This gem.-set Rolex Pearlmaster 39 iin yellow gold is a limited-edition watch, not in the catalogue of new products for 2015 but presented at Baselworld. It has 60 graded baguette stones around the bezel, and the dial is completely paved with diamonds. The Pearlmaster bracelet is also set with diamonds on the two narrow link…
At Baselworld 2015, Rolex introduced four new 39-mm watches in the Cellini Time collection. Cellini is Rolex’s dress watch, and with these new models it just got dressier, in white or Everose gold, with (for the first time for Cellini) a single or double diamond-set bezel. The versions with single diamond-set bezel has a row…
In these super-bling models by Rolex, new this year is the size, 39 mm, and the automatic calibre 3235, which is chronometer-certified by COSC and then tested in-case by Rolex. It attains a precision of +2/-2 secs per day, which is double the COSC standard (+4/-4) and has a power reserve of 70 hours, so…
This is the entry-level Rolex, and the remarkable thing is its price: £3,750 for the 39 mm version, and £3,400 for the smaller versions. This year there are new colours and five sizes. Case and dial The Oyster Perpetual is a direct descendant of the first Oyster launched in 1926, and so it has the…
The Rolex Yacht-Master was first introduced in 1992, a development of the Sumariner: it has the same sort of aesthetics, but it is not a diving watch, and so it has a bidirectional bezel, and a water resistance of 100 metres. As the name suggests, its theoretical audience is for yachtsmen rather than divers. The…
The DateJust 28 by Rolex replaces the previous 26 mm model, and shares some aesthetic developments with the men’s Day-Date 40. It is available in a wide range, all in precious metals, 950 platinum, yellow gold or Everose gold. The incredible degree of vertical integration achieved by Rolex – which casts its metals in its…
Company profile: Fawaz Gruosi was born on 8 August 1952, son to an Italian mother and a Lebanese father. He spent his childhood in Florence with his Italian mother. He began his working life in a Florence jewellery boutique, went on to become a store director for the same brand in London, and later became…
Several watch brands are presenting models with a distinct resemblance to the earliest style of pilot’s watch, with large, chunky Art Deco numerals with generous luminescent paint, and a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. Other classical characteristics are a large case size, and a large crown, so that pilots could operate it while wearing…
IWC‘s history includes a less familiar episode of the Second World War. In the 1930s IWC had a close link to aviation because both sons, Hans and Rudolf, of the Manufacture’s owner at the time, Ernst Jakob Homberger, were pilots. Rudolf was an officer in the Swiss Air Force, and saw action on many occasions…
Stunning. Absolutely stunning, This version of the Breguet Type XXI chronograph, a model dating back to the 1950s and designed for the French Naval air force, is in platinum, and just one piece will be made, to be auctioned on 7 November 2015 in Geneva as part of the Only Watch charity event benefiting research…
Eberhard & Co. continue their tradition of watches inspired by Italian racing driver Tazio Nuvolari with the 336, a piece that recalls Nuvolari’s attempt on the world speed record for a car on a road. The location that he chose was the Florence-Lucca motorway, and, driving an Alfa Romeo 16C Twin-Engine , on 15 June…
Traversetolo is a small town near Parma, Italy, and it is the town of origin of one of the current owners of Eberhard & Co. Traversetolo is also the name of a watch by Eberhard & Co., launched a few years ago, and the watch in their collection that, in the black dial version, comes…
Company profile Eberhard & Co. is one of the few Swiss watchmaking brands to have remained truly independent, and so not part of Swatch Group, Richemont, Sowind etc. It was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, by Georges Eberhard in 1887 (he was just 22 at the time) as the Manufacture d’Horlogerie Eberhard & Co. Chronographs…
Extra-fort is a name with a lot of history behind it: the model was originally launched in 1947, and it is still a best-seller for the brand. Over the years, it became associated with Eberhard’s motor-sports image, with sophisticated chronograph versions, but from about 2000 a classic three-hander was introduced, and this is the model…
From 2020, ETA (part of Swatch Group) will be able to stop supplying third-party clients with watch movements. ETA currently supplies about 70-75% of all Swiss-made movements, both to Swatch Group companies and to other brands, including their competitors, watch movement manufacturers such as Sellita and Soprod. The latter and their like therefore have about…
The original titanium version of the HM6 Space Pirate by MB&F recently won a “Best of the Best” award at the Red Dot design competition in Essen, Germany. The jury said “The distinctive shape of the clockwork simply fascinates, and its mechanism mesmerises. Featuring the appearance of a friendly being from another world, this wristwatch…
This year’s version of the Datograph Auf/Ab by A. Lange & Söhne, originally presented in platinum in 2012, has a pink gold case, 41 mm in diameter, 13.1 mm thick, and a black silver dial. The name Auf/Ab (Up/Down) refers to the power reserve indicator at the bottom of the dial, which points to Auf…
The Omega Seamaster 300 is a diving watch that Omega launched in 1957 and reintroduced at Baselworld 2014. This year’s version differs from the 2014 version principally for the soft leather strap with contrasting stitching that gives a new vintage-type look to the piece. The 41mm case is in stainless steel with Sedna gold details (Sedna…