Watch news: Omega’s new dressy diver and a Bucherer experience June 16, 2023 While Omega’s dressy diver hops time zones and date lines, fashion giant Saint Laurent makes a muse of a cult Girard-Perregaux digital from the Seventies, and London’s bricks-and-mortar retail scene gets immersive, courtesy of Bucherer. Fully Bucherer Garden today, you’ll be sure of a big surprise. ‘Masterworks’ is a new exhibition concept launched in horological [...]
Tudor’s new Jura Mountains facility places it at the bleeding edge of watchmaking June 16, 2023 There’s a valley in the Swiss Jura mountains, bordering France, fondly known as ‘Watch Valley’. At the easternmost end you’ll find the gridded Art Nouveau streets of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Europe’s highest city and home to Breitling, Girard-Perregaux, Cartier et al. Drive southwest to equally sleepy Le Locle at the other end and you’ll find Zenith, [...]
Roger Smith pocket watch smashes record at auction June 15, 2023 It may look like a Patek Philippe from the 19th century, but ‘Pocket Watch No.2′ was made between 1992 and 1997 – not by a Swiss atelier, but at the hands of Roger Smith, a Bolton lad, in his parents’ garage. Sold in 2004 to a US collector to fund Roger Smith’s commercial venture on [...]
The XX factor: New military-inspired watches from Breguet June 15, 2023 After five years, Breguet has finally relaunched its iconic pilot’s watch, the Type 20/XX, sure to instantly reopen connoisseurs’ wallets. Two new versions – the military-inspired ‘20’, and a dapper ‘XX’ more suited to civvy street – are each powered by a brand-new flyback chronograph movement, which Breguet has been working on for the past [...]
Radio star: The incredible story of the Panerai diving watch almost lost to the sea April 26, 2023 In the nineties, you didn’t have Patagonia gilets, quarter-zip sweaters or Logan Roy logo-less baseball caps – you had ‘oversize’ watches. They were status symbols you could drive right into the boardroom, unlike your 911, and style statements to mark you out in a sea of suits. The sea is an appropriate metaphor, as the ur [...]
What’s ticking: All the latest watch news, from Geneva and beyond April 25, 2023 Aston Martin and Girard-Perregaux prove it ain’t easy being British-Racing green, Dr Rebecca Struthers makes a similarly convincing ‘case’ for British watchmaking, while George Bamford doubles down in W1K. A round-up of the coolest new watches. A brief biography of time Books on clocks and watches are usually authored by men of a certain age [...]
From a surprising new Rolex to a Muppet in the month window April 24, 2023 Cross the (tastefully appointed) maximum-security threshold of Watches and Wonders and the hierarchy is instantly apparent. There’s Patek Philippe with its parked-up spaceship, conveying its blue-blooded, dyed-in-the-metal pedigree. And then there are 30-something other Swiss watchmakers all clamouring to make a noise in the revitalised, post-Covid white noise of horological newness. This is an industry [...]
Working 9 to 17: Patek Philippe’s stunning Calatrava Travel Time April 24, 2023 A 24-hour-display dial takes a bit of adjustment to read as instantly as your usual 12-hour. But not as long as you’d think. Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Travel Time was the blue-eyed posterboy of the resurgent Watches and Wonders event, Geneva’s luxury watchmaking fair, which took place earlier this month. A consolidation of the now-defunct ‘Baselworld’ [...]
Christmas gift ideas: Watches to satisfy the horology nerds in your life December 10, 2021 Aston Martin x Girard-Perregaux Laureato Chronograph With seemingly hard-and-fast automotive hook-ups like Hublot x Ferrari and Breitling x Bentley suffering retirements from the race, you’d wonder who would venture gamely onto such a notoriously fickle scene. But the coming-together of Aston Martin and Girard-Perregaux feels like something that soars way clear of mere badge engineering [...]
The Lord Napier & Star is the best – and only – pub in Hackney Wick November 16, 2021 Twenty years ago The Lord Napier – the last, boarded-up pub of E9’s scrappy backyard, wedged between the River Lee Navigation and the A12’s spaghetti junction – was bought with an eye firmly on the area’s encroaching realty rush. “S**THOUSE TO PENTHOUSE” became the most iconic bit of its fully graffitied exterior, as planning disputes [...]
