Independent watchmaking is the standout trend for watch collectors in 2021. While not a new phenomenon, the popularity of brands driven by owner-operators, small-volume factories, and visionary craftsmen stands at an all-time peak. Watchmaking is a centuries-old...
The 5208R-001 is a standout among Patek Philippe wristwatches of the twenty-first century; it exhausts superlatives. Even in an era of haute horlogerie that witnesses the routine arrival of outrageously complicated, expensive, and exclusive watches, Patek’s legendary...
The legendary 2017 Patek Philippe “Grand Exhibition” in New York City took place four years ago next month. It was the high-water mark for pomp, circumstance, and – surprisingly – accessibility for the North American watch collector scene. Journalists, major...
Patek Philippe’s Aquanaut sports line celebrates its twentieth year in 2017. Granted, watch collectors have become jaded by fatuous “anniversaries” in an industry infatuated with the notion, but the Aquanaut’s double-decade experience pulses with unusual zeitgeist...
Nomenclature to the contrary, the story of Officine Panerai’s “Luminor 1950” is one of modern-day success. What started in 2002 as an exercise in limited-run exclusivity has become a franchise-within-a-franchise that spans the spectrum from dive watches to borderline...
Part one of this series on future Rolex collectibles examined the historic significance, investment potential, and vetting process for Rolex collectors seeking a GMT-Master II 16760. This, the second series installment, will offer a collector’s treatment of the Rolex...
Collectors of luxury watches are discovering that the next frontier of collectible Rolex watches will be watches built from the 1980s to the present. These watches offer many qualities that watch collectors of all budgets seek; rarity, historical significance,...
For many watch collectors, a common defining point in their journeys is the moment when each must choose his first Rolex. As the luxury watch marque of reference for connoisseurs and a transcendent brand name that achieves mainstream recognition, Rolex appeals equally...
The watershed 2002 Big Pilot’s Watch celebrates its twentieth anniversary next year. Although 2019 was IWC’s latest canonical “Year of The Pilot’s Watch,” the “Big Pilot” is a brand-defining series that commands its own sense of occasion. Lest watch collectors lose...
The 2021 Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch is here, and I’m ready to share my impression of the most important Omega watch of the year. Swatch’s mid-market luxury brand approached the relaunch of its legend with a combination of conservative style evolution...
The Rolex Daytona enters my consciousness with tenacity roughly once per calendar year. Rolex’s sports chronograph, which has captured mine among millions of imaginations since 1963, is a recurring personal obsession that my general disinterest in the brand can’t hold...
Profiling Breitling Navitimer owners is like a multiple-personality case study. This multiplicity is no fault of the watch – which has remained remarkably steadfast through parts of seven decades – but of the disparate users who are drawn to Breitling’s living legend....
Watch collectors are obsessed with the concept “value,” but few of them can agree on a definition of the word. For some, it’s a straightforward question of monetary depreciation, appreciation, and the uncertain terrain in between. Vintage is hot right now; Rolex is...
Do you feel like the Patek Philippe Nautilus is taking the fun out of watches? You know the feeling; breathless social media hype, endless discussion of price – and only price – with almost no oxygen left to acknowledge that other watches and brands exist. Basically,...
The 2021 Zenith Chronomaster Sport is here, and I’m ready to discuss the most controversial new watch of 2021. Make no mistake, from the moment press photos of this machine hit the web, the name of a famous Geneva-built chronograph was on the lips of every watch...
