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Scottish Watches Podcast #772 : Watches and Wonders 2026 – Part 2 – The Best on Show
00:59:30
Welcome to episode 772 of the Scottish Watches podcast. The last two days of Watches and Wonders were the busiest for us. Here is the best of what we went...
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the Scottish Watches Podcast. This is the final show, the roundup from watch the Wonders 2026. We've already put one episode out. It was greatly warmly well received which is fantastic because I get no sleep. The day after we recorded I started editing. We uploaded, I think I went to bed at 3 in the morning. It was out by 6am thanks to me. Gav Miselle the full team behind the scenes they've managed to get some shut eye but then we get straight into days three and four. So we're going to recap day three just now move on to day four probably recorded back home in the studio because we are flying back. We're only here for a few days but there was so much to see today.
- [00:36]
B
This was probably the busiest day in terms of a full on appointment schedule from pretty much the start of the day to the end of the day. I managed to get up on time early. Ricky, well took a well deserved extra hour or two in bed because well as he just mentioned he was up editing until the little hours of the morning. But we got up to the show today and it's Thursday that we're talking about the well second and a half stroke third day of the show, third day officially. But of course the first day was only a half day because we were traveling and the first brand we went to see was Hot Lons or wasn't
- [01:05]
A
Check the Show notes.
- [01:06]
B
Well we'll get to that bit later but yes let's we'll talk about the first thing and then remind them that Show Notes is where they get the accurate information. Fair enough. Yes, Hot Launch was the brand of course one of the sibling brands of Mozart. We've talked about Mozart in the previous episode but Hot Loans had their own stand this year. Previously they've kind of been in a semi shared space if we want to call it that. But they've got their own booth because as we mentioned Moser have their all new big booth out there and hotelands have their own space where they will get to begin to grow up and mature as what they want the brand to be. And they had a watch that well Ricky was desperate to see because it was themed round one of his favourite non watch related activities. But we also got to see an all new model at a new price point, a new size, a new aesthetic and probably going to open up the brand to customers who maybe previously either weren't sure of the aesthetic because this new piece is very different or they just want something a bit more wearable. Now Ricky, you didn't get to see it first thing with me. But we did manage to sneak a bit of time in extra in the day to get you and eyes on in these pieces. Now let's talk about the mainstream piece, will we?
- [02:13]
A
Well, what we'll do is we'll give a quick reminder that we did an episode with Cedric, who runs the brand as part of Elan holdings, which is obviously precision engineering Mozart and the guys at Hot Launch. This is as Dave says, this is the first time they've actually gone out on their own. They've had their own space, they've not had Big Brother watching over the top. And, and the thing that Cedric had said to me was they have got a great collector base. That's why they can afford to go to shows to keep promoting, bringing out new models. But when somebody's got one of those watches, do they want to buy another watch that's fairly similar with the same case shape, same dimensions, same strap technology, maybe a different color, but do they want to. And they were crying out for a new collection and this is where this new idea came from. Now obviously we're going to talk about the retrovision. In the past they have done things such as a transform. No, can't say that. A Transformer alike watch.
- [03:02]
B
Last year, robot watch, I think it's called.
- [03:04]
A
Yes. And Czepek did a robot watch. Last year they did a robot watch that was the 85 and it was a little bit like, I think it's shockwave or sound stream. One of the cassette tape, isn't it? Yeah, the little baby cassette tape that you would have seen in the cartoon from the 80s, not so much the movies. And they've done other things in the past. This year they did a Star Trek communicator style homage, I suppose you could call it. And you got to see that first, I got to see it later on. Very representative of the 1960s, the TOS, the original series of Star Trek, which inspired it, I suppose. But the big heavy hitting item, the one they wanted to talk about and the one that they didn't even show us ahead of time because they trust us so much, is this new. It looks almost like a 3D sculpture pyramid where they've started to build the pyramid and then they've stopped and they've turned it into a watch.
- [03:50]
B
Absolutely. It reminds me of some of the buildings where you sometimes see the lines where they lay concrete and they put the boards up, you know, to kind of mold the concrete and you get these little lines between it. Definitely very architectural sculptural concrete, but brutalist inspired. Really nice integrated bracelet. Tapers nicely. Quite a clever little way. They've integrated the adjustment into the clasp.
- [04:15]
A
That's one I want to talk about briefly because how many times have we seen a micro adjust or an extension clasp? That was something a lot of brands. We saw Grand Seiko later on in the day. That was something they were quite keen to talk about. They have got this technology, everyone's got this technology. But when it's implemented, you can see it's implemented because there's a gap. Things move out. Even the best of bracelets like the Czapek, etc. You can see a gap. You can see a small amount of space in between the links. But with this one, when it started to extrude the extra part of the bracelet to match the size of your wrist, depending on what you're up to, it didn't look different, it looked identical. And even when you looked around the back. And this is something we talk about where a watchmaker has made the movement polished and bevelled inside. So only a watchmaker will get to see at the back of the clasp, which only you'll get to see when you put the watch on and off. That was finished to perfection as well.
- [05:02]
B
Yeah, it was kind of hidden in the clasp section that normally is really just covering a couple of links. It was really well done. Excellent in terms of the construction of it. But you shouldn't expect any less from the general group. That is part. Because that's an engineering company. At the end of the day, really nice. It's a jumping hour and it's kind of very cool. It jumps forwards and backwards. Super clean, very clean. It's not.
- [05:27]
A
Should we tell people to look in the show notes to see what we're talking about?
- [05:29]
B
Maybe this is the time where we do that. Yes. What we do is we say check the show notes out because you'll get decent pictures of it. Maybe even the odd little clip, maybe a video clip that we've taken some of as well. Get the information about this watch. But the big bit about this watch was it's a new price point for the brand. Typically they've always been in the 50000s plus pretty much. And this is still in a premium price point, but it's in the low 30s. So it's opening up the accessibility size wise as well. I think it was in and around the 40, 5, hundred and forty six millimeter lug to lug. It's square and it's fully integrated. So it's a bit more difficult to get a concise what is the size of it? But certainly I don't have the world's largest wrist by any stretch. I put it on, wasn't overhanging. Fitted well and nicely. Still a fairly substantial watch. It's a big lump of steel, no two ways about it. But this dial, as I say, jumping hour, it's got a little dot that does the full 360 degrees round, you know, so that's indicating your minutes, of course. And you've got that little window with the jumping hour up at the effectively 12 o', clock, but it jumps forwards and backwards. Super clean, really nice. It's based on a more commercially available bass movement, but they've of course done the module for it to get this jumping hour functionality working on the watch. I really liked it, actually. I think from the conversations we've had, this is the opening gambit. I don't think this is the last we're going to see of this model. I think there might be other colorways potentially, because there was definitely the odd sneaky picture of, oh, would you have that colorway? Oh, that one's not been. That one's not been decided if we're doing that one yet. So I think there's definitely things afoot. I would like to think potentially materials may also change. There's a steel version that's come out. Wouldn't be surprised if something titanium doesn't come in the future. So I think this is one to keep the eye on. I think this will be a development for the brand and if it works, it will definitely be a development for the brand. So, yeah, nice to see Hotolands doing that. And of course it wouldn't be hot loans without the craziness. And the communicator was just a whole different world of craziness. I think I gifted you a good few years ago a mock up model of a communicator, but honestly, it does look like that and it's a colour that I've often said should be used more in watches, which was brown and we did see more browns with other brands later. But brown and green seem to be coming into vogue a little bit with a few of the brands. So, yes, that was Haut Lons. Also, we did mention in the last show the bag envy thing, the tote bags that do the rounds at these shows. Not a tote bag, this is not a tote bag. This is more like. I don't even know how to describe it. It's like a. Yeah, it's like a heavy canvas cotton with. Whether they're real leather handles or not is a different matter. But it had, let's say, somewhere between real leather and faux leather, but it's kind of leatherette. Let's go with that. Very good. Yeah. On to the next brand.
