The Daily Micro-Adjust

WatchPro

Ernest Jones, Beaverbrooks and Browns among retailers expanding presence at Lakeside

Lakeside is drawing fresh multi-brand retail investment, with Ernest Jones taking a 1,310 sq ft Level 2 unit for its new store concept (watch names include Citizen Attesa) and Beaverbrooks sinking £1.2 million into a 2,477 sq ft relocation, a 34% space bump stocking TAG Heuer, Gucci and Michael Kors. Browns Jewellers and Diamonds Factory are joining too, a signal that landlords still see physical premium jewellery and watch space as worth backing when the catchment (8.5 million here) justifies it.</parameter> <parameter name="categories">[]

WatchPro

Government’s Guaranteed Hours reforms could put retail jobs at risk

The British Retail Consortium is warning that the Government's proposed Guaranteed Hours reforms will pile disproportionate costs onto retailers, on top of the £6.5 billion in added employment costs (higher National Insurance, National Living Wage hikes) the sector has absorbed over two years. For watch retailers running large shop-floor and distribution workforces built on part-time and variable-hour roles, the concern is that flexible staffing gets pricier and harder just as youth unemployment climbs.

Hodinkee

The Seven Special Edition Watches Of Time+Tide's FounderFest

Time & Tide is launching its own festival, FounderFest, running September 19-20 across its Watch Discovery Studios in New York, Melbourne, and London, with seven special-edition watches from independent brands going on sale globally September 22 via thefounderfest.com. The lineup includes Awake's (a Fitwell partner) lacquer-dial Sơn Mài 'Ultraviolet' ($3,650) with silver-leaf gilding, Baltic's forged-carbon Heures du Monde 'Horizon Line' ($1,795), Beaucroft's pink-sapphire-dial 'The Punk' ($800), Dennison's mother-of-pearl 'Carnaby Blue' ALD Dual Time ($1,090), and echo/neutra's titanium Rivanera Piccolo 'Rosa d'Epoca' ($1,995), plus new pieces from Furlan Marri. A retailer building its own multi-city fair around independent brands is a clear bid to own the calendar moment rather than just stock it.

Also at: Monochrome Watches · Time + Tide

WatchPro

CORDER’S COLUMN: 2026’s silliest watches

WatchPro's Corder inaugurates a "silly season" roundup of 2026's most bonkers releases, spanning Schaefer & Companions x Motomichi's one-of-one Red Eyes (€4,800), Hautlence's Star Trek-vibe Retrovision '64 (CHF 129,700+tax), MB&F's L'Epee robot with an HM12 head (CHF 280,000+tax), Sevenfriday's PIC/06 Bubble Gum ($1,650), Konstantin Chaykin's Wristmon Matroskin the Cat (90 pieces, CHF 18,800), Jacob & Co's Godfather musical tourbillon (74 pieces, $440,000) and IWC's near-illegible Big Pilot's Perpetual Calendar Ceralume (£61,300/$76,300+tax). A columnist's affectionate survey of the industry's most attention-grabbing flexes, and a reminder that the wildest pieces exist to buy shelf space in the press, not to move volume.

Worn & Wound

Out of Office: Exploring Japan with Citizen Watch Company

Worn & Wound files a travelogue from a Citizen-hosted press trip to Japan, covering cherry blossom viewing at Shinjuku Gyoen, the Meiji Shrine, a Tokyo Bay yakatabune cruise, Kintsugi and Yamabushi experiences in the countryside, and a sake tasting, plus the obligatory 7-Eleven and shopping recommendations. It's a soft-content brand-relationship piece rather than product news, the kind of access journalism that signals Citizen is investing in cultivating US editorial goodwill around its Eco-Drive story.

SJX Watches

Ferdinand Berthoud Chronometre FB 2TV

SJX Watches reviews the Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 2TV.1, first in the new Mesure du Temps 1787 collection, priced at EUR382,000 (~US$442,000) excluding taxes, in 44mm Fairmined 18k white gold with a flying tourbillon, chain-and-fusee inverted to the dial side, and zero-reset seconds. They conclude the finishing is immaculate and the winding feel remarkably tactile, but fault the layout as feeling "less like a unified design and more like a presentation of components," singling out the oversized power-reserve cone that dwarfs its own indicator; they also lament the loss of the brand's signature case-side observation windows. The commercially telling detail: the dial-side tourbillon placement is "probably a boon for commercial success," and FB submits every FB 2TV for COSC certification, unusual at this price tier.

