20368/1 Universal Genève Polerouter
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). But more than either objective…
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Eastern Arabic Dial 1806 Rolex Day-Date
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 are equal parts tremblage and…
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Peach Dial 14800BA Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
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 a strap. So what gives?…
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De Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar
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 over the years. This isn’t…
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6239 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
There is an intangible allure to true vintage Rolex which has lived with just a single owner. Is watch really any different if one person or two have owned it? That depends entirely on the people in question. The majority of us won’t have ever had the option to have purchased a 6239 new. If…
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5251 IWC Portofino Moonphase
This is an IWC you probably won’t have seen or heard of. It’s a ref. 5251, the picture of 1980s excess in two dimensions: 46mm wide but a remarkable 9.5mm thin. This thing makes the Padellone look like a tea saucer in both dimensions, but it’s not without reason. Kurt Klaus had a lot of…
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Tritium Dial 5065J Patek Philippe Aquanaut
Richard Mille did not invent casual haute horlogerie, but the 90s did. The dot-com bubble millionaires were of a different ilk to pre-quartz-crisis wealth. So Patek Philippe approached the problem with typical-of-era obsessive over-engineering and thought. In the process, they accidentally made the watch world’s ultimate summer watch. The Aquanaut strap took one full year…
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2597 Patek Philippe ‘Travel Time’ Calatrava, Pink Gold
Developed just after the initial Worldtimers by Louis Cottier, the ref. 2597 is a damn cool ‘Travel Time’ from 1956, the very start of the jet age. The reference can be thought of as a 570 Calatrava with a little je ne sais quoi complication reminding you to go out and explore the world. The watch featured,…
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44018 Vacheron Constantin 222 Jumbo, Steel
Perceptions of watches change over time and no watch may have rocketed from total obscurity to the spotlight as quickly as the 222 last year. The 222 was, for some time, the very unobvious, alternative choice. I know this because for a decade until 2022, when someone asked me ‘Royal Oak or Nautilus?’, I’d always…
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Mark 2, Tropical Dial 1665 ‘Double Red’ Rolex Sea-Dweller
The 1665 Double Red Sea-Dweller (DRSD) is like a 5513 Sub turned up to eleven. It’s a little more technical with a helium valve, a little more appealing to some for its lack of cyclops, and just a little more nuanced in the details. But this DRSD goes way past eleven, thanks to a dial…
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