- [08:08]
A
In honor of who we're seeing tomorrow, and in honor of a big number for Ulysse Nardan, I am wearing my Freak. It's the Freak X Edition Magma, which is carbonium mixed in and infused with a lava red color Here. This is a watch I've had in the collection for probably nearly three years now. Something like that. Two and a half years. And it's one that always gets wrist time whenever I go to the safety deposit box. It's always one that comes out when something else goes back in. The main selling point here is obviously the Freak movement. It's not like the Freak S or the super Freak or anything like that. This is the more, as you mentioned, with Hot Launch, it's the more accessible word of the show. Accessible, not budget, not economical, accessible. Because this one does not cost 70 grand. It costs far less than that because it has a crown on the side. You don't use the grinder system on the back to wind and set. But it's.
- [08:56]
B
Other apps are available.
- [08:57]
A
Other apps are available. Dave would know. And this is just one of my favorite watches. The lume on it is terrible because it's red and a little bit like my Fastrade or Tudor with the red indexes. You ain't seen nothing. Even if it gets beaten with as much UV as you possibly can. So that is what's on the wrist today. Yourself.
- [09:12]
B
Well, David's not changed. David is wearing his orange Tourbillon three because frankly, he only brought one watch with him. Well, that was more because he forgot to pick up his watch roll. So he's wearing that. He's enjoying wearing it. It's a smaller size. I talked all about it in the last show. It's 38 millimeters. It uses our handwind Tourbillon and actually I've been very pleased because it's had quite a few admiring glances from people, especially the colour. It seems to catch the light and people are noticing it, which is a nice thing, of course. But back to the show and back to the brands that we were visiting because we've got quite a few things to get through today.
- [09:43]
A
And I caught up with Dave, I managed to get myself in there. Forgot how long it takes in the morning to go on the shuttle bus route because it doesn't take you directly to Palexpo. It runs on a circuit going around other different hotels to pick up all the media folks. Eventually dropping you off at Palexpo, just up from Geneva airport. Got in, finally got across to see the guys at Chronos with. We obviously had our CEO over on the show just a couple of weeks ago there, perhaps one week ago, I cannot remember. And he was telling us a little bit about the history, a little bit what they've got, what they're doing. And we got to see in real life the new releases, the color scheme. And there was crazy stuff I said. There was a watch that almost looked as if it could come from Jacob and co. That one is brilliant. So there will be pictures in the show, notes of that. Then there was another watch, then another watch. And it's as if they're taking things and calming down slightly the crazy colors of the past decade and a half. They're muting them slightly, putting them to the side. They're still going to do them every so often, we were told. But the collectors are more grown up now, that's what we are saying. And these new watches, you can tell there's a bit of a change in philosophy.
- [10:45]
B
They brought out the Pulse, I think last year. That was their, I guess you could describe it as more mainstream watch, integrated sports, stainless steel integrated sports watch. Getting on that trend. Definitely had that chrono Swiss edge onion crown there. You've got certain things that definitively make it a Chronoswiss watch. But they've brought out an all new Pulse gmt and there was a couple of quite definitively different versions of what is ultimately the same watch. One in titanium, which of course mirrors the time only variant that they brought out last year. It has, it's a true gmt. You've got these kind of two, I guess almost you could describe them as sub dials, one at 3 o', clock, one at 9 o'. Clock.
- [11:24]
A
But they're globes.
- [11:25]
B
These are little globes, but they don't spin like a globe in terms of being spherical balls. They're kind of more like a kind of little domed. How you would look at a globe if you were looking at the planet from above, shall we say. And it kind of indicates one of them in a 24 hour clock. So it does the full rotation in 24 hours. And you've got the other one with the 12 hour marker on it in titanium and all those grays. It's a very wearable watch, I would say it fits In. Well, with what they've done with the time only version. The other one that was a bit more. Well, a bit of a baller watch it was in now they had it. It was a sample one they had, but they were saying it's going to be, I think, in a 5N red gold, which does seem to be a gold that a few folk are using at this show. The red gold seemed to be coming into fashion again. There's five ends rather than the two ends, three ends, the more yellow end of the spectrum. These are in the kind of pinks and reds. It was pretty cool. And it had a kind of, I think, a lacquer. I can't remember quite if it was grogfu, but it was definitely some kind of lacquer enamel style center to the dial in the blue. And they said they built up in lay, but they also had these little stars on it. And they were punched from gold, solid piece of gold, but wafer thin. And they were laid in, I think they said, in the last two layers of the lacquer buildup of this little part of the dial, it was punchy. Considering these were effectively the same watch, you know, if you just drew lines around them, it was the same thing. They looked very different. It was, I believe he said, the most expensive watch that the brand have ever made. And the other second most expensive one. They did.
- [13:00]
A
I will get a chance to speak at some point.
- [13:02]
B
No, he won't. He won't.
- [13:03]
A
So Dave just proved earlier on that he doesn't listen to the shows he's not on, because that was explained all about that enameling process and he got it right. He was listening intently today, not incessantly, but intently today, because that process where they do a little bit of enameling, a little bit of enameling, the fire, then they put in the gold cuts and then they put a bit more enameling in the top. That was something they told us. They are one of the very few. Only maybe two different watchmakers in the world do this. It's a very difficult process. Anything where there is enamel and a kiln involved, you've got a chance to knacker up what you're doing and start from scratch. It doesn't matter. If you're the best person in the world at doing it, you will have a chance that the yield rate is going to be extremely low.
- [13:41]
B
The other watch that you mentioned, which was the heavily engraved one, it was kind of, I guess, to the gods of time, it was a kind of homage to them. This was in a definitively rectangular shape, lots and lots of hand engravings, big lump of gold. And you know, it was an interesting piece. Neither I don't think Ricky or myself. It was not aesthetically earthing, but really can't knock what they were doing there. That's definitely into there. I think you described it as Jacob Co Jr. Yeah. Yes, I would say yes. I can absolutely see where Ricky's getting that vibe from. But also not at the same time. We're not talking jewels and all this diamond nonsense.
