Zach Kazan

Tudor has released a new watch in their growing Pelagos FXD collection with the Pelagos FXD Chrono “Cycling Edition.” The new watch borrows a formula from last year’s FXD releases tied to the Alinghi Red Bull Racing

There’s something undeniably satisfying about a big gold sports watch. I think their appeal is rooted in the idea that they don’t really make too much sense. A sports watch, in theory, is something that should be built to take some abuse, if not in sport, than in the average day to day life of a normal human being. They should, effectively, disappear. Making a sports watch out of a solid block of gold turns this idea on its head. Gold, of course, is anything but under the radar. It’s noticeable from across a room, in fact. Further if it’s immaculately finished in a way that brings its shine and luster to the forefront. And gold, for all of its great qualities, is not exactly the most robust material. Some alloys almost seem to have the consistency of peanut butter. You can tell when they’ve been touched in a way that steel just doesn’t show. And yet, the pull of the gold sports watch is real. And Girard Perregaux, with the Laureato, makes an awfully good one.

One of my favorite Watches & Wonders experiences these past few years was the brief time I got to spend with the Moser Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon. All tourbillons are special, of course, but this one is especially unique and I found it to be genuinely kind of awe inspiring in person. As the name of the watch implies, the cylindrical hairspring wraps around the balance spindle vertically, giving what is already a fairly dramatic watch an even more profound sense of depth. It’s a particularly challenging watchmaking feat to pull off, but pays dividends, according to Moser, in reducing friction and improving isochronism, both of which play a role in a more stable rate through the duration of the movement’s power reserve.

A long lived pet peeve of mine in the watch industry is people referring to watches as “Brutalist” without having a clue about what the term really means. How, I always wonder, can a brand refer to their watch as being inspired by Brutalist architecture without it even being made of concrete? Well, the debut watch from Toledano & Chan gets closer to a Brutalist aesthetic a lot of watches that lay claim to it in my opinion

The success story that is the Brew Watch Co. is one of our favorites in the entire industry. Jonathan Ferrer’s brand has grown well beyond its initial humble scope over the course of the last few years with a series of releases that have transcended the microbrand bubble, gaining admirers from every corner of the watch community. With Brew, it all comes down to the design, and every new watch proves once again that you don’t need to spend a fortune to own something unique and genuinely special. Brew’s latest release calls back to the brand’s foundation in coffee themed designs while treading new ground with a high profile collaborator. The new Retrograph Relic, released in partnership with Alton Brown, feels like a full circle moment for the brand, and for watch fans who came of age watching “Good Eats” it offers a ton of charm.

We’ve been covering Farer for a long time on Worn & Wound. To say they are a core brand in our little enthusiast corner of the watch world would be an understatement, and it’s been exciting to see them grow, experiment, and further develop their own unique design language. For as long as I’ve been covering the brand, it’s been the colors that have stood out. They have just always had a knack for picking interesting and unusual color combinations. And their typical release strategy underscores that point – they’ll frequently release a handful of watches in the same style at one time, each adopting different color palettes, and thus emphasizing the impact those decisions have on the finished product. Their latest release, the Banzare GMT, is not part of a multi-watch drop, but it does feature a striking new dial texture for the brand in a color that some die hard Farer fans are sure to appreciate.

Depancel has carved out a nice little niche for themselves making highly specific automotive and racing inspired watches. These watches are frequently geared directly at watch collectors who are already steeped in car culture, with colorways inspired by classic racing liverys and case designs that emulate specific vehicle designs. Their square shaped watch, the Série-R, might appear somewhat derivative of

The latest limited edition from RedBar, the global network of watch meetup groups, is a nearly radioactive release made in partnership with Zodiac. It’s a subtle nod to a piece of Zodiac history that is not particularly well known while simultaneously paying proper respect to RedBar itself, all in the familiar trappings of a Super Sea Wolf diver. And, yes, the whole thing glows, and quite impressively.

It’s hard to relaunch a brand. We’ve seen it over and over in the watch industry: brands, in an attempt to reinvigorate themselves, gain more traction in the market, and adapt to changing times, will sometimes make a decision to completely rethink their philosophy, aesthetic, and core models. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and there are varying levels of intensity in how fully relaunched a brand will actually go. Sometimes the shift is drastic, with new logos, new ideas, new price points, and completely new watches. And sometimes it’s more subtle, representing a small but noticeable and important tweak that fundamentally changes something about the presentation. HYT, a high end Swiss brand that has been through its fair share of tumult recently, debuted a new collection recently that we got a chance to look at during Watches & Wonders week, and it struck me as one of the smartest recalibrations we’ve seen from a brand in a long time.

The trajectory of Sartory Billard over the last few years has been one of the most unusual and interesting stories in the world of independent watchmaking. The brand had long been established as a leader in fully bespoke watches. The entire premise of the brand was built on the idea that every piece is unique, with wide customization options available to virtually every aspect of the dial. They’ve also been associated with great value, and were generally seen as an affordable option for adventurous fans of independent watchmaking who wanted something literally unique well under five figures. None of that has changed, really, but Sartory Billard’s recent output has seen them upping the ante considerably, with a new tourbillon movement and plans for an even more complex caliber featuring jumping hours