Hands-On: Impressions about the AP Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding 43mm
Oversized watches are a thing of the past…? Well, on paper yes. For two to three years now, many brands have been scaling down their watches. Timepieces can move back to 40mm or sometimes even less. Yet, some models are made to be big and bold. 1990s and early 2000s Panerai, the IWC Big Pilot (the real one, not the 43mm)… And then there’s the APROO, a.k.a the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. Born big, continuously bold, highly distinctive and recognizable among thousands. And if you remove the complex display of the classic chronograph, it gives you this new reference 15605SK. Not downsized, just streamlined. But will such a large watch with a simple display work? Won’t the ROO lose some of its appeal in such a sleek form??The original ROO, the reference 25721ST with chronograph, a.k.a The Beast – Image by www.acollectedman.comBorn in 1993, the Royal Oak Offshore defined a new genre. Just like the classic Royal Oak broke the norm in 1972 as one of the v

The New Nomos Autobahn Directors Cut With Steel Bracelet
Imagine yourself travelling through Germany, in your beloved sports car, and heading to an event you've been looking forward to for months, years even. The past two years travelling has been very challenging, sometimes downright impossible, and you are glad the world is opening up again. You find yourself in one of the sections of the German Autobahn, a section without a speed limit if the circumstances allow it. And yes, the weather is clear, you look down on your Nomos Autobahn Director's Cut, and see you have time for some fun. So, with the road opening up, you plant your foot down and head for the horizon, fast.It is a scene something like this I imagine to have crossed the mind of designer Werner Aisslinger penning the first sketches for the Autobahn collection for Nomos. Free of worries, not a care in the world at that very moment, with miles of open roads ahead (Free of Baustelle hopefully). Looking at the Autobahn, you immediately get the connection to cars, racing, highway's,

Editorial - The Necessary Transformation... Luxury Watchmaking After COVID-19
There is no doubt that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic will take a heavy toll on the watch industry. Watch brands are facing a collapse in sales and this crisis will be one of the gravest in decades. Nobody knows what the exit scenario from lockdown will be and how deep and how long the crisis will last. Crises are eventually overcome but companies will emerge to face a perplexing new scenario. Coronavirus will be a catalyst for monumental changes for the world and for the watch industry. The luxury watch industry took a serious hit with the 2008 subprime crisis. Following years of strong growth, the 2008 crisis forced the Swiss watch industry to rethink some of its practices, for instance with regards to pricing (just check the prices of tourbillon watches). The toll was heavy and Swiss watch exports fell by as much as 22.3% in 2009. Transformation is often crisis-driven or crisis-triggered. Naturally, watch brands are now operating in full contingency mode, activating short-ter

Video The 2022 TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200
At first, TAG Heuer might not be your go-to brand for a dive watch. The brand is, after all, very much about racing chronographs and motorsport. Think Carrera, Autavia, Monaco, Silverstone, and many more names that bring back memories of great chronograph watches. Yet, since the 1980s and the 2000-series of watches, TAG Heuer is involved in serious dive watches. Following the revamp of the Aquaracer collection in 2021, with the Aquaracer Professional 300 watches, this year the brand adds a new model with the Aquaracer Professional 200 series. Slimmer, thinner, more focused, and quite handsome to look at, these new 40mm models might be the best option in the collection. Let’s discover them in our video review.?We’ve already reviewed the new TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200, but our video will show you everything you need to know. Just in case, here’s a quick reminder. These new models follow the direction taken by their bigger brother, the Aquaracer Professional 30

Interview - Adrian Ballinger On Climbing Everest Without Oxygen, his Favre-Leuba Bivouac 9000 On The Wrist
Favre Leuba is known for its rugged functional watches. The brand's unique mountaineering credentials owe much to the Bivouac collection. Back in the 1960s, the watch was one of the first to be fitted with a mechanical altimeter. In 1975, Japanese alpinist Junko Tabel, the first women to summit Everest, did so with a Bivouac strapped to her wrist.Fast forward to 2017, the brand launched the Bivouac 9000, a modern take on this model capable of measuring altitude up to 9000m – watch our in-depth video to understand how this watch works. Empirical evidence of this capability was brought by mountaineer Adrian Ballinger, as he summited Everest while wearing this modern Bivouac 9000 on his wrist.We caught up with Adrian Ballinger in Zurich, just a few weeks after he came back from his no-oxygen ascent of K2, the second tallest mountain in the world. Doing so, he became one of the few climbers to have summited both Everest and K2 without oxygen. Ad - Scroll to continue with a