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.
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.
As we all know quartz became a Greek tragedy, but fortunately one with an eventual happy end for most brands. Well, happy for the Swiss brands but not so much for the American brands, in particular Bulova. Martin Green thinks heat may have played a role here and may well again with the technology showcased by the new Matrix PowerWatch.
The retrograde indication is one of Joshua Munchow’s favorite “Because We Can” (BWC) complications: gears are an amazing invention and have allowed watchmakers to make incredible creations, leaving a multitude of openings for creativity. Joshua looks at some great retrogrades here and explains why he likes this display.
The jump hour has a long history, but first things first, it can’t technically be called a complication since the accepted definition of complication is a mechanism that provides information other than the time. However, anyone who gives a hoot will say in the same breath that there are many complications that don’t fit that definition and Joshua couldn’t agree more.
Contemplating the ancient pyramid at Mayan archeological site Chichén Itzá in the blazing Yucatán sunlight, Elizabeth Doerr was awestruck by the structure’s complexity. Chichén Itzá’s most famous structure was built to be the world’s largest calendar . . . at a time when calendars didn’t even exist!
Seriously, who cares how many jewels their watch has? Watchmaker Ashton Tracy thinks that you’d be surprised how many people care as they’ve been duped by a vintage practice of announcing the amount of movement jewels on watch dials. What is the real story here?
Hublot really has embraced the World Cup with two new models and broad marketing efforts. But the brand has also secretly created a timepiece that could change the game for whoever holds it: as it has the power to predict and influence the future!
Discover in this video how a Geneva symposium’s aim was to explain the indubitable reality of the arrival of synthetic diamonds in the world of watchmaking and to demonstrate how it is possible to differentiate natural from lab-grown stones.
Following the recent article on silicon balance springs by watchmaker Ashton Tracy called ‘Is Silicon Here To Stay In (Rolex) Watch Movements?’ Timothy Treffry decided to take a closer, more technical look at the intriguing silicon material from which the components are made.