FRIDAY WIND DOWN: The new issue of NOW Magazine is available now (which is fitting…)

Zach Blass

Three years ago, on a sultry November evening in Melbourne, we threw a launch party for our first Issue of NOW Magazine. It was in a world – if you can put your best movie-trailer voice on for me – that knew nothing of pandemics, or social distancing. My memories of the night are crowded. We had strong welcome cocktails by Four Pillars (the best gin in the world*). We had a black carpet leading inside. A new Ferrari positioned on the curb outside the mural of McQueen on our bi-fold garage door. And we had a group of our nearest and dearest to join us as we took a gamble on a very old-fashioned way to communicate about this 17th Century technology that we all love so much.

I’m not afraid of self-aggrandising when the time is right, but in this case, there was no Churchillian style speech to go with the occasion. I also didn’t have a wild pandemic beard back then. Which made stirring war-room addresses all that much harder. I simply said that, like watches, superior quality printed material will never go out of fashion. I said that, while my world was now an endless stream of 1s and 0s, that ink still runs in my veins. After all, I have come to the subject of watches from music journalism. I have come to the internet from free street newspapers that left dirty smudges on your hands pimping this week’s gig guide. And while the immediacy, the convenience of this digital life is exhilarating, there’s still a sigh of satisfaction every time I hand someone our magazine. I sigh. They sigh.   

And now, three years on, I can hand you our fourth issue. All green and tan tones of the iconic Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, with that heavyweight matt stock you may already know and hopefully love. What I didn’t know back then is how, like having children in your life, releasing a magazine every year can serve to mark the time. You have no chance of avoiding thoughts of your mortality with kids around – as they become unthinkably “not young anymore”, so do you. In my mind, Time+Tide is forever a new idea. The youngest of the main watch media mastheads. The plucky kids at the adults’ table. NOW Magazine has become like Kieran Culkin in Succession. An annual reminder that we probably ain’t that kid anymore.

There’s a certain phrase I lean on each year, in this “announcing our new mag” post. It’s become a running joke, and it’s one that will continue. This is, by a long margin, our best issue yet. There is simply no contest. It is the thickest in terms of pages, it has the most watches in the buying guide ever, and the stories are all worthy of a campfire and a coffee mug of whiskey. When the proofs were sent through to me for a final review before we hit the button, I was sucked right back in. Read the whole damn front section, again. Every word. A few hours later, I called Luke Benedictus, our Editor, and said something like, “Dude, fuck!” I can offer a guarantee that you will be more than satisfied that your hard-earned has gone to good use should you order one, right here.

Thanks as always for reading Time+Tide, and for making NOW Magazine a regular part of all of our lives.

Andrew

Watch meme of the week: Washing your watch with @watch.memes

If you have already read my past story “How I became totally OCD about the way I handle, clean, and store my watches”, then you know I regularly clean my watches using different methods appropriate for varying depth ratings. If you don’t clean your watches, I suggest looking into it as when done properly it can extend the lustre and longevity of your timepiece. That being said, some of us go further than others and while they can be precious luxury items we also need to remember that these things were built to live longer than we ever will. I definitely make sure I throughly wash my body in the shower, but I can laugh at the above knowing I equally clean my timepieces as well.

Wrist shot of the week: The dark side of the lume

Watch photography is all about lighting. Various tools for top-tier shots are utilised: reflectors, light softeners, different lenses, and even editing software. But Hodinkee’s James Stacey flips the script, opting to remove light from the equation and let the lume do the taking. Sure we are well versed in clothing and watch pairings, notably having a recurring #Kixntix series that matched timepieces with trainers. This, however, is a pairing I have rarely seen: a luminescent jacket paired with the LumiBrite of a Seiko watch. Its a cool and clever shot – wouldn’t expect anything less from Mr Stacey.

Recommended viewing: The Seiko 5 Sports ONE PIECE Limited Edition Collection

Seiko released a heap of cool watches at the start of 2021 and they’ve since continued their momentum. Indeed, this year has witnessed hit after hit for the Japanese giant, who’ve released a never-ending stream of interesting and varied watches. One series of releases aimed at bringing fresh creativity into the watch-collector world are their Japanese pop culture tie-ins that are riding the growing popularity of anime in the United States. The anime ONE PIECE that was first televised in 1999 is the perfect match for a Seiko collaboration, given that they’re both incredibly prolific in their respective fields with 997 episodes of the anime series having aired at the time of writing. Check out the video above for a full walkthrough of the collection.

Our favourite Time+Tide coverage of the week:

Don’t Feed the Hype: Three alternatives to the F.P. Journe Chronométre Bleu

For the seventh entry into the “Don’t Feed the Hype” series, Zach undertakes the tall order of offering up three F.P. Journe Chronométre Bleu alternatives – watches that pose the same horological merit and essence as the illusive FPJ CB which now sells over three times retail on the secondary market.

Is the new Tudor Pelagos FXD “Marine Nationale” everything we hoped for?

Yesterday we finally had our questions answered. After forum leaks, and a cheeky Instagram snapshot courtesy of David Beckham, Tudor satiated our curiosity with the official launch of the new Tudor Pelagos FXD – designed to meet a unique set of specifications developed in conjunction with the French Navy’s combat swimmers, the prestigious Commando Hubert. But once revealed we asked ourselves: is the new Tudor Pelagos FXD “Marine Nationale” everything we hoped for? Click here to find out.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson spotted wearing an IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar at the premiere of Netflix’s “Red Notice”

What sort of watch do you wear if your wrists have the girth of a redwood tree? Well, at the world premiere of Netflix’s new film Red Notice, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was snapped wearing an IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar. We unpack why it’s such a solid choice if you hanker for a watch that can be dressed up and dressed down. Click here for more.