VIDEO: The Grand Seiko SLGA001 is big and brawny, but make no mistake, it has brains too

Grand Seiko SLGA001There’s no doubt about it. The latest 47mm professional dive watch from Grand Seiko makes a dramatic first impression, but that shouldn’t overshadow just how remarkable the technical achievements are inside that large and in charge case. The Grand Seiko SLGA001 certainly isn’t for the faint of wrist, measuring in at 46.9mm in diameter and 16mm tall, but the technology powering it is impressive to the highest degree. The new Spring Drive movement is thinner than its predecessor, as well as being more shock resistant thanks to a single-piece central bridge. It boasts a full five days of power reserve as a result of two mainspring barrels. The accuracy has also been improved to ±0.5 seconds per day, an achievement possible thanks to technology borrowed from the 9F quartz movements used by Grand Seiko. The case and bracelet are constructed in hard-wearing titanium, which eliminates what would have been significant weight if the watch was made in the typical steel used in watchmaking, and makes it remarkably more wearable considering its size. This is a watch designed for the professional diver, and ticks just about every box someone who spent their life underwater would want. The Grand Seiko 60th Anniversary Limited…

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6 years ago

A short history of DOXA, the brand that was almost lost to history

The dusty shelves of antique stores and less-trafficked avenues of eBay are full of watch brands whose glory days are well behind them. DOXA, who date their history back to 1889, was almost one of those brands. But thankfully, the name persevered, and DOXA is still with us today, and the brand’s future looks bright – almost as bright as their famous orange dials. The history of DOXA is one that’s best told in two chapters. The first is the late 19th century story of a brand that began, like so many, in the Jura Valley – the heartland of Swiss watchmaking. Georges Ducommun quickly built DOXA into a brand with a strong reputation for reliability and innovation, including their eight-day calibre – patented in 1908 – which became widely used in dash-mounted clocks in automobiles and planes. But DOXA’s main moment didn’t come until some years later, in 1967 to be precise. But before we go into the specific details in which the iconic DOXA SUB was born, let’s talk a little about the dive watch more broadly. While watches made to survive the rigours of the underwater environment existed in the early 1900s – the Rolex Oyster case…

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6 years ago

James' Longines HydroConquest hit the deck when he fell off his bike, but it's still ticking

Does the name James Robinson look familiar? That might be because James is part of the team here at Time+Tide Watches and he writes quite prodigiously about watches. You might have read his story on Zenith’s new Land Rover collab today, or countless other times before. Well, we thought it was time we put a face to a name. Ladies and gentlemen, meet James! In this episode of Every Watch Tells A Story, James chose to talk about his indefatigable Longines HydroConquest (which he reviewed in detail here), which has been everywhere with him. And unfortunately, very recently that meant going with James from an upright position on a bike to splayed out on the concrete after a spill. The crown seemed to have made direct contact with the tarmac, and it’s been jammed in ever since. But did the movement stop ticking, even after the licking? Nope.

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6 years ago

Introducing – The New Garrick S3

After S1 and S2 naturally comes S3. Since Garrick’s introduction of the S1 in 2018, the UK based brand is dedicated to honouring traditional skills, with respect to English-style watchmaking and craftsmanship from a bygone era. This third iteration follows the same design language as the previous models and at first, might not seem that […]

6 years ago