Nico Bandl

For over 20 years, the collection ‘Historique’ by Vacheron Constantin is regularly extended by historically relevant watches of the Maison, models like the Cornes de Vache from 1955, the American from 1921 or the Fine from 1955. Since a crucial horological passion of founder Jean-Marc Vacheron has been in the technical making of calendar watches, it was about time in 2017…

To name a brand after a ‘long meadow’ sounds just as fairytale-like as the history of the watch brand Longines. The brand from the idyllic village ‘Les Longines’ in Saint-Imier literally means ‘long meadow’. Established in 1832 by Auguste Agassiz, the brand has headed skywards just as consistently as the long meadow-grass of the lush…

After the recently launched Premier, Georges Kern continues to hold on to the rich heritage of BREITLING strongly. So strong, that now a 60-year-old watch was re-editioned almost unchanged. You don’t get to see that very often in the watch industry, in which brands indeed regularly introduce new interpretations of older models, but rarely present…

Charles A. Lindberg might have been the most prominent pilot, who trusted the know-how of watch brand Longines in the 1930s, which earned reputation in the field of aviation already from the very start. Their pilot watches distinguished themselves due to the rotating inner disc, which enabled the pilots to synchronize their watch with the…

While visiting the Breguet manufacture in Vallée de Joux some weeks ago, we certainly didn’t want to miss the movement assembly Atelier where the Maison’s tourbillon complications come alive. It was Abraham-Louis Breguet who invented this regulator over 200 years ago and the manufacture today is the world’s biggest producer. They have seven tourbillon families…

According to company documents, Thierry Stern, Patek Philippe president still today tests all minute repeaters himself before they leave the manufacture. And to Stern, it’s not work but pure passion and pleasure. Patek Philippe has gained a special reputation in this field, not least by showing their savoir-faire with the ‘Grandmaster Chime’ from 2014 with…

Once, the small village of Fleurier in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel has been an important place for watch making. But in the 1970s the quartz crisis had a major impact on the watch industry in Fleurier. At that time a young watchmaker called Michel Parmigiani was faced with the decision either to become an…

GMT-Master II Ref. 126710BLNR Last year, Rolex caused a small sensation with the return of the GMT-Master II ‘Pepsi’ (Ref. 126710 BLRO) and its long-awaited steel version. Will the brand score another coup with an unexpected novelty this year? There is no need – why should they not built upon a reliable product and instead…

An exciting and inspiring week comes to an end. We saw double moons, a candy-shop full of colourful timepieces and a Lamborghini for the wrist. We found out, that you can practice sustainable watchmaking with recycled PET bottles, that a power reserve of 65 days (world record) is possible and that a new trend colour…

At the time when Pierre Jaquet-Droz was born in 1721, the golden age for automatons just started. The engineer Jacques de Vaucanson enchanted the people with his ‘mechanical duck’, made of more than 400 moving components and able to move its wings, chatter and sip water. The young watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz was fascinated by this…

At a time when the battleship Royal Louis of the French Royal Navy had to fight for its nation’s defence in the 18th century, its crew had to rely on precise navigation tools to calculate their position. They used marine chronometers – also called longitudinal clocks – because the determination of the longitude on the sea…

The trend for blue watches has been around for a while now. After all, blue is the favourite colour of most men and in terms of fashion, blue is always sophisticated and sporty at the same time. As there seems to be a strong demand, the trend lives on within most brands collections. Whereas blue…