Feature
Seiko remains capable of making distinctive, appealing watches, including the Turtle, Seiko 5 GMT, and Marinemaster. What has changed is the value equation: prices and expectations have risen, while familiar compromises—such as uneven accuracy, bracelet quality, and quality control—are harder to overlook on more expensive models. The brand’
New Watches
Vario’s Futurist Tantalum Edition reworks the brand’s angular, 1970s-inspired design in dense tantalum, known for its bluish-grey lustre and challenging machining process. The 39mm case is 10mm thick, offers 100 metres of water resistance, and pairs brushed surfaces with polished bevels and the signature faceted sapphire
review
The Anders & Co AC3 Lago marks the brand’s first move from round cases to a rectangular design. Its slim 316L stainless steel case measures 27.75mm by 38.10mm and is just 6.3mm thick, with brushed and polished surfaces, a curved sapphire crystal, and 50 metres of
Subdial heads west, Fossil finds its footing, and an $80,000 Freak meets a $20,501 reality check.
A $203 million auction weekend, independent watchmaking’s creative roots, and the many ways a watch earns its price.
Geneva’s record auction, independent watchmaking’s creative pulse, and a Vacheron that puts its calendar on display.
From Geneva’s biggest winners to the watch you might design yourself, today’s BuyingTime explores what makes a timepiece matter.
Independent watchmaking builds its future, Subdial accelerates, and a freshly serviced Lange brings substance to the auction block.
Rolex buyers push back, watchmakers push boundaries, and a rose-gold Patek Cubitus tests what collectors are willing to pay.
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Adrian Barker examines the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Sundowner 2, a limited-edition collaboration with Time and Tide. The mechanical watch features a Grade 2 titanium case and an 80-hour power reserve. The Sundowner 2 also has distinctive aesthetic updates compared with earlier models. The overview highlights its
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Chris and Julien discuss new watch releases, including a Hublot, a Porsche Design model, and Rolex’s “Seasons” Daytona collection. They also review Julien’s new Martin Design watch. The conversation turns to whether the market is moving away from hype, as interest in complications and value for money appears
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John Reardon speaks with auctioneer Geoffroy Ader about his career, from growing up in a Parisian auction family and working at Antiquorum and Sotheby’s to becoming an independent watch expert. They reflect on landmark sales, including the Time Museum collection and Henry Graves Supercomplication, and discuss Ader’s belief
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Fratello’s Nacho, RJ, and Daan discuss the small details that can undermine an otherwise excellent watch. Their pet peeves include poor-quality leather straps, cheap folding clasps, badly designed date windows, and missing antireflective coatings. Though these issues may seem minor, they can affect a watch’s appearance, comfort,
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The video presents a selection of 12 understated luxury watches spanning three price ranges. It highlights models from Nomos, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Zenith, and Vacheron Constantin. The watches are framed as quiet luxury, emphasizing a refined, understated style across different budgets.
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The video previews a varied lineup of watches, from an MB&F with a disassembled movement to two models with retrograde complications. It also highlights a starry-dial Lange and an unusual Gerald Genta. The featured Subdial first is a new platinum Andersen Genève Communication 45, “En Route To
News
A. Lange & Söhne has opened its first Latin American boutique at Kogan Luxury House in Polanco, Mexico City. The historic colonial-style home has been renovated into an intimate lounge that blends exposed brick and wooden beams with contemporary brand details. Its Experience Library features watchmaking tools and artifacts,
New Watches
The Ulysse Nardin Freak S Purple Enamel pairs an avant-garde mechanical design with traditional watchmaking craft. Its titanium case houses a purple guilloché-flinqué enamel hour disc made in-house by Donzé Cadrans, beneath a movement that rotates to display the time without conventional hands, a dial, or a
New Watches
Czapek & Cie has introduced the Faubourg de Cracovie Crossroads Lightning, a motorsport-inspired chronograph limited to 18 pieces. Its black hand-guilloché dial features silver chronograph counters, red accents, a gradient tachymeter scale and design details drawn from Swiss GT driver Jacopo Mazza’s racing helmet. The 41.5mm
New Watches
The second-generation Trilobe Une Folle Journée retains its distinctive time display, with three off-centred rings for the hours, minutes and seconds rotating counterclockwise around a fixed pointer. Its redesigned barrel-shaped case has integrated lugs and sharper lines, measuring 40.3mm across and 18.25mm thick, with a
New Watches
The Ulysse Nardin Freak S Purple Enamel is a 50-piece limited edition combining a 45mm titanium case with a purple enamel dial made using guilloché-flinqué and crafted by Donzé Cadrans. Staying true to the Freak design, it has no conventional hands or crown: the rotating movement indicates the
review
The Vander Avort Lovon is the Belgian brand’s debut watch, offered in 18K rose gold or palladium-alloyed white gold with seven guilloché dial variations, each limited to five pieces. Its 40.9mm case features hand-engraved lugs and a distinctive crown, while the automatic VA01 movement, made by
News
Seiko Group reported record first-half results for the six months to September 2026, with sales up 22.3% to ¥196.3 billion ($1.2 billion) and operating profit rising 86.5% to ¥31.4 billion ($197 million). Watch sales grew 24.2% to ¥122.4 billion ($767 million), while
New Watches
Christopher Ward and Mr. Jones have collaborated on the C1 Bel Canto Lucia, a colorful, storytelling-focused take on the chiming watch. Inspired by Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor, its dial depicts a bird in a garden: the bird’s beak indicates whether the chime is on, while its
New Watches
Takashi Murakami has launched Time Objects, a watch brand devoted to exploring time through Swiss haute horlogerie. Its first creation, the Skull Flowers Cylindrical Jumping Hours Tourbillon, combines a Grade 5 titanium skull case with Murakami’s rotating flower motifs, while displaying the hours on a cylinder and the minutes
New Watches
Ateliers Associés, founded by William Massena and Louis Westphalen-Lemaitre, supports independent watchmakers with funding and shared technical and commercial expertise in exchange for minority stakes. Its first partner is French watchmaker Mickaël Gaspar, whose decade-long project, the Souscription, aims to make mechanical watchmaking’s workings visible and understandable.
