Far before the Cubitus took a legend and messed about with its proportions, Vacheron Constantin took their integrated poster child and injected some of David Coulthard’s chin. It didn’t work back then either. In fact, the Square 222 was a total flop. It is unconventional, still shrouded in mystery, and...

Normally when talking about Datejusts, adjectives like humble and simple get thrown in. There’s nothing humble about this 1600 though, it’s downright nobility. 1600 is a bit of an unusual flavor, as it ditches the fluting for a sterile, smooth bezel. Some adore this, some hate it. Regardless of preference,...

Up until 2022, the final boss of the Overseas range was either the QP Skeleton or Dual Time Everest, inarguably. The true genius of the QP was not just complication, but complication with more thinness. Normally, the greater a component count in a calibre, the larger the height. Here, that...

Never has the phrase good things come in small packages been more appropriate than to describe the ref. 5959R. The 5959 is equal parts serious weapons-grade watchmaking with serious whimsy. Released in 2005, this was actually the very first fully in-house Patek Philippe chronograph of any sort. And they chose...

Where you see feuille hands on a 3970, you know you’re talking early series and immensely collected watches today. But this isn’t a 3970. It’s a 3971, a reference created before the standardization of selling both a solid and sapphire caseback with each 3970. The 3971 was a screwdown, sapphire-backed,...

Universal Genève’s great early chronographs very rarely went above 36mm. This is a 1940s Compur with a seriously uncommon black gilt dial, and it’s 37mm—far oversized for its time. On top of all that, it has big eyes, or equally oversized subdials. It’s known as a Compur, and it’s in...