TAG Heuer, A. Lange & Sohne, JLC, Chopard, and More | Hodinkee Podcast | Watches and Wonders - Day 3

0:00Discover the new chapter of Octo Finissimo from ultralight titanium to the warmth of 18 karat yellow gold. The new 37 millimeter profile is the definition of Italian spreczatura. Thanks so much to Bulgari and back to the show. Day three, Hojinki podcast. We're here with Andy Hoffman, Tantan Wing. How are we doing, guys? Oh, you know, it's a busy show, but here we are. Here we are indeed. Feeling it. Feeling it? Feeling it. Feeling it big time. Gosh, okay, that's going to be a meme later. So someone dial that up. Guys, you know, obviously we're at the PAL Expo, and we'll get to what we've been covering in a minute.

0:35But first, there's a lot of action happening outside the PAL Expo. Dinners, parties, just mingling around town. I want to hear what you guys have been up to. Andy, what did you get into last night? Well, I managed to get out of the PAL Expo later, early in the evening. I got to go over to Tudor last night. And I've never seen anything like this. It was a collection, probably the greatest collection of vintage Tudors that one could ever hope to see. What the brand had done had sort of got together various collections from various collectors, brought them all together here during the Watches and Wonders Week, and a few select people got to take a look at this.

1:23Just extraordinary collections from around the world. some extraordinary subs, lots of ancient chronographs, some very interesting sort of military watches. I mean, you know, it was a real showcase for the brand. And at a year when Tudor is, you know, doing some great stuff with their new stuff. But, I mean, you know, some very important people drop by, you know, some executives from the Big Brother company. It was very well attended and you know just full of super enthusiasts the greatest collection of vintage tutors All together in one room that one could ever hope for absolutely I was there as well and the energy there I really felt that the collector community bringing out all these amazing references some some rarely seen it was a it was a great night Tan Tan what about you?

2:17What'd you get into last night? I feel like the the dinner I went to yesterday was pretty much the polar opposite There were basically no watches, and it's kind of by design. So every year, Longa does sort of a Friends of Longa dinner. And it's a little different from a lot of the other events that brands will host, where maybe you'll have dinners that are PR-focused, you'll have dinners that are client-focused. What Longa does is it kind of brings a few of each together. So you have a few collectors with, obviously, the craziest Longas you'll ever kind of see. So I guess there were some watches there.

2:47You'll have some press throughout kind of all around the world. and you'll have obviously a lot of sort of friends of the brand, even from other watchmakers. And I think that's a really cool thing. But what Longo really wants to do is basically host a dinner. That's just, we don't talk about watches, right? We don't talk about Longo. We don't talk about anything. And it's just a really nice chill thing to kind of reset the week. You know, you come to the Powell Expo every single day and there's just so much to see. And I think it's a good time to kind of decompress. I love the idea behind that.

3:15I love the idea of just kind of getting outside of the Powell Expo, talking with collectors, not about watches, because I think that's one of my personal favorite things about the industry is the relationships that I personally formed, we all formed with folks in the industry. I think that's a perfect segue to get into Langa. Yeah. Tan-San, can you walk us through what Langa's up to this year? Yeah, I mean, Langa always kind of hits the show with sort of a very small quantity of novelties every year compared to, I would say, most brands. You know, some years they've only done one new thing. And this year, they've really done two products that I think cover the whole spectrum of kind of what the brand's really good at, right?

3:56So you have the Halo product, which is the Longa One Perpetual Calendar Turbillon Lumen, right? It's a whole mouthful, but it's a very self-explanatory sort of product name. And that is kind of a balls-to-the-wall, I believe,€550-ish sort of watch limited to 50 pieces. It's sort of the Longa sort of a Halo Lumen execution, right? That means, you know, sort of semi-transparent sapphire dial construction all out. A ton of moving parts here for this watch because it's so complicated. And you have sort of this really nuts glow-in-the-dark langa, right, with ultra-complicated watchmaking. And then on the other side of things, they come out with a 36mm Saxonia annual calendar.

