Breguet has its Types XX, XXI, XXII, and Blancpain has the Air Command, a watch that, like the Breguet pilot’s watch, was a response to a French Ministry of Defence commission for a flyback chronograph. It was also offered to the United States Air Force, but it is likely that no official orders ensued, and…
Welcome back, Guinand Unmistakably tough. Unmistakably pilot’s. The Starfighter Pilot Chronograph watch by Guinand has a lot of attractive features and a ton of aviation DNA, with links to Helmut Sinn and the long tradition of German watchmaking. Its name Starfighter is a connection to the watches by Heuer and other brands that were supplied to…
The new Heritage Classic Chronograph watches by Louis Erard are exactly what their name says: classic chronographs. This family of watches has a sober, discreet design, with two subdials for the chronograph minutes and hours, and the choice of no running seconds, or a cross-form subdial for running seconds at 9 o’clock. The dial is…
The Ace Spitfire is a new collection by Dutch brand TW Steel. It is a chronograph with the brand’s usual big and bold design style, and a Sellita SW510 movement.
It’s always pleasant to see a watch brand experimenting with formats and trying out something different. The 756 Duochronograph by Sinn goes back a while, originally presented in 2003. The Sinn 756 and 757 Duochronograph watches are currently available in a few unlimited editions, and in particular the 756 II is still available as a…
Sinn are making some interesting watches. The Sinn 103 Sa B E pilot’s chronograph is unusual for the brand, in that it has a deep blue colour on dial and bezel. Also interesting is the curving sapphire watchglass that recalls the acrylic watchglasses that were once used on watches. It’s more complicated to make a…
Sinn makes tough tool watches, and the Sinn 936 is no exception. It has a scratch-resistant case, magnetic protection and a water-resistance rating of 100 metres. It has the conventional bicompax chronograph layout, but the movement has been modified to give the chronograph minute subdial a 60-minute scale instead of the usual 30-minute scale. This…
The TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer-02T introduced in 2016 was exceptional as the cheapest Swiss-made tourbillon chronograph watch ever made at just under 15,000 Swiss francs. It was part of Jean-Claude Biver’s new concept for the brand, concentrating on “entry-level” watches priced between €1,500 and €5,000. This year, 2018, TAG Heuer presents the Tête de Vipère…
The Seamaster Bullhead Co-axial Chronograph Is undoubtedly one of the most unusual watches made by Omega. Originally introduced in 1969, in 2013 three re-editions were released, each comprising 669 pieces. Large steel case The stainless steel case is 43 mm across and 43mm from top to bottom, and it’s very thick, 14.85 mm, with a…
It’s one of the world’s iconic shape watches, dating back to 1969. Now TAG Heuer have launched a new edition of the Monaco Chronograph, co-branded Gulf, with the colours and logo of this oil brand. The race for the first automatic chronograph Back in 1969, there were three contenders for the title of first automatic…
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…
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’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…
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…
The 1858 collection by Montblanc is developing very nicely, with its pilot’s inspired automatics and chronographs, and its creative use of colours and materials. The most striking piece shown by Montblanc at SIHH was this gigantic 1858 Pocket Watch Limited Edition 100, a 60mm watch, 20.8 mm thick. The two still photos provided by Montblanc…
It feels a bit strange writing about the Wancher Storm Jet chronograph on 14 January 2018, the day before the start of SIHH, the show in Geneva that presents new watches by many of the world’s most prestigious brands, names such as Cartier, Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, Audemars Piguet, Parmigiani Fleurier and so forth. But one…
The Strela Cosmos CO42LAB is a reproduction watch made by the Strela company which operates in Munich, Germany, founded by Russian-born engineer Juri Levenberg. It assembles watches with Russian-made movements, and they offer the chance to buy a watch with an interesting hand-wound cam-controlled chronograph movement visible through the caseback, at an attractive price: €745.…
Tutima’s original 1941 Flieger flyback chronograph is a watch that I have always admired, one of the first flyback chronographs, featuring the fluted rotating bezel with red marker that has since become a Tutima hallmark. Now one of these historic pieces – that Tutima say has a commercial value of about €8,000 today, which surprised…
Saxon One Royal Blue by Tutima Glashütte is a beautiful chronograph with a lovely shade of blue used for the dial. It is unusual in that it is one of the few chronographs offering a radically different display: in this case, with centre-pivot hands for both chronograph seconds and chronograph minutes. Everything is nicely organized and well…
MotoGP is an important part of Tissot’s sponsorship activities, and every year the brand celebrates this partnership with a new watch. The Tissot T-Race MotoGP Automatic Limited Edition 2017 is dedicated to Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo, currently riding for Ducati. It is large (45 mm across, 16 mm thick), bold in its black and rose…