43032 Vacheron Constantin Skeleton Quantième Perpétuel

43032-Vacheron-Constantin-Skeleton-Perpetual-Calendar

The case could easily be made that the three ‘holy trinity’ neo-vintage perpetual calendars, the storied refs 5548, 43031, and 3940, are the most important complicated serially produced watches of the modern era, particularly the 5548 for bringing the category back. But that’s like saying David Gandy is handsome; duh. What isn’t discussed as often…

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Openwork 25668BA Audemars Piguet Quantième Perpétuel

Openwork-25668BA-Audemars-Piguet-Quantième-Perpétuel

We all know the three neo-vintage QPs that brought watchmaking back from the dead, but the pair of openwork or skeletonized references from AP and VC have always stood a bit apart, out of the spotlight. They’re not just less often seen, they’re divisive. Perhaps they skirt too close to the edge or horological pornography…

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25686BA Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Quantième Perpétuel

25686BA-Audemars-Piguet-Royal-Oak-Perpetual-Calendar

Some watches command premiums for reasons I find quite tricky to describe. The number of digits in Daniel Roth’s new price list under LVMH, for example, seems to have been defined by a roulette wheel. This is a strategy, I assume, borrowed from Biver. But others command a premium because they deserve to. Roger Smiths…

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43032 Vacheron Constantin Skeleton Quantième Perpétuel

43032-Vacheron-Constantin-Skeleton-Quantième-Perpétuel

In Lord of The Rings, the nine rings given to mortal men created Wraiths, Mordor’s most loyal servants. They roamed the lands ushering in Sauron’s reign, ending other ruler’s power. But in horology, the neo-vintage era had five emissaries to usher in the apocalypse of Japan’s quartz domination. Yes, there are five. Most discuss only…

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Tuscan Dial 25657PT Audemars Piguet Quantième Perpétual

Audemars-Piguet-25657-Tuscan-Dial

For all the ads featuring one old, bearded, and extremely white man in a tiny Swiss village laboring away well into the evening, alone, that Richemont would have you believe, true handcraft is, in many mainstream watch brands, surprisingly uncommon. Remember when you used to believe Rolex was made by hand? Ah, to be young…

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25668PT Audemars Piguet Quantième Perpétual Openwork

25668-PT-Audemars-Piguet-Quantième-Perpétual-Openwork

The 90s are in. I’m not a judge of fashion, or indeed style. But I did hear someone say hella in my grocery store self-checkout last week and thought I’d entered some Doctor Who time-based joke. But I hadn’t. Nowhere is this more true than watches, where the 90s and early 2000s are just entering…

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Tuscan Dial 258205SP Audemars Piguet Royal Oak QP

There are a lot of criticisms one could lobby at the Royal Oak compan . . .errr, I mean Audemars Piguet. However, the more deeply I investigate interesting edge cases of the Royal Oak, the more I respect their resolve. See, the Royal Oak hasn’t remained one thing. AP have clung to its inherent appeal,…

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‘Openwork’ 25668BA Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual

25668BA-Audemars-Piguet-Quantieme-Perpetual-Skeleton

Why spend hundreds of hours whittling away at each individual component a perpetual calendar movement until just the necessary structures are left? Openworking, or skeletonization, yields no performance benefit. You even wind up with less gold. But the resulting calibre is so breathtaking to look at that an openwork 25668 will often sell between double…

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25657PT Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual with Bracelet

25657-Audemars-Piguet-Quantieme-Perpetual-Platinum-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…

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