Fuerza Aérea del Perú (FAP) 2913-8 Omega Seamaster 300

FAP-Omega-Seamaster-300-2913-8

FAP. Three little engraved letters with multitudes of meaning to just a few people. The best sort of watches, I’ve always said, are those that don’t shout for the attention they garner. But a Fuerza Aérea del Perú (Peruvian Air Force) Seamaster 300 takes that notion a bit further. You wouldn’t even know unless someone…

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‘Digital’ Breitling 765 AVI

Breitling-765-AVI-Digital

If you want to keep people guessing, a Rolex ghost dial is a great start. But if you want to take anonymity to its ultimate extent, who would have guessed Breitling would outdo themselves? Far from the garish oversized Breitling for Bentleys of the early 2000s, this is an aviators chronograph that represents the polar…

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SAS 216570 Rolex Explorer II

It’s really not often that the rear of a watch without a display back is more captivating than dial-side. It’s all a bit Kim K if you know what I mean. But that’s about all this Explorer II shares in common with the Kardashians, because otherwise this one of the hardest modern tool watches out…

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Israeli Defense Force 113.603 Heuer Autavia

I watched the new Top Gun last night (I know, I’m behind) and I took two things away from it: 1. IWC must’ve gone nearly bankrupt paying for that pocket watch promotion. 2. People who wear PVD chronographs are cool. I know that’s not the moral Joseph Kosinski was trying to get across, I’m a…

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817 Breitling CP-1 Italian Army Chronograph

When you approach the entire world through watches, it’s easy to get a slightly skewed view of things. See, I imagine all Special Ops guys running around with Sea-Dwellers on their wrists. I imagine every runway model wears a vintage Tank. Every F1 driver must rock a vintage Autavia, right? George Santos must wear a…

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5513 Rolex Royal Navy Milsub

There’s something a bit bizarre about spending a quarter million on a military watch because it was once, ‘just a tool’. For example, I wouldn’t spend that on a hammer used to erect a barracks in Iraq because it was also once a tool. I wouldn’t even spend that on Mark Wahlberg because he once…

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Hybrid Royal Canadian Navy 94010 Tudor Submariner

For many years, Tudor hardcores had been noting Snowflake Subs with an odd combination of round hour markers, snowflake hands, and shield dials. They all seemed to emanate from Canada and often retired Royal Canadian Navy personnel. Scholars had known for many years that there were Tudor Submariners issued to the RCN, from the early…

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Royal Navy ‘T-Dial’ 165.024 Omega Seamaster 300

Something as unassuming as a little circled T on a dial can belie a whole lot of significance. To the untrained eye, this is a vintage Seamaster like any other. To you and I, it’s an elusive, fixed springbar, thoroughbred mil-spec diver. No one will mug you for it in East London. But it will…

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Italian Air Force Leonidas CP-2 Flyback

Recent re-editions of the Breguet’s XX, Breitling AVI, Heuer/Sinn’s 3H Bundeswehr, and Zenith’s A. Cairelli have brought increased attention to vintage Air Force chronographs. But there’s one that often goes forgotten, simply because the manufacture no longer exists to capitalize on that reissue dough. Leonidas merged with Heuer in 1962. Before that union, they made…

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Civilian Zenith A. Cairelli CP-2

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The Zenith A. Cairelli AMI CP-2 represents a high-water mark of effortless Italian style, full stop. And that’s saying a lot: Turin gave us the Type 33 Stradale, Piedmont gave us Nutella (okay, maybe Nutella isn’t stylish but I love it), Florence gave us the Vespa, and Zenith gave Italy’s Air Force, and the world,…

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