- [14:22]
A
Let me reset. Let me reset the watch we saw in Dubai with Jacob and co for Jacob's 60th anniversary birthday, something like that, where it was like a coin with a Greek God on the front of it. It was all kind of engraved and whatnot. That's just only because it's gold and engraved. That's the only reason I link the two together. But it's a total baller watch doesn't look like anything that Chronoswiss have done before. And this changeover is insane. Last year the changeover was Czapek. They put all their eggs in the basket of we're going to go balls out because it's our anniversary. Chronoswiss this year are doing the same. And we can put that to the side because that's the jumper. It's in gold, it's expensive. Etc, etc. But the one, the one that we get shown at the end, which on paper would be the most bland, the most boring, the sedate, the one you would go, all right, cool, whatever. This is the one that we both like the best.
- [15:10]
B
Yes, indeed. And that was part of the Delphis family, which is in the range. They've got models there as well. But it's art deco inspired and I heard the little tale of this is art deco inspired. And I was like, I don't know if I'm going to like this. And then they pulled out and then
- [15:24]
A
they showed them the watch.
- [15:25]
B
Yeah, it is very good. Very much a kind of grained gray, silvery center to the dial. Really strong little pop of turquoise. And I can say turquoise because he definitively called it turquoise himself. Down at the kind of six o' clock mark there on. You've got that bridge going across it and you had a. I don't know, I would maybe describe it as a rose gold bronzy color in the re hot ring.
- [15:51]
A
But you forgot the little baby sub dial with the guilloche and the color that the gyu the Gyoshi was so good. We asked them if this was because they used are not patented, but they're the one they go to all the time. CVD process, chemical vapor deposition. And they said no because they couldn't get the right color. And instead of just going, ah, well, we'll just do it because it's easy. They didn't. They did it with enamel just to make it cool.
- [16:14]
B
Great looking watch. And it was there definitely on their more affordable end of the spectrum. 14, 15,000 rings a bell. It was in that area. Again, a watch where there's huge numbers of much more common, much more available watches, shall we say, you know, from brands that you'll see on the high street, on any high street, any city you go to in the world. These are watches that you're not going to see often at all. They make modest volumes. They're not a mass producer. And this is something that's just a little bit different, which just kept reminding this show. It does one thing to remind you there's so many brands out there and even we forget about so many of them until we actually see them again and go, oh, I forgot about those guys. And they do some really great pieces out there.
- [16:59]
A
Let me jump ahead to later on the day when we went to see Grand Seiko. No shade, no hate, nothing at all. But their price point for they're cool little dive watches. Okay with Spring Drive comparable to what we're talking about here from Chronoswiss where it is a retrograde jump power. It's got this, that and the other in it and the movement on the back. When you look at it, Spring Drive looks good, but it looks like all the movements you've kind of seen over the past decade. Chronoswiss, what they do in the back is equally as good as the front.
- [17:24]
B
Yeah, I mean, I'll say it, I'm an Omega fanboy, folk know that. But you know, there is a lot of Omega watches in that 10 to €15,000 pound dollar category. Lots of them. There's lots of stuff from every major brand you can think of. They're great watches but you will quite often see them in and about and if you like maybe being a little bit different, getting something a little bit left field, a little bit unusual. Well, Chronoswiss is one of those brands that definitely do that. As long of course as you like the aesthetic. But anyway, we've talked a lot about them and as Ricky says, you can check out a whole episode about them if you want. Link will be in the show notes to check out all about what they've
- [18:01]
A
got to say next protocol was to see the folks at Hermes, because this is a strange one for me. I think of Hermes as being quite expensive, good quality, but very expensive when it comes to what they do with leather goods, etc. But then you look at their watches and you would think, well, if that's the cost of the bag, the watch is going to be 10 times as much. Surely 10 times as much engineering goes into this quality of componentry, watchmaking prowess, etc, etc? Not at all. Now you're an owner of various different models. I don't have any yet, although I've been tempted over the last couple of years with what we have seen at Watches and Wonders. And the good thing about this presentation was they showcase things of the past to give you a reminder, a refresher. Because we go into lots of meetings and they start telling us about the new thing and we're like, hold on, I'm sure that's quite similar to something in the past. And then we start to dismiss the fact that they told us, well, this is what we've done, this is how we've changed, iterated, redeveloped and evolved things. And the stuff this year it was quite interesting the way they'd done it. There was some sounds, there was a lot of horsing around and yeah, they had something in the series that you've got a couple of watches from.
- [19:05]
B
It's fair to say their watches have a pretty significant spectrum. If you get into the kind of hauteurology end of it and into the kind of artistry end, you can pay a priceless sum of money for some of their watches, especially when it gets involved in all their kind of work with wood pieces and all sorts, which we'll come to. But the HO8, a model that's been in the range for a few years, it's their sporty model, I think it's fair to describe it as. It's square ish with rounded corners. I think it's a great looking watch. I bought one. It's definitely at the affordable end of where they start, spectrum wise. Think you're in and around the 5,000 mark, where that general family starts. This one was a little bit more involved. It's got skeletonizing, it's got lots of squareness going on about it as well. I think it's a new movement or certainly a reworked variant of an existing movement. And it is definitely all about being square. Titanium bridges and main plates. I think if I remember correctly on this one as well, the rotor is a spinny, go round Rotor, but it's square. Yeah, well, yeah, we'll call it a Squircle, but this we will, yeah. But the guy was quite funny actually, because in a couple of things they said, no, we'll just call it the French name because he tried to decipher what it was in English. It was a great presentation. That was a great watch. If you like sports watches, something you can wear every day, your life, take it in the water, all these kind of things. Actually, the HOA is worth a look, but it's a little bit different and you know, well, they've got some proper watchmaking putts, they've got their own movement manufacturer and they do their own in house calibres. And, well, Hermes are arguably the most premium luxury brand in the world when it covers lots of different areas, clothing bags, all of these different things, but they did that. They also had some of the watches that I think fall into the Hermes de Slim or Slim de Hermes, I think officially is its name. They again start in and around that 4 or 5,000 mark, I've got the titanium one, which is not the entry, but definitely not the top end. And they had a kind of pocket watch thing going on here that had wooden marquetry on it. This was the roar of a lion and a whole different world. I think they're making three. I think something like that maybe. Yeah, I think a couple. I don't even remember getting the price of it. No doubt it will be some insanely priced watch. But it's very cool that when you see marquetry, they showed a breakdown of the video of. It was hundreds of pieces of different woods, different colours, colors all put together to have this huge, well, roaring line
- [21:34]
A
on the front for audio. People aren't looking at the show notes. Marquetry, from what I can tell is where you take parts of something like a jigsaw, but you make the parts yourself, so you have the main area of what you want and then you pick little different colored parts to make the image. So if you look at the image, you just think that's been printed, it's been painted, it's been enameled. No, we've seen this before. Ulysses and Ardan have done it before. Various different players have done it. It is so intricate and specialized. This is why these take so long to make. That's why they cost so much money. So we had that one, we had a watch where they had a sapphire inlay on the dial cut out in the shape of. It reminded me it was a horse, but it reminded me of a knight from a chess piece. But they've got so many watches from accessible. There's that word again. Accessible price points all the way up. And it does blow my mind that they make their own movements. They have got ateliers, they have workshops, but the price is so low to begin with and then it moves up the scale. But we need to quickly get our skates on and move upwards because there are so many more watches to talk about.
