Tropical, Gilt Dial 1675 Rolex GMT-Master
At a collector meetup last year, I encountered a very tan, thin, well-dressed Italian man. He had the kind of skin that let…
6005ST Audemars Piguet Rectangular Royal Oak
To some, this is one of the most blasphemous watches to come out of Le Brassus. It wears the name Royal Oak, but…
‘Orange Boy’ 11630 Heuer Autavia
In watches, as most luxuries, there is often an asymptotic relationship between the amount a watch commands and the extra value you receive.…
‘Padellone’ 3448/1 Patek Philippe
If you didn’t know watches, you’d probably think being nicknamed ‘frying pan’ was an insult. But when Padellone (the Italian) precedes Patek Philippe,…
1807 Bark Finish, Havana Dial Rolex Day-Date
At the risk of being terribly passé, I’m about to quote myself. Sorry. In writing about about different 1803 a few months back,…
Mk2 072/001 Enicar Sherpa Graph
Before Rolex had named anything the Daytona, before Paul Newman had a salad dressing or Cosmograph named after him, and before the Speedmaster…
J14066 ‘Left Crown’ Seiko Crown
James May, an intelligent man, once stated that ‘No one truly understands electricity.’ He’s right. I have a degree in physics. I can…
Comex 16610 Rolex Submariner
When Rolex turns to you for expertise, you’re doing something right. That was role of Comex in 1970, a French dive company that…
BA 345.0802 Omega Speedmaster
Omega gave the world the 861 Speedmaster in 1968. Despite many loupe-carrying nerds decrying the changover from column wheel to cam switching, the…
‘State of Qatar’ 16014 Rolex Datejust
Trigger warning here, I’m about to assault an icon. I’ve always found the name Datejust a bit hilariously apologetic. It’s as if Hans…
Francois Borgel M95 Movado in 14K Yellow Gold
Few watches tell the world that you know exactly what you’re doing like an FB-cased M95. When one has spent years immersed in…
2914 Omega Railmaster
There aren’t many truly underrated references in Omega’s back catalogue anymore. Every collector knows and loves the early Seamasters, Ultraman 145.012s, Mad Men Constellations, hell even Schumacher’s…
869109/01 Universal Genève Polerouter Sub
Nothing gets me like attention to detail. It’s why it hits so wrong when Ben Affleck sports a modern Deepsea in Argo while…
Guilloché Dial 1802 Rolex Day-Date
The history of the Day-Date flows much like a river or family tree, there are tributaries branching every which way leading to exciting…