Fratello

This Bezel Does It All: Introducing The Minerva The Unveiled Crownless

Montblanc's Minerva workshop has unveiled The Unveiled Crownless, a 41.5mm steel dress watch (just under 12mm thick) that ditches the crown entirely: a fluted rose-gold bidirectional bezel, engaged via a hidden lever on the case back, handles both winding and time-setting. It runs the new hand-wound caliber M15.08, built in Villeret with an 80-hour reserve at 18,000vph, on an ivory guilloche dial, priced at €39,000 / US$38,000. The commercial tell is Minerva pushing its haute-horlogerie credentials into concept territory, a hard sell to place at that price with no direct comparison.

Time + Tide

FounderFest: The Baltic Heures du Monde “Horizon Line” is a worldtimer that takes the French brand into entirely new territory

Time+Tide's FounderFest lands a Baltic collaboration: a Heures du Monde "Horizon Line" Studio Edition worldtimer with a first-for-Baltic forged carbon dial, a black-and-orange 24-hour ring, and a grey fabric strap on the familiar 37mm steel case (11mm thick, 45mm lug-to-lug, Soprod C125 automatic, 42h reserve, 100m). Priced at £1,495/US$1,795/A$2,650/€1,450, it debuts at FounderFest on September 19, gets a 24-hour global online drop at the Time+Tide Shop from September 22, then lives exclusively at the Time+Tide Studios in London, Melbourne, and New York. That retail-owns-the-edition structure is the commercial tell: media house turned brand collaborator, capturing margin and foot traffic rather than just clicks.

Hodinkee

The Albishorn Marinagraph Classic

Albishorn has released the Marinagraph Classic, a restrained take on its "imaginary vintage" regatta chronograph that swaps the colorful aluminum tide bezel for a lumed sapphire bezel and adds a white fumé dial alongside the sunray black. The 39mm steel case (13mm thick, 100m water resistant) runs the proprietary monopusher ALB01 caliber with a retrograde 10-minute regatta countdown and 64-hour reserve; each of the two variants is limited to 99 unnumbered pieces made over three years. Priced at CHF 3,950 on straps or CHF 4,400 with bracelet, direct from Albishorn, with sales opening Friday, August 14th.

Also at: Worn & Wound · Monochrome Watches

WatchTime

The Watch Came First: Inside Louis Vuitton and Singer’s Porsche 911 Collaboration

Louis Vuitton's La Fabrique du Temps has made its first full automotive collaboration with Singer, the California Porsche restoration house, producing two one-off 964-based 911s (the Classic coupe and Nicolas Ghesquiere-directed Classic Turbo cabriolet), each with a hand-wound eight-day dashboard clock that doubles as a desk clock. The Classic Turbo capsule adds a chronometer-certified 40mm Tambour Automatic in ceramic and yellow gold with a rose gold micro-rotor and 50 hours of power reserve, plus bespoke luggage and clothing. Both cars are unique pieces and neither Louis Vuitton nor Singer disclosed pricing, though Singer builds typically start around $500,000 before customization.

Also at: WatchPro

Monochrome Watches

The New And Very Vintage Nivada Grenchen Autochron Automatic Orange

Nivada Grenchen has renamed and updated its Chronosport as the Autochron Automatic Orange, a 38mm, 200m-water-resistant 1970s-style chronograph on the Valjoux 7750 with an asphalt-textured black dial, orange minute ring and beige subdials. Pricing runs USD 2,295 on the perforated racing leather strap and USD 2,495 on the steel bracelet, with an orange FKM Tropic strap also offered. It slots into Nivada's growing habit of mining obscure prototypes rather than just its greatest hits, a lower-risk way to keep the catalogue fresh at an accessible price point.

Monochrome Watches

IWC Celebrates 140 Years of Mercedes-Benz With A Special Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Proset

IWC marks Mercedes-Benz's 140th anniversary with the Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet 140 Years Mercedes-Benz, a black-and-gold limited edition on the new 42.9mm stainless steel platform with 100m water resistance and applied solid gold markers. It runs the Calibre 82655 ProSet perpetual calendar with bidirectional crown adjustability, a four-digit year and double moon phase, and ships on a rubber strap with the EasX-Change system. Limited to 140 pieces at EUR 40,900 incl. VAT.

aBlogtoWatch

The SUPERLATIVE Podcast: Collective Horology’s Gabe Reilly On Why Independent Watchmaking Is Winning

Ariel Adams hosts Collective Horology co-founder Gabe Reilly on the SUPERLATIVE Podcast to unpack why independent watchmaking is winning collectors, covering Collective's evolution from limited collaborations to independent retail, the patronage mindset, changing retail dynamics and Swiss consolidation, and why brands need to get comfortable with honest commentary and direct community engagement.