01Fév 2021 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment
Review – Timeless Swiss Watches

Review – Timeless Swiss Watches

Review
Several weeks ago I discovered on the social networks a new Swiss microbrand named Timeless. I’ve been directly captivated by the design of the piece and so I decided to contact Mael Oberkampf, the founder and designer of the brand (an interview will come in the next weeks). After some weeks of conversation he decided to send me the two watches that are part of his first collection. Let’s welcome home the HMS watches :-) I was honestly happy that he accepted my proposal because I was quite intrigued by these pieces. It is quite rare to find a new brand, or micro brand, which has a more or less affordable price, and which has a totally different design than what is already on the market. So yes, for those who…
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14Juin 2019 by Jonathan Kopp 2 Comments
Venneman Watches – Pure Belgian Design

Venneman Watches – Pure Belgian Design

News
Pure Belgian design from high-quality Swiss components. Belgium is not only known for its chocolate, cycling and famous players in their national football team. There are also some very skilled and passionate independent watchmakers hidden in that small country. One of them is Thomas Venneman the founder of Venneman Watches. Thomas Venneman wants to create unique timepieces in limited editions. 300 copies, more will not be made. Unique and numbered! Thomas received a solid training as a watchmaker and learned the craft from the masters themselves in Switzerland. He completed a number of traineeships with the big brands and at smaller workshops The pursuit of perfection is the guiding principle of his brand. We met in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Ghent where he showed me his timepiece…
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31Jan 2019 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments
Classicism and Émail Grand-Feu – Focus on Lundis Bleus

Classicism and Émail Grand-Feu – Focus on Lundis Bleus

Uncategorized
What’s great about independent watchmaking is that you’re not only talking about watches. You’re talking about esthetic choices, technical skills and passion. All mixed together in order for some brands to propose watches made with great creativity, great craftsmanship, recognizable among all thanks to their design. And all that sold for a reasonable price. Lundis Bleus is one of those brands. Initiated by friendship in 1994 when the two founders, Johan Storni and Bastien Vuilliomenet, meet in the watchmaking school of La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland; the brand started to produce watches in 2016. In between, 1998 was the year of their graduation. Then, they both continued their studies and got experiences and skills in several domains such as design, watch restoration or watch construction in manufactures like Renaud & Papi…
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25Jan 2019 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments
Armand Nicolet presents the M02 collection

Armand Nicolet presents the M02 collection

News
Swiss brand Armand Nicolet just launched a new collection under the name of M02. This collection is separate in 3 lines : Date, Chronograph & Date and GMT. The original concept that years ago inspired the first version of this family hasn’t changed, but the Maison this time has focused particularly on comfort and ergonomics. In order to make the watch as comfortable as possible on a man’s wrist the diameter of the case has been reduced a little and time-telling is now easier thanks to a revisited dial where Arabic numbers are displayed alternatively to indexes. The date model is something really classical. It uses the SW-200 movement from Sellita and is priced around 1400 CHF. The most interesting thing about it is the guilloche dial that I find…
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20Juin 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 2 Comments
David Daper – A Swiss & Lifestyle “Signature” Brand

David Daper – A Swiss & Lifestyle “Signature” Brand

Uncategorized
Press Release - Time Square Collection from David Daper David Daper, with its first collection, Time Square, has positioned itself as a “Signature” Brand, thanks to a distinctive and highly differentiated product offering.   David Daper creates its own Brand Territory with a unique and minimalist design which answers the request of a generation in search of a strong identity working with their lifestyle. It caters to a mobile community in search of multicultural and urban experiences; a trend-aware community, with sharp product and quality knowledge. Far from the simplistic patterns of 'me-too' brands, David Daper's founders bring their own interpretation of a lifestyle brand. Their experience of high-end watchmaking allows the creation of this first iconic collection, despite a cluttered segment, it is a design recognizable amongst all. The…
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14Mar 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 15 Comments
Buser Frères & Cie S.A. – A Brief Introduction

Buser Frères & Cie S.A. – A Brief Introduction

Vintage
There have been countless Swiss watch companies come and go over the last 200 years or so. Literally every single day I come across at least one defunct name I’ve never heard of before, and I know of many Swiss watch brands (not to mention German and French brands too)! A sizeable proportion of these old brands were merely that – brands only, meaning that they did not manufacture any components of the timepieces they marketed. Rather, they designed (sometimes they didn’t even go that far...) or assembled watches from components supplied by other factories; a successful business model that continues today in the Swiss watch industry. Buser Frères & Cie S.A., a family owned business whose origins began in 1892 in Niederdorf, Switzerland; were a true ‘manufacture d’horlogerie’. Buser…
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14Fév 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 3 Comments
Winding Back the Years

Winding Back the Years

Vintage
The vast majority of wrist watches, from their very conception, have a crown on the right hand side of the case, at 3 o’clock. Most crowns protrude from the case, where they are grasped for setting and winding of the watch, if the watch is of the mechanical variety. However in 1953, Jaeger LeCoultre released the Futurematic, with the technically impressive calibre 497 bumper automatic movement. What was different about the Futurematic, lies in how the watch was set – there was no crown to be found at 3 o’clock. This watch was the first ‘back-set’ wristwatch, a true innovation where the tiny coin-like crown was located flat against the back of the case, in contact with the wrist when worn. The crown would slide one way to be rotated…
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24Jan 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment
The new Moduco watches

The new Moduco watches

News
The name Moduco comes from the abbreviation of « Modern Urban Company ». This new brand is a collaborative vision of two good friends - One who is an American watch designer, the other a Swiss product manager. Together they have a combined experience of more than 10 years in the watch industry. With this first collection they tried to create a watch inspired by the urban environment, modern aesthetics and industrial elements. A strong yet clean timepiece with some nice details. The first one that directly caught our eyes is the 3 dimensional roman numeral XII, that is more thick than the other numerals and on which there is a vertical brushed finishing. This special detail could remind us some skyline that you can find around Central Park in…
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17Jan 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 5 Comments
The 40’s still amaze us with some treasures

The 40’s still amaze us with some treasures

Vintage
The 1940s are indisputably one of the golden decades for watch design. Benefitting from being preceded by both the hugely influential Bauhaus design school and the Art Deco eras; watches from the 1940s developed an identity of their own, becoming recognisable for their simplicity, style and class. This decade in particular is known for its outstandingly beautiful chronographs, which are highly sought after by many collectors (with increasingly deep pockets). Quite remarkable really, that so many fine watches were conceived in the 1940s; for half of that period Europe was embroiled in the resource-draining effects of World War II, where both materials and of course labour were under stress. Although the fact that neutral Switzerland avoided widespread bombing (unlike Germany and France), probably helped its watchmaking industry weather the storm…
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06Déc 2017 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments
The Boldr Expedition watch

The Boldr Expedition watch

News
Here at Watchisthis ?! we have the chance to see and try a lot of watches and what came to the HQ some days ago is really really nice. This piece is the new Boldr Expedition Fuji. Boldr is a small watch brand from Singapore selling watches primarly through Kickstater. Once again they had a great success with the launch of their new models. For the record the campaign will end on the 9th of December 2017, so hurry up if you want to pre-order this pretty cool piece. The new Expedition watch is available in 6 colours variations. We tested the Fuji… A grey-on-grey watch with beige indexes and numbers, and a touch of orange on the second hands and in the top crown at two which controls the…
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