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…
B-Uhr pilot’s watches are all based on a specification by the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium), the Ministry of Aviation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. For its aircraft navigators, it specified watches whose characteristics were: 55mm diameter, very large for good legibility; movement with a Breguet-type balance spring; chronometer-tested movement; protection against magnetic fields provided by…
Matwatches is a French brand specializing in military watches. The name comes from “Mer-Air-Terre.” The MAT AG5 2 Aviation combines features of diving watches, with water resistance of 300 metres and a unidirectional rotating bezel, and pilot’s watches, with black dial, and hands, numerals and hour indices coated with SuperLuminova for good visibility at low…
After working his magic at Hublot and TAG Heuer, Jean-Claude Biver is turning his attention to Zenith. All three companies are part of the LVMH Group, where Biver is President of the Watches Division. “I am writing to inform you of the departure of Aldo Magada from his position as CEO & President of Zenith.…
The Type A is the most familiar pilot’s watch type of all, based on one of the Luftwaffe B-Uhr specifications, with Arabic numerals, black dial, and indications coated with SuperLuminova. Its simplicity makes it easily recognizable. Most of the high-end watch brands avoid making these pilot’s watches because their iconic design makes it impossible to…
RGM, American brand based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, first introduced its alarm watch in the late 1990s, but the Swiss movement that they used then went out of production. Recently they were able to obtain some of these calibres, the La Joux-Perret 5900 automatic, and so the Model 110-A Alarm watch has been brought back into…
This is a preview of a watch that TAG Heuer will be presenting in Geneva later this month (January 2017), a chronograph entirely in ceramic, including the bracelet. It is based on the Carrera Heuer-01 launched in 2015, with a 12-piece case that allows a range of combinations of materials and colours. The 2017 version…
Most watch brands make products that are fundamentally similar to all the mechanical watches that have been made for the last two centuries. A few do something different, and create a product that represents a radical departure and that hallmarks all the brand’s products. Examples are HYT with their watches in which liquid is used…
The alarm could possibly be the oldest watch complication. Some of the earliest clocks used in monasteries didn’t have hands at all, but just a striking mechanism to mark the time for prayers. Today, it is one of the loneliest watch categories. If you’re interested in an alarm watch, you have a limited choice. The…
New for 2016 is the colour, a sort of reddish brown described as cognac. The Tudor Heritage Advisor Cognac is a version of Tudor’s alarm watch introduced in 1957: today the case, in titanium and steel with differentiated polished and satin finish, is 42 mm in diameter, as compared with the 34 mm of the…
A diving watch offers a series of technical characteristics that make them suitable for use underwater up to their rated depth. These comprise water resistance, with each watch tested in water under pressure, a unidirectional rotating bezel on which the first fifteen minutes are marked minute by minute for increased precision at decompression stops, hour…
The Bradley is a quartz watch originally designed for blind people, but that is winning success with normal-sighted people as well for its unusual looks. It has a tactile front face with a ball bearing in a central groove indicating minutes. Another ball bearing rotating around a groove on the side of the case indicates…
The incorporation of Minerva, a watchmaking company founded in Villeret in 1858, into Montblanc has added a lot of depth to the brand’s range of products. At Villeret, it’s all about traditional watchmaking, using traditional machine tools. The watches emerging from Villeret are priced much higher than those made at Montblanc’s other manufacturing unit in…
The Montblanc 1858 Automatic Dual Time, one of the three new watches presented in the 1858 collection available from April 2017, continues the brand’s smart marketing technique, offering watches with standard movements and simple complications at an attractive price. Coupled with good design and the world-wide familiarity of the Montblanc brand name, this is presumably…
1858, because in 2007, the Richemont Group purchased Minerva and assigned it to Montblanc. Minerva is a historical brand founded in 1858, and it developed a reputation for fine movements and in particular for chronographs. The 1858 collection was presented in October 2015 with two timepieces with a distinctly early pilot’s watch appearance, based on…
Watch brands are now presenting previews of their new products for 2017, which will be fully presented during the two upcoming shows, SIHH in Geneva in January, and Baselworld in March. Breguet’s preview is dedicated to women, a new version of the Tradition Dame, at a very feminine size of 37 mm but with a…