HANDS-ON: The new Shogun is finally here in the form of the Seiko Prospex SPB189 and SPB191
OK, let’s start by remembering the SBDC007, the legendary Seiko Shogun. Now I might be slightly biased because, at one point, I had two of them — after reading reviews saying the watch was so good it’d make you forget your other wrist-worn beauties. Well, believe the hype. The watch was that good and pretty difficult to get your hands on, too. It was a pure JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) model, large but deceptively light in a way that made its 43.5mm size seem smaller on the wrist. Now the new Seiko Prospex SPB189 and SPB191 have arrived and they’re a significant step up. Here’s why … First impressions After a couple of years lamenting the discontinuation of the SBDC007 … voila! The Seiko Prospex SPB189 and SPB191 are here. The Shogun is back in business, sharp as before, and with a crisp white brother in arms on soft rubber. The case and bracelet While the faces are different and specs are seriously improved, the body of the watch still exhibits that muscular angularity and sharp dynamism. As soon as you grab it, you’ll notice that it’s deceptively lightweight is due to the titanium build. The bracelet on the black…
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With eBay being one of the largest marketplaces in the world, the go-to platform for sellers looking to find buyers for their goods, it can be home to some of the most desired and in-demand products worldwide – including watches. While some have hesitated to take the plunge on a watch purchase via the site, due to a fear of counterfeit products or listings, eBay has now incorporated an independent authentication service for sellers and buyers to utilise on top of their eBay money-back guarantee. This makes it safer than ever to dive into the watch category on the site, and with a trained and seasoned eye, find everything from the Bamford G-Shock you missed out on, the Rolex you can’t get at your AD, and even holy trinity masterpieces. If you’re lucky you may even have a digital barn-find like a moon-era Speedmaster (although with more and more awareness of the value of vintage pieces, this is becoming less frequent). With 2020 coming to a close, we began to wonder: what were the most expensive watches sold on eBay in 2020? Thanks to data provided by eBay (in USD), we now have the answer … 10. Rolex Yacht-Master ref. 116695SATS…
The perpetual calendar is widely recognised as one of IWC’s greatest strengths. Back in the 1980s, legendary watchmaker Kurt Klaus was challenged to develop a new version of this highly intricate mechanism. He responded with an ingenious upgrade that essentially streamlined the complication by doing away with the correctors and enabling the calendar functions to be manipulated via the crown. The new IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 42 Boutique Edition offers an even more refined expression of this idea to deliver a simple solution to a complicated problem. Just like Kurt Klaus would have wanted. The case As the name suggests, the case of this latest perpetual calendar measures 42mm in diameter and sits a modest 13.8mm off the wrist. It’s by no means a petite watch, but is remarkably compact if you consider the level of complication on offer. The compact case proportions are an exciting step by IWC to produce slightly smaller perpetual calendar watches and make them more accessible in the process. The lugs are elegantly tapered to ensure the more modest specifications on paper match what you are feeling on your wrist. It’s not too big and not too small – the stuff of Goldilocks’ dreams. The…
Being quarantined in our homes this year has encouraged us to binge more series and films than ever before. Fortunately, it’s the golden age of TV dramas, which means you don’t have to re-watch an episode of The Office or Seinfeld for the 100th time. One such show that has recently taken Netflix by storm is The Queen’s Gambit, which, at the time of writing, has been viewed by 62 million households in its first 28 days of release, making it the streaming channel’s most popular limited series ever. For watch enthusiasts, however, any checkerboard manoeuvres were eclipsed when protagonist Beth received a gift from her adoptive mother: a Bulova watch. During the series, Beth — escorted by her mother, Alma — travels around the United States to enter various chess tournaments. A prodigy introduced to chess at the age of nine, Beth has some serious game. She rarely finds a mind capable of outwitting her on the board, which means that more often than not she scoops the prize money awarded to the tournament champion. While it was not considered appropriate for most girls to play chess during the ’60s and ’70s – at least not to those with traditional expectations and…