Omega Speedmaster Vs. Breitling Navitimer B02 Cosmonaute
Welcome back to Sunday Morning Showdown. This week, we follow up last week’s titanium face-off with a battle between two Swiss chronographs. But these are not just any chronographs. Both of these watches have a claim to firsts in outer space. You’ve read it in the title already, but today’s showdown will be between the Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch and the Breitling Navitimer B02 Cosmonaute. Respectively, these modern watches are descendants of the first watch worn on the Moon and the first Swiss watch worn in space. But which one of these two cosmic chronographs will take the win? As always, the choice is yours.Now, the Speedmaster is a house favorite here at Fr...
Five Speedy Alternatives To The Current Speedmaster Professional
It has not escaped your attention that the retail price for a new Omega Speedmaster Professional has recently increased. Omega drastically changed many things, not only under the hood (caliber 3861) but also with different exterior parts than before. A new case, dial, hands, and bracelet were been designed for the Moonwatch, making it aesthetically truer to the 1960s models. On top of that, the Speedmaster Professional is certified by METAS as a Master Chronometer to ensure the watch is accurate, antimagnetic, and water resistant.Current Moonwatch pricesHowever, that still doesn't take away the fact that the new Omega Speedmaster Professional might now be further away from you purchasing it ...
Armin Strom's Gravity Equal Force P.03 Night Ops For Collective
Our friends at Collective Horology are no strangers to awesome collab releases. The team seems to possess the diplomatic skills required to push some of the greatest watchmakers to do things outside of their usual scope. In the case of Armin Strom, a brand that doesn't shy away from combining tradition with radical new ideas anyway, that could only result in something cool.In fact, it already has. Today's release is a fresh take on an earlier collaboration between the two. We saw Armin Strom and Collective present the Gravity Equal Force P.03 in late 2022. It was a stealthy, tactical-looking version of the Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force limited to 30 pieces. Today, we get a new batch of 30,...
New: 38mm Oris Divers Sixty-Five Calibre 400 In Green
In February of 2022, Oris and Chronos, WatchTime's sister publication, released a limited-edition watch together. The 38mm stainless steel Divers Sixty-Five Calibre 400 had a blue vignette dial. It was the first time the Divers Sixty-Five became available with the new movement in a 38mm case. But as there were only 200 made, it was quite hard to get one. Now Oris is bringing a new 38mm Divers Sixty-Five with its Calibre 400 into the regular collection. The sunburst texture and vignette on the dial are similar to the Chronos limited edition, but now it’s green. Let’s take a look.I once saw the Divers Sixty-Five Chronos edition on display in an Oris boutique, and it looked very att...
Collecting Watches: Will We Ever Stop?
This week, Fratello On Air returns with an episode about collecting watches and whether we’ll ever stop. It’s a good question that we lightly debate because we feel similarly. The watch world is almost endless, providing us with nearly infinite opportunities to learn and enjoy....
Three New Colorways For Hamilton's Khaki Field Mechanical
One of Hamilton’s most popular series of watches is, without a doubt, the Khaki Field Mechanical. This range of traditional military-inspired field watches is probably the first that many watch enthusiasts will think of when hearing the name Hamilton. I am one of them as well, and I love the Khaki Field Mechanical series. Multiple variants speak to me, which makes picking a favorite hard. That choice became even harder with the introduction of three new colorways for the 38mm Khaki Field Mechanical.It’s been a while since we focused on the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical series. In late 2021, Nacho wrote about the 42mm versions, and he reviewed the 38mm bronze version a few month...
Ebel 1911 BTR Chronograph: Interesting But Rarely Seen
When I just started out liking and looking at (serious) mechanical watches, Ebel was one of the brands that I really liked. Especially their chronograph with Zenith El Primero movement was particularly interesting, easy to recognize as these models have a snap-on case back. Over the years, the movements changed (from Zenith to Ebel’s in-house caliber 137) but the characteristic case shape with the 5 screws and nice satin finish stayed. Although I wouldn’t mind having the Ebel chronograph with El Primero movement (Ebel caliber 134 based on Zenith’s caliber 400) – actually the same one as Don Johnson was wearing in Miami Vice – the new 1911 BTR Chronograph models ...
