Audemars Piguet remained independently owned through the tumultuous 1990s and 2000s (still are), led by Georges-Henri Meylan and later Philippe Merk, where many of their peers were gobbled up in acquisitions. The former spearheaded the highly contemporary Royal Oak QP Skeleton. First came the ref. 25636, followed by this 25829....

The ref. 2396 represents a very special time in Cartier and watchmaking, before the rise of independents yet after some of the masters were born. The recent Prive Monopoussoir is equally beautiful, but the daring, somewhat whimsical Roman 12 seen form the CPCP years has not been revisited since this...

In FP Journe, two things are hyper-in-demand at the moment. One is anything made from the brass era. The second is 38mm. This Réserve de Marche (RdM) has both. The Réserve de Marche occupies a special area in the early history of François‑Paul Journe’s manufacture. Introduced in 2001, it was...

Launched in the year 2000, the Lange 1 Tourbillon was the first complication within the Lange 1 family. The Lange 1 Tourbillon began with 250 examples of this ref. 704.032 in pink gold, followed by 150 examples of ref. 704.025 in platinum. Very much a product of Gunter Blümlein and...

Simon Brette’s Chronomètre Artisans Rose is a contemporary independent watch rooted in traditional craft. Raised in Auvergne and trained in Neuchâtel, Brette worked at Chronode under Jean-François Mojon before roles at MCT and MB&F. In 2020, as independents surged at auction, he observed many smaller artisans nearing bankruptcy and created...

Vacheron Constantin’s Mercator is a time-only quite unlike any other. Released in 1994, it sought to honor the 400th anniversary of Gerardus Mercator who created map projection—the basis of all modern cartography. He was also, notably, a calligrapher and engraver: both of which inspired the overall basis for this ref....