Tucked in one of Melbourne’s many iconic laneways, just past a very popular local café, and up several flights of stairs, you’ll find the office and fitting rooms of the fine folks at Saibu No Akuma. As you climb the stairs to the top level, you’ll see a sign that says ‘the elevator to success is broken, take the stairs’; a fitting sentiment for the time and effort required to undertake a venture such as they have. The brand’s founders, Geoff and Paul, apart from being a couple of terrific gents, believe strongly in tailoring their garments to the wearer’s lifestyle more than anything else. T ..read more

As they say, good things come in threes.  Following that typical rule, today we have in for review the newly released Archimede Pilot Chronograph Trikompax (Trikompax). We’re (happily) familiar with this general line from Archimede, having reviewed the Pilot Chrono here.  We were pretty smitten with the original Pilot Chrono the first time around, so the Trikompax has a lot to live up to.  Let’s jump into it.   What’s new – Dial The first point of difference with the new model is the dial layout.  The Pilot Chrono runs with the 12, 6 and 9 register layou ..read more

As a little Australian publication, the opportunity to get in for review the Rado HyperChrome Captain Cook was something we just couldn’t pass up.  Here goes! History A little history lesson for the uninitiated/overseas readers, Captain James Cook was a British explorer/navigator and is said to be the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia.  Rado first released a Captain Cook back in the 60s and the model we have in today is the modern update which is as close to as a like-for-like reissue as you’ll get. Dial The dial comes in what I’m describing as ..read more

At Bridge & Barrel, we are unapologetically big fans of German watches.   What often comes together is a tempting value proposition combining dial quality, carefully machined cases and fantastic customer service at a reasonable price. And this value can come at every end of the watch making spectrum. A Nomos with an in-house movement coming in under $2500 and an Archimede Pilot Chonograph with a Valjoux 7750 coming in under $1900 both provide value for different reasons. Standing proudly with its German peers is Defakto , carrying on the strong watchmaking/casemaking lineage of t ..read more

On a Tuesday not too long ago, Bridge and Barrel were lucky enough to be invited by Baume & Mercier and Watches of Switzerland to the MCG for the Australian/Melbourne release of the Clifton Club collection (look at me now mum!). For our international readers, the MCG stands for the Melbourne Cricket Ground and is home to some of Australia’s biggest and greatest sporting events. A fitting place for Baume & Mercier’s most recent foray into the world of sports watches. Both the Clifton Club divers and chronographs were on show at the event. The diver is a 42mm (wide) and 10mm ..read more

There is good reason why dive watches, as a category, are likely (we must confess, we haven’t looked at the numbers) the best-selling and most popular watches. The prototypical dive watch has, together: an eminently legible dial for ease of use; a rugged build to withstand most of what anyone could throw at it; and a versatile design to allow for wear on most occasions. Any new player in the dive watch market has to tick these three boxes in addition to carving out its own particular niche, in order to be a commercial success. Today we put the Nodus Trieste, the first watch from Los Angeles ..read more

This week, the good people are Richardt & Mejer have provided us with a watch from their Signature collection to test drive. Read on below for our experience with the watch and some more philosophical musings about watches in general. Preliminary Musings (skip to next heading if you aren’t interested in deeper thought) Forgive us for our somewhat bleak view of parts of the watch industry, but it seems like modern watches often crammed full of complications, from useful chronographs and GMTs, to the not so useful ornate complications like the “open-heart”. Smart watches are an entirely diff ..read more

Traditionally, a comparison review compares two watches, often of different brands in the same segment (diver, dress watch etc).  Traditionally, a flieger comes in at a diameter of 40mm or above, and a Bauhaus style watch has a particular and well-known aesthetic. So, we’re breaking tradition today.  We have in two watches, the Flieger Klassik 36 (Flieger) and the Antea Back to Bauhaus 355 (B2B), in from Stowa for a comparison review. But first, a little history on Stowa.  Stowa is a small German company, founded by Walter Storz with beginnings in 1927.  With interruption f ..read more

Odell Beckham Jr. is one of the most exciting athletes in the NFL, and perhaps in all of sport right now, and to help him celebrate Christmas, Nike created a very custom version of his Untouchable 2.0 cleat. The cleat features actual grass from his high school field, so he always has a home field advantage. Check out the video below showing the creation process behind this awesome piece of kit.   ..read more

With the recent inception of Red Bar Melbourne, organised by prolific collector, and all-round watch enthusiast, Ernie Tang, Melbourne’s watch nerds have found even more reason to get together and talk watches than ever before. Between organising casual get-togethers, and more brand-centric events, Ernie certainly has his hands full. One of the bigger recent meets was held in conjunction with Melbourne stalwart of the menswear industry, Henry Buck’s. Menswear and watch collecting have, for many years, gone hand-in-hand, so the collaboration was a no-brainer, and proved to be a very popular on ..read more