New Watch Master

Video: Inside The History And Archives Of The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is among the most foundational and distinctive watches of the past century. Its iconic design and inherent use as a canvas for personalization helped to place Jaeger-LeCoultre in our hearts and Reversos on our wrists, thanks to no small measure of qualified watchmaking and inventive, avant-garde casemaking. In our latest video feature, join Tony Traina as he goes deep inside the archives at JLC's Swiss headquarters to delve into the history of this loveable and endearing piece of unique horology. First introduced in 1931, the Reverso was designed to address a practical need: protecting the delicate watch crystal during polo matches. Its ingenious reversible case allowed wearers to flip the dial and shield it from potential damage, setting it apart as a functional and stylish timepiece.  The Reverso's enduring popularity has allowed Jaeger-LeCoultre to continuously expand i...

Sinn Introduces Special Sub-Steel Divers And New Dive Chronographs [The U15, U16, U18, and the 613ST/UTC] If there is a brand that exemplifies the German mindset of function over form, it is Sinn. The Frankfurt brand has always had a strong cult following without being tempted by the easy lucre of trends, and that takes a strong will. Balancing this, the brand ethos remains crystal clear and is reflected in six strong new releases that were recently introduced, including a trio of new and surprising U-Series divers made of an unexpected material (or maybe very expected...) and a pair of new dive-chronographs that underline what Sinn does best.  The Sinn 613St And 613St UTC Diving Chronographs The first of this year's novelties are formed around two executions of a new dive chronograph, the 613St and the 614St UTC. While brands big and small offer all sorts of dive watches today, dive chronographs remain a niche product for the hardcore enthusiast (and the Sinn audience).  ...

Introducing: The Nodus x 'Beers And Cameras' Obscura – A Watch For Analog Photographers What We Know Do you have a fridge full of Portra 400? If so, Nodus has a new watch for you. Created in collaboration with Beers And Cameras , a photography community and online platform with chapters in several cities around the United States, and dubbed "The Obscura," this new Nodus collab features a newly patented feature called the Exposure Gauge Complication. It allows the bezel and rehaut to gauge exposure following the Sunny 16 rule. We'll get to the novel functionality in a moment, but let's start with the basics. The Obscura is a steel sports watch with a dive-style layout on a 38mm wide case that is 40mm across the bezel, 11.7mm thick, and 47mm lug to lug. The water resistance is 100m, and the watch comes with a steel bracelet (with quick release and Nodus' NodeX tool-less micro adjust) and a rubber strap.  Offering a time-only layout, the Obscura is powe...

And You May Ask Yourself, “Well, how did I get here?” – Dealing With Imposter Syndrome in the Watch Community I attended my first watch meetup with a generic quartz dress watch on my wrist and two budget mechanical watches stuffed into my pockets. In my right pocket was a one hand Luch, a watch that was as quirky as it was inexpensive (I think I paid $50 on Amazon, a lot for me at the time), thanks to a single hand that worked its way around a 12 hour dial about twice per day. I say “about” because it wasn’t very accurate, but I didn’t care. I’d spent hours researching my first mechanical watch before spending my hard earned cash, and was genuinely proud to own it. My left pocket housed a broken HMT Pilot, a watch that unlike the Luch that had been purchased out of pure enthusiasm, I knew little about. Of course, it wasn’t broken when I’d bought it, and the debate of whether or not it even belonged in my pocket at all was one that had caused me considerable stress in the hours lead...

Introducing: The Timex x The New Yorker Centennial Watch What We Know When you think of watch collaborations with magazines, prestigious legacy publications rarely come to mind. Yet, in a delightful twist, The New Yorker has partnered with Timex to celebrate a hundred years of publishing. This collaboration feels natural, pairing America's storied magazine with a watchmaker whose East Coast heritage runs equally deep. They have come together for a very charming take on the manually-wound Timex Marlin with The Timex x The New Yorker Centennial Watch. With this New Yorker edition, it's all about the dial. Sitting on a glossy white dial is a portion of the New York Skyline, with an iconic art style that can very easily be attributed to illustrator Christoph Niemann. Niemann has contributed his work to The New Yorker for more than 26 years, and to me, his art style is synonymous with the publication. In the negative space above the skyline, the hour numerals from ten o...

Recommended Reading: Clear Your Calendar: Acquired's Epic Five-Hour History Of Rolex Has Arrived Rolex is just different. We all know that – but how different? Five hours might not be enough time to explain. Today is good day to clear your calendar because the guys over at Acquired, one of the most popular business podcasts in the world, just dropped an epic five-hour podcast on the history, and analysis of present-day Rolex. Acquired is a long-running podcast hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, and they are known for publishing in unabridged detail how some of the biggest companies in the world were built. The Wall Street Journal calls it the podcast that's loved by the smartest people in the room . From Standard Oil to IKEA, they have a way of telling stories that make you leave a four-hour podcast wishing it wasn't over and wanting more, which happened to me after I listened to the Hermès episode last year. Run, don't walk, to your podcast app of choice imm...

Introducing: The Laurent Ferrier Classic Traveller Globe Night Blue What We Know Your favorite watchmaker's favorite watchmaker, Laurent Ferrier, celebrates the 15th anniversary of his eponymous brand with a new iteration of what we at Hodinkee see as his flagship model—the Classic Traveller. It is one of the industry's most visually captivating, classically styled world-time watches and the platform on which we created a Hodinkee Limited Edition in 2017 . While we have not had a chance to go hands-on with this new edition, I am quite familiar with that 2017 LE, and I can confidently say it is among the best fifteen modern watches I have ever handled. Like that Hodinkee LE, today's Globe Night Blue riffs on a blue dial and white metal case motif—which makes sense given Laurent Ferrier's traditional, buttoned-up styling. It differs from the Hodinkee piece and previous top-tier Traveller iterations, like the original U.S. Limited Edition and Globe Night Blue , in th...