- [22:35]
B
Indeed. And then it was, well, to another booth in Switzerland, but not for a Swiss brand, of course, Grand Seiko. They've been there for a couple of years now. It was a big song and dance when they eventually were allowed into the show because of course they are one of the preeminent manufacturers from Japan.
- [22:51]
A
Because they caused the quartz crisis.
- [22:53]
B
Yeah, they caused the Swiss. I think they held a grudge for a little while, let's put it like that. But of course, Grand Seiko really have built out of Japan into the US market, the European market, all of the non home markets and spring drive. They've got something that's mechanical but also not fully mechanical. They of course have full mechanical calibers. They were really focusing on spring drive on this event. A couple of new dive watches. I'm a big fan of Grand Seiko dive watches, but they are big and they're a bit unwieldy and the bracelets are always pretty chunky and the clasps are even chunkier. They've brought them down in size, not tiny by any stretch, but they're into the low 40s, shall we say, rather than the kind of mid-40s. They're using the kind of high intensity titanium and they're using this, I think they call it vfa. Is it very finely adjusted? I think it is. It's their ultra Precise spring drive plus minus 20 seconds a year. But they've managed to make them a little bit smaller, a bit more realistic into the low 40s, I think it was 40.6 rings a bell. They were obviously trying to get it under 41 previously. They've all been in the 44s, 45s, these kind of areas. They also got the thickness down a little bit as well. And it's the ufa, which is the. I think it's ultra fine adjustment. It's their ultra precise spring drive. We're in the 22nd a year type of area of accuracy spring drive already, to be fair, blows most mechanical watches out of the water for long term accuracy. They did a bit of telling us about how it worked, what spring Drive was about. We've of course heard that before. I'm sure many of you have heard it before as well. I really liked the new divers. There was a blue one and a green one. The green one was the one for me. That's a very Glasgow argument, that one as well. We need to be careful what we say here. But the other watch they had was one of the much more premium pieces, all platinum, very limited edition. Again, it's this hand engraving thing. They had all this engraving, very different. Talking about water, I think they were talking about something to do with bubbles coming up through water. We all know Seiko, Grand Seiko, they love the nature inspired narrative when it comes to dials and all sorts of things to do. It was a big lump of platinum. They handed it around. It was some weight in the hand and this was using. Certainly we're talking, we're moving up towards Credor level here. Of course, Credor being that brand that sits separate to Grand Seiko but at the very, very top end of what they're doing, it's almost there artistics brand. And this was definitely a watch that could have probably sat in either very high up in Grand Seiko or somewhere in that Credo range. But nope, this was in Grand Seiko.
- [25:32]
A
Then we broke for lunch. We met up with some friends from Bucherer down in London and yeah, there's a reason for that that we're not going to talk about just yet. But you may know better things coming soon. Stay tuned. You might enjoy it, especially if you're down in London. From there we jumped across. We actually forgot the time as we were having lunch with the folks at Booker RTS and we were late to our meeting with Norkaine but because we'd recently been over with Laing's and Norkane and Edinburgh and a mountaineer called Hamish, although he wasn't Scottish. We knew what was coming. We'd seen the press releases, but we did get to see the latest incantations and incarnations of their ice cream series. A little bit reminiscent of a watch that I already own. One of the Fears watches, the Confetti Celebration edition. But when I asked all about it, and we always like to find out, you know, where did this idea come from to give it the taste test to see, you know, are they telling us the truth? But actually they gave us a really good definition explanation. They'd done the ice cream before and Ben was speaking to his kids, showing them that, showing them that. And the next idea they came up with was Obviously, if you put sprinkles on your ice cream, so they were handing out sprinkles, they were handing out free ice cream. We appreciated that. Gave us a little bit of sugar to keep us going throughout the day. So, yeah, I quite like them. They also showed us some of the New World 1 series using Nortek technology. Price point was very keen. Very, very keen.
- [26:47]
B
Yeah. And another kind of new, innovative material, X Lite, I think they called it X L, I, T E. And that was based on their Nortek material, but it had some additional fibrous strands in it that made it, as they describe it, softer. But it's not being used for external case parts, it's kind of protective parts. Because obviously this watch has got lots of technology that makes it great for sports, makes it super durable. So, you know, a brand that are always innovating that way. The other little thing about that, well, well, the sprinkles you put in ice cream was lots of lume in there. That's something that completely passed over me until we got shown with the Lume torch. Look at all these bits. Comes in a bracelet. But they said they've done a rubber strap where it looks like the sprinkles have almost kind of scattered off the dial and they're into the rubber and they've also got the lume in them as well. And they said we've not got that many watches available in the rubber straps because there's a huge amount of work because they all had to be hand painted in as well. So, yeah, you know, fun, a little bit tongue in cheek. Not a serious. I mean, a serious watch, but not a serious watch at the same time. I think it's all about them just kind of trying to have that freshness. They actually mentioned that the ice cream watch was one of their best sellers when they brought it out, which I probably wouldn't have guessed that, to be honest with you, but they said it went down a storm, so to speak. People really liked it, like ice cream on a sunny day at the beach. So they've kind of really bred that out. It does look for sure, a little bit like a certain watch that you own from fears, but one's confetti, one's sprinkles. Two things that look similar but are definitely different. So I think that's fair to say that.
- [28:21]
A
And they were telling us that between the two different colour choices, it was almost an equal footing. So you've got the blue, you've got the pink, and with the alternative strap arrangements and things I think it's a win. And the fact that they killed off one of their best sellers or their best seller of last year, which was only on sale, I think they said for seven months to take away your top earner and to bring something new. And they've got a lot of faith in what they're up to. And it's good to see that they're not just doing slightly different version colors of the wild one, because felt as if maybe the last couple of years they'd leant into that a little bit more. But their stand fantastic always is. They're always updated. They always make it look cool and it's always mobbed. It's one of the busiest stands in the whole place. But we should move on.
- [28:59]
B
It would not be Watches Wonders if we didn't catch up with Xavier. He's just been on the show recently, so there's lots to hear there. Check out the show notes for a link to that. But we got to go and see a few models we'd seen before and a few pieces of newness.
