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.

One-Man Brand: The Story of UTS Divers’ Watches

Munich-based UTS has carved out a niche: German-made professional divers’ watches, all with cases made in-house from single blocks of steel by engineer Nicolaus Spinner. Learn more in this feature from WatchTime’s December 2011 issue. Most of us, when we’re looking for our ideal watch, simply do our homework — visit retailers, read magazines and...

Read the article

Jul 23, 2013 by Mark Bernardo

La Montre Hermès CEO Luc Perramond: The WatchTime Q&A

Luc Perramond, CEO of La Montre Hermès, the watchmaking division of the famed French fashion house, is on a mission to elevate Hermès timepieces to a higher level of manufacturing self-sufficiency and horological mastery. Last year, the first Hermès watches with proprietary mechanical movements made their debut at Baselworld, and Perramond has been very busy...

Read the article

Jul 22, 2013 by Mark Bernardo

From WatchTime Magazine: 7 “Buzz” Watches From Baselworld 2013

Every Baselworld has its “buzz” watches, new models that set fairgoers’ tongues wagging, whether they’re technologically advanced, unexpected from the brand that produced them, or a new twist on an old standby, In the current issue of Watchtime, on sale now, we spotlight seven of them in detail. Here is a glimpse of the timepieces...

Read the article

Jul 7, 2013 by Mark Bernardo

Watch Insider Reviews Jaquet Droz’s “The Charming Bird,” with Photos, Audio, and Video

On my recent trip to Shanghai I had the opportunity to put my hands on a luxury item that in the 18th century was accessible only to emperors and kings — namely, a wristwatch with a singing automaton. Yes, of course, the wristwatch had yet to be invented in the 18th century, and automatons were...

Read the article

Jul 3, 2013 by Alexander Linz

Audio: Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Stéphane Belmont Explains the Gyrotourbillon 3

In our July-August 2013 issue, on sale next week, WatchTime’s Mike Disher visits Jaeger-LeCoultre’s manufacture in Le Sentier, and meets with JLC marketing and technical director Stéphane Belmont, to reveal the story behind the brand’s ultra-complicated Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon 3 wristwatch.

Read the article

Jun 27, 2013 by WatchTime

TAG Heuer Commemorates 50 Years of Carrera

Jack Heuer is the man behind the TAG Heuer Carrera, the iconic sports watch that turns 50 this year. In this story from my blog, Watch-Insider.com, I reveal the Carrera’s fascinating history, with quotes and insight from Jack himself, and unveil the 2013 TAG Heuer Carrera watches introduced at Baselworld.

Read the article

Jun 10, 2013 by Alexander Linz

Five “Uber Watches” from SIHH

There are watches and there are watches. Included in the second category are pieces so technically extravagant, so hyper-engineered that they belong to a very special club. Their prices are stratospheric. Hardly anyone will ever own one. But they are fascinating nonetheless. As always, this year’s SIHH fair in Geneva in January brought out a...

Read the article

Mar 29, 2013 by Mark Bernardo

Seconds City: Exploring La Chaux-de-Fonds

In our March-April issue, on sale now on newsstands and for the iPad, Norma Buchanan visits the Swiss watchmaking town of Le Locle. In this feature story from our June 2009 issue, Buchanan journeys to another cradle of Swiss horology, La Chaux-de-Fonds, a town that is still, as Karl Marx described it a century and...

Read the article

Mar 11, 2013 by Norma Buchanan

How Bovet Blossomed

In our March-April issue, on sale now, WatchTime’s Jay Deshpande speaks to Bovet owner Pascal Raffy about his plans for the 187-year-old brand. In this feature from our December 2009 issue, writer Lucien F. Trueb explores Bovet’s history and the story of how Raffy fell madly in love with it.

Read the article

Mar 8, 2013 by Mark Bernardo

‘Melo Gold: WatchTime’s Interview with NBA Superstar Carmelo Anthony

New York Knicks all-star forward Carmelo Anthony is a scoring machine on the court and an avid watch collector off of it. WatchTime profiled ‘Melo back in the winter of 2007, on the eve of his return to his old team, the Denver Nuggets. Click here to read the full article, with original photos from...

