The Speedmaster is a perfectly executed chronograph with one of the most storied narrative arcs of any watch. But it’s a bit clinical in its precision. Utilitarian. Often, even a bit cold. I think through all the 861 Speedmasters of the early 90s with Luminova and solid backs. Each is...

The Submariner is, today, a uniform mass market product. Mass as Rolex’s production today is about equal to the entirety of the rest of Switzerland, combined. And uniform because not one will age, or very minimally. Every single 124060 looks precisely the same, down to the tiny serifs on the...

In all their 115 years of operation, Rolex have only made a handful of what we’d call complicated watches. If you don’t know Rolex very well, you kind of just assume that, ‘Surely there are a few complicated references from all those years right? Maybe a Rolex perpetual calendar from...

The standard neo-vintage conversation covers the holy trinity QPs, integrated offerings from the 90s like first generation Overseas, Roth for Breguet, Roth for Roth, CPCP, oddities like the Star Wheel or Mercator, and brass Journe. One deserving entrant always gets left out: zee Germans at Lange. I have a hypothesis...

There are several very well defined, repeatable narrative arcs in watch collecting. There’s the famous ‘V’ graph of appreciation for Rolex over time for new collectors. Or at least there was until the AD nonsense, now it could be a V\. There’s the average RM collector, who definitely has a...

Everyone knows the 3019 El Primero story. But, after, not everyone paid attention to just how far Zenith pushed the boundaries of what an El Primero could be. If one needed convincing that the El Primero is not only one of the longest lived chronograph lines, but also one of...

Only 30 217QRS, Karis’ Retrograde Date, have ever be made, in an even split of platinum, white gold and rose gold. But this? This is the very last one produced, 30. And the material combination here is something outrageous: teal mother of pearl dial, green guilloché hour track, and white...

I know it says Rolex on the dial, but in every other way this is the anti-Rolex. It’s got a battery. There’s an integrated bracelet. The dial is not silver, not stone, but wood. It’s a Day-Date, but not as you know it. Everyone has an off day every now...

FAP. Three little engraved letters with multitudes of meaning to just a few people. The best sort of watches, I’ve always said, are those that don’t shout for the attention they garner. But a Fuerza Aérea del Perú (Peruvian Air Force) Seamaster 300 takes that notion a bit further. You...

This charming Beyer has a remarkable ability to delight just about everyone, even the most jaded collectors who’ve seen it all. Beyer is the watch person’s signature, found on everything from Rolex to Patek, and longest continuously running watch boutique in the world. But it was Theodore Beyer who built...

A few evenings ago, I popped round a cocktail bar I quite like here called Death&Co. It’s trendy. The sort where the bartender will give you a disapproving scowl if you order a scotch neat, as I always do, instead of the ‘Disco Kitten’ which includes chiles and a sprig...

The tourbillon makes no sense in the modern context. It’s designed to counteract the pull of gravity, down, on a balance. In a pocket watch, that’s great, because it’s always vertical. But in wristwatches, well, it’s about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Nonetheless, a rotating tourbillon cage does provide...

It was bound to happen eventually, we have a third million-dollar Speedmaster on the market. There was the somewhat erroneous 3.4M tropical 2915-1 result from Phillips. Then, perhaps more understandably, Wally Schirra’s 145.022BA hammered at 1.9M from RR. Now, another actual astronaut’s personal watch. It’s not a coincidence Carpenter’s is...

Like Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, wabi-sabi has a hold on me. I think what appeals to me so strongly in a tropical dial is that it’s a massive middle finger to the idea of putting a watch in a safe and waiting for appreciation. This is appreciation through love,...

The 90s are in. I’m not a judge of fashion, or indeed style. But I did hear someone say hella in my grocery store self-checkout last week and thought I’d entered some Doctor Who time-based joke. But I hadn’t. Nowhere is this more true than watches, where the 90s and...

For decades, it seemed like Seiko never knew exactly what to do with Credor. The subsidiary brand was invented in 1974 in order to take the fight back to the Swiss in high-end watchmaking (quartz and mechanical). But hang on, wasn’t that the purview of Grand Seiko already? Or King...

If you want to keep people guessing, a Rolex ghost dial is a great start. But if you want to take anonymity to its ultimate extent, who would have guessed Breitling would outdo themselves? Far from the garish oversized Breitling for Bentleys of the early 2000s, this is an aviators...

Last evening, Rhianna made some noises which could be described as music in front of 28.5M viewers. You may have gathered, I’m not terribly fussed over modern pop. But I am, you may be surprised to hear, a massive fan of Riri. Because she has been snapped a handful of...