After years of consideration, Bhanu Chopra took the plunge and bought both a Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 mm and a Submariner Reference 114060. And less than 24 hours after finally taking ownership of them, Rolex discontinued both watches! Here he shares the story of how it all went down. Spoiler alert: he couldn’t be happier!
“The watch industry today would be nothing without women,” Elizabeth Doerr notes as the majority of watchmaker benches in watch factories are “manned” by women. Women were also responsible for the very first wristwatches; the world’s first doctorate in horology went to a woman (Dr. Rebecca Struthers); and the now-safe lume glowing on your watch came about thanks to the dangerous (and deadly) work of both Marie Curie and the Radium Girls.
The “good ol’ days” aren’t over yet – at least in the world of mechanical watches, where the appreciation of traditions and the creation of lasting values are as essential as the balance wheel and the escapement. Here, Sabine Zwettler takes a look at five of her favorite modern retro-styled watches from Blancpain, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Breitling, and Seiko.
Swatch Group has limited availability of the Valjoux 7750 chronograph, which powers a significant percentage of the chronographs available today, for outside parties. A few years ago, Seiko’s SII NE88 automatic chronograph entered the fray, and here Joshua Munchow takes a closer look.
Salmon-colored dials are still niche market and Martin Green doesn’t expect them to go mainstream anytime soon. Nonetheless, pink has become something of a buzz topic, and here he shares a few of his favorite watches with pink, pinkish, or salmon-colored dials.
More than a century of history of Baselworld, the world’s biggest and most comprehensive watch fair, is virtually impossible to sum up in just a few lines. However, that is what Elizabeth Doerr does here as she looks back over 102 years of Baselworld history and reflects on what happens next. Hopefully that is, “Pack your bags for Houruniverse 2021.”
One of the last of the so-called Radium Girls passed away at the age of 107 in late 2014. These were women working in factories tasked with painting the numerals and other markings on watch dials with a luminous paint comprising glue, water, and radium powder. Little did they know the consequences this job would have.
GaryG recently had the opportunity to borrow a Rolex GMT-Master II BLRO Meteorite from a long-time friend to photograph and wear. This watch’s main event is the dial, a thin slice of metallic meteorite whose crystalline structure reflects the slow cooling process that took place as the meteor hurtled through space. Here he tries a variety of photographic techniques to learn which works best on the dial’s unique structures. Which are your favorites?
The Geophysic True Second and Geophysic Universal Time were not just great value watches, they were great watches. Launched in 2015, this rebooted collection has now been discontinued, which for many has made the watches even more enticing.
Chris Malburg set out to buy his wife a watch. After many happy years of marriage to a lovely woman it was time. He knows enough about her and her tastes to take the leap. Or does he? If you’re a female reader you probably already know this ends badly. If you’re a guy, keep reading. Showing up is 80 percent, and you just showed up.