To address the issue immediately, the Baume & Mercier Riviera is as legitimate as any other luxury sports watch with an integrated bracelet that looks and feels similar to the Royal Oak. The Riviera collection was launched in 1973, a year after AP’s Royal Oak and years ahead of Patek’s Nautilus, Vacheron’s 222 and the IWC Ingenieur SL. The Riviera collection has been redesign...
One of the most illustrious names of modern watchmaking, a genius of design who’s been behind the creation of icons such as the Royal Oak, the Nautilus and many more, Gerald Genta is renowned as an important brand in the watchmaking industry. Together with Daniel Roth, Genta is regarded as one of the pioneers of independent watchmaking following the resurrection of mechanical watchmaking bac...
In 2012, Tudor unveiled its Black Bay dive watch. Borrowing design elements from earlier Tudor dive watches of the late 1950s and 1970s, the Black Bay has been a runaway success for the brand. In a departure from the Black Bay’s rugged tool watch looks, Tudor presents a refreshed collection for its three-hand, fixed-bezel Black Bay models in four case sizes with more sophisticated finishings...
Two years ago, Montblanc presented a chronograph with an inverted Minerva movement to showcase the fascinating mechanics of this historic calibre on the dial. In a departure from the solid vintage pilot looks of the Minerva Monopusher Red Arrow that was unveiled simultaneously, the two limited editions of The Unveiled Secret Minerva Monopusher Chronograph were openworked iterations displaying Mine...
The TAG Heuer Carrera collection is famous for the various editions of chronographs, but it has a few elegant timepieces to offer without the sporty function. This year, TAG Heuer launches an all-new version of the Carrera Date, redesigned and with an upgraded movement. Please welcome the new Carrera Date 36mm, which comes with fresh and colourful new dials.No doubt TAG Heuer fans remember the rec...
Many of our readers associate the brand Chopard with watch collections like the Mille Miglia, the Alpine Eagle and L.U.C overseen by co-president Karl Friedrich-Scheufele. But there is also a feminine face to the brand directed by Caroline Scheufele, co-president and the creative spirit behind Chopard's red carpet jewellery and women's watch collections. The latest model to join the luxurious Impe...
The Hublot Big Bang was the brainchild of savvy marketer Jean-Claude Biver. Launched in 2005, its burly case, extroverted personality and fusion of different materials have consolidated the Big Bang as the brand’s flagship model. Last year, the Big Bang welcomed a sibling known as the Square Bang Unico, with, as you have intuited, a square case. During Watches & Wonders 2023, Hublot unve...
Following the presentation of its 2023 novelties at Watches & Wonders, Patek Philippe will exhibit a new edition of its Rare Handcrafts at its Geneva salon from April 1 to 15. A grand display of the brand's commitment to rare metiers d'art, 67 creations will be on display, and a team of Patek's master craftsmen will be on hand to illustrate their artisanal skills. And if you’re in Geneva...
To many, Jaeger-LeCoultre is, first and foremost, the Reverso, represented by plenty of models with incredible mechanical and artistic complications to please the most discerning customer. However, contrary to what you might think, for a good two-thirds of its existence, since 1931 and until 1990, the Reverso collection featured time-only watches. The king of complications, the tourbillon, made it...
There is the funky blue, the ruby red and the gradient brown, and we were right to expect another bright-coloured edition of the Defy Revival by Zenith to join the series (like the blue A3651), but no. The brand opted for “dark tones and muted textures” for the new watch in the Defy Revival series, in line with the Chronomaster Revival Shadow, released by Zenith in 2020. The new monoch...
Although it is probably far more useful to mountaineers, hikers, climbers, skiers and other adventurous kinds than modern-day airline pilots flying in a pressure-controlled environment, the Oris ProPilot Altimeter remains a rarity, as it is one of the very few mechanical altimeter watches available. In fact, it is the only one with an automatic movement! First presented as a Big Crown ProPilot in ...
Chopard has been the official sponsor and timekeeper of Italy's Mille Miglia since 1988, and co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele has participated in every race from 1989, covering over 30,000 competition miles. In fact, this has been the longest partnership in history between a watchmaker and a major motorsports event, and 35 previous watches in the Mille Miglia collection consolidate this link....
In physics, the Big Bang signals the beginning of time; in watchmaking, it is synonymous with Hublot‘s eponymous collection. Imploding on the scene in 2005, the Hublot Big Bang was designed to shock and awe with its large loud cases fusing state-of-the-art materials. Fusion is the operative word again as the Big Bang steps up the action with a micro-rotor and tourbillon staged inside an ultr...
As they say, if you've got it, flaunt it. Vacheron Constantin's latest combination of a tourbillon with a retrograde date display does just that and stages its refined mechanics in a contemporary, multi-level openworked dial. As a historic manufacture that listens to current trends, Vacheron Constantin welcomes another model into its traditional Traditionelle collection with an ultra-contemporary ...
Cartier is putting on an impressive show at Watches & Wonders this year. Among the novelties is a revisited collection of the elegant Tank Americaine, a Tank watch with an elongated and curved rectangular case introduced in 1989. Ultimately all Tank watches owe their origins to the cult 1917 Tank watch made by Louis Cartier, who took inspiration from Renault's tanks in use on the Western Front...
