Ariel Adams

POSTS BY Ariel Adams

From Ralph’s Personal Collection: Ralph Lauren Sporting Wood Dial Watch

When it comes to design, it is often said that a sure-fire formula for success is to make something for yourself. Too many products today are conceived by talent and birthed by committees. Good designs and ideas get molded and degraded by the need to satisfy the many. If a good designer puts their heart and soul into an unadulterated product to satisfy their own picky needs, it usually has the potential of being fantastic. Ralph Lauren proved his ability to design fashion that has appeal to many, while keeping true to his own sense of aesthetic. The man has READ MORE

Music Minded: Breguet Réveil Musical Watch

Musical watches have a very long history that begins with bells — church bells more specifically. Historically speaking it was a luxury to have the time, expensive if one could have it at all. There was a long period when clocks were large affairs, huge machines that could take up part of a building. Small towns in Europe often had one or just a few clocks — if any. Most of which were placed on towers that were part of churches. When people were not paying attention to the clock, they were reminded of what time it was via the READ MORE

Thin Size, Thick Style: Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra-Thin Watch

Jules, have you lost weight? Looks that way as this Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars timepiece sports a very slim case that is just 6.7-mm in thickness. Few things feel as liberating on the wrist as a mysterious slim mechanical timepiece. I use the term mysterious in this case for a very good reason. The sensible good looks of the Jules Audemars Extra-Thin watch are a bit beguiling. On the outside the detailing is subtle, but extremely tasteful, and the dial is a minimalistic testament to easily telling the time. Ah, but here especially is what you can’t see (from the front) that is on READ MORE

The Game Changer: Jacob & Co. Quenttin Watch

Jacob & Co. deserves a lot of respect (and thanks) from the watch industry. Founder Jacob “the Jeweler” Arabo is one of the modern luxury watch industry’s most courageous people. No doubt many of Jacob & Co.’s design are polarizing in terms of taste, yet the brand heralded in a new era of risk taking and visual assertion that shocked many of the luxury world’s conservative members. The post Jacob & Co. era is rich with what can easily be described as “crazy” designs — compared to what you might have seen 20 years ago. Jacob & Co. not only pushed boundaries on READ MORE

Wrist Fortune: Ulysse Nardin Royal Blue Tourbillon Watch

You really don’t encounter timepieces such as this very often. It is a watch that in one fell swoop can entirely epitomize the luxury watch industry. Holding nothing back, this timepiece unapologetically exhibits the absolute maximum level of high-end lifestyle poise and exclusivity a timepiece can contain before verging on the outer realms of good taste. The Royal Blue Tourbillon watch by Ulysse Nardin is a statement as much as it is a watch. The message is clear and direct to both watch lovers and fellow brands. Ulysse Nardin here asserts its power as a brand when it comes to READ MORE

A Swiss Tradition: Parmigiani Tonda 1950 Watch

There are times when the watch makes the man, and there are times when the man makes the watch. The last several years have given the world a range of truly intense luxury watches with designs so bold, they often threaten to steal attention from the person wearing the watch. No doubt there are times we wish to adorn timepieces with personalities as large as their diameter, but this is not the traditional role of a fine timepieces. For the better part of the 20th century, the Swiss watch industry held itself to conservative standards that resulted in many timepieces READ MORE