BeckerTime BLOG

Probably second only to Rolex in the brand awareness stakes, Omega is one of the great names of horology. Their catalog is stuffed with models familiar even to those with no interest in watches or watchmaking, and the company’s reputation for excellence and innovation is legend. A combination of engineering prowess and courageous foresight has […]

Japanese manufacture Grand Seiko’s most talked about watch to date, the Snowflake, occupies pretty much a unique position in the current horological sphere. The best-selling model is to Grand Seiko what the Submariner is to Rolex, the Speedmaster to Omega or the Nautilus to Patek—the icon which comes most readily to mind when you hear […]

While you probably didn’t come here for Benjamin Franklin quotes, I’m going to start with one anyway, because it perfectly encapsulates how we ended up with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak: ‘Out of adversity, comes opportunity’. At the start of the 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was facing nothing but adversity, and Audemars Piguet was […]

It is fair to say that Grand Seiko is responsible for completely transforming the image of Japanese watches. Before the manufacture was established in 1960, the country had produced little else other than cheap, relatively primitive models. It didn’t help that parent company, Seiko was also the driving force behind quartz movements, a technology which, […]