What happens if you’re an independent watchmaker and you’ve sold your company to great success? What if you no longer have access to use your own name? Do you retire to the Maldives? Well, not in this instance. This says Jean Daniel Nicolas on the dial, but it is in...

The Day-Date exists in part because this was not a commercial success in period. However, today, Rolex collecting knows no greater heights. This is the 6062, one of just three forays Rolex made into complication. But this one is quite unusual. It’s called the Soleil dial, and it’s actually a...

Some watches just get instantly more attractive overnight, and you just can’t quite put your finger on exactly why. Anyway, this an Oysterquartz, a Day-Date, and in white gold: ref. 19019. It’s the punk younger sibling of something like a 18039 with a mechanical calibre. Whatever you make of the...

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...

Special non-Paul Newman is a ton of fun these days. This is a 6265 in 18k yellow gold. It’s about as accessible as something akin to JPS can get. Despite nearly 2 decades of production, just a fraction of manual Daytonas were made precious, most estimate about 8%. Only ~2000...

Red Submariners are as varied and characterful as owners who wore them. We’re in the height of Watches & Wonders currently and while there are some marvelous things which debuted, the vast majority of them share one flaw. Cases are mirror finished, dials are flat Luminova, and bezels are ceramic...

White gold and wood is peak 80s Day-Date. Rolls Royce’s PR arm has run amok using the phrase ‘post-opulence’ to describe their current portfolio. The definition is loose, but something akin to quiet excellence. This is post-opulent Rolex collecting. It’s wood, not diamonds. White gold, not platinum. Everything about it...

It took this, the Snowflake Sub, to prove that Tudor could improve upon Rolex’s success in ways other than value. The larger tritium plots with harsh angles were designed to be maximally legible at a glance, nothing more, likely at the request of the Marine Nationale. Ever since, it has...

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....

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...

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...

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...

Finds. People get all up in arms when you call this dial salmon, so instead I’ll call it what it is: a damn beautiful nod to the 14802, a 1000 example limited edition from the early 90s that is the peak of Jumbo time-only RO collecting for many. But it’s...

Prior to last week, if you had told me this watch existed, I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought I knew all dial configurations of VC’s 90s Perpetual Calendar Chronograph 3970-fighter, the ref. 49005. It turns out, there are some that haven’t been seen yet. This caseback has an engraving...

Vintage IWC is like chocolate cake. There are fancier desserts and there are more simple deserts. But chocolate cake sometimes just really, really hits the spot like nothing else can. The creativity and sheer dogged ambition of the brand under Günter Blümlein really has no late-80s peers. The team reached places...

The 310.225 is probably not a reference that will ring any bells. It’s a Langematik Perpetual and the Lange QP is obscure enough in its own right. But the .225 designates the matching platinum bracelet, manufactured near 2010 by Wellendorff. And it’s not the straight link Wellendorff we know. The...