Review – The Sports Watch From Stoic World – Peter Speake-Marin’s Polarizing Reemergence In The Affordable Market
Imagine Enzo Ferrari leaving his company after its reputation was well established, only to reemerge a year later with a new car brand offering affordable, compact sedans. As crazy as that scenario sounds, it’s kind of analogous to the current situation we have with Peter Speake-Marin. It wasn’t long ago that his name was associated with expensive, exclusive and complicated timepieces, featuring in-house movements, tourbillons, minute repeaters and more. Those days are behind Peter, who left the company last year to pursue other interests (inc. The Naked Watchmaker), but he’s suddenly back with a new watch brand, Stoic World. The Sports Watch is one of three in Stoic World’s portfolio of affordable, mainstream watches, having virtually no resemblance to his former collections. Let’s take a closer look at the Sports Watch (and touch on the other two) and see if this new direction is worthy of the Peter Speake-Marin name.
Editor’s note: Seiko’s divers are the stuff of legend, and deservedly so. And while their back catalogue is full of more classics than is frankly reasonable, the recent re-release of the so-called ‘Turtle’ stands out. The Turtle offers size, retro style and that indestructible Seiko build in spades, and all for a price that’s seriously hard to beat … Seiko dive watches have a massive — at times fanatical — following. It’s these guys and gals who are responsible for giving the brand’s cryptically coded watches their colourful nicknames – the Tuna, Monster, Sumo and, in this case, the Turtle. Officially, the Turtles we’re looking at here are known as SRP775 (black gilt dial on bracelet), SRP773 (blue dial on bracelet) and SRP777 (black dial on silicon). From now on, collectively, we’ll just call them Turtles. But wait, there’s more. These SRP77 divers are actually reissues of the original Turtles – historic divers from the 6309 family, produced from 1976 until 1988. Not only is this new version a faithful homage to the original, it also represents nigh-on unbeatable value for money. The case It was the broad, cushion-shaped case that inspired the watch’s nickname, because if you look at it from a distance and…
Just 10 years ago, buying a Grand Seiko meant either having to buy a plane ticket to Japan, convincing a relative/friend/acquaintance/that-guy-you-met-one-time to buy a ticket to Japan, or navigating your way around Japanese online retailers – searching every page for an image of your heart’s desire and then using Google translate to confirm that they even offered international shipping. You see, despite having a history that stretches back to 1960, it wasn’t until 2010 that Grand Seiko was properly introduced to the world. Once one of Japan’s best kept secrets, Grand Seiko was born from Seiko’s desire to show the world what Japanese watchmaking could do. And in the years since, the innovative brand has become one of the most influential. Still, as Felix put it last month, “there remains an air of mystique around the Japanese brand”. And while his excellent video explained some of the essentials, I thought I’d add some more meat to its bones with this list of 11 key models from the collection, and just why they matter. The Calibre 9S – SBGR311 Modern Grand Seiko is built off the mighty calibre 9S. Found at the core of many of the brand’s exceptionally finished cases,…
I’m sure everyone reading this has, at some point, felt that feeling of utter bewilderment of being in a conversation about watches. The level of technical jargon, slang and verbal shorthand can be confusing at best and exclusionary at worst — it can feel like a club with its very own secret language. And the hardest thing is that the language changes with every brand. Take Grand Seiko, for instance — you have to get your head around reference numbers, specific nomenclature and calibres, not to mention the vast and colourful world of fan-based nicknames. But don’t worry, today we’re here to help you crack the code. If you’ve ever been confused about what makes Grand Seiko so grand, why everyone keeps talking about Snowflakes and Spring Drives, or what a Credor is, watch this video and all will be explained …
Editor’s note: For all that Panerai has been making a lot of noise recently about their smaller, dressier pieces, let’s not forget they can easily flip the switch to full-on beast mode when the need arises. And they don’t come much more beastly than this mighty 47mm Submersible, looking the business in matt black ceramic and brushed titanium … Way back in 2013, Panerai released the PAM 389, a big, 47mm titanium beast with antimagnetic innards and an oh-so-sexy ceramic bezel. This powerful diver is a watch entirely in keeping with Panerai’s core values. Fast forward to 2017 and we’ve got a new and improved version of this Luminor Submersible, with an updated reference number to match — PAM 1389. Functionally and aesthetically, not too much has changed: it’s still the same Luminor 1950 case, complete with that iconic crown guard. The bezel is still ceramic, with those excellent recessed interval markers and large lume pip at 12. But a few things have changed. Dial proportions have been given minor modifications — slightly fatter hour markers and a bright blue seconds hand, for example. The major change, though, is the one beneath the dial. This PAM is packing the latest in-house automatic…