Dezza

Sorry, I'm about to be controversial again. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder, but that is not the word I would personally use to describe this watch (is it actually a watch, - it's almost impossible to read the time on this creation of cogs and wheels). So, as you can guess, this is not one for me, and, at circa £33k it never would be. Again, a personal observation, I don't understand the latest trend for white gold or platinum on watches, other than makers dreaming up another reason to get the very wealthy to part with even more money than their commonsense would normally allow - they still look like Stainless Steel, so a case of "The Emperors New Clothes" - just saying! At least with traditional gold (yellow, red or rose), the difference is noticeable.

Yet more dive watches! It seems that hardly a week goes by without another release into this arena (or should it be marina!). I would have thought that this area had already been flooded with these watches, but apparently not (so it would seem). I do get the need for this type of watch if you actually venture into the water, but most people that I see wearing these are in and around town and not coastal dwellers or seafarers. Hand's-up, I am almost embarrassed to say that I do own a dive watch that I purchased a while ago for it's waterproof nature, when what I really needed was a sturdy field watch. It rarely gets worn so sits in its box awaiting an eBay purchaser to hit the BIN button. I guess it will get one more outing in a few weeks time when I'm away at the coast for a autumnal wild weather adventure, then back in the warm and dry environs of it box.

Arnold and Son watches are always beautiful, this World Timer, is no exception to this statement, my only comment is that the bridge feature (whilst being needed to support the moving globe feature), is too prominent. The review makes the point that specific time zones (in the southern hemisphere) are then shown in water masses rather than land masses, is obviously a shortcoming on this otherwise clever design. I guess with this level of beauty and horological expertise, does get expensive, so, out of reach of us normal folk (but folk with good taste I must add). Having stated the pro's and con's, I would love to own one.

I will keep it short in terms of my normal feedback. Technically superb (obviously for this watch brand) I'm thinking the designer was on his break and left his sketch pad open for the office cleaner / sci-fi nerd, to add their own interpretation, - too many visible cogs and wheels and a bit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for my liking, particularly the single colour palette. Obviously the price is also in the NASA space probe region.

Great review from Sam, covering a massive range of watches, and at all price points. I'm personally not into the big bold Chrono thing myself, but having said that, I do have a couple of chrono's, but these are elegant rather than bold, without the massive Chrono pushers. I guess it depends on your perspective and if you do really time race laps, where the big pushers are a benefit. So, to the watches reviewed. Having taken out of the equation, the ones with oh so bold colours, and also the big pusher rods, that leaves the list a lot shorter, and taking elegance into account, the list is vastly diminished. So (for me), top prize (in the high price bracket) would be the JLC, with the Parmigiani a close second (beautiful dial and understated bezel, but the bracelet lets it down as it makes the overall ensemble too bulky). Whilst, in the affordable price range, the Herbelin does look nice, the Studio Underd0g Go0fy Panda gets the top (pole position), for style and fantastic price.

Christopher Ward has definitely made it's mark within the watch industry, and, was (as far as I'm aware), pretty much at the forefront of the micro-brand emergence, so hats off to the brand in general. If you look at the range, (apart from the Bel Canto, which was a definite divergence) and possibly the "Dune" range, most of their watches tend to follow a similar theme of robust chunkiness with a dive style bezel, so I guess nobody should be surprised at this latest release, which is undoubtedly a dive watch, but at 44mm, a monster, but with lollipop colours, so, rather than "leading", they are following a questionable trend of overly bold colours. But, at the sub (pun intended), £1k price point, maybe it will appeal to the beach ready trendy types.

This is a beautiful watch from a very underrated brand, that somehow doesn't receive the respect that certain other watch brands receive. Not really any negatives from me, it's classy and understated, and a watch that falls into a few normally separate areas (dress and sports / utility) so sits well in many scenarios - almost a single watch ownership situation. The only drawback is the price. Would I buy it, well yes, if I could afford one. There aren't many bracelet watches that look right with a suit, but in my opinion, this is definitely one of the few.

Yes, it's a VC Yes, it's technically superb Yes, it looks amazing (but where is the dial). Yes (taking all of the above into account), it will be expensive (no price listed, a little like the old Rolls Royce viewpoint, "if you have to ask the price, then you can't afford it"), so, another watch for the Uber rich. I personally don't get the open frame / face watch craze, as you generally need laser vision to read the time, plus, with the amazing visual appeal of so many recent "plain dial" watches (guilloche, enamel etc), why the need for open frame. So, on a positive point, when compared to other watches featured on OT, that must fall into a similar (hefty) price position, it at least looks like a proper watch and is aimed at "old money" types that appreciate class, style and elegance, rather than "new money" that is generally associated with big, bold bling, so scores on the dress watch for the well dressed front.

So, a world timer is supposed to cover this world (the planet earth) and not some other cosmic location, so why does this watch look as though it's been purloined from some forthcoming Sci-Fi epic, it begs the question, will the next version transport the wearer to an as yet unexplored world. Another silly watch, but at least not as silly as some other recent releases, but, at least this one has a realistic price tag, unlike I few others recently reviewed here on OT. Is there really a market for these things? Need to maintain space from these contraptions, so beam me up Scotty.