While more traditional brands typically prefer reserved styles, Ernst Benz is known for leaning into dramatic details and creative flourishes like over-sized and brightly-colored dials, vintage and over-sized hands, and vibrant hour markers.

It’s this rebellious approach to watch design that has distinguished Ernst Benz in finding that unique footing between the fashion world, which celebrates creative and avant-garde designers, and the proud tradition of watchmaking.

And it’s this rebellious approach to watch design that drew together Ernst Benz and fashion designer John Varvatos, renowned for his signature rock ‘n’ roll style. Here we explore the partnership between Ernst Benz and John Varvatos and their various limited-edition collaboration watches.

How the John Varvatos and Ernst Benz Collaboration Began
Before partnering with Ernst Benz in 2012, John Varvatos boutiques carried only vintage and IWC watches. However, Varvatos’s interest was piqued by Ernst Benz’s aesthetic, and the designer felt that Ernst Benz watches sat well among his main collection of leather biker jackets, t-shirts, and straight-leg joggers.

After a few years of carrying the watches in his boutique, Varvatos was approached by Leonid Khankin of Ernst Benz to collaborate and design a limited-edition watch. The two bonded over their shared interest in watches and, in Varvatos, Khankin found a partner who was willing to push the envelope of conventional watch styles and designs. From there, the two decided to release a limited-edition Ernst Benz x John Varvatos watch.

The First Ernst Benz x John Varvatos Watch
The first watch the newfound partners revealed, the John Varvatos Chronoscrope, features an olive dial and a silver-colored case that perfectly complements the handmade leather band. The hands are of particular note: they were modeled after an old gauge Varvatos found. The overall look is a rugged, vintage military-inspired watch with detailed finishes (like the angled bezel and lugs) that elevate it into a polished dress watch.

Varvatos personally considers this inaugural design his favorite of all the watches he and Ernst Benz have collaborated upon. Khankin, meanwhile, was wearing the prototype of the watch as his personal everyday watch after the collection was released because he loved the watch so much.

Since Ernst Benz and John Varvatos launched their collection, the two have released eight watches, each a cool iteration of the duo’s original Chronoscope that is a slick representation of both brands’ edgy and daring styles.

Learn more about Ernst Benz’s other creative collaborations with the likes of Dan Marino and artist Anthony Liggins in our post here!

Jewelry easily ranks as the most sentimental gift to give your partner this (and any) holiday season. However, if you’re looking for a piece of jewelry with an even deeper and heartfelt meaning, we explore some of the most romantic jewelry collections, beloved for their touching history and symbolism.

1. David Yurman Cable Classics
We’ve always loved the Yurman Cable Classic bangles for their cool look and stack-friendly appeal. However, this iconic design has a remarkably romantic backstory: designer David Yurman met his wife Sybil while the two were working in a sculptor’s studio in 1969. Their romance blossomed and Yurman began designing sculpturally-inspired jewelry for her. As Yurman’s homemade pieces began catching the eye of some in the fashion circle, Yurman and Sybil married and launched their namesake brand. Today, Yurman still considers Sybil his muse and the two closely collaborate on his designs, some of which are based on those early designs Yurman created just for her.

2. Roberto Coin Jewelry
Italian jewelry brand Roberto Coin is known for its elegantly feminine fine jewelry, but the true signature of the brand is a hidden inset ruby. The concealed ruby that appears on every Roberto Coin piece is meant to be worn close to the skin to bestow the wearer with a long, happy, and healthy life. This secret detail makes a gift of Roberto Coin jewelry immediately feel personal and heightens its romantic appeal.

3. Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti Open Heart Pendant Necklace
Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti drew inspiration from lots of organic and fluid shapes—think leaves and tear drops—in developing her elegantly curved jewelry designs. One of her standout pieces is the Open Heart Pendant which features a delicate and slightly abstract heart shape. We love this artful heart-shaped piece as an alternative to a more obvious heart pendant, which can feel too young for some wearers.

4. Chopard Happy Diamonds Collection
The Happy Diamonds collection is a signature of the French jewelry powerhouse Chopard. Happy Diamonds are free-floating, gold bezel-set diamonds that are placed in between two sapphire crystals so the wearer can see the stones glide back and forth and beautifully catch and reflect light. This is a delightfully sweet gift to surprise your loved one with, and it is sure to make them smile.

