Posts Tagged ‘Perpetual Calendar’
H40 Roger Dubuis Hommage Perpetual Calendar
There is no greater shame than seeing a once pioneering, irreverant watchmaker become diluted in selinity, as different ownership structures muddle that once-crystalline purpose. There’s a terrible feeling that acquisition will see an independent go from unbridled passion to release after release of tired and thoughtless nouveau-riche cash grabs. That doesn’t have to be the…
Read More‘Swiss Only’ 43031 Vacheron Constantin Perpetual Calendar
The holy trinity 80s ultra-thin perpetual calendars that resuscitated mechanical watchmaking as an art form post-quartz-crisis are truly entering their own today. They made quartz look childish, like when you challenge your dad to a drinking contest only to realize your life has ill-prepared you (or wasn’t as depressing as you thought). You leave ashamed…
Read More‘Yves Klein’ 25820ST Audemars Piguet Royal Oak QP
About five years ago, I encountered my first Yves Klein Royal Oak at a collector meetup in San Francisco. I made an all-too-obvious audible gasp when I clocked it. My girlfriend of the time, who was starting to learn the ropes, said, ‘So that’s just a blue dial Royal Oak, right?’ as I started to…
Read More43032P Vacheron Constantin Skeleton Perpetual Calendar
Emma Watson once famously advocated for modesty as the ultimate expression of sexiness. Here’s the quote: ‘What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.’…
Read More3940G Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar
When John Reardon states that ‘for the price, there is arguably no other watch that encapsulates all that defines Patek Philippe’, you listen. In gross understatement, the man knows Patek Philippe. Further, when nearly every notable collector starts referring to the 3940 as Patek’s quintessential calendar, you know we are at the outset of a…
Read More‘Vieux Panier’ Guilloché 43031 Vacheron Constantin Perpetual
The 222 is not VC’s only reference forgotten to the evolution time, now only known to enthusiasts. The phrase ‘post-quartz perpetual’ brings to mind almost exclusively AP’s 5548, debuted in 1978. However, just a hair behind (in terms of investment in time it takes to develop an in-house, ultra-thin perpetual calendar), were VC with this…
Read More25657PT Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual with Bracelet
AP’s 5548 is lore: conceived in secret by a crack team of watchmakers (veteran watchmaker Michel Rochat, founder of the technical department Jean-Daniel Golay, and founder of the after-sales service department Wilfred Berney) to return complicated mechanical watchmaking to its rightful throne in the wake of the quartz crisis. But the ultra-thin calibre 2120/2800 which…
Read MoreFirst Series 43031 Vacheron Constantin Perpetual
The 222 is not VC’s only reference forgotten to the evolution time, now only known to enthusiasts. The phrase ‘post-quartz perpetual’ brings to mind almost exclusively AP’s 5548, debuted in 1978. However, just a hair behind (in terms of investment in time it takes to develop an in-house, ultra-thin perpetual calendar), were VC with this…
Read More5495 Blancpain Villeret Perpetual in Platinum
Of all complications, the perpetual calendar might just be the watchmaker’s darling. By that, I mean the essence of what a certain brand or effort represents is often very well captured by their perpetual calendar offering. The complication requires immense skill not just mechanically, but in how to arrange such a wealth of information. I’m…
Read MoreTropical 25686ST ‘Yves Klein’ Audemars Piguet Royal Oak QP
There are some watches so attractive that I feel something adjacent to physical pain at the fact that they will never be in my watch roll. Usually, they are highly unique: things like a Frodsham Double Impulse, a ‘Vieux Panier’ Vacheron 43031, royal blue dial E855 Memovox, . . .the list is endless. However, sometimes…
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