IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Eight Days Edition “150 Years” IW510211

IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Eight Days Edition 150 Years

The IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Eight Days Edition “150 Years” is a beautiful, minimalist watch. I particularly like the way the date window is camouflaged, almost part of the circuit of hour numerals. It’s satisfyingly large at 43.2 mm diameter and relatively slim at 12.2 mm thickness. The white lacquer dial highlights the blued hands and…

Roamer Searock Automatic

Roamer Searock Automatic

The Searock Automatic by Roamer is one of the many classic men’s watches with a vaguely Rolex look, made by putting an ETA 2824-2 movement into a stainless steel case. Quite large at 42 mm across, the case has a graceful shape with polished and satin finish, and it has a nice 3-link bracelet in…

Certina DS Action Diver Automatic

Certina DS Action Diver Automatic

The DS Action Diver Automatic by Certina is something of a rarity in the world of diving watches. I think that it is the only watch with ISO 6425 on the dial. The brand says that the DS Action Diver Automatic “fulfils all the requirements of the ISO 6425 standard – and is waterproof up…

Christopher Ward C5 Malvern 595

Christopher Ward C5 Malvern 595

The C5 Malvern 595 by Christopher Ward is a really lovely watch. The 595 in its name refers to the thickness, which is just 5.95 mm. The Malvern case is 39 mm in diameter, with sleep sloping lugs and polished finish. The opaline dial comes in two variants, white or grey, with sloping hands and…

RGM Model 222-RR

RGM Model 222-RR

The Model 222-RR by RGM is a classic American railroad watch with the slewed dial arrangement – useful when you are driving or working on a computer – that has also been used by Longines for some of their aviation-inspired watches. The case, dial and strap are modern, though following vintage inspiration, but the movement…

RGM 350-TZBD

RGM 350-TZBD Time Zone Big Date

RGM is a brand based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and it perpetuates the history of American watchmaking. Their latest watch is the 350-TZBD, which has a classic dial, with big date at the centre and second time zone at 6 o’clock. It’s a watch that was designed for travellers. All indications adjusted from the crown The…

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph

Audemars Piguet have done something absolutely incredible with the Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph. You look at it, and at first sight, you don’t really understand what’s going on. You seem to be looking into a well, a deep opening, with the movement apparently suspended from the openworked wedge-like brackets that dominate the front of…

Omega Seamaster Olympic Games

Omega Seamaster Olympic Games Gold Collection

Omega has been the official timekeeper of the Olympic games since 1932 and it expects this arrangement to continue until 2032. The Omega Seamaster has a shorter history. It dates back to 1948 when it was introduced to celebrate Omega’s 100th anniversary. The earliest models were very simple with slender wedge-like hour markers, leaf hands,…

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date

The Polaris Date by Jaeger-LeCoultre is an interesting timepiece, in part an everyday automatic watch, and in part a thoroughbred sports watch. It’s quite large at 42mm diameter and 13.1 mm thickness, but its steeply sloping lugs make it wearable and comfortable on the wrist. Vintage inspiration It’s interesting to compare the new Polaris Date…

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph is a superb watch, with a clear dial, sapphire caseback, 100 metres water resistance, movement with column wheel and vertical clutch, and easily interchangeable straps. Its price makes it relatively unaccessible to most people but it is a dream of a watch. It celebrates the classic 1968 Polaris Memovox in its…

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Automatic

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Automatic

The Polaris Automatic by Jaeger-LeCoultre is the brand’s entry-level sports watch. They’ve done a lot of good things with this watch. To create a new sports watch – a tough watch that can survive all sorts of conditions, and in particular contact with water – they returned to an archive timepiece, the 1968 Memovox Polaris,…

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph WT

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph World Time

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris Chronograph WT is a fantastic watch, it does everything to perfection, and it combines the chronograph function with a very functional world time display. It’s large at 44 mm, but it wears smaller, it’s only 12.5 mm thick, and the use of titanium makes it pleasantly light – lighter than the Polaris Automatic…

Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph

Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph

Laureato by Girard-Perregaux returned to the market in 2016, and this year at SIHH, the brand presented the Laureato Chronograph in 38 and 42 mm sizes, with a range of dial colours and strap or bracelet options: steel or pink gold, three dial colours, silver, black and dark blue. It is slim at 11.9 mm…

Van Cleef Arpels Lady Arpels Planetarium detail

Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Planétarium

The Lady Arpels Planétarium by Van Cleef & Arpels does something ambitious. It reduces the vast expanses of space into a women’s watch 38 mm in diameter. To be more specific, the 149,600,000 million kilometres – which is also known as 1 AU, Astronomical Unit – separating the earth and the sun are scaled down…