The only Barakuda you'll ever need – the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Barakuda Only Watch
With Only Watch 2019 now just a mere 11 days away from kicking off, we thought we’d take a look at Blancpain’s Only entrant – the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Barakuda. The unique piece from the storied Swiss marque is, rather obviously, based on the standard Fifty Fathoms Barakuda. However, the Only Watch Barakuda sports very fetching hints of baby blue that can be observed on the edges of the hour indices, seconds hand tip and the numerals of the unidirectional rotating bezel. The blue signifies the reason why the Only Watch event exists – to support the research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Another unique feature of this Fifty Fathoms Barakuda is that the oscillating weight has been engraved with the words “Only Watch”, which is a really nice touch. The movement itself is Blancpain’s in-house Calibre 1151, a self-winding movement that benefits from 210 components, 28 jewels, silicon balance spring, 100 hours of power reserve, and ticks away at a relaxed 21,600 vibrations per hour (3Hz). The Only Watch Fifty Fathoms Barakuda’s stainless steel case measures 40.3mm and a relatively slim 13.23mm and, as a result of being a purpose-built diver’s watch, the Barakuda is capable of 300 metres of…
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Longines offer a great many different styles of timepieces across five unique collections in their portfolio of wristwatches. And while each of the five collections provides a distinctive interpretation of what a timepiece should offer, in my opinion, the Swiss watchmaker’s Heritage collection resonates the most with horological enthusiasts. These are the timepieces that hark back to some of Longines’ most important watches of the last century and, more importantly, while the aesthetic presented is decidedly vintage, the innards of these Heritage watches are bang up to date, offering the latest and greatest engineering cred that the Longines has to offer. And when you can combine vintage flair with modern reliability and accuracy, it really is a “have your cake and eat it too” scenario. Anyway, with all this in mind, here are five examples of Longines Heritage timepieces that tick all the boxes of a great collection, no matter the context: The Dress Watch – Longines Conquest Heritage Every good watch collection needs a decent dress watch. And when we say decent, that means leather band, minimal complications, a case size preferably no bigger than 40mm and an arresting dial design. This Longines Conquest Heritage meets this criteria…
Whether watch enthusiasts want to admit it or not, there is definitely a curiosity when it comes to celebrity watch spotting. It’s a guilty pleasure for most of us, and I have no shame admitting that I will regularly spend hours going down the virtual rabbit hole on Instagram, scoping what iced-out timepiece Mark Wahlberg has been spotted wearing this month. But it’s not all frosted APs, Richard Milles and Patek Philippes. It seems that some of the Hollywood elite have broader taste. For example, these four famous Britons from vastly different backgrounds appear to be rather fond of a certain independent British watchmaker; stars of the silver screen, comedians and death-defying survivalists all find something that suits them in the Bremont range. Tom Hardy – Bremont ALT1-ZT Hollywood A-Lister Tom Hardy has been linked to the brand almost since it was born, and the Venom actor — not well-renowned for toeing a party line on set — has even verbalised his support for the British watchmaker on his Instagram account: Sheer Engineering ♠️ BREMONT rugged precision focus flow somewhere under the radar way up high… Bear Grylls – Bremont ALT1-P That’s right, the maverick, renegade, and man-with-an-iron-stomach Bear Grylls fancies a Bremont…
The partnership between Swiss watchmaker Hublot and Italian car marque Ferrari has resulted in some very interesting watches indeed, and I think it should be ranked as one of the most genuinely interesting design partnerships in watches. And while the Classic Fusion Ferrari GT, with its dangerous curves, was one of the real highlight releases of this year (in King Gold, please!), it was far from the only one. This big fella — one of a trio celebrating Scuderia Ferrari’s 90th anniversary (and called, appropriately enough, the Big Bang Scuderia Ferrari 90th Anniversary Sapphire) — is a classic Hublot. We’re talking about 45mm of large, very much in charge, sapphire case, with a hulking great carbon bezel that looks like it might well be an actual brake disc off a Ferrari, rather than just inspired by one. On top of that, there’s a popping strap of woven Kevlar (one of the other case versions offers Nomex, which is also super cool). And that’s before we get to the case itself. Sapphire is incredibly hard, and looks incredibly cool. Though, interestingly enough, here the sapphire doesn’t dominate the show as you’d expect, but rather provides a frame and strong textural counterpoint for the…