Latest news with #Watches&Wonders
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 8 Coolest New Watches That Dropped in April
This month was largely dominated by the massive wave of timepieces to drop at Watches & Wonders, the world's largest watch fair. But there were plenty of other releases of note that followed. Audemars Piguet dropped some striking navy ceramic watches inspired by the 'Blue Nuit, Nuage 50' hue of the original Royal Oak dial (it's a trend we saw elsewhere…also launched this month were a series of blue ceramic Chanel timepieces in a more matte iteration). Breguet stunned with a wristwatch version of one of its earliest souscription timepieces dating back two centuries. William Massena LAB x Raúl Pagès executed a beautifully done minimalist timepiece combining modern and traditional elements (also punctuated by a deep midnight blue). And Richard Mille was back at it with its colorful sapphire crystal game. Let's dive into what followed the flood of timepieces earlier this month. More from Robb Report How This N.Y.C. Pizza Joint Became a Clubhouse for a New Breed of Watch Collector Inside Miami Music Exec Lex Borrero's Unconventional Watch Collection Tiffany & Co. Debuts High Jewelry with a $3.5 Million Diamond Ring, Insane Rubies, and Rare Paraìbas Best of Robb Report The 25 Greatest Independent Watchmakers in the World The 10 Most Expensive Watches Sold at Auction in the 21st Century (So Far) 11 Stunning Jewelry Moments From the 2020 Oscars Click here to read the full article. Launched last year in red gold, this new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique in 42 mm now comes in polished stainless steel. The model is a tribute to the original Fifty Fathoms dive watch—the company's most recognizable timekeeper—and houses an automatic caliber 1315 movement with a 5-day power reserve topped off with a sunburst black dial. Offered on a steel bracelet, NATO strap, or tropic rubber strap with a pin buckle or deployant clasp, this is a non-limited model that will now be part of the brand's permanent collection. BUY NOW: $15,500-$18,000 This marks the third collaboration between Massena LAB, founded by horological expert William Massena, and Raúl Pagès, an independent Swiss watchmaker. Its ultra-minimalist, sleek look follows a similar vibe to the RP2 watch released by Pagès in March. Here, however, you have a similar aesthetic but infused with classic and historical influences brought to the timepiece by Massena. A midnight blue mainplate is the striking centerpiece. It is vertically brushed and changes color depending on the light from deep blue to petrol to slate. Surrounding it is a radially-brushed, rhodium-plated chapter ring with a black railroad track to mark the hours and minutes. The seconds are located at 6 o'clock, which sits slightly below the main dial for a touch of added depth. Behind the well-balanced dial is the Swiss-made, hand-finished manual-winding caliber M660 with a power reserve of 60 hours. The movement is decorated with Côtes de Genève finishing on the broad plate and hand-chamfered plates and bridges. The 38.5 mm stainless steel timepiece, accented with an Italian leather dove gray strap is limited to just 99 pieces and with this much crafstmanship under $10,000 it will be quite a steal. BUY NOW: $8,875 Last year, Zenith released the ultra-desirable 38 mm Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar during LVMH watch week in Miami. The steel versions were good look and a great remind of why the El Primero will always be one of watchmaking's legendary movements. Now it comes in a new rose gold version and we'd argue you could easily be convinced to get one of each. And while you may know that the El Primero later powered Ebel and Rolex models that helped relaunch the renaissance of mechanical watches, you might be surprised to know that this was one of the earliest models that movement was used for at the Zenith manufacture. And because you probably won't get your hands on one of the 25 prototypes developed as early as 1970 with the El Primero's A386 movement, you'll likely be just as happy with the modern version equipped with the updated 3160 caliber which has a true 1/10th of a second timing function and 60 hours of power reserve. BUY NOW: $26,300 Inspired by the 'Blue Nuit, Nuage 50' hue of the original Royal Oak's dial from 1972, Audemars Piguet developed a special ceramic using a PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) to mimic the color and obtain its consistency throughout. The brand released three models using the rich hue: a 41 mm Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked, a 43 mm Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph in a two-tone design, and this all-blue 42 mm Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph. We prefer the latter for its high-impact, but comparatively toned-down look. It's powered by the caliber 4404, which boasts an integrated selfwinding chronograph with a column wheel and flyback function. A bonus: You can see the column wheel in action through the sapphire crystal caseback. BUY NOW: $86,900 Richard Mille is nothing if not colorful and high tech. At the end of last year, the company dropped four new brightly-hued RM-07 sapphire crystal watches in electric lime green variations, fuchsia, and lilac. They're back at it this year with more 'toned down' colors for a trio of RM 75-01 sapphire timepieces with flying tourbillons. There are two combining clear and colored sapphired crystal in baby blue on a white rubber strap and purple on a pink leather strap (limited to 10 in each color) and a clear sapphire crystal version on a mint green leather strap (limited to 15). Aside from its obviously complicated interior mechanics which operate on 65 hours of power reserve, each case requires over 1,000 hours to extract its structure from