Many will argue that the ref. 6350 is Rolex’s first Explorer. Yet, the DNA which saw what many would consider the core of the Explorer design, that being its 3-6-9 dial, began here in the ref. 6150. That simple change from the previous triangle indices at every hour in 1952...

Interesting and attractive watches can still be found for reasonable prices. Wakmann were, from the 1940s until 1970s, a US importer for Breitling. Toward the middle of that tenure, the group decided to branch out and bring their own sporting watches to market. In doing so, they tapped Breitling’s supply...

What defines a great chronograph? Historic significance? Technical sophistication? Beauty? I would argue the Monte Carlo is spectacular chronograph, though it doesn’t excel particularly in any of the above criteria (I find it more playful than beautiful, though certainly attractive). Many collectors love the 7149 (bakelite bezel), 7159 (steel bezel),...

The 165.024 is not a rare watch. Yet, often, the original examples are worn to hell with flaking lume, abused cases, and corrosion peppering the movement. Even worse, there are an abundance of unoriginal examples. Today, we have the opposite: an original, yet very composed Seamaster 300. The 300 was...

Watches from IWC which predate their major sports lines are a bit under the radar today. This simple three-hander proves the point. Exquisite 35mm proportions, a restrained dial, vintage IWC script signature, alpha hands, competent automatic calibre . . .I could go on. Yet, little ink has been spilled on...

The classic, iconic (I can actually use that adjective here) small-crown Submariner is ageing remarkably well. Every single Black Bay 58 you see plastered across your Instagram feed owes its existence to this design. The red triangle bezel, proud small crown, tapered lugs, and Mercedes handset went on to define...

When John Reardon states that ‘for the price, there is arguably no other watch that encapsulates all that defines Patek Philippe’, you listen. In gross understatement, the man knows Patek Philippe. Further, when nearly every notable collector starts referring to the 3940 as Patek’s quintessential calendar, you know we are...

The El Primero story is lore, not only for its extreme ambition in engineering but equally that the world almost lost the calibre through the quartz crisis. Thank god for Charles Vermot, the watchmaker who disobeyed Zenith’s head office instructions to sell off all things to do with mechanical watchmaking,...

This is, without question, one of the rarest and most shrouded Tudors produced of recent years. And yet, it has received so little attention, partly because it looks so damn similar to its four line regular production counterpart and partly because so little is known. In 2021, Tudor announced a...

It’s not often us hardcore watch enthusiasts are treated to an entirely new winding mechanism, much less one created with beauty in mind. While Rolex fusses with moving their crowns from one side to the other, ingenious German independent Moritz Grossmann has challenged the very fundamentals of the automatic calibre...

I recall very clearly being a young horological padawan, learning the historic contributions of the 321 calibre. I also distinctly remember, three years later, learning that there was a Seamaster running the very same venerable movement. Many, many queries ensued. How was this possible? It’s only 35mm? Wait, Roger W...

Few collections from any manufacture are capable of rivaling the Classique’s height of restrained design sense, traditional finishing, impressive watchmaking, or value. Most will be aware by now that this accomplished range was spearheaded by a young Daniel Roth. In 1973, Roth set about bringing a perpetual calendar back to...

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the 16520 (or 16528 here in yellow gold). The Cosmograph had become undesirable and a stagnant seller by the year 1988. For context, there are stories from that era of customers asking to buy special production Day-Dates, but having to purchase Daytonas...

Patek Philippe’s Calatrava is the final word in understated elegance, a pinnacle of three-handers. Since the ref. 96 of 1932, the Calatrava has always underpinned Patek’s entire collection. This 3796 carried the flag from 1982 until 1999. In doing so, it maintained the classic 30.5mm (or 31, depending on who...

Though the Santos and Tank take centre-stage, Cartier’s Tortue has a comparably lengthy history which often touches on interesting mechanics. From perpetual calendars to the extremely intricate monopoussoir, the Tortue has cased some of Cartier’s most interesting projects of recent decades. One of the least discussed iterations from the storied...

Over the years, Rolex’s Day-Date has played host to many an exotic dial. But wood? Wood has no carat rating, wood is essentially always decomposing, and wood’s inherent market value only arrives in far larger quantities than a 36mm dial. Wood has received many a black eye as a watchmaking...

The overtly Teutonic A. Lange & Söhne don’t often venture into the more playful material choices. One imagines a Lange 1 dial to be solid silver almost by definition, or if you’re feeling particularly racy perhaps pink gold. But they have experimented in small quantities with more creative full guilloché,...

I adore a watch with a story, and an 18k Heuer triple calendar from the 1950s sold originally to Brazil satisfies that criteria with full marks. If you’re in the market for a triple calendar, there are many with character: you could sell the house for a Jean-Claude Killy, invest...