IWC is one of the most recognizable names in the luxury watch market. They have multiple iconic models – one of them being the Pilot’s Watch Mark collection. The Mark series began with the Mark X in 1944 and has remained somewhat constant since then. The latest in the lineup is the Mark XVIII, released in 2016. While not the newest watch from IWC, the range is iconic enough to be still talked about.
In early 2023, Hublot introduced the Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Yellow Neon Saxem, featuring a case made of a mysterious and rather impressive-looking crystal called Saxem. It looked like an addition to the brand’s extensive line of sapphire watches. But as a retired laser physicist, I wondered: what material was behind that name? Perhaps a special kind of synthetic sapphire?
Here Elizabeth Doerr highlights three new watches of 2021 by independent watchmakers with eye-catching dials that really caught her own eye.
You can like everything, but you can’t buy – or keep – everything! Inevitably, the choices involved lead at times to regrets; for GaryG, along with many of his pals, the sadness is much more often about pieces they sold too soon or failed to buy rather than pieces they were sorry about buying in the first place. Here’s a story of shoulda, woulda, coulda.
For CHF 4,950, the Ming 37.05 Series 2 is a thoroughly thought-out design, a generous dose of original character, and a fun execution on one of the industry’s oldest complications: the moon phase. Unfortunately, it quickly sold out.
Martin Green thinks that the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Skeleton 39mm is sized perfectly. And to see the skeletonized movement and (nearly) all its parts, the way they interact and work, is captivating.
Big brands are now making beautiful, reliable, and relatively accurate “traditional” mechanical watches, but the handcrafted work many of us value is disappearing. Highly skilled watchmakers and artisans are rare and expensive: there just aren’t enough of them available to churn out the large quantity of nice watches now being sold. And why bother when nobody seems to have noticed?
Omega and Fratello Watches came out with their first #SpeedyTuesday Speedmaster edition back in 2017 and it sold out within few hours. Three years later, a second iteration of #SpeedyTuesday timepieces came to life. And this one sold out – all 2,012 pieces – in under two hours. And one of these 2,012 watches is in Łukasz Doskocz’s personal collection. Here he explains why.
In recent years, several factors have come together resulting in the exponential rise of microbrand watches. This new microbrand wave is one of the biggest developments in the broader watch market. I would mention here that not all microbrands are equal. There are many watches out there that, to be honest, are not worth your time. However, some microbrands are getting it right as Raman Kalra highlights here.
If John Keil was to recommend a brand-new functional diver’s watch to a friend who was looking to spend within a certain price range, these would be his suggestions. Or, more specifically, here is what he would purchase himself in a variety of price categories.