MICRO MONDAYS: The Iridium Torpedo is a budget-friendly dive watch with monster specs
The Iridium Torpedo arrives to offer a different take on the budget-friendly dive watch with monster specifications for minimum spending. With looks that stray closer to glamour than “tool watch”, it doesn’t shy away from being highly capable and seriously tough. The Torpedo is available with a black, blue, grey, or green dial, and the green is the variety I got to spend some time with. The sunburst texture is extreme, creating lush, undulating flashes between shades of teal and emerald, honing in on the aquatic themes of the watch in general. The applied diamond indices at the quarters are glamorous with their polished-steel surrounds complimenting the large handset, while the circular indices are stretched and pulled by the sapphire crystal’s distortion to create all manner of interesting shapes. The date window is nicely integrated with a steel frame and does well not to interrupt any symmetry on the 42mm dial. The bright orange seconds hand is attention-grabbing no matter which dial colour it appears over, and its length reaches far into the printed minute track for easy time-setting. While it is an impressive thing to look at during the day, the Iridium Torpedo really comes alive when the lights…
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It’s fair to say that most people hate spinach. Generally with good reason too. But if there was ever anyone to convince you that eating spinach was a good idea, it would be the one and only Popeye. He’s a character who loves his pipe nearly as much as he loves his leafy greens and, for the second time in recent years, is gracing the dial of a watch in the Bamford London GMT Popeye Limited Edition. The first time Popeye and Bamford collaborated was for the 90th anniversary of the American sailor’s earliest public appearance way back in 1929, producing another nautically themed limited edition of 50 pieces that also used the Bamford GMT as a template. This year we get another edition, this time with a black coating over the 40mm stainless-steel case with Popeye now running across the dial. Just like the first edition, this second Bamford London GMT Popeye Limited Edition uses Popeyes arms as the hour and minute hands, with a white and red GMT hand cutting a contrasting line over the dial. The Bamford GMT is a watch we are familiar with at Time+Tide after launching our own limited edition watch at the end…
Polarising did you say? Well, this is like nothing else, I’m back and forth between love and, well, indifference is not a word. Right now, I’m very much in the LOVE camp, and still trying to work out what the hell the KITH for G-Shock GM-6900 Rainbow looks like. A burnished heat shield from a re-entry heat shield fallen off a Space Shuttle? Gold plating gone chemically wrong? A petrified oil slick? I don’t care, I want it anyway. On the wrist, this is a conversation stopper like no other wristwatch (save perhaps a domed MB&F), but at a knockout price. This is not the first, but the third collaboration with KITH, the New York-based streetwear chain and eponymous clothing label, and it’s based on the nineties classic GM-6900. But here, on its discretely elegant, logoed KITH resin strap (it even comes with another one), all the stops have been pulled out for the iconic case. Personally, I’d say this is the first time I’ve felt a real pang of desire for the rather bulbous case of the GM, too, I felt the last collab from Hodinkee was a bit too muted (I didn’t say boring). For their 10th anniversary…
J Balvin is one the hottest Latin artists in the world with the Colombian musician commonly referred to as the ‘Prince of Reggaeton’. Selling over 35 million records worldwide, his status within the industry and high-income from his work allow him to engage with some of the most in-demand watches and brands in the world. His personal watch collection has received ample coverage on the internet, but his appearance on the latest episode of Hot Ones opened a brief window into his collector perspective – tackling topics such as the watch that was hardest for him to find, AP vs. Patek, and his views on “bussing down” watches. The most difficult watch for J Balvin to track down… Unfortunately for us watch enthusiasts he does not express the exact reference of Richard Mille he found the hardest to get, but perhaps the environment he received the watch in was tougher than finding the actual timepiece. J Balvin explains in his intermission between hot wings, “The most difficult one… It was a gift that someone gave it to me. A guy came to me, he was like, ‘Listen I respect you a lot and I want to give you this as…
As we have touched on before in our story here, the Rolex GMT-Master II Ref.126710 BLRO does actually live up to the hype. And while I would love to have one in my own watchbox, the two major hurdles of availability and cost can feel rather insurmountable. So how about the alternatives? Yes, there are some very good ones out there with their own takes on what is practically a separate watch genre. So let’s pop open a few different looking cans of Pepsi and have a taste of the sweet stuff with some fresh alternatives to the GMT-Master II. The original You might find it hyped, ubiquitous and topped by a prohibitively long waiting list. But still, the GMT-Master II Ref.126710 BLRO is for many a proper grail watch and epitomises the Crown’s catalogue of sports watches. Within the confines of a sleek, comfortable 40mm case in the warmth of 904L steel alloy, the comfort is sublime. It will take you all of five seconds with it on your wrist to appreciate Rolex’s unique brand of horological evolution. This story, however, is about finding an alternative to this, no matter how (very, very) comfortable it sits on your wrist,…
First impressions: a stealth black UFO. perhaps? And then a red pulsating zig-zag that I feel like illustrating with a comic book “ZAP!”. This is my introduction to the Hamilton Ventura Elvis80 Skeleton. Fresh from being inspired by the vintage purity of the Intra-Matic chronograph we recently covered here, I was not expecting this dark futuristic visage from the Hamilton brand. Anyone conversant with watches past a certain age instantly equates the Hamilton Ventura with Elvis Presley. This, however is not a vintage reissue of his quirky triangular wristwatch from 1957 that was the first-ever battery-powered watch. Pretty damn far from it, in fact. The Elvis Aaron Presley wearing this was not born in the US of A, but in a parallel universe, on The Death Star. Yes, this is the watch worn by Elvis the Sith Lord, a wristworn dynamic sweep of a soft alien shape – no easy circles or rectangles here, son. In order to wrap your head around it and make sense of it, you have to consider the visual references of ’50s American design. Because the basic shape, one suspects, is informed by that world of chrome tailfins and UFO-shaped diners. Theorising aside, it’s a…
Wearing a Rolex will invariably attract attention. Bragging rights aside, owning a Rolex comes with a host of benefits: they can make a great impression with your in-laws, they are built to last for a very long time, they hold their value better than most luxury commodities and, of course, they tell the time unusually well. Alas where there are pros, cons are often around the corner and this proved to be the case quite literally for three unsuspecting Rolex owners in the UK. Such is Rolex’s reputation and street value, they attract cons; a flash of a Rolex, however unintentional, will alert beady-eyed criminals. It’s one thing to assume that owning an expensive watch involves getting contents insurance and a half-decent safe. But enrolling in a self-defence course, really? Sadly, the dark side of the world does exist. We’ve heard about celebrities’ mansions being targeted for robberies and ultra expensive watches attracting criminal attention. But attacks in broad daylight? Hit and runs by gangs with the sole intention of stealing someone’s watch? That’s some dark shithousery, but these things are happening – in the sleepy Norfolk town of Hingham of all places, a two and half hour drive from…