Though it seems to have lost some of it’s luster and momentum lately, there is no denying that steampunk styling is an active, well, “thing”, for lack of a better term. This is an aesthetic that I had some interest in some years ago, and I still look keenly upon steampunk reimaginings of things. Today, we have a pocket watch – the Starling Watch Inception – that goes for a steampunk feel with an interesting bit of very modern technology hidden under the dial.
My first watch-crush was on a Hamilton military issue field watch from the 60s. When I had a few extra bucks recently, I found a reliable substitute in the newer Hamilton Khaki Automatic.
The AVI-8 Hawker Hunter Automatic watch was as unknown to me as the 1950s British jet by the same name. This automatic watch does not disappoint in keeping with AVI-8’s aviation designs that look like the watch was ripped off the plane’s instrument panel and given a leather strap.
The brand gets its name from the British horologist, Thomas Earnshaw, who made improvements to chronometers in the late 1700s. This is a polished, stainless steel chronograph powered by a Swiss quartz movement.
When it comes to the connected watches, we often see that they bundle in some sort of step tracking, as quantifying our lives has become all the rage (myself included). The Wellograph I looked at did get more into the realm of monitoring more things relevant for fitness (including a heart rate monitor), but it was not something that would feel particularly right on the wrist at the gym or out on the trails. For myself, I have found myself spending more time in the gym, and my Fitbit – while a tidy little tracker for daily use – was not giving me the full picture I wanted. That then brings us to my new workout companion, the Garmin Forerunner 920XT.
It was back in July that we first brought you word of a new Dutch brand, Van Speyk, and their inaugural watch. As I concluded in that writeup, the Van Speyk Dutch Diver had a thread running throughout it – familiarity with differentiation. That observation was all based off of what I was seeing in the photos. The question loomed, however – would that impression hold up after seeing the watch in the steel?
I have said it many times before, and I will likely say it many times more – dive watches are simply one of, if not the, most popular styles of watches today. Most of them show on the wrists of those who don’t dive (such as this writer), so it really becomes more of a style choice. Sure, there is some appeal to the capability that a dive watch represents, but for most desk divers, it is the look of the watch that draws them in. So, then, if a new brand is bringing a diver to the market, it should offer something unique – and that is what we have with the Manchester Watch Works Tatoskok.
We have taken a look at various ways to store your watches (generally in the form of…
While watch shoppers are certainly spoiled for choice these days, there are also quite a few “me too” brands out there starting up that rehash the same tired and uninspired three-hander design. So, when we have a company that we’ve never heard of before contact us about their watch, we are understandably a bit cautious on what it is we going to be taking a look at. Fortunately, we do have some gems popping up when we have these sorts of contacts, and that leads us to running into pieces like the Corniche Heritage 40.
Over the last year-plus, we have spent time with just about every watch that has come from the team down in Sidney, IL. Some of these have been with watches that were already in production and hitting normal retail channels, and others – like we have today – we actually got to wear around while a Kickstarter campaign was underway. This latest campaign – which is more than fully-funded at this point – is for the brand’s first field watch, the Smith & Bradley Springfield.
