MICRO MONDAYS: Three key models that are on the way to making Halios a household(ish) name
Monday is once again upon us, and here in Melbourne, Australia that means we’re oh so close to things starting to crawl back to normality, with pubs and restaurants set to open their doors for the first time in nearly three months, starting next week. Those with school age children are also painfully aware that many of them go back tomorrow. No matter what watch you wear, parents are counting the hours. Aside from thinking non-stop about just how good that first ice cold brew is going to go down at the local (we can’t wait), the start of the working week has also got us thinking, once again, about micro brands. That’s right, it’s Micro Monday! This week we’re taking a closer look at a small Canadian brand that has caught the imagination of both watch and diving enthusiasts alike. We are, of course, talking about Halios Watches. Founded in 2009 by Jason Lim, Halios was created to express the passion that Lim has felt for watches his entire life. The timepieces that the small Canadian watchmaker produce stay true to the company’s founding principles: 1) offer a quality, well-built watch that you can take into the water; 2)…
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It’s MJ Monday! Which means there’s a creeping sense of loss all over the world. Because The Last Dance is done. It’s over. Michael Jordan will not be gracing our screens tonight. We will not be gathering like excited children around his armchair tonight, while he pours himself a no doubt single malt on the rocks with a Partagás Lusitania in hand. Sob. So we felt both a personal sense of obligation, and the opportunity for some replacement therapy, to find a story to bring to you. Admittedly, it’s on the trivial side, because Michael Jordan is the principle owner of the Charlotte Hornets, and the richest former professional athlete in the world, worth $2.1bn as at May 2020, according to Forbes. He’s not short of a buck, and as our two-part collection review revealed, he ain’t short of a grail piece or ten when it comes to watches. But, that all said, on The Last Dance, Scottie – his second banana par excellence – might or not have doubled down on the GOAT, by choosing to wear a model from the same brand, Roger Dubuis, with an extra two tourbillons, worth four times more at RRP. The prices of…
Whether it’s the Breguet pocket watch that belongs to the dastardly Baron Danglars in The Count of Monte Cristo or the orange-dialled Doxa worn by Dirk Pitt in Clive Cussler’s novels, the literary world is full of watches. Sometimes they’re mentioned as passing details to flesh out a character’s appearance. Sometimes a character’s wristwear comes laden with semiotic depth to reveal some hidden facet of their personality. For this article, Time+Tide hastily re-read every single book ever written – OK, we skimmed a couple – to unpack our selection of horological quotes. THE QUOTE: “He could not just wear a watch. It had to be a Rolex.” CASINO ROYALE by Ian Fleming (1953) Ian Fleming was as morbidly obsessed with brands as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. In his first 007 novel, Casino Royale, Bond drives a Bentley, drinks Taittinger champagne and pointedly wears a Rolex watch. Although the precise model of Bond’s watch is undetermined, it’s now commonly assumed to be a Rolex Explorer 1016. Not only did Fleming wear that watch himself, but in his later novel, Thunderball, Felix specifically asks Bond whether “he is still wearing that old wristwatch…with the big phosphorous numerals?”. At any rate, Fleming…
Right now, the dive watch market is more saturated than a saturation diver’s wetsuit. If you want a fit-for-purpose timepiece made to withstand the pressures and perils of H20, you are most definitely spoilt for choice. Of course, it’s understandable why watches that aren’t going to completely capitulate when coming into contact with water are so popular – it’s a very desirable feature. But it can be daunting trying to separate the good from the bad and, more importantly, trying to understand the gulf between the inexpensive and the very expensive. That last point is something that I think about a lot. And matters haven’t exactly been simplified since I started wearing this new Longines HydroConquest in Khaki Green. In fact, this watch has well and truly muddied the waters. Here is a timepiece with no less than 300 metres of water resistance, a self-winding movement, ceramic bezel, solid build quality, arresting presentation and it comes from one of the oldest and best watchmakers in the game … and it costs $2325 AUD. Normally with these types of stories, we like to bury the lead somewhat, keeping readers in suspense until the very end. But, in the case of this…
Editor’s note: There comes a point in every collector’s journey where they wish, even if only for a moment, that they had only one watch. That all of their learning, discussing, buying and selling in the world of horology could be focused into a single piece that they could wear every day for the rest of their life. Never again would they hesitate in the morning as they decide what to wear that day, and never again would they wonder where part of their collection was. For many, that watch could be the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 ref. 114300. The story in a second: This could well be the only watch you’ll ever need. There’s a concept in the world of watch enthusiasts that’s referred to as ‘only one watch’. For the majority of the population, this concept is better known as ‘normality’. But if you’re the sort of person who has a watch for work, one for the weekend as well as a dedicated timepiece for special occasions, there’s a good chance the thought of committing to just one will fill you with dread. How could you choose? Can you live without a chronograph? And do you go for…