Watches as investments: How the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona might be the most collectible watch ever, if only you could get your hands on one July 21, 2016 Last year two anonymous phone bidders made history when their feverish nine minutes of bidding ended with a Patek Philippe 5016A selling for $7.3m – 10 times its estimate. The crowd at the La Reserve Hotel in Geneva burst into spontaneous applause, delighted to have witnessed the sale of the most expensive wrist-watch ever. Stories [...]
Women’s watches: A touch of guilloche just doesn’t cut it any more, dials are becoming much more dynamic July 7, 2016 It’s all Dior’s fault, as so many things are. It’s Dior, or rather Raf Simon’s, fault that I have too many swishy, dramatic skirts that just aren’t practical when you’re dealing with a seven-month old. I blame Dior for making me think that white broderie anglais-esque shorts are appropriate attire for a 37 year old [...]
These world timer watches from the 1930s mark you out as a global citizen, while snazzing up the dial of your wristwatch July 7, 2016 There are plenty of ways to add interest to the dial of a wristwatch, but few do it in such style as the world-timer. It’s like an app from a time before there were apps: invented in the 1930s, in the early days of passenger aviation, it enables you to read the time anywhere in [...]
Have women’s smartwatches just gone mainstream? There’s more to high-tech horology than the Apple Watch May 23, 2016 Bettridge’s Law states that if a headline ends in a question mark, then the answer is “no”. If that were always the case, then a column such as this would be a very short read indeed. But the question “can a stylish woman wear a smart watch?” is more complex than a simple “no”. A [...]
The best dive watches 2016, from Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak to the perennial Omega Seamaster May 23, 2016 A dive watch is the most conspicuous timepiece you can own, and the most hard-wearing: designed to shrug off the toughest life can throw at it, and look bloody marvellous while doing so. In fact, some of the greatest, most daring watch designs of all come down to those twin requirements of endurance and visibility, [...]
Mother of pearl, that demure dial staple, is back in vogue April 29, 2016 The three definites for a woman’s watch used to be a petite case, diamonds somewhere, usually around the bezel, and a dial made from mother of pearl. Combined they made for something dainty, feminine and uncontroversial; just like the women from whose delicate wrists they dangled. Then, as we know, thing changed. Women became more [...]
The chronograph makes a welcome comeback: The Rolex Daytona is leading a field of fascinating new stopwatch complications April 29, 2016 Whether it’s the design symmetry of the counters on the dial, the tactile satisfaction of clicking the stopwatch pushers, or the reams of history associated with cars, speed, space travel and adventure, the chronograph remains the most romantic, evocative and downright manly style of wristwatch there is. And right now it’s the hottest thing in [...]
Chronographs are no longer just for men: The watch industry is finally putting this complication into its ladies ranges April 13, 2016 Chronographs have the dubious honour of being the complication that you’re least likely to use while being one of the most complex to make. Whereas something like a tourbillon, also useless in a wristwatch, has, by sheer virtue of its appearance, a “wow” factor, a chronograph is the Plain Jane of complications. Which is why [...]
Panerai’s new 3D printed, high-end and ultra-lightweight titanium wristwatch is a stunning piece of design April 13, 2016 Panerai isn’t well known for ultra-complicated wristwatches, but this one stopped us in our tracks when it was announced in January – not least for the fact that, for possibly the first time in blue chip high-end watchmaking, its ultra-lightweight titanium case was created through “direct metal laser sintering” – a form of 3D printing. [...]
Mechanical doesn’t mean medieval: the most advanced traditional watches April 7, 2016 You don’t have to make too many circuits of the Silicon Roundabout and its environs to notice that, even at the heart of the tech community, there’s more to wristwatches than those prefixed with the word “smart”. In fact, the traditional wristwatch is one of the most technologically advanced gadgets to have ever appeared, and [...]