There are few high-end brands that we respect as much as Zenith and you don’t have to look much further than their website to understand why. Zenith is responsible for the stunning Elite Captain Dual Time, the very cool Striking 10th and even the Captain Windsor which boasts both an annual calendar and a chronograph for a price that is literally without competition. All Zenith timepieces are powered by their own in-house movements, allowing the internal technology to keep pace with their many beautiful designs. Zenith’s newest model, the Espada, is their attempt at an entry level model to attract new buyers while still incorporating their brand DNA into its simple three-hand design.
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One brand which has caught our eye in the past few months is the California and Biarritz, France based March LA.B watches. March LA.B seem to be very capable of making drool-worthy dress and casual watches with a unique blend of retro and European styling. While they feature a full men’s and women’s collection, we will highlight only a few pieces that have kept us returning to their site for another look.
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Along with the slow-moving trend back towards thin watches, dress watches have also been enjoying some increased amount of the spotlight. For whatever reason, brands are returning to the simple and classic stying of 50′s and 60′s to inspire new and modern timepieces. Here are just a few models that stand out for being beautiful, simple and aestetically versatile enough to suit a wide range of dress.
Tissot Visodate
- 40x 11.6 mm
- Stainless steel case (gold available)
- ETA 2836-2 with Day and Date
- Silver or black dial
- Sapphire crystal
- 30m WR
This modern Visodate has been styled after Tissot’s original Visodate model from the early 50′s. The Visodate is a classic dress watch in a modern size (40mm) with a price tag of around $550 USD. It is hard to think of a reason to exclude one of these from your rotation. We recommend the silver-dialed stainless steel model as Tissot does not fit the black dialed model with a black day and date wheel resulting in unbalanced dial proportions. The silver dial is perfect and the 40mm case is very practical and should wear larger thanks to a very thin bezel design. The silver dial should suit a black strap as easily as a brown option so the Visodate can be as dressy as you want it to be. If you’re looking for something a bit thinner, take a closer look at the Hamilton Jazzmaster below.
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OCEAN7 and its sister brand AirNautic, are well known for making sport and dive watches with a variety of styles and quite a few models have been seen on Watch Report in the past. After so many dive and aviation watches it was surprising to see a modern dress watch come from OCEAN7 but they have made one and its known simply as The Classic. We have two examples to show you today one is the OCEAN7 variant dressed in PVD with a standard movement and the other is the AirNautic version sporting a 24hr movement and blued steel hands. Its always nice to see a sport watch manufacturer design and build a dress watch as they enter the design process with everything they have learned making watches that have to be capable of withstanding far more than the standard dress watch typically encounters. The Classic and Classic 24 may be in the same case and from sister companies, but these are two rather different watches.
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We don't have as many reviews of women's watches as we should, so this one will be a welcome addition. Say hello to a newcomer, Bianci Watches, and their ceramic model H262LWS. Let's start off with specifications:
- Swiss quartz movement using a conventional battery.
- 38.4mm wide by 12.2mm thick; 42.7mm across if you include the crown.
- Cubic zirconias on the bezel in two concentric rings.
- 140g with all bracelet links.
- Non-locking butterfly deployant clasp.
- Ceramic case and bracelet.
- Sapphire crystal.
- Water resistant to 30m (100ft).
- Lumed hands.
- $329 from the Bianci website (get 20% off with the discount code "watchreph262").
Please read on for the full review and pictures.
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When I realized that most of my collection had shifted toward divers and sports watches, I started to keep an eye out for something a little more elegant — something that might be slightly more at home with dress shirt than a 15mm high piece of military equipment or a plastic digital G-Shock. The problem was that I refuse to sacrifice functionality for looks. I love handsome watches, but they have to work as well as they look, or I'm not interested.
The Seiko SBQJ015 is an excellent balance. It's a handsome watch with just the right amount of bling for me (meaning very little), and it has an incredibly impressive list of features:
- Titanium case and bracelet tempered with a process Seiko calls Diashield which essentially makes the titanium much harder than stainless steel. (I've worn mine in all kinds of situations, and it doesn't have a single scratch.)
- Sapphire crystal.
- Perpetual calendar.
- GMT hand.
- Independently adjustable hour hand which allows you adjust the time when traveling between time zones without having to stop the watch or change the minutes.
- Equipped with Sieko's famous 8F56 movement which is accurate to within ±20 seconds per year. That's about as much variance as you can expect to see per month in an average non-atomic quartz watch.
