UK-based independent watchmaking specialist The Limited Edition is a place like no other. For almost 10 years now the online platform has been offering a mix of extensive knowledge, authorized dealerships and a curated collection of pre-owned watches of up-and-coming as well as established independent brands. Co-founder Pietro Tomajer: If watchmaking is here to stay, it's because of the artisanal ...
The brand Moritz Grossmann comes from the renowned German watchmaker Carl Moritz Grossmann, who founded the original company in 1854. Today, Moritz Grossmann is one of the few watch manufacturers based in Glashutte that keeps the German watchmaking tradition alive along with the neighbouring A. Lange & Sohne, Glashutte Original, Nomos, etc. We recently reviewed the Moritz Grossmann Power Reser...
Want to understand why Patek Philippe is considered the “ne plus ultra” in the realm of watchmaking, and you happen to be in Tokyo between the 10th and 25th of June? Well, there is one event you cannot miss because Patek Philippe is in town hosting the sixth edition of its Grand Exhibition, offering visitors a unique 360-degree view of the brand’s universe. Open to the public fre...
In traditional connotation, the dress watch is what you wear to an evening event, supposedly dressed to fit the occasion, in a suit or even a tuxedo. But what if your evening is about going out to bars, restaurants, and seaside clubs, where short sleeves and sandals are more welcome? You put on a watch that fits right in, a dress diver if you will, and the new editions of the Maurice Lacroix Ponto...
Call it Type 20 or Type XX (keep in mind that each has its own meaning), but what’s always true is that we’re looking at one of the most emblematic French-related watches and one of the most important models of the modern era of Breguet. Born in the 1950s as an answer to a military request, the (Breguet but not only) Type 20, the military version, named after the French Air Force’...
With the much-awaited summer season right around the corner, many of us tend to lean towards a more refreshing colour palette in our watches. In the first half of this year, we have seen plenty of fun and exciting new tones of colour being used, with a few shades that really stood out to us. One such colour is ice blue, which always looks amazing when done right. This is exactly what renowned reta...
During Watches & Wonders 2023, Patek Philippe unveiled a 39.9mm rose gold Aquanaut Luce Ref. 5261R with its patented annual calendar mechanism. Marking the first Aquanaut fitted with an annual calendar complication, Patek’s press material was adamant in positioning the watch as an Aquanaut Luce, the ladies’ section of the Aquanaut collection. A far cry from some of the brand’...
Oris has a recent annual tradition where a special, limited edition piece debuts to celebrate its anniversary. Known as the Holstein Editions, named after the town in the Swiss Jura mountains where the brand was founded in 1904, the watches are generally modified variants of existing pieces. The previous three include a bronze Divers Sixty-Five, Big Crown Pointer Date with the new in-house Calibre...
Six years ago, the Chopard L.U.C Full Strike was awarded the Aiguille d'Or prize at the GPHG, thus becoming the proud bearer of the best watch of the year title. Introduced in 2016, the Chopard L.U.C Full Strike was the first minute repeater produced by the manufacture, and it was a timepiece worthy of the highest praise, for it was a perfect blend of tradition and innovation, exhibiting exception...
Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, the visionary founders of Urwerk, deserve tremendous praise for their exceptional contributions to the world of horology. Their combined talent, innovation, and artistic vision have propelled Urwerk to the forefront of avant-garde independent watchmaking. Baumgartner’s technical expertise and relentless pursuit of pushing boundaries have resulted in groundb...
If the Pilot’s Watch series of IWC often brings to mind the oversized, almost provocative Big Pilot model (and we mean the real one, not the smaller, simpler 43mm version), there’s another watch that, even though more discreet, might be of even greater importance… The Mark series. First introduced as a watch for the pilots of the?British Royal Air Force, under codename Mark 11, i...
For over a decade now, vintage-inspired designs continue to reign in the watchmaking kingdom, with brands drawing from vast archives of the 1960s and 1970s. In 2011, Swatch Group’s Hamilton revealed the Pan Europ Chronograph, a limited re-edition of the 1971 Pan Europ Chronomatic, which was one of the first Swiss-made Hamilton watches, equipped with the now legendary Calibre 11 – one o...
We've looked at Norqain many times since its 2018 founding as the Swiss watches are both well thought and aesthetically pleasing, especially for such a young brand. It's no surprise as part of the team behind Norqain came from Breitling, including founder Ben Kuffer. The Freedom 60 Chrono was an early success with a bold 43mm case, but a more universal 40mm Chrono launched last year and has been a...
The popularity of vintage- or retro-inspired watches is evident, as we see new releases based on old designs pop up almost every week. Most of these date back to original creations from the 1960s and 1970s, perhaps the ‘Golden Age’ of watch design. This is the era that brought us watches like the Royal Oak and the Nautilus (and the PRX!), handsome chronographs like the TAG Heuer Carrer...
