Hands-On Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Valentine Day 2023
Valentine's Day is a marketing opportunity for many watch brands and the perfect occasion to launch special editions. Blancpain has been producing Valentine's Day models for more than two decades, with watches decked out in diamonds and red accents, like these Villeret or Ladybird models. This year, Blancpain turns to another collection to celebrate the most romantic day of the year. Marking a first for the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe collection, Blancpain has singled out a 38mm diver for a romantic makeover with a prevalence of white and pink tones and a red heart marking the seconds.BathyscapheThe Bathyscaphe of 1956 is the civilian offspring of Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms, the watch that was adopted by military diving corps and regarded as the blueprint for modern dive watches. Named after August Piccard's deep-water diving vessel, Blancpain added a date complication to make it more practical for daily wear. Although initially designed for separate clientele, the two lines eventually me

Omega Seamaster Olympic Games Gold Collection (Specs & Price)
Since 1932, Omega has been the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, a role the brand will be playing until at least 2032 (even if we don’t know yet where the Games will be located). Easy to count… The Biel-based brand will be present at the Olympics for a full 100 years. To celebrate this centennial legacy, Omega presents a new podium of watches known as the Seamaster Olympic Games Gold Collection, a trilogy of elegant, vintage-inspired timepieces?representing the three winning medals presented to athletes at the Olympic Games.The?Omega Seamaster Olympic Games Gold Collection is closer in spirit to a limited edition watch, like the one we introduced you to a few months ago, the?Seamaster Edizione Venezia. Reasonably sized, elegantly shaped, with a historically relevant design, this attractive Italian edition was an inspiration for the new?Olympic Games Gold Collection – reinterpreted with interesting details and updates. Ad - Scroll to continue with ar

First Look: ZRC Ressurects Its 1960s Securicode Dive Watch
ZRC (Zuccolo Rochet & Cie) isn't a household name in the dive community like , Doxa, Blancpain or Omega (or even Seiko, if we cross a few time zones), but it certainly has a place in history. Responding to the French Navy's request for deep dive watches in 1958, the brand developed the S1 diver for testing in 1959. This became ZRC's first watch after approval, the Grands Fonds 300 (ZRC focused on bracelets and straps prior). The Securicode followed in 1965 and won the top prize at the 11th Inventors' Exhibition in Brussels with its unique way of providing advanced immersion times at various depths with a central dial calculator. Later editions were also made using more traditional dials. To celebrate its 120th anniversary, ZRC has rebooted the Securicode name with three dive watch?models faithful to the original S1 aesthetic.?By the mid-1960s, the Grands Fonds had its crown positioned at 6 o'clock that just slipped under a cutout in the bracelet so it couldn't be worn without the

Seiko Prospex Automatic Diver Padi Samurai SRPB99J1 - Review (Specs & Price)
Back in 2017, Seiko treated us to a nice surprise by reintroducing one of its most iconic watches: the Samurai. Praised by many enthusiasts, tested and certified as a reliable dive watch, updated for 2017 with slight evolutions and new colours, there was not much to complain about… Except maybe for the lack of a PADI edition. Well, the brand has come through for fans and the “warrior” can now be ordered in the super-cool blue and red combination dear to PADI editions. Meet the?Seiko Prospex Automatic Diver “PADI Samurai” SRPB99J1.Author’s note: the Seiko SRPB99J1 in the article is my personal watch, purchased a few days ago. I deliberately chose to wear it on a NATO strap instead of the steel bracelet delivered with the watch. I’ll explain why later, but for the record, this?“PADI Samurai” SRPB99J1 is normally delivered with a bracelet. Ad - Scroll to continue with article

SIHH 2014: Introducing the Vacheron Constantin Malte Small Seconds and Malte Tourbillon Openworked - Monochrome Watches
Nearly as old as the art of horology itself, Vacheron Constantin cemented its position as the father of the barrel-shaped watches known as tonneau cases, an iconographic design feature that has stood the test of time for over a century and continues to be a sign of prestige. The “tonneau” Malte collection is without question one of Vacheron’s gifts to the horological industry.With the hallmark of the Geneva seal in place, we know the company’s Malte piece will be truly something special, and this year at SIHH, we aren’t given just one, but rather two new Malte pieces from Vacheron Constantin. These two watches may come from the same line of tonneau cases, but the similarities end there. Having each been created under watchmaking's two different, overarching schools of thought, the new Malte pieces are polar opposites of one another. One favors refinement and balance; the other, sheer horological prowess. We introduce to you the new white gold Malte Small S