Watch Dandy

Diving is a pursuit — more than most — that relies on gear. Which is why it’s an area full of storied suppliers that are as much a part of pioneering and evolving diving as the divers themselves. Of course, watch brands fall into this matrix — but they’re a relatively small part of the picture. Suits, breathing apparatus and all the other paraphernalia are equally as important. Which is why this watch, the Aquadive Poseidon GMT, is such a nice celebration of this heritage.  Aquadive, in case you’re not familiar, is one of those old names in dive watches. Their heyday was in the ’60s and ’70s, that’s making a bit of a splash now, thanks to their revival by the Synchron Group. And Poseidon, when he’s not busy being king under the waves, is a diving gear company dating back to 1958, which lists an innovative fully automatic rebreather, the MkVI, in its list of accomplishments. The brand’s bright yellow logo stands out on the dial. You might recognise Poseidon from their collab with Doxa last year. And while this watch can’t help you in the breathing department, it can certainly handle the timekeeping side of the equation.  Steel,…

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There is no designer in the watch game like Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani. He is sketching, pardon the millennial turn of phrase here, literally all of the time. When he’s being interviewed. When he’s in a room by himself waiting to be interviewed (I disturbed him in the act as I was early). And, you suspect, when he’s having his breakfast at the very break of day. “Every day of my life I am drawing.” That’s all well and good, and almost certainly well known by now. But this is not the point of this story. There is another angle on the man that intrigues me, speaking personally. His style. His individuality. So, when he told me in a recent interview that he has been wearing a watch for more than six months straight, I had to better understand why? And which watch was it? Through the process, I learned that evolving the Finissimo from grey to black, and from titanium to ceramic was far more complex a process than it might appear. I was with Bulgari in Shanghai for the launch of more Serpenti Seduttori, a drop-shaped watch case with an extraordinary ‘snake scaled’ bracelet. It’s typical Bulgari watchmaking for…

The post “Even more style than the titanium” – the black ceramic Bulgari Octo Finissimo explained by its designer appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

The Chopard Alpine Eagle is a watch that has roots in the 1980s when their St. Moritz model was released. It was during a period when the stainless steel luxury sports watch boom was in full swing. Case in point, between 1980 and 1995, the St. Moritz model alone sold 50,000 pieces. Now, the St. Moritz has been reimagined with a contemporary flavour in terms of its design, as well as a number of technical developments that make the Chopard Alpine Eagle a genuine luxury wristwatch and reflect Chopard’s endeavour to “treat steel as if it were gold”. Also, the dial. We have had this bird in the hand the last few weeks, and we can confirm it really is something. More to come. As a brief  history lesson on the origins of the Alpine Eagle, in 1980 the St. Moritz was released by Chopard after being envisioned by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, the son of the owner of the brand. It was the first watch that Karl-Friedrich Scheufele had ever designed, at the young age of 22, as well as the first sports watch and the first steel watch that Chopard had produced. Chopard have taken these points as inspiration for…

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