De Bethune make wildly technical alien spaceships, right? Well, not always. At least it didn’t start that way. The early years of De Bethune were different, pre tenuous Starry Varius puns. This simple restrained chronograph, yes still made by De Bethune, is a magnificently uncommon thing. These were the early...

What is a sports watch? One you can wear playing badminton? Or chess? A watch that can be swum with? No, the definition is up for debate. So here’s the broadest possible definition, a gold 2964. Even though it was actually worn by Gordon Gekko, there is no more Wolf...

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the ‘Skinny’ Ingy here. It is the mark of all excellent watches that they have so few faults, the only thing left that anyone can criticize is the price. Well, you can’t even hold that against the 3506, not really. It’s the...

I always laugh a bit, quietly to myself, when first point of interest someone mentions about their watch is rarity. Rarity is great, market-marking even, but not interesting. FP Journe created Black Label, which I always thought was a Johnnie Walker for masochists, to reward their clients with something less...

The Space-Dweller universally elicits one reaction in person, ‘Hey, lovely 1016 Expl . . .WTAF?!’ It is equal parts mythical creature and fuel for debate at the nerdiest, arguably highest levels of vintage Rolex collecting. A larger handful of examples are known, probably fewer than 25, but that’s not definite....

There is nothing like the appeal of an honest, down-to-Earth, bare bones tool watch. I view the 1665 Sea-Dweller as a Red Sub turned up to 11. It’s a little more technical, a little more appealing to some for its lack of cyclops, and just a little more nuanced. The...

It’s rather easy to get the idea that many of the larger watchmakers, particularly those under a certain company which starts with ‘Richem’ and ends in ‘onte’, only care about the bottom line. But this Reverso exists to buck the trend. It exists to show that JLC still cares, can...

What is the most desirable 3940? Having recently extolled the virtues of the quintessential modern Patek Philippe QP, the natural question to follow is, well, which? Are you a white metal or gold type of person? Does the more proportional and minimalist balance of a first series dial appeal more,...

Lemon normally describes a defect, but in Paul Newmans it’s anything but, it’s seven figures to start. Blame the Italians. The 6262 and 6264 will be known to collectors as the transition reference Daytonas; the 6264 is quite uncommon in its own right. The pair of Cosmographs introduced the Valjoux...

The earliest years of the Submariner encompass many beautiful references. But only one is nicknamed the ‘King Sub’, ref. 6200. The 6200 is lore: an Explorer dial in its own case with the first 8mm Brevet ‘big crown’ and no depth rating on the dial. Not even a Submariner line...

Of all standard production Rolex models, white precious metal and a jasper dial has to be in the top five of outright rarity. You’ll see jasper in yellow gold with some frequency, a handful yearly popping up in the market. But in white precious metal, not gem set, fewer than...

Baignoire Allongée sounds incredibly sexy in French, but translates literally as long bathtub. The naming conventions at Cartier have always proven quite literal, but not all are equal. The first Baignoire-like case was created in 1912, a unique gift from Louis Cartier to Russian Grand Duchess Pavlovna. Note 1912 is...

No one knows precisely how the Turn-O-Graph bezel wound up on the wrists of the USAF Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds. Lore holds that one pilot previously bought one for himself on his wedding, and, after discovering how useful the rotating bezel was, the US government placed an...

So you’ve been watching the fall auctions and standout Rolex 6062 lots, pining. Some have used the headline ‘most beautiful Rolex ever made’. But let’s say you don’t have the spare 2M CHF sitting around that one commanded a few days ago. Fret not, JCB and Blancpain’s best ever sequences...

This 222 is the archetypal double take watch. Glance once, and it’s a bimetal 222 jumbo. Incredible watch, in any dial. But glance twice and your mind begins to process that this is something bizarre. The hands are non-luminous dauphine, solid gold, and not batons. In attention to detail, the...

Steel and Journe are almost antonyms, in FP precious metal is the standard. That is, except for one short blip around 2015 (forgetting minute repeaters and the Holland & Holland). Collectors will know, there are two closely linked, but slightly separate major transitions in FP Journe’s history. The first came...

Franck Muller is often called the ‘master of complications’, but in truth there’s only one of his that I care about. It’s a simple chronograph, made before he discovered blow (after saying this for years I can now blame that framing on our friends at Amsterdam Vintage Watches), and it...

In 1950, you had few options if you wanted a chronograph that leaned more toward dressing than driving. You could wander down to Patek Philippe and grab a 1463. In retrospect, good move. Audemars Piguet would sell you a Valjoux 13 VZAH ref. 5522, which is quite an amazing thing,...