With the Polaris collection, Jaeger-LeCoultre found a possible solution to attract a younger audience. In the past, the Master Compressor collection was introduced to do that, without much success.The new Polaris collection is inspired by their 1968 Memovox Polaris, as we explained in this article. We already reviewed the limited edition Polaris Memovox? (1000 pieces only), and now it is time to get hands-on with the ‘regular collection Polaris Chronograph watch. There are a number of variations, but we asked for the one we liked best, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph on a brown calf leather strap.Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris ChronographI was looking forward to giving this Polaris...

We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chronomatic. The watch portals and mostly watch enthusiasts such as Jeffrey Stein (@on_the_dash) have already summed up everything factual about the Caliber 11, its development, its originality and break-through meaning. So, I think we can allow ourselves to be a bit sentimental now, right?Breitling is my OmegaYou know that RJ sold a?car to get his first Speedmaster? Well, the time I?wanted my first Breitling I?didnt do that. Not that I?didnt want to, but I?didnt have a car or anything else I could sell for that matter. It was in 2002. I?came to the capital city of Slovakia as an 18-year-old student with just enough money to cover the rent for a...

In what has become an increasingly divided world, its difficult to find topics of discussion where almost all sides can come together in unanimous agreement.One such example of harmony, though, relates to opinion on the run of watches that Breitling created with Bentley since the two began partnering way back in 2003 (thats the longest running partnership between a watch brand and an automotive marque as an FYI).? If you were wondering about the flavor of said opinion, it was, in a word, awful.? The Bentley by Breitling watches were large, garish, and contained little of the elegance and prestige that the four-wheeled Bentleys so proudly exuded.? Well, today, in honor of Bentleys hundredth y...

If you had to choose one watch complication that you cannot live without what would that be? Many would probably say; it has to be a chronograph.But how often do we time anything with them anymore? Not too often, I guess. Others might say; it needs to have a date. Yet, we can find out what day it is these days pretty easily. Still, complications, whether they are as simple as a date or complex like a perpetual calendar, influence our decision when buying a watch. More often than not, they are the single most important thing to consider when making a purchase decision; I wanted a flyback chronograph, so I bought XYZ watch. This was more or less my thought process when I went for the Angelus D...

A little while ago, we received a long email from our reader James. In his email, he admits he was a bit late to the game, but at least he did his homework and went through a lot of our Speedy Tuesday articles.Now, he has a question. About which Speedmaster to buy for himself to celebrate not only his first wedding anniversary but also the birth of his first child. But before he gets to his question, he first shared a bit of background with us.Speedmaster Mark IVJames: I was very touched by Robert-Jan s story (Why I Love Omega So Much) from July 25th, 2018 – I felt very similar. My grandfather always wore an Omega Speedmaster, which I really liked. I remember it as if it was yesterday:...

According to my dictionary the meaning of Jumbo is; noun a very large person or thing, adjective very large. There are a number of jumbos out there.To start with the Boeing 747, a wide-body passenger aircraft bears this nickname. If you ever flew over the Atlantic with Lufthansa, KLM or British Airways you probably had the pleasure of travelling in one. It is an intimidatingly large plane that often makes me wonder why have I not paid more attention to physics in high school. I probably would have a glimpse of understanding how can that monstrosity actually go up and stay there. Then you have the jumbotron. A large screen you can usually find in sports arenas-or in Las Vegas. You know, the o...

Despite the fact that Ive gone digital for the bulk of my reading materials (primarily to reduce the amount of bulk in my life), a good watch book is something that will always have a place on my shelf.? Time For a Change: Discovering Vintage Enicar, looks like it will be the kind of tome that will easily earn its place next to some of all-time watch-related favorites.? I had the chance to chat with the author and creator of this project, Martijn van der Ven (@vandervenus on Instagram), and his dedication to documenting his favorite brand goes well beyond the norm.? In fact, after just a short few sentences, I decided to whip out my credit card and back his project, which debuted yesterday o...

In a recent installment of This Week in Watches, we mentioned that Jeff Stein C noted Heuer collector and creator of On the Dash and Fred Mandelbaum C noted Breitling collector would be hosting a bit of a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Chronomatic movement.? Their respective Instagram accounts (@on_the_dash and @watchfred)? will serve as ground zero for the events, but we have a feeling that some others will get in on the act.? As a reminder, begin using the #chronomatic50 hashtag starting on March 3rd through the 10th to participate.? First, though, we thought wed provide a little background on the famous movement and I put together a brief Top 10 Chronomatic list of my favorit...

If the name sounds familiar to you, it is no coincidence. There already was a Longines Heritage Military before but in the current collection, there s only this one today and we review it today for you.RAFThe Longines Heritage Military takes inspiration from the pilots watches used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II. You might have seen very similar models from Omega, most recently in the movie Dunkirk C as Tom Hardys character, an RAF pilot, is wearing one. Though that watch had a large steel bezel it is essentially the same design. Longines produced the same watches with and without the steel 60-second bezel just like Omega. They were special orders from the British Ministr...

Minase is the name of a small village in Akita Prefecture, some 450 km north of Tokyo.? The brand Minase has been in operation since 2005, and proudly bears the same name. Minase was founded by Kyowa, a renowned tool manufacturer that has been in business since 1963, specializing in step drills and also a supplier of high-end watch components. As one of the smallest watch manufactures in Japan, Minase relies on highly refined technical processes in their production.This video is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings ??But Minase is more than just an automated production line.? Every watch has passed through the hands of highly trained artisans, wat...

