CELEBRITY WATCH DEATH MATCH: Jay-Z Vs. Drake's watch collection – and the winner is…

Well, the results are in for the inaugural round of Celebrity Watch Death Match, and everything is coming up not just roses for Jay-Z, but “Rose Gold Concepts”. Which the man himself raps about in ‘Summer’ from the Everything Is Love album, a reference to his Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Chronograph in 18KT Rose Gold. Hove smashed Drizzy across four categories by three winning watches to one, though things did get tight in the ‘Modded & Murdered’ category, where he prevailed with a margin of just six per cent, his Franck Muller modified Rolex just beating out the murdered and iced Nautilus. Dress watch to die for: Result: 87% for the Jaeger-LeCoultre and 13% for the RM. So there you have it, vindication for yours truly. Jay-Z’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso Ultra-Thin Tribute to 1931 Pink Gold Ref. 2782521 is such a good thing, as opposed to that fully iced-out, ladies RM with Cuban bracelet … talk about extra. Modded and murdered out mayhem: Result: Oooooh, just 6% in it, with Patek netting 43% vs 57% for the Rolex. A closer result than the blowout in the dress watch showdown, but still, let history show you were with me – I was on the…

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6 years ago

Long read: Omega De Ville Co-Axial Escapement Limited Edition, a piece of watchmaking history

Omega De Ville Co-Axial Escapement Limited EditionGeorge Daniels is almost universally recognised as the greatest watchmaker of his lifetime, and even if you haven’t heard of him, you might have seen evidence of his work on the dial of millions of Omega watches around the world — the words CO-AXIAL. His most significant contribution to watchmaking was the development of his co-axial escapement, the first serious step forward in watchmaking in more than 200 years, and was first put to work in the Omega De Ville Co-Axial Escapement Limited Edition. That’s right, not much had changed in two centuries before Daniels began his work. His co-axial escapement was important because not only did it improve the accuracy of a typical mechanical watch, but it also vastly improved the mechanical efficiency of the movement so that it would need less regular servicing. Legend has it that Daniels woke in the middle of the night with a complete picture of what the escapement would look like, but really it was the cumulative efforts of 20 years of work that led him to develop his invention. In essence, the co-axial escapement was successfully able to eliminate almost all friction between the pallet fork and the escape wheel, an improvement on…

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6 years ago

In these crazy times, Hamilton's quirky sci-fi release makes perfect sense

Hamilton PSRWhen it comes to the dress code for our post-apocalyptic future, the Mad Max films wrote the rulebook. Essentially, what they prescribe is an “anything goes” approach involving heavy use of asymmetrical shoulder pads, harnesses, gratuitous cargo pockets and lots and lots of leather. The presumed rationale behind such get-ups is that, when you’re trying to survive in a dystopian wasteland, you wear whatever you can scavenge. But I reckon something else is going on here, too. When your circumstances become truly outlandish, the standard rules no longer apply. Forced to become more open-minded as life takes an unexpected turn, the conventional is replaced with the left field. Given that we’re all now adapting to unfathomable times ourselves (way to go, COVID-19), the decision to re-release the Hamilton Pulsar is perfect timing. The world’s first electronic digital wristwatch was presented to the world on May 6, 1970, in a press conference at the Four Seasons in New York. With no moving parts and an LED digital display illuminated at the touch of a button, the watch was like something out of science fiction. Which, in fact, it was — the Pulsar Time Computer’s idiosyncratic design was based on a concept clock…

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6 years ago

Hands-on – Carl F. Bucherer Manero Flyback with Blue Dial

If you ask me, you’ll know that I have a soft spot for vintage chronographs. Without surprise, the cool retro vibes of the Carl F. Bucherer Manero Flyback immediately caught my eye, since the watch was launched in 2016. This elegant and well-executed chronograph, which also features an advanced automatic movement, now comes in a […]

6 years ago

FRIDAY WIND DOWN: Feat. Celebrity Death Match, Notorious Robberies and Every Watch Tells A Story returns!

Good news is about as rare these days as a Hodinkee Limited Edition, especially the cache of their Limited Editions they released at retail this week as a goodwill gesture. But we do have some to make your Friday feel a little less surreal. Two months after the ‘Watch & Act!’ Auction had its glorious conclusion, we were finally able to take that happiest of trips to the bank to get cheques to disburse to organisations that still need it on a day-to-day basis. Our CFO and I had a smile on our faces when we held this fistful of dollars, very briefly, before sending out. It was the highlight of the week. But on the site, there were plenty of story highlights to keep quarantined people entertained. James pulled in an absolute monster traffic result with his first and certainly not his last Celebrity Watch Death Match; Jay-Z vs Drizzy. Not only did people read it, they voted, enthusiastically. There were more than 3000 total votes on Instagram. For the winner, check out the wrap-up, which will be dropping tomorrow, and stay tuned for the second death match. It’s a doozy! Every Watch Tells A Story is a series…

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6 years ago