The Daily Micro-Adjust

SJX Watches

Visiting Manufacture La Joux-Perret

SJX toured Manufacture La Joux-Perret in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Citizen-owned movement maker (now with an LVMH minority stake) that has grown into a key supplier to micro-brands with roughly 130 staff and 200,000 movements a year, about 15% of neighbor Sellita's scale. The workhorse cal. G100 is 40% of output at some 80,000 units, solar quartz (born from Citizen's Eco-Drive and the 2022 TAG Heuer tie-up) accounts for a quarter of production, and high-end calibres feed house brands Arnold & Son and Angelus. The takeaway for the trade: MLJP's pragmatic automation and a halved movement catalogue let it grow production 20-fold while only doubling headcount, keeping unit costs (and price increases) far below rivals like Sellita.

WatchPro

Business as usual for his watch operation as George Bamford elevated to joint chairman role at JCB

George Bamford, founder of Bamford Watch Department and Bamford London, has been elevated to joint chairman of family construction giant JCB, effectively positioned by his 80-year-old father Lord Bamford as successor to one of Britain's largest privately-owned firms. Bamford insists it's business as usual for his watch operation, with new launches promised this year. Worth noting: Topco Bamford Watch Department's abridged accounts show net assets slipping to £1.6 million in 2025 from £2 million a year earlier, so the JCB throne may prove the more lucrative seat.

Worn & Wound

A Majestic Journey Through Clocks & Watches Made for Royalty: The Victorian Age of Time – Queen Victoria and the Watchmaking Revolution

Worn & Wound launches a series on royal horology, opening with Queen Victoria's reign and the watchmaking revolution it fueled, from Railway Time and Greenwich standardization to the 1851 Great Exhibition where Swiss makers publicly rivaled English dominance. The piece details Victoria's own purchases (a diamond-set azure Patek Philippe pendant watch No. 4710, an earlier Patek quarter-repeating pocket chronometer for Prince Albert, and a Breguet), plus the maturing of Royal Warrants as horology's golden ticket. It's a history read, but the throughline is worth noting: royal patronage turning timepieces from tools into status symbols is the original blueprint for luxury watch marketing.

Time + Tide

We brought Cartier obsessives to the Melbourne Boutique — here’s what happened

Time+Tide gathered Australia's Cartier faithful at the 90 Collins Street boutique in Melbourne to handle this year's Watches and Wonders releases in the metal, from the Skeleton Crash to a full-gold Santos-Dumont with obsidian dial and the revived Roadster. The Roadster lands at the Melbourne boutique October 1, 2026, starting at US$10,200: a reminder that in-person boutique experiences remain the sharpest conversion tool a brand has.

Fratello

Guitarist Josh Smith Is Not A Purist; He’s An Open-Minded Musician AND Watch Fan

Fratello sits down with American blues-rock guitarist Josh Smith, a COVID-era convert to watch collecting who favors vintage and Japanese independents over the usual steel-sports suspects (he openly passes on Rolex, Nautilus, and Royal Oak). His collection leans on Enicar Sherpa chronographs (the Valjoux 72 Sherpa Graph is a favorite), a Sherpa Jet GMT, a LeCoultre Futurematic, and an Otsuka Lotec No. 6, with a soft spot for Hajime Asaoka, Masa & Co., and young watchmaker Gaku Okada. It's a collector-profile piece, but the tell for the trade is where enthusiast spend is migrating: away from hype steel and toward affordable vintage and hand-finished Japanese indies.

aBlogtoWatch

Time Machines: Reluctantly Becoming A ‘Rolex Guy’ With The Circa 1974 Rolex Oysterdate Precision Ref. 6694 Watch

A first-person aBlogtoWatch column on borrowing a circa-1974 Rolex Oysterdate Precision ref. 6694, the 34mm entry-level Oyster produced from the early 1960s to 1989 and notable as the last manually-wound Rolex sold. Powered by the Caliber 1225 (58-hour reserve, 21,600 bph, Breguet overcoil, no quickset date, not chronometer-certified), the piece is presented as a self-professed Rolex skeptic's conversion story. The takeaway for the trade: even a hipster contrarian admits the cheapest vintage Oyster is the purest, most persuasive gateway into the crown.

