Pre-SIHH 2018 – Hands-On with the IWC Da Vinci Automatic Edition 150 Years (With new In-House Calibre)

As you’ve no doubt seen or heard already, IWC Schaffhausen is turning 150 next year and we’re told the Swiss watch manufacturer has some pretty major celebrations planned. These include the unveiling of a special Jubilee collection at SIHH 2018, comprising an astonishing 27 limited-edition models. Among them will be this beautifully refined IWC Da Vinci Automatic Edition 150 Years we’re looking at today.

8 years ago

ANNOUNCING: Seiko release stunning blue enamel dial Seiko Presage SPB069 ‘Moonlit Night’

The name of this watch gives much away about its romantic, dare we even say, poetic roots. Seiko do not usually name their watches. This makes them very difficult to tell your friends about. Unless, of course, you have a beautiful mind, and can rattle off Seiko references. Which describes no one in the Time+Tide team. So, long before we saw any images, when we heard the ‘SPB069’ was going to be named the ‘Moonlit Night’ our interest was piqued. It is inspired, the press release says, by the night sky and “Japan’s fascination with the moon”. It combines “mechanical watchmaking and Japanese craftsmanship in the form of enamel, expressed for the first time in a rich blue dial”. The blue enamel dial is the work of enamel craftsman Mitsuru Yokozawa and his team, who made the white enamel dials that caused us — in colloquial Australian slang — to go completely off ours when we discovered them on other Presage models. Enamel is an exacting art, and blue enamel is particularly difficult as the viscosity is much higher. The skill required to achieve evenness is even more demanding than usual. And due to the small surface area of a watch dial, and…

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8 years ago

ANNOUNCING: Seiko release stunning blue enamel dial Seiko Presage SPB069 ‘Moonlit Night’ and we have 20 for sale, from midnight AEST tonight

Tonight at midnight we will launch our shop and with it there will be an extremely limited allocation of a watch we’re all pretty struck by: the Seiko Presage SPB069 ‘Moonlit Night’, with a stunning blue enamel dial. What? Shop? Did he say shop? There’s no Time+Tide shop! More about this development tomorrow; this post is dedicated to the watch. Because there is, surprisingly – as the Japanese brand has a habit of leaving the editorialising to the media – quite a bit of detail and colour to report. Other key details, it is 40.5mm wide, has a sapphire crystal and is powered by a 6R15 movement. It comes on a blue alligator strap. The name gives much away about its romantic, dare we even say, poetic roots. Seiko do not usually name their watches. This makes them very difficult to tell your friends about. Unless, of course, you have a beautiful mind, and can rattle off Seiko references. Which describes no one in the Time+Tide team. So, long before we saw any images, when we heard the ‘SPB069’ was going to be named the ‘Moonlit Night’ our interest was piqued. Seiko have gone from one extreme to the other with this evocative timepiece.…

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8 years ago

Women’s Watch Wednesday – Hands-On with the Moritz Grossmann Tefnut Sleeping Beauty, Designed by Michael Koh

For an American watch lover and veteran journalist in the field, I have a particular affinity for German watch brand Moritz Grossmann. With roots dating back to 1854, the Glashütte-based brand was started by Moritz Grossmann, was one of those fine brands expropriated and all-but-lost during World War II, and was re-established in the Saxony region following the reunification of Germany just a short time ago by German watchmaker Christine Hutter. 

8 years ago

IN-DEPTH: Tudor’s Black Bay Steel is the real deal

The story in a second: When the going gets tough, wear a Black Bay Steel. Did you know that this year the Black Bay family is five years old? Well, it is, and the fundamental design isn’t showing any signs of flagging. Case in point is this watch, which represents the Black Bay stripped back to its essentials. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay Steel. The case There’s not too much to be said about the case of the Black Bay Steel that hasn’t already been said about every other Black Bay. It’s steel, it’s 41mm across and has those high, smooth sides that make the Black Bay such an easy watch to spot from under a cuff — though it must be said the big Tudor rose on the crown is a bit of a giveaway too. The real point of difference here is, as you’d expect, the bezel. The watch takes its name from the radially brushed steel bezel, and while in style and design it’s unchanged from other Black Bay bezels, this simple bezel gives the Black Bay Steel a different look and feel to other members of the Black Bay clan. To me it feels much more…

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8 years ago