Ariel Adams

POSTS BY Ariel Adams

Skull from the Sky: Bell & Ross BR01 Tourbillon Airborne Limited Edition Watch

No doubt that Bell & Ross’s newest high-luxury watch is a bit creepy. In all black, with a prominent expressive skull, the timepiece is not for the light of heart. An item of art, and a conversation piece about the brand’s character, the watch is best served to argue against Bell & Ross’s seemingly conservative nature as a brand that only makes instrument style watches. The BR01 Tourbillon Airborne is item borne of two inspirations. First is the BR01 Airborne watch, released not long ago, and meant as a tribute to the American Army’s airborne division of paratroopers. It shocked READ MORE

The End of the Beginning: Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon Historic Edition Watch

To say that the first decade of the 21st Century was a boom time for the watch industry would be an understatement. This period totally reshaped the watch industry forever, with its surge of new styles and high-end pieces. While the effects from this period have been prematurely cut-short by the era end’s economic slump, the best newborns of this age will endure. Unique among this period was a sincere effort by high-luxury want brands to thrust themselves into the public’s eye. Traditionally shy brands used new media tools (such as the Internet) to spread word of their multi hundred READ MORE

Wrist Architecture: Jean Dunand Palace Watch

The Industrial Revolution brought with it new promise in technology as well as art. The public’s intense desire for novelty and progress spurred new aesthetic styles and a prompted a new wave of artistic imagination the likes of which were never seen before. Futurism was in, and the result of that epic historic movement is felt today in the heritage and lasting effect of Art Deco and its predecessor, Art Nouveau. The high luxury watch brand Jean Dunand is founded on these concepts, in dedication of the man Jean Dunand, who was an accomplished Swiss Art Deco designer and artist READ MORE

Wrist Revs: Chopard L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon Watch

The relationship between fine cars and fine watches has manifested itself as a curious borrowing of traits, where both items have equally borrowed from one another. Cars perhaps have taken the polished good looks and legibility of watch dials, while watches have borrowed “performance feel” from automobiles in terms of design and character. At the same time, each want to borrow personality traits from one another, resulting in cars and watches that feel to the consumers as they have been looking over each other’s shoulders for decades on the design bench. Wrist watch movements are quite possibly the original high READ MORE

In a League of Its Own: Thomas Prescher Triple Axis Tourbillon Regulator Watch

Few watch lovers will ever have the pleasure of owning a Thomas Prescher timepiece. Prescher makes a very limited amount of watches each year, and they are often extremely expensive. The level of horological understanding necessary to appreciate his craft is also intimidating. Merely grasping what a “triple axis flying tourbillon” even is can require years of being exposed to luxury mechanical timepieces. Though to the layperson, a simple way of understanding this compounded complication is by mentioning the simple fact that more or less only Thomas Prescher and his workshop maintain the ability to create these machines. They are READ MORE

Breit-Bling: Breitling Chronomat 01 Diamondworks Watch

It used to be that watch brands like Breitling didn’t offer highly diamond decorated watches direct out of the manufacture. Something about professional aviator watches studded with 4 carats of diamonds that didn’t seem to be marketable. It wasn’t until Swiss watch makers noticed a booming aftermarket watch ‘enhancement’ industry that they decided to offer jewelry pieces direct to watch buyers themselves. Calling watches such as this Diamondworks version of the Breitling Chronomat 01 watch a jewelry piece isn’t quite accurate in my opinion. Jewelry watches are typically designed to be aesthetic timepieces meant to showcase (hopefully) elegant designs and READ MORE