Sincere Singapore have had many incredibly beautiful and unique small runs made for their clients, from guilloché Lange to LF and, yes, FP Journe. While this looks like a black label, it’s actually one of just 10 made with black mother of pearl. Yes, this is actually mother of pearl...

A 3940 doing its best Tortue impression, the 5040 is a ridiculously beautiful value today. But there are more variants than most realize. It’s not just a J with Breguet numerals, this is platinum—solid caseback only just like the 3940. Except this black Arabic dial with dot indices is unlike...

Debuting in 2002, the Octa Calendrier marked a milestone in modern watchmaking as the first annual calendar with a retrograde date. It was also the first F.P. Journe to win at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, taking home the Special Jury Prize that same year. The Calendrier was the...

We love Pre-Daytona here, and 6238 is probably the most universally adored Rolex chronograph made. There are the critically lauded and quite rare black dial variants, the lesser known but quite rare and lovely gunmetal grey dials, and then silver. Silver is normally perceived as the most accessible and most...

The 3940 and indeed 3970 started at their very best. This smaller subdial with its 90 degreee signifies a far smaller, more hand-made production at the very start of serial production complication. To those paying close attention, this era (Philippe Stern’s) is really having a moment. 3940, 3970, and 5004:...

The 1675 is the defining travel watch of its generation. It’s the defining travel watch for many generations after. And gilt dials define many of the ultimate examples. Although the gilt 1675 evolved through numerous dials and even crown guards, the later generations have a subtle charm that makes one...

Imagine walking into the office of Günter Blümlein in 1997 and proposing a massive alteration to the Lange 1 that would fundamentally alter the harmony of its dial: adding a tourbillon. Nonetheless, someone actually had the brass to suggest improving upon the Lange 1. The wildest part is that it...

A bracelet should never be an afterthought, but Wellendorff Lange is the opposite. While a First Generation Datograph is spectacular and deeply significant in its own right, it’s hard for any Wellendorff bracelet to not steal the show. This Datograph was sold by Wempe in 2001, two years after release....

Developed just after the initial World Timers by Louis Cottier, the ref. 2597 is a damn cool ‘Travel Time’ from 1956, the very start of the jet age. The reference can be thought of as a 570 Calatrava with a little je ne sais quoi complication, or a gentleman’s GMT-Master. The...

This is a 18038, but unlike most 18038 it’s a lapis dial. Absent any indices, with apertures framed in yellow gold, this is one of the ultimate yellow gold Day-Date specs. Lapis was and remains one of the most notoriously difficult materials to machine. There is a widely stated figure...

Well before the 222, Overseas, or even Nautilus, there was this. It’s called the Royal Chronometer, but better known by ref. 2215. Introduced in 1975, it was replaced by the 222 just 2 years later in 1977.  Perhaps Genta spent less time looking at portholes and more time referencing the...

This Primevère is the first act from Japanese-born, Swiss-based independent Yosuke Sekiguchi. A name most won’t be familiar with, Sekiguchi moved to France at 23 then Switzerland, studying at La Joux-Perret then Claret. In 2020, he stepped out on his own with this. He sees most Japanese watchmaking as ‘too...

Introduced in 96 and discontinued in 06, this is not a 3940—which might be its defining feature. But it is a full-on 240 Q Perpetual Calendar, nothing annual about it. It’s the ref. 5039, which one could choose to think of as a 3940 that was allowed to lean full...

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,...

Régence in French literally translates to Regency, but loosely defines the period when France was governed by Philippe II. The Regency period predates Rococco and defines and entire genre of art. In Journe collecting circles, however, it means something entirely different. Régence models, or dials more aptly, are the jet-fuel...

If Ferdinand Berthoud doesn’t ring a bell, here’s what you need to know in an instant download. Think high independent watchmaking underwritten by Chopard, well above LUC. FB is based in marine chronometry roots, re-interpreted for the wristwatch, named after one of the most accomplished, ingenius, and inventive watchmakers of...

What can one say about the Simplicity that hasn’t already been written? If we all had to choose just one independent watchmaker to represent the very best of traditional Swiss watchmaking and technique, Mr. Dufour might have to be it. The roots of this calibre run all the way back...

This is an extremely rare, likely specially ordered 3450J. It’s luminous, or at least it was, in tritium: hands and dial. And if we’re discussing greatly overlook complicated Patek Philippe, the 3450 is definitely in that mix. The 3450 could be described as transitional, launched in 1981 and taking over...