Usually you see vintage pocket watches hanging in watch repair and antique shops. Before 1910, all watches were pocket watches: wristwatches were made popular by soldiers in the First World War. Today, many brands still have a few pocket watches in their collection, such as this piece by Hermès, Pocket Plein Cuir. It combines a…
The three watches in the Arceau Pocket La Promenade de Platon by Hermès are all one-off pieces, made using three techniques: enamel, engraving, and three-dimensional engraving with added layers of gold. They are based on a scarf design by Annie Faivre on this year’s theme “Nature at full gallop.” The subject is philosopher Plato riding…
It seems that Hermès is doing everything right. Its watches incorporate its exquisite leather craftsmanship. The brand gives its own names to its mechanical movements, justifiably, because it owns a 25% share of movement manufacturer Vaucher. It uses its vast design resources to create some interesting case and dial designs. And it is using its…
At Baselworld, Philippe Delhotal, Creative Director of La Montre Hermès, said that 2016 is all about the consolidation of the Slim collection launched commercially in 2015. The Slim d’Hermès Email grand feu is a development of the Slim d’Hermès, and it is a 100-piece limited edition designed for collectors. Its dial design has the same…
The True Open Heart by Rado combines light high-tech ceramic, used for the case and bracelet, with a dial made from a wafer-thin – 0.6mm – layer of mother-of-pearl, revealing a glimpse of the movement as well as the ever-changing colours produced by this natural material. This year the trend identified for Rado by future…
Punctual for the 2016 European football championships in Paris, Hublot presents its limited edition Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph Euro2016, “Official Licensed Watch” of UEFA Euro 2016. It is a limited edition of 100 pieces, already on sale. This watch also marks Hublot’s tenth anniversary of involvement in football, which began in 2006 when the…
Hamilton is Interstellar, Bell & Ross goes HyperStellar. In this new version of the BR-X1 chronograph, Bell & Ross suggest the space theme principally by the colour combination, blue and grey. The BR-X1 HyperStellar has a 45 mm case in titanium, with a protective insert for the bezel in blue anodized aluminium. Its water resistance…
This chronograph watch, like the three-hand Bell & Ross BR 03-92 AeroGT, is linked to the Bell & Ross AeroGT concept car, designed by the brand’s creative director Bruno Belamich and his team. Bell & Ross BR 03-94 AeroGT chronograph The BR 03-94 AeroGT chronograph has a very technical look, with chronograph hands all in…
In 2014, Bruno Belamich, creative director at Bell & Ross, designed the B-Rocket motorbike, something like a cross between a bike and an aircraft. It was actually built, in cooperation with the Shaw Harley-Davidson Speed & Custom company. This year, 2016, the brand presented a Bell & Ross car, the AeroGT concept car. This in turn was…
The Bell & Ross BR-X1 RS16 is a chronograph that celebrates the brand’s sponsorship of the Renault Sport Formula One team. The watch is named after the R.S. 16 car used for the 2016 season, and it is available for sale only at Grand Prix races. The watch, 45 mm in size, has a case…
Power reserve is important in two ways. In a self-winding watch, when you’re wearing it, you don’t need a long power reserve because you’re constantly winding it with your own movements, and even the minimum power reserve of 38 hours is plenty enough to keep it going when you take the watch off to go…
Everyone loved the MB&F LM1 released in 2010, with its large, theatrical balance wheel suspended over the dial and under the dome-shaped watch glass. This year, MB&F presents a collaboration with French watch designer Alain Silberstein, whose liking for primary colours and shapes produced the engaging MB&F LM1 Silberstein. This piece follows another collaboration, the…
Nostalgic watches are ever successful, as proven by the unending demand for pilot’s watches recalling the pieces supplied to the Luftwaffe in the 1940s. In those days, Alpina was one of the suppliers for the German Kriegsmarine (hence the name KM-710), not surprisingly because the company’s German subsidiary had been transformed into an independent German…
Probably, 90% of all watches that are sold have circular cases. Bell & Ross is therefore an exception to the rule, and they have achieved extraordinary success with their watches whose square cases with four screws at the corners are directly derived from aircraft cockpit instruments. The Bell & Ross BR 03-94 Desert Type chronograph…
When you look at the Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Desert Type automatic, you can’t help thinking of Panerai. The dial is made in three layers, a beige top surface, with cut-out numerals revealing the black luminescent coating at the core of the sandwich construction. During the day, the black luminescent paint contrasts effectively with…