes new life into the increasingly unaffordable category of robust travel watches, something that is particularly poignant at a…
The post MICRO MONDAYS: The Farer Oxley GMT offers quarantine comfort, for the right amount of cost appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
The introduction of the Speake Marin One&Two collection in 2016 was a landmark for the brand. An original take on classic Swiss watchmaking infused with a touch of British eccentricity, the collection marked the introduction of a new family of proprietary movements. Following the launch of the One&Two Openworked Hours & Minutes and One&Two Openworked […]
Certain expertise has always been found in specific parts of the world, creating hubs of creativity and technical innovation. So what would happen if you put the watchmaking nous of La Chaux-de-Fonds and the tech capability of Silicon Valley together into a watch? You get the TAG Heuer Connected watch, generation 3. The first generation of the Connected watch was released in 2015 (the same year as the first Apple Watch), followed quickly by the second in 2017. This year, we get more of a quantum leap than an incremental improvement. The generation 3 is two things: the most technically advanced and yet most mechanical watch-like yet. When the first generation was released, it offered features that had rarely been seen in a smartwatch at that time, with Spotify and Google Maps offering a degree of connectedness that was leading edge. In the most recent generation, those features that were once a novelty are now standard, and TAG Heuer has continued to lift the bar in terms of what’s on offer. For this generation, TAG Heuer have partnered with Google. The watch is powered by Google’s Wear OS software that offers the laundry list of features you might have seen…
The post HANDS-ON: The TAG Heuer Connected generation 3 is the Swiss and Silicon Valley doing what they do best, together appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
The first rule about Schnitzel Dinner is that you don’t ask to be invited to Schnitzel Dinner. You be nice to Frank from Monochrome. You wait by the inbox. You hope like hell you’re going to be in ‘the 45’. The first part was the problem for us at Time+Tide. The Dutchies are just so fun to banter with. Over the years, wisecracking with these fellas – Brice and Frank in particular – in the press lounge has become a precious break from the intensity. Anyway, after a year on the bench (2014), we made the cut and we’ve been at every dinner since. But wait, what is this Schnitzel Dinner, and why did it matter to watchmaking at large? You may have noticed an article go up over the weekend on Monochrome mourning its passing. You may have also quickly flicked past a couple of stories we posted on our Insta showing a table of people clowning around with chip fangs and Aussie accents. It was the same thing: the dinner that happened for a small group of just 45 invitees – mostly media and independent watchmakers – at a cosy wood-panelled pub each year at the mid-point of…
The post What is the ‘Baselworld Schnitzel Dinner’, and why does it matter? appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
A warbler for every wrist.
Watch customisation is now a field you can get into at high and low price points, but it’s still fair to say that going bespoke with a quality watch fit for the Ministry of Defence for example, is generally reserved for the upper echelons of independent watchmaking. And up at a price point where you might be paying six figures for a watch before you can ask for a different dial colour — and only if you are seen as a very good client. Most watch brands flat-out refuse to do it, a practice that has given birth to the aftermarket customisation business (that is, a third-party jeweller or watchmaker will make your desired adjustments once you’ve bought it from the brand), which is polarising to say the least. In that context, it is a welcome surprise to learn about the new customisation service from Bremont, available on their MBII model. Using an online configurator (click here to have a go yourself), you are able to design your own Bremont MBII with different case finishing, case barrels (the flanks of the MBII), dials, casebacks and straps. All in all, there are more than 100 different designs you can create with just…
The post Bespoke, baby! You can now build your own custom Bremont Martin-Baker appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
The annual calendar is a relatively young ‘complication’ and was first used in a wristwatch by Patek Philippe in 1996. It’s the less complicated sibling of the perpetual calendar and only requires one calendar adjustment every year. Today we’re looking at the ‘less complicated’ combination of a calendar mechanism and a chronograph. So not the esteemed combination of a perpetual calendar and a chronograph, but the combination of an annual calendar and a chronograph and there are actually only a handful combining these two complications.
It takes an iron will to walk past an A. Lange & Söhne dealer without losing a few minutes of your day. The German masters ensure their collections soar above the competition, bewitching onlookers and dominating wish-lists around the world. If you’re lucky, dead in the centre of the captivating display will be a Zeitwerk Minute Repeater — the ‘digital’ watch that redefined the holy grail of complications. Now, to celebrate five years since its launch, A. Lange & Söhne have created a limited edition of 30 Zeitwerk Minute Repeaters with a striking blue dial and white gold case. If you’re unfamiliar with the idea behind the Zeitwerk family, don’t let the word ‘digital’ fool you. The timepieces are entirely mechanical, however they display the time with easily legible digits instead of hands. The premise is simple, having been perfected by Casio decades ago, but the execution for a machine with no LCD screens or batteries is astonishingly tough. Using a series of rings for the hours and minutes, a specialised constant-force escapement keeps the jumping lightning quick and accurate — even when the mainspring is running low on power. As if redefining mechanical watchmaking wasn’t enough, A. Lange &…
The post INTRODUCING: The A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater, the three-quarters of a million dollar watch appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.