The 5303R is much more than just the only Patek Philippe repeater that Sylvester Stallone hasn’t yet flipped. It is the only Patek Philippe wristwatch with its tourbillon visible dial side. More notably, it was first to have its chiming hammer and gongs dial-side as well. And it is directly...

There are many watchmakers today with immense history who seem a bit aimless, but no brand extends so far in both directions as Breguet. This is the 3357, a watch whose architecture was designed by Daniel Roth in the mid-1980s Chaumet era which is still in the catalogue today. Breguet...

This is a Pre-Daytona, 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 discrepancy between dial colors....

In the world of 90s Holy Trinity chronographs, I don’t think you can argue that VC had 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 elegant evening...

Many will argue this is the first-ever Explorer, ref. 6350, and it’s honeycomb. But others will state it’s the ref. 6150. In the 6150, only some examples actually said Explorer on the dial and it wasn’t yet an officially certified chronometer. By this 6350, both traditions were firmly in place....

Sporting a Crash is the closest thing in watches to walking around holding a Salvador Dali above your head. But sporting an NSO (Cartier’s new program to create custom orders for their best clients) Crash is like having Dali make that painting just for you. The allure of a tailored...

Middle Eastern dials are not all equal. They’re all fantastically interesting, from UAE Armed Forces Datejusts to Oman Day-Dates or even Syrian Explorer IIs, all of these watches call back to a time in Rolex when the brand was more personable and willing to go more than the extra mile...

Zenith may be known as the don of the high-beat chronograph, and they are, but things didn’t start that way. This is the S.58, a 150 meter dive watch, and it’s what Zenith were pouring their hopes and ambition into before the El Primero had ever lied about being first...

Everyone seems to be waiting with bated breath, hope, and timid caution to find out just how time will judge 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. But, further, the 5970 was...

This was the RM of its day, just with more substance; AP invented the combination high complication with sporting ambition in the 1984 ref. 5554. This is, and to ours will likely forever remain, the apex of Royal Oak collecting. Maybe not this precise iteration, but the pre-leap year QP...

Before the first Zeitwerk, Vagabondage, or Urwerk, Vacheron Constantin went out on a limb with a very unique time display. It was 1994 and Audemars Piguet had just released the Star Wheel. Where the inspiration for the Star Wheel came from a 17th c. Papal clock, VC had an idea...

This was the start of the screw down Daytona pusher. Okay, maybe not the very start, it’s not a Solo, but reference-wise with millerighes (more on that later). This is the ref. 6240 and it would not be a stretch to say that all screw-down Daytonas exist because of this...

This is a 1016, which as we all know is the answer to every possible watch question. However, it’s a very peculiar sort. It’s the sort of 1016 for a collector who has already owned a 1016, who then looks down one day and thinks, ‘Yes, this is lovely, but...

In 1992, Vacheron Constantin launched what they called the 7 marvels: 7 technically or artistically exceptional new efforts. One of them was this ref. 49005, Vacheron’s first Perpetual Calendar Chronograph and answer to the 3970. Except where only two known 3970s were made with salmon dials (one formerly owned by...

The 3940 has gone through a bit of a transition in the last 5 years, from simply being the discontinued QP to being recognized as, arguably but with significant consensus, the sole reference which most defines the modern era and reinvigorated the marque. However, no one seems quite able to...

In the below image, I would happily wear the watch on the left every day for the rest of my life. The watch on the right, not so much. To the untrained eye, they are the same watch. To us, they are as different as Macallan is to Budweiser, despite...

Meteorites are perpetually traveling, searching around through spacetime before eventually striking a larger body like Earth. Now, there are surprisingly few elegant-refined leaning GMT offerings. There are endless GMT/travel watches which scream, ‘I’m a professional doing serious things, manly tool watch things.’ But really only a handful that offer old-style...

This is not a normal Royal Oak QP. It’s the RD2, very possibly the last watchmaking-first complicated Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet which placed emphasis on their technical ability rather than their marketing ability. It looks like a Royal Oak that’s picked up intermittent fasting as a hobby, still 41mm...