Boldr Supply has a new GMT model, the Venture, which is out now.
This 38mm wide, titanium case watch features a quartz movement, sapphire crystal, screwdown signed crown and 200m of water resistance. It comes with a NATO style strap too.
The UK price is £217 but you will need to add on import duty and VAT on top. That could be another £60 or so.
More here at Boldr Supply website.
Two guys from the NE of England had an idea about ten years ago and this year, Winton watches has launched.
The brand name was inspired by Alexander Winton, who emigrated from Britain to the USA in the 1890s and built a car called the Bullet. He was recorded covering the mile at an average speed of 68mph – that was Bugatti Veyron stuff back then. Flat cap n goggles, no tarmac roads.
The Swan automatic (above) is a classic dress watch, with a sapphire crystal, 39mm case diameter, 100m water resistance and a steel bracelet. You also get a see-thru caseback so you can check out the ETA 2824 movement inside. That is a classy engine at this price point, which is just £495. Great value we reckon. And no, we aren’t on commission.
The Anning (pic above) is a more sporty number, with a 42mm case that features a pair of bumper lugs near the crown, offering some chamfered steel protection when you’re out exploring with this watch.
It’s a neat little touch on this sapphire crystal, steel watch, which again is Swiss powered, this time with a Ronda R150 movement. The rotor is decorated with the Winton logo and script by the way, which is viewable via the see-thru caseback.
The Anning has a choice of straps, which cost an extra £15, very reasonable when many Indie brands are asking £30 or more for extra straps.
Two dial colors, Jet Black or Sunburst Blue on the Anning. Price is £475, which is Tissot entry level, Seiko Presage or Citizen Red Arrows territory.
Verdict; An interesting alternative to mainstream watches and if you like the idea of buying British then you are getting some genuine Swiss quality without the VAT and import duty on top – that’s handy.
More here at the Winton watch website.
Solar watches are very cool and their power cells usually last a decade or so, which means less battery usage, which in turn is good for the planet. It’s nice to have a few smartwatch features too, although we are old school mechanical/automatic fans here at the NWC magazine. But let’s say one thing upfront; if you’re buying quartz/solar watches, the Japanese make them better than anyone. No bull, because we have been inside hundreds of them changing batteries and even rescued a few 30 year old Seiko quartz models with some cleaning ether and a brush of the contact tab. They are amazing.
So this Edifice – we refuse to use capitals by the way – at £500 seems a bit pricey for a solar timepiece (same watch is just $330 in the USA, but you have import duty and VAT at 20% on top if you buy overseas). Citizen Eco-Drive Titanium is about £250 or maybe a Seiko Solar Prospex model at £309 is a good choice? We saw one today at Fraser Hart’s website. But then, all three of them could easily last you 20 years with one power cell change costing about £40 on eBay.
Casio are super durable, they’re renowned for it – mainly because of the G-Shock watches, but the Edifice are built to a high spec too. And this Scuderia blue/grey beauty is no exception. Like most Casio watches this one looks well built enough to survive a Putin-backed invasion force. Carbon fibre bezel, stainless steel case and bracelt, plus sapphire crystal – the dial plate is carbon fibre too. Smart Link tech means you can connect the watch to your phone and then get the exact time, wherever you are in the world, which is great accuracy of course. It also has that Scuderia Ferrari motorsport connection and yep, we love motorsport watches.
You can use the watch to check emails, but it isn’t a smartwatch in that you can make or receive phone calls. There’s no fitness tracker stuff either.
There is a Honda edition variat at £300 by the way, which is red and not quite as cool looking.
Here’s the word from Casio;
From EDIFICE, the high-performance motor sports chronograph that is designed and engineered under the concept of “Speed and Intelligence,” comes the first model designed in collaboration with Scuderia AlphaTauri Formula 1 team. From 2020, Scuderia AlphaTauri became the new name of the Scuderia Toro Rosso racing team.
This new EDIFICE Scuderia AlphaTauri Limited Edition model incorporates the white and navy blue colors of the racing team into this design. The face of the model is bi-colored with the blue blending with the white in a beautiful gradation. The Scuderia AlphaTauri team logo appears on the face and back case cover of this model, as well as on the buckle clasp of the EQB-1100AT.
The EQB-1100AT has a carbon fiber octagon bezel, and is based on a new slim solar Smartphone Link model. High-performance chronograph capabilities along with Smartphone Link and a Tough Solar power system come packed into a slim 9.6mm configuration. The second-unit accuracy and the simple operation of the World Time function of this model is highly prized by team members.
BUYERS TIP:
Casio UK do deals with Signet Group, who own the H Samuel brand in the UK. Wait until there is a summer sale on and you may get this watch for somewhere closer to £350 in a few months. You’re welcome.