- 10-year battery.
- Water-resistent to 100 meters, or about 330 feet.
- A perfect 40mm in diameter (for my narrow wrist, anyway) excluding the crown, and about 44mm total.
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There aren’t a lot of American companies making watches these days — RGM, Kobold, Bathys; a handful of others. So let’s welcome new San Francisco brand Xetum — the brainchild of founder, Jeff Kuo. He’s started a new company with two original-design, Swiss-movement watches: the Tyndall (pictured), and Stinson. Jeff kindly agreed to loan us a Tyndall for review, so let’s dive into something quite rare: a brand-new, American-designed mechanical watch.
- The movement is the high-end ETA 2895, Elabore grade. Note that ETA has five movement grades (base, standard, elabore, top, and chronometer, where chrometer is top plus COSC testing) so this is a expensive and nicely decorated movement. It’s phenomenal to see a 289x on a watch under $2,000.
- Assembled in Switzerland.
- 316L stainless steel case with hidden lugs, screw-down crown, and exhibition caseback.
- Sapphire crystal, anti-reflective coated.
- Nicely sized at 40mm by 11mm.
- Water resistant to 100m (330ft).
- Hours, minutes, subseconds, and date.
- Superluminova on hour and minute hands, and on the 3, 6, 9, and 12.
- Available from their website for $1,395.
Please read on for the full review.
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Rolex's second announcement this year at BaselWorld 2010 was a redesigned Explorer. I've always loved the Explorer for its unparalleled simplicity and stark elegance, but at only 36 millimeters, it was a tad bit diminutive by today's standards. Not anymore. The size of the new Explorer is much more in line with modern expectations.
Below is a list of everything that's new in the new Rolex Explorer:
- 39 millimeters rather than 36. That's only one millimeter smaller than their other tool watches (like the new Rolex Submariner Date).
- The movement now uses the new Parachrom Blue hairspring which we discussed previously in the context of the Rolex Milgauss.
- The now-standard signed chapter ring not my favorite new feature, but believe me, I wouldn't let it stop me from wearing one.
- Slightly redesigned dial: the word "EXPLORER" has been moved from the top where it used to be down to the bottom.
Features that haven't changed:
- COCS certified.
- Solid steel case and bracelet.
- Sapphire crystal.
- Screwdown crown.
- Water-resistant to 100 meters or 330 feet.
- No date (part of what it makes it so simple and beautiful).
Not sure yet on pricing or availability. I'll update when I know more.
By Christian Cantrell
This review is of a watch with a minimalist design, the Stowa Marine Original Limited Edition II. Part of a series of 120 (of which 80 were sold in the US) the Limited Edition looks almost identical to the regular Marine Original Black with Arabic numbers.
Specifications:
- Handwinding Unitas 6498 movement (time only — not even date).
- 41mm by 12mm stainless steel case, brushed finish, 85g.
- Hand-stictched leather strap with pushbutton signed double deployant clasp.
- Applied metallic 12 instead of painted numerals (as with the normal Marine Original), and a serial number under the subseconds dial.
- Double-domed sapphire crystal, and sapphire movement cover.
- Signed 7mm crown (non-screw-down).
Read on for the full review.
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Russians aren't generally known for their electronics or their cars, but you
may want to pay attention to their watches. The Poljot Traveller Alarm
hails from the motherland and does so with simple style, interesting
features, and some old-world charm. I bought this watch second hand and in the spirit of Russian simplicity and functionality, it came with nothing more than a well worn Poljot black leather strap with signed buckle. The Traveller is a sleek mechanical multi-function dress watch with an unusual alarm and svelte style.
- Poljot 2612 hand-wound mechanical movement.
- Separate hand-wound mechanism for alarm.
- 39mm wide.
- 20mm lugs.
- Limited to 999 pieces.
- Internal reflector to measure 3rd timezone.
- Mineral crystal.
- 3ATM water resistance (30 meters, or about 96 feet).
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There are few high-end brands that we respect as much as Zenith and you don’t have to look much further than their website to understand why. Zenith is responsible for the stunning Elite Captain Dual Time, the very cool Striking 10th and even the Captain Windsor which boasts both an annual calendar and a chronograph for a price that is literally without competition. All Zenith timepieces are powered by their own in-house movements, allowing the internal technology to keep pace with their many beautiful designs. Zenith’s newest model, the Espada, is their attempt at an entry level model to attract new buyers while still incorporating their brand DNA into its simple three-hand design.
