FAP 6263 Rolex Daytona

FAP-Rolex-Daytona-6263

You should always read the caseback, but also know what you’re looking at. There’s the famous story where Dr Jim Norton, driver of the Porsche Cayman team which won the GX Class at the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona, brought his Daytona to a Tampa jeweler to be told it was ‘likely’ a fake because…

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IDF-Issued 7928 Tudor Submariner

IDF-Issued-7928-Tudor-Submariner

The military Tudor rabbit hole goes deeper than you think. You will be familiar with the snowflake-handed 9401/0 Marine Nationale which has recently seen new life via the FXD. But Tudor’s military history extends far beyond France. South Africa issued its Navy divers a small run of ref. 7016 subs. There are US Naval 7928s…

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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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