Last week, while we Americans were celebrating our independence from England, English brand Christopher Ward was celebrating independence of a different sort. The ten-year-old Internet watch company announced that it had created its first in-house mechanical movement, the calibre SH21, for its new C9 Harrison 5 Day Automatic timepiece.
Avant-garde watch design is best designed by what isn’t, rather than what it is: Understand classics like dress, dive, and aviator watches and you’ll know avant-garde when you see it. The problem with breaking the mold is that these watches often come with an equally unbelievable and impressive price tags, leaving mere mortals’ bank accounts wanting.
New or old, a pilot’s watch must be legible, tough, accurate and reliable, with extra points awarded if it looks good riding the sleeve of a flight jacket.
This Week in Watches: a young watch authority, a mean chopper-edition watch, and an Oris with a mechanical altimeter.
The new Longines Avigation Watch Type A7 differs visually from the 1930s original (most notable for its 45 degree canted dial) only in minor dial details. Other features remain: the 49 millimeter diameter, the hinged case back, the Breguet hands, and Arabic numerals.
Most of the people who come to Bonaire are SCUBA divers, hauling heavy bags of gear — buoyancy vests and regulators. But on this visit, I decided to try something different: freediving.
ISO 6425 is an international standard that spells out in great and unambiguous detail the criteria for what can be called a “diver’s watch”. Aside from the obvious water resistance requirement (100 meters, by the way), there are rules for legibility, salt water resistance and more.
For our new series, Timekeeping Selects, we’ve partnered with Analog/Shift, the New York-based purveyor of vintage watches. We’re doing the legwork for you, handpicking stunning, unique vintage timepieces at a wide variety of prices — all with impeccable authenticity, great stories, meticulously serviced and ready to wear.
Comparing two great depth gauge dive watches: the top shelf IWC Aquatimer Deep Three and an ingenious alternative from ORIS that works without any moving parts.
Unlike many family traditions, including those shown in Patek Philippe ads, in our family, watch gifts didn’t flow from father to son but rather the other way around.
A hint for Father’s Day gift seekers: He doesn’t need another screwdriver set. What he needs is something with more thought, more personality, something he’ll use.
Whether you’re heading to the Mediterranean coast in real life or just your daydreams, this kit of casual clothes and accoutrements will keep you both cool and looking cool.
For our new series, Timekeeping Selects, we’ve partnered with Analog/Shift, the New York-based purveyor of vintage watches. We’re doing the legwork for you, handpicking stunning, unique vintage timepieces at a wide variety of prices — all with impeccable authenticity, great stories, meticulously serviced and ready to wear.
Vintage watches are flying off the shelves right now, but the Squale 101 Atmos carries out its heritage look without pretense.
The Aquatimer Chronograph Edition “Galapagos Islands” ($11,100) shares more with theCharles Darwin Foundation than donations. It’s a prime example of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution — in Aquatimers.
There’s a space race going on in the watch world. In Japan, Seiko, Citizen and Casio are duking it out in the rarified atmosphere of satellite receiving watches, which use satellite signals to tell time as accurately as an atomic clock.
As it goes for just about anything “military”, issued timepieces are some of the most collectible in the watch world. Between enthusiasts looking for a rugged watch to go on adventures with, fashionable folks pulling off military-inspired looks, and history buffs bolstering their military regalia collection, the military watch market faces the perfect storm of demand.