Green is everywhere this year, from Boris Johnson’s latest attempts to micro-manage our entire lives by banning gas boilers, bacon sandwiches and petrol cars, to the myriad – yes we used myriad – green dial watches showcased by Rolex, IWC, Patek, Tudor and others at Watches & Wonders.
Now TAG has joined th party with a green dial variant on their classic Monaco model. I refuse to say `iconic’ because some herberts on local news websites are now describing their local bus depot as iconinc. It’s laughable. OK then, classic TAG Monaco features like the 39mm case, black sub-dials, plus it a luminous green glow at night on the hands and markers. The see-thru caseback has some green text, plus there’s a dash of green on the movement too.
Yours for £5500 and there are just 500 pieces available. Verdict; we still the Gulf Porsche racing colours is the best TAG Monaco of modern times. There, we said it.
More here.
The Monsieur Ranomo (Panda) Quartz has a handy 20% off its list price of $199.00. Just use “take20” at checkout for 20% off all purchases says the brand. If, like us, you haven’t heard of the make, here’s the spec on this motorsports themed chronograph.
Monsieur Ranomo Series feat. Vintage Racing Chronograph. It has taken the 60s & 70s inspiration inspired from the likes of the Rolex Daytona to the Zenith El Primero, we decided to craft a panda and reverse panda with a racing tradition.
Key Specifications
– Case Diameter: 38 mm Case
– Thickness: 10 mm
– Band Material: Genuine Italian Leather Band
– Band Width: 20 mm
– Total Weight: 40 g (Miyota 0S21)
– Case Material: 316L
– Back Plate: Sapphire Crystal Exhibition Back
– Buckle: Standard Brushed Buckle
– Buckle Material: Stainless Steel
– Dial Window Material: K1 Domed Sapphire Coated
– Display: Chronograph
– Movement: Japanese Miyota 0S21
– Date Function: Yes (*Only For Miyota 0S21)
– Seconds Function: Yes
– Water Resistant: 5 ATM / 50 Meters
What’s included in the order:
1x Watch box
1x Brown leather case
1x Watch + strap
Baltic’s Aquascaphe twin crown is on pre-order right now and it’s a wel equipped tool watch that’s built to dive. With a serious 200m depth rating, sapphire crystal, 316 steel compressor case and dive time crown at the 2pm position, this model will do the job. The top crown moves the internal bezel, so you can set the minutes underwater accurately.
The second crown at 4 o’clock is used to wind the automatic movement and to set the time. The first 300 pieces are numbered on the caseback This watch is also slim, at just under 12mm in height from crystal to caseback. That might suit many watch fans who find the big chunky cases on say a Zelos, or some bronze indie watches just too much on dry land.
You can also buy it with a black dial and black bezel, plus there’s a PVD coated case option.
The pre-order price is £660, which is reasonable for something this well finished and manufactured in Europe, rather than China or Singapore. There will be import duties and perhaps some BS delivery company admin fees on top don’t forget.
Rivals include much of the Zelos range, plus dive brands like Enosken (1000m depth) or Marloe, who are based in the UK. There’s a great deal of choice when it comes to dive watches under £1000 these days, although twin crown models are not as common as single crown watches in general.
More at Baltic’s website here.
Autodromo have revived their Group B model, with dial colours in black, orange, blue or green. The motorsport themed watches feature a Night Stage variant with the red dial and markers that’s very 1970s dashboard clocks, remember all those red glowing cockpit displays, even the Suzuki GS750/1000 motorcycles had red tinted clocks?
Inside the 39mm titanium case there is a Miyota automatic movement. The Group B has 50m water resistance, a steel, push-button release bracelet, aluminium collectors box and is limited to 200 pieces. Price is $975 excluding VAT and UK custom duties. You get a sapphire crystal on this one too.
This one has a real retro feel and is perfect for motorsport fans, but it is expensive compared to something like a Tissot V8 quartz chronograph, or perhaps a Tissot T-Race automatic, which we spotted at £850 online.
There are lots of green watches this year. For example JLC has launched a green Reverso, which retails at £7200 and has a green strap option too. Then there’s that weird Rolex palm tree thing. Hmmm, let’s move on.
Thing is, the green Reverso works well because this is a physically small watch, designed back in the days when gents wore little 32mm case things because you stood a good chance of being hit by a fascist/communist goon, industrial machinery etc so it made sense to keep an expensive Swiss watch up your sleeve. That is how wristwatches became popular, because getting a pocket watch out in the trenches of WW1 was a bad move.