One of the most puzzling watches in my collection. I always learn something new about this model as I research it, trying to put all the bits together. Yet the full story remains unclear. Therefore, this article will be slightly different than my other reviews on vintage pieces.Even after devoting exponentially more time to digging out information on this Seiko 7016 there is still a lot Im missing. So, I decided to publish the ongoing results of my findings. I hope there are some other collectors that might shed more light on this intriguing model. Feel free to correct or add any information you have on it.Seiko 7016 Flyback ChronographSeiko 7016A in time perspectiveLets tune in on the histo...

One of the first things that you learn from watch magazines, blogs and collectors is that quartz watches are off limit. They lack soul, they are cheap or at least cheapen the watch and basically can t be taken seriously when you re into collecting watches.Whenever someone asks what my profession is, I tell him or her that I write about watches. Mechanical watches. As this makes the explanation that I am only writing about serious watches redundant. But it is of course not the truth, there s more to this than the movement of a watch. Gerard wrote about his love for G-Shocks a number of times, including in one of the recent You Asked Us features. But what about more expensive watches that have...

Even now, almost two decades since the Swatch Group announced their intention to cease supplying their rivals with ETA calibres, it seems the worlds most famous movement manufacturer is still the number one choice for most small brands.But if we dig beneath the surface we find that there are plenty of independent maisons to choose from. The bulk of which were founded or massively expanded in the wake of the Swatch Groups expected departure from the market.?Somewhat surprisingly, however, there are a few that have been surviving and thriving for a very long time indeed.Schwarz EtienneOne such manufacturer is Schwarz Etienne. A one-stop-shop for calibre creation, SE has been beavering away in ...

Artisans de Geneve introduce the Tribute to 6240 Tropical, an exclusive and innovative homage to the legendary Daytona 6240 model that acquired over time a very special and sought after tropical patina. An edition limited to 15 pieces, entirely made upon request.A unique tropical dialIt took Artisans de Geneve several years to achieve a natural oxidation process that would lead to a uniform amber patina. Their skilled craftsmen will carefully prepare each dial and send them to the Bahamas, to mature under the tropical climate. The length of this ageing process will depend on the color of the patina that is expected: Artisans de Geneve offers the opportunity to choose between two delays/tone...

rOmega has released Apollo XI editions of the Speedmaster since 1969. The first was the famous gold Speedmaster Professional with a burgundy bezel, a massive gold dial with onyx markers, and a gold bracelet. Only 1,014 of these watches were produced. Of them, a number were presented to the Apollo astronauts, President Nixon, and a few more important people who played a role in NASA s space program.Again in 1980, Omega introduced a gold Speedmaster Professional Apollo XI. There were 320 numbered pieces in total, 20 of which were white gold. However, you could say that Omega made these Apollo XI limited editions a recurring event starting in 1989. That year marked the 20th anniversary of the M...

This year marks many anniversaries. For instance: 75 years ago, D-Day happened in Normandy, France. That turned the fate of the Second World War for the better and resulted in liberating Paris soon afterwards (have you read our D-Day related watch review of Tockr?).In August, the rock and roll world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock Festival. It was a week of free love and great music. Lastly, something more watch related, July 21 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing. We Speedy Tuesday guys know this of course, but Omega is not the only watch manufacturer that prepares for the occasion. During SIHH 2019, RJ (formerly known as Romain Jerome) introduc...

I m not only a fan of the outside of a watch, but the inside and all its moving parts are what makes every watch tick. Fascinated by the countless innovations and improvements for watch movements, I picked out one. The improvement of having more power reserve and the distribution by a double barrel in this case. Double barrel movements feature more than one mainspring and barrel. This way the movement has an increased power reserve and sometimes more efficient distribution. The actual power reserve depends on several things. For example:The complications of the movement (e.g. chronograph).Whether the double barrels are linked in parallel or paired?serially.Multiple or a single gear train (mo...

Swatch did not only save the entire watch industry in the 1980s, but it also played a key role in my youth and might be to blame that I am working full-time with watches today.I remember (and still have) my first Swatch watch (1991!) and many were to come. And I still purchase a Swatch once in a while, especially when theres some kind of special edition (both Mickey Mouse editions were my last ones) or when theres a country or city-specific edition that I see during a visit, consider the deal one. I also remember quite vividly that I added a Swatch Automatic watch to my humble collection of watches. I actually think it was my first automatic watch anyway.Swatch FlymagicA few years ago, when ...

It was during Baselworld 2018 that Robert-Jan and myself met with Jacob Hatzidimitriou. Jacob had contacted us and would like to show us his Ianos Avyssos?diver s watch that he intended to introduce. Something which is asked us more often and, because the majority of these intentions have to be addressed as ‘well-meant but not pertinent necessary , which we did not have very high expectations of.These expectations, however, changed immediately after Jacob handed us a prototype of his watch.The Ianos Avyssos diver s watch and its relation to Symian sponge divers finding the Antikythera mechanismAnd that was just the watch. With a family heritage in sponge diving, to Jacob, it s very imp...

Writing that vintage Seiko is very popular is slightly understated. It is huge. It is the brand that allows you to enjoy vintage references (that are even historically relevant) for a few hundred Euro or Dollars to highly sought-after vintage (Grand) Seiko references that will set you back a few thousand Euros or Dollars.Ever since Mike Stockton is writing for Fratello, I ve noticed this in my own collection of watches. The number of (vintage) Seiko watches increased rapidly. It is highly contagious and it will not break your bank.One of the concerns though, that is also shared by our own Fratello watchmaker Paul (who is currently occupied with customizing the trunk of his Maserati, with spe...