aBlogtoWatch audience members who subscribe to our YouTube channel may be wondering why I haven’t yet mentioned anything about “HourTime Experiments,” a new series of videos we have been trying to upload on a somewhat regular basis. For a long time, I wanted to bring the show back, but do something a bit different.
Editor’s Note: Perhaps it’s because Ceri has been spotting them on the wrists of the rich and famous, or maybe it’s thanks to the handsome green-dialled version released at Baselworld that we’re still more than a little infatuated with. Whatever the reason, the solid-gold Rolex Day-Date remains the undisputed king of power watches.…
A perennial favorite in Girard-Perregaux’s 1966 collection, the Full Calendar was available only in precious metals prior to this year. For the first time, Girard-Perregaux is now offering the watch in steel, at about half the price of the pink and white gold models – part of an ongoing trend we’ve seen this year to present steel versions of watches that in the past were only offered in gold, as a way of broadening the customer base for fine watchmaking.
The quasi-humanoid team at De Bethune tries to convince us that this comet-born device is an instrument for telling the time. What do you think this intergalactic artifact is really for? Please leave your comments, captions, stories, and suggestions in the comments.
The first time I visited the manufacturing centers of Parmigiani Fleurier was back in 2009, and, while I knew a little bit about the company, the visit was something of a revelation. It was easy back in those days to think of Parmigiani as a relatively small-batch undertaking, even as something of an underdog, and it occupied a very specific niche in the minds of American watch enthusiasts. The watches were certainly respected for the quality of their movements and the idiosyncratic biomorphism of their designs, but you never got the feeling that the manufacture was going to rise to the level of a more widely recognized luxury brand. Of course, the failure to do that isn’t a failure at all unless that’s the target you’re shooting for, which is why I got home from the visit more confused than ever. Parmigiani Fleurier wasn’t, and isn’t, a small undertaking; the company and its satellites include an enormous factory in Fleurier (Manufacture Vaucher, in which Hermès, which also makes Parmigiani’s straps, owns a 25% stake) as well as facilities like the casemaking company Les Artisans Boitiers, the component and balance spring maker Atokalpa, and on and on.
For this Friday’s Bring A Loupe, I specifically looked for vintage watches that we’ve never featured before. The result is an eclectic mix of under-the-radar vintage finds that deserve a closer look. We’ll start with an unusual Omega alarm and an interesting variation on the Longines Railroad watch. You will find fewer chronographs than usual, but a great Gallet Yachting and a Wittnauer 242T both made the cut. And a very sharp Movado Curviplan reminds us of the great watches that the manufacture made in its past. This is your Bring A Loupe for August 26, 2016.
If you’re a connoisseur of haute watchmaking, chances are you also appreciate the exceptional talent that goes into the creation of haute jewelery.
Baselworld 2016. The halls were abuzz…with news from Seiko. The first ever Seiko Credor Tourbillon wristwatch from this much loved, ultra conservative watchmaker from Japan. We made the beeline to see it. First through the showcase. The first impressions was one of moderate surprise. No, we lie. We were shocked! Then we had our…
In the small but fascinating world of watchmaking, some timepieces deeply influenced the whole industry. The Submariner almost defined what a dive watch should be. The story behind the Speedmaster is still an immense source of fascination. The Royal Oak created his own and so-respected category, the luxury sports watch. In a much more discreet way, Ulysse Nardin, in 2001, introduced a watch that deeply changed the face of modern watchmaking: the Freak, a watch that can be considered as the mother of concept watches and of silicon. Its time for us to review its successor, the Ulysse Nardin FreakLab.
Glashütte Original Manufacture Last week, Bert and I traveled from The Netherlands (our home country) to Glashütte in Germany. It is only a one hour flight, from Amsterdam to Dresden. In Dresden, a driver awaited us with a welcome sign and a shiny black BMW 530. We’ve seen worse. As it was end of the […]