Hands-On – Czapek Genève Quai des Bergues Guilloché
The name Czapek, once famed as a partner of what would become Patek Philippe, came back to the forefront of the scene late 2015 with the elegant and well-thought out Quai des Bergues. The watch was awarded the public prize at GPHG 2016, one of the most (if not the most) meaningful industry award ceremony, which is no small achievement. The collection reflects the Czapek ethics to propose finely crafted classics whose understated style offers a distinctive twist and a distinctive character.
By now it should come as no surprise that Longines is a master when it comes to heritage reissues. The company has a proven track record almost as long and distinguished as its actual archives. From the Legend Diver through to the COSD and the Heritage 1945, the Saint-Imier brand rarely puts a foot wrong when it comes to vintage themed pieces. Longines’ latest is the Avigation BigEye, a handsome 41mm brushed-steel chronograph that draws on the marque’s strong aviation links. The design is based on a historical pilot’s chronograph, similar in style to the Type XX watches made by a range of brands, including Breguet. As with all good pilot’s watches, legibility is key, and the BigEye’s spartan colour scheme and relatively plain design very much honours that promise, with bold hash marks, large Arabic numerals, and traditional stick hands. But the most interesting design feature is the oversized elapsed minutes counter, the ‘Big Eye’ that gives the watch its name. This 30-minute subdial is larger than the running seconds and elapsed-hour counter, to give it maximum presence. Some people may find this larger counter slightly off-putting, but I find that this variation, along with the different layouts on the subdials, keeps things…
Dutch design seems to be synonymous with eccentricities, oddities and a flair for the abstract. Characterised by typical and anomalous arrangements and a general nonconformist approach, “De Stijl” design tends to be polarising, to say the least. The term “De Stijl” literally translates to “the style”, and is also known as neoplasticism. Unless you’re up on your 20th-century design, you might not be too familiar with what this movement is or where it came from. So let me give you a quick rundown. De Stijl was founded in 1917, in the Dutch city of Leiden. It consisted of a broad sweep of practitioners — virtually anyone who had an artistic flair. Fine artists, sculptors, architects or a carpenters, all had their place. The movement largely focused on abstraction and universality, as well as functionality and a penchant for block-shaped imagery. The big name you might recognise is Piet Mondrian. Now on to the watch. Created in collaboration with Ace Jewellers, renowned watch and art lovers, and built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the De Stijl movement, this Nomos and Ace limited edition is an intriguing timepiece that subtly reflects the movement’s simplicity. Essentially a 38mm manually wound Orion, the…
By day she’s a watch buyer for a well-known American jeweller, by night she’s Batwom – no, wait – by night she’s @watchgirloffduty! Name: Zoë Abelson
Occupation: Watch buyer at Govberg Jewellers
Handle: @watchgirloffduty Followers: 3397 Location: Philadelphia, PA How do you unwind? After work I typically get some exercise in, cook dinner, and take a long bath. It’s a therapeutic process that helps me get some sleep after a mentally draining day. If I’m out and about, I’m exploring Philly by way of my stomach. Before starting a career in the crazy watch industry I worked in the crazy hospitality industry, so I love keeping current with the food scene and trying new restaurants. What’s your daily watch and why? Good question, but I don’t really have one. I have a pretty solid rotation between four of my watches. It depends on what I’m wearing and what the plan for the day is. If I had to pick one that sits on my wrist the most, it would be my vintage LeCoultre chronograph with a Valjoux 72 movement. Of my six watches, the ones that I wear the most are the vintage LeCoultre Chrono, a Rolex Datejust with a blue dial, a…
This week Andrew has taken you through the options that most people wanting a TAG Heuer Monaco have to ask themselves – do I choose the blue Calibre 12 or the blue Calibre 11? However, the choice of a Monaco hasn’t always been this simple, as the brand has made a range of special and limited-edition models over the years. Some of these you will know. For example, the Gulf Monaco series and the heritage Calibre 11 models, offered with a grey or silver dial. Today we’re going to show you something different, with three Monaco models that we know you don’t know. Each of these date back to the first Monaco series in the late 1990s, early 2000s. The Monaco was brought back to life by TAG Heuer in 1998 after more than 20 years out of production. That 1998 design still forms the base for today’s Monaco (although the case has grown by one millimetre). And for those of you who see a Hublot influence in today’s Carrera Heuer-01 range, you might be interested to know that the designer of the 1998 Monaco Re-edition was none other than Miodrag Mijatovic, known universally as Mijat. His other famous watch design? The Hublot Big…
