The Roundup

Formex Essence 41mm Automatic Chronometer Malachite

The Essence 41 Malachite is the first Essence 41 model built around a natural stone dial. Formex cuts each disc from genuine malachite, so the swirling bands and color shifts — from bright green through near-black — vary piece to piece, meaning no two watches leave the workshop looking quite the same.

Housed in a 41mm 316L stainless steel case, 10.6mm tall with a 46.5mm lug-to-lug and 22mm lugs, the watch pairs a screw-down crown with Formex’s patented Case Suspension System, where four internal springs let the case flex with wrist movement and cushion the movement from shock. The malachite disc is finished by hand, with mirror-polished indices and hands set against the stone’s raw texture, and BGW9 Super-LumiNova keeps the dial legible once the light fades.

Sapphire crystal front and back, both anti-reflective treated, seals in a view of the movement, and the case is rated to 100 meters. This build rides on Formex’s stainless steel bracelet, closed with a patented butterfly clasp that adjusts on the fly across three positions — 0, 3, and 6mm — without needing to open the clasp or take the watch off.

Power comes from the Swiss-made Sellita SW200-2 Power+, run in chronometer grade and individually certified by COSC. It carries 26 jewels and a Glucydur balance wheel for stability against shock and magnetism, drives a date display, and stores 65 hours on a full wind thanks to improved winding efficiency. Formex fits it with an in-house skeletonized rotor finished in blued screws, visible through the open caseback.

Wolbrook Skindiver WT Automatic — Aéro-Club de France Special Edition

The Skindiver WT Automatic has straddled sea and sky since the late 1950s, built as a genuine crossover between a dive watch and a pilot’s instrument. This Aéro-Club de France edition carries that dual identity forward with a blue dial marked by the club’s emblem and finished in C3 Super-LumiNova for low-light legibility, plus a decimeter scale on the outer ring — dividing each hour into 100ths rather than 60, a format pilots use for quick fuel and speed math in the cockpit. Wolbrook is an official supplier to the Aéro-Club de France, and a share of each sale supports the club’s public-interest mission: the promotion of aerospace activities.

The case is 40mm across, 48mm lug-to-lug, 13.2mm thick, with a 20mm lug width, machined from hand-finished brushed 316L stainless steel and built on Wolbrook’s HexapleX architecture — a mono-bloc middle case with 3D rubber shock absorbers that let the movement “float” inside its holder, shielding it from impact. A domed, glass-box sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating sits up top, and both the crown and caseback screw down to hold 150m/15 ATM of water resistance. Drilled lugs make strap swaps straightforward, and the caseback has room to laser-engrave a name or personal line. This build is fitted to the dark blue Tropic rubber strap.

Power comes from a Citizen/Miyota 8315 automatic movement with roughly 60 hours of power reserve and a hacking seconds function, regulated to a ±15-second daily tolerance and 0.6ms beat error. Like all Wolbrook watches, it’s assembled by hand in France, near Besançon, with a customized “roulette”-style date disk regulated in-house.

The Watch Book Rolex: Next Generation

The Watch Book Rolex: Next Generation is the updated technical and historical benchmark for Rolex collectors. Written by industry expert Gisbert L. Brunner, this edition moves beyond archival history to document the brand’s most recent industrial milestones and model evolutions.

The book provides a comprehensive analysis of Rolex’s manufacturing philosophy, from the development of the first waterproof Oyster case to the proprietary materials and high-precision movements of the 2020s. This volume is an essential tool for enthusiasts looking to understand the mechanics, market significance, and design lineage of the Crown.

Compact Dual Photon Flood – 14500x2 Flashlight by Maratac®

The Dual Photon Flood 14500 Flashlight by Maratac® delivers an astonishing 3600 lumens in Turbo Mode — all in a body that fits in the palm of your hand. Built for maximum output per cubic inch, this is the brightest compact flashlight we offer, perfect for professionals, gearheads, and anyone who takes lighting seriously.

Engineered for control and reliability, it features a magnetic base for hands-free lighting, USB-C charging, dual user-replaceable 14500 lithium-ion batteries (included), and a grippy, overbuilt design ready for the field. From a subtle 1-lumen Moon Mode to a long-reaching 640-foot beam, this flashlight adapts to any lighting need.

Bulova A-11 Jimmy

The Bulova A-11 Jimmy honors Jimmy Stewart, the Academy Award–winning actor who left Hollywood at the height of his fame to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps and fly in World War II. It ties in with Jimmy, a film about his story premiering November 6, 2026. Bulova supplied the production with original timepieces from its museum archives. The watch is modeled on the 1940s A-11 “Hack Watch” seen on screen, the mil-spec field watch Bulova helped supply during the war, rebuilt as a clean, everyday automatic.

The polished stainless steel case is 37mm across and 11.2mm thick, about 3mm slimmer than Bulova’s earlier A-11 Hack reissue. It has a coin-edge detail and an oversized push/pull crown. A double-domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating sits over a matte black dial with white Arabic numerals and an outer minute track. The Bulova name is printed in dark gray as a nod to the “sterile,” unbranded dials of wartime issue watches. The hands and numerals are filled with BGW9 Super-LumiNova. The two-piece screw-down caseback keeps the mil-spec markings aligned. A khaki nylon strap with quick-release spring bars and a signed steel buckle completes the look.

Inside is the Miyota 9039 automatic, with 24 jewels, a beat rate of 28,800 vibrations per hour, and a 42-hour power reserve. It shows hours, minutes and seconds, with hacking seconds for precise “hack” time-setting, just like the original. Water resistance is 5 ATM (50 meters), enough for still-water swimming and everyday wear.