Rolex reaches for the sky
It is rare enough that Rolex updates their existing model line up, let alone creates an entirely new watch, so it is understandable that one of the most hotly anticipated announcements at Basel is their new Sky-Dweller. Featuring a revolutionary — for Rolex — annual calendar, in addition to a GMT indicator and a healthy [...]
Time Fliegers
LACO (LAcher & CO.) has built some of the finest pilot’s watches since the 1920s and has been in the business for nearly 90 years. Known as ‘Fliegeruhr’ or ‘flyer watches’, they are highly legible and classic in style. Having been one of the five authorized watch manufacturers to supply watches to the German Luftwaffe [...]
Veloce e furioso
People buy watches for all sorts of reasons. Some buy a historically-important watch for its collectability, some for its name or its appearance, and some buy a watch for the artistry or innovation of its movement. Still others buy a watch because of a tie-in with a celebrity or marketing campaign. But sometimes a watch [...]
The original Global Positioning System
Let’s face it, guys, we’ve gotten soft. Our smartphones and cars tell us how to get to the shopping mall and we can fall asleep in London and wake up in New York six hours later, none the wiser. That’s why watches like the Longines Lindbergh Hour Angle are so important. Not for its technical [...]
Going Nuclear
The Reactor Poseidon LE is a watch that enters the room like an 800 pound gorilla in a tuxedo with the sleeves ripped off. We recently tried to tame this beast ourselves. Check out photos and the full review after the jump.
Lighting the Way
When we think of fine watches, our minds automatically shift to thoughts of the quaint villages and alpine vistas of Switzerland, or, increasingly, to Germany’s Glashütte region, where brands like A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original hail. But what of merry old England? Given that some of the most renowned figures in horology have [...]
Blessed by the God of the Sea
In the 1960s, scuba diving’s popularity was booming, thanks almost entirely to one man: Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It was Cousteau who, along with Emile Gagnan invented the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) known as the Aqua-Lung. It was also Cousteau, whose French-accented voiceovers and globetrotting adventures on his TV series fascinated households worldwide. And as if [...]
Part trade show, part soiree, all business
Every year, 18 of the major Swiss watch manufacturers pack up their suitcases, shut down their ateliers and head to Geneva to participate in one of their biggest events of the year, the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH). Part trade show, part intimate soiree and all business, SIHH has, for the past 20 [...]
Tempo al tempo
With the annual watch trade show, SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) about to get underway in Geneva, now is as good a time as any to revisit one of the stars from last year’s show, the Officine Panerai PAM00372 ($10,400). For those who are new to the game, Officine Panerai was originally founded [...]
Light the fires and kick the tires
IWC has fired their first volley of SIHH 2012 and it’s right on-target. Say hello to the new Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar. Named for the birthplace of modern naval air warfare where the best of the best go to get better, this anti-magnetic timepiece sports an advanced in-house flyback chronograph movement within its [...]
This article is Volume 2 in our special Icons series for Timekeeping, written by our guru Jason Heaton. In case you missed it, be sure to catch our first Icons article, Volume 1: Super Compressor Dive Watch. 1970 was a year of great ups and downs for the mechanical chronograph. The vaunted Omega Speedmaster helped [...]
Bronze is beautiful
If there were a contest for the “it” metal for dive watches in 2011, hands down the gold medal would go to… bronze. Yup, 2011 was the year of bronze, which at first blush might seem to be an odd choice for a watch meant to spend the bulk of its time strapped to your [...]
The Official Watch of the Screaming Chicken
You like the size and heft of Casio’s G-Shock line, and you also like the stealthy law-enforcement/military look of many of their models. But now you want something with a bit more flash, while maintaining that serious black look. You also happen to really like the paint scheme off the Pontiac Firebird from Smokey and [...]
When most people think of a dive watch, the first thing that comes to mind is the prototypical ratcheting bezel, with its chunky flutings and bold markers. But there was another style of diver that emerged in the early days of recreational diving and found great popularity – the Super Compressor. To be clear, the [...]
Rubber wonder
If you know someone who’s into watches — dive watches, in particular — then chances are they’re also into straps. The reason for this is easy enough to fathom: a strap change offers a quick, inexpensive way to change the look of a watch, and even better, it’s a do-it-yourself proposition. Yet, while most switch [...]