5. Cartier Love Bracelet
Aldo Cipullo, the original designer of the Cartier Love Bracelet, said he drew inspiration for his signature design from the folkloric chastity belt. However, Cipullo’s interest was focused more on the symbolism of the (admittedly less-than-romantic) chastity belt and considered it a symbol of intimacy and devotion. In turn, we’ve come to associate the Cartier Love Bracelet—which features a screw closure that only your partner can unlock—with this much more sentimental meaning, making it a surprisingly sweet gift to give.

This past weekend, Pascal Raffy of Bovet received the Aiguille d’Or Award at the Grand Prix d’Horologerie de Geneve awards in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Grand Prix d’Horologerie de Geneve is the most coveted awards in the world of haute horology. Recipients are selected by a jury of the world’s leading watchmakers, journalists, collectors, and retailers. This elite panel scrutinize the nominated watches for how the watchmaker blends together the fine and proud craft of watchmaking with decorative arts. Based upon this core criteria, it’s little surprise that Bovet received the evening’s most prestigious award and grand prize, the Aiguille d’Or, for its standout horological wonder, the Récital 22 Grand Récital.

This jaw-dropping watch features an overhead view of the world, as if you were floating above the brand’s headquarters in Motiers, Switzerland. This elaborate watch also features a flying tourbillon as the sun and a three-dimensional moon that travels around the watch’s globe miniature to display the moon phases. It is a marvelous piece to behold that watch fanatics and causal hobbyists alike can appreciate. The highly elaborate Récital 22 Grand Récital is made up of 705 components and includes a retrograde perpetual calendar (a proprietary design by Bovet) and a patented flying tourbillion complete with a power reserve of over nine days.

As if the mechanics alone were not impressive enough, Bovet’s artisans spent two weeks painstakingly creating the Earth, sun, and moon figures alone, perfecting the finest details like exactly recreating the moon’s topography in this tiny replica.

We congratulate our brand partners at Bovet 1822 on their win of this distinguished award and eagerly await to see how their creative minds could possibly top this fantastic design!

Raymond Weil earned its reputation by re-thinking traditional watchmaking and bridging the market gap between affordable stylish watches and the core values and precision of Swiss watchmaking. Here we delve deeper into the Freelancer collection, a significant breakthrough in the brand’s history as it introduced Raymond Weil’s first visible balance wheel and has since seen many beloved iterations.

The Origins of the Raymond Weil Freelancer
Raymond Weil has long prided itself on its channeling a classic haute horology look—think clean and elegant designs, no-frills dials, handsomely showcased movements—but at an attainable price point. And, when the Freelancer collection debuted in 2007, it was a proud continuation of these core values.

Aesthetically, the Freelancer collection is a sports watch at its core, but, in true Raymond Weil form, is an elegantly pared down take on the category. What truly distinguished the collection upon release was its visible balance wheel.

In the very simplest of terms, a watch’s balance wheel (or simply balance) works in tandem with the balance spring to effectively keep the time. While the balance spring steadily pulls the wheel towards the center position, the balance wheel swings back and forth, and it advances the hands of the watch to display the time.

The Freelancer’s visible balance wheel allowed watch enthusiasts and collectors to admire the mechanical intricacies of the movement inside. This breakthrough was significant to Raymond Weil as it kicked off the brand’s foray into becoming a bigger competitor in the manufacturing arena, challenging older brands with its affordably-priced, handsomely-designed, and now precision-made watches.

The Raymond Weil Freelancer 1212
In 2017, the Freelancer was the first collection to house Raymond Weil’s first proprietary automatic movement.

Just as the original Freelancer was a flex of Raymond Weil’s engineering muscle, the Freelancer 1212 is a testament to Raymond Weil’s research and development team who spent 18 months designing and producing the movement with their Swiss manufacture partner Stellia. (In fact, the Freelancer 1212 is named after the post code of the brand’s Geneva headquarters as nod to the in-house team behind the movement.)

The Freelancer 1212 falls in step with the Raymond Weil tradition of elegant watch designs at a remarkably affordable price point while advancing the brand and its reputation for well-researched and -developed timepieces.

Collaborations and Modern Iterations of the Freelancer Collection
Since the Freelancer’s breakout debut, it has been the foundational design for many fresh iterations and been at the heart of Raymond Weil’s high-profile collaborations.

Music has always been the underlying inspiration source for all of Raymond Weil’s designs—which is why its best-known collections are named the Maestro, Toccata, and Amadeus. However, to appeal to a younger generation of watch collectors, the third generation of the family-run brand has shifted its source material from classical music to rock ‘n roll stars. Raymond Weil has crafted collector’s and limited editions of its Freelancer Collection with the likes of AC/DC, David Bowie, and Les Paul guitar manufacture Gibson. Each iteration pays tribute to these groundbreaking musicians and their lasting influence on the genre.

