Sporting a Crash is the closest thing in watches to walking around holding a Salvador Dali above your head. But sporting an NSO (Cartier’s new program to create custom orders for their best clients) Crash is like having Dali make that painting just for you. The allure of a tailored...

Middle Eastern dials are not all equal. They’re all fantastically interesting, from UAE Armed Forces Datejusts to Oman Day-Dates or even Syrian Explorer IIs, all of these watches call back to a time in Rolex when the brand was more personable and willing to go more than the extra mile...

Zenith may be known as the don of the high-beat chronograph, and they are, but things didn’t start that way. This is the S.58, a 150 meter dive watch, and it’s what Zenith were pouring their hopes and ambition into before the El Primero had ever lied about being first...

Everyone seems to be waiting with bated breath, hope, and timid caution to find out just how time will judge the 5970. You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again, this is the last of the Lemania ébauches; 5270 that followed axed that tradition. But, further, the 5970 was...

This was the RM of its day, just with more substance; AP invented the combination high complication with sporting ambition in the 1984 ref. 5554. This is, and to ours will likely forever remain, the apex of Royal Oak collecting. Maybe not this precise iteration, but the pre-leap year QP...

Before the first Zeitwerk, Vagabondage, or Urwerk, Vacheron Constantin went out on a limb with a very unique time display. It was 1994 and Audemars Piguet had just released the Star Wheel. Where the inspiration for the Star Wheel came from a 17th c. Papal clock, VC had an idea...

This was the start of the screw down Daytona pusher. Okay, maybe not the very start, it’s not a Solo, but reference-wise with millerighes (more on that later). This is the ref. 6240 and it would not be a stretch to say that all screw-down Daytonas exist because of this...

This is a 1016, which as we all know is the answer to every possible watch question. However, it’s a very peculiar sort. It’s the sort of 1016 for a collector who has already owned a 1016, who then looks down one day and thinks, ‘Yes, this is lovely, but...

In 1992, Vacheron Constantin launched what they called the 7 marvels: 7 technically or artistically exceptional new efforts. One of them was this ref. 49005, Vacheron’s first Perpetual Calendar Chronograph and answer to the 3970. Except where only two known 3970s were made with salmon dials (one formerly owned by...

The 3940 has gone through a bit of a transition in the last 5 years, from simply being the discontinued QP to being recognized as, arguably but with significant consensus, the sole reference which most defines the modern era and reinvigorated the marque. However, no one seems quite able to...

In the below image, I would happily wear the watch on the left every day for the rest of my life. The watch on the right, not so much. To the untrained eye, they are the same watch. To us, they are as different as Macallan is to Budweiser, despite...

Meteorites are perpetually traveling, searching around through spacetime before eventually striking a larger body like Earth. Now, there are surprisingly few elegant-refined leaning GMT offerings. There are endless GMT/travel watches which scream, ‘I’m a professional doing serious things, manly tool watch things.’ But really only a handful that offer old-style...

This is not a normal Royal Oak QP. It’s the RD2, very possibly the last watchmaking-first complicated Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet which placed emphasis on their technical ability rather than their marketing ability. It looks like a Royal Oak that’s picked up intermittent fasting as a hobby, still 41mm...

It was a question, less than a decade ago, if the very top end of A. Lange & Söhne could ever seriously challenge the apex complicated models of Patek Philippe. The comparison is useless, the two manufactures approach watchmaking with such distinct philosophies. But, if there were any remaining doubt,...

John Player Special doesn’t represent an old cigarette manufacture or even Lotus F1 car to watch collectors. JPS is the apex, or at very least an apex, of Daytona collecting. The JPS is nothing more than a black Paul Newman dial with gold subs and chapter ring, a color mix...

In 1989, when independent watchmaker was more a slur rather than ambitious height, there was a company called THA. THA (short for Applied Watchmaking Techniques in French) was founded by a young FP Journe, Vianney Halter, and Denis Flageollet of De Bethune, eventually including Nicolas Court of Janvier SA. The...

Rattrapantes aren’t easy, that should be self-evident. But only two manufactures have attempted to coax a Lemania 2310 ébauche, or 2320 (rather as it’s the two-counter version) here, to split seconds: Patek Philippe in the 5004 and Breguet. Everyone knows the 5004 and its Lemania-based beauty, a monumental achievement. Yet...

Some of the sickest, most historically significant Daytonas in the world don’t say Daytona anywhere on them. But only a handful are so important that they don’t even say Rolex. Rolex did not bow this deeply for Tiffany, Beyer, or Assad. Rolex only agreed to make dials that didn’t say...