TIC TALK: WHAT’S NEW IN THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD OF MEN’S LUXURY WATCHES

So several exciting announcements made the front page headlines this past week on the men’s luxury watches front, led by the release of the Bremont Hawking Limited Edition Collection, commemorating the life of famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Here’s our weekly roundup of industry notes and new releases:

Bremont: Tribute to a great scientist

Hawking dedicated his life to the study of time, gravitation, made ground-breaking discoveries about black holes, all of which enhanced our understanding of the universe and beyond. “No one understood time better than Stephen Hawking,” writes the author of this article, in an obituary after Hawking died in 2018. So the commemoration in partnership with Hawking’s family is appropriate, a nice recognition of one of the most pre-eminent scientists in the past 100 years.

The new limited series of watches is called the Bremont Hawking. There is a stainless steel version, as well as 18k white gold and 18k rose gold versions, and also Bremont’s first limited edition lady’s watch. The watch features a retrograde seconds hand and grand date. When talking exclusivity, the watches contain four wooden discs inlaid into the back taken from the Hawking’s desk, where he did his work. That desk was one of his treasured possessions.

Limited number of pieces available

The watch also contains some meteorite to symbolize the cosmos, at the centre of the hand-finished closed case back. There’s an etching of stars from the night sky in Oxford, on 8th January 1942, the date Hawking was born. Even the watch’s serial number is special – printed on paper from original copies of a seminal Hawking research paper in 1979 commonly referred to as “The ‘nuts’ and ‘bolts’ of gravity”. That paper was co-authored with one of his longest-serving collaborators, Professor Gary Gibbons.

The stainless steel version ($9,995 USD) with the black dial is limited to 388 pieces worldwide. The rose gold case back ($22,495) with black dial and white gold case back ($23,495) with blue dial are limited to just 88 pieces. Case diameter is 41 mm, height is 14.20 mm, screw-down crown. Housed there is the BE-33AE movement with 42-hour power reserve. Matte black/blue metal dials with polished applied indexes also speak to the watch’s sophistication. The crystal is domed anti-reflective, scratch-resistant sapphire. Hand-built in the UK. Head over here for more information on where to buy.

Men’s luxury watches: H. Moser & Cie: Funky blue is “in”

H. Moser & Cie’s Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic was a success earlier this year, so the brand is unveiling it now featuring their signature Funky Blue fume dial ($43,900 USD). The Streamliner Flyback Chronograph was this year’s winner of the Chronograph Prize of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve.

Evoking high-speed trains from the past

The steel bracelet melds seamlessly with the cushion-shaped case. The Streamliner dial is unmistakable, with the blue, but the minimalism and fluidity that marks the watch’s aesthetic – steel on steel – is what really sets it apart. It really is a piece of beauty on the wrist. The rounded curves evoke the very first high-speed trains from the 1920s and 1930s. That’s where the “Streamliner” name comes from.

Daniel Craig, James Bond, and the new Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 

The diameter is generous at 42.3 mm. Its off-centre crown, with an “M”, sits at 4 o’clock. It balances the two push buttons located at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock. The piece is topped off by a domed Glassbox-type sapphire crystal, with see-through case back. The case has alternating brushed and polished finishes. The bezel has a Sunday brushed finish.

The 60 numeral dominates the dial at midday, harking back to stopwatches in day’s past. Legibility and functionality are front and centre. The hands have a thicker base and a fine tip. The seconds hand is red, and the minute hand is rhodium plated. The Streamliner is the first automatic chronograph with a central display equipped with a flyback function on the minutes and seconds.

Men’s luxury watches: Longines Legend Diver Watch

Longines’ Legend Diver Watch, a re-interpretation of a 1960s diver watch, from their Heritage segment, is now available in bronze. This new version very much retains the clean lines of the original timepiece. But Longines has added more modern technical features. This version of the Legend Diver Watch houses an automatic movement with silicon-balance spring. The titanium, bronze case is 42 mm.

The lacquered green dial is a stunner. There is also no compromise when talking legibility. The watch sports luminous hands, hour markers with squares coated with Super LumiNova and numerals enhanced with luminescent rectangles. The screw-down case back has an embossed emblem of a diver. What’s also striking about this men’s luxury watch, perhaps for its minimalism, is the brown leather strap finished with beige top-stitching. There’s also a second strap with green, NATO-type nylon, but the leather strap gives us the aesthetic balance we are looking for.