Vintage Archives - Watchisthis

07Juil 2021 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Hands-on : Mathey-Tissot MT369 AMWG Exclusive

Review

In recent weeks I had the chance to try the Mathey-Tissot MT369 MT369 AMWG Exclusive and I have to say that I enjoyed wearing it. This watch came to me thanks to Vincent Ho who is the admin of the Asia Mechanical Watch Group on Facebook. The one that I received is now sold out but you can note (as it’s engraved on the caseback) that it was a special edition made for AMWG members. This piece produced by Mathey-Tissot is of course a homage like almost all their watches. A bit of history A bit of history about the brand because I’m sure you already heard about them. Near the center of the Swiss Jura Mountains, at an altitude of 3.300 feet, lies the village of Les Ponts de…

17Avr 2020 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment

Interview Adriaan Trampe – Eza Watches

Interview

Today we have the chance to share with you an interview of Adriaan Trampe (Co-Founder of Eza Watches). I hope you will like it and that the latter will make you want to discover a little more about this brand. - Could you tell us a bit about you and about your story with watches? My interest for watches started during high school. I was mostly interested in the mechanical movement itself. Also the romantic pictures of watchmakers in the Swiss mountains working on their watches while the snow was falling outside captured my imagination. We didn’t have much of this in The Netherlands (where I come from) but still, the passion for watchmaking grew. I wasn’t a very good student in high school. Always passing to the next year…

09Avr 2019 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Watchbox – Pre-Owned Seiko Astron GPS Solar Dual Time

News

Some of you may ask : “What is Watchbox ? “ Well, WatchBox is the global leader in pre-owned luxury watches. So you can now Buy, Sell, or Trade your luxury watch easily with a trusted partner. WatchBox™ is the global destination for luxury pre-owned timepieces, offering an expertly curated inventory of luxury pre-owned watches for sale, personalized client services, educational opportunities and astute editorial content. Founded in 2017, WatchBox is the result of a game-changing partnership between Danny Govberg, CEO of Govberg Jewelers, Tay Liam Wee, former owner of Sincere Watch, and investor-entrepreneur Justin Reis. This partnership brings together unprecedented watch industry experience, innovative technology, sophisticated data systems and marketing, as well as financial strength and business acumen to positively transform the multi-billion-dollar pre-owned luxury watch industry. In August…

21Fév 2019 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment

TBT – Dive into a vintage world

Vintage

Once you go down the rabbit hole of vintage watch collecting, it can be a difficult task to find your way back out again. With countless brands, designs, and price points to work with, not to mention the thrill of tracking down that elusive ‘rare bird’; there are many ways a collector can structure his collection. Some choose to solely focus on one brand or reference, whereas others are happy to simply go after designs they like and develop some variety. Over the years I’ve been actively collecting vintage watches, I’ve ended up building ‘collections within collections’, with Swiss, German and French skin divers being regular additions! Skin divers are lesser diving watches, in that they generally lack a depth rating and screw-in crown. What they forgot in actual diving…

04Juin 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 15 Comments

A Soviet Design Classic – The Raketa Kopernik

Vintage

When it comes to listing famous watchmaking countries, most people could name Switzerland, Japan and maybe Germany or France, if they had only a passing interest in watches. However there is one region that arguably surpasses those in terms of the level of fanaticism of its collectors, and that is the former Soviet Union. Russia and the USSR have a rather rich horological history, with a large number of manufacturers in operation over quite a long period of time. What most of the brands lacked in high end mechanics and expensive hand-finishing compared to their European counterparts, they made up for with an astonishing array of unique designs, robustness and hearty doses of utilitarianism. Soviet-era watches scored wins for the USSR during the Cold War too, as it was a…

14Mar 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 15 Comments

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…

14Fév 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 3 Comments

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…

17Jan 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 5 Comments

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…

29Mai 2017 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment

Fin Watches Spire arrived on Kickstarter

News

We too often see the same kind of watches on Kickstarter, so when you have a new project with something completely different, you have to talk about it. And it’s a pleasure when it’s a product well thought - something with style, practical application and a genuine philosophy behind it. Fin Watches is the fruit of the imagination of the creators behind the successful « Town 30 photography bag » which was on Kickstarter in 2015 - a camera bag that is stylish and versatile, allowing you to integrate your love of photography into every aspect of your life. It was seriously a great project with a really nice product. Back to the watch – Hin Fan the founder of this new brand told me : « we seek to…

11Avr 2017 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Introducing Henry London Heritage Automatic Collection

News

Launched in October 2015 by two young designers, Henry London is quite a new brand but they already have many different ranges of watches, always with elegant colors and classic shapes. They also think of the ladies, since the quantity of watches intended for the female wrists is impressive. The whole brand is inspired by a vintage Swiss watch found at Portobello market in London. This watch had “Henry, August 1965” engraved on the case back – hence the name of the brand "Henry London", and why also they offer a personalized engraving service. Each watch is designed with meticulous care, synonymous of the 60’s era in which the inspiration came. Their collection is inspired by this vintage style and perfectly combines traditional styling with modern trends. Yes indeed, and…

Étiquette : Vintage