Watches NEWS
First Look: New Pastel Colours for the Norqain Freedom 60 Chrono 40mm
Ben Kuffer hit the ground running with the launch of his start-up watch brand Norqain in 2018. Thanks to a good network of family and friends associated with the watch industry, Ben counted on the support of his father, Marc Kuffer, who owned and managed a prominent Swiss private label manufacturer, Ted Schneider, a member of the family that owned Breitling for decades and other heavyweights like Jean-Claude Biver. With just three families of outdoor adventure-style watches, Norqain has managed to secure a solid footing in the market with its well-designed, more contemporary and fashionable models. Just ahead of Watches & Wonders 2024 and warmer weather, Norqain releases a trilogy of 40mm Freedom 60 chronographs with attractive pastel dials.The Freedom 60 Chrono sub-collection is Norqain’s slightly retro, 1960s-inspired chronograph. It was first released in 2020 with a 43mm case and two years later in a more compact 40mm diameter. The trilogy released today comes in compact 4
Introducing: Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Midnight Blue Edition
Presented in 2018, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept?earned the record for the thinnest watch in the world with its incredibly thin 2mm profile, making it Piaget’s (a brand known for its mastery of ultra-thin) slenderest mechanical watch ever. Since then, Bulgari and Richard Mille have even made thinner watches, but Piaget’s AUC remains a spectacular technical achievement. On the occasion of Watches and Wonders Shanghai 2023, the brand now presents a new midnight blue edition, which brings back a style made once for a unique piece.?The Altiplano Ultimate Concept was made possible by a radical re-engineering of the architecture of a watch, fusing the case, movement and bezel into one 2mm thin component. It is fashioned in an ultra-resistant cobalt alloy to ensure sufficient rigidity and its development resulted in the filing of no fewer than five patents. Piaget's remarkable Altiplano Ultimate Concept, once the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, made headlines when it was
Introducing: Steel-and-Gold and Gradient Dials for the Longines Spirit Flyback
Presented last year by Longines as the flagship model in its recent pilot-oriented collection, the Spirit Flyback paid tribute to an important function for the brand, the retour-en-vol chronograph. While the authorship of the flyback complication is a topic that is still discussed, the winged hourglass brand produced its first model equipped with a flyback function in 1925, then filed a patent which was registered on 16 June 1936. As the top of the range model in the Spirit collection, this large and higher-end chronograph now comes back in two warm and luxurious versions, mixing steel and gold, with green or brown tones.?Just like the?Spirit Zulu Time has to be seen as the bigger brother of the classic 3-hand models, the same could be said about the Spirit Flyback next to the classic automatic chronograph. A sportier take on the brand’s vision of a classic, highly precise pilot’s watch, this 42mm model features an external rotating bezel, something that the classic chronog
First Look: The TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph Skeleton Pink
TAG Heuer is synonymous with the racetrack, and Jack Heuer's legendary motorsport-inspired chronographs have not lost an iota of popularity. Following fast on the heels of the 1963 Carrera chronograph, in 1969, Heuer produced a bold, square chronograph with a blue dial and a crown on the left side and named it after the Monaco Grand Prix. Immortalised on Steve McQueen's wrist in the cult 1971 film Le Mans, the Monaco has adapted to the new materials and technologies of the watch panorama over the past fifty-five years. The latest Monaco has enjoyed a pit stop in Las Vegas as it reveals its engine with a skeletonised dial and bright pink accents inspired by the neon lights of the Strip.To give you an idea of the ever-increasing allure of TAG Heuer’s square chronograph, the first of the six Monaco prop watches used in Le Mans was sold in 2009 for USD 87,600, a second reference in 2012 for USD 799,500, a third in 2020 for USD 2.2 million (the highest price any Heuer watch has ever r
Buying Guide: A Selection Of Sub-Zero Cool Ice-Blue Watches
Call it ice blue, light blue, sky blue or arctic blue, the fact of the matter is, watches with a lighter shade of blue on the dial are hot right now. So hot in fact, it seems there’s a new one coming out every other week. Are we witnessing the shift from green, which was all the rage the past few years, to a new trend colour? Either way, there have been some really cool new watches this year, all with a variation of light blue gracing the dial. Here are six of the coolest, ranging from affordable to high-end.Tissot PRX Ice-blueThe Tissot PRX collection has been a smash hit for the brand, and one of the best versions is the 40mm size in ice blue. There’s just something very cool about it, as it captures the essence of the extremely popular integrated sports watch style, at a very reasonable price. For just EUR 745 you get the signature PRX design, backed up by the very good Powermatic 80 movement and that incredibly cool ice-blue dial. What’s not to like? The 40mm size