That blue, that’s enamel. And while just about any natural escapement, micro-rotor Laurent Ferrier is something to behold, this sector dial with contrasting enamel is a knockout. If you can cast you minds way back to 2017, this was one of the earliest and best looking Hodinkee collaborations. They made...

We all tend to view Rolex as a monolith, confident and entirely incapable of a misstep. Well no, not always. The quartz revolution was the last event to place Rolex truly on the back foot. And this was Rolex’s first shot across the bow back to Japan. It is the...

No, you haven’t had a stroke. No, this isn’t aftermarket. And yes, that’s a Speedmaster. Meet the Omega equivalent of an off-catalogue application piece. Long time viewers here will know, we don’t talk about much in gem-set. Usually, it’s not that interesting. But this is different. This is a watch...

Immediately after the wild success of the 6542, Rolex’s GMT-Master really entered its own. The dial wasn’t going to kill you with radium, the bezel wasn’t going to shatter by coughing on it, and crown guards had entered the chat. The 1675 is undoubtedly one of the great pillars of...

A 130 with Breguet numerals is special enough. Adding Tiffany, particularly above the Patek Philippe line, is just showing off. This is an incredible variation on the 130, Patek Philippe’s first chronograph produced at meaningful scale. The 130 holds a special place in many collector’s hearts. It also happens to...

Early Roger Dubuis, in design and finish, often feels closer to the Patek Philippe of old than a lot of Patek Philippe does today. It also could not feel more separate to the modern incarnation of Roger Dubuis. This brief flash of brilliance was created directly after Dubuis had worked...

There’s a point where patina ceases to be on a watch and becomes the soul of the watch. This 7928 has blown past that point. An early gilt PCG example, this Submariner went from a semigloss black dial to something you’d get at starbucks. It’s a Sub that’s gotten better...

If, like many, you’ve always gazed longingly at the Fifty Fathoms only to discover they’re impossibly valuable, it might be worth a second look. Values have softened a bit. And this, the Rotomatic, is the most approachable vintage Fifty Fathoms made. The Rotomatic was the Fifty Fathoms made for the...

Exotic dials aren’t just for Rolex. Meet the Omega equivalent of Paul Newman, just no one ever frames it in that light. This is the 145.022 ‘Orange Racing’, a 1969/1970 Speedmaster variant with a grey Singer dial that is about as colorful as a Coldplay concert on acid. No one...

The 6241 is a fascinating point in the long, steady march of Daytona evolution. Screw down, millerighe pushers had just been introduced. But not all Rolex clients loved the idea. One year after the introduction of the first true Oyster case 6240, which was intended to be the direction of...

The 565 one of the earliest examples of a Patek Philippe that flirted with sporting ambition, a two-body Taubert & Fils (formerly F. Borgel) 35mm case with a screw back that was way, and I mean way, ahead of its time. It is the vintage Patek Philippe that got a...

The 1016 has this quality very few watches can pull off. First, it’s never out of place. But more importantly, it is equally at home in a dive bar in rural New Mexico or at the Atlas Bar in Singapore. To put it another way, it’s classless, capable, and collected....

Of all the pilot watches IWC make, and there are many, the 3705 might be the most special. First, there’s no Top Gun branding, that hadn’t been invented yet in 1993. Second, it was materially innovative. Hublot and AP might enjoy shouting about their new ceramic technology, but IWC were...

This is where the 222 and even Overseas began. This, not the 222, was the first Vacheron Constantin integrated bracelet steel sports watch. It’s called the Royal Chronometer, but better known by ref. 2215. Introduced in 1975, it was replaced by the 222 just (this gets a bit confusing now)...

Damn nearly everyone who’s into vintage watches at a certain level develops a soft spot for the Polerouter. It is the least discussed work of Genta, aesthetically all kinds of restrained, art deco perfect. It was technically competent, the world’s first micro-rotor wristwatch (Büren, I don’t want to hear it)....

There are Day-Dates and then there are Day-Dates that look like they smoke on airplanes. This is an 1806, which is precisely 3 better than the 1803 you’re used to. That 6 denotes a Florentine (sometimes called Morellis) bezel and case finish, which is a hand-hammered texturize finish. Florentine cases...

If I were to ask a reader at random, ‘What is a Royal Oak?’ Most would answer something like this, ‘A luxury, steel sports watch where the case is integrated to the bracelet with an octagonal bezel and monocoque case.’ This 14800BA is, well gold. And you’ll note, it’s on...

You wouldn’t guess it at a glance, but this is a perpetual calendar. It’s just a perpetual calendar in titanium with a spherical palladium/zirconium moonphase and day/month apertures in a place you might not expect. There’s an inherent paradox here. Denis Flageollet has had some pretty audacious cases and designs...