What Sealed The Deal – Travis Mahoney's Omega Speedmaster Mark II 'Rio 2016'
Representing your country at the Olympic Games is the dream of just about every kid who grows up doing a sport, especially Australian kids and swimming. The likes of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Michael Klim did wonders to boost the popularity of the sport in the Land Down Under, producing a fresh crop of talented young swimmers, including Travis Mahoney. Travis represented Australia at the Rio Olympics where he competed in the 400m Individual Medley, and commemorated his achievement with the acquisition of an Omega Speedmaster Mark II ‘Rio 2016’. When did you first see/hear about it? I actually first heard about this watch from fellow Dolphins team member, dead-set legend and avid watch enthusiast Matt Abood. We had been hanging out at our last pre-competition camp in Brisbane before our journey to the Olympics began. Matt showed me a picture of the design and I immediately fell in love with the smooth brushed steel, unique classic design and obvious connection to the Olympics. Matt told me he was going to get his when he returned from Brazil. I was extremely jealous of Matt but I couldn’t wait for him to get it so I could see it with…
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Editor’s note: Some watches you can’t get out of your head, and the fun and friendly TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 Chronograph from 2018 is one such watch. We can’t get over those pops of colour! The story in a second: Classic Carrera. More colour. If you spend more than a few minutes in the sometimes crazy world of watches, it’s easy to lose perspective. You can very quickly get caught up in the hullabaloo of new this, in-house that, and proprietary the other. But while all that stuff is cool and sometimes really matters, at the end of the day it’s a watch on your wrist with a job to do. And that job is telling the time and looking good. I think this particular model excels at this job, which is why I chose it as one of my 10 favourite Baselworld 2018 releases. I made that decision in the thick of the fair, but you know what, after a few months reflection, I think it holds up. The dial The dial is where the party is at. The matt mid-blue matches perfectly with the fixed ceramic tachy bezel (love the choice to use ceramic BTW), and is…
If you’ve been paying attention to the wonderful world of watches for more than 15 minutes, you’ll have worked out that high-tech materials, often with fancy proprietary names, are a big deal. Isographs, Aeronith, Sedna gold, unobtanium and all the rest. This sort of fancy nomenclature is stock-in-trade of Swiss marketing departments, but it’s also important stuff. Innovations like improved alloys, accessible ceramic and silicon technology have had a massive impact on the science of watchmaking, and the sort of watches that are made over the last few decades. The real exciting thing is that this isn’t a static field, and material science moves ever forward. To find out the current state of play, check out this informative piece from WorldTempus. 
Editor’s note: Few brands play their heritage cards as strongly as Longines. Certainly it helps that the brand has more heritage than most to work with, so much so that we’re practically spoiled for choice. Here are Cameron’s six top picks from the Longines Heritage lineup … Right now in the world of watchmaking, there’s a distinctly warm and fuzzy feeling of nostalgia in the air. A sentiment that is owed in no small part to Longines, who more than 10 years ago pioneered the popular heritage reissue trend we all know and love today. With a history that stretches back over the better part of the last two centuries, the winged-hourglass brand has a vast, and rather historically important, back catalogue to choose from. And with plenty to inspire the Saint-Imier watchmaker, the Heritage collection is full of our favourites. Longines Heritage 1945 As part of the Watercolour Watch project, back in 2015 renowned artist Sunflowerman actually illustrated the inspiration for the 1945. Two years later and Longines brought his art to life, delivering its salmony gold tones and wonderfully blued hands to wrists around the world. RRP $2340 Longines Legend Diver The legend that started it all. Introduced…
This is not an under-the-radar watch. So if you’re looking for an unassuming dress watch, scroll on. But if you like your timekeeping served with a bit (OK, a lot) of bling, this might be up your alley. But be warned: the price — much like the weight in stones — is hefty. Want to see what it looks like on the wrist? Make sure you check out Andrew’s video with it here. So, what are we talking here? Well, there’s a tourbillon. Normally that little cage — here shaped like the Franck Muller logo — would be the star of the show, but on this piece, it plays second fiddle. First violin is definitely occupied by the stones — there are rubies, 21 on the dial (2.42 carats), surrounding the tourbillon cage. There’s another 70-odd rubies on the bracelet. And then there are diamonds. Lots of diamonds. We’re talking about 474 stones in total, all ranging from D to F, and VVS in clarity. There are 122 stones on the dial, 40 on the bezel, 44 on the case and 268 on the bracelet. The baguette-cut stones on the dial are particularly impressive, invisibly set and arranged radially. Very, very nice indeed.…