Watch Dandy

Editor’s note: Midway through last year, Justin did an excellent wrap of ‘value’ pieces, asking a range of industry leaders for their (very subjective) takes on the best value pieces RN. Nearly 12 months on, do you think these picks still hold up? And I wonder what the 2019 version would include … Anyone with an eye on horological news has seen their fair share of “Value Propositions” and other notes and recommendations about watches delivering varying shades of bang for your buck. Hell, we know we’ve made our own recommendations as we’ve seen fit over the years. That said, this isn’t often the kind of topic that reflects outwards — until now. I know what criteria I look for in a watch when it comes to value, but with different priorities and interests come different results, so I reached out to a network of contacts in varying facets of the industry to see what interesting answers would surface. To keep things interesting, the doors were left open to both modern and vintage watches, leading to some unique and sometimes surprising answers from our impromptu panel. The question was simple: What watches out there (vintage or modern) do you think…

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Editor’s note: Rainbow bezelled watches are certainly enjoying their time in the sun at the moment – for years they’ve been seen as a women’s watch, or a left-field, quirky guys choice. But these days they’re increasingly accepted as a “serious” (in 10-foot tall air quotes) choice. Certainly, this Hublot from a few years back manages to blend serious wth playful very well indeed … The Hublot booth at Baselworld is a busy place, a multi-level monolith that’s more akin to a mini city than a trade show stand. We spent a few hours there, taking photos, shooting video and generally getting acquainted with the new collection. We had the door of our little room open, and we could hear the constant, polite hubbub that, in a lot of ways, defines Basel. One French phrase made its way repeatedly to our ears: ‘La Rainbow’. Curiosity got the better of us and we asked to see this rainbow everyone was talking about. A few minutes later, a covered tray appeared in the room, and La Rainbow was unveiled. The Big Bang Unico Sapphire Rainbow, to give this piece its proper name, is one heck of a watch. Like the rest of Hublot’s sapphire-cased…

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Editor’s note: It’s a big year for space-themed watches, what with the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing. And of course that means it’s a big year for Omega (who have already announced this solid gold stunner). But it’s worth noting that Omega don’t have a monopoly on that whole space thing. Here are some other out-of-this-world options … I’ve been a little spacey recently — and not just because Andrew has been reliving the glory of holding Gene Cernan’s Speedmaster, and First Man is on our must-watch list. On top of that, I’ve recently re-watched the excellent Hidden Figures and cracked the spine on Andy Weir’s The Martian, which probably means I’m part of the wider #marsorbust zeitgeist. After all, it’s an exciting time to be interested in space, as it’s a space that’s becoming increasingly global and democratised. And of course, for Time+Tide, more space means more space watches — which is something we can get behind. So, to celebrate, we’ve put together four space-proven watches that aren’t the iconic Speedy … Seiko 6139-6002 ‘Pogue’ The Pogue takes its name from Colonel William Pogue, who wore a Seiko 6139 Chronograph for 84 days on 1973’s Skylab 4 mission. Pogue…

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