4:37And I think, you know, sort of like we saw last year, there was a lot of crazy stuff that they did. But the 34mm 1815s kind of stole the show from the collector's standpoint. I think these annual calendars are really, really what people are talking about. I mean, it's a great trend to see Longa continue to do new calibers that make for smaller watches. And having a 36 millimeter annual calendar kind of puts them, once again, in a really unique position for a complication that, to be honest, annual calendars are not what I think of when I think of Longa, right? But for them to come out with this product, I think, is a really, really cool thing.

5:11It's very thin on the wrist. It's really compact proportions. Basically, you know, the caliber was improved from the previous annual calendars. Those got discontinued a few years back. Now we have a new caliber that's smaller with higher power reserve and also I think the best part which is a pusher on the side. So you see this pusher on a lot of Langa's sort of complicated calendar watches. But basically when you press it, it moves all of the indications at once, right? So if the watch wasn't running for, you know, a few days, as long as it's wound up again, You press that button a few times and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

5:45Everything is set. You don't need to kind of fiddle with all the recessed pushers. So really, really cool watches, two variants, two medals. Three releases, three really dialed-in watches from Longa this year. That's certainly a highlight of my week thus far. Moving right along, Andy, we went over to Jager LeCoultre yesterday evening to take some photos, to look at some watches. What did you see there and what caught your eye? Look, what catches my eye with JLC this year, Jager LeCoultre, is the new master control chronometer. And this is a watch that it's kind of surprising when we think about it, that Gégère has not made this watch before.

6:23They are the watchmaker's watchmaker, our first Nautilus, our first Royal Oak. Those were powered by JLC Gégère movements. And Gégère, with the exception of a marine master, I think it's called. You know, we haven't seen a lot of integrated bracelet sports watches, really, from the brand over the years. Regardless, they've got one now and it, I think, really competes. The Master Control Chronometre, it is quite thin. It comes in steel and it also comes in rose gold. There's basically three model wines. We have a QP, Perpetual Calendar, in the rose gold and in the steel, and then there is a date and a power reserve, and then there's a time only.

7:18And I think that the brand is saying here, hey, you know, we can do this. We can, you know, compete against all those names in the space, but it's just a really sort of distinct Jégère piece. and you know I think the entry is around 12 or 13 thousand for the time only and you know it is really a compelling choice that people are going to have to look at much more elegant than a lot of the other options you know in that space what do you think that shift to that maybe signifies for the brand That's a good question, right? I mean, I think that basically the brand started making tools for, you know, to make watch components, made its own watch components, made its own movements.

8:21and they're saying, hey, you know, we're here, we have our own distinct design language, we're going to sort of double down and remind everyone of that, all of those skills that we have all together, you know, under this one roof, and, you know, here's our piece. There's a lot of firsts with the MCC. I mean, you know, it's the first time that they've ever had a COSC certified movement. It's not something they chose to do in the past. They also put their own special qualifications on the watch that testing beyond COSC that they do. So they're really trying to remind everyone where they sit in the Pantheon, and it's right up there.

9:12Absolutely. And one of the things that caught my eye at JLC last night was these enameled reversos. And I found myself very interested in these reversos starting at the beginning of this year. I went to a JLC event when I was talking with someone there and she was telling me how these dials were made. And she said it was with a paintbrush with a single hair. And that is how it was made, how these artisans paint the back of it. And I was blown away by it. And I was sitting there thinking like, this is really important for people to continue making art like that. Because once those skills go away, they go away.

9:52And so I was pleased to see this year that JLC kind of concluded their series of special reversos with three new reversos, enamel dial, and it's a series, I'm forgetting the name, but it's a series that is concluding with these three. I think it was a 19th century Japanese artist. and the last of these came out in 2023 and these three came out this year's Watches and Wonders and I think that for me, writing about these and seeing these come out I think that the Reverso is a perfect place for this I personally, and please correct me if I'm wrong here if you two know anybody doing this but I personally don't know anybody playing polo with their Reverso on and so I think the case is primed for something like that.

