Section
Watches
Rolex introduced the Submariner in 1953 with a rotating bezel for timing dives, and most dive watches still follow its outline. Omega's Speedmaster Professional passed NASA's tests in 1965 and was on Buzz Aldrin's wrist on the Moon in 1969. Gérald Genta designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in 1972 and the Patek Philippe Nautilus in 1976, two steel sports watches sold at luxury prices. Kikuo Ibe's team at Casio built the G-Shock DW-5000C to survive a fall, and it went on sale in 1983. The Seiko SKX007, the Tudor Black Bay and the Cartier Tank get the same treatment, with reference numbers, movements and production changes laid out plainly. Then there is the quartz crisis, when cheap Japanese accuracy nearly wiped out the Swiss industry and a plastic Swatch helped drag it back.
Stories
Watches4 min read
Cartier Santos, the Square Watch Built for a Man in the Sky
A Brazilian aviator could not check a pocket watch with both hands on the controls. Louis Cartier gave him a square one for the wrist.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Casio G-Shock DW-5000C and the Watch That Wouldn't Break
A Casio designer threw prototypes out a bathroom window for two years. The answer came from a rubber ball in a Tokyo park.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
WatchesFeature4 min read
Rolex Submariner History: From Tool Watch to Icon
How a 1953 dive instrument rated to 100 meters became the most imitated wristwatch on earth, one reference at a time.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Cartier Tank: The Rectangle That Outlived Its War
Louis Cartier looked at a Renault tank and drew a wristwatch. Six were made in 1919. A century later it is still the shape of quiet money.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Omega Seamaster 300M and the Watch That Remade James Bond
A costume designer looked at a 1993 dive watch with a blue wave dial and decided a Royal Navy commander would wear it. Thirty years later he still does.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Seiko SKX007: The Dive Watch Everybody Started With
From 1996 to 2019 Seiko sold a real ISO 6425 diver for the price of a decent pair of boots. Then it stopped, and the internet panicked.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches5 min read
How to Buy Your First Mechanical Watch Without Getting Burned
Any quartz will keep better time than your first automatic. How to choose one anyway, size it properly and buy it from someone honest.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Omega Speedmaster Professional: The Moonwatch Story
A 1957 racing chronograph survived eleven brutal NASA tests, rode Gemini into orbit and became the first watch worn on the Moon.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak: Gerald Genta's Steel Gamble
In 1972 a small Swiss house priced a steel watch above gold ones and bet its future on an octagon full of exposed screws.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Patek Philippe Nautilus: How a Porthole Became a Grail
Gerald Genta drew it in 1974, Patek launched it in steel in 1976, and in 2021 the company killed its most wanted watch on purpose.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Tudor Black Bay: How Rolex's Sister Brand Found Its Voice
In 2012 Tudor raided its own 1950s archive, put a burgundy bezel on a modern diver and stopped being the watch your uncle called a cheap Rolex.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches4 min read
Grand Seiko Spring Drive and the Art of Zaratsu Polish
One engineer spent decades trying to make a mainspring obey a quartz crystal. He died a year before the first one went on sale.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
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