As a watch collector, I go over the neo-vintage releases every year, and GQ France's latest ranking has given me a few new cravings. The idea is simple: capture the soul of the '60s and '70s without the headaches of true vintage pieces — fragility, costly servicing, parts you can't find.
My favorite from the selection is the Breitling Navitimer B09 "Miles Davis", a hand-wound chronograph limited to 500 pieces that revisits the reference 806 worn by the musician. I also love the Seiko Prospex Alpinist, the mountain watch born in 1959 that returns with its original logo and compass bezel, for under 1000 euros.
What I like about neo-vintage is that it tells a story: the yellow-gold TAG Heuer Carrera, a tribute to the Ferrari drivers of the '70s, the Tissot Visodate from 1954, or the Zenith Chronomaster Revival El Primero A384, faithful to the millimeter to the 1969 original.
And then there's the rational argument: chosen well, a watch like this can gain value over time. In short, my grail list just got longer again, and my wallet is already trembling.
Source: GQ France
Most watches are round: a round case, a round dial and a whole lot of round mechanical parts beneath. But lately some famous names have started to bend the rules. Harry Styles wore a Cartier Tank Louis, Connor Storrie pulled a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso out at a fashion show, and rectangular dress watches are no longer questioned on the red carpet. According to a GQ article, the next thing is triangles.
Watches of this kind are rare on the market, but the good examples make a strong case. The Anoma A1, with its rounded triangular case inspired by a free-form table Charlotte Perriand designed in the 1950s, is cited as the best recent example. The Angles Triscope and the Nectere Eclipse are also mentioned.
What really caught my attention were the pioneers. Richard Arbib's Hamilton Ventura appeared in 1957 as the world's first electric wristwatch, and nearly 70 years later it still looks futuristic. In the same period Gilbert Albert designed the triangular Patek Philippe ref. 3412. Made in 18-carat gold, only a handful of these watches were produced.
So why did the circle win? The experts in the article say it is simply because it works: a circle is symmetrical, easy to make, fits naturally with a circular mechanism and is comfortable on the wrist. With triangles, attaching the strap, arranging the dial layout and sealing the corners neatly are all harder.
For vintage watch enthusiasts, I think this article offers a good way of thinking about how form is connected to the mechanics.
Source: GQ Türkiye
HODINKEE Japan has published an article on a return visit to the workshop of independent watchmaker Philippe Dufour, thirteen years after the last one. It is a translation of a piece first published in June on HODINKEE US. The workshop is in Le Solliat, in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland. Dufour, who has been working as a watchmaker for more than 59 years, is still pouring his passion entirely into making watches. His daughter Daniela also works on watches in the same workshop.
The workbench is covered with watches in progress, and the most famous Simplicity is still in production. There is no waiting list: orders are taken when there is time and room for them. Above all, he says, the Simplicity must be recognisable at a glance from its 37 mm case. Six movements are currently in production, and two of them are finished.
What I found most interesting in the article is that most of it is devoted to pocket watches. A school watch made in 1967 at watchmaking school, a 1884 Waltham chronograph and minute repeater, and a collection of pocket watches that came out of a safe are all featured. The article also tells how the Duality, with its two balances, was inspired by school watches that six students made at the Le Sentier watchmaking school between 1932 and 1934. One example made by Albert Pighin sold a few years ago for 250,000 Swiss francs.
Only ten Dualities were made, and an improved version has also been completed, but by today's standards it is too complex to mass-produce. Details of the tools in the workshop are fascinating too, such as the use of gentian wood to polish the chamfers.
His everyday wristwatch is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 50th anniversary model, and it is charming that most of his watches are gifts from his wife. It is an article you can slowly browse with photos of the workplace of a pioneer of independent watchmaking, and I wish that anyone interested in long-established watchmaking would read it.
Source: HODINKEE Japan
Meistersinger is celebrating 25 years of one-hand watches, and this year brings a first: the Münster brand's first watch with a jumping hour. Now it follows up with the Panthero Jumping Hour Guilloché Edition, a craft-focused variant limited to just 25 pieces.
In the Panthero Jumping Hour, only one hand still goes around: the minute hand, which runs not from the centre but on a decentralised, applied ring. The hour appears in a round window and jumps forward exactly every 60 minutes. An element turning once a second forms a stylised sun and adds a bit of motion to the dial.
What sets this edition apart is its light blue dial with fine guilloché engraving. The delicate pattern is made on historic guilloché machines, which demand experience, concentration and a sure touch from the guillocheur. Accordingly, light plays beautifully across the facets. The minute ring, hands and sun wheel are in dark grey, providing clear contrast.
The stainless steel case measures 40.5 millimetres. Inside works the automatic calibre MS-JH-01, based on the Sellita SW300 with an added jumping-hour module, offering a 47-hour power reserve. The decorated movement can be viewed through the caseback. The watch comes with a cognac-coloured cowhide strap with crocodile-pattern embossing. The price is €7,990, and delivery is planned from the end of the third quarter.
I like how a calm, clarity-focused concept is deliberately combined with a very traditional craft technique. Modern mechanics and historic machines fit together surprisingly well.
