There were more cool watches in September than you can shake a stick at. They span the ranges of price and style, too, from the likes of a Bulova prototype from the 1950s reissued as an affordable diver to an unusual but incredibly cool minimalist watch made by a Swiss horology museum. You’ll find are plenty of rugged tool watches from smaller brands, as well as some hot releases from the Swiss big boys like Zenith and TAG Heuer. Check ’em all out below.
Bulova Archive Mil-Ships-W-2181 Submersible Watch
Courtesy
Based on a prototype made for the U.S. Navy in the 1950s, this dive watch was never actually produced until now. With a design and feature set reminiscent of the Blancpain Fifty-Fathoms, you’ve now got an eminently affordable alternative to that decidedly high-end dive watch. The feature of note here is the same as Blancpain issued to military frogmen in the 1950s (and featuring on a modern remake): that orange and white indicator above 6 o’clock on the dial will change color in the case if the watch has been compromised by moisture. It won’t save the watch, but it might have saved divers of that era from diving with faulty equipment. A limited-edition of 1,000 examples has a Swiss automatic movement, while a more affordable non-limited version uses a Japanese automatic movement.
Price: $895 (non-limited), $1,990 (limited)
Sinn 103 Classic 12 Watch
Courtesy
One of German watchmaker Sinn’s most well-known watches is dryly called the “103.” It’s a classic for many watch enthusiasts, and a new version revives the model as part of the brand’s 60th-anniversary celebrations — but with some small aesthetic tweaks and a notable upgrade for one key material: the 12-hour bezel is now produced in ceramic, giving it not only a high-end and modern feel but also a high level of scratch resistance and color retention.
Price: $3,270
Luminox 3500 Never Forget Watch
Courtesy
Ahead of the 20-year anniversary, Luminox aims to honor and benefit the victims and volunteers affected by the events of September 11, 2001, with a limited edition watch. Luminox often works with military organizations, and a portion of sales proceeds will go toward the Tunnel to Towers Foundation charity. Owners of the new watch will quite literally be reminded to “never forget” each time they look at their wrist, as they see the 9 and 11 indices starkly highlighted against an otherwise mostly black design.
Price: $495
Zodiac Super Sea Wolf World Time Watch
Courtesy
Based on older models but with reimagined modern tweaks, it seems like this perfectly sized, very cool-looking limited-edition version of the brand’s GMT dive watch could’ve been part of the brand’s permanent collection. Distinguishing it from the brand’s other GMT watches, this model adds a more interesting automatic movement with the Soprod C125 and a rotating bezel with 24 city names meant to be read in coordination with the GMT hand and 24-hour chapter ring on the dial. It might not be as intuitive to use as those world timers that also feature a rotating 24-hour ring, but it’s a cool variation on the brand’s flagship collection.
Price: $1,795
Bamford B347 Chronograph Watch
Courtesy
Bamford is known for its creative interpretations and color applications, often on other brands’ watches. Its own watches have the same approach, though, and a pair of new monopusher chronographs are perfect examples. Both feature a 41.5mm carbon fiber case, one with a monochromatic look featuring the popular reverse-panda look, the other with electric blue highlights on its otherwise jet black dial. They’re powered by Sellita SW510 Swiss automatic movements.
Price: $2,950
Unimatic Modello Uno Ref. U1-KSA Watch
Courtesy
Well, yes, it sold out instantly, as so many of Unimatic’s hot drops do. But this is a very cool new take on the Italian brand’s U1 dive watch that sports the very now color of vibrant green for its dial, bezel and included strap — all set against a black-coated steel case and hardware. Most notable of all is the use of Eastern Arabic numerals for its dial, a design element that’s seen some popularity, no doubt helped by brands like Rolex doing the same.
Price: ~$770 (sold out)
Montblanc Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec LE 200 Watch
Courtesy
Montblanc’s collection of watches honors the inventor of an early chronograph device back in the 1821, Nicolas Rieussec, and it was also the collection that debuted the brand’s first in-house movement in a modern watch. A new version of this unique take on the chronograph celebrates 200 years since Rieussec’s invention with a stunning version featuring a gold-heavy colorway for the dial and guilloché grain d’orge decoration — just like the original device had.
Price: $8,700
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Navy Pilots Edition Watches
Courtesy
Though IWC has a program that collaborates with US military units on watches exclusively for service members, three new watches mark the first time models in the program are available to the general public. They’re in the brand’s Pilot’s Watch Chronograph collection and feature US Navy squadron patches for the “Royal Maces,” “Tophatters” and “Blue Angels,” respectively. Each watch has a hulking 44.5mm ceramic case and IWC in-house automatic chronograph movement inside.
