Survival of the fittest: Bear Grylls and Luminox have created some tough timepieces
Maverick survivalist, TV host and ex-British special forces soldier Bear Grylls has teamed up with Californian-based watchmaker Luminox to create the ultimate range of tough and ready timepieces. Judiciously called the Bear Grylls Survival Collection, there will be six watches in total to … bear Bear’s name. In fact, each and every one of the timepiece’s case backs will feature Grylls’ name, logo, signature and his famed motto: “Never Give Up”. The rugged watches have been designed and purpose-built from the outset, with Grylls’ advice and expertise, to go anywhere and withstand the rigours of a life filled with adventure. The collection will be spread into three different categories — master, land and sea — and depending on the model, the benefits and features will be tailored to excel in their given disciplines. All of the watches will come equipped with a Swiss-made Ronda 515 HF 6 quartz movement, a workhorse of the industry that offers up approximately 45 months of battery life and an accuracy of -10/+20 seconds per month. Likewise, all of the cases will be hewn from Luminox’s CARBONOX material. This will ensure a level of lightness and robustness that is deeply impressive, especially considering the sizes of the…
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Another watch conceived from scratch for the ‘Watch & Act!’ Auction, the Classic Fusion ‘Watch & Act!’ Unique Piece features a ceramic case, carbon fibre bezel and a shimmering blue dial. The case back is engraved with the words ‘Unique Piece’. Before we go on, here’s a quick primer on the Classic Fusion line: the collection, introduced in 2010, is intended as a slightly more subtle (dare we say dressier?) offering than the traditional Big Bang, while still possessing some of those indisputable Hublot hallmarks — the ‘H’ screws on the bezel, the solid end links on the strap, and those contrasting ‘ears’ on the case at three and six. It’s a softer Hublot, sure, but it’s still a Hublot. It’s also an incredibly stylish watch. The blue dial is lush, like a midnight sky. The satin-finished sunray dial is a wonder to behold, reflecting light all over the place thanks to the polished, faceted markers and hands, not to mention the rich texture of the dial itself. The colour is beautifully picked up in the rubber-backed alligator strap, with colour-matched blue stitch. And then there’s the case itself: 45mm of ceramic, a mix of polish and vertical brush ensuring…
The Heritage Diver 1967 was released at the first Basel we attended as Time+Tide, so it holds special significance. It was also one of our favourite releases of the year, with its heft, heritage-correct styling and dashing colour scheme, it photographed beautifully and remains a solid submarine option in the truest sense. This watch is generously donated by Swatch Group Australia. Longines have got a lot of things right about this design, particularly on the dial. Sure, the original watch was a bi-compax chronograph with no date, but other than that, the handset is perfect (so ’60s), and the indices and dial text are just right too. But the element of the dial that can go unnoticed to the untrained eye is that all three sub-dials are different. This mixes the dial up in a good way, and by having the hour register at six blend into the dial, the design preserves the two-register look of the original. Clever work, Longines. The bracelet, while solid, excellently replicates the sort of thin, folded bracelet you’d find on a vintage piece. And the aluminium bezel, with dominant elapsed minutes and smaller hour indicators, is a rich red, somewhere between oxblood and cherry.…
In their second office fracas, colleagues Nick Kenyon and James Robinson do battle via the humble keyboard to settle yet another quarrelsome topic: In-house movements — are they brilliant and necessary in horology or, more often than not, disappointing and overkill? James Robinson – The For Argument Allow me, if you will, to begin this discourse with an analogy: let’s say that you’ve worked really, really hard for several years, and to reward yourself, you want to buy a special car. For argument’s sake, I’ll use the ubiquitous sports car as the example — a Porsche 911. Imagine walking into the dealership, finding your dream machine, walking up to it and just poring over every minute detail of its curvaceous flanks. Then one of the sartorial (if a bit sleazy) salesmen comes up to you and starts giving you the pitch. It’s a well-thought-out and considered spiel; he’s churning out facts and figures that make you giddy with excitement, eager to get off the showroom and out on to the open road. But then, the penny drops when he says, “Oh, and the flat-six engine is made by Toyota.” How gutted would you feel? Here’s this gorgeous, bespoke sports car and…
Sometimes you’ve got to face the bitter truth. Between small children, a house needing urgent renovation and a woeful inability to pick the winning lottery numbers, I can’t spend big on a new watch for the foreseeable future. Luckily, right now the “premium economy” end of the market is stronger than ever. Here are five watches that collectively add up to $18,740 from my $20K fantasy budget. The remaining $1260? That’s getting lumped on Powerball tickets to hopefully swell next year’s coffers. DOXA SUB 200 $1590 I’ve got a hankering for a no-nonsense diving watch that I can wear to the beach and this is top of my hit-list. A finalist at the GPHG awards in the “Challenge” category for watches under 4000 Swiss Francs, this sturdy diver boasts DOXA’s iconic beads-of-rice bracelet and highly contrasting lume-filled hands and hour markers. But the real deal-clincher for me is the cheerful yellow dial that’s guaranteed to nudge serotonin levels into a happy-clappy wonderland. Longines Heritage Classic $2775 You know those guys who end up dating a succession of alarmingly similar looking women? Well, personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that – they just know exactly what they like. So,…
