Montblanc‘s appreciation for Minerva‘s heritage drives its evolution as a watchmaker. The brand embraces Minerva’s time-honoured craftsmanship and savoir-faire by celebrating traditional techniques while exploring the possibilities of modern horology. This commitment is again evident in the newly unveiled 1858 Geosphere Annual Calendar, a timepiece poised to become a standout add...
Although the Florentine brand Panerai was founded in 1860, its contract with the Italian Royal Navy to produce precision instruments changed its destiny radically. Panerai's 1916 radium-based powder, known as Radiomir, lit up the brand's future as a supplier of luminescent instruments, underwater tools, and eventually watches for the Italian Royal Navy and its famous frogmen commandos. In 1949, Pa...
Last year, Piaget made a bold move, resurrecting one of its most emblematic watches and designs… The Polo watch was back to its original shape and opulent full gold attire, with a case, bracelet and dial adorned with horizontal gadroons, highlighting Piaget's unique legacy when it comes to creating fascinating shaped watches. The Piaget Polo 79 marked the return of the brand to the integrate...
Jack Heuer's Carrera chronograph is the stuff of legends. Released in 1963 and named after the dangerous Carrera Panamericana, the Carrera is still TAG Heuer's flagship model. The current Carrera collection has eight sub-families, including the recently introduced Date family, home to the Day-Date and Twin-Time models. Released just four years ago, the Day-Date and Twin-Time GMT models have been u...
In 2022, we went as far as to consider the Tudor Black Bay Pro GMT the best tool watch we have seen that year, impressed by its cool design, ultra-robust construction and fair price. A perfect adventure watch, solid and legible, with a GMT complication for travellers - a do-it-all, wear-it-everywhere. This year, this Tudor model that does bear some resemblance to the Explorer II gets a polar dial,...
Expanding once more its emblematic live of dive watches, the Black Bay, Tudor makes a surprising move by releasing the new Black Bay 68. Indeed, while the watch started its life in 2012 in 41mm, the brand continuously reduced its size by launching the 39mm Black Bay 58 and then the 37mm Black Bay 54. And in 2025, against all odds but “meeting the demand for various case sizes to fit all type...
The Tudor Pelagos was released 13 years ago, under the reference 25500TN. A highly capable diver made of titanium, it was the brand’s answer to the Sea-Dweller, a true tool for diving, with a proper instrument-like design. This 500m dive watch has evolved over the years, receiving a manufacture movement and a blue dial in 2015, a lefty version (LHD) in 2016, and a 39mm no-date version in 202...
Select members of Vacheron Constantin's Traditionnelle and Patrimony families have been invited to join in the 270th-anniversary celebrations. Eight references from both families have been singled out for the special treatment and flaunt dials decorated with a unique motif created for the 270th anniversary of the brand. As important as the dial, the manufacture calibres are also given distinctive ...
Favre Leuba is among the oldest of watchmakers, founded in 1737 and ultimately sold by the family in the mid-1980s following the quartz crisis. Although ownership changed multiple times, it's latest and perhaps most compelling relaunch happened last year when Patrik Hoffmann, former CEO of Ulysse Nardin took the helm and the new Chief Tourbillon is the brand's most ambitious piece to date. Made in...
There’s a certain tyre manufacturer from Italy that claims “Power is nothing without Control”, and to an extent, that is very true about mechanical watches as well. Sure, you can have the most beautifully constructed watch, but if you don’t harness the energy that’s generated by winding it properly, it’s useless. Luckily, we’ve figured out how to regulate ...
Sometimes, moving forward means going back to recover the good things from the past. That appears to be the case at Schwarz Etienne, a small, independent brand from La Chaux-de-Fonds that wants to raise its profile and become better known on the watch scene. Founded in 1902, the brand is now in the hands of CEO Florian Brossard. Keen to exploit Schwarz Etienne's high level of vertical integration,...
In 2015, one of the great names in 18th-century watchmaking was resurrected by Chopard's co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807), the Swiss horologist who emigrated to Paris in 1745 and gained fame for his marine chronometers, was granted a second lease of life. Determined to perpetuate the legacy and chronometric credentials of F. Berthoud's past glories in contempor...
This article is a guest post by one of our readers and contributors to the Collector’s Series, a gentleman who prefers to remain anonymous but who’s very active on Instagram @winewhiskywatches.We've long suspected that Chinese cost structures might provide compelling competitive advantages for high-end watchmaking, assuming that a Chinese watchmaking brand could effectively establish c...
For its latest limited-edition watch, Stockholm-based, Dutch-rooted microbrand Maen (known for its accessible watches) has partnered with Nico Leonard – a well-known Dutch YouTube watch man famous for his outspoken style. This collaboration, the Maen x Nico Leonard Jumping Hour, blends familiar design elements while making a historically significant complication accessible to a broader audie...
We often discuss trends and hypes in watchmaking, as we tend to focus on “What’s next?!?” instead of settling down for a second and appreciating something classical, something timeless. In recent times it’s all been about luxury sports watches, downsized cases, specific colours or natural stone dials and so on. But there’s a comforting red line throughout watchmaking ...
