This detail from the trailer of Solace, starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin Farrell and Abbie Cornish, shows a watch that plays a significant though brief role in the plot: psychic doctor John Clancy, played by Hopkins, realizes that he is up against a serial killer with the same sort of paranormal talents when he finds, on…
This new version of the Diagono by Bulgari has a lot in common with Rolex, with its understated design, tough sporty image, robust protection and solid caseback. Diagono was first launched in 1988 and it was one of the first watches to use aluminium; this was followed by titanium, and rubber straps. The family comprises…
The chronograph watch is one of the most popular categories of timepieces. This selection is of course subjective and based on what I’ve managed to review over the course of the year, and it is designed to provide an overview of chronograph watches and their price range. The watches are presented in price order, from…
They say that there are more book competitions than there are new books published, and though obviously an exaggeration, this sort of hyperbole could also be applied to the watch sector, in which there are a lot of awards ceremonies. The most important is GPHG which is held in watch capital Geneva, but which has…
One of the watches by Bulgari celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Bulgari Roma watch – the original was intended purely as a free gift to Bulgari’s top 100 clients, and was a digital watch – Bulgari Roma Tubogas is another classic with reference to the modern world. Though Bulgari’s watchmaking is entirely Swiss in terms…
One of the watches in the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of Bulgari Roma, the Bulgari Roma Tourbillon Finissimo is a super-slim tourbillon with a manually-wound movement just 1.95 mm thick, world record thinness for a flying tourbillon. The balance runs at 21,600 vph (3 Hertz)and has a power reserve of 52 hours. The case…
How things have changed. The Bulgari Roma was introduced exactly 40 years ago not as a standard production watch, but as a solid gold free gift for Bulgari’s 100 most important customers. That watch, launched in 1975 when Bulgari’s watchmaking was just a sideline to its principal jewellery business, nonetheless presented some features that would…
Stowa presented this three-hand watch, a modern variant of their classic pilot’s watch, at Baselworld 2015, and it became available in May 2015. While Stowa’s Flieger Classic is still available at prices starting from €860, the company has been presenting some more contemporary variants, with the Flieger TO1 Testaf in 2013, the Flieger GMT in…
GaGà is an Italian brand founded in 2004, making colourful quartz and mechanical watches, and it presented a preview of its Quirky skeleton tourbillon at Baselworld in 2014, intended as a celebration of the brand’s tenth anniversary. Quirky has a movement by Swiss company Hysek, and it is immediately recognizable for its bridges that have…
Rana, a watch by German brand Stowa, is, in my opinion, one of the most original new timepieces of 2015. It represents an important step forward for a brand that is best known for its ever-popular pilot’s watches based on its own historical B-Uhr pieces. Rana is a powerful concentration of innovation in design and…
With just 55,000 watches made per year, of which 45,000 mechanical and 10,000 quartz watches for women, the Patek Philippe universe is relatively small and exclusive. The brand’s reputation is demonstrated above all by its exceptional results in auction rooms: considering the ten watches attaining highest prices at auction, nine are Patek Philippe. The entry-level…
This year’s version of the Neo-Tourbillon by Girard-Perregaux is similar to the 2014 version with gold case, but the use of titanium with black DLC makes it even more modern in looks, a dark stage on which the lovely silvery tourbillon acts out its magic, apparently floating in mid-air. The curved bridges are a modern…
GPHG, Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, is the closest thing to the Oscars in the world of watches, with prizes awarded for different categories towards the end of every year. It has to be said that the little hand-shaped trophies given to the winners don’t have the same visual power as the Oscar statues, and…
One of the things that I admire about Patek Philippe is what they don’t do. They don’t make metiers d’art watches with paintings on the dial. They don’t make weird and strange complications. They don’t make watches with monkeys (or buffalo or dragons) on the dial. In short, they are never running after the market.…
A watch with seven patents This split second chronograph, reference 5370 by Patek Philippe, is part of the brand’s tradition, because their first chronograph wristwatch presented in 1923 was a split-second model, and this complication (also known as double chronograph or rattrapante chronograph) has always been part of its range in various models. However it…
This is a 36 mm watch with fundamentally masculine looks, but with a diamond-set bezel. Watch brands don’t talk about men’s or women”s watches any more, they are just small, midsize, large or extra-large, and a watch like this has sure appeal in countries where a bit of glitter is good on men’s watches as…
Italian brand Locman is moving upwards. Their new Montecristo Rattrapante is their most sophisticated watch produced to date, a limited edition of 100 pieces. In this piece, starting the chronograph sets the white chronograph second hand moving, along with the red hand that is exactly underneath, so that they are moving together. When you press…
This is a very wearable pilot’s watch by Agir Watch, a brand founded in Biel, Switzerland, in 1926, and that is currently under Italian ownership. In the past, Agir Watch was part of the group founded by Filippo Giardiello from Naples (his principal brand was Philip Watch), and in 1956 it was purchased by the…
The Vintage 1945 collection has a long history, as its name suggests, and the Vintage 1945 Small Second by Girard-Perregaux is a modern version of the original Art Deco design, with pink gold and steel case, applied numerals on dial and dauphine faceted hands. In comparison with most Girard-Perregaux watches, this has a relatively accessible…
Girard-Perregaux first introduced the Cat’s Eye collection in 2004, and since then many versions have been produced, all featuring the horizontal oval dial shape. The case, 35.4 mm across and 30.4 mm from top to bottom, is a composition of ellipses, one framing the circular date window, another for the small seconds on the left,…