a block of the material weighing roughly 132 pounds and another 40 days of 'grinding around the clock' according to the company. You might not be able to read the time, but one almost doesn't care with these funky works of art. BUY NOW: Price Upon Request To celebrate its 250th anniversary this year, Breguet is returning to purity with this beautifully executed new 40 mm timepiece. It features a clean white enamel dial with time displayed by a single blued Breguet hand and Arabic numerals. Two centuries ago it was debuted by the godfather of watchmaking, Abraham-Louis Breguet as a pocket watch. Dating to 1797, the pocket watch was one of the earliest Souscription watches from the man who invented the concept now used by modern watchmakers like F.P. Journe and many other independents like him. As much an engineer and an artist as he was a businessman, Breguet created the idea of requiring customers to put a deposit on a watch, which enabled him to buy the supplies needed to make the timepiece without taking on so much risk. The movement is classic Breguet and directly inspired by the original pocket watch. But the VS00 gilded brass caliber is entirely new. Furthermore, it comes with a newly developed guilloche technique called Quai de l'Horloge after Breguet's original manufacture in Paris. The caliber, beating at 3Hz, offers four days of power reserve from a single barrel. Monsieur Breguet would, no doubt, be thrilled. BUY NOW: $48,700 Girard-Perregaux is coming to the table this month with two new gemset Laureato models—one with a white diamond bezel and another with a gradient of diamonds and blue sapphires. Both are cool in tone-on-tone silver—each 38 mm watch is set in steel with a rhodium-plated Clous de Paris-decorated dial. Our favorite is set with 10 brilliant-cut white diamonds and 46 brilliant-cut sapphires. Beneath, the watches are equipped with a self-winding mechanical movement with 46 hours of power reserve. BUY NOW: $20,100 Elevating its watchmaking game, Tiffany & Co. released its first flying tourbillon last year, but its expertise remains in jewelry. Earlier this year, CEO Anthony Ledru told Robb Report jewels will always be its first order of business. Surrounding the flying tourbillon is a perfect example of the house's expertise. The multi-layered dial is crafted from champlevé enamel with 3D appliqué lacquered flowers in Tiffany blue. The hour and minutes dial is offset between 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock and decked in diamond. Meanwhile, naturally, the company's diamond-set avian mascot sits perched atop the tourbillon. More diamonds accent the case, lugs, and crown. Flip it over and even the bridges of the movement have been set with diamonds, while the tourbillon is topped off with a sapphire. Its caliber AFT24T01 is made in Switzerland. The hand-wound movement offers a power reserve of 50 hours. Set in an 18-karat gold case, at 39 mm it's not necessarily relegated to the ladies.
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Best Men And Women's Skeleton Watches At 2025 Watches And Wonders
The Bell & Ross BR-03 Skeleton Lum Ceramic The skeletonization of a watch is a specialized technique requiring hours of chiseling and metal trimming by a skilled watchmaker to remove non-essential components of the movement. What remains is the 'skeleton' of the movement, such as the intricate gears, bridges and other essential parts. The same person often adds decorative engravings or other embellishments. To view this detailed work of artisan craft, the dial is either significantly reduced or entirely removed. French watch and clock maker, Andre-Charles Caron, who was the resident clockmaker to King Louis XV, is credited with crafting the first skeleton watch in 1760. As already mentioned, skeletonization process is traditionally handcrafted. However, with advancements in computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD-CAM) this technique can be replicated to produce skeletonized designs that would have been impossible to create by hand. Even in the modern era of watchmaking, it is the unique pieces crafted by hand that are most valued by collectors. The best examples are often presented by the most prestigious brands and independent watchmakers. They are prized not only for for their artisan skill but the artistic representation of the movement. A skeletonized watch can be a thing of beauty. The recently concluded Watches and Wonders horology fair saw many examples of skeletonized timepieces this year for men and women. Below are some of the best. Armin Strom One Week Titanium Skeleton FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder What was already an openworked timepiece is now fully skeletonized to reveal all the mechanics. The small seconds dial is skeletonized, revealing the power reserve level and the escapement wheel. The mainplate and the barrels are also skeletonized. Because of this full skeletonization, the seven-day power reserve indicator is highlighted as well as the cone mechanism, 'reminiscent of ancient pocket watches,' the brand said. A sapphire caseback provides a view of the entire Armin Strom Manufacture caliber ARM21-S, a manual-wound movement with a seven-day power reserve. The movement is housed in a 41mm case made of lightweight grade 5 titanium. The watch is limited to 100 pieces. Bell & Ross BR-03 Skeleton Grey Steel Bell & Ross, the brand that specializes in square aviation watches, introduced the BR-03 Skeleton at Watches & Wonders. To reinforce the skeletonized concept, Bell & Ross redesigned the entire watch around a specific X-shaped structure and enhanced the luminescence. The watch is powered by the new BR-CAL.328 caliber, an automatic three-hand movement without a date, with a 54-hour power reserve. The upper bridges form an X with four double arms, each connecting to one