Here it is the most exciting time of the year for watch enthusiasts, retailers, and journalists is upon us once again. The most significant event of the watch industry calendar, Watches and Wonders – and the Geneva Watch Week – is set to begin on April 1st, 2025 at 8:30 AM. The event continues to expand in scale and importance along with a host of parallel presentations, which promise ...
ZRC is a Swiss brand that seems to live on the shadowy periphery of the watch world. Despite being founded over 120 years ago, I can count the times they have come up in casual watch conversations on no hands. That is to say, it never happens. Even when I agreed to take this new ZRC Grands Fonds Heterium for a diving test and check it out, I was thinking to myself, “Those are the ones with t...
The Intra-Matic's origins are rooted in Project 99, developed with Buren, Heuer, Breitling and movement specialist Dubois-Depraz. The result of this joint effort was presented in 1969 with one of the first automatic chronograph movements called Chrono-Matic, or Calibre 11, depending on the brand using it. Alongside, Hamilton presented in the late 1960s the Chronograph A and B models, and by mixing...
For a brand that has consolidated its image on tool watches inspired by cockpit instruments, the choice of material forms an integral part of the identity of its watches. The BR-X5, the larger, more resilient, more radical brother of the BR-05 luxury sports watch, returns this year with a new lightweight titanium case. Still delivering the same time, date, and power reserve indications as the firs...
We’ve said it on multiple occasions, and we’ll say it again; watch clubs are great initiatives. They allow to fuel the passion for watches, to gather with fellow watch enthusiasts and to increase the knowledge in watchmaking. Basically, it’s all about passion for watches. One of them, Watch Ho & Co (WH&C), is based in Hong Kong and was co-founded by Jackie Ho about 2 year...
The watch community can be a truly great thing, as every now and then it seems to embrace new ideas, new concepts, new people and brands with open arms. We’ve seen it happen in watches where the community can get involved in the design process, or with watch clubs bringing together brands and collectors. And we see it once again with Liudas Norkus, a new name on the firmament! In just 24 hou...
Gold has always been a representation of prosperity, grandeur, and divinity. It’s also long been associated with wisdom and is, of course, a symbol of achievement in sports or academics. It can also refer to a peak period in time or once life in cultural references such as the golden age or golden era. In watchmaking, it’s often reserved for the most prized watches and known for its he...
It’s almost “Lights out, and away we go!” for the 2025 Formula 1 season, as this weekend it all kicks off Down Under. The 20 best drivers in the world will be chasing glory once more over the course of 24 races. Will Max Verstappen make it five in a row? Will Lando Norris clinch his first? Will Lewis Hamilton get Ferrari back on top and claim his eighth? Will any of the rookies w...
Racing chronographs… It might not be as packed as a category as dive watches, but in all fairness, finding the right one for you is not going to be a walk in the park. Hundreds of alternatives (and good ones, on top of that) exist, ranging from affordable quartz models to attainable Swiss mechanical options, followed by classic luxury icons or high-end watches with basically no limit of pric...
For many years, Mido has been one of the discreet, accessible brands of the Swatch Group, releasing very decent watches but possibly lacking some wow effect. Things changed recently, as the brand seems to have found its own pace. Think, for instance, about the cool Decompression Timer 1961, the Multifort TV Big Date as an accessible take on the sporty-chic steel watch, or the compact, slim and att...
Founded in 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Schwarz Etienne is an independent watchmaking brand that often flies under the radar yet holds incredible potential. In particular, it boasts a surprisingly high level of vertical integration, producing not only its own watches but also cases or movements. As Watches & Wonders 2025 and its parallel events approach, we sat down with the brand's newly appoin...
Slightly overlooked and possibly in the shadows of the classic Seamaster Diver 300M, the Planet Ocean is the most capable collection of dive watches in Omega’s range, comprising models from 600m up to 6000m water-resistance (without counting the all-mighty Ultra-Deep that survived the Mariana Trench). Born in 2005, it will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and we can possibly ex...
Swiss brand Breva Geneve was founded in 2010 by Vincent Dupontreue. At one point, the brand garnered quite a bit of attention on the independent watchmaking scene with a series of original but niche complications such as a barometer, an altimeter or even a retractable speedometer! For multiple reasons, the brand unfortunately disappeared for a few years. But in 2025, the independent watchmaking br...
As we’ve seen recently, Orient, a Japanese watchmaker owned by the Seiko Epson Corporation, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Created in 1950, it has since made a name for itself in the accessible segment with watches such as the Mako or the Bambino. There’s another important name that was created that same year;?a comic strip in American newspapers named Peanuts featuring...
Round, or square… That’s basically the norm for case designs in the industry, but there was a time where brands would experiment with shapes and designs to such an extent that genuine icons were created! Fortunately, there’s been a rather strong revival of unconventionally shaped watches in recent times, which we can only applaud. Watches like the Audemars Piguet [Re]Master02, fo...