brand watches wiki – rolex watches, omega watches, replica watches

In 2004, TAG Heuer introduced us to a concept-turn-to-reality watch, the Monaco V4. The watch kind of kicked off TAG’s run at innovative concepts such as the Pendulum and Mikrograph over the next 8 years. It wasn’t until 2009 that we saw a production model of the V4, a watch favoring belt systems over gear trains. The V4 has seen a few variations through its life cycle, the latest of which is the Titanium model, showing off a bevy of materials to great effect, a rich black case and dial. The V4 Titanium was introduced last summer, but at this years Basel we got a chance to appreciate the watch up close.

From:HODINKEE

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By now, you should know about the One Hertz from Gronefeld.  We showed you a detailed look at it over a year ago, and even had Bart Gronefeld explain it to us in video.  The One Hertz is a real watch dedicated to true chronometry and holds the title of the world’s first serially produced watch with independent dead beat seconds.  This year, it beat out heavyweights like the Patek Philippe 5270, the JLC Reverso Tribute To 1931 and Vacheron’s excellent 37-timezone worldtimer to become TimeZone’s Watch of the Year (a celebration we documented here).

Bart Grönefeld paid a visit to NY a few weeks back and we got to see the One Hertz in person again, so we thought we’d snap a few photos.  The watch as seen above (in titanium) retails for 39,900 euro, and One Hertz in red gold is 49,500 euro.  More details can be found here.

More live pics below.

From:HODINKEE

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While most of you are spending today gawking at our new strap collection over in the HODINKEE Shop, we thought we’d divert your attention to two just fantastic sport watches of the mid-1970s, and both of them come not from Rolex, but from Tudor. 

The watch at left is the iconic Snowflake Submariner (Ref 9411), from which the new Tudor Heritage Black Bay borrows some of its inspiration.  And, the watch at right is a Tudor Chronograph, sometimes called the “Monte Carlo” for the way the sub-dials resemble poker chips.  This reference 7159 is a descendent of the reference 7031 “Home Plate” on which 2010′s Heritage Chronograph is based. 

Both of these watches date to the early to mid 1970s and represent a nice alternative to those Rolex Subs and Daytonas. 

From:HODINKEE

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One of our favorite things to do with new watches that are, in theory, connected with the watches of previous generations is put the old and new side-by-side.  You saw it here with the Rolex Explorer II Orange-Hand and here with the Royal Oak Jumbo, and at Basel World, we decided to do it with the excellent new Jack Heuer 80th Birthday Carrera, a watch we showed you in detail here.

You see, Jack Heuer designed his 80th birthday watch himself, and he is also responsible for the conception of the classic Heuer chronos for 40+ years ago, so, we brought along an early 1960s Heuer Carrera (reference 2447N) to see how they look side by side.  Obviously, the biggest difference between the two Carreras is the diameter – roughly a 5mm variance.  But, you can see the hands, hour markers, and shield are very much the same, not to mention the case design. 

What is also interesting is just how nice the 1/5 second scale is on both of these watches – placed expertly on the rehaut (the Carrera was the first watch with this trait – traditionally they were placed on the dial itself).  Withh the 60s 2447N you have a nice white contrast against a black dial, and with the 80th birthday watch, a clean grey again a bright silver. 

So, comparing a Jack Heuer design of 2012 against a Jack Heuer design of the early 1960s, you see that the man still knows how to make a good chronograph, half a century later.

From:HODINKEE

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click to enlargeOne of my favorite parts of SIHH this year wasn’t a watch, it was actually the window display of Cartier.  They put on a really interesting (and beautiful) exhibit of the Cartier Tank throughout the years (we’re going to show you much it in the coming weeks).  But, one of the cooler items on display with this check above – written from Mr. Clark Gable to Cartier, North America on October 18, 1948.

You have to wonder, what cost Mr. Gable $ 18.36 back then?

Related Content: To see a hands-on look with the new Cartier Tank Louis Cartier XL Slimline, click here.

From:HODINKEE

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Back in December, we got to play around with some amazing watches from the Christie’s sale (like this one).  One of them was the Patek you see here. It’s a reference 2481 manufactured in 1956.  It is, as you can tell, a relatively simple, tiime-only watch.  Still, it pulled down $ 464,500.  Why? Because the dial was Cloisonné enamel showing the historic “supercontinent” of Eurasia. Cloisonné dials are highly sought after by collectors and can make simple watches sell for extreme multiples of its mechanical value – as witnessed here.

Click through for more pictures of this beautiful Patek Philippe 2481 with Cloisonné dial.  For details on the sale, click here.

DID YOU KNOW? A time-only Rolex with Cloisonné enamal dial sold last year for $ 717,000

From:HODINKEE

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Click to enlargeSIHH can really distort your horological reality.  The absolute best watches in the world are everywhere, and you can actually touch them!  One highlight of the week was getting to play with not one, but two IWC Siderales.  The Siderale is the most complicated IWC ever produced, and costs roughly $ 750,000 (so, do the math for what’s in my hand above). 

We’ll have a video explanation of the IWC Siderale in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

From:HODINKEE

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Jaeger-LeCoultre only made 1,714 Polaris watches, and that’s inclusive of both American and European versions, those from 1965 and 1968.  According to many, they are the most collectible of all vintage JLC’s, along with the original Deep Sea Alarms from 1959.  Above is a second generation Polaris built exclusively for the American market.  What makes the US Polaris interesting is that it was not made tribute to in 2008, when JLC announced the tasteful re-editions. 

The Polaris is interesting because it was enormous for its time (42mm plus those three huge crowns), it featured an inner-rotating bezel, a mechanical alarm, a date, and a compressor case with a caseback built with 16 holes in it to increase the audibility of the alarm under water.  Strange, right? Still, it’s just an absolutely awesome looking watch.

From:HODINKEE

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It’s the Monday after the New Year and we thought we’d start the week off with some verifiable vintage Rolex pornography.  What you see above are three watches, all representing unique categories within each model’s history and three models that, according to most, would make up the holy trinity of vintage Rolex sports watches. 

Up top, we have a Rolex MilSub, a watch issued to the British Ministry of Defense (and explained in detail here).  To the left, we have a COMEX issued watch, which were given to divers of the Marseille-based underwater, offshore drilling-support company. And finally, to the right, we have a good old fashioned Oyster-cased Paul Newman Daytona.  Estimated value on these three watches? A lot.

Oh, and they all belong to one man.

In other news, we want to point you over to a great online vintage Rolex guide that we helped build.  It’s on Park & Bond, and it includes, frankly, more than you probably ever wanted to know about vintage Rolex.  Go check it out here!

(Pic via VRF)

From:HODINKEE

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Click to expand.The early 1970s Rolex Submariner 5512 is one of the coolest (affordable) vintage Subs around for a few reasons.  A) When compared to the reference 5513, it is significantly rarer.  Some say that for every six 5513′s Rolex made in the 1970s, they made one 5512.  B) The 5512 uses a chronometer-rated movement, while the 5513 does not. and C) Steve freaking McQueen wore one as his daily wearer.  Yup, Steve’s four-liner sold in 2009 for $ 234,000. 

For more on the 5512, click here.

Did You Know? Bonhams London sold an extremely rare “Explorer Dial” 5512 last year for 78,000 GBP.

From:HODINKEE

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