Logical One by Romain Gauthier was an exceptional watch when it appeared in 2013, and it won a prize for Best Men’s Complication watch at the “watch Oscars,” Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Not surprisingly, Romain Gauthier is making new versions using different materials that provide an interesting visual appearance. Logical One with a bit…
Company profile: Romain Gauthier, born in 1975 in Le Sentier, is not a trained watchmaker. However, he grew up surrounded by the trade, because his mother worked for a large watch brand, and Le Sentier is in Vallée de Joux, the heartland of fine Swiss watchmaking. He studied precision mechanics and obtained a diploma in…
The Rolex Explorer continues the long tradition of tough timepieces that began in the 1930s, when several Himalayan expeditions used Rolex Oyster watches. They accompanied the 1953 Everest expedition as well, and it was in that year that Rolex launched the Explorer, with all the rugged characteristics that had been developed up until then. In…
The Yacht-Master by Rolex, first introduced in 1992, has always been a luxury watch as opposed to a tool watch. The bi-directional rotating bezel can be used for timing events very approximately, in other words, to the nearest minute for events lasting 15 minutes or less (if you’re interested in this sort of functionality, there…
With the new 2016 version of the Pearlmaster in pink Everose gold, you get all the Rolex hallmarks – the Oyster case with screw-down solid caseback and crown, 100 metres water resistance, the Rolex calibre 3235 self-winding movement providing 70 hours power reserve, and Superlative Chronometer certification, a precision of around -2/+2 seconds max deviation…
Several of Rolex’s new watch versions this year (2016) are hallmarked by Rolesor, their trademark combination of stainless steel and gold in case and bracelet that provides a distinctive appearance and has a touch of austerity when compared to the all-gold versions. In other words, they’re not so expensive, reflecting the general drift of things…
The Rolex Datejust 41 is a classic, and the 2016 models have been slightly revisited in design. Six versions provide a choice between the gold colour, yellow or Everose pink, the bracelet design, dial colours and hour markers. With their dual gold and steel colour scheme, they are showy watches, unmistakable: you can choose between…
The 2016 version of the Cellini Dual Time by Rolex has a brown guilloché dial, and a subdial at 6 o’clock showing the time for a second time-zone. (Of course, you can still purchase the Cellini Dual Time in its previous silver-colour and black dial versions). Though the subdial has hour and minute hands, it…
As I’m allergic to date windows that break up the symmetry of the dial, are too small to be practical, or that are included just because a third-party movement includes the date function, this watch can only make me happy. With Cellini, Rolex lets you choose whether to have a date indication on your watch…
Cellini is Rolex’s dress watch, so without the Oyster case, but with great elegance, symmetry and simplicity. The new 2016 version has a redesigned white enamel dial, with elongated hour markers that are interrupted by the minute track, so that the hour hand corresponds to the inner extremities of the batons while the minute hand…
The Rolex way is to introduce small changes every year, and the new version of the classic Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is no exception. The watch has a long history: it was first introduced in 1963. This year’s major difference with respect to the 2015 all-steel Daytona is the black Cerachrom bezel, which is tough, smart,…
A new pilot’s watch from Rolex! The Rolex Air-King has some of the characteristics of classic pilot’s watches, such as the black dial, the generous SuperLuminova on hands and numerals, high resistance to magnetic fields, and the white triangle at 12 o’clock. But, as it’s a Rolex, it also differs significantly from the usual pilot’s…
The Sinn U212 (EZM 16) is a large diving watch, 47 mm in diameter and 14.5 mm thick, with a case and solid caseback entirely made in German Submarine Steel, with satin finish. It has been tested and certified for a range of characteristics, including water resistance (100 bar/1,000 metres), low pressure resistance, shock resistance,…
Camouflage is big in fashion right now, as demonstrated by Versace’s spring/summer 2016 bags. The fashion industry uses anything to make a splash, and so Donatella Versace’s bag is ironic in a Dada way: camouflage, which is designed to help soldiers merge into the background, is used to make the bag and its wearer stand…
Sinn trace their inspiration for this watch to naval deck watches or B-Uhr watches. This pattern is more familiar as B-Uhr pilot’s watches , in this case the type B pilot’s watch with separate scales for minute and hour hands. The Sinn 856 B-Uhr has beige SuperLuminova on minute hand, hour indices and the triangle…
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” could be the motto for this strap by Sinn. The Sinn strap for the Apple Watch enables you to wear both a mechanical watch and an Apple Watch together. If you buy the SInn strap on its own, it costs €175; if you buy it with a Sinn…
The third in the 556 series of watches by Sinn, this piece shows how a diameter around 38 mm has become a unisex size. This version with mother-of-pearl dial is aimed at a female audience and in my opinion works best on the stainless steel bracelet options, even though the watch can also be ordered…
Like the Sinn 556 Anniversary, the 556 I M by Sinn is a sports watch with a 38.5 mm stainless steel case, 20 bar water resistance, and an ETA 2824-2 self-winding movement. Unlike the 556, this piece with Moka-coloured sunburst dial is not a limited edition. The ETA 2824-2 has basic finish and a Sinn…
The 556 is Sinn’s entry-level watch, a sports watch with stainless steel case and an ETA 2824-2 self-winding movement. For the brand’s 55th anniversary, it has presented three models with different dial finishes, and this particular version is a limited edition of 1,000 pieces. It inherits some aspects of Sinn’s traditions in pilot’s watches, with…
Helmut Sinn founded his company in 1961, and so this year marks its 55th anniversary. He himself would have been 100 on 3 September 2016, but he died three years ago. I’m sure he would have been pleased by this anniversary watch, because his motto was “as perfectly as possible, but only as expensive as…