The Vingt-8 is Voutilainen distilled, focused independent watchmaking with nothing to distract. Kari started his brand Voutilainen with the Observatoire in 2007. The Observatoire famously used NOS Peseux 260, an observatory calibre that was never actually cased for wristwatches. When it came time to rethink the offering in 2011, the...

If you want a vintage Rolex with a moonphase, you have two options. One is the Padellone, ref. 8171. The second is this, the ref. 6062. The 6062 is one of the most desirable and collected things in all vintage Rolex, and for once it’s not hard to understand why....

Where the Royal Oak market has been shuffling its feet for the last year or two, the Royal Oak QP seems like it might be having a moment. It was, in 1984, category making. Sporting watch, high complication. That’s taken for granted, but it truly had never been done. In...

This is a somewhat mysterious chronograph with a remarkable ability to charm just about everybody. It’s a LeCoultre V72 but, no, it’s not an E335 like the last one we featured. It’s not even a US market, as most were. The case is not the usual 14k, for US import...

It took until 2019 for Lange to give in and make a salmon dial. The logic tracks, as it’s a bit uncomfortably close to Swiss aesthetic. But these days, Lange are comfortable in their own skin. And that’s allowed some traditionally Swiss aesthetics to enter the chat. However, Lange are...

The 3417 Amagnetic is considered by many the most elegant tool watch ever made, a Calatrava-like peer which blurs the line between utilitarian purpose and the refinement of a formal dress watch. Well before the Nautilus, this was in its day the sole Patek Philippe reference to be made exclusively...

The 5959 is equal parts serious weapons-grade watchmaking with serious whimsy. Released in 2005, this was actually the very first fully in-house Patek Philippe chronograph. And they chose a split seconds monopusher, predating the 5170 by 4 years. More than that, CHR 27-525 PS was the thinnest split seconds calibre...

Exotic dials aren’t just for Rolex. Meet the Omega equivalent of Paul Newman, just no one ever frames it in that light. This is the 145.022 ‘Orange Racing’, a 1969/1970 Speedmaster variant with a grey Singer dial that I’ve often called ‘about as colorful as a Coldplay concert on acid’....

Splitting seconds is even more fun when it the watch appears to be a humble chronograph. FP Journe introduced the Chronographe Monopoussoir Rattrapante in 2018, building off an experimental Split Seconds project for Only Watch which hammered at 1.15M CHF. FP Journe refined that calibre and included it in the...

It only took two short decades for the Submariner to rise from utilitarian instrument to object of desire. The Submariner was first made in gold in 1969, with the 1680/8. This was the very start of the premiumisation Rolex is built on today. And yet, that very genesis of Rolex-as-luxury...

In vintage and particularly Rolex, the name of the game is rarely determined by the reference number alone. Unless very rare, it’s about the dial, condition, and life it has lived. The 6265 is not a rare watch. It was produced, and it’s also mega-desirable. It’s also the last of...

There may never be a Patek Philippe this beautiful again. To those paying close attention, this era (Philippe Stern’s) is really having a moment. 3940, 3970, and 5004: they may as well be their own ‘holy trinity’ within the brand and there really is a magic about each that is...

The 1655 is one of the strangest anachronisms of the Rolex four-digit. By comparison to a GMT or Sub, it takes a very specific kind of collector: one who appreciates the start of a story, how a case wears, and dial beauty to exclusion of utility. We usually think of...

I know, a 5711 isn’t our usual fare. But we bring this example up in Finds because there’s a very interesting historic footnote to the ‘Piano’ dial, as the 5711/1A-011 is known, that is never talked about. Now, there’s no scenario in which this would be a first round pick...

Every Daytona we love, if you go back far enough, can trace its origin here. But particularly to the JPS and Lemon dials of our world, this is grandfather. This is the ref. 3525, not the first Rolex chronograph, but likely the first Oyster-cased Rolex chronograph. It goes by ‘Monoblocco’,...

Before the Datograph Honey-Lumen or Handwerkskunt, there was this. It doesn’t fall neatly into any normal Lange category despite debuting in the 1815 collection. And it was out of chronology, Lange did the advanced homework first. They conquered the Double Split (splitting minutes and seconds) in 2004, Pour Le Mérite...

Doorstops aren’t cool. But they’re insanely cool when placed on dials as indices. This is a pink gold 1803, which is a pretty sick thing in itself. But the two angled markers at 6 and 9 make it something I can get really excited about. Pink gold really isn’t a...

If there is such a thing as a modern classic of watchmaking, the Datograph is it. We all know, we all adore, the first L951.1 Datograph ref. 403.035. But they’re not all quite the same. This is a first generation dial, which although very minutely differs from the Datographs which...