SIHH, the watch show whose complete name is Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie and that is the first watch show every year in January, has announced some significant changes. Most important, in addition to the 16 Richemont brands, they have invited nine independent watchmakers in a section that they have called Carré des Horlogers. These…
Ulysse Nardin deserve commendation for creating a diver’s watch for women that is not just a scaled-down version of a men’s diver. It is a curious concept, because though it presents certain features typical of a diver’s watch – principally the unidirectional rotating bezel and screw-down crown – they don’t seem to have any real…
In actual fact, it doesn’t, at least for the moment. Luminova has been around only since 1998, SuperLuminova since about 2000, and so the situation is a bit like that for artists using acrylic paint: while we know what happens to oil paints because they have been in use for centuries, it could be that…
This is a watch with a lot of history behind it. The watch in something like its present configuration was launched by Ulysse Nardin in about 2000 and has since been made in many different models, but its origin runs right back to its 19th-century deck chronometers. In the photo below (from the book Ulysse…
This Kickstarter project features pilot’s watches and provides yet another indication of the vast interest in this pattern of timepieces. Stan Betesh began his work in the watch trade by selling straps with the company Panatime, then diving watches with Deep Blue watches; his latest venture is pilot’s watches with the brand name Air Blue,…
Just like the two watches by Louis Moinet and Ulysse Nardin dedicated to oil barons that I wrote about a few days ago, these two pieces, by Richard Mille and Ulysse Nardin, are designed for another “captive audience,” men who have one thing on their minds. In their press release, Richard Mille says apologetically “Erotic…
Watches can play music in several ways. The most common is the minute repeater, which has up to four gongs, but the music that you can play on four notes is limited to things like the Westminster chimes. This watch by Ulysse Nardin is a modern version of a historic idea, a musical box combined…
This limited-edition pilot’s chronograph by Sinn is an addition to its 103 series of chronographs, and its major feature is the blue dial with sunburst decoration and silver subdials. Case and dial The stainless steel case is 41 mm in diameter and 17 mm thick, and it features the brand’s Ar-Dehumidifying Technology that extends watch…
The B-Type pilot’s watch is good for people who like the pilot’s watch appearance but who want a bit extra on the dial in comparison with the super-rationalist Type A. Steinhart‘s version of this historical precedent is a good reinterpretation of the 1930s originals, at a very accessible price. It is made using an ETA…
Company profile: Walter Storz founded Stowa (the name comes from the first two letters of his surname and name) in Hornberg, in Germany’s Black Forest, in 1927, and in 1935 the company relocated to Pforzheim. In 1938 they launched some Bauhaus-style designs (now part of the Antea series), and in 1939 the Marine Beobachtungsuhr (observation…
B-Uhr watches are pure simplicity, and so the brands making these ever-popular watches compete on the details and the price, and at €400 inclusive of VAT this watch is without doubt a good deal. This new pilot watch by Steinhart, available from August 2015, has all the characteristics of the type, with a large 44…
The Military 42 Black by Steinhart was released in early 2015. It shares a lot with the earliest pilot’s watches, with the Art Deco-inspired numerals, the sectors of “old radium” beige SuperLuminova on the hands, and the black dial, but these have been updated into a modern design with a sleek black DLC-coated stainless steel…
Company profile: Steinhart Watches GmbH was founded by Günter Steinhart in about 2001. Günter, who studed studied architecture and engineering in Munich, started the business with the objective of making quality watches at accessible prices. Their watches are assembled in Germany using Swiss movements, by ETA, Soprod and other movement manufacturers, nearly always personalized with…
The Ocean One Vintage Dual Time by German brand Steinhart was inspired by the Rolex GMT Master II, and in particular its distinctive two-colour bezel (the red-blue version known as the Pepsi bezel), with the white dial that originated with the PanAm Rolex GMT made as a limited edition for the airline’s pilots in 1954.…
Who is going to buy a watch costing 280,000 Swiss francs with a depiction of an oil rig on the dial? People who measure time not in hours and minutes, but in barrels. Like the Ulysse Nardin Hourstriker Oil Pump , this piece is specifically designed for the markets of Russia, the Middle East and…
Rather like the goat watches released earlier this year, this piece is aimed at a specific market, the oil barons of Russia, the United States and the Middle East. The dial is the inky black of crude oil, and the case and oil pumps are in gold or platinum. Strikes oil… and the hours The…
This platinum, 30-piece limited-edition watch by Ulysse Nardin combines two challenging complications, the minute repeater with Westminster chimes, and the tourbillon. In addition, the four figures on the dial, called Jaquemarts, are animated, moving their arms or trunk while the watch is chiming. The word Jaquemarts means “striking men” not in the sense of attractive…
The Freak was incredible when it was first presented, at Baselworld in 2001, and 14 years later it is still an innovative timepiece. Who knows what Ludwig Oechslin’s original inspiration was, possibly Corum’s baguette movement, but the idea of making the movement become the minute hand, so that it gradually rotates around the dial and…
Company profile: Ulysse Nardin was born on 22 January 1823 in Le Locle, Switzerland. After an initial training from his father Léonard-Frédéric, he worked as an apprentice under William DuBois. At the age of 23, Ulysse founded his own company in 1846, and his first watches were sold in South America by means of the…
The new watch brand klokers makes its debut with a watch that looks like a slide rule. Powered by a quartz movement, instead of having hands it has three rotating discs (hours, minutes, seconds) read off against a red vertical line, with an integrated magnifying lens in the watchglass for greater clarity. A slide rule…