Watch Dandy

Weekend Round-Up: Stealing Concours Cars, The Best Listicles, And The Home TV Effect

What have we been reading this week? It’s all in here…

Introducing – A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Daymatic “25th Anniversary”

Like all the seven watches presented over the past seven months to fête the Lange I, the Daymatic is dressed for the party in a white gold case with blue trimmings on the dial. As you know, the Saxon brand is celebrating the quarter-century of its foundation watch with not one but ten models. A […]

HANDS-ON: The Hermès Arceau L'heure de la lune

There’s an inherent romance in all mechanical wristwatches — a romance drawn largely from the fact that these painstakingly created devices are fundamentally anachronistic machines that have been superseded several times over. Yet, still they manage to survive and, indeed, thrive. And it might just be me, but this romance factor is more present than ever when it comes to watches with celestial complications because — and let’s be real here — no one *needs* a moonphase in 2019. This fact is why the people who design and create this very traditional complication tend to show a bit of creative license. Such license was the name of the game in the montres department of the grand maison Hermès when they created the Hermès Arceau L’heure de la lune, which offers not one, but two moon phases (southern and northern hemispheres, don’t you know). You see, rather than moving the moons around the dial, Hermès have made the dials do the work. The time and date subdials sit above the base dial (of either meteorite or aventurine, two appropriately celestial materials) and, over the course of a month (or 28.5 days if you’re a pedant) revolve around the dial, obscuring or…

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You might have missed these 6 excellent new watches – these are the sleeper hits of 2019

A lot of new watches are released every year. Big brands will often release 100 or more new unique variants (and fair enough, different dial/strap/material, etc take up a lot of this space), but even so, it’s fair to say that not every new watch gets its time in the sun. Sometimes that’s OK, as we’re talking about minor, or sometimes downright uninteresting updates. But sometimes otherwise excellent watches slip through the cracks. It’s worth noting that the more diffuse release schedule, especially from Swatch Group brands, means that we’re not seeing the same major release moments, which is a double-edged sword. There’s more oxygen around some releases, but the near-continuous dropping of new novelties does lead to fatigue. But luckily we’re here, shining a light on the sleeper hits of 2019 … so far. Omega Seamaster Diver 300M First cab off the rank comes from none other than Omega. Omega showed their major releases a little later than usual, at Time to Move in May. Even so, it’s fair to say that the hero releases were their Apollo 11 Anniversary pieces, and the new Seamaster Chronographs. The one that won my heart though was a simple new white-dialled variant of…

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You might have missed these 5 excellent new watches – these are the sleeper hits of 2019

The post You might have missed these 5 excellent new watches – these are the sleeper hits of 2019 appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

Keeping tradition alive at the Cartier Métiers d'Art

Editor’s note: Why is this unassuming looking farmhouse in the Swiss countryside so important to a brand as large as Cartier? Because it houses the workshop for Cartier’s Maison des Métiers d’Art, sanctuary to a set of artistic skills and techniques that are hundreds of years old. It is in this farmhouse that some of the most skilled craftspeople in the world are tasked with painstakingly producing the high-jewellery part of Cartier’s collection. Cartier’s Maison des Métiers d’Art It is impossible to overstate the importance of tradition to the Swiss watch industry. It’s a business, after all, built on skills and techniques that by all rights have no place in the 21st century. Watchmakers in general are a rare and special breed. Fewer still are experts in the more specialised artistic crafts such as marquetry and enamelling, which places their talents in high demand. Collectively, these artisanal disciplines are referred to as Métiers d’Art, and Cartier is leading the way in preserving and fostering these nearly forgotten skills through the Maison des Métiers d’Art. Based in an 18th century Bernese-style farmhouse, a short walk from their main fine watchmaking facility, the Maison des Métiers d’Art is the perfect expression of…

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Introducing: The A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Daymatic ’25th Anniversary’

The latest commemorative drop is all about info and convenience.

Introducing – IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition Right-Hander

Because 90% of the population is right-handed, there’s a convention that watches have to be worn on the left wrist… And that explains why the crown is positioned at 3 o’clock (on most watches, of course). There are exceptions to the rule, though, with so-called “right-hander” or “lefty” watches. Not so common, practical for left-handers […]

In The Shop – In The Shop: ‘The Beauty Of Time’ And ‘From Seamaster To Seamaster’

A refreshing look at the evolution of watches.