What if…? This simple statement could easily summarize what Albishorn‘s founder Sébastien Chaulmontet wants to achieve with the brand, or “Imaginary Vintage” watches as he likes to call it. Things started with the appealing Maxigraph, or what a modern regatta chronograph would have looked like in the 1930s. Now, Albishorn takes flight, and Chaulmontet creates another vintage watch that never existed. It’s named the Type 10 Chronograph, and it’s meant to be the predecessor of the emblematic Type 20 chronograph, hypothetically crafted in 1948, as the missing link between the dashboard instruments and the famous flyback military/pilot wrist chronograph. A…

While the wandering satellite-hour complication remains a hallmark of Urwerk, featured in one form or another across most of the independent brand’s creations, the evolution of its designs, the inventive interpretations, and the mechanical ingenuity behind each new model is undeniably inspiring. This month, the fascinating and creative brand, led by founders Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, unveils the UR-150 Scorpion, a natural progression from the UR-100 series introduced in 2019. More organic, less sci-fi, still Urwerk all the way.  The new Urwerk UR-150 Scorpion stands apart from the UR-100 models with its much smoother, more organic case design. Its…

We’ve kept our collective lips zipped about the new Urwerk UR-150 Scorpion after seeing it during Geneva Watch Days 2024. Now it’s ready to debut in a choice of two case finishes. The UR-150 Scorpion hosts a new movement and an enhanced complication. As always with Urwerk, it’s a feast for the eyes! During our visit to Urwerk during Geneva Watch Days 2024, we saw the EMC SR-71 and spent time with a watch we couldn’t discuss. That watch was the UR-150 Scorpion, an updated take on the brand’s hallmark hour satellites and retrograde minutes. It has a new movement…

Introduced in 2001, Ulysse Nardin’s Freak watch turned many watchmaking conventions upside down. With no hands, no dial and no crown, the Freak was powered by an in-line movement pivoting on itself every 60 minutes to indicate the time. It was regulated by a dual direct escapement and introduced the watchmaking world to silicium (aka silicon). Following countless iterations over its 23-year lifespan, the Freak ONE introduced last year is a throwback to the first Freak watch designed and produced in the here and now. The result is one of the most attractive, well-proportioned and wearable editions of this horological…

Eddy Jaquet, a talented master engraver based in Neuchâtel, began collaborating with MB&F in 2011, engraving the names of Kari Voutilainen and Jean-François Mojon on the bridges of the first Legacy Machine calibres.Keen to deepen their partnership, Jaquet and MB&F founder Maximilian Büsser discussed the possibility of creating a series of eight unique timepieces inspired by the novels and short stories of 19th-century French author Jules Verne. The Legacy Machine Split Escapement was chosen for the project due to its ample dial surface, ideal for showcasing intricate engravings that explore Verne’s literary universe.The resulting eight LM Split Escapement ‘Eddy Jaquet’…

Bow down. The Freak deserves your respect. In fact, the Freak is the mack daddy of everything we call Nouvelle Horlogerie. In 2001, a bizarre and unexpected watch appeared from the Ulysse Nardin atelier in Le Locle, and it shook the world of watchmaking on its very foundations. This world was not yet ready for an alien-like mechanical watch without hands, without a crown, and without a dial that told time. The men responsible for creating this abnormality were Ulysse Nardin’s visionary former CEO Rolf Schnyder and genius watchmaker Dr. Ludwig Oechslin. The movement of the Freak took center stage…