Watch Features

Welcome to WatchTime’s watch features section. Here you will find watch feature stories, watch reports, interesting watch technology coverage, interviews with watch brands, background articles about watches, watch brands and technical stories.

Spy Timer: Reviewing the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition

No Time to Die, the long-awaited 25th James Bond film, is finally slated to make its big-screen debut on October 8, 2021. Despite all the Covid-related delays of the film’s release, we’ve all known since December 2019 what watch Bond will be wearing: the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition, a military-look dive watch designed...

Read the article

Sep 15, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

Sponsored: The Return of the Legendary Hanhart 417 ES

The reissue of the Hanhart 417 ES marks the return of a legend among wristwatches. More than 60 years ago, the original model served as the first pilot’s chronograph for the German armed forces. Today Hanhart combines the watch’s iconic historical design with the most modern production techniques to produce a robust chronograph suitable for...

Read the article

Oct 20, 2021 by WatchTime

FEATURE

Double Time: Eight GMT Watches For Travelers at Work and Play

A second time zone can be shown in many ways, offering a wide range of options for watch designers. As the summer travel season winds down, we showcase some notable timepieces with second-time-zone (GMT) displays in this article from our 2019 Special Design Issue.

Read the article

Sep 15, 2021 by Jens Koch

FEATURE

The Dial as Canvas: Six Watches From Artistic Collaborations

With these six timepieces created in collaboration with, or in tribute to, contemporary and historical artists, watch manufacturers get highly personal in the time-honored tradition of using applying miniaturized artistic masterworks to their dial.

Read the article

Sep 13, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

Destination Moon: Introducing Two new Hakuto-R Eco-Drive Chronographs from Citizen (with Live Photos)

Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. and space start-up Ispace Inc. have recently joined forces. As corporate partner of Ispace’s planned commercial lunar exploration program, the 100-year-old Japanese watchmaker and pioneer in the use of titanium has now released two limited-edition chronographs dedicated to the upcoming missions that should also bring parts made of the brand’s Super...

Read the article

Oct 13, 2021 by WatchTime

On Time, Off-Center: Five Watches With Asymmetrical Time Displays

Most watches, even those equipped with numerous complications, still place the primary timekeeping indications — hours, minutes, and seconds — in the center of their dials and strive for symmetry in their overall design. Here are a handful of timepieces that do it differently. A. LANGE & SÖHNE LANGE 1 No listing of timepieces with...

Read the article

Sep 10, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

The Long and Winding Road: How Porsche Design Became a Watchmaking Manufacture

Porsche Design has been uniting the worlds of automotive design and horological innovation for nearly half a century, and its recent rebirth as an independent watchmaker takes the synergy to the next level. Scroll down for the full story. “If you analyze the function of an object,” Professor Ferdinand A. “Butzi” Porsche famously uttered, “its...

Read the article

Sep 9, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

Borrowed Time: Panerai Luminor Marina DMLS – 44MM PAM 1662

Panerai has staked a claim in the luxury watch world as a top-tier innovator in applying high-tech materials and industrial processes from outside the world of watchmaking to develop timepieces that are distinctly avant-garde yet still classically Panerai. With the Luminor Marina DMLS – 44 MM, which I had the opportunity to wear and review...

Read the article

Sep 8, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

FEATURE

Taking it to the Streets: Inside Bell & Ross’s “Urban” Sport Luxury Line, the BR 05

For a relatively young company, Bell & Ross with its aviation-inspired aesthetic has steadily climbed into the rarefied air of “brands you recognize at a glance from across the room.” The watchmaker founded in 1992 by longtime friends Bruno (“Bell”) Belamich and Carlos (“Ross”) Rosillo has laid claim to the amalgam of massive, matte-black square...

Read the article

Sep 7, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

Circles of Time: Reviewing the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Time Zone

Fifteen years after its introduction, the Lange 1 Time Zone from A. Lange & Söhne was equipped with a new manufacture caliber. The time in two different time zones can be read intuitively from the dial. But this watch offers much more, as we can confirm after scrutinizing one we were able to preview before...

Read the article

Sep 7, 2021 by Martina Richter

From the Seas to the Skies: Hands-on with the Bremont Supermarine Chrono

British watchmaker Bremont began unveiling its 2021 novelties to the market back in the spring. Leading the pack was an updated version of the brand’s popular, vintage-influenced Supermarine dive watch that added a new GMT function. Alongside that highly praised piece was the model we had a chance to go hands-on with recently: the Bremont...

