After writing about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver yesterday, I was wondering whether there are other options for diver’s watches with poppy highlighter colours. Here are five, in ascending price order (plus the Royal Oak Offshore Diver, which at €20,000 is at the bottom). Deep Blue Master 1000 Automatic Diver Stainless steel case…
The complete name for this collection by Audemars Piguet is the Royal Oak Offshore Funky Colour Diver, and it’s the colour that is the standout feature. In 2016, the Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph was launched in these youthful colours, and this year it’s the turn of the time-only diver’s watch. The success of this…
How does a watch brand react to tough times? The last two years have been tough, and Baume & Mercier have reacted by introducing a sub-collection to the existing Classima collection that speaks to a new, wider range of customers. People who are attracted to a luxury Swiss watch brand but who don’t want to…
It was no easy task for the designers at IWC. After the Portofino Midsize 37mm collection in 2015, the first time for about 20 years that IWC had directly approached women’s watches, and a few 36mm pilot’s watches last year, Da Vinci includes two series of 36mm watches designed specifically for women, the Da Vinci…
MB&F continue to make some of the most original machines out there. Their latest, HM7 (the HM stands for horological machine) is inspired by the underwater world, after their explorations of space, the air, and the road. HM7 has a profile that recalls a jellyfish, but there are lots of other visual links, such as…
Roger Dubuis is a brand that is proud of not having an ancient heritage. On the contrary, it looks long and hard into the future, intent on discovering themes that will one day be part of our everyday lives, and transferring what it finds into their watches of today. Attention to future trends is part…
I saw this watch on the morning of 17 January 2017, at the watch show SIHH in Geneva, at a presentation that began on a sad note because the A. Lange & Söhne representative began by announcing that their company founder, Walter Lange, had passed away earlier that morning at the age of 92. The…
This is the first watch presented by Richard Mille in 2017, and it reflects the partnership that he signed with McLaren in 2016, a ten-year agreement. It is based on Richard’s authentic passion for McLaren: he watched the McLaren team’s debut in Monaco in 1966. The watch incorporates high-tech materials such as titanium and Carbon…
Parmigiani Fleurier’s Bugatti Aérolithe Performance has changed a lot. With a titanium case 41 mm in diameter and 12.77 mm thick, the new features are visible above all on the dial, with double tachymeter scales in km/h and mph, in red and blue respectively, providing a link to the Bugatti car’s signature colours. There are…
In this watch by Van Cleef & Arpels presented at SIHH in January 2017, a butterfly on the dial flaps its wings automatically every so often, and on demand using a pusher. There is a long tradition of automaton clocks and watches – principally by Jaquet Droz – but Van Cleef & Arpels can claim…
Watches are part of the Swiss image, along with the Matterhorn, its cousin Mount Toblerone, trains that are unforgivingly punctual, and lakes of molten cheese. In addition, the Swiss approach is one of absolute correctness and politeness in all their activities. So it came as a surprise to see a video by watch brand H.…
Which is the blackest black possible? One that captures all the light reaching it, so that nothing is reflected and nothing reaches the eye of the observer. It must be something of a contemporary obsession at the moment, because not one, but two brands present at watch fair SIHH in Geneva, January 2017, presented watches…
Material innovation is a constant theme in watchmaking, and at SIHH this year, one of the traits emerging strongly is that of black. Not so much the all-black appearance beloved by Hublot and other brands, but rather dials of an intense, velvety black that creates the perfect backdrop for hands and markings treated in SuperLuminova.…
The start of a regatta is pure adrenalin. You’re stooging around trying to keep your eyes on the imaginary starting line between the jury boat and the buoy, as well as on the other boats, and then there is a series of signals, for example one at five minutes from the start, signalled by raising…
Mobilis is an inverted double tourbillon by the brand Louis Moinet. The two tourbillons in the bottom half of the dial rotate in opposite directions, and are both linked to the gear train in the top half. It’s a mesmerizing sight to watch, because, with sapphire glass front and back, the two tourbillons seem to…
The Militare collection by Anonimo was introduced in 2001 and changed frequently over the following years. In 2015, it was extensively revised, and the Militare Automatic is now available in a range of finishes, but all the same overall design. The principal feature of the watch is the crown at 12 o’clock, and the crown…
Company profile: Anonimo has an unusual history. The brand traces its origins back to Giovanni Panerai in Florence, and their watches have some features similar to Panerai timepieces, such as a tradition of diving watches, a patented crown protector, large chunky dials, and simple, bold design. While Panerai has moved to in-house movement and high…
One of the features of Cartier’s high-end watches is skeletonization, with bridges in the form of giant Roman numerals. In this piece, presented as a preview of the brand’s new products to be launched at the watch fair SIHH which starts on 16 January 2017, Cartier combines its signature skeletonization with another of its specialities,…
Watch fair SIHH in Geneva is approaching – it starts on 16 January – and some of the exhibiting brands have presented their previews. Greubel Forsey’s big news is the Greubel Forsey Grande Sonnerie. They’ve been working on it for eleven years in total secrecy, and the result is a watch with 935 parts, in…
Many fashion brands make watches – or at least commission them from third-party companies – but only in a few cases are they something more than just brand extension operations. Ermenegildo Zegna is an Italian brand with a lot of courage (working with a name as long as that), responsibility (admirable commitment to their local…