With the advent of Certina‘s Double Security concept in the late 1950s, robust dive watches at prices that won’t sink your bank account have been the mainstay of this Swiss brand. The DS Action Diver is Certina’s classic, fully equipped diver, a worthy heir to the brand’s DS (Double Security) concept first incorporated inside an automatic shock-resistant and 200m water-resi...
Rado is renowned for its innovative use of high-tech ceramic and minimalist, contemporary design. Although we usually cover the sportier retro-inspired members of Rado's family on MONOCHROME, such as the Captain Cook and the Diastar, the brand also offers dressier more contemporary models like the Rado True Thinline. Introduced in 2011, this watch has an injected monobloc high-tech ceramic case co...
For those who’ve read my previous story on a watch by Moritz Grossmann, it should not come as a surprise I have high regard for the German manufacturer. There’s just something about the ultra-refined style of watchmaking found in the Glashutte region I connect with. Following the incredibly complex Hamatic, which looks almost deceptively simple from the outside, I now have the pleasure...
With summer just around the corner, it’s that time of the year again when we start planning our much-awaited sunkissed break from work. Part of the joy for many is figuring out where to go, what to do and, as the watch lovers we are, what to wear on your wrist! And with that in the back of our minds, we have gone through our recent archives to select some perfect summer-ready options! WeR...
Despite increasingly strict regulations like EURO 5 emissions and decibel limits, we’re in a golden age of motorcycles. 200+ horsepower engines are no longer uncommon in bikes that an average Joe can buy, which was unthinkable until the last decade or so. Technology, engineering innovation and a bit of sorcery have allowed motorcycles to evolve into superbikes that were mere daydreams in the...
Aquastar made a name for itself in the early 1960s as one of the first purveyors of purpose-built dive watches. Starting as a company that made watches and other maritime instruments, it became one of the most well-known watch brands for serious SCUBA divers and underwater professionals. It found a certain type of fame on the wrists of everyone from Jacques Cousteau’s team of explorers to US...
The TAG Heuer Monaco, the instantly recognizable square chronograph designed at the end of the 1960s, is nothing short of an icon (a word often abused, but that does have its place here). Fueled by the connection with motorsport, worn by legends in cult movies, oddly cool and boldly designed, and with more than half a century of stories to tell, it has recently been presented in multiple iteration...
Among Switzerland’s elite haute horlogerie brands, Audemars Piguet often stands out for doing things differently and often connects watchmaking to a broader culture. As seen with the Royal Oak, now iconic but totally disruptive when it was created in 1972, the brand has always been a beacon of innovation and creativity that dares to break new ground. In this respect, Audemars Piguet continuo...
Over the past few years, Maurice Lacroix has been busy promoting its Aikon collection, the brand’s accessibly priced, game-changing luxury sports watch. Yet, Maurice Lacroix has also recently highlighted another important pillar of its collection, the more classic and versatile Pontos line. The brand now revisits its Pontos S Diver, a watch originally released in 2013. The new take on this c...
Massena LAB, the design studio run by industry veteran William Massena and specialised in collaboration watches, continues its expansion in both high-end and accessible watches. The new watch that is presented today marks his second partnership with an old, rather discreet brand known as Mathey-Tissot. The first collab brought back to life the watchmaker’s most emblematic model, the Type XX ...
The Yema Superman is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic watches ever produced by the French watchmaking industry, with a recognition that goes far beyond its country of origin. Launched in the early 1960s, it was a typical skin-diver watch, a serious instrument for recreational diving enthusiasts, back then, a flourishing market. After some years of absence, both the brand and the watch have b...
The difference a dial can make… We’ve said it countless times, but a simple change of dial colour can truly transform a watch. And the new opaline silvery-white dial of the Black Bay GMT introduced earlier this year at Watches & Wonders is there to make a point. For several years, this watch has been, at least in my books, too close to what was doing with its Pepsi GMT-Master II....
It was known for some time already that Fran?ois-Henry Bennahmias, the current CEO of Audemars Piguet, was about to step down from his position. As explained in this article of June 2022, Audemars Piguet officially confirmed the departure of its boss at the end of 2023 (at the latest). What remained unknown, up until now, was the name of the substitute. We knew somehow, through rumours and indiscr...
Parisian brand Bell & Ross?was founded?in 1992 with?a shared vision of functional and tough watches. It has a long history of military-inspired watches, but also watches issued for special forces, squadrons, astronauts, the French Naval Air Force?or elite squads such as the GIGN and the RAID. In 2021, following the release of several collections purely intended for civilian use, the brand went...
The provenance of Ulysse Nardin might be a small, landlocked country, but thanks to its marine chronometers, the brand from Le Locle has always been closely associated with the sea since 1846. By the 1870s, Ulysse Nardin supplied more than 50 navies and merchant marine companies with precision marine deck chronometers. Today, the brand underscores its maritime credentials as the official timing pa...
In every Buying Guide, we like to group together a set of watches around a common theme, a shared feature or even with similar functions. That can be anything from watches intended for diving, using a fresh new colour or perhaps sharing the occasion of being presented during the same fair. When we were putting together today’s list, we initially wanted to show all sorts of skeletonized or op...