10:41And I just love JLC, investing in artisans, doing that, a bygone era. It's not cost-efficient. It's not good for EBITDA, but it's good for vibes. And I think that it's really important to keep those things going on. It's good for... I want to... Do you know what animal or person's hair, the single hair, comes from? You know, I don't know. I need to dive in to that. But... Squirrel hair. I'm getting squirrel hair. We're getting squirrel from the peanut gallery. We're getting squirrel from the peanut gallery. Got it. Wow. Okay. I didn't know squirrel. Okay. Good to know. So that inherently implies that there's someone probably at the company whose sole job is to catch squirrels for this?

11:23Catch and release. I've got many questions. Catch and release, yes. I won't get into my personal anecdote about Squirrel Patrol. Let's move on. Next up was Tag. Yeah. Gentlemen, obviously, some new Monacos. We have the Evergraph. What caught your eye there? For TAG, this is a really important year, right? For them, they're calling it the year of the chronograph, and rightfully so. So, I mean, obviously the headline is the Evergraph. This is a truly innovative chronograph movement. I mean, we have not seen something like this before. And it's actuated by a flexible, I think it's nickel phosphorus material, which completely sort of changes how chronograph movement works.

12:08It changes how it feels. And obviously, when you think of Tag Heuer and a chronograph, they want you to think of the Monaco. I think the watch costs about$28 ,000 USD. Look, that's a big price for what many of us think of as an approachable level brand, but this is a big jump for them in terms of movement tech and movement development. They did it with Voucher, but it's really an in-house sort of design and development project. It's been going on for years. And so, yeah, they're really making a statement with the piece. And then they're bringing a redesigned Monaco in titanium, which is sort of the flagship piece in the line, the approachable.

13:01I think there are 11, 10, between 10 and 11 ,000, all in titanium. I mean, this is also a in-house movement, right, which hasn't always been the case. Crown is on the left side. they are making the statement, it is staying there, because there's obviously been some debate over the years. But yeah, I mean, you know, it is a very focused and pretty easy to understand message from TAG this year. It's the year of the chronograph. The Monaco is their icon. And, you know, they want you to think about this watch kind of in the same, when you're having the same thoughts about an AP RD5 or something, right?

13:48I mean, look, they're very different watches, but we've got some real innovation here, and chapeau to them, I'd say. Tantan, any thoughts on the Evergraph? Yeah, I mean, I would say similar thoughts to Andy here. It's a really interesting concept to see. Obviously, with the new chronograph design, you can tell that the Monaco is really the case profile that really works for it. what the sort of movement offers in sort of a unique way of activation and reset, it also means that you need a lot of naturally real estate, right? And so the Monaco, given its rectangular slash square silhouette, kind of offers that advantage.

14:29So I think if the question remains, will they make a smaller Evergraph, I think my interpretation is we won't see that at least for a while. So, you know, the Monaco does wear larger than, for example, the sleeker glass box profile. So I think those with smaller wrists might be slightly disadvantaged here. But I think, again, as sort of the first iteration here and really a proof of concept that I think the brand is really inherently emphasizing is not just a proof of concept. It is a very commercial product that will be available in stores. That's a good point. But it is, yeah, this is a commercial product.

15:04Yeah. And, you know, they want it to be available for those who want it. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's important. So I think that's something to really take away here where we see obviously a lot of cool stuff and a lot of innovation. And a lot of the times the question we have when we write about things like this is, will it actually ever make it into a product that gets on people's wrists? And I think tag here is really making a point that it will. You know, so you can do something once or, you know, five times. Yeah. Good for you. And it's great, and it's extraordinary, and it's amazing to look at.

15:36But yeah, can you make a commercial product for the masses? This special episode of the Hodinkee Podcast from Watches and Wonders 2026 is brought to you by Bulgari and the Octo Fenissimo. Since 2014, the Octo Fenissimo has redefined the limits of horology, and this year, the story reaches a new peak of maturity. Introducing the Octo Fenissimo 37, a reimagined blank canvas of architectural precision that brings a new universal proportion to an icon. Discover the new chapter of Octofunissimo at Bulgari.com. Moving away from commercial products that are on people's wrists to commercial products that are on people's feet, Moser had a really interesting collaboration this year.

