The baby blue and black Bamford G-SHOCK 5610 sold out in 6 minutes, which sucks, because it's great
The democratisation of watch modification has been sinking in for a few years, moving from diamond-encrusted Rolex watches, all the way down to swapping out a set of hands on your favourite Seiko SKX. In recent times, it’s become apparent that watch brands are trying to cover their bases and provide the unique look of a modified watch in a completely stock package. We’ve seen it with the new Seiko 5 Sport line, and we’ve seen it with Rolex reintroducing their vibrant Stella dials of the past. Even Casio aren’t immune, with the latest “Casi-Oak” being hewn from a GA2100 and an aftermarket steel case to look even more like the famed AP Royal Oak. Well, now G-SHOCK are showing the world their intentions by teaming up with Bamford Watch Department — one of the world’s premier modifiers of luxury Swiss watches. This isn’t our first rodeo with Bamford Watch Department, having picked through their catalogue of mostly high-end watches from the LVMH group. The sleek designs of George Bamford are always clinically crisp, with the high-contrast neon colours creating an almost two-dimensional spectre of a watch for your wrist. While the modifier may focus on luxury brands such as…
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The absolutely magical story embedded in our latest Watch & Chill Episode revolves around the unusual story of Eric Ku’s vintage Audemars Piguet chronograph restoration. To say the watch is rare is laughably inadequate. There are 307 vintage-era Audemars Piguet chronographs in existence. Every single one of them is a piece unique (more about that in the video, see below). When Eric acquired one (his second, and yes, he is a lucky man) and decided to restore it to as close as possible to its former glory, he called Audemars Piguet. His brief to the team, including Michael Friedman, was sweet, sweet music to Michael’s ears. “It’s very exciting to us when a collector so well known to us comes in with a pressure-free scenario. No deadline on time. No restrictions on budget. Take your time. Dive deep. Study the dial. Let’s work to get the best restored dial possible. That is everything a family business like ours wants to hear. Because it’s outside of the scope of the daily grind.” As for the result, there’s a paragraph from Eric below, but in truth, the intention is just as interesting. “We wanted that dial to make people melt,” Michael says.…
As Woody Allen famously said, “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.” More specifically, it can help you cultivate a magnificent watch collection. But what does the rich man do when he has scratched his horological itch until it’s red-raw? When he’s become jaded with the tedious rigmarole of snapping up grail watches and minute-repeater tourbillions? He starts to focus on his crazy watch accessories instead … The coffee table of horological dreams Pedro Costa is a Colombian designer who believes that size matters. He takes classic watch designs and scales them up into pieces of furniture. His range of coffee tables has included the Patek Philippe Nautilus, Hublot Big Bang Diamonds (which got the seal of approval from Jean-Claude Biver no less), Rolex Daytona and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore among others. Understandably, this supersizing process is extremely labour-intensive. Costa uses machinery to cut and mould the watch case, which contains a hybrid electro-mechanical movement by British clockmaker Sinclair Harding. The rest of the components are finished by hand, with each coffee table taking up to six months to complete. While these unique pieces have been commissioned by brands, Costa also accepts private commissions. The price…
The Seiko Alpinist series is a beloved staple of enthusiasts on watch forums and Instagram, with its comfortable shape, size and particular Japanese take on a sophisticated field watch with a rich history. Earlier this year, changes came to the lineup, with the Alpinist logo no longer present, and the Prospex X above the historical “Automatic” vintage font logo at 6. I observed the discussions that ensued, and was left with the positives of the excellent 6R35 movement easily tipping the scales on the plus side. This time the new Seiko Alpinist SPB155J and its siblings SPB157J and SPB159J are not simply improved, but rather redesigned from the case up, with the only instantly recognisable feature being the charming Alpinist cathedral hands, ready for a new audience. We are looking at a svelte, perfectly shaped 38mm case with the Alpinist name, yet it takes nothing away from the rich history. I, for one, am excited by these latest models, the SPB155J, SPB157J and SPB159J. How Seiko has managed to completely redesign the Alpinist range in a year with a plethora of new releases frankly boggles the mind, because this is no simple re-hash. Hopefully it will manage the feat of…
Random acts of kindness are all very well. But at Time+Tide, we prefer our gestures of mind-blowing generosity to come in a horological format. From rock stars to comedians and actors to athletes, the moral of this story is simple: work hard, amass your fortune then spread the love by upgrading the wrists of mankind, one watch at a time. Bruno Mars plays Santa In 2019, Bruno Mars revealed on Instagram that he’d given his bandmates a Christmas present to remember. “My boys continue to show the world what time it is,” he wrote in the Instagram caption. “And a band that sings together blings together! #AudeMARS” Each of the eight members of his band, The Hooligans, received an Audemars Piguet Extra-Thin ‘Jumbo’ Royal Oak Ref. 15202 in gold. The full retail price for the watch at the time: US$55,400. As if that wasn’t a nice enough festive gesture, the watches were personalised with specially made custom boxes that read: “Audemars Piguet: Bruno Mars 24K Magic World Tour Edition”. Merry Christmas indeed. Why you really want to be friends with Jay-Z If you’re hip-hop’s first billionaire, standard party invites don’t cut the mustard. So when it came to inviting VIPs…
