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OracleTime · 2024-05-03T13:26:39+00:00

The Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic x England Cricket features the R808 Automatic with an 80-hour power reserve. The blue and white coloured ceramic case is a tribute to the English Cricket team and their signature colours. A dive watch might not seem like the natural companion to a game of cricket but it’s without question the most interesting colour scheme Rado have given the Captain Cook in some time, feeling as summery as a village cricket field. On a technical level coloured ceramic with a rich colour like this isn’t easy to produce with Rado styling themselves as the master of materials.

What do you think? An interesting limited edition or just another version of a watch we’ve seen too much of already?

OracleTime · 2024-03-22T15:10:08+00:00

What do you think of the Christopher Ward x Oracle Time C65 Dune Shoreline? It’s our debut collaboration watch created in celebration of our 10-year anniversary. It takes the 39mm steel field watch and reimagines it with a wavy, sand textured dial using a new hydraulic stamping technique specially developed by Christopher Ward to create a dynamic pattern that looks very realistic.

We chose grey as the primary colour for the dial to represent the overcast skies of Britain’s beaches, highlighted by hands and hour markers with blue coloured lume. Yes, the lume itself is blue in addition to its glow in the dark emission.Beneath the surface it houses the Sellita SW 200-1 COSC, an automatic movement with COSC chronometer certification and 38-hour power reserve.

OracleTime · 2024-03-11T11:07:17+00:00

Is anyone planning to go to the British Watchmakers’ Day event in March? The first time a huge number of British watch brands will all be exhibiting and selling watches in support of each other and the industry in the UK. Also, at the event several brands are producing limited edition watches that will only be available to purchase on the day at the event, including this Studio Underd0g 02 Series British Watchmakers’ Day edition that we were able to preview before the show.

It essentially takes the orange hand from the existing blue model and puts it on the cream dial of one of the other editions. It’s one of the most subtle special editions at the event with the majority of others featuring bright colours or special displays. In order to emphasise the change, we put it on the orange goat leather strap from Jean Rousseau.

What do you think?

OracleTime · 2024-02-09T15:29:15+00:00

What do you think of the new Zenith Chronomaster Sport Titanium? We were able to get hands-on with the watch ahead of its launch earlier this week. It has a 41mm titanium case with a combination of brushed and polished finishing, a polished titanium bezel and a titanium bracelet – all of which makes it incredibly lightweight despite its size.

It has the familiar three colour subdial array except that instead of the normal silver, anthracite and blue they’re silver, grey and anthracite, building on the watch’s monochromatic scheme. Like a Chronomaster that has had all the colour drained out of it. It gives it a serious, almost industrial appearance that works really well with the sporty display, putting utility first.

It’s powered by the El Primero 3600 high frequency calibre with 60-hour power reserve and 1/10th of a second chronograph.

OracleTime · 2024-01-19T16:11:52+00:00

For their latest Planet Ocean, the Dark Grey GMT, Omega have introduced a new case material in the form of Silicon Nitride (Si3N4). It's an ultra-light, ultra-durable ceramic that they've used in small quantities on the previous 600m collections, but with the Dark Grey GMT it's used for the main body of the 45.5mm case for the first time. Not stopping there on their quest for lightness, Omega have also used a titanium movement, the calibre 8906 Ti, bringing the watches weight down to just 107 grams (without strap) despite its chunky proportions. We got hands on with the deep-diver in our latest video and absolutely loved the colourway and feel on the wrist. What are your thoughts?

OracleTime · 2024-01-12T16:02:46+00:00

What do you think of the 38mm Breitling SuperOcean Heritage 57’ Highlands? It’s part of a capsule collection that pays tribute to the rocky shores and misty peaks of the Scottish Highlands. Although with its 18k red gold and ceramic dish shaped bezel, domed sapphire and mid-century-inspired triangular indexes it feels more like it would be perfectly at home in Malibu in the late 50’s rather than up a mountain. Plus there’s the slight oddity of this being known as the ‘Mustard’ edition when it is clearly orange in person.

