HANDS-ON: All aboard with the Longines Railroad

longines-railroad-sliderWe’re not alone in our love of Longines heritage offerings – the classic designs and smart prices make them consistently instant hits among watch enthusiasts, and every year we get some new treasure from the brand’s seemingly endless archive. We’ve had dive watches, pilot’s watches, even trench watches – but we’ve never seen a train watch, until now… The American railroads ‘General Railroad Timepiece Standards’ specified that timekeeping equipment from then on must “be open faced…use plain Arabic numbers printed bold and black on a white dial, and have bold black hands…” The Longines Railroad takes its name and design from highly precise ‘railroad grade’ mid-twentieth century Longines watches intended for use by railway workers. Before the invention of electronic safety mechanisms, accuracy on the railways wasn’t just a matter of good customer service, it was a matter of life and death. In fact, it was a head-on collision in 1891 caused by a slow pocketwatch that caused the American railroads to put together the General Railroad Timepiece Standards. These guidelines specified that timekeeping equipment from then on must “be open faced… have a minimum of 17 jewels, adjusted to at least 5 positions, keep time accurately to within a gain or loss of only…

The post HANDS-ON: All aboard with the Longines Railroad appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

9 years ago

Photo Report: The Dobel x HODINKEE Events In New York And Miami – And An Invitation To Celebrate With Us In LA, Wednesday Night!

Earlier this year, in New York and Miami, we partnered with premium tequila maker Dobel to create On Dobel Time – events focused on the similarities between fine-crafted tequilas and vintage timepieces. Both take a lot of care, patience, and, for lack of a better word, time to produce. In order to reflect this partnership, we paired vintage watches from the HODINKEE Shop with different types of Dobel Tequila, including the Maestro Dobel Silver, Maestro Dobel Reposado, Maestro Dobel Añejo, Maestro Dobel Humito, and the Maestro Dobel Diamante.

9 years ago

Dubai Watch Week Returns Bigger and Better

Now in its second instalment, Dubai Watch Week (DWW) just opened after a sell-out first year. Organised by the Middle East’s largest watch retailer, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, DWW is a weeklong gathering of the best and the brightest in watchmaking. On from November 16 and till November 19 inside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), DWW offers everything […]

9 years ago

Armin Strom Edge Double Barrel Watch In Rose Gold

Pulling off a tastefully skeletonized watch design can be tough, but it’s safe to say that Armin Strom does an excellent job. Their latest release retains everything that made the original Edge Double Barrel watch attractive, but ups the ante with an opulent yet tasteful rose gold case.

9 years ago

The Value Proposition: The Mühle-Glashütte ProMare Chronograph

There are a lot of different pleasures to be found in watchmaking, but one of the best is when you find a watch that knows exactly what it wants to be.  Mühle-Glashütte (or to give the company its full name, Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte) is a company that makes watches in a variety of styles, but its most iconic timepiece is probably its SAR Rescue-Timer, which was designed in collaboration with the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service. A tough, instantly readable watch with the sort of naturally achieved aesthetics that comes from real, uncompromising adherence to practical considerations, the Rescue-Timer is in its own way as much a classic of the tool-watch type as, say, the Submariner or the Mark XII, and it sets a high benchmark for other tool watches from Mühle-Glashütte. I’m happy to say the ProMare Chronograph is up to the challenge of meeting the standard set by the Rescue-Timer.

9 years ago

Introducing – MCT S110 Evo Vantablack by Anish Kapoor (featuring the blackest material in the universe after a black hole…)

What is a color? The perception we have of a reflection of light on a surface. What is black, as perceived by human eye? It is the opposite of color. Black is an achromatic color, literally a color without hue. Black is a surface that reflect or emit only very low light and that absorb most of the visible light. What is pitch black, in its purest form? It is the complete absence or complete absorption of light. Real black doesn’t really exist (except a black hole) and what we name black usually is dark grey, dark blue, dark red, etc… And even if pure black can’t be achieved by any material, some tried anyway. And MCT Watches, with the S110 Evo Vantablack made with artist Anish Kapoor, try to get as close as possible from black, with the blackest material ever produced by humankind.

9 years ago

Introducing: The Hamilton ODC X-03, The Brand’s Latest Sci-Fi Collaboration With Hollywood (And An Homage To Kubrick’s ‘2001’)

The Speedmaster might be the watch that took man to the Moon, but it’s not the only wristwatch with a connection to the Final Frontier. Watches are part of real space exploration, of course, but they’re also part of imaginary space travel as well. For the ODC X-03, Hamilton has teamed up with Nathan Crowley, a three-time Oscar nominee and the production designer for the sci-fi flick Interstellar to create a watch centered around traveling a little further out into the solar system.

9 years ago

Rolex Submariner – Historical Overview Of A Diving Legend

The Rolex Submariner is a watch with an interesting story. Introduced over 60 years ago, the current Rolex Submariner model (updated four years ago) is a product of a long history and development. The similarities are clearly visible while the innovations are as well. A ceramic bezel, masculine case and solid bracelet with an easy-to-adjust folding […]

9 years ago