Calibre de Cartier A Review
About a week ago, I was able to test drive a Calibre de Cartier. Having seen it during the SAHH in Amsterdam in 2010, I was quite impressed by its specifications and masculine look, but didn’t have the opportunity to try it ever since.Cartier was never that much on my radar, until I met Geo who runs the?Troisanneaux website and moderates the Cartier forum of Revo-Online. I’ve learned that they are pretty good at watch making (understatement) and with their recently introduced Calibre de Cartier, they are in the same (price) league as the other big brands with in-house movements (Panerai, , IWC, Omega).Anyway, I’ve tried the Calibre de Cartier and the results can be read at ...
Photoessay: The Maitres du Temps Chapter Three
Disclaimer: The watch photographed was an early production prototype. I’m told there will be a number of changes to the final version, they’re also looking into the possibility of additional/ alternate dials…The Maitres du Temps Chapter Three is an interesting piece because it carries clear DNA from its creator – Kari Voutilainen (the dial) – whilst at the same time retaining the brand’s own DNA (the rollers). It’s a substantial but not oversized watch at about 42mm in diameter; contained inside are time functions, small seconds, date, synodic moon phase indication, day/night indicator and second time zone display. The latter two functions are hidden...
A NASA Engineer's Vintage Speedmaster Professional
Vintage SpeedmasterIt’s Speedy Tuesday! When you buy a vintage Speedmaster watch, one of the thoughts that might occur is that you wonder what kind of life the watch had before you bought it. Who bought it in the first place? Why did this person picked this watch? Where has the watch been? This of course, goes for the watches that doesn’t come with ‘provenance’ or are not inherited. Although even then it is still interesting to ponder about these things.Today’s Speedmaster in our weekly Speedy Tuesday topic is one that has seen things that we can only dream about. Watch enthusiast Guido Maniscalco bought this vintage?Speedmaster Professional 105.012 from the wid...
Ressence Type 1 and Type 3 Hands-On Review
Ressence Type 1 And Type 3One of the new kids on the block that we definitely wanted to see during Baselworld was Ressence. We already mentioned them in our watchtime.com Top 5 watches from Baselworld' article. This young brand was founded in 2009 by Benoit Mintiens. When you look at his biography you could be surprised that an industrial designer goes watchmaker, or not. While it's not uncommon to see new brands popping up, usually they don't change the basics of watchmaking. Something Ressence on the other hand has done with the collection of watches that they produce.On the Ressence?website the chosen name and logo are explained. The name Ressence is a portmanteau of the words renaissance...
Spin-R watch winder
Recently we found a new winder, the Spin-R, on our desk to give our watch a spin. We’ve covered?a hand full of?watch winders over the past years.?Just search for ‘winder‘ on our site and you should be able to find our previous reviews on watch winders for those interested.After unboxing the new Spin-R winder we are looking at a?white box shaped?winder measuring (LxWxH) 16 x 12,5 x 15 centimetres. ?Most single watch winder have a similar look in this price range. Either round or box shaped, with or without a door or cover to protect your watch against dust. So in that perspective it looks like just another winder until you take closer look.First look after unboxing the Spin-...
Hands-On Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze Blue Review
Early May, Tudor and retailer Bucherer unveiled the Heritage Black Bay Bronze Blue watch. This watch is part of Bucherer’s Blue Editions, a collaboration between Bucherer and a number of watch manufacturers. Only available at Bucherer Boutiques, but we were able to get one for a few weeks to see how it wears. Without further ado, our hands-on Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze Blue review.Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze BlueAccording to Bucherer, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze Blue is a perfect fit for their Blue Editions collection as Tudor has been a long time user of this color (ever since their 1969 Submariner 7021). We wrote about these vintage Tudor Submariners before (click he...
The Manhattan 40, a new elegant and premium watch by MAEN Watches
Dutch-Swedish watch brand MAEN has released their second model on Kickstarter and the campaign was fully funded in a little over a week. With only a few days left, it might be worthwhile to check out the different options that are still available against a reduced Kickstarter price!The design style of MAEN is to bring contrasting styles together in their timepieces and the Manhattan 40 is no exception. Inspired by Manhattan, the design is a mix of bold and understated, of classic and contemporary. The watch features a flat bezel (available in polished or brushed finish), prominent faceted dauphine hands, polished indicators and a beautiful circular brushed matt dial. True to form, MAEN (old-...
