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 you know he’d spent every day of summer strolling around outside Capri. His glasses were Tom Ford. The calfskin boots he wore had been on foot at least ten years. He spoke…

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Gilt 5513 Rolex Submariner

Gilt-5513-Rolex-Submariner

A true gilt dial just hits different. See, there is no one perfect 5513 dial; there are some less common such as the ‘Bart Simpson’, some more common such as the latter productions with white gold surrounds, some common yet gorgeous such as Maxi dials, some a bit bizarre such as 80s Spider dials, and…

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FB-Case, Black Gilt Dial Movado M95

Movado-M95-FB-Case-Black-Gilt

Ask anyone truly in the vintage-watch-know for a category of watch that currently presents outsized value. I would bet at least half of them would flag Movado. In recent scholarship, watch enthusiasts have begun to highlight manufactures of individual component makers alongside brand stories. Singer dials, Valjoux moments, Frères bracelets, etc. Amongst the most notable…

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Tropical Gilt 7928 Tudor Submariner

Gilt-Tudor-Submariner-7928-Tropical

If, as Lord Harold Samuel popularized, the three things that matter in property are location, location, and location, then I’m here to state that the three things that matter in vintage are condition, condition, and condition. This is taking authenticity, originality, and provenance for granted. Auction results, private sales, and enthusiasm confirm this simple fact.…

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Tropical Gilt Service 6542 Rolex GMT-Master

6542-Rolex GMT-Master-Tropical-Gilt

I simply can’t get the 6542 out of my head recently. There’s the timeless charm. The radium (or not). The understated proportions. However, not all examples age quite this gracefully. The soul of a GMT is its dial, and this dial is utterly marvelous. However, the watch was not born with it. Rolex history is…

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Gilt Eterna Two-Tone Spillman Chronograph Circa 1940

Gilt-Eterna-Two-Tone-Spillman-Chronograph

This is not a watch one is priviledged to see in the metal frequently. And by that, I mean not ever. Finding anything built in 1940 but still in operation today is a rarity. Finding a wristwatch built in 1940 that is functioning perfectly demonstrates a level of dedication to longevity and quality that shames…

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Gilt Breitling Clamshell Multiscale Chronograph

Breitling-Clamshell-Chronograph-Gilt

Finding anything built in 1940 but still in operation today is a rarity. Finding a wristwatch built in 1940 that is functioning perfectly demonstrates a level of dedication to longevity and quality that shames my iPhone. A large part of the charm in mechanical wristwatches, in my view, is their attempts toward permanence. Breitling today…

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Explorer-Dial Rolex 5513

Rolex-Submariner-5513-Explorer-Dial

5513s are dime-a-dozen and that’s a good thing. Rolex’s production today is about equal the entirety of the rest of Switzerland, combined. Desire for vintage models is huge and the 5513 is a perfect Submariner to meet that demand. However, one of the best things about the 5513 generation is that there is depth within…

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A Gilt, Ghosted Tudor 7928 Rose Submariner

Tudor-7928-Rose-Submariner

The classic four digit Tudor Submariner has never looked better than it does today. No date, gilt, and a rose dial to die for. Although the apple didn’t fall far from the Rolex 5513 tree, there’s some intangible appeal to Tudor’s alternative offering which is even stronger. This is particularly the case when examples are…

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A Gorgeous Gilt 5513 Submariner

Rolex-5513-Gilt-Submariner

It’s hard to objectively quantify why we like old watches. I trip over my own words writing here all the time in attempts to justify this insane fixation. However, I would assert that if I showed this 5513 and a modern 124060 to the everyman on the street side-by-side, they would understand. This classic gilt…

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