Buying Guide - 5 Perpetual Calendar Watches for February 29th
In less than a week from now, it will be February 29th… Not a big deal, for sure. Unless you’re into watchmaking and want to see something mechanically fascinating. Indeed, watchmakers are sometimes a bit nerdy and imagined a complication that takes into account all the weird things of the Gregorian calendar. This means months with 30 or 31 days or even a month with 28 days. And, even rarer, once every 4 years, a longer version of February with 29 days. And as this specificity of our calendar will happen in a few days from now, we’ve listed 5 perpetual calendar watches for most tastes, from rather accessible to elegant, sporty or mechanically impressive.The Accessible – Frederique Constant Slimline Perpetual CalendarBeing the most complex version of the calendar complication found in a mechanical watch, you would obviously expect a perpetual calendar to be expensive. Certainly, most of the QPs will require a nice 5-digit bank cheque – without any additiona

LVMH Watch Brands To Host Their Own, Dubai-Based Watch Show in January 2020, in Addition to Baselworld - Monochrome Watches
The concept of watch fairs has been a controversial topic for the past years. Obsolete, too expensive, not flexible enough… We’ve seen multiple brands leaving Baselworld or?the SIHH, and even more of them complaining about this very idea of trade fairs. Solutions were found though, with the Geneva- and the Basel-based shows uniting forces and coordinating their dates from 2020. Still, the situation isn’t perfect for some. While still attending Baselworld 2020, LVMH’s Watchmaking Division has decided to add a date to the product launch schedule, by creating its own, private “Pre-Baselworld event” in Dubai, on January 2020.Whatever people say about watch fairs, their cost or their old-school way of dealing with product launch schedule, it appears that they can create a certain return of investment. They allow us, the press, and the retailers to see everything at once, in a short period of time. Yes, the concept could be improved and modernized. Yes, it

Hands-On With The Final Edition Of The Ferdinand Berthoud Chronometre FB 2T (With Video)
Ferdinand Berthoud stages the swan song of its impressive calibre FB-T.FC. that made its debut in 2015 on board the FB1. Inspired by Ferdinand Berthoud's historical marine chronometers, the fascinating tourbillon movement with fusee-and-chain transmission took home the top prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve in 2016 and has secured the brand a firm footing in the Haute Horlogerie arena. Respecting the original dial configuration of the FB 1 and powered by the same movement, the final act of the Chronometre FB, composed of 38 customisable pieces, exchanges its octagonal hull for a round case.Enlightened TimesFerdinand Berthoud (1727-1807) emigrated from Switzerland to Paris in 1745 at the age of 18. It was an inspired location for a young man of such exceptional talent. The cradle of the Age of Enlightenment, Paris was a hotbed of intellectual and scientific inquiry. The French Academy of Sciences (Academie des Sciences?1666), founded to encourage and protect French scientifi

First Look: The new Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 40mm in Rose Gold PVD
60 different references… This is how wide Tissot’s best-selling collection, the sporty-elegant integrated PRX watch, has become in about 4 years. Ranging from compact and affordable quartz models to more expensive watches with gold fluted bezels and chronograph movement, and basically everything you can imagine in between (even a forged carbon edition), you’d think the PRX collection is soon to come full circle. Well, the brand is here to prove you wrong as it’s just released a new, luxurious-looking, but accessibly-priced version of the classic PRX Powermatic 80 40mm, now coated with rose gold PVD, paired with a waffle-style blue dial. Quite a cool combo, in all fairness.?At this point in the lifecycle of the Tissot PRX, I believe that it isn’t necessary to remind you what we’re talking about… The PRX is the brand’s take on the integrated sports watch category, inspired by a 1978 model, modernized to current tastes and accessible enough

Introducing the White-Dial Airain Type 20 ACE
Founded in 1934, Airain was well known for its Type 20 flyback chronographs in the mid-20th century, supplying the French military along with brands like Breguet and Mathey Tissot. These chronographs could be instantly reset to zero by pressing the 4 o'clock pusher via the flyback function and had specific requirements like a bidirectional 12-hour rotating bezel, 35-hour power reserve (minimum) and lume on both the hands and Arabic numerals. Airain didn't survive the quartz crisis and loss of French military contracts, but was revived in 2020. The Airain Type 20 ACE is the latest chrono model and introduces bold and modern styling from a collaboration with Dutch retailer Ace Jewelers.The stainless steel case is 39.5mm in diameter and 10.85mm in height (without the double-domed sapphire crystal), which is close to the original at approximately 38mm in diameter. There's a bidirectional 12-hour countdown bezel with black numbers and marks, and classic chrono pushers at 2 and 4 o'clock. Th