An international multi-brand watch club aimed at anyone with an interest in luxury mechanical watches, the Fine Watch Club – which we already introduced here – just kicked off its sales activities with a Bvlgari Octo Finissimo special edition. Perfect timing to talk with the Fine Watch Club’s Managing Director, Julien Haenny, and understand what is exactly the goal behind this collector’s initiative.
So it’s a little bit weird to be writing an intro blurb for my own ‘Every Watch Tells a Story’ video, but there you go. I’d also say that my own ‘story’, brief as it is, doesn’t stack up to some of the others we’ve got in terms of drama. But it is my story, and — I think — a relatable one. It’s the first one that I chose, and that I obsessed about online. It’s the story of my humble Archimede Pilot, which was the first ‘nice’ watch I bought, more than 10 years ago. It’s a watch I researched more than I probably should have (shout out to the Timezone German Watch Forum). It’s also (unlike many of my other early watches) one I still like the look of today, and wear regularly, though to be honest it’s well overdue for a service.
The post Felix’s first nice watch – an Archimede Pilot that’s still in the rotation 10 years on appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Last night, IWC launched their new Pilot’s Collection at an intimate event in a venue dressed perfectly to capture the machismo, the aeronautical legacy and the overall class of the brand. The walls were adorned with pilot paraphernalia, the tables were festooned with dried native flowers and many wrists were adorned with IWC watches; the iconic Big Pilot a crowd favourite, with many variations in attendance. In a relatively short time, this striking model has earned icon status in IWC’s pilot stable — and last night, people voted with their wrists. Stories about the brand and its watches abounded. Ex-AFL player (Sydney Swans, Richmond Tigers) and musician (check out Kayex on Spotify or Apple Music) Tom Derickx sat next to me at the dinner and spoke of his Mark XVIII, a small-sized watch for such a big guy, and said that he liked its slim profile and comfortable size for everyday wear as a carpenter and musician. “I wear it surfing, I wear it sleeping, I never take it off.” He proved the point by showing the tan line it had created. (The fact that he even has a tan line shows the stark difference between Melbourne and Sydney winter life…
The post EVENT: IWC unveil the 2019 Pilot’s Collection at cosy winter speakeasy in Sydney, including the stunning Timezoner and Ceratanium TOP GUN appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Swatch Group has just announced its first half-year report 2019 and the results aren’t positive. Both sales and profitability have been impacted, after a positive year 2018. The Swatch Group still anticipates growth in the second half of 2019 though.
Editor’s note: If big, do-anything, go-anywhere tickers are your jam, you’ll definitely want to check out the Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite in Steel. This is a serious piece of traveller’s kit, and a good-looking one at that. Read on for Justin’s review … The story in a second: It’s big, it’s complicated, it’s bloody clever. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I’ve got a real soft spot for German watchmaking, but especially for Glashütte Original. Underappreciated, and painfully under-marketed anywhere outside of Europe, they are one of VERY few brands that manufacture their own dials and cases (in a separate facility in Pforzheim, not in Glashütte proper). Over the years, things like the ’60s and ’70s collections have consistently grabbed my attention, as did last year’s steel versions of the Senator Chronograph Panorama Date, but in 2018 something slightly outside my usual lines of watch attraction caught my eye — the large, somewhat traditionally styled, yet uniquely configured Senator Cosmopolite in steel. This steel version arrives three years after its initial launch in gold, and cuts its retail price down a fair bit (20,700 euros versus 38,000). As a world timer of immensely practical design from a…
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Editor’s note: A little while ago, Andrew spent a week with the slender beauty that is the Piaget Altiplano 40mm Ultra-Thin date, an unusual expedition into the world of ultra-slim dress watches. So, here goes … This week on the wrist is borne almost purely out of curiosity. I have tried on Piaget Altiplano watches over the years and found them unusually comfortable to wear. In interviews and conversations with Altiplano owners, there’s always a resounding refrain of, “It’s hard to go back to heavier/larger/thicker watches once you get used to it”. So, when given the chance to have an extended period of time with the Ultra-Thin date in rose gold, I jumped at it. My first impression was … That it’s a clean, deeply stylish statement, and that I might need a new wardrobe. A watch this slight and minimal seems to draw a lot more attention to the wrist, and the cuff, and the accessories that are being worn with it. While it’s saying very few words, they’re all well-chosen, and they’re all expensive. Good luck dressing down this quiet achiever. Once I put it on, it felt … Hey, wait, is this thing actually on? Any heft you associate…
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This is better than Disneyland.
Most people over the weekend were watching Wimbledon for the Men’s and Women’s championship matches in addition to the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The 2019 Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone was slightly overshadowed by these two events. But for those who watched it, Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond and is currently filming parts of the upcoming “Bond 25” film, was in attendance for the race won by English driver Lewis Hamilton. And he had something special on the wrist.
Four new references, four green dials, all non-limited, and only available at Panerai boutiques worldwide.
A sharp new color scheme for the Spring Drive GMT.