First look: The Breitling 140th-Anniversary Trio of New Perpetual Calendar models
Founded in 1884 and celebrating its 140th anniversary this year, Breitling is no stranger to innovation and important milestones. In 1915, it launched the first wrist-worn chronograph with an independent pusher. In 1934, it patented a watch with a second independent pusher. In 1969, it participated in the creation of one of the first automatic chronograph movements, the Chronomatic or Calibre 11. In 2009, the brand released its first in-house-developed movement, the Calibre B01. Today, it’s time for yet another important movement to be presented, the Calibre B19, the first in-house perpetual calendar movement of Breitling… And yes, there are watches to be equipped with it too.The Breitling Calibre B19In-house manufacturing became important for Breitling back in 2009, when the brand introduced the calibre B01, its first internally developed and produced movement. This movement, an automatic, integrated chronograph with column-wheek and vertical clutch, opened the door to fur

Hands-On Vertex MP45 MonoPusher Chronograph (Specs & Price)
The luxury watch industry is in somewhat of a confusing and unpredictable place at the moment. You have the Swiss and German giants behaving even more conservatively than usual (with some obvious exceptions, like the four-armed Patek Philippe Ref 5520P). You have Seiko doing some interesting things out of Japan. And you have a myriad of small - some even micro - brands, making legitimately cool and intriguing watches. British watch brand Vertex falls very much into this last category. The company's latest release is the MP45. We were lucky enough to get our hands on one for a few days. Here's what we thought.?BackgroundAs you may already know, Vertex is not a new brand, at least not in the traditional sense. Rather, it is newly “revived”. Established in London in 1916 by Claude Lyons as Vertex Watches Ltd, the company is arguably best known for being the only British member of the Dirty Dozen (more on that in a minute). Producing watches for both military and civilian use,

Hands-On - The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 1
Renowned as the blueprint for modern dive watches, Blancpain's archetypal Fifty Fathoms of 1953 is coming up for its grand 70th birthday. As an essential player in the development of scuba diving and the watch chosen by elite diving corps worldwide, the heyday of the Fifty Fathoms spanned from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s. Following a period of dormancy, Marc A. Hayek, Blancpain's CEO, decided to revive the Fifty Fathoms in 2003, coinciding with its 50th anniversary. Three series of 50 watches were unveiled in 2003, marking the definitive return of this icon. Today, 70 years after the debut of the Fifty Fathoms and 20 years after its rebirth, Blancpain kicks off a year of celebrations with a new 42mm model offered in three series of 70 pieces each, available for pre-order on Blancpain's website in January 2023.ClarificationIt might seem a bit confusing that there are three series of one watch (a total of 210 watches). However, each series is reserved for a specific region of the wo

Introducing New Colours For The Oris Aquis Date Calibre 400 And Aquis Small Second Date
Oris has consolidated a solid reputation for its resilient, purpose-built dive, pilot and sports watches that do the job in style without breaking the bank. The Aquis family of sporty, high-performance dive watches is one of the most popular, and its 43.5mm Aquis Date was the first to be powered by the brand’s powerful manufacture automatic movement in 2020. For 2023, Oris welcomes attractive new gradient dial colours for its Aquis Small Second Date and Aquis Date Calibre 400.The Oris Aquis collection surfaced in 2011 as an evolution of the brand’s underwater timepieces that first surfaced in 1965. Unlike Oris’s vintage-inspired Sixty Five collection, the Aquis has a far more contemporary vibe making it an attractive option for those in search of a resilient, all-terrain yet stylish watch. Available in a host of case sizes, shared features of all Aquis Date models include a 300m water-resistant case, a screw-down crown, a unidirectional dive bezel (save the diamond-se

Basel news: Hermes - Monochrome Watches
Not a watch brand i would immediately think of, but Hermes surprises me this year with 2 interesting pre releases. Like Richard Mille last year, Hermes comes with a pocket watch. Is this a start of a new pocket watches hype? I don’t know… I know i can’t afford the Richard Mille pocket watch and since the pocket watch from Hermes is limited to only 24 pieces i suspect it will never be in my collection either ?? I can say that i think it’s a very nice timing device!The Hermes Arceau Moonphase Retrograde is limited to only 24 pieces. This complicated pocket watch has an 18kt yellow gold case measuring 43.5mm and has a sapphire crystal at both sides. Movement is the automatic Vaucher caliber H1929 with 32 jewels and a power reserve of 55 hours. It features a moonphase complication with retrograde date.Hermes Arceau Moonphase RetrogradeAnother pre release of Hermes is the Hermes Arceau Chrono Alezan. This new timepiece from the Arceau collection features the for Herm