To learn more about Raymond Weil and its unique history in the watch industry, check out our post on the topic here! 

The primary birthstone for November is a gem called topaz.

The Origins and Cultural Significance of Topaz
The word topaz is said to come from the Ancient Greek word topázos, which refers to a yellow rock that was said to come only from a small island called St. John’s Island in the Red Sea. The stone was thought by the Ancient Greeks to bring strength, to break magic spells, and to dispel anger. The English thought the stone cured lunacy. In India, topaz worn above the heart assures long life, beauty, and intelligence. The stone was also treated as sacred by African shamans, who would use it in their healing rituals.

There is also a special kind of topaz that is mined from the Russian Ural Mountains—this type, called imperial topaz in honor of the czar, has a rare, pinkish-orange hue and wasn’t allowed to be owned and worn by anyone other than the royal family. As the Ural Mountains were the leading source of topaz during the 19th century, this lent the stone a measure of prestige.

Historically, there was a lot of confusion about topaz, especially as the word topaz was often used to describe just any yellow stone during the Middle Ages. Now, the word refers specifically to this silicate mineral species.

As for where topaz can be mined, Brazil is one of the largest producers of the stone, and it can also be found in countries like Russia, Sri Lanka, Norway, Pakistan, Mexico, Australia, and the United States.

Notable Topaz
The American Golden Topaz is the largest cut yellow topaz on record, weighing in at a stunning 22,892.5 carats. This golden giant was mined in Minas Gerais, Brazil—one of the richest sources of high-quality topaz in the world—and was cut down from 26 lbs to 10.1 lbs in the late 1980s. Color-wise, the stone isn’t as valuable as a vibrant imperial topaz would be, but its sheer size is impressive enough.

The Properties and Hardness of Topaz
The topaz is an interesting gemstone because, while it has a relatively high Mohs hardness of 8, the stone has to be handled more carefully than other stones with a similar hardness rating. This is because the stone’s molecules have a weak atomic bond, so if struck with something hard, a topaz could fracture.

The stone occurs naturally in golden brown to yellow, most often, but it can also appear in orange, pink, pinkish-orange, violet, and, quite rarely, blue. Topaz can also be treated to appear anywhere from transparent to wine red to pale green. Because it has such variety in color, many different types of metals may suit this stone, but we recommend setting the piece in a particularly sturdy metal, like low-karat gold or platinum, to support the stone. A bezel-set topaz would be protected very well and would last quite a long time.

We pulled together the year’s best-sellers and all-time fan-favorites for our biggest catalog of holiday gift ideas— all guaranteed to wow!

Cartier Juste un Clou, a Trend-Right Accessory for Her
This and any holiday season, you cannot go wrong with a gift from Cartier. The iconic Love Bracelet is always a smart and surprisingly romantic choice but, if you’re looking for something a little out of the box, consider the Juste un Clou. This nailhead-inspired bracelet pumps up the edge-factor of any wardrobe for an undeniably luxurious and cool look.

Cartier Tank Américaine Watch, a Vintage-Inspired Find
The Cartier Tank Américaine watch has a softer appeal than the traditional military-inspired Cartier Tank. The Tank Américaine offers that quintessential Cartier look—the Roman numeral dial, the blue hands, and the sapphire cabochon-capped crown—but with a slim silhouette and a leather strap that makes it feel like a rare vintage find. This is perfect for someone who appreciates the Cartier name and the high-quality craftsmanship that comes with it but shies away from flashier or more recognizable styles.

CHANEL C&C Logo Jewelry, an Everyday Fashion Statement
If delicate or fine jewelry is not really your partner’s thing, consider a piece of vintage CHANEL costume jewelry—one of the most coveted gifts year-round. The designer name and iconic interlocked C&C logo instantly make the gift feel significant. But the piece’s weighty design stamps out that “too precious to wear” feeling that often comes with fine jewelry and lets the wearer enjoy it as an outfit accent any and every day.

David Yurman Cable Classics, an Affordable Gift with Collect-Them-All Appeal
David Yurman’s iconic Cable Classics are a beloved style. With a huge variety of weights, metal combinations, or gemstone caps, these twisted bracelets have a collectible allure. Start your own gift-exchange tradition with one of these layer-friendly bracelets and add to the collection each birthday, anniversary, or holiday!