of the four bezel screws. The movement is designed by and produced for Bell & Ross. There are three distinct references of this new timepiece. They are: The BR-03 Skeleton Black Ceramic, which has a 41mm black ceramic case constructed from smoked sapphire crystal. The dial has applied black 'baignoire style' indexes filled with green-emitting white Super-LumiNova (SLN). The hour and minute hands are skeletonized and filled with green emitting white SLN, while the seconds hand is black with a white tip. The BR-03 Skeleton Grey Steel with a 41mm satin-polished gray steel case. Everything on the watch is designed to reflect light, including the faceted indexes and the faceted ruthenium treated cut patterns on the open-worked dial. This model is limited to 250 pieces. The BR-03 Skeleton Lum Ceramic that features green luminescence on the edges of the openworked black dial. A green Super-LumiNova outline traces the cutouts of the dial, which is housed in a 41mm black ceramic case. This model is limited to 250 pieces. Chanel J12 Bleu X-Ray Chanel made waves at Watches and Wonders by introducing an entire line of its well-known J12 watch collection in a distinctive blue ceramic. One of the pieces from the collection was further distinguished for a couple of reasons. The J12 Bleu X-Ray features the skeletonized Caliber 3.1 Swiss-made manual winding movement with a 55-hour power reserve. The luxury brand chose colorless sapphire for the plate and the two bridges, which gives the appearance of floating gears. This impression is further enhanced by a bridge in a colorless sapphire, adorned with 12 baguette-cut bright blue natural sapphire indicators. The skeletonized movement is really the secondary innovation of this watch. The first is that the case and bracelet are crafted from a block of blue tinted sapphire that took 1,600 hours of work to create, Chanel said. The links and bezel are made of white gold and set with 196 blue baguette-cut natural sapphires with the edges framed by black trim that creates a contrast with this endless sea of blue. The watch is numbered and limited to 12 pieces. Charriol Navigator Caliber Skeleton 41mm Charriol's Navigator Caliber Skeleton 41mm is an extension of the 36mm version launched last year. Coralie Charriol, CEO and creative director of the brand founded by her father, Philippe Charriol, originally designed this for women when she introduced it in 2024. She says there is demand from men and women for a larger version of the timepiece. Coralie worked with Swiss caliber manufacturer, Soprod, to produce the 'Charriol Skeleton Caliber 41' automatic movement, created from the SOPROD M100 movement 11 ½. It details the hours, minutes, a sweeping seconds hand, and has personalized bridges and oscillating weight, and a 42-hour power reserve. The dial features two brushed steel inner rings with a minute track with 12 super LumiNova index points and 12 faceted indexes in polished steel with a dark blue finish. The dial and movement are housed in a 41mm steel case with a bezel engraved with a double Charriol lettering and decorated with 2 screws. It's limited to 41 pieces. IWC Big Pilot's Watch Shock Absorber Tourbillon Skeleton XPL This watch marks the first time that IWC used its patented 'SPRIN-g PROTECT' shock absorber system to protect the tourbillon in the watch against shocks. The cantilever spring was redesigned and adapted to accommodate the IWC in-house 82915 caliber with a flying minute tourbillon. To reduce the mass of the movement and maximize the system's performance, the plates, bridges and the rotor are skeletonized, which provides a better view of the mechanics and the bulk metallic glass (BMG) shock absorber spring inside. It's housed in IWC-proprietary Ceratanium case and crown. It is fitted with a black patterned rubber strap. Norqain Wild One Skeleton 39mm Mint Norqain, launched in 2018, produces watches primarily for younger watch enthusiasts with active lifestyles. The watch brand is known for its skeleton watches. Among the new releases at Watches and Wonders 2025, are four Wild One timepieces, each with a unique and vibrant color and a smaller 39mm case size that can be worn by men and women. The color scheme for each watch is on the rubber shock absorbers, the crown guards, the inner bezel ring, and on the Super-LumiNova on the hands and hour markers. The rubber straps are in the same color as the rest of the watch. The colors are Hyper Pink, Mint, Ice Blue and Sky Blue. Sapphire crystal on the front and caseback provides a full view of the skeletonized caliber N086 automatic, skeletonized, COSC-certified chronometer movement. Parmigiani Tonda PF Skeleton Slate Green Like all Parmigiani watches, this skeletonized timepiece is an elegant and refined thing of beauty. The green color is inspired by the architectural palette of Swiss-French architect and designer, Le Corbusier. The PF 777 automatic caliber has a total of 187 components, presented in a fine latticework with beveled finishes, and an openworked barrel, where the mainspring can be seen. The white gold oscillating weight bears the Parmigiani logo under a sapphire crystal disc on the caseback. The skeletonized movement is housed in a 40mm platinum case with a knurled bezel. Its thickness is 8.5mm. The watch is limited to 50 pieces. The Ulysse Nardin Diver [AIR] It's impossible not to include the Ulysse Nardin Diver [AIR] among the best skeleton watches released at Watches and Wonders even though I recently wrote about it in a story prior to the fair. The extreme skeletonization of the new UN-374 caliber was one of the techniques used to create the world's lightest dive watch. The movement is made of lightweight and high strength titanium, and uses a triangle design structure that provides the integrity to withstand 200 meters of water resistance and an impact of 5,000 grams.
