Archive for September 2022
2147 Daniel Roth Lemania Skeleton Chronograph
For being one of the most influential independent watchmakers to have ever walked the Earth, Daniel Roth is today not a part of the discourse in the way that Journe, Voutilainen, MB&F, or even Akrivia are. This, I suspect, is because Roth is not easily understood immediately; Roth requires study. There are multiple eras of…
Read MoreLinen Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date
If Rolex had an essentials album, the 1803 would undoubtedly be a starred track. In production for nearly three decades as the halo product, Wilsdorf’s innovative Day-Date complication became synonymous with status after a 1966 ad with a red phone which simply stated, ‘the president’s watch.’ Day-Date collecting could be considered an art itself, given…
Read MoreDecimal Dial 2447D Heuer Carrera Second Execution
The three-register Carrera is one of the most adaptable and iconic chronographs to ever house a Valjoux 72. Many will think of the 2447 as a clean, minimalist, and scale-less chronograph. But that’s not entirely accurate, the Carrera is not one dial. Scratch the surface of On the Dash and you will see, the 2447…
Read More3521 IWC Ingenieur
Despite all the admiration, scholarship, and even Jack Forster’s article in the last year, the 3521 remains an alternative and yet-to-be-fully-appreciated modern classic. Whatever it means precisely to be a modern classic, I know not. But it seems to me as if the category were invented for these Ingenieurs. This is a Germanic chunk of…
Read MoreFuchsia, Mk1 Long E 1675 Rolex GMT-Master
The difference a simple bezel can make is quite extreme. In the 1675, which enjoyed quite a long run, there was a period of a few years where early aluminum bezels were manufactured with a paint composition that would turn from red to this beautiful fuchsia tone over time. They have all been observed in…
Read More25654BA Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual
While the Royal Oak was intended to be a time-only sports watch, its abilities quickly diversified after the 5402 with a range complications. The most iconic of these must be the Quantieme Perpetual (or perpetual calendar moonphase to us peasants). It is a beautifully contrasted blend of sporting pretense and haute watchmaking that, before the…
Read More819901 Cartier Santos Galbée Moonphase
This is perhaps one of the most difficult watches to attempt to categorize, ever. It’s integrated, but it isn’t really sporting. It’s full yellow gold, but not really a dress watch. It has a moonphase, but it isn’t a mechanical movement. Now I am, somewhat infamously, a lover of mechanical watchmaking. But I always appreciate…
Read More1970s Cartier Paris Tank Cintrée with Bracelet
The Tank Cintrée has been around since 1921, very shortly after the first 1919 Tank. It was adopted by British soldiers in the Boer War for its relatively masculine proportion and the fact that it wasn’t a pocket watch. Post war, those same credentials propelled it to be the ultimate aesthetic pairing for timeless style;…
Read More6159-7001 Seiko Hi-Beat Professional 300m
If you think the depth and breadth of vintage marques like Universal Genève or Enicar are strong, they are. And yet, neither really hold a candle to the world’s longest running vertically-integrated manufacture outside Switzerland. Seiko has made more dive watch offerings than I will ever be able to hold in my head. Despite that,…
Read More8171 ‘Padellone’ Rolex Triple Calendar Moonphase
Rolex does not often appear next to the word ‘complicated’. Rolex pride themselves on creating tools for professionals, however outdated that worldview may be in 2022. However, when Rolex do flirt with complication, the results are often breathtaking. In all their 117 years in watchmaking, only two Rolex references have ever featured a moonphase: the…
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