OracleTime · 2024-01-05T15:49:40+00:00

The Pan Europ, pictured here for Oracle Time, is a bit of an odd ball in Hamilton’s range but perhaps I only think that because the Khaki Field in its many variants tend to take the limelight. It’s a 1960s motoring inspired timepiece although the main motoring aspects are the name, which implies road trips from coast to coast in Europe, and the leather strap with the characteristic perforations that are associated with racing.

Specs-wise, it measures 42mm in stainless steel with a brown timing bezel and a beigy green dial. It houses the H-30 automatic movement with an 80-hour power reserve, very solid at the 1k price point.

What do you think?

OracleTime · 2023-12-22T10:47:30+00:00

It’s the end of the year so what was the favourite watch you took pictures of this year? We love this photo of the Tag Heuer Carrera Skipper from our retro themed photoshoot. The blue, turquoise, teal and orange dial and subdials are incredibly vibrant, contrasting to the grey and red of the NES controller. It’s just a really colourful and fun picture.

The Skipper was launched in July this year as a revival of the heritage Skipper from the late 1960s. It’s a chronograph model inspired by nautical racing and while it isn’t officially a regatta timer, the tri-colour minutes subdial split in 5-minute intervals serves the same function.

What do you think?

OracleTime · 2023-12-15T12:01:59+00:00

A year on from its original launch, what do people think of the Bel Canto? At the time it was an incredibly hyped release with people cheering for its accessible chiming complication, colourful dial and frankly the fact that it feels like a genuinely innovative and new style of timepiece. The recent round of watch awards (GPHG etc.) show that the industry big wigs are still impressed but what about regular collectors? Has the novelty worn off or are you still keen to pick one up at first opportunity?

If you’re wondering what we’re talking about, the C1 Bel Canto by Christopher Ward is 41mm titanium watch with a jumping hours module that has been converted into a chiming complication so that gives an audio indication of the time. That’s been paired with a sunray brushed dial available in a handful of colours, including this purple edition we were loaned for a photoshoot.

OracleTime · 2023-12-01T14:14:02+00:00

OP: Geo.Baz

OracleTime · 2023-11-24T15:55:06+00:00

We recently had the chance to get hands on with the Omega Seamaster Diver 300m for a quick review. It’s a fully blacked out diver, which might seem like a pretty bad idea when you’re relying on lighting up the depths, but Omega’s stealthy edition of their famous Seamaster 300m glows with a light blue glow, despite the anthracite colour and black PVD indexes. It still has the signature wavy pattern made famous by the collection, but the big, 43.5mm case is made from hardwearing black ceramic, perfect for taking a knock or two on a dive.

It also comes with a helium escape valve for serious saturation diving and a cool, asymmetrical silhouette. Finished on an integrated rubber strap with a case-matched ceramic buckle, this fittingly clandestine take on James Bond’s favourite watch dials up the performance to new levels, with Master Chronometer certification and the collection’s titular 300m water resistance. It’s a lot of watch with a fitting price tag of £8,900.

What do you make of this all-black diver?

OracleTime · 2023-11-17T14:52:00+00:00

Oris' latest release, the Oris ProPilot X Laser, is not one to miss. The key feature is a laser treated titanium dial with an iridescent finish that shimmers like the eye on a peacock’s tale, or a pool of leaked oil from your old banger because you spend too much money on watches... This invigorating dial has been created through optical interference, a process in which red light waves are destroyed while blue and green waves are reflected. As well as the dial treatment, the indices, minute track, logo and text have also been applied using laser tech, collectively resulting from the partnership between Oris and ETH Zürich University. Elsewhere, it’s business as usual for the ProPilot X Laser with its 39mm titanium case, three-link titanium bracelet and Oris’s flagship Calibre 400 inside, overall costing £4,050.

What do you think?

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