Finds. With all that’s come since, it’s easy to overlook that this is unquestionably the original über-Lange. A moonshot project imagined but a few days after the Berlin wall fell, this was the watch was to prove to the Swiss that this ragtag German upstart should be taken seriously. Blümlein...

This, Audemars Piguet’s 1986 ref. 25636, is the first AP skeletonized perpetual calendar of any sort. It was released in 1986, a full two years ahead of the 36mm ref. 25668 skeleton in a circular case. It’s not the first-ever skeleton QP, VC’s 43032 was released in 1984. But it...

The very first Roger Smith (RWS) Series 3 is heading to auction. Introduced in 2015, the Series 3 was the start of the date complication with the established aesethic of the collection. It nods to the commissioned rectangular-cased Series 1 which also featured a retrograde date, but that Lange Arkade-like...

To most, the word Saatchi brings to mind an art gallery in London. To watch obsessives, Saatchi is a crowning adjective applied to Patek Philipps through the late neo-vintage era. On the 5070, the Saatchi very much marks the traditional king of chronographs returning to their throne. In 2015, Patek...

You only see complicated Rolex a handful of times in vintage Rolex. In essence, you get Padellone, 6062, 4413, and this: Jean Claude Killy. A complete calendar chronograph, this is as highly collected as you’ll ever see Rolex. Killy is what happens when Daytona just doesn’t push far enough, and...

The most modern machine at Haldimann is an optical microscope from the ’60s, certainly not a CNC. Haldimann’s workshop and entire operation is his home, a villa overlooking the river Aare in Thun that has a deliberately meditative vibe. His eponymous independent manufacture makes 20-30 watches per year, entirely in...