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The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle is often a vehicle for some of the brand’s most exquisite haute horology. One look at the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Retrograde Date Openface is enough to capture the imagination. However, their latest launch focusses less on high concept mechanics and more on the bare essentials of the collection, consisting of a pair of time only models in pink gold with green dials.

Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Ref. 82172/000R-H008

The two watches are fairly obviously designed as a his & her style pair. The first of the two is a 38mm model with a sweeping round bezel, flat sides and fairly straight lugs that gently curve downwards towards the wrist. It’s the signature Traditionnelle design, elegant and refined in its understatedness. Although I’m not sure ‘understated’ really applies to pink gold since it has such a rich colour.

Looking at the dial of the 38mm edition, we see that it has a gorgeous green tone with sunray brushed finishing that radiates outwards from the central hour and minute hands. Just below 12 o’clock is the Vacheron Constantin Maltese Cross logo and brand name, which is balanced out on the dial by a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. Completing the dial are the baton hour markers and railway track minute scale, both of which are fittingly traditional for the Traditionnelle.

Powering this Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Ref. 82172/000R-H008 is the Vacheron Constantin Calibre 4400 AS. As the name of the model suggests, it’s a manual movement that requires regular winding, although with a 65-hour power reserve you have a reasonable amount of leeway.

I really like the combination of colours here, the gold and green remind me of autumn and the first turning of the leaves. So, if you’re looking for the ideal dress watch for the autumn season, this is a perfect choice. Priced at £22,800.

More details at Vacheron Constantin

Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Ref. 1405T/000R-H009

The second of the two watches is what we’d typically describe as the ladies’ model, although if a man loves the watch there’s nothing stopping them from wearing it. It is much smaller than its partner watch, measuring just 33mm in diameter in pink gold. What’s more, this model is fitted with a ring of 54 round-cut diamonds set in the bezel, adding some extra pizzazz and shine to the piece.

As for the dial, there are some differences there as well. Most notably the small seconds subdial has been omitted and it’s just an hours and minutes display. Beyond that, the other change is the hour markers. The 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock markers are now angular arrow shapes that, if you were to put them end to end in the centre, would create the Maltese Cross.

Inside this watch is the Calibre 1440, another manual movement but this time with a 42-hour power reserve. That means you’re more or less going to want to wind it every day to be on the safe side. Some people would find that annoying, but others enjoy the daily ritual of winding, so really it depends on your preferences.

Due to the added diamonds, the Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Ref. 1405T/000R-H009 is slightly higher priced than its counterpart at £28,500. I think it would be kind of fun to have matching watches with your partner, especially if you’re going to pair your outfits at a gala or event anyway.

More details at Vacheron Constantin

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Etien first emerged from the vibrant hub of watchmaking that is Singapore in 2021 with their debut timepiece. While that first watch displayed many of the qualities that have come to define the brand, it’s their second watch, the T02 that has really cemented them as a brand to watch. It features a stunning guilloché dial and manual movement that shows a serious commitment to the horological arts.

Let’s move past all the preamble and start talking about the fabulous dial, which is really the highlight of the piece. It features a central guilloché disc, central leaf shaped hands and a peripheral hour and minute scale. The guilloché pattern is mesmerising with its scale-like appearance and slight vortex twist that makes the eye follow its curve. There are three colours available called Blue, Ice Blue and Olive Green.

All three colours of the Etien T02 work really well and give the dial an almost iridescent aesthetic, particularly the blue edition. My personal favourite is the Ice Blue as it reminds me of a more intricate take on the dial of the super popular Tissot PRX ice blue. That intricacy is made possible by the use of CNC engine turning. The colour is then achieved using cold enamel, a material that achieves an enamel style finish with a hard surface and slight translucence. In this regard, the dial can be described as a type of Fliniqué, which is enamel over guilloché.

Zooming out from the dial to look at the case, we see that it measures 39mm in diameter and sits slim on the wrist with a height of just 8mm. It’s really well sized for a dress watch being small enough to slip easily under a cuff while also being big enough to showcase that highlight dial. Shape-wise, it’s circular with a round bezel and contrasting brushed and polished surfaces on the sides and top.

The caseback reveals an exhibition window that shows the movement housed inside. It’s the Swiss ETA 7001 manual movement with 42-hour power reserve and 21,600 vph. While there are more prestigious calibres out there, it’s a solid workhorse movement and makes sense for a brand like Etien.