- [29:10]
A
It was good last year. Been able to constantly bring him on for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a pop to talk about the new releases. We did the launch episode one year ago with him at Watches. Well, for watches wonders 2025. And that was their tour wheel celebrating 10 years reveal his brand. 180 years of history. We thought that was cool. Then they did this, then they did that, Then it was a robot watch, then it was a time jumper. There was all these things across the year and we're like, bloody hell, this is never going to end. Well, it finally did in December, but then he came across to Scotland. He was doing a bit of a tour. He did a bit in London. He did a bit in Glasgow. We caught up with him and then we did our catch up where we managed to go over all the cool releases of the last year and drip feed in the new releases for 2026. And to start things off, we've got three models with different colors. It's a candy. It's not a baby blue. It's a deep dark blue in a candy color. Like imagine foil with a blue hue, a blue dye coat on top where it looks kind of dark, but then if any light hits it whatsoever, it just lights up like a lightning strike almost. So we got to look at three of those. There was the tourbillon. There was obviously the antarctique. There was a skeletonized version where the chapter ring area had. In the reho area, had the color and Then they had the time jumper, which we've spoken about at length and obviously Xavier talked about as well. We've got some new things coming down the line we're not allowed to talk about just yet.
- [30:30]
B
Not yet. Not yet. Easy.
- [30:32]
A
Yeah, yeah. Gotta be careful.
- [30:34]
B
More in the 38 as well. That smaller size of the Antarctic, they were focusing a little bit on that. So there's a couple of models that they brought out, iterations of it that have not been done in that size before. So if you like the smaller sizes, maybe it's well worth a look because. Well, not. Maybe it is well worth a look. Maybe the size is now right for you. But then we went to see, well, a brand that we always have to go and see as well. It's where we get the big update for the year. And they had a couple of things I was excited to see and that
- [31:02]
A
is, of course, Vacheron Constantin. We have worked with them for many, many years since they actually opened a boutique in Scotland. They got in touch with us to help promote the launch of that. That is probably, oh, five and half a decade since they did that. And it is doing phenomenally well. We went across, we sat down, we met James Dowling, Mr. Rolex. We thanked him for the books that he sent us eventually because they were really good. And I used one as a prop in one of our recent videos as well. We sat down, we got to see this, that and the other. Lots of different iterations of the overseas. They had the Everest looking ones, they had the Americana, they had this, that and the other. But the one that everyone was talking about was this ultra thin watch.
- [31:44]
B
This is a special edition, precious metal only. I think it was platinum, if I remember right. Very slim. We're in the 7 millimeter line. Micro rotor, the first ever micro rotor calibre used in that model, if I'm not mistaken. Ricky's looking at me funny, but I think I'm right on that one. And this beautiful salmon dial, but wow, it was thin on the wrist. We're talking, you know, real wearable under a tight cuff of a shirt. You could wear this as well. I think we'll see more of that model again in the future. Obviously with it being a solid platinum piece. It was limited edition. Again, it's going to be one of the more unobtainable models within the range, but I think we'll see more attainable models come down the line. I was all excited though, because, well, that Everest model, I think it's fair to say there's a Lot of people, that was their grail, Vacheron sports watch.
- [32:42]
A
Oh, not even Vacheron. That was the one that put them on the map, along with the blue dial overseas, which, again, a little bit like the Czebek, is glorious in real life. Hard to get, hard to come by, big waiting list. But the thing that got me last year was we'd been reading the more Morgan Stanley reports on the watch industry because we need to keep an eye on these kind of things. And they said Vacheron had had one of the best years ever. They were on the up and up when most of the brands were declining. So big thumbs up for Vacheron. What they brought this year I thought was tremendous because last year they had the most complications and a complicated thing ever. This time around, they did some really cool watches, some really nice designs, colors, and their strap technology has been upgraded and updated so you can mix and match. And they were getting us to do it live. Very easy to do.
- [33:23]
B
It was real world watches. These were watches that you can actually just go out, wear, dive in the pool, rattle about, go in the golf course, do whatever you want, you know, these are proper, everyday wearable watches. Yes, they're still premium. It's Vacheron, after all. We're not talking Swatch watch here. Very usable. Of course, the big thing with the, you know, overseas is you've got that bracelet, it's quick release and it has been for a little while now. You can pop it off and you can put the rubber strap on, make it super sporty. You can put on that leather strap, make it look, well, formal, more formal maybe than the bracelet. But even things like the clasps and the buckles are quick release on that side now as well. So everything was toolless. You can literally swap and change it to your heart's content. And you can go from a bright orange rubber strap to a classy bracelet to a pretty formal leather strap.
- [34:08]
A
The reason this is a point to talk about is it's okay changing the strap over, but see, getting the hardware off the buckle at the top, that is a nightmare. That you can lose Springboks because they sometimes have little spring rods inside them. But the way that the presenter was doing it, it was like Forrest Gump taking a rifle apart in the movie. It was that quick. And we thought, yeah, okay, you've done this a million times. Very easy to do, you did it yourself. But it was good to see what they've got happening. They're not holding back. They are appealing to people more and more that want the crazy watches, you know, the really expensive high complication stuff right the way down to the everyday utilitarian sports watch. So it'll be good to see what else they have because they said there is more coming throughout the year. We're into the final day. Can you tell things have changed a about we're now back in Scotland. Back in Scotland. Dave is still in Switzerland but he's over at Raj HQ borrowing their facilities and not the one that usually clogs up and has to get a plumber involved. We're going to talk about our final day at the event, which was Friday. We started things off with probably the most surprising watch from a brand that we expected something a little bit different from and that is Van Cleef and our pals. What did they do?
- [35:11]
B
Well, I think it's fair to say we go every year because well, we like looking at pretty things but they wouldn't typically be the type of watch that myself or Ricky would when, well, probably where ever because they're high jewelry pieces more often than not. But from a point of automation, what they do, etc. They're amazing and we fully expected to get, well, a full feast of that again. And we did get some of that. But we saw some watches that I think both myself and Ricky would actually buy and wear. Well, we wouldn't buy them because we couldn't afford them but if we had the opportunity to, we might. And well, the first one was something
- [35:40]
A
last year we got butterflies in our stomach this time around it wasn't quite the same.
- [35:45]
B
It was more jump around because they brought out, well, a dual time jumping hour watch. Beautiful. I don't even know how to describe the color. Redy, brownie, burgundy, cognac. Y had hints of blue in it all grand feu. All kind of all sorts of fanciness going on that you would expect of course from this brand. But they had a jumping hour up at around about 11 o' clock and a jumping hour, if I remember, around about 6 o'. Clock. That was the two different hour markers for the two time zones and this retrograde minutes kind of gauge which went from effectively 6 o' clock through to 11 o' clock was stunningly beautiful, 38 millimeter in diameter. I would absolutely love to own this watch because it was beautiful. Price? Well, we weren't given one and I've checked it on the website and well, there isn't one on there either. It's. Contact us for more information. Which means expensive, expensive, expensive, but very nice. And then the one that I think caught Ricky's eye. More than that even was the one where the sun chases the moon, the moon chases the sun. Absolutely stunning. Watch this. I think it was something about something de nuit. Night and sun. Can't remember the name of it exactly. That's where show notes is your friends. But Ricky, that one was stunning.