Speedy Tuesday How The Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Paved The Way For Speedy Speculators
In 2015, the Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award watch was introducing during BaselWorld. A watch that sold out in one day at the show, to Omega's network of dealers and boutiques. This watch commemorated the 1970 Apollo 13 mission where the Speedmaster played a very important role in the safe return of astronauts Swigert, Lovell and Haise. The full story can be read here, and we also included it in our Speedy Tuesday magazine that came out last year.Omega Speedmaster Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award boxSpeedmaster Silver Snoopy AwardOffered for $27950USDOmega produced 1970 pieces of this watch, featuring a white dial with Charles Schulz' beagle on the 9 o'clock subdial and the text Failure is not ...
A Military Monopusher From Vertex: Meet the MP45
Just recently, Sky wrote about her favourite of the Dirty Dozen: The Vertex. Of course, the Vertex that was part of the Dirty Dozen resulted in the M100. But what about the Vertex MP45?The Vertex MP45 is a (military) monopusher that has been based on a Vertex watch from 1945. At the time, Vertex was commissioned to make an ordnance timing watch. Together with Lemania, they worked on such a piece. It never was delivered to the British MoD though. Due to import restrictions, they couldn’t create the monopusher they had developed. Instead, they shifted their focus from military watches to the civilian market. World War II had ended and with that, it made no sense for Vertex to put a lot o...
Wheels and Waves 2019
A watch that celebrates the lifestyle of motorcycling, surfing, and skateboarding. We think it is probably the first time that a watch commemorates a lifestyle event that is about these activities. Meet the Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Wheels and Waves Limited Edition.Last week in Biarritz, where the Wheels and Waves festival took place for the 8th consecutive time, Breitling presented their Premier B01 chronograph watch in 42mm. Breitling is one of the main sponsors of this event (others being BMW, Honda, Royal Enfield, Moto Guzzi, Husqvarna, Triumph etc.) and they make it possible for those who love motorcycles, surfing and skateboarding, to celebrate five days of activities around...
Pre-Owned Picks 3 Big Block Chronographs From Tudor
This week in Pre-owned Picks, I am looking at the forgotten Big Block chronograph from Tudor. The term Big Block was coined by collectors in reference to the case height. The reason for the thicker case? This was Tudor's first line of automatic chronographs. Most interestingly, these came out twelve years before placed the modified Zenith El Primero movement in the 1988 Daytona.Before the Oyster Date, the Chrono Time was launched in 1976. Tudor's line-up consisted of twin-register chronographs with manually-wound movements. The advent of the automatic chronograph in 1969 sent shockwaves through many watch brands in the 1970s. Heuer, Seiko, Breitling, Buren, Hamilton, and of course Zenith ha...
RJ Goes Hands-On With The Grand Seiko SBGJ239 GMT Watch
Unfortunately, there was no Grand Seiko event this year. Normally, these annual get-togethers provide the perfect backdrop for new releases to first see the light of day. Instead, the Grand Seiko watches came to us. There is plenty to come over the course of the year (some of the novelties are still embargoed, of course). What I can say, however, having had the benefit of seeing what remains behind the curtain, is that the Grand Seiko SBGJ239 watch is absolutely one of my personal favorite 2020 releases.A green dialed GMT on a leather strap? Color me interested. It sounds amazing on paper, but it sounds even more unusual when we consider this watch’s context. This watch sits within the...
You Asked Us: Will Watches Replace Phones?
I’m sure we’ve all done it. Instinctively reaching for your cell/mobile phone when you want to check or confirm the time is becoming commonplace. But perhaps we are living through a transition period that might see time’s most trusted teller return to the wrist after all. But maybe not in the way we’d like…On the surface, this question seems a bit odd. It seems a bit backward. We’re more than used to being asked whether smartwatches will replace mechanical watches, but being asked if watches will replace phones? That’s a much newer suggestion that would have sounded crazily topsy-turvy a few years back.Cellphones are everywhere. They have been for ye...