A Zenith El Primero Mystery Machine

A Zenith El Primero Mystery Machine

I’ve always viewed myself as an archivist. Most of what I present on video is a compilation of the best-established facts concerning models, brands, and classes of watch. While I have conducted true primary-source research for publication in watch journals, most of my...

Rolex’s Monster Dive Watch and It’s Rivals Part III

Rolex’s Monster Dive Watch and It’s Rivals Part III

Hublot straddles the line between fashion watches and luxury watches. For the most part, the company’s production consists of mechanical sports watches designed for men, and that should leave no doubt as to the true-luxury status of the brand itself. But the...

Rolex’s Monster Dive Watch and Its Rivals, Part II

Rolex’s Monster Dive Watch and Its Rivals, Part II

With the watch collecting world still reeling from the shock of Rolex’s 50mm titanium Deepsea Challenge, your humble blogger continues his trek through the recent history of extreme dive watches. Today, we’re revisiting the gnarliest Blancpain Fifty Fathoms ever to...

Rolex’s Monster Dive Watch and Its Rivals, Part I

Rolex’s Monster Dive Watch and Its Rivals, Part I

And just like that, 2022 turned into the “year of the extreme dive watch.” The arrival of Rolex’s Deepsea Challenge marks the second ’22 launch of a crazy diver based on a previous prototype. Omega’s Planet Ocean Ultra Deep bowed earlier this year and immediately...

Jérôme de Witt and His Crazy Digital Watch

Jérôme de Witt and His Crazy Digital Watch

Ok, get ready for a weird one, because today’s journey takes us well beyond the mainstream – even by indie-brand standards. Jérôme de Witt isn’t a name often mentioned alongside the Journes (1999), Forseys (2004), or Asaokas (2005) of the world, but he’s been at it...

Four Independent Watch Brands to Know, Part I

Four Independent Watch Brands to Know, Part I

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...

In Praise of The Patek Philippe 5208R

In Praise of The Patek Philippe 5208R

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...

Patek Philippe Brings Geneva to Manhattan

Patek Philippe Brings Geneva to Manhattan

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...

Aquanaut Retrospective

Aquanaut Retrospective

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...

Panerai Luminor 1950 Model Review

Panerai Luminor 1950 Model Review

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...

COLLECTING MODERN ROLEX, PART II: OYSTERQUARTZ

COLLECTING MODERN ROLEX, PART II: OYSTERQUARTZ

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...

COLLECTING MODERN ROLEX PART I: THE GMT-MASTER II

COLLECTING MODERN ROLEX PART I: THE GMT-MASTER II

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,...

Buying Your First Rolex

Buying Your First Rolex

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...

Modern History- The IWC Big Pilot’s Watch at 19

Modern History- The IWC Big Pilot’s Watch at 19

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...

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