- [36:49]
A
Think of an old style parking meter and you would have the aperture opened up at the top where the disc would revolve around depending how much time you had left. This is before my time, but I do see movies and whatnot and I watched a really ancient movie that the wife recommended that we both thought was shit. So we'll talk about that in a future episode. But imagine that disc at the top of the old parquet meter turning round. That is the top part of. I don't even know the watch because it's not the dial because the dial completely spins. And then you've got a covering in front of the dial that sheaths off a little bit of it. And the party piece is, if you don't want to see it going day to night, day to night, slowly but surely across 24 hours. There is a button on the side. You press it, it winds up the mechanism and it starts to rotate it at a faster speed so you can actually see it. Bit of a fidget spinner. Don't know the price on it. Probably very expensive. They wouldn't tell us the price on it, we asked. But hey, that is how the cookie crumbles and we should probably move on to next brand.
- [37:41]
B
Well, quickly, before we move on, I did check the price of that one was actually on the website. It was €130,000,000,000. So pretty punchy, but not quite as punchy as the other one. But yes, after that, who did we go and see? Directly after we saw Van Cleef, we saw Hublot.
- [37:56]
A
And here is a surprising one for you. We sat through the entire presentation, listened to everything the presenter told us, watched the screen and thought, hold on a minute, Hublot used to be the expensive watches, now they're the accessible watches.
- [38:11]
B
Yes, I think it's all relative, of course, but there was many watches they were producing that were in that 20 to 30,000 Euro Swiss franc pounds bracket and did a lot of what in my opinion were quite technically heavy featured watches, whether it be materials, the movement, et cetera, et cetera, all in that 25 grand mark. Okay, aesthetically wise, still not my vibe, but there was one or two that I kind of mooched into. These are not Terrible. And that's a brand that maybe, I think aesthetically a lot of folk have given a hard time over the last few years. I think also we had a quick chat, Ricky, didn't we? And said so many other brands have kind of jumped on that stylistic bandwagon that it's become more normal. It's not as avant garde maybe as they once were. Where you thought, oh, Saniblo, really only one other brand did it at that time, of course, that being a much, much higher price point. But lots of brands doing that type of thing, some cool watches. Technology wise though, those movements are, you know, they are, they are something to behold.
- [39:06]
A
I said to Dave that one of my favorite movements ever was in an hublot watch back in the days when Andrew Morgan worked for Watchfinder. And they would send us up something out the vault. I got to pick and choose what from their second hand pre loved selection they would send up and then we would talk about it in the show. And I picked one of the most ugliest watches I could find. It was a Noble. It had denim straps, it had a blue ceramic case. It was the worst of the worst all mixed together. I just wanted to see what it was like. And I was blown away by the caliber inside because for a chronograph movement, it was almost a digital watch. It was that silky smooth. You couldn't actually feel or hear the interaction with the mechanism. It was so good. And we were talking about other brands, brands we love, where even the winding of the watch, which feels like a vostok from the 1950s, so Huplo's internal calibers, the in house movements that they do, they really are good. The case construction, the fact they love to beat people over the head with the fact they've got the patent for red ceramic. That's why Rolex red ceramic looks pink. But it was just great to hear. And the funny part was because it was, I think it was an Italian presenter. Sometimes some of the words that were announced we didn't quite catch the first, second or 15th time. There was a lot of talk of the bing bong. And we're like, what's the bing bong? That's getting talked about here? It was the big bang that was being talked about. But no, it was really good. Good watches. Couple of limited editions. Usain Bolt and a footballer. I cannot remember the name. It's NBA, blah blah, blah. I can't pronounce it. There we go. I'm not a football person, but that one. White ceramic rose gold limited edition. Not Insane money. Well done, Hublot. Well done.
- [40:40]
B
Has to be said, fair play to them. They are definitely within the relatively accessibly priced watches with quite high specifications compared to some of the other offerings that were being shown at the event. But after that, we spent our time there enjoying it and we had to get onto the next brand and we stayed within family.
- [40:58]
A
You're right, baby brother. TAG Heuer, a brand that we do like, it has grown on us over the years. We've spoken about it recently. We will move things along quickly and tell you about the products. We got to see a new mechanism, a new caliber that incorporates hard to describe technology. It's like a kid's toy that you flick it one way, it's metal and it goes. And then you flick it and it goes the other way. They've incorporated that into the chronograph movement. And we were trying to think, what is this? Like, what have we seen this before? And the only thing I think of is, you know, that toy that is kind of a strap, it's curled like a shoehorn and you hit it off your wrist and it goes and wraps around and then you pull it the other way, it buckles. It's that kind of system using metal that they've worked on. It's an internal proprietary alloy mixed with various different things. But they've managed to eliminate certain things from the gear train, making the chronograph a little bit easier to use, manoeuvre and removing some of the kickback you get on the hands so quickly. Tell us about these ones, Dave, and then we'll move on.
- [41:56]
B
I remember it was nickel. They were using some form of nickel alloy. And yes, they've removed lots of levers, pivot points, lubrication points, all sorts of things that are generally in chronographs that make them complicated and needed being of service. So they think that it will simplify servicing. It'll make periods between servicing much longer. And I'll give it as due, when you feel it at the chronograph buttons, in terms of using it, it felt very positive. It felt like it was doing what it did. And, yeah, fair play. They're always pushing technology forward. They also, of course, told us all about their carbon springs. We've talked about that before. We saw that over in Dubai. That's rolling out into a few more watches. It's a brand that have, to a certain extent, reinvented themselves, brought them back into more relevance within people who love watches and not just been seen as the brand you get as your first foray into mechanical watches. Great to see what they're doing. Like to see them just constantly moving forward. And then we had to go on to the next one. And Ricky, where did we go after Tag Heuer?
- [42:50]
A
We went to see our friends at Ulysse Nardan. I pronounced that properly. David has not, even though he's heard it a thousand times. They were celebrating 25 years of the freak and they brought their A game, their A game because they had a crazy booth. They had the most scary robots running around. And it's so hard to describe what this looks like. It looks like AI. It looks like animatronic animations. It looks like something out of black mirror. They had these. I don't even know, I don't watch Star wars, but it's one of the Star Wars. It's not Stormtroopers, it's a really skinny little droid robot things. They had them running around. And I saw the videos online and I thought, yeah, okay, that's, that's a new like Google meta. Something or other has created this AI thing. No, this was legit. We saw it. We stood in front of it. I pat my shant. That is how scary and eerie this thing is. And it would walk up to you, it would dance, it would do ballet moves that humans would have difficulty doing. Completely balanced, didn't topple over. And it was just insane seeing this in front of us. So many videos appeared. That was the first thing. Second thing on the booth. Over the past number of years they've had intricate movements broken down into large scale parts. And you could see the inside of a freak movement and you could lie down and have your photograph taken in a mirror in the room. This time around they had the head of the head honcho. The guy that devised, created and invented the freak technology. 25 years ago they had his not life size. It was giant sized in the front of the booth. We looked at it. The eyes followed you around the room. Again, really eerie, really scary. Then we went inside the booth and it had changed as it always does year upon year. It completely changed from last year. It was the latest dive watch ever created. This time around, it's the most complicated time only watch ever devised. 511 components. Massive amounts of ingenuity, technology, creation. The guy that actually puts them together, spoke to him. Takes 60 hours for one person to assemble the movement. If you get one of the things wrong at any point in time, you have to start from scratch. It is insane. And he's been working there. I think he said for 23 years. So he loves his job.
