As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. In 1904, Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont approached Louis Cartier, complaining that pocket watches were impractical in flight – he needed both hands on the controls. Louis Cartier’s solution not only marked the birth of an icon but is...
Earlier this week, I wrote about the new Black Bay Ceramic, one of the Tudor novelties at Watches and Wonders 2026. I described it as being the same as the existing Black Bay Ceramic, but with blacked-out hands and a ceramic bracelet. Now that we’ve had a chance to go hands-on with it, we know...
A year after Piaget broke the record for the thinnest tourbillon with its 2mm Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, Bulgari, following its decade-long pursuit of ultra-thin watchmaking, unveiled the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon in titanium, now the world’s thinnest flying tourbillon at just...
Chopard entered the luxury integrated sports watch sector in 2019 with its Alpine Eagle. While this might seem like a relatively late contestant, the roots of the Alpine Eagle can be traced to a sporty-chic 1980s model known as the St. Moritz. Marking the Chopard Manufacture’s 30th anniversary,...
The Grand Seiko Elegance Collection is home to some of the brand’s most restrained and poetic creations. Models such as the Omiwatari, Karasawa, and other hand-wound Spring Drive references demonstrate how minimalism, texture, and mechanical refinement can coexist. The new SBGY043 Iwao Blue...
Last year, Roger Dubuis unveiled the Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar, a revival of a signature biretrograde complication co-patented by founder Roger Dubuis and Jean-Marc Wiederrecht (Agenhor) in 1989. Although this calendar version is simpler than the double retrograde QP the two men developed,...
Hublot has never trafficked in subtlety. The Big Bang chronograph first made its presence known with a 44mm size, hefty ceramic bezel with contrasting screws, and a rare combination of rose gold and rubber, which contrasted different textures with clashing case finishes. So what if it had an ETA...
Since the third generation of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas arrived in 2016, the Maison has expanded the collection with everything from simple three-hand models to perpetual calendars and tourbillons. Yet for a watch originally designed with travel in mind, a basic second-time-zone display...