Read the article

Sep 2, 2021 by Caleb Anderson

TIMEPIECE TIMELINE

10 Highlights in the History of the Dive Watch

In the beginning, dive watches were pure tools that helped keep divers on time and alive. Today they’re something else: fashion statements, conversation pieces, rugged companions for a trip to the beach or pool. Our Timeline: "Dive Watches Through the Decades," traces the history of the dive watch from its start in the 1920s, with the invention of the first truly water-resistant cases, to 2014.

Read the article

Sep 2, 2021 by WatchTime

FEATURE

Anything But Ordinary: 8 Watches Made from Extraordinary Materials

Is gold too precious and stainless steel too commonplace for you? Several watch manufacturers are experimenting with case materials that add even greater excitement to unconventional timepieces. From the WatchTime archives, here are eight timepieces that incorporate these out-of-the-ordinary materials.

Read the article

Sep 1, 2021 by WatchTime

FEATURE

Tools for the Depths: The Dive Watches of Rolex

Dive watches from Rolex are highly sought after. And it’s no wonder with such an exciting history, a number of noteworthy collaborations, unique designs and robust, accurate in-house movements. We explore the various models in this feature from the WatchTime archives. Rolex currently produces four different dive watch models: the Submariner and Submariner Date, the...

Read the article

Aug 31, 2021 by Jens Koch

Hands-On: Three Months with the G-Shock Full Metal Red Ion GMWB5000RD-4

The G-Shock Full Metal collection, since its launch in 2018, has been a major hit among both media and consumers. The collection has grown substantially since that debut and now includes a wide variety of steel- and titanium-cased timepieces, with colors including all-steel, black, blue, “aged,” and integrated resin-and-metal styles. This year, I was fortunate...

Read the article

Aug 31, 2021 by Caleb Anderson

Ready for Takeoff: The Story of Longines and the Pioneers of Aviation

Daring pilots relied on Longines watches aboard their flying machines in the 1920s and 1930s. The brand’s recently launched Spirit models recall this exciting history. Freezing cold. Deafening noise. Leaden fatigue. He’s been flying for 11 hours and now night has fallen over the Atlantic Ocean. It will be more than twice as long before...

Read the article

Aug 30, 2021 by Ruediger Bucher

Strength in Numbers: Five Watches with Big Date Displays

Some watch connoisseurs find date displays of any kind on a watch dial distracting, unnecessary, and disruptive to a harmonious design. Others not only appreciate them, but also want them to be as legible and prominent as possible. For the latter group, we’ve assembled this list.

Read the article

Aug 29, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

Stained Glass on the Wrist: Jaquet Droz Introduces the Petite Heure Minute Smalta Clara Hummingbird

Jaquet Droz has a long history of producing animal-inspired timepieces. In 2021 thus far alone, the luxury maker has unveiled the four oxen-emblazed watches and a dragon watch, these among many more making up the mythical and real beast legacy behind the brand. This week, the Swiss watchmaker is once again tapping this theme, now...

Read the article

Aug 27, 2021 by Caleb Anderson

FEATURE

Touching the Past: Six Modern “Retro” Watches and the Historical Pieces That Inspired Them

When retro-inspired watches are modeled after specific predecessors, fans of mechanical timekeeping can “grasp” design history. In this feature from the WatchTime archives, we take a look at six watches that awaken a longing for the past.

Read the article

Aug 27, 2021 by Alexander Krupp

WATCH REVIEW

Borrowed Time: Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision

Ulysse Nardin unveiled the first automatic version of the game-changing Freak in 2018. However, the revolutionary Grinder winding system is just one noteworthy feature of the Freak Vision, which deftly blends the brand’s nautical history with its forward-thinking technical inventiveness. I give it an in-depth look in this review from WatchTime's March-April 2019 issue.

Read the article

Aug 26, 2021 by Mark Bernardo

PORTFOLIO

So Close to Heaven: 8 Astronomically Inspired Watches

The universe has always fascinated us. Our desire to explore its vastness is the focus of watch designers who create moon-phase displays, meteorite dials and depictions of the starry firmament. In this excerpt from our WatchTime 2020 Special Design Issue, on sale now, we showcase some of the most exciting astronomical newcomers.

Read the article

Aug 25, 2021 by Alexander Krupp

The Year of the QP? Five Perpetual Calendar Watches Introduced in 2021

If there has been one most notable complication among the many new watches introduced throughout 2021 thus far, it has clearly been the Perpetual Calendar. First introduced commercially in a wristwatch in 1925 by Patek Philippe, a perpetual calendar movement can display the date, day, month, and year with precise accuracy and even account for...

Read the article

Aug 24, 2021 by Caleb Anderson

«
1
2
3
4
5
…
10
…
20
…
30
…
40
…
49
»