OPINION: To beater, or not to beater – what exactly makes a beater watch, that is the question
What can and can’t be dubbed a ‘Beater Watch’ remains a contentious issue among many. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to let your watch suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and shelter your beloved watch from harm. The ponderings of Hamlet seemed oddly fitting one morning as I awoke to a notification and a Rolex Forum’s link, where it seemed a comment I’d made in a previous story had stirred the pot on the topic of beater/daily wear watches. While it was interesting to see the contrasting replies to the story itself, what proved more fascinating was the distinctly different ways in which people defined the criteria of a beater watch in the first place. Case in point, the words of forum member ‘Burlington’ who stated the following: Big difference to me at least between a daily wearer and an actual beater watch, which will be treated roughly, bounced around, mis-thrown into gym bags, scraped and scratched and used for ANY task or circumstance where loss or catastrophic damage are of a high likelihood. I think we need to start by clearing the air on what we mean…
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If anyone was ever to charge me with a unreasonable love of extravagant, gem-set statement watches, the evidence would be easy to find, and damning (Your Honour, I would point to evidence here, here and here, the prosecutor might say). And if I were to continue using the courtroom metaphor, and was allowed to call a key witness in my defence, I’d be calling this watch. The case, a well-sized 42mm tonneau, is in sapphire, already an attention-seeker. Add to that the 54 baguette-cut stones (including sapphires, rubies, amethysts, topazes and tsavorites) in rainbow hues on the bezel and you’ve got a watch that owns any room it’s in. Subtle – no. Awesome – heck yes! Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Sapphire Rainbow Australian pricing and availability Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Sapphire Rainbow, limited to 50 pieces, $148,000.
If we’re completely honest, it’s hard to make quartz technology sexy. Which makes the achievement of Longines’ V.H.P. technology even more remarkable. Not only do these quartz Conquests look the part, with clean, slightly sporty style and some very nice dials, the movement ticking away inside has a host of features dedicated to improving accuracy — which, at +5/-5 seconds a year, is pretty hard to beat, outside of an atomic clock. The latest member of the family has just been unveiled in Rome — the Longines Conquest V.H.P. GMT Flash Setting. As you might expect, it adds a second time zone to the equation, but has a few tricks up its sleeve. First of all, you can use the crown to quickly switch which time zone is displayed on the ‘primary’ hours and minutes hands, meaning that if I was taking off from Melbourne, I’d show local Melbourne time on the main hands, and Rome time on the GMT hand. When I land, a quick press of the crown means that the main hands switch to Roman time, while Melbourne time is there on the GMT. But the handy tricks don’t stop there. The real star of the show…
In a clip produced by Vanity Fair to coincide with the release of Ozark Season 2 on Netflix, Jason Bateman, Laura Linney and Julia Garner explain Ozark ‘hillbilly’ slang. We’re sure you’ll agree that they all play second fiddle to the 1979 Rolex Daytona hanging casually from Bateman’s wrist throughout. It’s not the first time we’ve spotted it on Bateman (Felix caught him at the 89th Academy Awards in February of 2017), The story goes that he traded a Rolex Sea-Dweller and a Franck Muller for it (and one suspects a cartel amount of cash), and the outcome of the flip is that he’s clearly not being any kind of safe diva about wearing it all the time. Which is heartening, really. With a film and television career spanning nearly 40 years, Ozark is quite a different turn for Bateman, who stars as Marty Byrde, a Chicago Financial Planner who gets mixed up with a Mexican drug cartel and is forced to move to the Missouri Ozarks to launder money to keep his family alive. Part Breaking Bad and part Narcos, the series is dark and violent, quite different for the star who is best known for his comedic roles in films such as Horrible Bosses and The Break-Up and famously…
Recently we wrote a list of watch brand CEOs to follow on Instagram, which led to a series of other ideas around interesting ‘lists’ of collectors. Today, we’re looking at a list of five celebrity watch collectors you should be following on Instagram. And no, we’re not talking about rich celebs with cash to burn; we’re digging deeper to take a closer look at whether they’re actually into their watches. And no, we haven’t taken the easy option of calling out brand ambassadors, no matter how many times we’ve spotted them ‘off brand’ wearing competitors’ watches. Watch guys, this isn’t your usual list of celebrity watch collectors. It makes perfect sense to kick this list off with one of the biggest celebrity watch collectors, John Mayer. JM gets a special mention for his impressive collection, which he isn’t afraid to share with his followers. He’s got some views, and he isn’t afraid to share them! Kevin Hart @KevinHart4Real It would be reckless not to include comedian/actor Kevin Hart, who was recently spotted playing poker with @CelebWatchSpotter himself. The man loves his watches, and over the past few years we’ve seen him progress as a collector, to the point where he’s…
Editor’s note: There are certain designs in watchmaking that never fail to hit all the right notes. And a panda dial is one of those instances. I mean, there’s a reason why certain models with these exotic dials command such a huge premium at vintage watch auctions. When it comes to the latest Montblanc TimeWalker chronograph, however, it’s not just its creamy contrasting cappuccino dial that is sure to make hearts race. There’s also a solid stable of strap options, a ceramic bezel, and an impressive in-house column wheel chronograph movement. Earlier this year I had a chance to have a look at Montblanc’s pre-SIHH offerings in scenic Wyoming, including this smart new evolution of the TimeWalker, the TimeWalker Manufacture Chronograph. There are two big changes to this 43mm sports chronograph; let’s start with the most obvious first. The dial. Instead of the black or silver tones of the existing TimeWalker chronos, this time we get some added vintage style, in the form of the ever-popular ‘panda’ dial (so named because the black on white layout looks a little like the endangered bear). The matt dial finish has a slight creamy look, in line with the retro vibe that’s going on…