16:18Tan Tan, do you want to talk a little bit about that? Yeah, this one is certainly right up Moser's alley. you know, like, listen, if I think about Moser, they're the ones doing weird, weird things, right? And it is not an insult to say that, and they are very proud of that, right? And so this year, there is a collab that I think certainly is ruffling some feathers, which is their new collaboration with Reebok, right? Like, what the hell is Moser, a watch company, doing with a shoe company? But what they've done is create two watches, two limited editions, inspired by the Reebok sort of pump sneakers, right?

16:51So, you know, you look at the tongue, and you press the little button and they've taken that and it's not just a new colorway on a watch. I think that's my main takeaway. It's a new mechanism for winding the watch where you basically take a little button and you press it on the side of the case and that increases the power reserve. And luckily for those who see this as basically the most expensive fidget spinner anyone will ever own in their life, you can't overwind the watch, which I think is good. You can just keep pressing it over and over again. You wouldn't want to do that, would you? No.

17:20Can you imagine? Like, I think, you know, I think this is a watch that isn't sort of, you know, changing the horological landscape as we speak. This isn't a watch that will, you know, be on a lot of retailer shelves, certainly because of the limited status. But again, it's a fun watch. Moser's done weirder. Moser's done crazier. But I think, you know, again, this is fun. And I guess the most important thing is these watches will come with the sneakers if you buy one. Most importantly, most importantly. Most importantly. Also at Moser this year, they released two new streamlineders in 28 and 34 millimeters, the smallest by far from the brand.

17:54And I think it's a really nice offering from them, and I think a step in the right direction of kind of, you know, as someone who's got a smaller wrist, you know, kind of moving in that direction. I would love maybe a 36, 37 personally. But I think that that's a great sign. I think that they're going to be really popular as well. Yeah, no, it's great to see them. And look, I mean, at the same time, you know, establishing, emphasizing that the Streamliner is the flagship model. And, you know, it's, shall I say, I mean, it's really their icon, obviously. And this is not a brand that's been, you know, since its relaunched, been around that long.

18:30But it's also great to see them doing, you know, keeping their sense of humor with the pump, right? And, you know, this is the brand that brought us a cheese watch before. and they're not afraid to be outsiders and shake things up. So, yeah. And for me, sometimes it gets a little stuffy, a little too buttoned up. And Moser is the brand that I think of first when I think of like, they're having fun and they're visibly showing that. We wrapped up yesterday with Oris, one of my favorite meetings of the year. You know, some great releases. Tan-san, anything catch your eye there? Yeah, I mean, obviously a lot of people are going to be looking at the Oris star.

19:08I think it feels like a watch that was plucked out of the archives. You know, when they say recreation, it really feels like a vintage watch in the hand. And I think they got a lot of details right here, right? Like I think Auris is really realizing that their strong suit is doubling down in sort of the value-based price segment. So I think we've seen sort of a move away from a lot of caliber 400 sort of in-house products that are much higher priced. And for them to come back down, I think the bullseye big crown from earlier this year was an absolute home. run. I think it was a gorgeous watch that Andy and I both really love.

19:41And I think this one is going to appeal to those. And I think this Auris Star most importantly has a really, really compelling story, which I think Andy is very familiar with. Indeed, yeah. I mean, you know, the Star was the first watch that Auris was able to produce in the era without a pin lever escapement, right? It could use a Swiss lever escapement. And that's because a Oris executive was the primary actor in terms of lobbying the Swiss government and getting, you know, this Swiss regulation, this Swiss law, which prevented them from doing it. And other brands were doing this at the, you know, to get that done.

20:28And it just sort of reinforces Oris' position as being a little different, you know, than a lot of the Swiss industry there in Hülstein. They are a different brand. They have an independent spirit. They are true sort of differentiators for them. And yeah, I mean, we also saw the Artelier by a quite young and talented new designer there. I think she's 24, the product designer there. And she really took that watch, which is a dress watch, and took out a couple of the counters. There's a second hour hand, which you can kind of use like a GMT if you use the little pusher there. And then there's also a moon phase, right?