The Etien T02 is priced at $1,450 (approx. £1,170), which feels appropriate for the mechanical movement and Fliniqué dial. The Blue edition is limited to 50 pieces while the Ice Blue and Olive Green are slightly more exclusive with just 10 of each available. One thing’s for sure, if this is what Etien can achieve with their second watch, they have an exciting future ahead of them.

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The Divers Sixty-Five is low-key one of my watches. A retro-style skin diver with slim proportions to fit under a cuff and available in a wide variety of colours such as the pastel ‘Cotton Candy’ collection. Now though, the collection is evolving with the reintroduction of a chronograph edition to the range, fittingly called the Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph, now in a smaller 40mm case.

Compared with the previous chrono that existed, the new edition is much smaller at a 40mm diameter instead of 43mm. It makes for a much more wearable design and leans into that vintage style aesthetic. Which is further heightened by the classic pump pushers that flank the crown. The fact that we’re talking about an Oris chronograph is yet further proof of my predictive capabilities because just last week in the office we were discussing the possibility of an Oris chrono because it might be a good fit for our new accessible chronographs guide. (Turns out it’s a little too pricy to be included in that article after all.)

The dial is a relatively understated bicompax display with a 30-minute timer at 3 o’clock and small seconds at 9. The rest of the dial is pretty standard Divers Sixty-Five fare with large lumed indexes in circle, rectangle and shield shapes. I’m glad that they’ve opted for a dateless display as I think that would make it a little too busy whereas as it is, it’s nicely balanced. Although I might be about to contradict myself because I would have liked a tachymeter for more of a racing vibe, I think that would really suit the retro aesthetic.

Powering the Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph Edition is the Oris Calibre 771, the same movement used in the old 43mm model. It’s based on the Sellita SW500-1 and has a 48-hour power reserve. A solid enough chronograph movement. I do wonder if, since we’ve seen that Oris are slowly expanding their flagship Calibre 400 with more complications like the Big Crown Pointer Date, we’ll eventually see something like a 400 GMT or chronograph. As this is now the only chronograph Oris produce, that’s probably unlikely.

As for pricing, the watch is £3,300 on a Cervo Volante sustainable deer leather strap or £3,450 on steel bracelet. I think I prefer it on the strap, the black colour echoing the black dial and bezel. Ultimately, we wanted a new Oris chronograph and here it is – more or less exactly as I would expect and want it to be. I love it.

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Another leak shared by Reddit user Geesgshock is the full metal G-Shock GM-B2100VF-1A Porter Original Collection Case Set, which is a G-Shock 40th Anniversary limited edition and collaboration with Japanese bagmaker Yoshida & Co. and its Porter brand. The watch “comes in a special package … which can also be used as a storage case […]

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Chrome Calibre Retro Bot Watch Winder, €2,500 (approx. £2,150)

On a functional level watch winders are a great way to make sure your automatic collection is always ready to wear at a moment’s notice. But just as equally, watch winders can make for the ideal display cases, as shown by the Chrome Calibre Retro Bot which is shaped like a tin robot from the mid-1900s. The technology inside is provided by SwissKubik with Bluetooth connectivity that allows the rotation to be customised based on number of rotations per day and direction.

Available at Chrome Calibre.

IFL Watches Blue Camo Watch Case, £849

The IFL Watches Blue Camo Watch Case is a great way to keep your watch collection safe while embracing a bright and colourful design. The case measures 30 x 24 x 9cm with a Saffiano leather exterior and an Alcantara suede interior protecting up to 10 watches. The pattern of the camo is a proprietary one designed in Sweden and developed in Italy using the IFLW logo as a key portion of the pattern.

Available at IFL Watches.

Jean Rousseau Nubuck Alligator, £455

Nubuck is a type of leather finish most commonly seen on bovine leathers that uses buffing to create a velvet-like texture. However, Jean Rousseau have developed their own original way to produce a similar velvet texture on alligator leather, creating the Nubuck Alligator strap. Visually it’s stunning, carrying a richness of colour and texture, particularly as the finish is so rare on exotics. Alligator is often reserved for refined occasions, such as soirées, but the Nubuck finish also helps the strap to be water- repellent, meaning it’s more adventurous than may first appear.

Available at Jean Rousseau.