A descendant of the St. Moritz model of the late 1970s, Chopard's Alpine Eagle collection winged its way into the luxury sports watch scene in 2019. Now a fully fledged collection, the Alpine Eagle welcomes a second iteration of its 8Hz high-frequency movement on board the Alpine Eagle Cadence 8HF in titanium with a black dial with vibrant orange accents.High-frequency movements are considered to ...
The Freak, the brainchild of the late Ulysse Nardin owner Rolf Schnyder and genius watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin, has been with us for 22 years. The first Freak was packed with innovative ideas that would transform the conservative ways of watchmaking, changing perceptions. Since 2001 the watch with no crown to wind and time set, no conventional hands to point hours and minutes and no dial per common...
The Defy Skyline collection was introduced by Zenith in 2022 and offered a new interpretation of the original Defy series, aimed to improve the brand’s standing in luxury sports watches. There were 14 references in the Skyline collection so far, including a range of 36mm watches. The 41mm models, powered by El Primero 3620 high-frequency automatic manufacture movement with the 1/10th of a se...
In 2020 TAG Heuer celebrated the 160th anniversary of the brand and launched several editions of the Carrera Chronograph to highlight the importance of the watch to the brand’s past, present and future. The origins of the iconic Carrera and its value to the watchmaking history received plenty of coverage; the perfect chronograph design, conceived in the 1960s by Jack Heuer, continues to impr...
The concept was launched last year by IWC… The Colours of TOP GUN, a collection of bold and monochromatic watches in coloured ceramic, with matching dials and straps. Last year, the collection started with the Lake Tahoe, a white ceramic watch, and the Woodland Green, entirely green watches – there was also a Big Pilot 43 edition. And of course, we have to remember the very cool TOP GU...
The edgy ProPilot X line was upgraded last year with the Calibre 400 to power the popular series, distinguished by a straightforward, contemporary and technical design. Calibre 400, the in-house automatic movement with 120 hours of power reserve and chronometric accuracy, was presented in 2020 and demonstrated how seriously Oris was implementing its Movement Creation Programme. It was expected the...
To say that Cartier has been prolific at Watches & Wonders 2023 would be an understatement. The brand is on fire, with so many new and attractive models, covering all collections, including a highly attractive Cartier Prive collection resurrecting the Tank Normale, or even a stunning grande complication pocket watch… But now, it’ll be about the most classic of the watches from the ...
Louis Cartier designed the iconic Santos watch in 1904 for pioneering Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. Revisited over the years, the three Santos-Dumont models for 2023 respect many of the original’s design cues but strike a modern chord with their skeletonised movements. Available in steel, pink gold and a limited edition in a yellow gold case with blue lacquer, the Santos-Dumont is...
Developed over three years, Chopard’s calibre 1.96 with a gold micro-rotor and a slim height of 3.3mm was released in 1996. Garnering praise as one of the finest automatic movements available, the movement established the brand as a true manufacture. The first watch to feature the in-house calibre was the L.U.C 1860 of 1997 with a 36.5mm case and elegant guilloche decoration on the dial. The...
MP at Hublot is shorthand for Masterpiece and is the venue where some of the most outlandish designs and daring horological concoctions congregate. The latest member of the MP club is the Hublot Big Bang MP-13, a limited edition of 50 numbered pieces conceived as exclusive collector’s trophies. Housed in an unusual-shaped 44mm brushed titanium case, the mechanical spectacle provided by a dou...
For its 25th anniversary in 2021, Parmigiani Fleurier presented the Tonda PF collection, its own take on the luxury sports watch with integrated bracelet overseen by the recently appointed CEO – Guido Terreni – who until then was one of the key people responsible for Bulgari’s success with the Octo Finissimo. The Tonda PF was a pleasant update to the long-standing Tonda collectio...
Only a week ago, we’ve seen the comeback of yet another legendary name, Daniel Roth, and the introduction of the first watch of the new era. Behind the project is no other than Jean Arnault, fifth and last?child of luxury giant Bernard Arnault, owner of LVMH, back up by the master watchmakers of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. There is another brand that has once been owned by?Bulgari (j...
Following the turbulence generated by Patek Philippe's Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Ref. 5524 of 2015 with its vintage pilot's watch flair, the model has settled down as a stable member of the Calatrava family. For 2023, Patek Philippe is introducing another version of its Calatrava Pilot Travel Time, combining its dual time functionality with a flyback chronograph. Two references in white gold wit...
Patek Philippe’s patented annual calendar mechanism (1996) debuts inside an Aquanaut model for 2023. Presented in a unisex 39.9mm rose gold case with a bluish-grey dial, the annual calendar brings a useful and easy-to-use complication to the Aquanaut family. A new automatic movement with an inverted annual calendar module powers the Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar.In 1997, Patek Philippe launc...
Any watch in the Patrimony collection epitomises a dress timepiece, but the retrograde day-date models are an exceptional treat. Surprisingly, until now, there were only three references in the current collection, with a choice of white or pink gold cases with white or blue dials. This year, Vacheron Constantin expands the offer, adding the Patrimony Retrograde Day-Date in a platinum case with a s...