The Chronomètre Bleu represents FP Journe’s best ability under pressure. This context still is not talked about enough. It was conceived in the midst of the 2008 financial meltdown. Precious metal values were skyrocketing. Demand was all but nonexistent. No one was thinking about supporting independent watchmaking, in fact it...

If you turn up a 5513 to 11, you wind up here: 1665. Specifically, double red. Vintage Sea-Dwellers are nothing like what you might know post 1990s. It was a beast in 1967, but you could almost call it svelte compared to a modern Maxi case. And then there’s the...

Call it Mark 1 or ‘Floating’, but when the Cosmograph line detaches from the rest of the signature on a 16520, it’s the one to have. Unless it’s a Patrizzi. Or Tiffany. Or, actually, porcelain. In white dials, a section of Floating Cosmograph production had that prized porcelain dial construction....

AP have made a large song and dance this week about their new perpetual calendar works, which, in their defense, are remarkable. But it all began here. This is the grandfather: ref. 25554. It is the exact same as the first-ever 5554 Royal Oak QP, only made after AP updated...

I don’t believe one can state frequently enough how great stone dials look in white metal Day-Dates. This is 18039, white gold, but with a dial for the ages. We see lapis dials like candy in yellow gold cases, but in white gold or later platinum they’re hen’s teeth. How...

In the world of 90s Holy Trinity chronographs, I don’t think you can make an argument against VC having the sexiest case. The 5070 is lovely, but not this voluptuous. It’s thoughtful enough to not be retro, yet a bastion of traditional watchmaking technique. It might just be the most...