Hodinkee

Ianos Amfivios (Live Pics)

Ianos, the Greek microbrand, has released the Amfivios, a civilian version of a special edition it produced for Greece's Underwater Demolition Command. Built on the same platform as the Dytis, it uses a shot-blasted Grade 2 titanium case (41mm, 49mm lug-to-lug, 14.68mm thick), a matte black dial (a brand first), 300m water resistance, and a Sellita SW360-1 automatic, priced at CHF 2,050 (about $2,500). Available today through Ianos: not a limited edition, though the initial batch was 300 pieces with the first 100 already sold to existing customers.

Also at: Fratello · Time + Tide

Monochrome Watches

Marco Tedeschi’s Impressive Central Floating Tourbillon in Black Aventurine

Marco Tedeschi (formerly Kross Studio) has released the Central Floating Tourbillon Titanium Black Aventurine, a 45mm Grade 5 titanium piece with a layered black aventurine dial and a central floating tourbillon raised above the movement. It runs the manually wound KS 7'005 calibre (220 components, 21,600vph, five-day power reserve) with a caseback D-ring crown, and is limited to 10 numbered pieces at CHF 92,000. For a young namesake brand pivoting away from the Kross Studio identity, a six-figure central-tourbillon flagship is a bid to establish Tedeschi's name at the top of the independent-watchmaking table.

Monochrome Watches

The Yema Navygraf Meteorite CMM.10 Limited Edition, in Black or Green

Yema extends the Navygraf line with the Meteorite CMM.10, a 39mm titanium diver (11mm thick, 46mm lug-to-lug, 300m water resistance) built around a Muonionalusta meteorite dial in black or green, running the in-house CMM.10 automatic (70-hour reserve, -3/+5 chronometry) assembled in Morteau. Limited to 150 numbered pieces at EUR 2,900 / USD 3,350, available via yema.com. Notable that Yema keeps pushing its manufacture-movement plus exotic-material formula under $3,500, staking out a value position most French competitors can't touch.

Hodinkee

The Louis Vuitton Monterey In Ceramic

Louis Vuitton adds the Monterey Ceramic to its permanent collection, a duo based on the smaller LV II with faithful 37mm polished ceramic cases (11mm thick) in green and black, time-only automatic LFT MA01.02 movements, lacquered dials, and the original lug-less suspended caseback for a single-pass strap. Priced at $22,900 and available now through Louis Vuitton boutiques, not limited. After last year's 188-piece, $60,000 grand feu Monterey revival, moving the model into the permanent lineup at roughly a third of the price is the signal: LV wants the Monterey to be a real line, not a one-off storytelling exercise.

Also at: Revolution Watch · Monochrome Watches · SJX Watches

Monochrome Watches

The Baume & Mercier Riviera Chronograph for the Gran Premio Storico d’Italia

Baume & Mercier, newly named Official Timekeeper of the 2026 Gran Premio Storico d'Italia at Mugello (October 2 to 4), marks the partnership with the Riviera Chronograph GPSI Limited Edition: a 41mm steel case (just under 14mm thick, 100m WR) with the signature dodecagonal bezel, an opaline white dial with green snailed counters and red chrono hands, and the automatic Valjoux 7753 with a 48-hour reserve. It ships on an integrated black rubber strap with a tool-free change system, priced at EUR 4,700. The motorsport tie-in, run alongside Ferrari Corse Clienti, is Baume & Mercier planting a flag in the crowded integrated-bracelet sports-watch space where a racing narrative still moves metal.

WatchTime

The Game Is On: Hamilton Returns to Call of Duty with Special Khaki Field Mechanical 38mm

Hamilton returns to Call of Duty with the Khaki Field Mechanical 38mm Modern Warfare 4 Special Edition (ref. H69469930), a sandblasted black-PVD steel field watch inspired by Captain Price and finished at 9.5mm thick with a 20mm khaki-green textile strap. It is the first Hamilton x Call of Duty piece to run a manual-wind movement, the H-50 with 80-hour reserve and Nivachron balance spring. Priced at $795 and out October 23 to coincide with the game's launch.