The Manual Wind: Ralph Lauren Safari Chronometer Camouflage

By Ian Schwam June 3, 2015

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When a fashion house decides to become watchmakers, they truly have carte blanche. With no obligation to uphold years of brand design standards, and the ability to design with current fashion, brands like Ralph Lauren can create any watch creation they please. Perfect example of this is the their latest casual timepiece, The Ralph Lauren Safari Chronometer Camouflage. This name truly embodies the design.

As vintage safari as a new watch can get, this piece takes on the Ralph Lauren lifestyle well. Black shot-blasted stainless steel encases a swiss automatic movement and camouflage dial. Large and credible, the numbers on the camo dial are in khaki for a nice contrast while keeping the theme. Rugged, this piece is capped off with a matching olive green alligator strap. Not the sportiest of materials, but this watch is clearly about fashion and not function. A single orange second hand brakes the scheme making for an appropriate accent. This watch is meant to be large and it is at nearly 45mm in diameter. Luckily, Ralph Lauren does not leave out any consumer and also has a 39mm version for the ladies.

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Ralph Lauren is not yet known for its timepieces. They have come out with some great designs over the past two years with a helping hand from true movement manufacturers. Now capable of offering quality and style, This latest piece shows their versatility as a watchmaker. Match your camouflage loafers to this standout timepiece, the Ralph Lauren Safari Chronometer Camouflage, for under $7,000.

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Fashion & Style

The Manual Wind: The Vacheron Quai de L’ile Makes a Comeback in Steel

the manual wind vacheron quai de lile makes a comeback in steel l le4500s 000a b195

Not all designs are a huge success; even when coming from a prestigious watch house. Often times brands get away from their core DNA and create a polarizing design. Love/hate watches are great for conversation, but not for sales. The Vacheron Constantin Quai de L’ile is a perfect example of this. Its first debut over five years ago did not prove wildly successful with its great modern case design matched with complication, interesting metal variations, and huge price tags. Vacheron has decided to take another stab at the piece getting back to the basics.

Simple metal and simple dial make up the new Quai de L’ile. This 41mm modern case design is now cast in stainless steel. Very few Vacheron are made in steel. The dials chosen for this new release keeps it simple as well. Time and date complication are enough for this retro dial design. Arabic numerals give the piece a vintage tone while an inner date ring lends a modern feel. Below the dial lies an in house Vacheron automatic movement. Matched with alligator and rubber straps, this piece has a lot to offer.

Fashion & Style

Nomos Glashutte Creates the Perfect Perfect Square

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Nomos Glashutte is wise beyond their years. Minimalist dial design, simple case shapes, and in-house movements keep this German brand plugging right along. Its not easy to continuously debut new designs and strike a cord every time. Nomos has done it once again with the Tetra Neomatik. Clearly they recognize what defines them stylistically, which can be hard for an up and coming brand.

A perfect square of stainless steel, 33mm x 33mm, the Tetra Neomatik is sandwiched by two sapphire crystals. Below the first lies the dial with two options. One being galvanized white silver plated with blue, black and red accents. The other is a lacquered deep blue with green, rhodium, and orange accents. Both dials offer a simple and unique appearance with just a slight flair of color. Beneath the dial lies a Nomos Glashutte in-house automatic movement with a 42 hour power reserve. A leather strap attached to the step style lugs both frame and complete this timepiece.

Fashion & Style

The Manual Wind: Bell & Ross BR Desert Type

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It is sometimes forgotten that the timepiece is fashion accessory. Although watch brands tend to beat the their own drum in that sense, on occasion a watch will be introduced that does follow trend. Camouflage has been done right by a few watch brands over the years; Hublot most notably. Now Bell & Ross has subtly brought back the desert theme in their classic casual square. They have introduced a series of black DLC cased watches; Desert Type.

The desert type is offered in a chronograph and non-chronograph in their BR-03 42mm case as well as a quartz version in their smaller Type S case. Holding true to this classic and simple square, the desert type has one major trait, dial and strap color. The sand color dial and strap play for a great contrast against the black case and black hands and marking on the dial. A sandwich layering of the dial makes for nice detail on the piece as well. A rugged yet soft look, the Desert Type is a great casual weekender. All Bell & Ross BR line watches come with an addition black cloth velcro strap for added sportiness that would fit perfect on this watch as well.