- [44:52]
B
Well, the watch is what they believe to be the most technically complex time only watch potentially ever made. As Ricky mentioned, over 500 components in here. Super intricate. I think 97% if I remember rightly, is the figure they quoted of the parts are in motion at all times when the watch is running, which is just insanity. So it's not just difficult enough to build up the movement. Everything's in motion as well. The level of micro engineering going on in some of the components was astounding. They had lots of them set into little blocks of clear resin so you could see how small these things actually are. And yes, watchmaking components are small, but this is ultra complex with all of these things spinning, twisting, turning at the same time. It is a punchy price point, no two ways about it, especially at a price point where you would normally be expecting fancy high complications or metadata skills. But this is just a pure engineering driven masterclass in how to make something way overly complicated for what it needs to be to what it does. But it's also why we love watches, because it exists. It's something that actually exists and exists for no other reason. Then why not? Amazing piece.
- [45:59]
A
Before we finish up on this one, they also had a new differential system inside that showed numerals on a freak, which you usually don't get. So many complex parts inside for a brand that is relatively small, because we got to see a video presentation of the atelier and it's Girard Perregaux one side, it's Ulysse Nardan on the other. Joined together one building and inside. It wasn't iwc, it wasn't Rolex or tudor, there weren't that many people working there, there wasn't that much square footage. But the insanity of the movements, the technology, the creation, the dials. You know when you see a documentary or a YouTube video where somebody goes inside Bentley to see how the W12 was put together, or inside Bugatti to see the 16 cylinder engine put together. That's what this is like. It is insanity. I'm going to try and get Gav to borrow some videos from the UN website to include in our YouTube video video and obviously go and check the show notes. All the information will be in there. Wow. It was insanity. And they've got more coming down the line. That is the big one for this moment in time. They're going to have Geneva watch days. They're going to have something that Dubai watch week are going to be doing in tandem later in the year. So stay tuned. We might even be going across to Switzerland, Dave, to have a look and see what they're up to. But moving on from there, we went to see our friends at Bulgari because Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave potentially could find an octofenissimo that fits his little wrist well.
- [47:19]
B
It's not that they didn't fit, but it will fit comfortably. I think that's fair to say they brought out. I think I'm going to say this is fairest thing I'm going to say in this episode of the podcast is a long awaited size, a 37 millimeter. They have kept it exactly as you would expect it. There's a couple of things that are different. It's fractionally thicker. They did that for a couple of technical reasons and also for some aesthetic reasons. They've also got a new clasp on it where you've got two little bits, buttons that help you to. You click them. It's easier to open it because the bracelet is a bit fancy to get opened once it's on your wrist. But for all intents and purposes, if you put them side by side, they are very, very similar. Various different options. They had a precious metal in yellow gold. They had the titanium. As you would expect, they've got one coming slightly later in the year. I think it's announcing or it's made available in September, but we did check it's not under embargo and it's in a more of a satin polish finish, so almost looks steel, but it is titanium. Super wearable. And it fixes my little problem, my little BO bit here that everyone's got to some extent or another where the larger one fits my wrist fine and it looks okay, but it just feels.
- [48:24]
A
Do the big ones hurt?
- [48:25]
B
They always hurt. But then, you know, sometimes. Time and place. Time and place. But anyway, the 37 millimeter just skirted around it. Great looking watch.
- [48:33]
A
Well, it turns out Friday was LVMH day because we had Tag Hublot, Bulgari and then we popped in to see the folks at Zenith to see what they were up to last year, weren't impressed. Didn't really blow the doors off anything for us this time around. They had some iterations, some upgrades. Chronomaster Sport, which is one of their biggest sellers that were telling us they have revitalized that they've actually created something that is almost a eureka moment. But also, why didn't they do this before? Not just them, why didn't the watchmaking industry do this before? Case in point, you've got a watch, you've got a steel bracelet or another metal, and you open the clasp and the little hinge that holds the clasp together but is a locking mechanism. It flips over, clonks straight into the back of the bracelet, usually causing a little line or a little scuff. Why has that not been fixed? We've been making watches for hundreds of years. Well, turns out they fixed it, they patented it. Rolex came around for a sniff at it. Couldn't do anything about it.
- [49:25]
B
It's all about. Well, it was mostly all about their new clasp, which is a fairly significant piece of engineering, if I remember rightly. Over 80 or 90 components in it and ceramic bearings and slide mechanisms and all sorts of things. Yes, it looks like what you would expect for the clasp. They've done a great job of keeping the aesthetic as it was. But as Ricky mentions, little annoyances that people find where, yeah, that little flappy cover bit goes over and it scratches it, especially if it's a polished link behind it. But it doesn't. It stops and then it's got an almost like little spring load where if you pull it, it then opens a clasp. So you don't need to dive your nail in and kind of break your nail as you try and clip up on the clasp. It actually felt really good in hand. And also their kind of, of system of adjustment. So I think they're around about 10 millimeters of adjustment, if I remember rightly. There's in and about that, a little lever that you pull and it kind of pops up a section and you can slide it in and out. And you can also do that when the clasp is on the wrist and fully locked. It doesn't have to be removed, it doesn't have to be opened to do it. So you can easily make adjustments both larger and smaller. So if your wrist shrinks as it gets colder or increases as you're exercising or the heat comes out, you can play around with it. Only available in steel at the moment, and it's only going to be available on a couple of the newer models they did. They were pretty upfront about it. They said this clasp is quite a lot more expensive to produce than the previous one. It will iterate into other models going forward, but only in steel at the moment. I'm sure they will in the future bring out other models, whether it be precious metal, etc. They did mention as well, though, it might take up to a year before it fully percolates through the range. The other big thing they talked about was on that model, which is, I think it's fair to say the community has called it the Zetona for a few reasons and they're not bad reasons as Ricky will probably get into slightly later. But what they've done is they've got this new skeletonizing stroke see through dial thing going on. They talked about skeletonizing.
- [51:15]
A
Ah, but there's more they forgot to tell you. If you're an existing customer of Zaytona, then in the coming months you can contact your local service point and actually get your bracelet upgraded with the new clasp.
