The 11 most exciting chronographs of 2018
For some, money is no object. For most, this is far from the case, but still an enjoyable intellectual exercise of “what if”. So, what if you win the lottery, and after taking care of the dull administrative duties (mortgage, student loan, etc), you decide to treat yourself to a couple of nice watches and, in this hypothetical, these watches will be chronographs? Lucky for you, we’ve prepared a list just for this circumstance — the most exciting chronographs of 2018. TAG HEUER MONACO CALIBRE 11 BAMFORD LIMITED EDITION When it comes to the customisation of watches, George Bamford is considered the man with the Midas touch. He enjoys a market-leading reputation that has earnt him official collaborator status with brands such as TAG Heuer. His decidedly avant-garde take on the Monaco features an ultralight carbon-cased version of the classic Heuer. Inside is the iconic Calibre 11 self-winding movement, with Bamford’s trademarked blacked-out aesthetic and contrasting aquatic blue markers and subdials to seal the deal. Ref No. CAW2190.FC6437, Case size 39mm, Case material Carbon, Movement Calibre 11, Price $10,600 HABRING2 DOPPEL-FELIX The split-seconds chronograph is one of the most challenging (and accordingly, most expensive) complications to create in watchmaking. That was…
The post The 11 most exciting chronographs of 2018 appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Editor’s note: The other day, Nick popped into the office with his latest pick-up, a fairly awesome Seiko with a custom ‘Gator Bowl’ dial, which got me to thinking about custom dials, particularly those with corporate logos. They seemed to have had quite a moment in the past, but that time has definitely passed. And while a lot of people aren’t too keen on these dials, I’m quite a sucker for them. Here’s a story from a while back, where I go into bat for custom dials … There’s a piece of pop culture folklore that says that when you retire, your employers give you a party and a gold watch. Now, if you were born after 1980, this concept seems like a quaint anachronism from some halcyon economic boom time, where job security was real and employers rewarded long service. But, trust us, we’ve watched Mad Men, back in the day this was actually a thing. And often the watches were personalised with the company logo. In the business, these watches are known as ‘presentation dials’, because, you know, they were presented to someone. And this is where things get weird/awesome. Supermarkets and fast food chains are about as far away from…
I can only imagine the joy that must have been felt in Omega’s design department when it was announced that Tokyo would be hosting the 2020 Olympic Games. Not only has Japan had an incredible influence on design, but their flag — a simple red sun in a white field — lends itself to some interesting watchmaking interpretations. Case in point is one of the first limited editions offered up by the Official Timekeeper, a Planet Ocean clad in white — dial, bezel and strap (there’s a chic grey NATO in the mix too), with a varnished red dot at the end of the seconds hand (a Rising Lollipop, perhaps?), and a red ’20’ on the bezel, for the 2020 Games, obviously. Olympic association aside, it’s a clean and good-looking take on a modern dive classic. All else is as you’d expect: 39.5mm case, steel case and Master Chronometer Calibre 8800 movement. And as for the limited edition quantity? Do you even have to ask – 2020. 
Today’s entrant into the ‘Every Watch Tells a Story’ hall of fame is Dale. It turns out that Dale has a bit of a thing for pilot’s watches, and for good reason — Dale is a commercial airline pilot. And the pride of his collection is none other than the mighty Breitling Navitimer. In case you’re not across it, the Navitimer (a portmanteau of navigation and timer) is one of those seminal watches that dates back to 1952, and featured a distinctive slide rule bezel, which was used by pre-avionics pilots as a tool, allowing on-the-fly calculations of things like fuel levels and average speed. It’s a pilot’s watch that pilots used to use Of course this isn’t functionality that Dale needs on his wrist for his day job, but it’s an important part of the history of aviation, and undeniably cool. And of all the models on offer, Dale’s 2003 model, with a starburst blue dial, is a real stunner. 
The story in a second: Ultra thin and out of this world, we have to be talking about the Piaget Altiplano Automatic 40mm with meteorite dial. Piaget’s Altiplano is a staple in the world of ultra-thin watches, with an elegance that matches its slenderness. This limited edition version dials (if you’ll pardon the pun) the elegance up to 11, with a unique meteorite dial that adds a level of flash and panache that’s hard for a ‘normal’ dial to match. We had the chance to have a closer look at our recent Piaget event, and these are our thoughts … The case This should come as no surprise — this watch is thin. How thin, I hear you all ask, simultaneously? Well, how does 6.5mm sound? I don’t know about you, but it certainly sounds slender to me. This degree of thinness is largely down to the fact that the dial and movement don’t take up much space — more on that later — but the design of the 40mm rose gold case is simple, with straight lines and a broad polished bezel that only goes to accentuate the lack of height. The dial The simple case also serves to accentuate the dial,…