MY WEEK WITH: The Omega Speedmaster CK 2998
As far as famous watches go, the Speedmaster is way up there. And aside from its famous extraterrestrial exploits, it’s also a real staple of the watch world, which is why a Speedy was a natural choice of wrist wear for my recent Swiss trip. The fact that this trip included spending some quality time with Omega only sealed the deal. The next question was: which Speedmaster? Well, in the end, my decision wasn’t too hard, because even though you’re spoiled for choice, I wanted a more classical iteration, and one with a mix of personality and versatility. So I plumped for the 2018 limited edition, the CK 2998. Once I put it on, it felt … pleasingly petite. It measures 39.7mm across, so it’s not really too small, but thanks to that broad black bezel, it wears smaller than you’d expect. It’s also, thanks to the manual winder inside, thinner than the automatic chronographs I typically road test. It’s a nice-feeling watch; present, but certainly not overpowering. Looks-wise … it’s vintage, but not too vintage if you take my meaning. In case you’re not familiar, the CK 2998 is based on the first Omega in space, a 2998 worn…
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One of my highlights of SIHH every year is IWC – and not just because their booth is exceptional; this year it was dominated by an actual gleaming silver Spitfire. No, I like seeing IWC because the watches rarely disappoint, and this year was absolutely no exception. The Pilot’s collection is one of the brand’s iconic staples, and hugely popular in Australia (and, for that matter, around the world). And at SIHH it got some major new additions, mainly in the Spitfire and Top Gun sub families. Spitfire is the more retro of the two, and covered off the classics — a pitch-perfect 39mm automatic, a chronograph, a simpler Timezoner, a Big Pilot-cased perpetual and even a welcome return of the UTC. Now, while it’s easy to get caught up in the bronze cases and green dials on offer, for me the really big news is that the whole Spitfire family is now powered by in-house movements. Over in the Top Gun line, novel materials were the name of the game — with Ceratanium making an appearance on the Doppelchrono, and a gorgeous khaki ‘Mojave’ limited edition that I just can’t get out of my head. So, time to cue…
One of the most interesting — and important — new watch releases I saw while in Geneva recently wasn’t shown at SIHH at all. Rather, it was presented by TAG Heuer. On the surface the watch is typically TAG Heuer, in look and indeed nomenclature — it’s called the Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph, and has that large, modular case construction that we’re so familiar with by now, along with carbon lugs and bezels that are straight-up cribbed from their recent Carbon capsule collection. The dial texture is a little different, with a hexagonal structure that looks cool and serves as some neat foreshadowing for the Nano part of the equation. There’s also a popping fluoro highlight that looks cool, and is particularly prominent on the tourbillon cage, which is really what this watch is all about. So, a quick bit of watch-engineering 101 — the balance spring, the beating heart of the regulating organ, sets the pace and is fundamental to effective timekeeping. It’s also delicate, sensitive to the effects of pesky outside influences like gravity, magnetism, temperature and the like. Over the centuries, numerous improvements to the spring have been conceived — including the tourbillon itself (which…
