‘Monoblocco’ 3525 Rolex Chronograph

3525-Rolex-Monoblocco-Chronograph

If you love your Daytona, you should know its grandfather. This is the ref. 3525, not the first Rolex chronograph, but likely the first Oyster-cased Rolex chronograph. It goes by ‘Monoblocco’, ‘Barilotto’, and ‘Prisoner of War’ all as nicknames. The first two are easy to explain, the third I’ll get to in a second. Barilotto…

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Rolex 3525 ‘Barilotto’ in Pink Gold & Steel with Champagne Dial

Rolex-3525-Pink-Gold-Steel-Champagne

Impossibly conspicuous wristwatches and impossibly tasteful wristwatches are often mutually exclusive categories. An RM-030 with its declutchable rotor mechanism is very conspicuous and very innovative. But it most certainly is not tasteful. In fact, I’ve heard various RMs described as ‘Invacta for the 1%’. I may or may not agree. Likewise, the recent Girard Perregaux…

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