Price: $10,900
Oris Aquis Date Upcycle Watch
Courtesy
Watch dials have been made out of all kinds of crazy materials, often with unusual-looking results. Oris’s latest watch, for example, uses recycled PET plastic. Part of a trend using ocean plastic in everything from watch straps to entire cases, the dial takes its colorful look from a part of the recycling process that results in random patterns, no two of which will be the same. Considering the source of the plastic, it’s fitting that this dial is part of the brand’s Aquis dive watch, available in 41.5mm or 36.5mm versions.
Price: $2,300
Farer Segrave Monopusher Chronograph Watch
Courtesy
With its usual flare for color and design, British watchmaker Farer has presented its take on a somewhat obscure type of chronograph. Not only does it use just one pusher (rather than two) to start, stop and reset the stopwatch function, but it recalls vintage “Big Eye” chronographs that feature a quirky, asymmetric look with one subdial larger than the other — here further emphasized by a contrasting color.
Price: $1,995
Semper & Adhuc Immédiate Transatlantique Watch
Courtesy
French boutique watchmaker Semper & Adhuc teamed up with the American (hence “Transatlantique”) watch website Beyond the Dial to create a collaborative watch. It features the brand’s visual DNA and a Swiss-developed, American-assembled vintage movement by Bulova, and will be limited to only 20 numbered examples and be available to order on September 14.
Price: ~$2,465
TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Night Diver Watch
Tag Heuer
The unexpected look of a black DLC-coated dive watch is kind of striking on its own, but there’s even more to this new TAG Heuer Aquaracer: Rather than hands and indices that glow in the dark for low-light readability, here they’re painted black to contrast against the dial which will itself glow bright green.
Price: $3,350
Zenith Chronomaster Original Boutique Edition Watch
Courtesy
We love just about every new version of Zenith’s vintage-inspired Chronomaster that’s come out since its (re-)introduction in 2019, and this new model in blue is no exception. It’s based on the reference A386 watch from 1969 but, as with other modern variations, is a riff on the original design offering something new and contemporary.
Price: $9,000
Yema Rallygraf Michel Vaillant Watch
Courtesy
The newest mecaquartz-powered racing chronograph from French watchmaker Yema is dedicated to the legendary driver Michel Vaillant. He’s literally legendary as the fictional main character of a French comic series that started back in 1957. With a very 1970s motorsport theme and a cool story, it might feel like something the character would wear but will also look great in with real, modern life — and is reasonably affordable, to boot.
Price: $399
Zenith Chronomaster Original Online Edition Watch
Courtesy
We’re big fans of just about every version of Zenith’s Chronomaster collection of retro reissues. While many have gotten creative with colors, resulting in very contemporary-feeling designs, this example has a more traditional and familiar look. The signature tricolor, overlapping subdials here are matched to the same colors for the minutes/seconds track around the dial — a first for the brand. This particular model is available exclusively online.
Price: $8,400
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Watch
Courtesy
If Audemars Piguet is known for something besides its iconic Royal Oak sport watch lines, it’s probably its elegant perpetual calendar watches. Here they combine in a new configuration with a titanium case and the signature waffle-style dial texture in blue. A prestige watch when it only tells the time, the addition of a highly complicated in-house movement from the celebrated brand about doubles its price. Elegant as ever, all that complicated clockwork that tracks calendar data even down to leap years fits in a case that’s 41mm wide and just 9.5mm thick.
Price: $80,000
Alpina Startimer Pilot Quartz Chronograph Big Date Watch
Courtesy
Alpina always offers bang for buck in its high-quality Swiss sports watches, the latest of which joins its Startimer pilot watch collection: With a quartz movement, it’s able to offer complications that cost into the thousands when executed in mechanical movements for well under a grand. The new watches feature both chronograph and big date functions — the latter referring to a large date display delivered by a separate disc for each digit, allowing the display to be larger and easier to read.
Price: $1,084
Bell & Ross BR05 GMT Watch
Courtesy
Every brand, it seems, needs an “integrated-bracelet” luxury sport watch in its stable, and Bell & Ross’s is the BR05. Rather than the usual aviation and other tool-watch themes of Bell & Ross’s signature square case, the BR05 is meant simply for fashionable urbanites. Add to that a travel theme and GMT complication with a fourth hand for tracking another time zone in 24-hour format, and you’ve got the new BR05 GMT.
