Is there a more unique intersection of steel 36mm Royal Oak, usable complication, petite tappisserie, and character? This is, without question, the most outrageous dial I have ever seen to grace a 25730ST. Outrageous is an adjective chosen carefully; some will describe this dial as the work of the heavens...

The square 222 is that genre of watch which will make zero sense to anyone outside the depths of the horological rabbit hole: unconventional, obscure, shrouded in mystery, and still something of a footnote today. It is rare to come across an original shape 222 in steel, midsized or jumbo....

If you’re going to opt for the classic Cartier, a Tank, you might as well opt for the variant that looks like its namesake. The Tank À Guichets is perhaps the watch which, in Cartier’s entire range of offerings, stands farthest away from the limelight. This has shifted slightly in...

Four digit Rolex are highly collected and often discussed, the era where many consider Rolex to have ascended its all-time apogee. Even so, the depth of Wilsdorf’s catalogue is such that one or two references have escaped the watchful eyes of collectors. The humble 1500 Oyster Perpetual is a distilled...

Auro Montanari once stated in a Phillips interview some years ago that he mainly collects five houses: Omega, Longines, Cartier, Patek Philippe and Rolex. I am certain there are exceptions, for example I’ve seen his Universals in other media, but when pressed those five came to mind. If one needed...

I have, many times, cited mid-century Omega Constellations as a fantastic entry point to vintage and outsized value proposition today. This Constellation falls into a different category: something of an apex reference. What started as a humble bridge between sport and dress models in 1952 had, by the mid 60s,...

In any sane market, when a new model debuts, consumers prefer it to the previous. Watches tend to grow more robust, svelte, and technically sophisticated with age. However, despite this, collectors will often to swarm toward recently discontinued watches over their more modern counterparts. Why is this? In part, because...

For what mass hysteria surrounds steel sport Rolex today, I simply cannot imagine a stronger antidote. For what is not a massive price difference compared to the current secondhand market base GMT-Master II value, this insane vintage reference is on the table: 1978 production in full gold, substantially less common,...

The Rolex Submariner is perhaps the most iconic wristwatch of all time. The Tudor Submariner, well it isn’t. And it’s all the better for it. Tudor’s 9411/0 Snowflake sub is not rare. But it is purposeful, eccentric, inconspicuous, and a value still today. Moreover, unlike a 5513, you’d have to...

It is very easy to be cynical about the Hodinkification (Hodinkee-fication?) of our passion over the last decade, though just what that means is not well defined. Is that definition hype? Convergent tastes? Blasé mentions of MSRPs over triple the median yearly income of the US? Always matching your cardigan...

Is it an expression of pride in scholarship or admission of madness that collectors often adore outright mistakes in watchmaking? The most infamous of this bunch must certainly be the double nine Air-King, royalty of the skies and mistakes in equal measure. Perhaps lesser discussed, however, is Omega’s equivalent: the...

This sub truly does have it all: meters first, red single line, vanilla plots, chocolate dial, and faded fat font bezel. The 1680 was not Rolex’s first Sub with a red line of text (that was probably the 6536/8), but it was the most widely-distributed watch to do so. It...

Of all the innumerable iterations of the Tank, the Basculante (literally translates as tilting) is perhaps Cartier’s most spellbinding. This particular Basculante is a mechanique, released after the CPCP iteration and powered by the F. Piguet, gold, hand-wound calibre 610 in 1997 as part of the ‘I Love Cartier’ collection...

This may very well be the most killer iteration of all those very killer early Carreras. Reverse panda, three register, inner tachymetre scale. What this unpretentious chronograph has lost in minimalism, it makes up for in being true to form: motorsport heritage. A racing chronograph without a tachymetre scale is...

Casual, utilitarian, and subtle, IWC’s Mark XI set the template for much of the manufacture’s current design language. IWC proved their metal with the Type X, made for Armed Forces in the Second World War. This led the RAF to place an order for an updated aviator’s equivalent in 1948,...

The 1967 62GS really means something, both to enthusiasts of Grand Seiko and the manufacture, as Grand Seiko’s first-ever self-winding offering. In production for just two years, the 62GS defied trends in both case and movement architecture while fully realizing Taro Tanaka’s ‘Grammar of Design.’ 36mm, bezel-less, harsh facets with...

Common lore of the mythical Blancpain Air Command goes something like this: after Blancpain’s success with the US Navy Fifty Fathoms through Allen Tornek, the manufacture made just a few (estimates range from 8-12) flyback chronograph prototypes in the hopes of attracting Air Force contracts. Nothing really came of that...

As Patek’s 3945 is the 3940, so this extravagant, full-bracelet, engraved 5548 is the ‘standard’ 5548 (if there is such a thing). AP demonstrated with this precise reference that they are the masters at, and the last bastion of, mechanical horological artistry. Yet, this precise QP take that notion a...