Ariel Adams

POSTS BY Ariel Adams

The Sun Never Sets: Movado Datron Watch

When Movado purchased the rights to the “Museum Dial” clock designed by Nathan George Horwitt in 1947, it changed the face of the brand forever (no pun intended). By the 1980s Movado was more or less primarily known for the Museum Watch, almost exclusively. It was not until a few years ago that Movado wished to break the popular perception that Movado only offered the Museum Watch and nothing else. While the Museum watches were and are still very successful, Movado has a rich history of good looking watches — not to mention some very impressive contemporary designs. An interesting READ MORE

Statement of Achievement: Piaget Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic Ultra Thin Watch

There exists in psychology a concept known as the hierarchy of needs. This forces us to have a set of wants and desires no matter how comfortable our lives are. The idea is that after a person has satisfied basic elements of life and subsistence, their needs move up the ladder to things such as shelter, love, socialization, and all the way up to actually requiring intellectual stimulation and to be surrounded by the finest things in life. When you are at the top, your needs can be just as distinct and pervasive as the need to eat for those READ MORE

Precision Travel: Blancpain Villeret Half-Time-Zone Watch

Are you sure this isn’t a German watch? Yes, it is in fact Swiss. What surprises me is that Blancpain – one of Switzerland’s oldest watch makers – has developed a timepiece that is so straight forward in its unapologetically functional design, and has such a niche, yet useful complication. I tend to typically regard the utility minded watch makers in Germany as those who focus on such precision oriented features. What am I talking about? Well this watch allows you to adjust the time zones in half hour increments versus full hour increments. Why? If you were not already READ MORE

Boutique Special: Breguet Réveil du Tsar Enamel Dial Watch

A lesson learned eons ago and since then routinely dismissed is that watch dials should be easy to read. In modern times you’ll find even very high-end watch makers pushing the envelope of design and visual complication to create timepieces that look modern, but often eschew predictable function. One school of thought teaches that to really make a name for yourself you need to study new and complex ways of presenting a watch dial. This often leads to visually interesting, but difficult to read watch dials. Step about 100 years back (and longer) and the predominant feeling on the matter READ MORE

Green Light: DeLaneau Rectangular Dôme Sunrays Watch

What you can’t easily tell by looking at the dial of this attractive and artsy timepiece is just how complex the mechanics of it actually are. A mere handful of watch makers have been able to achieve the development of the movement type located on the inside — for its sheer defiance of how standard mechanical movements want to work. The automatic movement displays both the hours and minutes in what is called a “jumping” style format. The digits are located on discs that move behind the dial. They “jump” into place (rather than slowly move all the time) when READ MORE

Khaki Hero: Concord C1 Radar Watch

The quaintness of Switzerland seems an odd venue for the design and dissemination of future craft such as this C1 Radar watch from Concord. With the majority of timepieces coming out of Swiss shops being linked in various forms to the past, it requires a sincerely rebellious spirit to break the mold of tradition. Concord is a famous name among the Swiss watch industry, but totally revamped their image a few years ago. The new motto was “time deconstructed,” announcing that the well-known maker of slightly avant garde (though conservative) fine watches was about to go full bore in a READ MORE