Artistic Crafts category pre-selected watches for the 2018 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève,clockwise from top left: Chaumet Ecritures de Chaumet, Fabergé Clover, Hermès Arceau Robe du Soir, Piaget Altiplano Tourbillon Malachite, Vacheron Constantin Les Aérostiers Paris 1783, and Van’t hoff Ballet in Blue

Our Predictions In The Artistic Crafts Category Of The 2018 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie De Genève And Our Panel Is Divided (Again!)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Artistic Crafts category of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève is for watches, “ . . . demonstrating exceptional mastery of one or several artistic techniques such as enameling, lacquering, engraving, guilloche (engine-turning), skeletonizing, and more.” Our panel picks its favorites to win the category while discovering how much taste can vary. Which one do you prefer?

Read more
De Bethune DB28 with silicon/platinum annular balance

The Schmidt List: 5 Extraordinary Balance Wheels (Archive)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The balance wheel is the regulatory organ of a mechanical watch, which is expected to deliver a consistent frequency with a tolerance of as little as 0.001 percent. With so much at stake, why complicate things by altering a pure and simple geometric shape? Why reinvent the wheel? Here Ryan Schmidt presents five balances that reinvented the wheel.

Read more
Montegrappa Privilege

Montegrappa Privilege Pen: Forget Something Old, Something New; Here’s Something Discontinued

/2 Comments/in , , /by

One of the first times that Martin Green walked into high-end pen store P.W. Akkerman in The Hague – one of the few shops of its kind to survive – there was a Montegrappa Privilege on display that made a lasting impression on him. Fast forward a few years and here we are . . .

Read more
Mornington Peninsula vineyards

Mornington Peninsula Wines Of Australia: Majestic Victorian Burgundies With Equally Majestic Views

/2 Comments/in , /by

Most good wine regions in Australia are delightfully scenic. But few are quite as picturesque as the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia. Located just to the south of Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, it is easy to visit for a day trip, but Ken Gargett thinks it’s much more fun to stay a few days.

Read more
Panerai Lo Scienziato Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Titanium

Panerai Lo Scienziato Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Titanium With DMLS 3D-Printed Titanium Case: Prediction Comes True (Archive)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Imagine my surprise when, in one of my rare predictions about the future of 3D printing in watchmaking, I got one right: the Panerai Lo Scienziato Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Titanium says it all. It is (as far as I know) the first production watch to utilize 3D direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) printing for the case construction. The case is made of titanium for extra lightness, but that’s not the only, or even the main, reason for using DMLS titanium.

Read more
ETA 2892

It’s A Date! Taking A Closer Look At The Most Popular Complication Of Them All: The Calendar

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Date windows on wristwatches can be a touchy subject. Many feel they are downright ugly and destroy the look of a good watch, while others swear by them as the most useful and affordable complication. Whatever camp you may be in, the date function can be the cause of considerable grief, particularly the rapid set mechanism.

Read more
Singer Reimagined Track 1 in yellow gold

Track 1 By Singer Reimagined Is The World’s Most Advanced ‘Flat 6’ Chronograph: It Might Not Sound Like An Air-Cooled 911, But It Sure Laps Like One! (Updated)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

It’s a rare event when the stars align, rarer still when they align to create what may well become a truly iconic chronograph. In fact, the Singer Reimagined Track 1 may already be truly iconic: it certainly has both the pedigree and the style. And more importantly for a horological icon, the Track 1 looks like it’s been around since the 1970s.

Read more
Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum

Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum: The Richness And A Little Sweetness Of Venezuela

/0 Comments/in , /by

The famous Venezuelan rum Diplomático and Ken Gargett share a birth year (1959), so it is an error of judgment on his part not to have shared more time with this excellent rum. Thankfully, he is rectifying that. And shares what he thinks with us while he’s doing that.

Read more
IWC Da Vinci perpetual calendar chronograph

Valjoux 7750: The World’s Greatest Chronograph Movement By Far (By Popularity And Numbers)

/35 Comments/in , , /by

As Martin Green became ever more impressed by the performance of the Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement, he also found himself ever-enamored by its little quirks and the variety of watches it has been tapped to power. Here he outlines the history of a classic automatic movement.

Read more
Equipo Navazos La Bota 65 Ron ‘Bota NO’

Equipo Navazos La Bota 65 Ron ‘Bota NO’: No Additives, No Coloring, No Sweeteners, No Aromatics, Unchillfiltered, And 98/100. Cheers!

/0 Comments/in , /by

Equipo Navazos is making some of the most exciting wines – sherries to be specific – on the planet. Ken Gargett believes this company is incredibly exciting and that this rum is a great example of the “team’s” great nose for the sublimely unusual.

Read more