The Globemaster range by Omega is beginning to expand, from the basic time-only version introduced in 2015. Each watch has Omega’s new METAS certification in which the watch is tested for eight parameters, including resistance to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss, water resistance of 10 bar/100 metres, and precision. The Omega Globemaster Annual Calendar has…
Every year, Frédérique Constant presents a nautical-inspired watch inspired by Riva runabout boats, the small craft in wood and chrome that have been cruising luxury playgrounds like Portofino and Montecarlo since the 1920s. The watch brand has a partnership with the Riva Historical Society whose mission is the preservation of Riva boats. The Runabout watch…
The F.P. Journe Centigraphe Souverain is an unusual watch because it is one of the very few chronographs that has – in my opinion – a logical dial layout. I have always felt that it’s illogical that in the usual chronograph layout, one of the subdials should be dedicated to continuous seconds, while the large…
Eberhard & Co. first presented the Extra-Fort chronograph in the 1950s, when watch sizes were smaller than today. This is reflected by the name of this piece, Grande Taille. This year, four new dial variants for the Eberhard & Co. Extra-Fort Grande Taille have been presented, all with “frappé” finishing (I think that this refers…
This is a really attractive watch, with its carioca colours on the ceramic bezel, the jaunty skeletonized hands with their differentiated SuperLuminova, and the wavy dial decoration, not a reference to the sea but rather to the two-tone paving design of Copacabana’s beachside promenade. The solid caseback is embossed with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games…
Aiglon Grande Taille by Eberhard & Co. is a 41 mm watch in steel, with a number of versions. The main factor in determining price is the case and bracelet finish, with lower-priced models in steel, and more expensive versions with 18k 5N gold plating. The watch is water-resistant to 50 metres, in part by…
Eberhard & Co. say that they designed Aiglon Dame specifically for young, modern women. It is smooth and minimalist, with a fairly wide bezel, and an uncluttered dial. The case is 35 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick, with a water resistance of 50 metres. It is made in several different versions, based on…
It was back in the 1950s when Eberhard & Co. presented its Scafograf 300, the days when dive computers had not been invented – they first appeared in 1953 but they only gained widespread acceptance in the late 1980s and even later – and mechanical watches were still functional objects and not luxury items. The…
Le Locle is the name of the town where Tissot was founded and works, and it is also the name of one of the brand’s watch collections. It now includes the Tissot Le Locle Automatic Lady, a watch that combines traditionally female characteristics such as the slender Roman numerals and mother-of-pearl dial with a relatively…
Tissot themselves call this “the hottest new trend,” in other words, pocket watches. Perhaps they are right; as far as I can see, it’s a trend restricted to those people who wear Victorian-looking gear and sport dark bushy beards. Anyway, this piece is a simplified version of the Tissot Bridgeport Mechanical Skeleton, with flutes around…
The Le Locle Regulateur by Tissot is a classical watch in every way. The “regulateur” was a clock installed in workshops in the 18th and 19th centuries to check the accuracy of the pocket watches that were being made. The regulator typically had a single minute hand referencing a chapter ring around the outside of…
Tissot makes a version of its T-Race MotoGP Automatic every year, and this year’s is very similar to the 2015 edition. The major difference is in the seconds scale at the outer edge of the dial, re-worked to provide a complete, uninterrupted sequence of one-fifth seconds, enabling readings to be taken to the maximum precision…
The Tissot Heritage 1936 has a beautiful movement, the ETA Unitas 6498, but it takes some effort to see it. This watch is a new version of a 1936 Tissot (scroll down to see an advert illustrating the watch 80 years ago), and so it has some elements of those pioneering days of wristwatches. At that…
This is a watch that looks good. I love the integration between the strap and the case, and the complexity of case and bezel, in steel components assembled with visible screws, and a black PVD-finish titanium case middle. The dial continues the same tough-looking technical theme, in sapphire, skeletonized to reveal parts of the movement…
Company profile: Pierre Dubois comes from a family that has been involved in watchmaking for four generations. Dubois-Dépraz was founded by Marcel Dépraz in 1901, and today the company, run by Pierre’s two brothers Jean-Philippe and Pascal, make some of the most interesting complications on the market, nearly always for other watch companies. Pierre Dubois…
The Slim d’Hermès Manufacture extends the Slim range introduced by Hermès in 2015. It is a 39.5 mm watch for women, with a whole range of strap colours, and smooth or diamond-set bezel. In the version shown, the watch has an opaline dial, and a bezel set with 66 diamonds. The movement is the H1950…
The Royal Retro movement used in watches by Pierre DeRoche gives the dial extra animated interest, with each second hand moving through a ten-second period before flicking back to zero and leaving the next to ship our fragile craft through the sea of time. In this piece, this delicate show is joined by a skull…
Lots of pocket watches this year. Perhaps Hermès know something that other people don’t about this sector of the market? Are lots of people going to be going around with fobs and chains? Are waistcoats also going to be coming back? In actual fact theSlim d’Hermès Pocket Panthère isn’t going to change the situation all…
Italian brand GaGà Milano runs great parties. Their design studio, masterminded by Ruben Tomella, is in Crema, a sleepy town just south of Milan; their watches are made in Switzerland. Gagà Milano Carbon 48 mm is a new series of fashion-influenced watches with case in carbon fibre featuring the brand’s hallmark splayed lugs and top-mounted…
Robert Dallet (1923-painted big cats and made many scarf designs for Hermès in the 19980s. In January this year, Hermès was involved in the foundation of the Robert Dallet Initiative for Wild Cat Conservation, which operates with Panthera to help protect these endangered species. Dallet first saw a tiger in a Paris zoo, and this…