Time is money: Why are watches so expensive? December 3, 2014 There’s a very good reason top quality watches can set you back six figures. Let us start with a description of two dramatically different approaches to highend mechanical watchmaking. Bear with me. Firstly: “At certain moments you might leave the drawing and let the metal guide you… I really value the fact that I can [...]
Women’s watches with complications have hit the market October 28, 2014 A grande complication on a watch, generally speaking, used to be the preserve of those timepieces on the male side of the display cabinet. They allowed men to show off how much they knew about watches while indulging in a little horological one upmanship (this despite the fact I have never met a man who [...]
Tudor is back: Heritage-inspired watches are on the rise September 23, 2014 I’m excited: Tudor is back. Who? Well, you’d be forgiven for asking, since the brand hasn’t been in British shops since early in the last decade. But it’s a name that carries clout in the watch world, for Tudor is the sibling brand of Rolex. Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex’s founder, set up Tudor between the [...]
From Cartier to Longines, women’s watches are being downsized September 23, 2014 How women’s watch dials are shrinking and why it gives us reasons to be cheerful about the future of the female side of the industry The papping of Jemima Khan wearing a Panerai given to her by her then-boyfriend Hugh Grant in 2005 kick-started women’s love of men’s watches. Grant and Khan’s relationship has long [...]
Best beach watches: Timepieces to withstand sand, salt and surf June 12, 2014 If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air, you’ll be needing a knockabout, colourful addition to your suitcase Ralph Lauren RL67 Safari £2,150 Watches don’t feel more sunkissed and outdoorsy than this – geared towards the savannahs of Africa if you believe the marketing hype, but, more realistically, looking the part for a lazy [...]
Perfect watches for summer afternoons May 23, 2014 Nomos Glashutte Lux Weissgold, £13,800, available at Wempe, 43-44 New Bond Street, wempe.com You might assume that the more hands and functions you add to a watch, the more interesting it gets; and by extension, there’s nothing terribly exciting about a time-only timepiece. It tells the time; it does so cleanly and simply. Done, [...]
Women’s watches: fashion houses May 23, 2014 Chanel J12 White Classic, £3,300, chanel.com There are many subtle nuances of snobbery in the world of watches. One particular favourite is when a group of watch journalists gather and someone inevitably asks: “what are you wearing?” Those with Swiss-made, in-house movements look down on those whose watches contain an off-the-peg one. Those wearing [...]
Curtain to be raised on Watches of Switzerland’s Regent Street “theatre” April 17, 2014 Billed as “not a store…[but] theatre”, Watches of Switzerland’s new space at 155 Regent Street promises to take the watch buying experience to another level. When it opens in June, it will house over 20 luxury watch brands, 12 individually branded in-store boutiques for the likes of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Jaeger- LeCoultre, and carry [...]