Fink Watches Watchmaking Seminars, £329

FINK watches are a UK watch brand based in London that offer a unique experience for customers. As an alternative to buying an assembled watch, you can take part in their watchmaking seminars and build your own. The kit that you’re supplied with contains everything you need to make your watch, as well as giving you the tools to build their other kits at home. Their signature watch is the Voyager GMT powered by the Seiko NH-34A.

Available at Fink Watches.

Forstner Bands Komfit, $125 (approx. £100)

Everyone knows that the Omega Speedmaster is the iconic space watch, but are you familiar with the most iconic space watch strap? The Forstner Komfit is one of the only steel watch bracelets in history to have been approved by NASA for manned space flights and has even been to the moon. It has a two-layered construction and front facing clasp that make it easy and comfortable to use. Plus, it was one of the first bracelets to feature micro-incremental adjustments, allowing it to be sized properly without the need for additional tools.

Available at Forstner Bands.

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Scotland’s contribution to international automotive racing is not to be underestimated; all I need is the evidence of my old Playstation steering wheel, bought specifically for Colin McRae Rally, circa 1998, gathering dust in the corner. Apparently, there’s something north of the border (hopefully not the whisky) that makes racers out of the Scots, from land speed record setter Richard Noble to David Coulthard to the legendary Sir Jackie Stewart. There are worse countries of inspiration for Omologato’s first automatic watch, the Omologato Classic Timer Écosse.

Omologato are… an interesting watch brand. They have possibly one of the strongest identities this side of the big Swiss watchmakers (stronger than some of those in fact) with a racing grid full of automotive inspired timepieces across the aesthetic decades. And there are a lot of them. Traversing ten different collections, there are a host of different references paying homage to cars, racers, and drivers from every type of motorsport. What they don’t include however, is an automatic watch.

Quartz has been the horological name of Omologato’s game, for solid reasons. It makes their watches affordable, it makes them easier to produce and the movements themselves are more reliable than an automatic version. For the kind of collectors their aiming at – collectors who may be coming to the brand from cars, rather than watches – they’ve all been major benefits. But it’s always been a shame to see pieces like the painfully cool, 1970s flavoured Panamericana stick solely to battery power.

However, there’s hope as Omologato have now introduced an automatic movement into their Classic Timer Collection. A series of six eye-catching timepieces each devoted to a different aspect of racing, marking a big step up for the brand. There’s the cool, grey Mille Miglia 722 (named after Sir Stirling Moss’s car that raced the Mille Miglia in 1955 and averaged 98.53mph), the pistaccio green Heritage 75, Maranello ’61 in red and yellow, of course, and The Swimming Pool and Reims in aqua blue and salmon, respectively.

The one we have here however is the Classic Timer Écosse (French for Scotland) and is the most pared-back of the Classic Timer collection. Not that it’s dull; the combination of versatile dark blue reverse panda bi-compax dial, complete with St. Andrew’s Cross at six o’clock is lovely in a typical, racing chronograph sort of fashion. The thing is, it’s not actually a racing chronograph at all.

The white subdial at three o’clock is actually months, while its partner across the way displays days. The date is in a window at six o’clock, meaning that what you would have assumed was a standard racing chrono is instead a complete calendar. The lack of a moon phase (which isn’t strictly necessary for any calendar) might throw some people as much as the layout, but that’s what it is. And I’m here for it. Oh and the monopusher at two o’clock? That’s a quick change for the month.

There are plenty of racing chronographs out there, all with the same tachymeter, and all with the same petrolhead shorthand. Seeing those same aesthetics used for a completely different – and in an everyday way, far more useful – complication is pretty damn cool. It’s hiding in plain sight. This might be Omologato’s first automatic movement, but they’ve definitely hit the ground running with it.

While we’re on it, the specific movement in question is the Miyota 9122, an ever-reliable Japanese number with a 41-hour power reserve. It’s generally not extraordinarily finished, but that doesn’t matter here as the Classic Timer Écosse has a solid caseback, engraved with the Scottish flag and limited-edition number out of 75.

On the wrist there’s not a huge amount to say. At 40mm of stainless steel with a 46mm lug-to-lug measurement, it’s a decent diameter somewhere in the goldilocks zone. It is however a little chunkier than the measurements suggest – not uncomfortably so – but in a way that hammers home its sportier archetype. It feels like you’d expect it to, perforated leather bracelet and all. It’s not something I’d wear to a formal dinner, but fits the bill for everyday wear.