Times
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
All the fun of the Geneva watch fair
At this month's Watches & Wonders shindig in Geneva, the international watch crowd — geek, enthusiast, collector, specialist — gathered for the year's timepiece 'novelties' and innovations. The trends included smaller case sizes and dizzy complications including a clutch of perpetual calendars. The colour blue proliferated, with a smattering of lilac. Platinum stood out amid the precious metals. There were certainly myriad watches, and quite a few wonders too. Patek Philippe unveiled a blockbuster collection in which the handsome square-design Cubitus family expanded with two new pieces at the smaller size of 40mm, in rose gold and white gold. The most impressive of the many Grand Complications on offer has to be the self-winding Ref 5308 Quadruple Complication featuring a minute repeater, split-second chronograph and an instantaneous perpetual calendar. At the less complex end a new dress watch favourite is the manually wound Calatrava Ref 6196P in platinum with rose-gilt opaline dial and faceted anthracite hour markers and hands, exuding refined vintage vibes. • Over at Cartier there was something glamorous for everyone. From a sparkling version of the all-yellow gold baignoire bangle, now decorated with a nonchalant dusting of tiny diamonds, to a Cartier Privé romantic reimagination of a Tank à Guichet watch (a watch with an aperture) from 1928. It also presented the voluminous and sculptural Tressage pieces, braided with gold and lacquer or diamonds, and an abundance of chic jewellery watches. More jewellery watches, in the form of swishy sautoirs (watches on long necklaces), softened from their original 1969 designs, were sashaying at Piaget. Also echoing their free spirit is the very wearable Sixties line-up, which boldly reimagines the asymmetrical trapeze shape. The Piaget Andy Warhol, in tribute to the artist who adored the brand's original Black Tie watch, had a good reception. Now formally renamed, it features a four-piece collection with stone dials from blue meteorite to tiger eye, in a play of silhouette and style. As well as the impressively designed and sparkling pieces on show, there were also records being broken. For the thinnest (for a tourbillon, or perhaps any watch), there was Bulgari's Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon, which is barely the depth of a sheet of paper. It's so slender it almost disappears when turned sideways. The ones that can go deepest must include Tudor's new Pelagos, with water resistance of up to 1,000 metres. The most complicated watch prize goes to Vacheron Constantin's Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication, rightfully called 'the world's most complicated wristwatch', with 41 highly complex functions packed into the 45mm case. • The accolade for lightest watch goes to the independent Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin with its Diver [Air], a marriage of high horology and high tech. Ulysse Nardin decided to partner with start-ups and market leaders to use innovative materials — such as carbon fiber, Nylo foil and 90 per cent recycled titanium — reducing mass without compromising performance. Weighing in at an ultra-light 46g or 52g (less than a tennis ball) with the specially developed composite strap, it's water resistant to 200 metres and can withstand 5,000 g-force. The result is the lightest mechanical dive watch yet made, with interesting and authentic eco credentials. It's arguable that the distinction for best value for money should go to Nomos Glashütte's enduring Club Sport neomatik, now available with a world time complication, powered by the new in-house movement. Sleek and stylish with its Bauhaus-inspired dial design in two classic colours, it's also offered in six limited edition colourways, referencing earth and sea tones. Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds in 18 carat pink gold, £37,600; Just when you think that Jaeger-LeCoultre can't do much more with the very covetable art deco-inspired Reverso, which has been around since the 1930s, along comes the Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds, which, despite its functionally descriptive name, is a thing of beauty and imagination. In pink gold throughout, with a grained gold dial and Milanese gold mesh bracelet, driven by a self-winding mechanical movement, it has a sophisticated allure. Land-Dweller in steel, from £12,250; Finally, Rolex, the most omnipresent of the trophy beasts, pulled out all the stops, introducing the Land-Dweller collection. This is a handsome integrated sports watch in 36mm and 40mm sizes and the company's first new model line in 13 years. Featuring a honeycomb-patterned dial, it's based around the Oysterquartz from the 1960s and 1970s, an angular take on the Oyster, with a 'flat Jubilee' bracelet. It's powered by an innovative movement with a Dynapulse silicon escapement for even greater precision.