Price: $4,900+
Berd Vay’e America’s PasTIME Sculpture
Courtesy
If you’re a fan of horology and baseball and high-end art — and have a few grand to toss around, we’ve got just the thing for you: Berd Vay’e has teamed up with watch retailer Danny Goldsmith and Major League Baseball Chicago Cubs’ player Ian Happ on a limited-edition sculpture. Berd Vay’e’s approach of artistically suspending watch parts in clear plexiglass here takes the form of a 17-inch baseball bat. Only 30 examples will be available.
Price: $4,000
Panerai Luminor Marina Carbotech Blu Notte Watch
Courtesy
Like the brand’s many steel watches that come in endless variations, Panerai’s range of Carbotech watches in a lightweight carbon material is ever expanding. Measuring 44mm, this new version features the brand’s in-house automatic movement and matches the black case to a blue sunburst dial. Just as the Zenith above, it’s exclusively available online from Panerai.
Price: $13,900
Triwa x Sea Shepherd Ocean Plastic Watch
Courtesy
Triwa’s collection of surfing watches already has an environmental theme being made from recycled ocean plastic. For the latest model the brand takes the concept a step further by collaborating with the ocean conservation organization Sea Shepherd. Still cased in recycled ocean waste, it features the Sea Shepherd logo on the dial with 15% of sales going to the organization.
Price: $159
Ball Engineer II Skindiver Heritage Watch
Courtesy
The newest badass tool watch from Ball Watch Co. is a totally black titanium carbide-coated dive watch in the brand’s Engineer II collection. Like other Ball watches, it’s copiously equipped with perpetually glowing tritium gas tubes for low-light visibility and plenty of contrast against its inky black dial — as well as embedded in the rotating diver’s bezel.
Price: $2,299
Frederique Constant Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture Watch
Courtesy
Frederique Constant took the movement, functionality and dial design of their Worldtimer watch and placed it in the “sports-chic” case of their new Highlife collection. It sounds like a straightforward combination of existing ingredients, but none of the ingredients here are simple: with a sporty integrated bracelet design for the case and a complicated in-house movement inside, it’s greater than the sum of its parts and possibly the coolest example among both the collections it borrows from.
Price: $4,395
Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 Limited Edition Watch
Courtesy
We were quite pleased to see the Mido Ocean Star Powerwind “Rainbow Diver” from the 1960s return last year in modern form, but we pretty much thought that was that. We didn’t expect the concept to evolve, but it’s done so in a very cool way, extending the colorful concept to a turquoise bezel and offering an overall brighter look that echoes other versions form the ’60s. It’s limited to 1,961 examples and will be available November 1.
Price: $1,250
MIH Gaïa Series II Watch
Courtesy
You can tell just looking at it that this is no ordinary watch. Apart from its interesting minimalist design, however, it’s the watch’s purpose and origin that make it special: This is the result of a project undertaken by the Swiss watch museum MIH (Musée International d’Horlogerie). It was designed and produced in a collaborative way using local suppliers and talent, and proceeds will fund a certain restoration project at the museum. This second edition of the design is in black, following the first MIH Gaia watch from 2019 which was blue.
Price: ~$3,145
Grand Seiko Elegance SBGX Watches
Courtesy
Sometimes a small, elegant dress watch is just what you need — especially when it’s done up to Grand Seiko standards of refinement and finishing. Those with slimmer wrists or who are accustomed to vintage watch sizes will be particularly well served by these 34mm wide quartz watches powered by the brand’s own 9F series of movements. The two new models are available with white (SBGX247) or blue (SBGX249) dial variations.
Price: $3,300
Hublot Big Bang Unico Berluti Watch
Courtesy
If you’re committed enough to style to spend Berluti money on your shoes, then you probably need a watch to match it. Hublot and Berluti have collaborated for years, often incorporating the shoemaker’s leather textures into the watchmaker’s famously avant-garde style. Here, the dial and bezel insert are in Berluti’s patinated Venezia leather, the dial indices being embossed. The case is titanium, the automatic chronograph movement is in-house-made and the strap is in rubber and, of course, leather to match the dial and bezel.
Price: $25,200
Luminox Navy SEAL 3001 EVO Watch
Courtesy
Luminox has been associated with the military since its beginnings, and the brand first developed a watch with the US Navy SEALs back in 1989. The relationship has been a big part of the brand’s image since, and the concept has grown and evolved over time into a collection with various designs. Now, Luminox is bringing the original Navy SEALs watch back, and it comes in three variations — each totally badass.
Price: $435
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io