Watch Dandy

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. And on his wrist was an Omega Speedmaster. This moment ensured that the humble, manually wound chronograph was vaulted into the hallowed halls of history. But the Speedmaster story is about more than just that moonwatch. Here are five defining references of the iconic Speedy.  1957 – Omega Speedmaster — ref. 2915 — the Broad Arrow If we have to start somewhere, it might as well be at the beginning. Production of the Speedmaster began in 1957, and was conceived as a dedicated tool — for racers, engineers and the like. And so the reference 2915, the first Speedmaster. From a distance it bears all the classic hallmarks of the line. There’s a few tells though, the most obvious being the ‘Broad Arrow’ hands. The other obvious demarcating feature is the steel bezel (rather than aluminium inset). Beyond that point it starts getting really specific: text type, caseback type and all the detail that makes the Speedmaster such a rich field for dedicated collectors. If you’re looking for a modern equivalent, check out the Speedmaster 1957, a bi-compax update of the original.  1965 –…

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Editor’s note: Beyond being one of the greatest tennis players of our time, Novak Djokovic is a pretty great watch ambassador. He’s been with Seiko since 2014, and over the years the watch he’s most often seen wearing (and occasionally lending his name to a limited edition) is the Astron. So, after he beat Roger Federer to claim the Wimbledon men’s final in an epic match (four hours and 57 minutes!), it was no surprise to see him with an Astron on his wrist as he claimed the cup. Specifically, he was wearing the latest titanium-cased Seiko Astron 5X, the SSH003J, which we reviewed when it came out last year …  Most of the watches we talk about here at Time+Tide are mechanical — if there’s a battery involved, the watch has to be pretty special to get our attention. Well, Seiko’s Astron meets (and exceeds) the ‘pretty special’ criteria. The original Astron watch was released in 2012 (well, if you want to get technical, the original Astron was Seiko’s first quartz watch from 1969), and is significant as it was the world’s first GPS Solar watch, a particularly useful pairing of technology, which means that the watch can ‘talk’…

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Editor’s note: For some reason we can’t quite place (one small step might have something to do with it though), we’ve got the Speedmaster on our mind. And while this Omega Speedmaster Racing Master Chronometer we first looked at in 2017 isn’t particularly limited or hype-y, it’s still a super hot version of THE chronograph …  The case It’s a Speedmaster, so no real surprises with the case. It looks and feels much like every other Speedmaster, except for its contemporary dimensions: it clocks in larger than your regular Speedy, at a not insubstantial 44.25mm wide, but it wears well, and sits comfortably on the wrist, thanks to a very reasonable sub-15mm height. The case is mostly brushed, with the exception of that sinuous polished line that stretches from lug-tip to lug-tip, adding an air of elegance to an otherwise utilitarian case. The dial Speaking of elegance, this dial variation is by far the dandiest. The black we showed you earlier is an undeniable classic, and there’s a white version, but this sunburst grey number is the real winner in my books. And not just because the grey is so mutable in the light. No, what really sets this dial…

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