Archive for November 2022
Cartier Privé Asymetrique in Rose Gold
Have you ever visited a modern art museum and been stunned by the simplicity of an exhibit? Not in the way you would be stunned by Duchamp’s Fountain, but in a manner that makes you think ‘I could’ve done that.’ That is the sort of flooring simplicity that the Asymetrique plays with. And yet, I…
Read MoreDe Bethune DB25 White Night
I just adore, or rather I mean love, when independents take a step from impressing the world, flashing technical innovation and bold design cues, to demonstrate their ability through restrained or classic sensiblities. Dufour has the Simplicity. Roger Smith the Series I. Rexhep the Chronometre Contemporain. De Bethune, well this may be as close as…
Read More‘The Owl’ 25572ST Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Day Date
Not all Day Dates come in Oyster cases. Shortly after the 5402 graced the world with its presence, AP experimented with a few variations on the theme. Out of this early/mid 80s era came many of the iconic complicated Royal Oak offerings we revere today. However, the very first complicated offering to feature in AP’s…
Read MoreSaab-Signed IWC Mark XII
Saab: one of many names, or brands, that you just don’t expect to tangent anywhere near watchmaking. TAG partnering with Porsche makes sense, directionally and historically. Omega and Bond; it’s not what Fleming wrote but no one will argue there isn’t synergy there. But Saab? The people who made aspirational cars for designers, architects, turtleneck…
Read More890101/01 Universal Genève Aero-Compax
A historically significant flagship, the Aviator’s Compact Chronograph (or Aero-Compax for short, Compax being UG’s parlance for complication) sits right alongside the Polerouter, Clapton, Big Eye, or Nina as core to the brand’s identity. This mid-1960s second major iteration of the famed chronograph shifted focus from timing dual events to displaying a secondary 24 hour…
Read More‘Paris Platinum’ Cartier Crash
Walking around any major city with a truly exceptional watch on wrist is a bit like walking down the street holding a Van Gogh above your head. Without wishing to be ostentatious, in many respects you are doing someone a very slight favor by adding a degree of culture to an otherwise very ordinary day (for…
Read MoreBirch Burlwood Dial 18038 Rolex Day-Date
Birch is the kind of adjective you expect to find next to ‘Eames Chair’, not ‘Day-Date’. We all know Rolex has used the Day-Date to host hundreds of exotic dial materials, many in extremely low volumes. Readers here will know of my affection for ligneous Presidents, but I haven’t elaborated on their intricacies yet. Like…
Read More165.9.30 Jaeger-Lecoultre Odysseus in Tantalum Rose Gold
Tantalum is not often seen in watchmaking. It’s difficult to work with, extremely so, but highly corrosion and scratch resistant with a gunmetal-blue tone that is just gorgeous. FP Journe launched the Chronomètre Bleu in 2009 and made elaborate fanfare about how innovative it was to be executed in tantalum. However, like many things, JLC…
Read More5240 IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater
Discretion is something of a lost art to much of modern watchmaking. In many ways, a relatively thin, time-only minute repeater could be said to be the antithesis of an orange RM or rainbow Daytona. There’s nothing wrong with outward flamboyance, but it’s a breath of fresh air to see something so understated yet so…
Read MoreTropical Mk2 1665 Rolex ‘Double Red’ Sea-Dweller
I’ve heard it said that the movement is the heart of a watch, the case its body, and the dial its soul. This analogy is tenuous at best, a bit like when you hear food critics start talking about the emotion contained within an entrée. That’s just a dinner and this is just a watch,…
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