When we launched, we planned two weekly newsletters: The Five, which explores five watches around a theme (from chronographs to those inspired by Miles Davis), and The Weekly, covering new releases, news, and a single brand in focus. With the latter, we discovered a simple truth: there's plenty to say about watches every two weeks, but not always every week.

So, we made a slight adjustment. The Weekly now comes to you every fortnight, and with that shift, it needs a new name. The Five, however, continues every week without interruption.

Since we write from, essentially, GMT (Liverpool, and ok, it’s BST now), the new name seemed clever enough. Watch-y, but not too obvious. How we like to think of ourselves.

We'd love your thoughts at [email protected]: what you like, what you don't, and what you'd like to see more of.

Enough about that. On to News from the GMT…

What is it? An American micro that assembles and tests original designs from its Kansas City headquarters. Dryden focuses on doing important things well, and it shows up in the product. The Heartlander is one of our editors' favourite watches.

What's the vibe? The great outdoors, the American Midwest, and colour. What makes Dryden really interesting is that its founder, Jerry Wang, is a photographer. You can see it in the watches themselves; this is a company that knows how light and colour work together to create amazing dials. And they are built for the outdoors. If Jack London and Grant Wood were to start a watch company, it might be a lot like Dryden.

What does $500 get you? The chronograph, which is priced just below $500. $575 gets you the Heartlander, which is, as said, a field watch that is easily our favourite. Dryden’s diver, the Pathfinder comes in at $625. We’re stretching the budget, but this is a brand worthy of the stretch.

Tariff Smariff. Swatch introduces a watch with the 3 and 9 inverted, to reflect the 39% tariff that is roiling the Swiss watch industry. A quiet protest. Gear Patrol has the 411.

One for the MBAs. The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has a deep dive on how the Swiss watch industry is responding to the tariffs. IMD is based in Lausanne; you can obtain a master's degree from them for approximately $70,000, or one Royal Oak, if watches were currency. Put on your thinking cap here.

September is Eternally Spring. Todd Snyder and Timex introduced a Tank dupe at the designer's spring show last week. The Todd Snyder/Timex collabs sell out fast, and we expect this one will as well. Mark your calendars and prepare to hit refresh a million times on the Timex Website.

Albert Einstein had a lifelong passion for the violin, and by most accounts, was pretty dang good at it. He was also good at physics (apparently). Anyway, you can own the very instrument held by the 20th century's greatest scientist, as it is being auctioned by Dominic Winters Auctioneers, along with his bicycle saddle, on October 8. Bring 300 large, please.

Alternatively, you could get the DeWitt Mathematical, a watch “so complicated it has no hands.” Founder Jérôme de Witt, besides being an unusually talented watchmaker, makes the somewhat audacious claim of descending from Napoleon Bonaparte. Make of that what you will.

As to the watch, it’s complicated: it takes, we don’t know, an Einstein to figure out how it works.

(We'll see ourselves out.)

Watch500 publishes two newsletters: the bi-weekly News from the GMT, covering news, releases, and industry insights, while The Five brings you themed watch picks every week. Get the best of the $500 watch world - new releases, brand discoveries, industry news, and the stories behind timepieces that are eminently affordable, framed around poor cultural references.

And feel free to pass this along to someone else who doesn’t need another watch, but will probably buy one anyway.