Building a minute repeater is tricky business, one that very few watchmakers can manage. The minute repeater is a complication that chimes the time on demand – usually the hours, quarter hours and minutes – by activating a slide or a pusher. This most noble of complications is highly coveted by watch collectors today for its mechanical…
California-based Sisu makes big watches, and that’s all they do. However, there is more to the brand and its products than that, not least a healthy dollop of character. While size matters at Sisu, they offer impressive build quality and comfort, and the Sisu Carburetor Q1 watch I am reviewing today is a good example.
Cartier never fail to deliver the goods when it comes to their SIHH collection – historically offering a large range of new goodies with everything from consumer-friendly steel all the way up to fabulous, one-of-a-kind jewelled masterpieces. And while we’ll have to wait a few more days to see what’s in store for 2017, this early release already has us intrigued. This limited edition of 30 uses the Ronde Louis Cartier XL as a starting point – a very traditional white gold canvas, framed prettily with a bezel of baguette-cut diamonds. But it’s the dial where the magic happens. Cartier has a strong interest in artistic crafts – or Métiers d’Arts if you prefer – and has invested in a sizeable facility dedicated to fostering these niche skills. This year they’re showing off a brand-new technique called flamed gold, inspired by the traditional manual heating of hands (and screws) to a rich blue, a technique originally developed to harden these key components. Cartier’s artists have taken this originally utilitarian skill to a whole new place, giving life to a multi-coloured panther by applying heat to the solid gold dial. Greater temperature results in a deeper blue, so the first step…
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Today we’re taking another look at a video that explores the connection between tattooing and watchmaking with world-famous ink-master Benjamin Laukis. The watch in focus here is his TAG Heuer Calibre 18 Telemeter. Other watches in Ben’s enviable stable include an A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk and a Tiffany dialled Patek Philippe Calatrava. The man knows his watches. “Tattoos are something I spend a lot of time creating with my hands. I can relate to the hours and the effort put in to such a nice piece. The manufacture of the watch is a big part of why I like them.” “People that work in anything handmade are drawn to other things that are handmade and created by a person, not a production line. Watches are incredible, the process behind them is just insane.” “Watchmaking has been around for so long, it’s a time honoured tradition. That’s why vintage is coming back. It’s not going away. They can’t make it any better.”
The post VIDEO: “I want something created by a person, not a production line” – 3 key quotes from a watch-obsessed tattooist appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Congrats to the very lucky winner of last month’s giveaway to attend the Formula E ePrix race in New York with TAG Heuer & aBlogtoWatch.
Even for many comfortable with spending six figures on a new watch, the new Greubel Forsey might be a bridge too far. While the price of this watch will undoubtfully earn it many headlines, it is another accomplishment that might stun you even more: this watch is designed for daily wear!
Growing up, I was a huge science fiction fan, and one of the things I used to wonder about in my spare time was what you would want to have with you if you invented a time machine, got into the time machine, managed to travel back in time to the Age Of The Dinosaurs (everyone nowadays talks about the Jurassic period but I’ve always been a Cretaceous period fan. More charismatic apex predators; T. rex, Krososaurus, Utahraptor …) and get stuck there. You’d try and fix your time machine, sure, but that could take a while and in the meantime, you’d want stuff capable of working in isolation from anything remotely resembling civilization. One of the reasons I got interested in mechanical watches (right in the middle of the Quartz Crisis) was that I loved the idea of not having a watch dependent on batteries.
Last week, we were notified that Zenith CEO Aldo Magada had resigned from his position, and that LVMH Head of Watchmaking Jean-Claude Biver would immediately begin acting as Zenith CEO in the interim – a role Biver also plays at TAG Heuer, and which makes him the top boss at LVMH Watches & Jewelry’s three biggest brands. We immediately reached out to Biver for a comment. In a revealing interview, he cited profitability problems, a lack of confidence in Zenith’s management, and a breakdown in his relationship with the team as contributing factors in his decision to take over the brand temporarily – and he says he hopes to find a new CEO for Zenith within the next six months.
Creating a Grande Sonnerie is not for the feeble minded. This is an undertaking which sits within the holiest of the holy within the ranks of complicated watchmaking. The ultimate complication. The big Kahuna. The Grande Sonnerie. Greubel Forsey, famed for their inclined tourbillons now join these rarefied ranks, and announces their own Grande…
At SIHH 2017, Greubel Forsey will debut a timepiece that they reportedly spent 11 years “researching and developing.”