21:15Which is like, a moon phase is an interesting complication to me. It's not one that I think about and consider a lot. But it was just, you know, with this new Artelia, which I think it's in three dial configurations in blue and white and then a brown, which they're calling chestnut. I always like brown dials. You know, there's not enough brown dials. I agree. Bring more brown. In my opinion. But it's just really minimalist and simple. and they're very transparent about, you know, this is a watch designed by a young watch enthusiast, watch professional, watch lover for young people, urban living young people.

21:56It's not a tool watch like so many of the great pieces that we know Oris for. And yeah, but it's also responding to the market and sort of doubling down on listening to the customer and the consumer and giving them what they want, which sometimes the industry is accused of not paying such close attention. And Andy, I've got to ask you, since you're on the show, what are you seeing from a business perspective here at Watches and Wonders? What are people talking about? I know you've had some great conversations with some CEOs. What are you hearing out there? Look, I mean, you know, the environment overall remains challenging.

22:38Obviously, the uncertainty, you know, that we've been feeling for the past couple of years remains. You know, if last year was the year of tariffs, I mean, that's what I spent my entire week talking and thinking about last year. 2026 is, you know, about brands listening to the customer and finding value. You know, we heard from Cartier and their CEO, Mr. Louis Furla, yesterday, talking about, you know, making sure that they were presenting products that were, you know, with a market in mind, right? I mean, you know, that's part of what the Roadster is all about. And, you know, this is a watch that, you know, disappeared less than 20 years ago, right?

23:31And it was introduced less than 30 years ago. And it was a very popular watch.

23:41For many people, this was what a Cartier was and this was their entry into it. And so this is about reading the market, thinking about the market, and making a commercial product. And the Santos Dumont that we saw was certainly an example of that, with a bracelet there that's just gorgeous. Last but not least, we have Chopard. I know we were all looking forward to that meeting today. Some great releases from the brand, Santan. What did you see there? You were really excited about the meeting. Yeah, I mean, I love Chopard. I think their watchmaking continues to be some of the most underrated in the industry.

24:17I, you know, I'm a big fan. Collect their stuff. Just got LUC from the mid-2000s, so kind of in that state of mind right now. Chopard state of mind. Chopard state of mind. I think, you know, they have a lot of new novelties this year, but I think I would say to sum it up, there's two that kind of go into my mind as the collector favorites, right? So I think, first of all, Alpine Eagle, XPS, LUC, previously in a Salmon dial iteration now has a new sort of what the brand calls Champagne dial, but it's the most different Champagne dial you've ever seen. It almost leans silvery, which I think is very interesting.

24:54Salmon is a love-hate color for me. I think it doesn't work well with my skin tone. So anytime I kind of see, you know, watch with salmon dial, kind of, you know, tune out a little bit. But here, this style is really unique. Of course, it's an Alpine Eagle with an LUC movement. So I think that's kind of the best of all worlds when you're talking about like a luxury sports watch. But again, I think the biggest thing is the introduction of micro adjust on an Alpine Eagle bracelet. And I think this has been a big sticking point for a lot of people because the Alpine Eagle doesn't really suit itself towards, you know, like half links or one and a half links.

25:24And I think having the ability to sort of just have a little bit of incremental adjustment here is kind of a game changer. And I think hopefully they roll it out across other metals and across other watches. And I think it's a really, really positive development. But sort of the other thing, which is also a transition from Salmond Dial to a different color, is the 1860 LUC. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous dress watch. I mean the Salmon dial iteration has been a fan favorite for a few years since its introduction It's kind of the best of what Chopard can do, right? So it is a 36 millimeter Stainless steel dress watch in Chopard sort of loosened steel alloy if you will.

26:05It is a gorgeous style That's made in-house at Medellum With a gold base and really really well done Hand guilloché decoration, right? So it's the same decoration and motif as the salmon dial previously, but now in a really beautiful blue. I'm not really a big blue dial guy, but this shade, I mean, you saw it too. Like, it is a really sort of perfect shade. It's like, it is just saturated enough, just vivid enough. And I think, again, like we talked about before, El Uceave movement on the back, still one of the best micro rotor movements, in my opinion, in the industry. Gorgeous finishing, Geneva Seal.