MICRO MONDAYS: A proper backstory to the Bamford Watch Department, the rebel modder that turned into a watch brand
Watch modification is now rampant throughout the watch community. From modded Seiko watches to blacked-out Rolex Milgauss pieces in Hollywood, a desire to personalise a watch and make it more of your own has always been an aspect of the watch industry. While some may opt for an engraved caseback, others have gone the route of completely overhauling the aesthetics of their watches. Like Hublot birthing the trend of rubber-strapped precious metal watches, someone has to be credited with starting the modding mayhem. Cue George Bamford, and the Bamford Watch Department. The backstory For George’s 18th birthday, the story goes, he was offered a Rolex Daytona as a gift. Most people would be content with the venerated watch, but while attending a dinner party, soon after receiving the watch, he noticed that half of those in attendance were wearing the exact same watch. This got George thinking. Born from a desire to have something that would stand out and be different from the herd, George approached his family business and asked if it would be possible to change the colour of his watch. As a result of his request, a DLC coating was applied to the case and bracelet of…
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Editor’s note: In case you’re wondering, yes! This is the ‘pink’ watch we’ve been hanging to see in the metal, if not just to contrast the real-life shade with the renderings in the press release. And, do we still call it pink? Well, Thor does, as you’ll see from the opening par. But I don’t. This is light beige. Nude. Flesh. Champagne. If it is indeed pink, it’s the palest, duskiest pink I’ve ever seen. It’s no less compelling for the tonal shift, in fact it becomes even more unusual. I don’t know about you, but there’s something about this shade that makes it hard to look away. Read on, but better still, check out the video. Okay, I’m saying it. I. WANT. A. PINK. WATCH. I’m not sure what that says about me, but the skin-toned pink on the Hublot Big Bang Millennial Pink is so delicious that I’m close to using expletives. Describe it to someone and be warned: you will not have the same reaction, like me when I read the brief. Yet, you will see it quite clearly in this video, this idiosyncratic blend — of the toughness with the candy fluff pink of children’s teddy bears…
Editor’s note: 202o, in one way or another, has made us all realise that life is not guaranteed, or going to go forever, and now there’s a way to remind yourself daily. While seemingly a grim proposition, the Tikker watch uses a “death calculation” based on an algorithm for life expectancy that’s used by the US government to find out how many days you have left. The watch’s official name is the ‘Happiness Watch’, but we preferred something more literal. We called it ‘The Death Watch’. It may seem on the surface that this information would be a draining reminder with each check of the time, but it really depends on your perspective; how you interpret the data, and what you choose to do with the information is all on you. Time+Tide’s Contributing Editor, and master storyteller Luke Benedictus spoke with Tikker Co-Founder Daniel Iketani about what the watch was actually designed for, and why he named it ‘The Happiness Watch’. Read on! Why are vampires invariably such jaded fellows? I reckon immortality has something to do with it. Sure, the wild hunger to feast on human blood must prove an inconvenient business at the best of times. And, yes, coffins make for uncomfortable…
Does this seem familiar? Yes, the popular bronze Hanhart chronograph recently released by some good friends of ours, seen on a Time+Tide editorial wrist here ,is a bronze 417 chronograph. Now Hanhart has remade the original stainless steel icon – a crisp cut classic military pilot’s chronograph with an earthbound claim to fame. The man among men, daredevil, own stunt-performing suave adventurer Steve McQueen wore one, and not while sipping a latte, I can tell you that much. Motorcycle off road endurance racing – a tough, dirty and bone-shaking job for any watch, including the Hanhart 417ES that we associate with pilots, not muddy scrambler-bike riding action stars. Any watch that can stand 300 miles a day of riding through muddy woods for a week is tough in anyone’s book. The original Hanhart 417ES is a legendary German bicompax chronograph, only produced between 1956 and 1958 in 500 pieces, and the ES? Edelstahl meaning stainless steel, with the German language being very poetic in this case, meaning literally noble steel. Thankfully devoid of fauxtina, this is a delightfully faithful recreation of the first pilot’s chronograph produced for the German armed forces, so that’ll tick the boxes of both battle-ready, mud…
I’m not alone in considering the Rolex Explorer one of the best examples of clean, sharp, monochromatic watches out there. But it’s fair to ask – for any of a host of very fair reasons – what are the best Rolex Explorer alternatives if you can’t get a direct path to the Crown? It’s not easy, as we’re looking at one of the cleanest designs out there, with superb comfort to boot. And let’s face it — it’s not a tool watch anymore, it’s good enough to be the most consistently rated ‘one watch’ on the planet. The ultimate functional daily. Part of a two or three watch collection … well, you get the picture. What else is there? The Hamilton Khaki Murph Honesty first: I really honestly wish they didn’t make this so generous in diameter. At 42mm, with a 22mm lug width, one can only speculate that it was needed for a starring role on the silver screen in Interstellar, in maybe one of the biggest cameos of a watch in the last 10 years. I might just be jealous of larger wrists, but if this had a sweet spot of 38-39mm it would ace this story. But still,…