This is the most interesting variant of a not-very-currently-popular Royal Oak. Yes, it’s an Offshore. Yes, Genta would’ve hated it. While it might easily be mistaken for ‘The Beast’, it’s actually the very first Royal Oak Offshore QP. AP manufactured fewer than 50 of these, ref. 25854ST, in 1997. It...

When a young Philippe Dufour loves your watch so much that he saves up to buy one, later calling it the ‘finest chronograph ever made’, you know you’re doing something right. However, Dufour couldn’t afford the platinum in period. So, he saved up and bought the ref. 403.031 in pink...

Early Urban Jürgensen has been one of the better kept secrets of independents for a few years, at least till this year. This, I suspect, because the brand has one of the most convoluted and difficult-to-follow histories of any. The beauty, though, is easily understood. This is their 90s QP,...

You might fairly be asking yourself what Hairspring doing highlighting a 116710LN. Well, it’s nothing like most Rolexes. This is the ‘Sea King’ 116710LN, one of the last ‘unit watches’ (the term watch journalist Watches of Espionage has fairly coined for this interesting niche of Rolex & Tudor history) Rolex...

This is the ref. 25668BA, the ultimate evolution of the original 5548, produced from 1988 until 1993 to celebrate the resurgence of complicated mechanical watchmaking to Switzerland. In yellow gold, just 94 examples of the ref. were made. It is one of the most highly collected, highly finished QPs of...

If Moritz Grossmann had an equivalent to the Simplicity, this might be it. However, there are even fewer of them. Moritz Grossmann’s entirely independent watchmaking is renown, from the traditional clear-jewel Glashütte style to innovation like the Hamatic. However, through that time, one constraint has held many collectors back: proportions....

There are watches you love immediately. To most, this ref. 25594SA is not one of those watches. The 25594 is one of those iconoclast watches that’s so polarizing that it somehow circles back around to being completely attractive. To start, the midsized Royal Oak isn’t for everyone. Then two-tone: it...

In 2001 The Lange 1 became fit for an evening outing, courtesy of a mother of pearl dial. This is the ‘Soirée’, a slightly more expressive (about as expressive as Germans get) Lange 1 with one big different. The flat white mother of pearl dial debuted in two variants, this...

There’s nothing like a good 6263. If you ask anyone to close their eyes and picture a manual Daytona, this is probably what comes to mind. Despite PNs, early pump pushers, and even the JPS, this is the variant that defines an entire era of Daytona production. The Oyster pusher,...

A dial can make a watch. Off catalogue except to just a handful of Middle Eastern retailers, this is the Eastern Arabic Historiques American 1921 in platinum. It was not shouted about, not in the press, and only just coming to light in recent months. No one knows the production...

There aren’t many watches in the Thierry era that one can honestly say are 10s. But this is one, and the buzz around it is pretty quiet. The 5370 was introduced in 2015 to much fanfare, but that was objectively before half the people currently reading this were into watches...

This is not what it appears at first glance. Sure, it’s a Nautilus. And yes, it’s the mid-sized 3800. But it’s the 3800G. G as in white gold. And there really aren’t many of these. While you’ll trip and find a yellow gold or steel, the other three metals are...

The first Overseas QP, or sporting QP of any kind from VC, debuted in 2016. This was, notably, some time after 1984—which is when the Royal Oak QP came out. This is the first Overseas QP, a very recent addition to the catalogue by comparison. This forced the hand of...

The 2526 stands above most Calatravas for one simple reason, it’s not just an engraved enamel signature, but entire fired enamel dial. It is one of just a handful of more niche references like the 2577 or 3428 to have this honor bestowed upon it. The manufacturing process was extremely...

In 1996, the Royal Oak QP became a lot more usable. Leap year indication was born, in ref. 25820PT. Collectors divide true vintage from neo-vintage Royal Oak QP around this mark. And while vintage RO QP is genesis and hugely sexy, it’s worth remembering that a leap year is actually...

Everyone is wondering what history will make of the 5970. You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again, this is the last of the Lemania ébauches; 5270 that followed axed that tradition. Further, the 1mm case different is not insignificant either. The 5970 was only in production for about...

This is a Pre-Daytona, the father of Cosmograph, but it’s way more interesting than it appears at first glance. This is the Pre-Daytona equivalent of a perfect Paul Newman: finding any 6238 with a black dial. For standard dials, the 6238 might hold the Rolex record for having the largest...

In a word, this Chopard is bananas. You won’t see ref. 36/2249 often, the in-period retail price of 147K meant very few sold to begin with. Today, they’ll only trouble you for a third of retail. And what a man watch it is, like a Patek 5213 with a personality....