Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Charge the Depths

What defines a good homage watch? The horological essentials have to be there, not just the aesthetic cues. A good homage watch doesn’t equate to an exact copy, by any means. Rather, it’s defined by quality, echoes of the original and a less than original price. The new Zuriner Depth Charge ZV-01 ($1,370) salutes the [...]

Affordable Diver Sophisticate

Earlier this year, we introduced you to the Magrette Regattare prior to its much anticipated release. Well, we were able to get our hands on one to see for ourselves if the horological fanfare was justified. More photos and the full review after the jump.

Stealing the Thunder

The burgeoning niche watch market isn’t always the safest place to conduct business. Many rise and fall. Many more never rise. Peter Helson has made some very good choices to ensure this doesn’t happen to his company. Helson has focused their watchmaking on divers and unique ones, at that.

Excellent Timing

In 2009, Matt and Courtney Wilson embarked on an effort to create a dive watch that incorporated all the vital aspects of watchmaking that aficionados of niche brands were looking for, albeit at a remarkably affordable price. Hence the birth of the Irreantum Magellan ($545). We had the opportunity to review one recently, and we [...]

E-Adventurous

Like a carbon fiber racing bike ridden by a 350 pound couch potato, the Timex E-Altimeter ($200) has the ability to make you look somewhat active without a Herculean effort on your part. With a sophisticated analog dial that goes beyond the oft pedestrian aesthetic of the “takes a licking and keeps on ticking” brand, [...]

A Modern Classic

We’re huge fans of classically inspired watches, but we enjoy a decent amount of heft in modern timepieces, as well. Aside from beefy Panerais, we can grow weary of the manhole-sized watches that seem to pervade ignorant male youth today. But it is hard to survive out there with a thin dress watch, alone. The [...]

Move over Big Ben

Who doesn’t love the Olympics? Well, instead of having the multicolored rings emblazoned on your hairy chest while rooting for your favorite Olympian, why not don something a few notches up on the classy scale? For the 2012 Olympic games in London, Omega commemorates the 25th time they have acted as the Official Timekeeper of [...]

A man is what he carries

Editor’s Note: We’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about our EDC (everyday carry for the uninitiated); in large part because of one of our favorite Tumblers, EDC. If you’ve never been, head there if you want to kill an hour or two. While we already have our daily rigs sorted out reasonably well [...]

American roots, Swiss guts

Sometimes retro goes bad. Like Hasselhoff. Then there’s just plain classic. Case in point, the Hamilton Pan-Europ tribute watch. Based on the original watch from 1971, this reiteration carries forward the classic blue chronograph dial and position six date window, and it just plain looks good. Founded in 1892 in Pennsylvania, this now Swiss brand [...]

Tissot much watch

Tissot started designing classic timepieces back 1853 and has served as the official time keeper for major sporting events in motorcycling and downhill skiing, in addition to sponsoring Lotus, and Renault’s Formula 1 teams. Located in LeLocle, Switzerland, the watchmaker’s quality remains unmistakable, and the all-new Tissot Seastar 1000 Chronograph stunner, is no exception. Unlike [...]

Lux Luger

Usually, when materials like carbon fiber, steel, ash wood and hand-sewn leather come together you expect to hear them with the likes of Bentley or Rolls Royce. But in this case, they form the components of Hublot’s luxury luge. Only ten of these sledges have been made, built in collaboration between Hublot and Lausanne University [...]

No, it's not a tiny belt

Like a Navy Seal let loose in a haberdashery, the Leffot Horween Leather NATO watch straps ($225) look like they could perform double duty in a firefight and a cocktail hour with the Queen. NATO straps are becoming ever more popular among not just the watch cognoscenti but also in the mainstream crowd for their [...]

Classic Indeed

The Timex Men’s T18581 Classic Camper Watch ($20)could not be more aptly named. With timeless (not literally of course) styling, and durability you can rely on, this is a watch that is a true American classic. Its sleek black profile means it will accent any wrist, at any age, anytime. Yet the engineering and design [...]

Big Package, Big Benefits

A lot of fuss has been made over things coming in small packages lately. From the sound of it, only the finest and most enjoyable wares the world has to offer can come in small packages. For certain types of “things” this small package business can be the truth, the new and improved Amazon Kindle [...]

Measure More Than Minutes

Most men can probably provide the time with a flick of their wrist. Unless they’ve got a yard stick tattooed on your inner arm though, they probably can’t help with measuring out a door frame. That where the Stanley Tap Measure Watch ($44) comes in. It features an integrated 3 ft tape measure along with [...]