WarGames, the quite ludicrous but brilliant 1980s movie starring Matthew Broderick as a hacker who stumbles upon a rogue supercomputer bent on starting the third world war, is going to be remade. For real. Yet another piece of my fragile childhood withers and dies. Perhaps I should embrace the whole obsession with remakes, re-imaginings, reissues and reboots - those four Rs enabled me to buy a pair of Air Jordan 1s the other day, and, I have to say, they have made me deliriously happy.
The four Rs are all the rage in watches, too. And after my initial antipathy - I'm more of an advocate for vintage watches - I've come around to thinking maybe they aren't that bad. In fact, some of this year's varieties are excellent.
I'm a huge fan of the Breitling Transocean 38 (above right) that was released this year. It features all the 1958 Breitling Transocean's under-stated styling: the sleek black dial and steel case and mesh strap that wouldn't look out of place on the wrist of Mad Men's Don Draper. The watch is an echo of what pilot's watches used to look like, when they weren't covered in dials and the size of an alarm clock.
As the name suggests, the steel case is 38mm, the perfect size, and inside is an in-house Breitling 16 movement that's fully Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres certified. The black dial - there is an optional silver one, too - features the old Breitling logo of the gold B initial sans the wings it has today (and is all the better for it). There is a small seconds at the six o'clock position and a large date window towards the top of the dial. This isn't just a handsome-looking watch though, like the original it can take some punishment and has 100 metres of water resistance. The Transocean 38 is priced at a tempting HK$47,360.
Next we have the Longines Avigation GMT (right), which is part of the spiffing Heritage collection. Longines is, unfairly, looked down upon by a lot of people (likely because it insists on sponsoring showjumping and, let's be honest, no one likes showjumping) but the brand has one of the most impressive watch archives so it's a smart move to mine it for new releases. The Avigation GMT was created in 1949 for the British Army, which wanted an "aviation" and "navigation" watch and rather predictably came up with "avigation". The new watch retains the original's simple design although the size has crept up to 44mm to suit modern tastes. The case is made of steel and the movement inside is an in-house calibre L704.2 with 48 hours of power reserve. The primary feature is the second time zone but there is also a date window. The Longines Avigation GMT is priced at HK$18,200.
Finally, we come to the Tudor Heritage Black Bay (right). Now, Tudor has laid it on thick with the retro aspect by putting "heritage" in the watch's title - probably unnecessarily, as anyone with any knowledge (or taste) will know that the watch is a homage to the Submariner pieces of the 50s. The essence of the design remains the same; they've even kept the original Tudor rose logo, which is a great touch. But there have been tweaks here and there - most obviously with the hour and second hands, which have been redesigned. The steel case is sized at 41mm, the bezel is unidirectional and water resistance runs to an impressive 200 metres. Inside is the calibre 2824 movement with 38 hours of power reserve. The strap is either a nifty fabric or a steel bracelet. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay is priced at HK$24,500.
