When McLaren met Mille: A British F1 legend collaborates with a Swiss watchmaker using material made in Manchester February 6, 2017 If you had £996,500, the first thing that springs to mind might be a new house, or a yacht perhaps – but a wristwatch? Surely not? Well, yes, absolutely for sure in the case of 75 collectors, who have already put their name down for a piece of extraordinary technical wizardry unveiled just last week [...]
Watch news: Omega’s new hashtag-inspired timepiece and a Tudor for lefties February 6, 2017 The hashtag that Omega Built The story could well be titled “Swiss watch brand in social-media savvy shocker”. Because Omega has gone and launched a watch based on an Instagram hashtag. Since 2012, thanks to Fratello Watches founder Robert-Jan Broer, fans of Omega’s Speedmaster chronograph (NASA’s preferred wristwatch, no less) have been sharing pictures of [...]
Piaget Altiplano turns 60, and it’s still the choice of today’s jetset sophisticate February 6, 2017 Last week the great and the good of the luxury world descended upon Geneva Airport’s Palexpo convention centre for the “Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie” – which basically translates as “glamorous showcase of mindbogglingly complicated timepieces”. So glamorous, in fact, that even the iron-clad bleakness of Palexpo was not enough to dissuade a healthy [...]
Watches with power-reserve complications are the latest must-have trend; here are some of the best December 8, 2016 Sometimes, complicating things just a tad can be a good thing. A watch can give you the time with beautiful simplicity; but just as a well-judged pocket square brings a bit of flourish to your look, a little extra on the face of a watch adds interest and horological spice. A power reserve display – [...]
Give the gift of time this Christmas: the top new watches to declare your undying love to another human being December 8, 2016 The hot-list: our favourite new watches to buy your loved ones this Christmas. Tudor Pelagos LHD £3,020, tudorwatch.com If the “LHD” of the title – standing for “left-hand drive” – doesn’t give it away, the position of the winding crown should: Tudor’s latest diving watch is for the left-handed. Hence the crown is on the [...]
The alchemists of time: How watch companies combine age-old techniques with cutting edge materials December 8, 2016 Let’s face it: a finely made timepiece is, in a rather nice twist of irony, a flashy anachronism. For starters, no one really needs a watch these days, finely made or not. Secondly, the delicate concoction of wheels, springs and levers driving a mechanical watch is based on an ancient principle – 200-year-old technology that [...]
Gotta catch ‘em all: how extreme collectors hunt down the world’s rarest watches December 8, 2016 In a thankfully deserted café near the river in Battersea, my acquaintance extracts an unassuming plastic shopping bag from a rucksack. From inside it, he unfurls 12 wristwatches, laying each one gently on the table; were the sole waitress present paying us any attention, she might think it a rather suspicious scene – even more [...]
Combine watch shopping with a drink at these boutique bars November 4, 2016 Why jostle with the hoi polloi when you could be enjoying a quiet drink while contemplating your latest purchase? Come Christmas shopping season, make sure you wind up at these London watch boutique bars, says Laura McCreddie-Doak. I dream of having a club; a place where I can go not just where everybody knows my [...]
What’s ticking? All the latest watch news from across London November 4, 2016 Salon selectives Last night, the doors of Chelsea’s Saatchi Gallery opened once again for the annual extravaganza that is SalonQP – back for an eighth year. What started as something of an insider’s showcase has become an integral part of the global watch-event calendar; for many brands a chance to premier their latest timepieces exclusively [...]
Watch brand Baume & Mercier celebrates the motor-racing legend Carroll Shelby November 4, 2016 Last year marked 50 years since Carroll Shelby’s invasion of Europe’s racing circuits, winning the World Manufacturer’s GT trophy with an all-American team for the very first time. He did this by importing British AC Ace coupés and fit them with Ford’s huge V8 engine – a combination with so much ‘bite’ that he dubbed [...]