AP Royal Oak Extra-Thin ‘Salmon Jumbo’ 15202BC

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Audemars Piguet has never shied away from limited releases. There are boutique Royal Oaks, commemorative Royal Oaks, and custom-order Royal Oaks from early in the model’s history. Modern limited releases usually vary in dial hue or material. Today’s feature changes both. The white gold and salmon 15202BC was released in 2019 as a bit of…

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Unrestored 1940s Movado M90 Chronograph

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The Movado M90 is an early two-register chronograph that has largely been consigned to the history books. Recent explosions in value of François Borgel (FB) Patek Tasti Tondis has also pulled up values of M90 and M95 Tasti Tondi case variants. The humble non-FB cased M90 and M95, however, are also exceptional period chronographs. These…

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Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual 25657 BA

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AP’s first Perpetual Quantieme, the 5548, was conceived in secrecy during the height of Switzerland’s quartz crisis. At the time, the marque was struggling and contemplating leaning more on quartz for future models. Three senior watchmakers within AP (Michel Rochat, Daniel Golay, and Wilfred Berney) developed an ultra-thin perpetual calendar movement that would become an…

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Movado 14950 Triple Calendar

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Despite what you may imagine, I don’t like to—and hardly ever do—give any bright lines of vintage buying advice. That’s on you. However, I was having a debate recently with a friend as to which vintage manufacture is most heavily underrated by the market at the moment. He holds that vintage Vacheron has yet to…

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Patek Philippe Nautilus 3800 in Yellow Gold

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The 45 year-old Nautilus has never looked better. Genta, in his Nautilus and Royal Oak designs, defined a half-century of wristwear. It would not be hyperbole to declare the Nautilus in amongst the top three most important designs of the last century. This reference 3800 is a marginally more svelt 3700 at 37.5mm. That proportion…

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1 of 500: Rose Gold Jaeger Lecoultre Reverso Septantième

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I am beginning to think I’m going to have to create a neo-vintage cateogory here. Some of my very-favourite pieces come from the era of modern watchmaking, but pre-instagram. I really quite enjoy the obscure corner of Chrono24 that these pieces have faded to. It’s easy to forget that JLC was producing icons since well…

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Vacheron Constantin 4072

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: one of the great weaknesses of my generation (Y and over) is the un-appreciation of subtlety. For the most part, we like flash. Rolex knows this. I believe deep in my core that the Stella dial OPs released last year were aimed squarely at my demographic.…

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

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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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Breguet 3230 in Rose Gold

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This is perhaps reductive, but I tend to view any Lemania 2310-based watch as a movement wearing a watch. Let me elaborate. Usually, I evaluate a watch at its ability to accomplish its given purpose. I then assess how well a manufacture’s design of movement suits that task. But where the Lemania 2310 is concerned,…

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Cyma Multi-Scale Chronograph in Yellow Gold

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It is always refreshing to find a vintage chronograph that has not only survived, but aged gracefully. However, when a fine wine condition is paired with this triple stepped case and muti-scale dial, I just can’t say no to a feature. Cyma are a now (basically) defunct, under-the-radar vintage manufacture who didn’t quite have the…

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