With its bronze case, deep red dial, and dark brown strap, the Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver Red Bronze captures the essence of the aesthetics of the best of 1970s design: dark richness. It’s also why Joshua Munchow loves it and thinks it may be his favorite BR 03-92 to date.
A client once asked John Keil if there are any benefits to using automatic watch winders. The short answer is that he has two viewpoints on them. Click to learn the pros and cons as he sees them.
The “great lockdown of 2020” gifted us with something outstanding: from the depths of an anxiety-inducing existence arose an online exhibition called “The Persistence of Memory,” which can be described as an !online museum” honoring some of the most influential and important independent watchmakers of the modern era. Here Elizabeth Doerr speaks with its creator Michael Tay for an inside view on what this “exhibition” surveying 50 years of independent watchmaking is. And what it isn’t.
While the last 18 months have wreaked havoc on the big (and not so big) watch fairs – and everything else – there have been two rays of horological sunshine in the last couple of years: in November 2019 (just months before COVID-19 hit) the biannual Dubai Watch Week took place, which was bigger and better than ever. And then in August 2020 the inaugural Geneva Watch Days was held during a lull in the pandemic and it was superb. Here Ian Skellern explains why these two fairs have become his favorites.
A collaboration between renowned watch designer Alain Silberstein and the founder and director of the Utinam Besançon clock manufacture, Philippe Lebru, this imposing, colorful timekeeper meets the eye and runs away with it.
Breguet has a stronger legacy than nearly any other brand and is strongest in Joshua Munchow’s opinion when it drifts more toward heritage than trends. A great example of this is the Breguet Type XX Only Watch 2021, a historically inspired version that does away with the aspects Joshua isn’t a fan of in the current Type XX/XXI collection. And its auction price will be fully donated for a great cause.
Can you recall the last time that you read a review of a newly introduced watch and the first few paragraphs of the article were about the case? Yeah – thought not. So here it goes: GaryG talks watch cases.
Oskar Pascal is the brainchild of a pair of Swedish brothers who were neither previously involved in the watch industry nor are they watchmakers. The engineer and designer have created a cleanly designed chronograph housed within the world’s first watch case in ZR01, an amorphous alloy based on zirconium, one of the hardest metals in the world and even used by NASA. And then there are the Pods!
Many of you are likely to have come across at least a few heated discussions of “finishing,” a topic that seems to fascinate, and divide, watch enthusiasts. Like many people, GaryG’s starting point for serious watches was with a well-priced brand long known for its expertise in developing movements, justly viewed as offering good value for money – but not necessarily for the refinement of its movement finishing, at least on its less expensive pieces.
To’ak makes chocolate, but not as you know it. This is manna from heaven, or perhaps chocolate from angels. Ken Gargett takes a deep dive into what is quite possibly the world’s finest chocolate.