The phrase 'a workhorse', is a bit of a cliché these days. Well, this actually is one. Not because of how it was made, but because it truly worked for a living. It's a professional Submariner, not a 5513 sold in Miami to your local banker. It's a 5513 that...

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...

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...

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...

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 Tortue case essentially has three neo-vintage titans, of which Cartier owns two. The first is the Monopoussoir, one for CPCP. The second, Patek Philippe’s 5040, has always seemed a slight bit more beautiful and cohesive than the ref. 2646 CPCP QP. But for a minute repeater, there is no...

Finds. The rather unimaginatively nicknamed Big Triangle is something rather unusual in vintage tool divers. It’s a well-known, beautiful watch from a mainstream manufacture that isn’t unjustifiably stratospheric in price. It was produced widely, even after official production stopped (more on that later). But it’s a lyre lug, bakelite bezel,...

  Shortly after the debut of the 5402, Audemars Piguet became very experimental with the Royal Oak as a canvas. Aiming to bring the Royal Oak to the wider market, Audemars Piguet debuted the Day Date version of the Royal Oak, this ref. 5572. Note, that is a four-digit reference. AP...

The transitional 16550 marked the start of the Explorer II as a dual-time zone watch. In one instant, the hour hand was able to jump and the GMT-Master II had a credible rival. Further, it also introduced a massive fault we’ve all come to adore: the cream dial. Early 16550s...