This is a pretty big year for A. Lange & Söhne. We’ve hit 25 years of the Datograph, which made its debut in 1999, and Lange is celebrating with a pair of very special limited editions of their iconic chronograph. One of them is truly off the wall, and we’ll get to that next week. For now, we’ll take a look at the Datograph Up/Down Limited Edition in white gold, with a blue dial. It’s a perfectly lovely example of the watch that many Lange collectors will insist put the brand on the horological map, and a strong counterpoint to the other Datograph that we’ll tell you more about soon.  ..read more

The Tour Auto, rooted in the historic Tour de France Automobile dating back to 1899, has become a pinnacle of motorsport, featuring legendary drivers like Maurice Trintignant and iconic brands such as Ferrari and Porsche. Today, over 250 competing crews traverse France’s scenic roads and racetracks, captivating spectators. Baltic returns for a second year in the row as the Official Timekeeper, and, in commemoration of the event, has produced 500 Tricompax timepieces. The Tricompax’s colorway strikes a balance between tradition and modernity, drawing inspiration from the excitement and icon ..read more

If you had told me a few weeks ago that one of the brands I’d feel best about coming out of Watches & Wonders 2024 would be Raymond Weil, I’d probably have been pretty confused, because at that point I don’t think I even had a meeting set up with the brand, and their attendance at the show was not even on my radar. But Watches & Wonders, as ever, has surprises in store for everyone. And sometimes you wind up taking an unexpected appointment with a brand you frankly don’t really know much about or have paid much attention to over the years, and it completely wins you over. Raymond Weil ..read more

We’ve already brought you news on what are likely the highest profile releases from Grand Seiko this year: the all new SLGW002 and SLGW003, the SBGC275 with an amazing dial that is only red some of the time, and, of course, a new Kodo. But there’s one more Grand Seiko novelty that caught our attention, the SLGH021. This is another reference in the rapidly expanding Evolution 9 Collection and features an all new dial texture from Grand Seiko in a color that will be familiar to fans of a highly sought after limited edition from a few years ago. The watches in the so-called Genbi Valley trilo ..read more

Very few things put a smile on my face quite like the Ulysse Nardin Freak. It’s one of the first haute horlogerie watches I can remember encountering, well before watches were ever a hobby or preoccupation,  in a glossy magazine advertisement that I probably saw while waiting for a doctor’s appointment or something else similarly trivial and forgettable. The Freak, though, has stayed with me. How could it not? It’s one of the most cleverly named watches ever made, for one. And its “no dial, no hands, no crown” concept continues to endure, and even after multiple decades of horological in ..read more

Watches & Wonders, the watch industry’s biggest annual fair, came to a close earlier this week. As usual the anticipation was palpable, and the payoff was – well, it depends on who you ask. Whether or not you were impressed with the novelties, it’s no surprise that many of the new releases are, in reality, quite a long ways off from being available (if they ever are for regular folks). No matter; the following Chronicle highlights four watches that aren’t merely more affordable alternatives – they offer the same spirit and aesthetic and are available today right here in the Shop. As ..read more

The Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope occupies a strange place in the world of Speedmasters. It was introduced to considerable fanfare in 2021, but hasn’t yet connected in a meaningful way with the enthusiast world. And yet, everytime I see one at a meetup or watch related event, I find myself really enjoying it. It’s the kind of watch that you forget about until you can’t forget about it anymore, if that makes any sense, and it feels like it’s one or two iterations away from figuring out exactly what its niche is in the Omega catalog. Today, Omega has announced two new versions of the Chronoscop ..read more

It’s always worth celebrating when we see true design artistry and a successful attempt at bringing something wholly unique to the micro-independent watch community. Betina Menescal is the creative mind behind Möels + Co. At 24 years old she is a powerhouse of fresh ideas and is determined to design watches that are completely original. You won’t find a single component in one of her watches, aside from the Sellita movements and straps, in a catalog anywhere. The numerals, the hands, the case, the crystal are all entirely designed by Betina, and manufactured for her alone.  The Designer ..read more

Something we find ourselves saying a lot: these pictures don’t do justice to this watch. These pictures, by Kat Shoulders, are excellent, of course, but because they only capture a single moment in time, they miss an important element of drama in the dial of Grand Seiko’s new SBGC275. The new Spring Drive chronograph GMT has, at a glance, a pretty brilliant red dial. But thanks to a new process, the color changes, and I mean really changes, when it’s seen at an angle. It’s actually uncanny, and not merely the common experience we’ve all had of seeing the range in tone on a colorful dial as it ..read more

For Watches & Wonders 2024, Bell & Ross is bringing ceramic somewhere it’s never gone before — the BR 05 collection of integrated bracelet sports watches — with a trio of black ceramic options with matching black ceramic bracelets. When Bell & Ross introduced the BR 05 five years ago, it seemed like a somewhat esoteric, slightly fringe addition to the brand’s offerings. I remember feeling like it was a watch made more to check a box than anything else. But in the last half-decade, the BR 05 has, increasingly and slowly, become a major pillar of the Bell & Ross catalog and ear ..read more