Panerai tells some great stories (read the top ten Panerai stories here). The Radiomir 1940 PAM00622 looks like a simple two-hand watch with a chocolate brown dial matching a vintage-look leather strap, with a lovely hand-wound 3 Hertz movement visible through the sapphire caseback. And that’s what it is, but it is also a tribute…
What do you get when you give a Panerai a white dial? A cool and stylish watch, moving towards the unisex feel that has become a significant trend. The case is 42mm across, made in AISI 316L polished steel, and it is slimmer than most Panerai pieces by virtue of the P.4000 movement with microrotor.…
These four Panerai watches, PAM00627, 628, 657 and 658, retain the brand’s classic DNA but they embrace modernity in a more consciously designer appearance. They have the functions that are most practical for a contemporary executive: power reserve indicator, and second time zone, with quick-setting hour hand. The cushion-shaped case has a lenticular profile when…
Bovet 1822 company profile: The Bovet family came from Fleurier in Switzerland, and they were, like many people in that small town, active as watchmakers. In the late 1700s, Napoleon’s trade protection policies forced many Fleurier watchmakers to emigrate in order to find work, and the Bovet brothers Edouard, Charles-Frédéric and Charles-Alphonse went to London.…
The collaboration between Bovet 1822 and Pininfarina began in 2010 with the Tourbillon Ottanta, and this year’s model, Flying Tourbillon Ottantasei, differs from previous pieces in that the case is much thinner, and it does not have the Amadeo system that enables the piece to be transformed from wristwatch to pocket watch. Particularly in the…
There is a lot of content in this watch. It has two faces, with time indications on both, a perpetual calendar on one side, and power reserve on the other. The continuous seconds indicator, on a 20-second scale with three hands, can be seen correctly on both sides by virtue of the coaxial seconds carriage…
Is Tetris educational? At first sight, the game seems to encourage spatial ability as it calls for the visualization of geometrical shapes and their rotation. But in actual fact, according to a scientific study, experienced Tetris players just become good at Tetris and this spatial expertise doesn’t transfer to other areas of cognitive ability. Nonetheless…
Here are some 2015 highlights from the world of women’s watches. This is a type of watch that often becomes very expensive because of the jewels used to decorate case, bracelet and dial, and so I have chosen a couple of watches in the lower price range. In general I have tried to privilege watches…
Skulls are a big thing in fashion and Romain Jerome has added a skeleton skull watch to its range, with 12 colour versions. You could say that there is one for each month, but there is no real significance to the colours: CEO and creative director Manuel Emch simply chose his favourites from the possible…
For the brand Louis Moinet, this is an important year. Watchmaker Louis Moinet started work on his “compteur de tierces” in 1815 and completed it in 1816, 200 years ago. Jean-Marie Schaller founded the modern brand in 2004, and in 2013 he was able to purchase the original Compteur de tierces in an auction at…
The Resilience was first launched in 2012, and in 2016 Peter Speake-Marin has introduced it with a black dial, in his signature 42 mm Piccadilly case in red gold. The black enamel dial has gold-coloured Arabic numerals and the Speake-Marin topping-tool logo above the numeral 6. The PVD gold-plated hands are in the Speake-Marin “Foundation”-style.…
The single-hand Velsheda by Speake-Marin began life in 2004 as the Shimoda, a visually striking piece with one single hand, but one in which you couldn’t tell, from the dial, that the piece was running. It returned as the Velsheda in 2014, named after a British J-Class yacht, with a central seconds wheel in the…
Company profile: Peter Speake-Marin was born in 1968 in Essex, England, studied watchmaking at Hackney Technical College in London and then at WOSTEP in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He began working at Somlo Antiques in London, establishing its watch restoration department. Working on pieces by Arnold, Breguet, Frodsham, Nelson, Patek Philippe and other classic watchmakers enabled him…
This chronograph is part of Hamilton‘s new Broadway collection inspired by New York’s skyscrapers, and it is accompanied by the three-hand day-date model and a quartz version. The Hamilton Broadway Auto Chrono 43mm has the same elegantly curving steel case as the three-hand Day-Date version, but it looks a lot thicker. The case is in…
New for 2016, the Hamilton Broadway collection was inspired by New York’s skyscrapers, interpreted on the dial by narrow vertical ribbing. This range is a new addition, designed to fill a position somewhere between the military looks of the Khaki and the modern Jazzmaster models. An interesting feature is what looks like a slightly darker…
With its new 2016 Khaki Navy Frogman pieces, Hamilton is showing its ability to compete with brands such as Tudor and Rolex, at much lower prices, with watch types including the day-date and diver’s. In the latter category, Hamilton has some historical traditions, because it supplied the U.S. Navy Seals with diving watches, and it…
Hamilton, according to CEO Sylvain Dolla, is going great guns, in particular on its top three markets the USA, Japan and Italy, but also in many other countries, with Thailand and Turkey enjoying notable growth. Every ten years, Hamilton produces a gold watch aimed particularly at collectors, at a price well beyond the brand’s normal…
Several watch brands have experimented with transforming watches, such as Montblanc whose Metamorphosis II has a dial that morphs from a time-date format to a chronograph format by means of a mechanical transformation that takes about 15 seconds. This was a limited edition of 18 pieces, price on request so presumably a few hundred thousand…
The IW503801 by IWC is the Antoine de Saint Exupéry version of the Perpetual Calendar Top Gun IW502902 watch, with the differences being the tobacco brown dial, the display caseback, the Santoni strap with cream contrasting stitching and orange lining, and the calibre. The movement is the in-house 52610, visible through the sapphire caseback. This…
This watch by IWC Schaffhausen is almost identical to the previous 2012 version, the only difference being the embossed calfskin strap instead of the soft black textile strap. The ceramic case is 48 mm in diameter and 16 mm thick, solid caseback with Top Gun logo, and 6 bar water resistance. The dial is very…