Romain Jerome Eyjafjallajökull-DNA

Romain Jerome Eyjafjallajökull-DNA

Romain Jerome first launched its Eyjafjallajökull-DNA watch in 2010, celebrating the eruption of the like-named volcano that for some days caused havoc in air traffic. It has already sold out two collections and so this year the brand is offering another piece, a limited edition of 99. The whole watch expresses rough, spiky lava, from…

Romain Jerome Moon Orbiter GMT

Romain Jerome Moon Orbiter GMT

The Moon Orbiter GMT by Romain Jerome is a new version of a watch first launched in 2015. Back then it was a very unusual watch, with a rectangular case and lugs with spring-loaded shock absorbers. This new version, presented in 2016, is a bit more conventional in appearance, with a circular case. The extra…

Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition

Oris Carl Brashear Limited Edition diving watch

This lovely dive watch by Oris is dedicated to Carl Brashear, the U.S. Navy’s first African American master diver. Brashear, born in 1931, overcame racial descrimination in his long naval career that began when he was just 17, and in 1966 lost the lower part of his left leg following an accident during a mission to salvage a…

Ressence Type 1 squared

Ressence Type 1 squared

The intelligent design that hallmarks all watches by Ressence can already be seen in the name. Type 12, giving the idea of the second version of type 1 Type 1.2), but also Type 1 Squared, expressing the fundamental difference, a cushion-shaped case that adds an element of tradition and makes it dressier. Other new features…

Ressence Type 1W White

Ressence

Company profile: Ressence was founded in 2010 by Benoît Mintiens in Antwerp, Belgium. The name is derived from the words “Renaissance” and “essence”. Mintiens is an industrial designer, whose curriculum includes work on Eurostar and SNCF trains, first-class interiors for Air France, and vacuum cleaners for LG. He first encountered watch design in 2004 when…

Laurent Ferrier Galet Micro-Rotor Montre Ecole

Laurent Ferrier Galet Micro-Rotor Montre Ecole

Laurent Ferrier trained at the Geneva school of watchmaking, and, like all watchmakers, completed the course by constructing his own “school piece.” It expressed his ambition of perpetuating fine 19th century watchmaking. In the Galet Micro-Rotor Montre Ecole, Laurent Ferrier celebrates that piece, and translates the pebble-like rounded smoothness of pocket watches into a wristwatch.…

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Pirelli

Roger Dubuis

Company profile: Roger Dubuis is a brand that is proud of its relatively short history, just over 20 years. This enables it to make watches that are totally original, because they don’t have to look back to precedents back in the company archive. In many of their watches, you get the impression that they are…

Voutilainen Vingt-8 ISO

Voutilainen Vingt-8 ISO

The Vingt-8 ISO by Kari Voutilainen does something unusual for a wristwatch: it presents a different way of telling the time. There are still the hour and minute hands, and a conventional hour scale, but the minutes scale at the edge of the dial rotates at the same speed as the hour hand. So every…

Hautlence Vortex Bronze

Hautlence Vortex Bronze

Hautlence is dedicated to making watches that tell time in a different way, as in this piece, Vortex Bronze. The Vortex was first presented in 2015 in a titanium case, and at SIHH 2017, Hautlence presented a new edition of 8 pieces in bronze. It has the same innovative HL2.0 movement, and similar case architecture.…

H. Moser Endeavour Concept Cosmic Green Limited Edition

H. Moser Endeavour Concept Cosmic Green Limited Edition

The Cosmic Green by H. Moser is another expression of the brand’s stance with respect to the “Swiss Made” concept, and the fact that legislation on use of this label doesn’t offer much of a guarantee to customers buying a watch. Neither does it help people working in the Swiss watch industry. I don’t think…

H. Moser Venturer Small Seconds XL Paramagnetic

H. Moser Venturer Small Seconds XL Paramagnetic

The Venturer Small Seconds XL Paramagnetic by H. Moser & Cie. has a balance spring made from the new alloy PE5000, developed by the company Precision Engineering AG, part of Moser Watch Holding. PE5000 is shock-resistant and paramagnetic, and, after a development period of 7 years, it is now being used in a watch for…

Grönefeld 1941 Remontoire

The 1941 Remontoire is the fourth watch introduced by the horological brothers Bart and Tim Grönefeld. They have already achieved a lot: an independent watch brand based in Oldenzaal, in the Netherlands, is in competition with the “Swiss Made” concept. Their movements are hand-crafted in-house, and so their watches are not cheap. But business is…

Christophe Claret Maestro

Christophe Claret Maestro

There is a lot of good stuff in this new watch Maestro by Christophe Claret. At his Manufacture in Le Locle, he makes movements for other brands such as Ulysse Nardin, and so he has no problem about rethinking calibres and giving them a totally new construction. In this piece, the cantilevered bridges based on…

Helm Vanuatu

Helm Vanuatu

The Helm Vanuatu has a lot going for it. First and foremost, price. US $275, plus $30 world-wide shipping, makes it an attractive proposition. It is a dive watch, 300 metres water resistance. Helm describe the watch as compliant with ISO 6425, which means that they test all watches for water resistance, in water at a…

Ulysse Nardin InnoVision 2

Ulysse Nardin InnoVision 2

Not many brands make concept watches – timepieces made purely for research and not for sale. Ulysse Nardin created their Innovision 1 watch in 2007, and the inventions in that piece were progressively transferred to their production watches. Ten years on, the brand intends to do the same with its InnoVision 2. It comprises ten…

Ulysse Nardin Marine Tourbillon

The Marine Tourbillon by Ulysse Nardin is a fine watch at an interesting price, considering that it has an in-house tourbillon movement. The self-winding UN-128 calibre is entirely new, with silicium escapement and balance spring, and a 60-hour power reserve. The watch has the classic marine chronometer looks, with a 43 mm case in stainless…

Calibre de Cartier Diver

Diving watches and ISO 6425

There are diving watches, and diver’s watches. They are not equivalent terms. Diving watches in general are designed for use underwater and so have a number of specific characteristics, principally water resistance of at least 10 bar/100 metres and a unidirectional rotating bezel. On the other hand, watches that have “Diver’s” on the dial have…