Forbes
16-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Succeed In Watches Without Being Rolex: British Watchmakers Edition
'Ready to start your watchmaking journey?" the flyer read. "Use the code below for a 10% discount on your first kit.' I stared at it incredulously, the flyer taunting my 20+ years of watch industry experience while challenging my expectations of British watchmakers. During a March business trip to London, I made a detour to Lindley Hall for British Watchmakers' Day, expecting to discover the British equivalent of Watches & Wonders—that grand Swiss spectacle which recently ended with Rolex causing a stir by finally introducing its first new collection in decades. Instead, I found very early-stage startups, DIY watchmaking kits, and an energy more Coachella than the classical symphonies of the Palexpo Genève's exhibiting watchmakers. I'll admit, my initial reaction came from a particular brand of snobbery that develops after spending too much time with watchmaking traditionalists. When I shared my disenchantment with master watchmaker Roger Smith, a co-founder of the Alliance of British Watch & Clock Makers and a future candidate for this series (his ingenuity is on par with Louis Moinet), he made me realize I was looking at things the wrong way. I wasn't here to find the next Jaeger-LeCoultre or Vacheron Constantin – although Smith's own work offered me exactly what I was looking for. Instead, I was bearing witness to the birth of an entirely new watchmaking culture—one that eschews the traditional Swiss mold for something uniquely and irreverently British. British watchmakers are succeeding without being Rolex, and here was my opportunity to discover how. 'I'm from marketing, not watchmaking,' Alistair Audsley, co-founder and CEO of the Alliance of British Watch & Clock Makers, told me when I asked how he became the unlikely architect of the British watchmaker renaissance. After producing The Watchmaker's Apprentice, a documentary on the late master watchmaker George Daniels and his apprentice, Roger Smith, Audsley became corporate affairs and marketing consultant for Smith. When Britain's premiere luxury watch event SalonQP ceased operations in 2018, Audsley, Smith and Christopher Ward co-founder, Mike France, recognized there were still signs of life in a British horology industry that hadn't quite found its modern-day footing. They commissioned a study, which confirmed a quiet renaissance was indeed brewing, but one that needed a guiding hand. A unifying trade body was necessary to help nurture the fledgling industry back into its glorious heyday, where British watchmakers created 60-70% of fundamental innovations found in today's mechanical watches. During Britain's 17th and 18th century 'Golden Age' of watchmaking, pioneers like Robert Hooke (who developed the balance spring in 1657), Thomas Mudge (inventor of the lever escapement in 1754), and John Harrison (creator of the marine chronometer) revolutionized timekeeping with inventions still essential to current day mechanical watches. By 1800, Britain dominated global production, manufacturing approximately 200,000 watches annually—about half the world's output—before gradually losing ground to Swiss and American mass-production techniques in the 19th century. Enter Smith, France, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill of Fears, Bob Ray of Sinclair Harding, and Crispin Jones of Mr. Jones Watches, the founding fathers, along with Audsley, of what was becoming a British watchmakers' movement. 'To our astonishment, we thought there might be about 15 brands out there,' Audsley shared. 'Within about a month of launching [the Alliance of British Watch & Clock Makers] in November 2020, we had 30 members already on board.' Five years later, the Alliance counts 110 brands in its diverse membership of catalog producers and upper echelon independents across 24 countries. To demonstrate the existence and vibrancy of the British watch sector, Audsley proposed one day per year where British watchmakers would release a special edition watch available exclusively on that date and at a special venue. The first British Watchmakers' Day was launched in 2024 with 21 brands, each introducing a special limited edition. The sequel event this year included 44 British watchmakers, 26 of which produced special limited editions only purchasable that day. The second time around proved to be the charm, with consumer attendance well exceeding the initial event. 'By about 5 in the morning, our security guy texted me and sent a picture with about five or six people waiting outside the door,' Audsley marveled. 'By 9 AM, it was literally around the block.' While the first year was an inaugural triumph, the challenge for the second year was keeping the momentum going. So for the following event, the team pursued a longer promotional lead time, with activations occurring well before the event to build anticipation and excitement across a wider audience. There was an early announcement in late January revealing 'The List' – the 26 brands offering special limited edition watches exclusively for the event. This strategic pre-event reveal, complete with detailed photographs and descriptions, gave media outlets and influencers substantial content to generate buzz months before the event itself and delivered far more media presence, both in social media and traditional outlets, than the previous year. General admission tickets sold out in 15 hours. When Audsley and Smith went to welcome those first in line, they discovered just how far the British watchmaking message had spurred the passionate pursuits of watch enthusiasts worldwide. 'I met a guy from New York. There was a couple from Korea. There was a guy who'd flown over from Singapore.' Many came to secure one of the limited-edition timepieces that could only be acquired on that one day; and others, to celebrate the stirrings of the British watch industry. The Alliance cultivates this enthusiastic global community of approximately 1,200 members by ensuring each event maintains an intimate, accessible atmosphere that distinguishes British watchmaking from its Swiss counterparts. 'We're all fans of watchmaking,' Audsley emphasized, capturing the essence of what made the event feel less like a commercial exhibition and more like a family reunion, where founders, collectors, and media all shared equal footing in their passion for British horology. 'I've had a few comments from people in the media saying it's kind of not as slick as, you know, pressing your nose up at a glass fish tank at Watches & Wonders,' Audsley noted. 'For me, that's a huge compliment. That's exactly what we're trying to achieve.' At British Watchmakers' Day, the boundaries between brand founder, collector, and media blur into irrelevance. 'When you're there, there are times when you can't tell who the brand founder is from the collector, from the media people. Everyone's an enthusiast.' Erasing traditional industry hierarchies represents the most profound difference between the British and Swiss approach. Where Swiss brands often maintain a reverential distance between creator and consumer, the Brits actively collapse this space. 'The accessibility is a massive draw for our collectors,' Audsley explained. 