podcast
Nacho, RJ, and Daan discuss the small details that can undermine an otherwise excellent watch, from poorly finished components and uncomfortable clasps to bad straps, awkward date windows, and missing antireflective coatings. Their conversation highlights how these design and wearability choices shape the overall experience. The episode also features a
review
The Shinola Duck Automatic is a 38mm everyday sports watch with a skindiver-inspired design, 100 meters of water resistance, a rotating bezel, and a screw-down crown. Standard models use the Japanese Miyota 9015 automatic movement, offering a 42-hour power reserve and performance comparable to common Swiss calibers.
New Watches
Petermann Bédat’s Reference 2914 is the independent watchmaking duo’s first chronograph-only watch, adapting the split-seconds model into a more compact monopusher design. Its 36.5mm platinum case features soldered lugs, a polished concave bezel, a box-shaped sapphire crystal, and a snap-on caseback. The semi-
review
The RZE Seeker is a lightweight, compact everyday watch built around a solar-powered Epson AS01 quartz movement. Its 38mm Grade 2 titanium case, three-hand dial, 100-meter water resistance, and lack of a date prioritize comfort, legibility, and low-maintenance use. Three versions offer Spruce Green or Carbon
auctions
Phillips’ Hong Kong Watch Auction XXIII, scheduled for November 21–22, 2026, features tourbillons spanning historic pocket chronometers and contemporary wristwatches. Highlights include Audemars Piguet’s KAWS Royal Oak Concept, an early shock-resistant Richard Mille RM002, Théo Auffret’s Tourbillon à Paris, Beat Haldimann’s central flying tourbillon, and
Newsletter
Subdial heads west, Fossil finds its footing, and an $80,000 Freak meets a $20,501 reality check.
Feature
The Seiko H601-5480, known as the “Upside-Down Arnie,” is a rugged ana-digi watch released around 1985 or 1986, several years after the original H558 Arnie. The two models share a 45mm case, 22mm lugs, a protective resin shroud, 100-meter water resistance, and shock and chemical resistance;
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Eliud Kipchoge’s customized Artisans de Genève watch, Feather, reflects his belief that “no human is limited” and is designed around his needs as an endurance athlete. Weighing just 57 grams, it uses a Titalum case, a sapphire dial and bezel insert, and a modified skeletonized, manual-winding movement to
Feature
Anita Porchet is a celebrated Swiss enameller whose work has shaped dials and decorative pieces for leading watchmakers including Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Hermès, Chanel, Piaget and Audemars Piguet. She began learning the craft as a teenager, opened her own studio in the early 1990s, and later received the Prix
New Watches
The Moritz Grossmann Benu 1878 commemorates the 200th birthday of the brand’s founder and the 18th anniversary of its revival. Its German silver dial features a three-dimensional relief engraving of the German School of Watchmaking, founded by Karl Moritz Grossmann in Glashütte in 1878. The watch is limited
New Watches
The Hublot Big Bang Soldier All Black is a 42mm ceramic chronograph created with London-based Nigerian artist Leonard Iheagwam, known as Soldier. Limited to 50 pieces, it features an all-black design with silhouetted toy soldiers arranged in a bandolier across the bezel and dial, and a small-seconds
New Watches
The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 × Time+Tide Sundowner II builds on the original Solargraph collaboration with a larger 42mm sandblasted Grade 2 titanium case, rose-tone details, a gray ceramic bezel insert, and a black wave-pattern dial without a date. Its COSC-certified automatic TH31-01 movement offers
New Watches
The Garrick S8 is a 39mm, 8mm-thick time-only watch praised for its balanced proportions, practical 100m water resistance, and extensively skeletonized manual-winding movement. Its caliber offers approximately 60 hours of power reserve and is distinguished by hand-finished bridges and wheels, sharp internal angles, black polishing, and
New Watches
Sartory-Billard’s SB04-E Shanga is a limited-edition watch created with Shanga, a Tanzanian workshop that supports local artisans and people with disabilities through recycled-material crafts. Its deep-blue glass dial is handcrafted in Arusha, with pigment folded into the glass to create a swirling pattern. The
video
Wei Koh interviews A. Lange & Söhne’s Anthony de Haas about the manufacture’s rise as a defining name in modern chronograph watchmaking. They trace the story from the Datograph and Günter Blümlein’s vision through de Haas’s arrival in 2004 and the development of watches including the
video