Source: WatchTime
A surprise from the watch world this week: a consortium led by Montres Journe, with Chanel and former De Bethune chief executive Pierre Jacques, has bought 95% of Ebel from the Movado Group for US$66.5 million. Movado keeps the remaining shares, and Jacques will run the brand on his own.
For vintage fans, Ebel is a name worth remembering. In the 1980s and 1990s it was one of the biggest brands in Switzerland, famous for the Sport Classique, nicknamed the "wave" for its integrated bracelet. Launched in 1977, that model pushed the workforce up fifteen-fold and revenue into nine figures. Cartier even turned to Ebel to produce Cartier watches, and Ebel was the biggest buyer of Zenith's El Primero movements.
The decline began after Pierre-Alain Blum, grandson of the founders, sold the company in 1994 following ill-fated diversifications. Investcorp bought it, then LVMH, and then Movado, which tried and failed to revive it over two decades. Movado is now selling for about what it paid some 23 years ago.
What happens next will be interesting. Old Ebel pieces from the Sport Classique era are well worth a look on the vintage market, and a serious new owner could change how people see them.
Source: SJX Watches
There is a simple answer to why the Vacheron Constantin 222 is named the way it is, and it is a sum. The watch was launched in 1977, and Vacheron Constantin dates its founding to 1755. The difference is 222 years, so the watch was made to mark the brand's 222nd anniversary and took that number as its name.
The brand counts 1755 as its birth year, when Jean-Marc Vacheron signed his apprenticeship contract as a watchmaker in Geneva. That is why it is often called the oldest watchmaking company in continuous operation in the world. Many people have believed the 222 was designed by Gérald Genta, but that is not true. The designer was Jörg Hysek, who was 24 when the watch came out. He had worked for a time in Rolex's design department before he set up on his own.
The first version, reference 44018, was 37 mm in diameter and is called the "Jumbo" by collectors. The case was made in one piece, so the movement was inserted from above, and a heavily fluted bezel was screwed on, giving 120 metres of water resistance. The whole case was only 7 mm high.
The thinness comes from the movement. Vacheron Constantin used calibre 1120, a further development of Jaeger-LeCoultre's ultra-thin automatic movement 920, which measures 3.05 mm with date and, according to the brand, was the thinnest automatic movement with a full rotor in the world. The bracelet with large hexagonal centre links and the Maltese cross at five o'clock makes it easy to recognise.
Since 2022 the watch has been available as the reissue Historiques 222, first in yellow gold and from 2025 also in steel. I like that a name that sounds like a model number is really a birthday greeting, and it is a good reminder that the stories behind vintage watches are often more fun than you would think.
Source: Klockfeber
In 2026 it has been 225 years since the tourbillon patent was granted to Abraham-Louis Breguet on 26 June 1801. To mark the anniversary, the manufacture has presented a varied collection with five interpretations of the mechanism.
Breguet's principle was to place the escapement, balance wheel and balance spring inside a rotating cage. By exposing the regulating organ to different vertical positions, the mechanism compensated for the errors caused by gravity and gave a more precise average rate. Between 1796 and 1829, Breguet and his collaborators produced only 40 finished tourbillons, a figure that gives an idea of how complex they were.
The piece that interests me most is the Classique Tourbillon 7357, the most direct link to the house's recent history. It is inspired by the reference 3350 of 1990, considered the first tourbillon wristwatch of the contemporary Breguet. Its case is 35 mm in diameter and 9.2 mm high, with a guilloché gold dial. The new calibre 187B is hand-wound, runs at 2.5 Hz, has 60 hours of power reserve and a silicon escapement, and is derived from the historic calibre 558. It is offered in 950 platinum and in Breguet gold.
The Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255, meanwhile, is the first Breguet with a flying tourbillon, supported only from below, and it revives the "mysterious" construction with sapphire gears. Its black aventurine grand feu enamel dial evokes a night sky.
It is a good example of how a complication from the early 19th century still inspires watchmaking today, from faithful reinterpretations to experimental pieces with a 10 Hz tourbillon.
Source: Horas y Minutos
The Watch and Clock Club and the Swiss manufacture Favre-Leuba have released a limited edition Harpoon Revival dedicated to Tytus, Romek and A'Tomek. The idea came from the club's members and joins Swiss watchmaking with Polish comic culture, as a tribute to Henryk Chmielewski, better known as Papcio Chmiel.
The two stories share the year 1966. That year Favre-Leuba introduced the Harpoon model, and in Poland the first book of the adventures of Tytus, Romek and A'Tomek was published. Six decades later, the two anniversaries meet in one watch. It keeps the distinctive silhouette of the 1966 original, and the series is limited to just 66 pieces.
The details on the dial are the most interesting part. The text "1of66" is designed so that the "of" looks like a nine, which gives you 1966. The dial itself imitates an old comic page, both in colour and in texture. On the left side, Tytus hangs from a bar, drawn in the version the author corrected in the 1989 edition, and the index is tilted 15 degrees, because Tytus swung too hard and broke it off. The caseback is engraved with Papcio Chmiel and his signature, along with the word "Uczłowieczyciel" (the humaniser).
