Archive for September 2021
IWC Porsche Design Ocean 2000
When I say integrated sports watch, you almost imagine a RO, Nautilus, or Overseas. You almost certainly do not imagine a Laureato, Octo Finissimo (despite it holding all the records today), or this: an imaginative 1980s diver with a full integrated titanium bracelet. This is a under-hyped, comparatively economic, materially innovative, 1980s diver with tritium…
Read More6239 Rolex Cosmograph-Only Dial
Inverse panda, pump pusher, steel bezel, single-line Cosmograph text: these are things dreams are made of. I admit to being a fan of this reference to an almost child-like extent. I’ll try to rein that in as I feature this example. You will be familiar with the Circuit de la Sarthe of the US, Daytona,…
Read MoreTürler-signed Vacheron Constantin Patrimony
An ultra-thin Calatrava may be executed to an exacting standard by a Lange or Patek. The Saxonia is a stellar (literally) modern Germanic discourse in simplicity. Patek’s Calatrava line may be the most historically storied time-only dial of all time. That said, I’m not sure either have executed their pure-dress offering with the same master…
Read MoreLudovic Ballouard Upside Down
One of the most singularly amazing recent trends of modern independent watchmaking is a decoupling of innovation from purpose. I’ve heard it said before that for something to be art it can have no purpose other than itself. In that regard, this Upside Down certainly earns its title as a work of art, though one…
Read MoreCream Dial Vetta Cronografo Ermetico Impermeable
I find it difficult to believe that a design from the 1940s can feel so perfectly at home eighty years on. Imagine being tasked today with designing a watch that would look good in the year 2100. That seems an impossibly difficult task with a low probability of success. This is why I am so…
Read More1680/8 YG, Black Nipple Dial Rolex Submariner
Rolex’s fabled gold Submariner may in fact be the single watch most classically representative of the ‘fuck-you-money’ attitude. Or at least, it was. See, the gold Submariner has gone through this sort of inverse bell-curve of public acceptability from the 1960s through today in 2021. To start, it was a hallmark of a highly successful…
Read MoreFavre-Leuba Bivouac 53223
Few self-proclaimed tool watches yield the kind of functionality on offer from this vintage Bivouac. Fewer still do so with such personality, coordinated design, and bizarre history. Unique to this watch, the outer dial scale is not a tachymeter or pulsations scale. It is a mechanical barometer/altimeter. The pressure drops, measured as mmHg, could be…
Read MoreBreitling Chronomat 769
Though it is most famous the aesthetic, Breitling’s Navitimer by no means had a monopoly on the sliding scale rule chronograph. Breitling owned the patent from the very outset of WWII. This early 1940s Chronomat could easily masquerade as a model from decades later. The Chronomat’s design was advanced, its purpose was clearly defined, and…
Read More‘Apollo XII’ Omega Speedmaster 3597.16
In the cult of Speedmaster, there is a sort of hierarchical nerd strata . . .or, perhaps I should say fractal. One may venture as deep in any niche direction as they desire. Like modern Speedmasters? That itch can be scratched by an Ed White 321, Apollo 8, or Moonshine with total equanimity. Fancy something…
Read MoreTissot 6916 Chevron Dial
In the Mad Men era of pie-pan Constellations, UG Monodates, and waffle Princes, value alternatives existed alongside these heavyweights. Tissot may be largely famed today for quartz consumables and bright orange adolescent designs, but it wasn’t always so. Seeming acknowledging their sinful modernity, Tissot have released one or two throwbacks to their unimpeachably great back…
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