The video explores the tension between collecting mechanical watches and frequently choosing the Apple Watch Ultra 4. It also reflects on how smartwatches first sparked an interest in watch collecting. It covers the creator’s daily watch setup and argues that Apple’s straps compare favorably with those from luxury
video
Subdial, a luxury watch trading platform, raised $20 million in a Series B round to support growth in the UK and its planned US launch. Co-founders Christy Davis and Ross Crane discuss the company’s journey from a kitchen-table idea to a business expecting more than £100 million
video
Generation X men who have spent decades working, raising families, paying bills, and putting others first are beginning to embrace the idea that life is too short to keep postponing what they want. Six men aged 44 to 62 reflect on whether this shift is a midlife crisis or a
video
The video presents 11 watches considered versatile enough to suit a wide range of outfits and occasions. It focuses on options for a one-watch collection that can be worn anytime and anywhere. The recommendations reflect the creator’s personal opinions about which watches offer the greatest versatility. No specific
New Watches
Tangens has expanded its Komposition Automatic collection with the Storm capsule, featuring dusty blue and dusty purple dials inspired by Denmark’s autumn skies. The new matte, velvet-like finish distinguishes them from the brushed and grained dials of the earlier models, while applied markers, luminous hands, and a no-
New Watches
Renaud Tixier’s Monday Skeleton reimagines the brand’s 2024 micro-rotor watch by removing the dial and skeletonising the remaining movement plate. Founded in 2023 by experienced watchmaker Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier, the brand developed an auxiliary winding system that uses a platinum inertia flywheel and a “dancer”
New Watches
Maen has added the Grand Tonneau Jump Hour to its permanent collection, building on the design of its 2025 collaboration with Nico Leonard. The 34mm-wide stainless steel tonneau case measures 9.7mm thick, offers 50m water resistance, and features brushed and polished surfaces, a sapphire crystal, and a display
comparisons
The Casio Duro, Seiko 5 SRPD51, and Citizen Promaster Eco-Drive offer distinct strengths at roughly $50, $200, and $350. The Duro delivers impressive value with 200-meter water resistance, a satisfying bezel, and comfortable wear, while the Seiko adds an automatic movement, engaging mechanical features, and attractive styling. The
podcast
The episode features Hodinkee senior editor Mark Kauzlarich discussing his first time serving on the 2026 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève jury. He explains how the jury’s voting and deliberations work, reflects on presenting the Gemset Watch Prize, and considers what the awards mean for the winners and
Feature
A new wave of independent watchmakers is gaining recognition for combining distinctive design with ambitious mechanical innovation. From Sylvain Berneron’s geometrically conceived cases and Mathieu Cleguer’s original escapement to Takahiko Aigaki’s natural-escapement tourbillon, these makers pursue personal ideas developed through carefully considered movement architecture, inventive complications,
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Eric Wind, founder of Wind Vintage, began his career as a watch specialist and vice president at Christie’s New York before launching his own business in 2017. He aims to educate people about vintage and modern watches and encourage them to become thoughtful, knowledgeable collectors. Wind’s collection includes
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Panerai’s connection with the Italian Navy dates to the early 1900s, when it supplied precision instruments before later producing watches. The Submersible line, introduced in 1998, is a rugged, military-inspired collection alongside the better-known Luminor and Radiomir. The new Marina Militare Submersible PAM01757 and PAM01758 share a
News
Subdial has raised $20 million to accelerate its growth, expand its inventory and enter the US market. Already trading at an annualised rate of about $100 million, the pre-owned luxury watch business has been profitable since early 2026 and has doubled in size over the past 18 months without
News
Subdial has secured a $20 million funding package to accelerate UK growth and establish a major US operation in 2027. The investment combines a Series B equity round led by Gresham House Ventures, participation from existing backers, and a debt facility expected to close shortly. Co-founder Christy Davis will
News
Fossil Group reported a third-quarter 2026 net profit of $11.7 million, reversing a $39.9 million loss a year earlier, as sales rose 2% to $271.2 million at constant currency. Analogue watch sales grew 6.4%, and Fossil-branded watches increased 13.6%. Operating profit reached $25.
