Five years ago, I attended a small dinner with a group of collectors. They chose an exceptional restaurant, I attired appropriately. There, I was lightly chided, by a man in red trousers I will add, for wearing a 16808 with a suit. Now, I’d never claim to be an authority...

The rattrapante is not just a classic high complication, it’s actual magic. I maintain that no one man really understands fully how they actually work, a bit like electricity. Even all the mental might of Jack Forster, who probably came closest to making the topic relatable in his Lange 1815...

If this whole post seems backwards, it’s because we’re looking at something French with two faces. Or perhaps I should say a watch without a rear, because today describing something as two-faced and French is just how you pronounce Emmanuel Macron in English. This is the CPCP Basculante, with a...

FP Journe knows how to celebrate a boutique opening. Remember the Byblos? This is Centigraphe equivalent, 1 of 20 made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong boutique. The Centigraphe is FP Journe’s approach to the chronograph complication, and while he’s most well-known for for constant force tourbillons...

This is what’s called a Soleil dial, and unless you’ve been collecting Speedmasters for a few years you probably won’t have ever come across one. Even if you have, chances of seeing one in the metal are slim. It’s a steely-blue metallic and is one of just a handful of...

Unique time displays, not just two hands in a circle, are really rather uncommon. Brave, even. Journe stunned us all at Only Watch with his hand complication. And you’ll know mechanical digital displays like the Zeitwerk or Vagabondage, jumping Tank Guichet too. Maybe even AP’s Starwheels. But have you seen...

Rolex’s ref. 1530 is pure ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Oysterquartz!®’ with a mechanical—and often tropical—edge. Because it was produced in relatively tiny numbers, just ~1500 examples, anyone who knows anything about watches is going to be expecting its seconds hand to be ticking when they see the case shape....

Vintage Zenith chronographs pull off a trick that very few watches can. Amongst enthusiasts, they wear totally without class. I don’t mean that how it reads. I mean they seem to be effortlessly ‘right’ in just about any social strata, equally at home at some brewery in a t-shirt or...

Value is a funny thing. I was once dining at a restaurant with my significant other when a man came up to me in outrage, holding a waiter by the wrist, claiming he’d ordered the same dish as me and received two fewer potatoes. This really happened, but then again...

What is a summer watch? Prepare yourself, I’m about to move through some contrived tropes. Is it anything on a bracelet, for obvious humidity resistance and cleanliness? No, that level of simplicity is like calling anyone who appears on camera an actor. Jason Derulo is now an avid Tiktokker. He’s...

Technically speaking, this is a blue dial. If you order an extract of archive from AP, it will tell you it’s a blue Stern-made petit tapisserie. Except it isn’t, is it? This is blue in the same way that David Bowie dressed reserved: maybe in the early years, but by...

We need to talk about early De Bethune. Pre WatchBox majority stake purchase, pre spaceship case designs, pre tenuous Starry Varius puns. The very early DB series, call it roughly DB1 through DBS or 2002-2005, are quite unlike anything else in watchmaking. There are hints of what was to come,...

My favorite food critic ever, AA Gill, always used to write that the quality of any restaurant’s culinary ability was always inversely proportional to the grandeur of its view. Anyone who’s ever lived in Malibu can attest to this. He was so correct that the analogy holds well outside of...

Post WWII, the Tri-Compax was it. Introduced at Baselworld 1944, the triple-complication (it’s often mistakenly assumed that “tri-compax” refers to the triple chronograph sub dial configuration) aviator’s offering was every bit as stylish as it was complicated. There aren’t many designs which feel perfect nearly a century on, this is...

It is sometimes said that contrast is nature’s way of drawing attention. I was reminded of this recently by a friend, who often enjoys pairing a Royal Oak with Crocs. So is this Tiffany 1016 more attention-grabbing? Not really. At a glance, not at all. That’s its charm. We’re all...

I don’t understand much of modern Omega. Maybe I’m a cynic. But one glance at their website shows Eddie Redmayne trying to look like a grown-up with an orange Aqua Terra that was clearly inspired by an Oyster Perpetual. The once storied De Ville line now seems like a miscellaneous...

For most Lange 1s, the chances you have to acquire one are plentiful, given you have the funds. Perhaps the earlier solid back executions less so. But even less common than those is what you see here. Not the 101.030, but a factory Wellendorff bracelet. Bracelets really make up such...

Rolex’s storied professional line conjures images of Pan-Am, Comex, Hillary, spelunking, the Daytona 500, and, if you like 5s on your dial, the British RAF (Air-King). Yet there is one professional’s Rolex which often receives little or no mention. Many Rolexes today a marketed under the heading ‘rare’. The 6541...