Favre-Leuba was founded in 1737 and is the second-oldest Swiss watch manufacture. Its motto, "Conquering Frontiers", suits the heroes' expeditions well. Sales run as pre-orders: first the orders are collected on the club forum, and then series production will start.
I like projects like this, because they show that a vintage design from the 1960s can get a new life thanks to the passion of ordinary collectors.
Source: Klub Miłośników Zegarów i Zegarków
Anyone who owns a mechanical watch knows that the moment for a service eventually comes, and knowing whom to entrust it to matters almost as much as the watch itself. That is why the news that Pisa 1940 has opened a new workshop of more than 170 square metres in Milan, dedicated to servicing, overhaul and restoration, caught my attention.
The workshop has six fully equipped workstations, designed for both quick check-ups and highly precise work, and a team of eight watchmakers with certified training from the best-known Maisons. There are rooms for cleaning and sandblasting, areas for washing movements, cases and bracelets, and advanced diagnostic tools, including water-resistance testing.
The starting point is a principle that is dear to the company's history. Chiara Pisa, the CEO, recalls that her grandfather Ugo regarded watches as living things, with a ticking like a heartbeat. Looking after a watch through maintenance, overhaul or repair therefore means nurturing the bond between the watch and the person who wears it.
An interesting choice is to make the workshop independent of the boutiques, moving away from the trend of integrating technical centres into showrooms. The closed workshop of the past gives way to transparency and dialogue with customers, collectors and enthusiasts, and there is even a library corner with more than 250 volumes.
For collectors of vintage watches, this is good news: a workshop that places restoration at the centre, in plain view, is a sign of how alive watchmaking craftsmanship still is.
Source: Orologi
Angelus has just launched the Chronographe Tachymètre, a trio of compact monopusher watches that follows last year's Chronographe Télémètre. Same case, same hand-wound calibre, but the telemeter scale is swapped for a tachymeter that measures speed. It is a small change on paper, yet it suits a chronograph so naturally that I can see why they did it.
The brand itself goes back to Le Locle in 1891 and was known for repeaters, alarms and chronographs. Today's La Fabrique collection takes watches from the 1930s to the 1950s as a starting point and rebuilds them with modern materials. The case is 37 mm across and 9.25 mm thick, with a curved caseband and lugs that sweep down and twist at the sides, which gives it that unmistakable vintage profile. The single pusher sits inside the fluted crown at 3 o'clock and handles start, stop and reset.
Inside is the hand-wound A5000, made by sister company La Joux-Perret. Its roots go back to the THA movement of the late 1980s, later known as the Cartier 045MC used in the 1999 Tortue Monopoussoir. It has a column wheel and horizontal clutch, beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour and gives 42 hours of power reserve, finished with Geneva stripes, circular graining and polished screws.
There are three dial options: a gold one with details the brand calls British racing green, plus two steel versions in coral pink with steel grey, or pearl grey with petrol-blue subdials. The tachymeter scale starts at 500 km/h on a base of 1,000. The gold edition is limited to 15 pieces, the steel ones to 30 and 50, at CHF 34,600 and CHF 18,500 respectively.
What I like here is that the brand is not copying an old watch line for line but treating its archive as a creative foundation. Whether a monopusher at this price is for you is another question, but as a study in how to revive vintage design with a proper movement, it is interesting.
Source: Monochrome Watches
Among Cartier's shaped watches, the Ceinture remains one of the most understated. Its octagonal case, derived from a square with cut corners, and its stepped bezel evoke the buckle of a belt, which is where the name comes from. Originally designed in 1927, it was brought back into the spotlight in the 1970s with the Louis Cartier Collection, launched in 1973, which reinterpreted twelve of the house's historic shapes.
There is not just one Ceinture, and that is the point to understand before buying. Reference 78100 is the small version at about 25 x 25 mm, 78099 measures 27 x 27 mm, 78208 takes the same size in a two-tone gold version, and 17001, nicknamed "Jumbo" by collectors, reaches about 31 x 31 mm with an automatic movement (calibre 2670). The first versions of the 1973 collection were hand-wound with calibre 78-1, while quartz variations appeared in the 1980s.
One construction detail struck me: the crown does not have the usual blue sapphire cabochon, but a flat octagonal shape integrated into the notch of the bezel, a device known at the time as the "remontoir imperdable" (captive winder). The result is very pure, even if winding by hand requires a little finesse.
For vintage Cartier enthusiasts, the dial often makes the difference. Some pieces read "Paris" under the railway track instead of "Swiss", a hallmark of the early series or of the rue de la Paix boutique, and they are highly sought after today. The article reminds us, however, that this one word alone does not justify a premium: the condition of the case (not over-polished), the freshness of the enamel dial, the original gold deployant clasp and the consistency of components matter just as much.
Less publicised than the Tank or the Santos, the Ceinture keeps an aura of exclusivity, and that is what makes it charming. It is a good reminder that with vintage, you are buying a specific reference, not simply a name.
Source: Montres de Luxe