So yes, we love the Reverso in its green colours. But it looks handsome in blue as well – and blue is THE most popular dial colour in gents watches.
Other green dial watches lauched recently include the 18ct gold Tudor Black Bay 58, the Patek Nautilus in olive green, plus three AP Royal Oak variants all featuring green. The tourbillon Royal Oak is actually very 1960S Time Tunnel, with its strange, almost psydelic swirling green pattern. Crazy ass watch as about $180,000 so we expect to see Floyd Maywether sporting this one very soon.
But when you look at the Tudor 58 in green, it’s kinda in-your-face and although the Rolex Sub Hulk is a very collectable watch, we cannot think of another all-green wristwatch that carries the same cred when it comes to watch collecting, pre-owned shops and pawnbrokers. Seriously, when was the last time you stuck your nose onto a jewellers shop window and lusted after a green watch?
Yes, we can sympathise with fans of the IWC Big Pilot 43, because the 2021 model with green dial looks the part, no question. It’s probably fair to say that the blue version looks equally stunning but we bet you £50 that when it is time to sell you will get about £500 less for the green dial version, maybe £1000 less. They just don’t sell and as I worked in a pawnbrokers for two years and a jewellers for five years, I know what sells.
It’s this in a nutshell; blue dial gents watches, followed by black dials, and then maybe a white dial if the lume/hands/numbers combo is sharp and clean. Cheap Accurist or expensive Omega. Blue dials win, all day long.
Climate change is all the rage and so watch manufacturers must now tick sustainability boxes or face action by globalist governments, keen to tell consumers what to buy, and brands what to produce. That’s just how it is. Nobody gets to vote on it, OK? So please welcome some striking new ladies watches from Citizen, which consume less raw material to produce. More details below.
With its sustainably produced line of women’s watches, Citizen L has championed the effort to manufacture sustainable watches that prioritize the preservation of our global environment and societies of people worldwide. The first in the Citizen brand lines to adopt synthetically lab-grown diamonds, Citizen L uses these to express the natural beauty of Earth elements for the Ambiluna collection. This collection of women’s watches features a new model inspired by “water” and two other models influenced by mineral elements.
Inspired by “water” — one of four natural elements that make up all things — the new model philosophically completes the connection of the Earth to our future. The current models intro-duced in 2020 were inspired by the three elements: “Earth, Fire and Air.” The watches feature straps made from recycled plastics, gathered from beaches, so we get to clean up a little part of the earth every time we shop online. It’s all good. We love the deep blue one by the way, it has a great simplicity of design.
As you might expect the new models use the Eco-Drive system, which gives a ten year battery lifespan, rather than the typical 2-3 year span from a normal watch battery. Oh you thought that a Citizen Eco-Drive could defeat physics and just keep recharging its battery cell using light forever? Er..no, physics doesn’t work like that. The capacity to hold charge diminishes over time – nobody can stop that process, not even Elon Musk. That’s why battery smartphones, bicycles, cars, watches or anything else eventually dies – it cannot charge itself anymore.
Further, two limited-edition models influenced by “minerals” will be included in the Ambiluna collection. Drawing on the organic transformations of mineral elements over Earth’s long geo-logical evolution, these new models incorporate many stunningly unique colours and patterns.
The UK price and release date are to be determined, says Citizen.
Hamilton’s Ventura watch was cool enough for Elvis, so do we need to say more? Yes. There’s a skeleton version of the famed triangular case watch now available from the Swatch Group. Hamilton also has a long heritage in electronic watches, so this latest version of the Ventura has a little electric pulse going on too. Here’s the press info;
Go bold and bright with a red electric pulse that lights up the center of a black PVD-coated case and skeleton dial; or, choose to shine a little brighter with a rose gold PVD-coated case, black skeleton dial and matching rose gold electric pulse. A black rubber strap finishes off both models, ensuring a comfortable and secure fit all day – and all night – long.
Available in two impressive versions, the Ventura Elvis80 Skeleton’s precisely cutout dial offers a striking view of finely engineered movement mechanics. With its Côtes de Geneve decoration clearly visible, our H-10-S movement with an extended 80-hour power reserve beats tirelessly beneath its skeleton dial.
It’s (still) electric
An automatic movement might power the Ventura Elvis80 Skeleton, but a stylized pulse of electricity zig-zagging across its open structure is a dramatic reference and tribute to the Ventura’s origins. The Ventura Elvis80 Skeleton is an ultra-modern tribute to the world’s first electric watch. A piece of history, a story of invention and a futuristic legacy, it’s an unforgettable representation of those who influence the world by daring to be different.
It retails for 1795 Swiss Francs, which is approximately £1620, we spottted on the CW Sellors website.