'It's the founders who are standing behind those tables. It's not a sales executive.' Guests can chat directly with Jonny Garrett of William Wood, Richard Benc of Studio Underd0g, or Simon Mottram of Bremont. This direct connection forges a sense of acceptance and emotional bonds transcending the products themselves. The community extends even to brands that should logically be fierce competitors. Audsley cited an example of Sidereus Watches and Schofield Watch Company, two brands at similar price points with similar product offerings. Rather than rivalry, there exists genuine warmth and mutual support. For the event, their stands were placed side by side in a physical representation of what Audsley terms 'coopetition,' competing but cooperating simultaneously. In another act of coopetition, Audsley saw staff from one company aiding another to set up their stand the night before. 'There is a natural friendliness and a natural willingness to share information,' he added. This understanding, that they're stronger together, is a defining principle in the resurgence of British watchmakers and is actively encouraged by the Alliance to create a stronger, more resilient watchmaking ecosystem. While Swiss watchmaking excels at marketing heritage and precision, modern-day British watchmaking is still defining itself. What's emerging, according to Audsley, is a blend of technical skill and a quintessentially British sauciness. 'There is a design ethos that's starting to coalesce around our brands. There is a slightly irreverent wit that is very British.' Swiss formality is replaced with fun, personality, and occasionally outright subversion of horology's conservative world. 'What influenced brands like Mr. Jones and Studio Underd0g was this kind of boldness,' he continued. 'It's Monty Python, it's David Bowie, it's the art school tradition we've always brought to music.' How could I sustain my usual highbrow demand to know what's under the movement hood in the face of such artistic audacity? I stood down from my search for haute horology to embrace a British perspective of design and creativity, finding three brands in the process who are launching entirely new conversations around watchmaking. Mr. Jones Watches offered a collection that immediately transferred me back to my first watch acquisition at age 8 – a Swatch watch. A Christmas/birthday present that didn't stir my usual ire from getting a combination gift (the curse of every late December baby), I loved that watch and stored it in its original case to this day. Mr. Jones Watches successfully capture that same Swatch playful essence while elevating it for the adult collector and sophisticated wit – making my childhood nostalgia simultaneously obsolete. Founded in 2007 by Crispin Jones, the brand specializes in 'affordable art pieces that are fun to wear.' Their bestseller, 'Perfectly Useless Afternoon,' features a man lazing in a pool, with his foot indicating hours and a rubber duck floating around to mark minutes. 'The Accurate' has an hour hand that reads 'remember' and a minute hand that warns 'you will die' – a memento mori designed to help you carpe diem. Another design, the blue dialed 'Blueberry Late!' and pink version 'Berry Late Again!,' show a jumble of letters – until the hour and minute hands align to spell out a decidedly adult message of exactly what time is (and also what time it is). 'The world of watches is weirdly quite easy to stand out in because it's such a conservative industry,' Jones told me at British Watchmakers' Day. 'A lot of people are happy making versions of the Swiss archetype designs. We absolutely don't go down that road.' Richard Benc's delightfully colorful brand embodies that irreverent British attitude Audsley described. With models like 'Go0fy Panda,' 'Watermel0n' and 'Mint Ch0c Chip' featuring dials reflecting their namesakes, Studio Underd0g refuses to take itself too seriously while still appealing to the aficionados who do. 'Most of our customers are collectors of high-end pieces and your Rolexes, but they also come to Studio Underd0g,' Benc told me. 'We'll often get sent photos of someone's watch box where they have these well-known Swiss houses, of high-end independents. But then they [the customers] Benc recently secured what may be the ultimate validation of Studio Underd0g's approach – a collaboration with Swiss manufacturer H. Moser & Cie for the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Passion Fruit and the Studio Underd0g 03SERIES Passi0n Fruit timepiece pair, produced in a limited quantity of 100 and priced at 59,000 Swiss Francs or about $72,000 USD. The watch duo's multihued design dramatically diverge from H. Moser's usual color palate. The set makes for an insider's wink and a cheeky IYKYK nod for the collectors who made the London pilgramage to become one of 100 worldwide able to give that nod back. Now completely stripped of all preconception, I was delighted to discover BVOR, a brand young in many ways than one. Friends Oliver Smith and Henry Johnston began their horological journey as teenagers in collaboration with their engineering professor, Nurul Alom, to become 'the World's Youngest Watch Designers.' The founders' approach matches their engineering foundations with a youthful entrepreneurial mettle: 'We all have immense power; we just have to find it' reads the second line on the brand's home page. With a vivid understanding of brand building in today's market, the founders have bypassed chasing retail distribution to focus on social media engagement, event participation and strategic partnerships. BVOR is collaborating with the Austin Healey Club to produce limited edition watches that complement club members' cars. 'Being a small brand, it's all about ourselves, really getting hands-on with the watches and actually promoting it ourselves through our social media platforms,' Johnston told me. 'We're selling them on the basis of the story that goes with the brand. The uniqueness and limited quantity that is available is what people really seem to like.' With their manufacturing limitations, modest ambitions (they plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon), and technical basics, BVOR would never have previously entered my radar. Yet I found myself appreciating them as the necessary seedlings from which greater things will grow, putting a distinctively fine point on the opportunity before me: BVOR represents the first rung on Britain's watchmaking ladder. Where Roger Smith might occupy the pinnacle of technical mastery, these young entrepreneurs embody the industry's future and may very well reshape the industry with distinctly British innovations we can't yet imagine. The passionate pursuit of luxury is first and foremost about connection—to craftsmanship, to creators, to a communal sharing of appreciation. Fostered by direct access to a brand's creative directors, the British watchmakers' scene shows emotional investment can sometimes matter more than extensive R&D. 'These are people who, around the world, have discovered these brands, discovered the founders, learned their stories,' Audsley summed. 'Those stories have inspired them in some way. I think they've made bonds that go way beyond the product.' And also: British watchmaking is stepping out of Switzerland's shadow, carving a new identity rooted in creativity, collaboration, and a touch of irreverence. The journey from the first rung of BVOR to the pinnacle of Roger Smith is just beginning. And for British watchmakers, the passionate pursuit of watchmaking is less a commercial enterprise and more a shared adventure into what the industry can become without the heritage and resources of Rolex.
