Author: Blake Buettner
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Hands-On: Audemars Piguet Debuts New Dark Blue Ceramic in Royal Oak Collection
Not content to sit in the shadows during the penultimate release week for the industry, Audemars Piguet had introduced a selection of new watches for the season (or semester, in their parlance), including a Royal Oak references rendered in dark blue Bleu Nuit ceramic. This is a color that’s been associated with the brand since…
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Hands-On: Grand Seiko Tentagraph SLGC007
Grand Seiko have always taken a rather unconventional route when it comes to their tool watches. The brand self-imposes a set of rules by which these are designed and developed, and oftentimes it doesn’t exactly jive with the kinds of practical concerns that I typically judge tool watches by. As a result, the brand has…
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Hands-On: The Parmigiani Fluerier Toric Quantieme Perpetuel
Parmigiani quietly had another stellar year of releases in Geneva last week, not only bolstering their Tonda collection with new openworked and GMT Rattrapantte models, but also in their still new Toric collection with a pair of new perpetual calendar references. Last year, the new Toric was launched as a reconnection with the brand’s roots,…
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Hands-On: The Vibrant NOMOS Club Sport neomatik Worldtimer Collection
Nomos introduced their innovative worldtimer concept in the Zürich collection back in 2011, and it’s been a staple of the collection ever since, not to mention a perennial enthusiast favorite. Nearly 15 years later, the brand is bringing a new worldtimer concept to the Club collection in a slew of vibrant limited edition colors, and…
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Hands-On: The Curious Rolex Land-Dweller
This is not the year I was expecting from Rolex. At Watches & Wonders this year, Rolex took the rare step of introducing something truly novel, not just in the form of a new collection, but also in a new mechanical movement architecture with something called the Dynapulse escapement (which I offer a brief primer…
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Hands-On: The Rolex GMT-Master II 126729VTNR
This year is the officially recognized 70th anniversary of the Rolex GMT-Master, but you’d never know it by talking to Rolex. The brand celebrated the history of the collection at the 2024 Watches & Wonders show, and this year, they’ve released what could be seen as an anniversary model in the new reference 126729VTNR. The…
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Hands-On: The Tudor Pelagos Ultra
Tudor had a relatively safe year at Watches & Wonders this week, releasing new iterations of existing watches, including a new, larger Black Bay, and colorways that recall the brand’s heritage. They also took the opportunity to take the Pelagos back to its roots with the Pelagos Ultra, leaning into the hardcore modern dive watch…
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Hands-On: Tudor Black Bay Pro Gets White Dial
Tudor continued their string of GMT releases with a new Black Bay Pro with an opaline white dial. Unlike the last two, this one isn’t placing a priority on case thickness. Ironically, this is a fan favorite that could use a trimmer case, but instead, Tudor has seen fit to address a different fan request…