Read the article

Feb 11, 2013 by Mark Bernardo

Flying Through Turbulence: A History of Breitling

The February issue of WatchTime, on sale now, features as its cover story a test of the Breitling Transocean Chronograph Unitime, a world-time watch with in-house Caliber B09. As a complement to the cover story, we offer this WatchTime.com exclusive story by WatchTime contributor Gisbert Brunner that traces the history of Breitling.

Read the article

Jan 15, 2013 by Gisbert Brunner

At Piaget, Thin is Always In

In 2007, Piaget marked the 50th anniversary of its ultra-thin Caliber 9P by reissuing the movement that made it famous and by launching its first in-house mechanical chronograph movement. In this feature from our November-December 2007 issue, contributor and Watch Insider blogger Alexander Linz covers this milestone for WatchTime.

Read the article

Dec 17, 2012 by Alexander Linz

Mountain Climbing: Montblanc’s Journey to Haute Horlogerie

In this profile piece from WatchTime’s January-February 2009 issue, executive editor Norma Buchanan reveals how Montblanc, a brand best known for pens, entered the heady world of haute horlogerie, and explores the brand’s ultra-complicated Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses. In the fall of 2006 the Richemont Group surprised the watch world when it bought Fabrique d’Horlogere...

Read the article

Dec 4, 2012 by Norma Buchanan

Hanhart Heads West

In this feature from our current issue, we profile Hanhart, a Swiss-German company known mostly in Europe — and mostly for its stopwatches — and its plans to bring its wristwatches to the United States.

Read the article

Oct 24, 2012 by Gisbert Brunner

Cartier’s Crystal Ball: Inside the ID Two Concept Watch

Cartier is rare among watch manufacturers because it releases concept watches that reveal its future plans for all to see. The latest concept, called ID Two, looks like something teleported to us from the year 2020. Click here to read WatchTime technical editor Mike Disher’s report on the ID Two, along with a video animation...

Read the article

Sep 10, 2012 by WatchTime

A. Lange & Söhne CEO Wilhelm Schmid: The WatchTime Q&A

Wilhelm Schmid came aboard as CEO of the German luxury watch brand A. Lange & Sohne in January 2011 after eight years in senior sales and marketing positions at BMW. Recently, WatchTime sat down with Schmid at the New York City offices of Lange’s parent company, the Richemont Group, for a conversation about his growth...

Read the article

Jul 20, 2012 by Mark Bernardo

Talking Watches With New Alpina Brand Ambassador William Baldwin

Recently, the sporty Swiss watch brand Alpina announced that actor William Baldwin (Backdraft, The Squid and the Whale, TV’s “Gossip Girl”) will be the celebrity brand ambassador for its new line of Alpina Divers watches. The brand welcomed Baldwin in a gala press event at New York’s Maritime Hotel in late June. At the event,...

Read the article

Jul 13, 2012 by Mark Bernardo

Longines 180th Anniversary Collection Embraces the Brand’s History

The Swiss watch brand Longines was founded 180 years ago this year in the village of Saint-Imier. The current Longines president, Walter von Känel, has not been around quite that long, but his tenure is an impressively lengthy one, nevertheless: 43 years with the brand. And von Känel, who spoke with me during this year’s...

Read the article

Jun 11, 2012 by Mark Bernardo

The Big Reveal: Maîtres du Temps Chapter Three

Like many others, I was intrigued by the invitation to see the Maîtres du Temps Chapter Three “Reveal” at this year’s Baselworld watch fair in Switzerland. Only when I finally got a good look at the shrouded-in-secrecy timepiece — the third model in the haut-de-gamme “Masters of Time” collection, which teams up noted independent watchmakers...

Read the article

May 7, 2012 by Mark Bernardo

Animation Innovation: Harry Winston’s Opus 12

Each year as Baselworld approaches, one word percolates to the top of the watch world’s collective consciousness: “Opus.” Harry Winston’s Opus pieces often outscore all others on the buzz-generator charts. This year’s Opus watch did not disappoint. It may have momentarily confused some of us, but it did not disappoint. (Click on the watch photos...

Read the article

Apr 30, 2012 by WatchTime