WIRED
05-04-2025
- Business
- WIRED
The 11 Most WIRED Watches That Dropped at Watches & Wonders
A completely new Rolex, the most complicated wristwatch ever made, pieces that survive impacts of 10,000 g's, and 'magic ceramic'—the annual gathering of the watch world delivered big-time in 2025. Images Courtesy of Rolex, Vacheron, and Oris If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more. President Donald Trump's tariffs bombshell this week (complete with a levy seemingly aimed at a few thousand penguins on remote Antarctic islands) landed right in the middle of Watches & Wonders, the sprawling Geneva trade show that brings together Rolex, Patek Philippe, TAG Heuer, Cartier and a panoply of other major players in the Swiss luxury watch industry—an industry that has suddenly found itself facing a 31 percent import tax in its biggest and most important market. In 2024, America accounted for one-sixth of the global Swiss watch market, which is bad news considering the watch industry has already been fighting a significant downturn. Whether the dollar prices on this page remain intact for long is currently anyone's guess. The senior watch executives WIRED questioned at the show were unwilling to offer any comment on the record, and one big-brand CEO had no idea the tariff announcement was imminent. Still, while some factories have reportedly been running on half time in recent months, the new watches on display this year offered plenty of new ideas and groundbreaking designs. Here's our pick of the week's new releases. Rolex Land-Dweller For an industry which still relies on centuries-old mechanical principles, the luxury watch world's innovation obsession can seem anachronistic. But the Land-Dweller from Rolex is a genuine flag-in-the-ground moment, dressed up in a funky, integrated-bracelet design that harks back to the 1970s and the brand's one classic quartz watch of the era, the OysterQuartz. Calibre 7135, the engine that powers it, replaces the lever escapement—the 270-year-old device that converts mechanical energy into equal pulses that drive the hands—with a new construction Rolex has named 'Dynapulse.' All the escapement parts are made from silicon, pivoting at high frequency around a balance staff (the central stem of the hairspring/balance wheel oscillator) laser-etched from a new kind of ceramic. The advantages in accuracy, shock absorption, and stability will be barely noticeable to most; but the expectation of a long-term roll-out across the production lines of the world's biggest watchmaker—and the replacement of the most crucial and finicky parts with endlessly replicable silicon components—may well be game-changing, and come stacked with patent applications. Plus, the Land-Dweller, available in steel with a white gold bezel, in rose gold, or in platinum, with sizing options at both 36 mm and 40 mm, means there's an entirely new family of Rollies for the flippers to fight over and the A-listers to flex. Expect plenty of both. From $13,900 Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Solaria Vacheron Constantin's 'Solaria' ultra-grand complication is, in no small feat, the most complicated wristwatch ever made. It packs in 41 complications—including chiming features, calendar displays, a split-second chronograph, and an array of astronomical indications—that are displayed on both sides of the watch. Overlaid by a star-chart dial, the split-seconds chronograph can even be used to calculate the time it takes for a particular star or constellation to come into view. It took one watchmaker eight years to design the watch, for which Vacheron is taking orders—no price details, but expect it to be to the tune of millions. We're all in the gutter, after all, but some of us are looking at the stars. TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraph Just as TAG Heuer returns as Formula 1's timing sponsor, its legendary plastic-cased, battery-powered watch from the 1980s is back back back—now solar-powered, enlarged and upgraded. Now cased in castor-based bioplastic, and with a movement incorporating Citizen's solar tech (via a Swiss subsidiary), it's a fun, poppy and thoroughly modern take on the watch that kicked off TAG Heuer's modern-era success. Find out exactly how they revived this iconic piece here. Steel-cased models with plastic bezels are available to all, while various full-plastic multi-colored editions will appear as limited runs coinciding with different Grand Prix races. From $1,800 IWC Big Pilot's Shock Absorber Tourbillon Skeleton XPL Developed from a concept watch announced a few years ago, the Shock Absorber is designed to resist high impacts and g-forces—in a Cambridge University lab, it survived impacts of 10,000 g's. Cased in IWC's ceratanium (a ceramic/titanium mixture), it houses the movement—which in this case means a skeletonized tourbillon, a watch complication that increases accuracy by countering the effect of Earth's gravity on the balance wheel and spring—in a cantilevered spring mounting made of bulk metallic glass (BMG), which absorbs shocks without disturbing the mechanism. $210,600 Tudor Pelagos Ultra While the Black Bay is Tudor's dapper (if dive-watch-inspired) generalist wristwatch, the Pelagos is its hardcore sibling, and it just got hardier still. Rated to 1,000 meters in depth, the Ultra is a purist deep-sea diving watch, with an upsized 43-mm case in titanium, enlarged, high-contrast