Merry Christmas From Graham With a Dedicated Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art
Graham is not shy to create bold watches… If you know them already, you might be aware of the hyper-masculine and completely original Chronofighter watches, some large pilot-chronographs with a unique trigger device to activate the timing sessions. Even less common were the Vintage Nose Art Ltd. watches, showing on their dials some aviation-inspired pinups. And because the end of the year is coming, the brand has decided to bring something quite “à propos”, with the Graham Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art Merry Ltd…
Nothing gets a watch fan’s blood pumping quite like a new dive watch release from Seiko. And this year, our collective hearts were racing. With Seiko dropping not just a re-creation of the iconic 62MAS – the SLA017 – but also two modern reinterpretations, the black SPB051 and the blue SPB053. And that’s the key phrase here – modern reinterpretation. You see, unlike the SLA017, which was an almost exact duplicate of the 62MAS, these modern reimaginations are larger, sportier, and exactly that, reimagined for the wrist of today. I had the chance to get my hands on the SPB051, and I can say that it’s everything a Seiko dive watch should be. From above, the stainless-steel case looks the spitting image of the 62MAS, straight cut integrated lugs with a circular brushed finish and no crown guards. Only now it’s bigger, measuring 42.6mm across and 13.8mm thick. It’s less square too, with its utilitarian silhouette given some curves by sides that are sleek and rounded to smoothly flow and curve with your wrist. For the eyes, the brushed finish shifts to a solid line of Zaratsu polishing, which captivates and catches any and all reflections. Water resistance is a…
“Girls just want watches that look pretty.” So we are told. Of course, most of us want things that look good (and, ah, don’t men want good-looking stuff too?). But “just” pretty? Please. The watch industry has patronised us with that old cliché for too long. For many of us girls, a fashion watch is anathema – and a diamond bezel is not the be-all and end-all either. Bung a bit of glitter on a boring watch and it’s still a boring watch. Assuming that an interest in mechanical timepieces means that we’ll settle for tool watches with zero femininity completely misses the point, too. Rather than saying pretty OR technical, Hublot has done both. First, it chose its well-proven mechanical calibre, the self-winding HUB1110, for a series of Big Bang watches (thus safely ticking one of the ‘technical’ boxes). Then it harnessed the most advanced materials research into developing the “pretty” part – the case, dial and strap – transforming what are normally considered fashion fabrics into high-tech substances that answer all the demands of fine watchmaking. A very clever play on “fashion watch” perceptions, no? So, while the tech is there – and this materials technology is seriously…
