Brett Braley

Close your eyes and come with me on a walk down memory lane. It’s 2006. I’m in my sophomore year of high school and it’s homecoming season. There’s a dance after the first football game of October and I’m out on the floor, in my very best outfit from JCPenney, waiting for the next song to load from the DJ’s (or was it math teacher’s?) iPod Nano. A synth comes over the gymnasium speakers and my 15-year-old self is introduced to the Grammy-nominated album, Konvicted, by Akon. I don’t think I’ve ever been the same since that moment, dear reader.

While it can often feel like the watch industry today is an arms race of sorts to see who can come out with the best, brightest, and flashiest, it’s a nice respite to see a watch that is built with simplicity in mind. That, to me, is embodied in the Hanhart Preventor HD12, the newest reference from the German brand.

With the release of G-SHOCK’s latest references, you can tell that the brand is in it for the long haul. Ten years, to be exact. Yes, you read that right – G-SHOCK is promising a ten-year battery life on their latest GA-010 and GD-010 watch series.

When it comes to mastering the balance between refinement and artistry, does anyone do it better than Japanese watchmakers? King Seiko’s latest additions to the KSK line-up just proved my point. These three new references – the latest from the recently reintroduced Seiko spin-off brand – are inspired by the company’s roots in Kameido, Tokyo and show not only the beauty of the region, but speak to King Seiko’s history and technical precision.

Not since the Beatles have four individuals teamed up to create something greater than the sum of its parts. While this might be just a tad hyperbolic, the new This Is Our Time Megapod watch in a cross-collaboration between Amstersdam’s Ace Jewelers, Ikepod, Laser 3.14 (an Amsterdam based street artist), and ABC (the multi-disciplinary design studio) is something to pay attention to.

There is something incredibly satisfying about good design. Sure, this may seem like a basic statement; but, in the world we live in today, maybe it isn’t. So much of the watch market now relies on a steady IV drip of collaborations, bright colors, and sometimes novelty capabilities that classic design can feel like a sorbet course after a particularly heavy meal.

With the new school year in full swing, I’ve been reminded by my nephews and nieces just how much fun buying school supplies can be. I’m sure there is a direct correlation between my love of buying random notebooks before the school year began and my current job in the luxury pen industry (even though the line is a bit jagged, by way of dropping out of law school, working as a timeshare salesman, and a food blogger for a few years).

Cartier Tank watch styles, sizes, options, history, celeb sightings, and shopping recommendations for the new and pre-owned markets.

While it’s probably apocryphal, Pablo Picasso was once quoted as saying, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” I was reminded of this quote when I was introduced to the new watches from Paulin, the Modul D and E. Like its predecessors, the Modul line-up has a way of being at once playful, but owning a distinctive style that can only come from years of expertise to know when and where to break the rules.

There is always something so intriguing to me about a collaboration when the brands really just go for it. But, I guess if one of the collaborators is Takashi Murakami, it’s sort of hard not to. For those uninitiated, Murakami is a contemporary Japanese artist whose work is at once psychedelic and joyful – but leans just a tad into the grotesque. But even if you don’t know the name, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the artist’s work. Murakami has collaborated with a wide range of celebrities, from Marc Jacobs to Kanye West (long before his anti semitic rants, for the record) to Pharrell Williams. And now, Murakami adds yet another collaboration with Hublot.