dial markings, and intense luminescence, including minute and hour hands in blue and green lume, respectively, for extra visibility in the depths. But its coolest feature may be its bracelet, which has a spring-loaded rapid adjustment system for changing lengths, and a luminous indication of its setting on the clasp. $5,950 Patek Philippe 6159G Perpetual Calendar The perpetual calendar with a 'retrograde' date hand (indicating the date along an arc over the dial) is one of Patek Philippe's most classic looks, dating back to 1937. But it gets a modish makeover now with a semi-transparent dial in dark gray revealing the workings of the movement beneath. The dial is created by applying a metallized coating to a sapphire crystal surface, and then removing material with a laser, creating a shadowy effect with a gradient that intensifies towards the edges. $117,000 Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Spring Drive UFA Grand Seiko's Spring Drive technology, which fuses mechanical watchmaking with a quartz-driven oscillator is a modern watchmaking marvel. Using a tiny charge driven by the mainspring, it produces a neat, fluid glide in the seconds hand, and results in accuracy of around +/-15 seconds a month (which works out as almost four times better than Rolex's Superlative Chronometer rating of +/-2 a day). On a yearly basis, then, normal Spring Drive is accurate to around three minutes a year. But its newly announced upgrade on the tech, which Grand Seiko is calling Ultra Fine Accuracy (UFA), is accurate to +/- 20 seconds a year. That's comparable with high-accuracy electronic watches. It's achievement is due to a three-month process Seiko has developed for aging the quartz crystals, along with a thermo-compensation system and vacuum-sealed oscillator and sensor to protect against environmental factors. It's found in a handsome addition to the brand's Evolution 9 collection, available in either titanium or platinum, with a dial inspired by snow-covered trees. From $10,900 Hublot Big Bang Unico Magic Ceramic While ceramic-cased watches in various shades of zirconium oxide have become a popular feature of high-end watches in the past decade—and particularly so at Hublot, which has its own in-house materials laboratory—combining different shades of ceramic is a much bigger challenge. That's because different shades perform differently in the high-heat sintering process involved. So far, the two-tone bezels of Rolex's GMT Master watches have been the chief examples of this being achieved successfully, but Hublot's 'Magic Ceramic' Big Bang takes things further. The gray bezel and blue cylinder dots are made separately and then fused in the furnace, which is much trickier than it sounds. Limited to 20 pieces, it's a pointer to more creative uses of ceramic in years to come. $33,000 Ulysse Nardin Diver AIR This is the world's lightest mechanical dive watch, so Ulysse Nardin claims, as the brand has supposedly managed to remove as much as possible from its new diver to make it clock in at a featherweight 52 grams on the wrist (46 if you remove the elastic fabric strap). The Diver [AIR]—yes, the brackets are intentional—has a construction of titanium and carbon fiber offering up 200 meters of water resistance. The sides of the case, including the lugs, are made from recycled fishing nets and upcycled carbon fiber called Nylo-Foil. The new caliber, UN-374, further reduces heft with, among other trimmings, titanium bridges that have been cut in width and hollowed out in the center. The end result is that, inside the case, the Diver [AIR] is apparently 80 percent air and just 20 percent movement. Despite this, it's still able to withstand a 5,000-g impact. $38,000 Bovet Récital 30 Furthering the technical achievements of Bovet's superb world-first world-timer, the Récital 28, one of our picks from last year's show, the Récital 30 again tackles one of the biggest challenges of traditional world-timers: daylight saving time. The 28 was powered by a movement delivering an impressive 10-day power reserve, and was housed in a 46.3-mm case to go with its near $757,000 price tag. Here, Bovet's Récital 30 features the same clever world-timer system with its 24 city rollers, but with a more streamlined approach thanks to a titanium case that is 42 mm and 12.9-mm thick (the power reserve is now down to 60 hours). The 2 o'clock pusher rotates each roller by 90 degrees, automatically adjusting all 24 time zones. The 4 o'clock pusher advances the central 24-hour world dial by one hour. This roller system allows adjustment to any of the four annual UTC periods: UTC Coordinated Universal Time; AST, American Summer Time; EAS, European and American Summer Time; and EWT, European Winter Time. Even New Delhi, with its 30-minute offset, is accounted for. Pricing is yet to be set, but it will be 'more accessible' than the Récital 28—though still very much aimed at the luxury consumer. Oris Big Crown Diamonds Oris's Big Crown is a classic of its range, and has been one of the brand's most popular pilot's watches since its release in 1938. Having evolved with the times, the models in the new collection continue this ethos, and many are lauding the new Big Crown Pointer Dates with their colorful dials, but here at WIRED we were taken with the decidedly chic and wearable 34-mm Big Crown Diamonds with 12 lab-grown diamond hour markers. £2,500/$3,220
