Jon Edwards

A family-owned dial manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, founded by Ernst Morf in 1954 and now managed by Giuseppe Carrubba alongside his sons, Michael and Alexandre.

A glimpse at the purpose-built tool that forms the precise overcoil used on all of the Parachrom hairsprings that Rolex produces.

Started when Philippe Dufour's daughter, Danièla Dufour, began her watchmaking journey as an apprentice, at the age of 15, and completed entirely by her over the ensuing 5 years, Mark Kauzlarich provides a rare look at the first Dufour Simplicity not crafted by the grandmaster himself.

While the finished work is, in and of itself, a laudable and impressive achievement, Danièla remains humble and even-keeled:

I think there's still so much to experience and so much to learn. I will have to continue to be curious because, for me, curiosity is such an important quality in watchmaking. Some day I want to have a watch under my own name, a brand under my own name. But until then, I'll keep working to learn and grow.

At first glance, I didn't think the prototype of the Flux Keyboard was real or that it could actually work. Taking a slightly deeper look, it turns out that the tech stack behind it is disarmingly basic (which is a big plus as far as I'm concerned).

This initial Flux Keyboard is such a brilliant remix of existing, off-the-shelf technologies. Akin to the first iPhone, I imagine that in a few years' time this sort of interface will become more affordable and far more ubiquitous now that someone has shown it can be done.

A peek at the new playless gear in the Rolex caliber 7140.

Doing away with the inner support structure between the sprung flanges found in the playless gears of the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona and Rolex Yacht-Master II, the gear that drives the subsidiary-second hand in the Rolex 1908 appears to employ a pattern of hollowed-out, sprung teeth with the occasional, interstitial solid tooth in a ratio of 3:1.

A technology formerly reserved for the brand's smaller timepieces, Rolex has stepped things up in size and introduced its spin on a silicon hairspring in its new, notably larger caliber 7140. Although wider in girth than the 2236 caliber that the Syloxi hairspring debuted in, the 7140 affords a slimmer case profile than 3132-equipped Rolex Cellini Time that the 7140-powered Rolex 1908 supplants in the collection thanks, in part, to the slimness of the Syloxi hairspring, which does away with the additional height of the Parachrom hairspring's requisite overcoil while maintaining the isochronism that an overcoil provides.

While purists may balk at Rolex broadening the use of silicon in its timepieces—it is, after all, fabbed from the exact same, soulless atomic fabric that helped pave the way for the Quartz Crisis—anecdotally speaking, it is less prone to potential perturbations in timekeeping than the Parachrom hairspring. Further to that, the molecular makeup of Parachrom is so exotic and finely tuned relative to traditional hairsprings that it may just as well be made from silicon as far as any one individual watchmaker's ability to craft a new one from the raw constituent materials is concerned. Although it is unquestionably superior to the alloys that preceded it, Parachrom is still subject to all manner of subtlety and in-between states. After it comes off of the factory line it can be tweaked, shaped, and deformed, for better or worse. Syloxi, on the other hand, operates in a more deterministic manner, much like the microchips in modern electronics that are made from the same material via similar processes. It comes out of the fab perfect. The structure of its molecular building blocks locked in place. It either works or it doesn't. It's binary.

I do find a degree of paradox in the plethora of advanced micro-mechanical tech that Rolex has packed into what is, arguably, the most classical looking timepiece in their current collection. Five new patents. A silicon hairspring. Chronergy escapement. Paramagnetic, nickel-phosphorus components. And a new, LIGA-fabricated playless gear form to drive the second hand. Rolex is fully self-aware in this matter, though:

The new 1908 is by no means a nostalgic timepiece.

I'd be pleased to see them eventually branch this collection out to include an Oystersteel variant with gilt dial—substituting the solid gold oscillating weight with the tungsten-rimmed one, of course, just as they've with the Oystersteel Cosmograph Daytona references that are equipped with the new Rolex caliber 4131.

The Rolex Day-Date Emoji, featuring the words “Happy”, “Eternity”, “Gratitude”, “Peace”, “Faith”, “Love”, and “Hope” in place of the days of the week, alongside 31 emoji standing in for each day of the month.

Fittingly, they chose to showcase it with their take on a heart emoji in the date window. While I've never applied one to a Rolex, a heart on the date wheel in lieu of a significant date is something I and, no doubt, other watchmakers have done from time to time for clients as a personalized and ongoing memento of a special occasion.

To the watch technician taking this timepiece in for service 50 years from now: Yes. It is a real Rolex Day-Date, with no aftermarket alterations. Rolex did, well and truly, release this timepiece exactly as you see it—with neither day nor date—on the 27^th of March 2023.

A whiplash-inducing tour through Tudor's new manufacturing facilities in Le Locle, narrated in the voice of the manufacture.

Tudor has evolved substantially over the course of its 97-year history.

Nearly years after being founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1926, Tudor finally has a place of its own to call home. Nacho Conde Garzón provides an inside peek at the brand's new manufacturing and testing facilities in Le Locle.

A peek at the manufacturing and assembly facilities of Josh Shapiro with Hodinkee (around the 12½ minute mark).

While it's clear Shapiro isn't fabricating components like the jewels, mainspring, anti-shock system, or oscillator in house, as James Stacey's overarching comments might lead one to believe, the video provides a good overview of the mix of automated machinery and handwork that goes into the fabrication of Shapiro's timepieces.

I can't help but feel there is some artisanal dissonance in the announcement of this piece.

Daniel Roth, the watchmaker, still makes hand-crafted timepieces—just two each year. However, those hand-crafted tourbillons, whose cages spin at unusual rate of two minutes rather than the more common one minute, are sold under the name Jean Daniel Nicolas. Through a somewhat complicated series of events, Daniel Roth the man no longer has anything to do with Daniel Roth the brand. The Daniel Roth Tourbillon Souscription pieces are being produced and profited from by the luxury conglomerate LVMH. I can only begin to imagine what it must feel like to see a multinational with a market capitalization north of €400,000,000,000.00 using your name to take five-figure prepayments on watches that have yet to be manufactured.

While there is a certain disingenuity in the branding of this timepiece, the technical execution does at least strive to be worthy of the level of execution that Daniel Roth—the man—operates at today. Produced by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the manually-wound caliber DR001, made specifically for this timepiece, is well finished. As are the dial and case. Notably, the dial itself is crafted at Comblémine SA, which is owned by independent watchmaker, Kari Voutilainen, who learned from the myriad independent watchmakers, like Daniel Roth, who came before him and has succeeded in avoiding a similar fate for his own name by blending business savvy with the impeccable quality of craftsmanship his timepieces are renowned for.

Interestingly, the seconds indication borrows a design that Daniel Roth employed during his time architecting timepieces at Breguet, alongside Louis-Maurice Caillet. Although I prefer the visual simplicity that the Jean Daniel Nicolas two-minute tourbillon confers to this style of seconds indication, it is a fitting nod to the watch's namesake. As a testament to the tight integration of design between the case and the movement, a slight cutout was engineered into the form of the case at the 6 o'clock position to accommodate the longest of the seconds indicators that traverse the three-tiered seconds track.

The making of a homemade, quartz watch mod with a miniature chess match inside.

Making bronze bracelets with the new, micro-adjustable T-Fit clasp, at Tudor in Switzerland.

An Intractable, by Reparator, detailing how to make your own minimalist, magnetic, ball bearing clock.