Full power! The IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Moon Phase
Editor’s pick: If you’re in the market for a massive, 45mm manually winding dress watch with more power than you can shake a mainspring at, we think the IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Moon Phase might just be up your alley … Few things are as tactile and pleasing as manually winding a watch, and I’ve got to say the levels of satisfaction achieved in watching the power reserve indicator on this plus-sized IWC Portofino are pretty intense. On one level it’s because there’s a lot of winding to be had, thanks to the eight days of power, but partially I think the joy is simply because this large 45mm red gold watch just feels great — heavy, substantial and downright powerful. At its heart, the Portofino is a dressy watch. Simple, refined, with a curvaceous case inspired by the pocket watches of yore. But the Portofino Hand-Wound Moon Phase is no diminutive dress option. It’s as bold as a Big Pilot, but still somehow delicate. The expansive dial looks wonderful in shimmering slate grey — a colour that pairs exceptionally well with the red gold hands, markers and case, and manages to encompass the diverse displays of moonphase, sub-seconds, date and…
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It isn’t every day you look out the window and see a meteor shower. In fact, it’s a newsworthy event when anyone is lucky enough to catch one on film. So I don’t think you would be going out on a limb to say that they are fairly uncommon events, causing you to assume that meteorite is a pretty rare mineral to come by, and it must be very expensive. How then are so many watch companies producing timepieces with meteorite dials? One of the most talked about watches from Baselworld 2019 was a white gold Rolex GMT-Master II with a meteorite dial, the distinctive geometric patterns on the thin slice of rock making for an attractive watch. But the question that came to some people is where do Rolex meteorite dials come from? The folk at Gear Patrol were also perplexed by this set of circumstances, so they did a little digging to find out more and published what they found here. As it turns out, there are a few challenges in working with this exotic material.
Here at Time+Tide HQ, the banter is fast, free-flowing and deeply uninteresting for anyone who doesn’t love watches. Sometimes this spitballing makes it beyond our four humble walls, such as when the team built a fantasy $20K watch collection, and this is another one of those occasions. The question posed to the team this time: “If you had to wear a watch marketed at a different gender, what would it be?” This isn’t to say that people can’t wear whatever watches they want (I love wearing a watch which could be argued is a women’s watch), but is just taking the lead from the brands’ positioning of their products. Here we go! Andrew (Jefe) – Piaget Limelight Gala The design of the lugs is just beautiful and creates a sort of flow to the case. The hammered gold bracelet is also spectacular and painfully handcrafted, too. In every way this is a considered watch, rich in nuance. Felix (Editor) – Chanel Boy.Friend Skeleton Chanel is becoming an increasingly impressive player in the “proper watch movement” space. And while the gorgeous from the bottom-up build of this movement is enough to win you over, I actually love the chic style. Plus,…
One of the most random, and awesome watches to emerge from the briny depths of Baselworld was the (very) limited edition Doxa SUB 200 T. On the surface this is a pretty standard vintage reissue, with a big 43mm case in that classic cushion shape, with that classic orange dial, in a dual register layout (powered by a hand-wound Valjoux 7734), and with some awesomely retro dial details — blocky prints, stocky hands, the whole nine yards. But — and this is a big but — the case is made from solid-freaking-yellow-gold. Solid, with a capital S O L I and D. And did we mention the fact that it’s an LE of 13 pieces? If you want wrist presence, this is pretty much the definition. It’s also the definition of odd flex. I’m not sure the world needed a $70K USD gold Doxa (worth noting here that a solid gold Rolex Daytona is around $45K AUD), but it’s kind of a better place for it. Maybe?