- [51:28]
B
Clasp? Yes, I think it's around about €1,000 is what they quoted for this clasp. So it is a fairly punchy exercise. But it does fit on existing bracelets. So that's good news as long as you're willing to pay out that amount of money. That said, let's get back to that skeletonizing and dial. They said they tried skeletonizing it and it didn't really work. They said they tried to do this kind of sapphire see through dial that didn't really work. And then they kind of decided to combine them and they also brought in some fumier effect on that translucent and see through dial at different areas. The skeletonizing isn't extreme in the way that you might expect in some watches. But when it was put together for me, the steel one with the black fumier effect really worked. It's a great looking watch. And Ricky got his hands on the yellow gold case with the black ceramic bezel with this skeletonizing on a rubber strap and he was quite taken by
- [52:18]
A
it, quite taken by the price. I think it was about 27k Swiss francs maybe with or without taxes. And I put it beside the Rolex. I was wearing my new Daytona that I've just picked up and I like mine better. I can't say why, but I do like it better. But this one was almost like the next stage of evolution. It was more space age. It reminded me it was like the step up from the Rolex having the Omega with the moonshine gold. Because on the Rolex you've got the bezel, then you've got the metal part, then you've got the rubber strap trap. On the Omega, on the Zenith, the rubber almost comes up and meets the black. So it's almost like a complete black band running right across your wrist. I really did like it. The shadow effect they'd done with the sapphire so you couldn't completely see the movement. There was a lift, there was almost the depth of looking into the seabed that worked tremendously well. Only thing I didn't like was again comparing it to the Rolex and there is a price differential. The bracelet that moved well, it wasn't even a bracelet, it was a strap. It didn't have the metal internal titanium structure that the Rolex does. It was a little bit floppy and flimsy. And then the clasp on the back, again it's made of gold so it's not going to have the tactile and tensile strength. It looked a little bit fragile and with the weight of the watch head, wasn't 100% convinced. But looking at the watch front and shaving nearly 10k off the price, the asking price for a Daytona, it was a good watch and again a little bit like Hublot, they've not pumped the prices up.
- [53:45]
B
Yeah. And I'm going to guarantee you that the availability of that piece over said Rolex will be somewhat different. So if you have the money and you're looking to purchase one, I feel that the accessibility may be a slightly different coefficient, shall we say. But yes, that was nice to see. And they brought out a couple of other pieces. That baller piece they brought out last year, the kind of anniversary piece with the blue dial and the platinum case that had the crazy bracelet that cost more than the actual watch. Well, they brought out a yellow gold variant of it with a green dial. I think it was a bloodstone I think was what they called it. I actually thought it looked fantastic, really good looking. And they brought out a very limited 20 or 25 piece tantalum case edition with a black dial. Very classy. It was in and around the 75,000 for the watch. No bracelet option in tantalum. The yellow gold was the same price as the previous white gold or platinum. Can't quite remember what it was. 48,000 with the bracelet again being more than the watch at 50,000. That's a kind of very Milanese woven precious metal bracelet. It looks amazing but the price for the bracelet is crazy. The watch itself looks really good in the yellow. Well there, that's what we got up to at Zenith. It was mostly all about the clasp, the presentation I have to say but well, when you play with the clasp you'll understand why they were very proud of it.
- [55:00]
A
My last port of call, probably Dave's last port of call as well because although we were going in different directions, we were going to the same airport to get on public transport to different places and. And it turns out it was iwc, we saved our friends to last. We didn't see Andrew there, although we did catch up with him earlier. I bumped into Chris as I left slightly early during the presentation because I had to get my luggage and a flight back home to Scotland. He grabbed me, started telling me a tale and I had to put the kibosh on. I said, I'd love to hang around, I'd love to hear their story, but let's keep it for a podcast because I need to duke off. And the cheeky bastards reply was, will I have to listen to you guys talk for an hour every morning? Can't say if we're on that.
- [55:39]
B
Yeah, well, that was called being put back in your place. Fair enough. We went to see what they were doing and they had some, well, interesting things, some things we've seen before. There was a few iterations of various models, Ingenieur. Quite a few different things going on there, a few different sizes, few different materials, nothing revolutionary, but they are continuing to push that range forward. It's great to see that, though, to prefer, because otherwise it's full of Pilot's watches. And they had, of course, lots of Pilot watches. White ceramic showing its face. They are probably the best brand out there when it comes to white ceramic. They do it very well. White ceramic, in my opinion, can look inexpensive very quickly. That's my politically correct way of describing it. But they do it in a way where it actually still really looks to me like it holds its value. Outside of that, they also had, well, two newish things, something you've seen before, but they didn't really bring it to market, which is where they've infused luminescence into the ceramic case so that the whole case, the dial, everything glows. It's cool. I do like it. It's a bit cheesy, but I do frankly, really like it. And the one which I think is called the Vertical Drive, this is their new collaborative space watch. It's also got a fairly solid water resistance on it as well. So it can be down the way, it can go up the way. It's got a white ceramic case with a berry black dial and kind of bezel setup on it. It's got a white rubber strap with a pin buckle I really like. The big thing about it is it had a slider on the side and the crown is where you made most of the manipulations, whether it be setting the time. It's a GMT and it wasn't insanely priced. It was, I think, in around the 12, 13,000 mark. Yes, still significant. But I really enjoyed looking at that watch, it was a wee bit different. Something completely unexpected from the guys and all of their pictures and iconography around the booth were kind of aimed around this black and white theme. And big pictures of this vertical drive watch. Definitely one to check out. If you like space themed stuff, sure. That will probably float your boat. And as Ricky said, there was then time to, well, make a move.
- [57:37]
A
So that was our final day at the event itself. There are many brands we didn't get to see, we didn't get an invite or we missed the boat. When we're trying to book appointments because they go like that. We then get to see glc, Erlang and Zona, various other brands we kind of popped our head into. A few of our friends said hello here, there and everywhere. But what we're going to do now is digest the things that we're going to read about. All the press releases that the brand sent through that we didn't go and get to see. And in the next episode of the show we will bring it all full circle. We're going to have some friends on. Barbara Plumbo is going to nip her head in, talk a little bit about what she saw. She went to different places than we did. Pietro from Limited Edition, obviously he was hanging around with all the independent guys. He was at the different pirate, what they called satellite. Well, they're called pirate shows, according to the guy at Rolex, he went in and around everywhere. So we're going to have different voices given their take on this, that and the other. If you went along the public days, drop us an email. Infatottishwatches.co.uk, let us know what you thought, what things stood out to you? Or maybe you were just watching from the comfort of your armchair at home. What did you like? What did you dislike? What things surprised you? What things annoyed you? What things pleased you? Let us know. Drop us an email.
- [58:41]
B
Outside of that, check out all of our content on YouTube and hit that subscribe button so you're notified of new content that comes your way.
- [58:47]
A
Who's all of our content? I don't know him.
- [58:49]
B
Tune in every Monday, every Thursday. Choose the podcast player of your choice. It's on all of the popular platforms and you'll get to hear our dulcet
- [58:58]
A
tones and the shipments.
- [58:59]
B
Well, it's on all of those as well. Indeed, indeed. I hope you've enjoyed our Watches and Wonders coverage. We've done it a little differently this year to bring it as quickly to your ears as we possibly could. Ricky, I think that's about it.
- [59:10]
A
It is indeed. So thank you for listening, and we'll catch you again soon.
- [59:13]
B
Take. Sam.