What’s less expected is the price. Omologato have previously danced around the £300 mark for their quartz pieces and could likely have taken the opportunity to shift the goal posts. Instead, this is a complete calendar, nicely executed and with a fun racing twist, for just £600.

While I’d personally prefer to spend that on one of the funkier colours (The Swimming Pool, for example), there’s more than enough to love in the Classic Timer Écosse. It’s also the most wearable of the lot, with its dark blue a chameleonic colour when it comes to matching to your own style. For the money and as a watch in its own right, the Écosse is pretty fantastic. I just won’t be buying it until the Panamericana also has an automatic. I need to protest somehow.

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Prolific leaker MORGANpl released an image of the upcoming G-Shock GCW-B5000 series. While this new series has been known to be coming, the images and text from a development information page provide some details that clarify previous speculations and questions. According to the sheet, the GCW-B5000 is labeled as “Full Carbon 5000” and appears to […]

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Mexican MMA fighter and UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Alexa Grasso was spotted wearing what is either a Casio G-Shock or Baby-G watch in recent interview clips with Nina Drama (embedded below). She was also confirmed to be wearing a G-Shock GM-S5600 and GM-S2100 on Instagram, as well as other G-Shock, Baby-G, and G-MS watches. According […]

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Any complication adds a premium, but rather than day, date, or month functions, the chronograph introduces an entirely different form of timekeeping to a watch. So, you’d expect them to have a hefty premium attached to their price tag, which they do, more often than not. However, that’s not to say that you can’t get your hands on a solid stopwatch-equipped timekeeper without blowing a Speedmaster’s worth of cash. In fact, there are some downright affordable models on the market from brands big and small. Here then are the coolest chronographs around for under £2,000 – my personal benchmark of accessibility.

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IWC have been partnered with Mercedes-AMG for close to 20 years at this point and over that time there have been a fair few collaborative watches. Coming immediately to mind is the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Edition “Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team” from last year, a sporty watch inspired by the height of racing performance. Now though, a pair of new collaborative watches have been released inspired by Mercedes’ signature SUV, the G-Class. Meet the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch AMG G 63.

Off the bat, these are on true-blooded Big Pilot’s Watches, none of this reduced size 43mm stuff. Both watches – which are only differentiated in name by their reference numbers, IW501201 and IW506201 – are over 46mm in diameter. Specifically, the IW501201 in Armor Gold® is 46.2mm while the IW506201 in ceramic matrix carbon (CMC) is slightly larger still at 46.5mm.

If you’re now asking, what the heck are Armor Gold® and CMC? I wouldn’t blame you. Armour Gold® is the easier to explain as it’s simply a specific alloy that’s harder than your typical 5N rose gold, making it significantly more damage resistant. As for CMC, this is the first time that IWC are using the high-tech material and marks the next step in their history of using ceramic.

CMC is produced using a similar technique to carbon-fibre reinforced polymers but instead of binding the composite together using polymer, it uses silicon carbide ceramic. The result is an incredibly tough and durable material that is so cutting edge that IWC worked in collaboration with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) to produce it.

In terms of the dials, they’re inspired by the front of the G-Class and in particular the Mercedes-AMG G 63 “Grand Edition”, which is where the gold and black colourways come from. The bicompax subdials with white scales are designed to look like the front headlights and the texture of the backdrop is based on the air intakes. To me, they successfully hit that G-Class vibe where they’re ostensibly durable tool watches while aesthetically leaning towards luxury. We all know someone with an SUV who has never been off road in their lives and here we have a Pilot’s Watch that will never see a cockpit.

On the inside, both watches house the same movement, the IWC-manufacture Calibre 52010. It’s an automatic movement with IWC’s signature pellaton winding system and 7-day power reserve, which is frankly bonkers. As for functions, it touts central hour and minutes with small seconds at 9 o’clock, a power reserve indicator at 3 and date at 6.

Of the two, the CMC version is my personal favourite, which is unfortunate because it’s £10k more expensive than the Armor Gold® edition. The Big Pilot’s Watch AMG G 63 IW501201 is £29,900 and the IW506201 is £42,300. That’s perpetual calendar kind of money. Still, I suppose that’s what you can expect to pay when actual rocket scientists were involved in the production process. Alternatively, for the low, low price of five IW506201s (aka approx. £200,000) you could buy the actual AMG G 63 “Grand Edition”.

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