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra, a Subtly Formal Everyday Watch
If you want to get a gift your spouse a very practical but still meaningful gift, consider the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra. It’s a timeless model that deftly toes the line between sporty (it is, after all, a highly durable diving watch) and formal, thanks to its dial’s slick teak motif, inspired by the decks of classic Italian yachts. This combo makes the Seamaster Aqua Terra a perfect everyday watch, a gift they can appreciate and wear year-round.

Swiss-Made Watches, a Classic and Sentimental Timepiece
A handsome evening watch has a certain sense of romantic weight, making it a particularly suitable gift idea if you and your S.O. are celebrating a momentous anniversary or commemorating the year together. We love Zenith and Raymond Weil for their impeccable Swiss-made quality, coolly minimalist designs, and budget-friendly styles.

Rolex Submariner, a Signature Style for Any Collector
Of all of Rolex’s iconic styles—the sporty Daytona, the slick two-tone Datejust, or the stately Day-Date—the Submariner is by far and large the most recognizable. The Submariner’s robust design and distinctive dial have endeared it to generations of collectors. Get his collection started on the right foot—or round out a respectable collection—with this essential Rolex model.

Rolex Datejust, an Elegant Women’s Watch
The Rolex Datejust is a signature Rolex model, quickly recognized for its fluted bezel. We love this luxurious style for women in particular. That said, more and more women are eschewing the petite case sizes and reaching for the Datejust in larger case sizes (which historically were classified as men’s watches) for a more impressive, less dainty look—perfect for your fashionable and confident partner.

Vintage Watches, a Deeply Special and Romantic Gift
Whether your spouse is an avid watch collector or not, you cannot compete with the sentiment imbued in a vintage watch. The weathered look and feel alludes to the timepiece’s mysterious past, and the nature of a vintage watch lends a one-of-a-kind air to your thoughtful gift.

Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti Open Heart Collection, a Timeless and Sweet Design
Tiffany & Co. has been the long-time go-to jeweler for gifts in general, but the Elsa Peretti Open Heart Collection has grown into the premier choice for holiday gifts. The collection features rings, bracelets, and earrings, and even key fobs! But the fan-favorite is the pendant necklace that features an artful (read: not cheesy) and slightly abstract heart, a precious and intimate gift idea.

Besides its iconic screw-head motif, the Cartier Love Bracelet is known for its elegant elliptical shape that gives it a comfortable fit. This unique shape can make it slightly harder for you to determine your wrist size in Cartier’s Love Bracelet sizing system.

So, to help you find the perfect fit, we explain how to convert your wrist measurement into your perfect Cartier Love Bracelet size.

1. Print and cut out TrueFacet’s Wrist Sizer. (Download link here.)

2. With the number markers on the outside, curl the wrist sizer in a circle and carefully insert the pointed end just through the small opening.

3. Place your hand through the wrist sizer and gently pull the pointed end through the slit until the wrist sizer fits comfortably around your wrist.

4. The number that lines up with the arrow is your wrist size. If the measurement is between two sizes, refer to the larger size. As a European company, Cartier measures their bracelets in centimeters.

5. To determine your Cartier Love Bracelet size, Cartier recommends adding one centimeter to your measured size for a tight fit and two centimeters for a loose fit.

And, once you receive your Cartier Love Bracelet, check out our video tutorial on how to easily put on and lock your Cartier Love Bracelet or Cartier SM Love Bracelet here!

The gifting season makes us all a little nostalgic and, if you had something big and exciting happen to you and your partner, you’re probably feeling extra romantic. Check out our favorite gifts to surprise your loved one with this holiday season that are a sweet nod to the time you’ve spent together.

Your First Holiday Together
To commemorate your first holiday season together, consider one of these classic gift options that carry a warm and sentimental appeal without being too over-the-top!

Your Fifth Holiday Together
Here are three stately and timeless pieces that perfectly suit this milestone in your relationship that feel significant and immediately personal.

Your Tenth Anniversary
Congratulations on your anniversary! Ten years together calls for a meaningful gift and one your partner will cherish for years. Consider adding more of a personal touch by having the piece engraved with their initials or your anniversary date.

Your S.O. Landed That Big Promotion
Your significant other has been throwing themselves into their work, and this year, their effort and dedication has finally been deservedly recognized. Celebrate their exciting news with a gift of one of these timepieces that will perfectly match their new corner office.

You and Your Partner Moved Cross-Country
Packing up the old apartment and relocating to a new city is an exciting change for your family. Give your loved one a sweet something to remember your hometown by and kick off the next chapter in your new digs the right way.

You Had a Baby!
Welcome the newest member of your family with one of these commemorative gifts with baby’s birthstone. And, for even more gift ideas for new and expecting moms, check out our post here!