After the four commemorative watches launched so far for the 50th anniversary of the TAG Heuer Monaco, each one celebrating one of these five decades, it is time for the brand to give an end to this story of ultra-limited edition watches. After a funky 1970s green version, a bold, fiery red racing-inspired model for […]
Roger Cooper spent 15 years sailing around the world on dinghies – wearing a £31,000 Speedmaster, no less.
Since the reintroduction in 2015 of the name Czapek, Antoine Norbert de Patek’s ex-partner before he founded Patek Philippe, the freshly recreated brand has focused on high-end watchmaking, of course, but also displays a strong appetite for hand-crafted dials, whether they are made in enamel or guilloché. Using its latest watch as a base, the […]
Whether watch enthusiasts want to admit it or not, there is definitely a curiosity when it comes to celebrity watch spotting. It’s a guilty pleasure for most of us, and I have no shame admitting that I will regularly spend hours going down the virtual rabbit hole on Instagram, scoping what iced-out timepiece Mark Wahlberg has been spotted wearing this month. But it’s not all frosted APs, Richard Milles and Patek Philippes. It seems that some of the Hollywood elite have broader taste. For example, these four famous Britons from vastly different backgrounds appear to be rather fond of a certain independent British watchmaker; stars of the silver screen, comedians and death-defying survivalists all find something that suits them in the Bremont range. Tom Hardy – Bremont ALT1-ZT Hollywood A-Lister Tom Hardy has been linked to the brand almost since it was born, and the Venom actor — not well-renowned for toeing a party line on set — has even verbalised his support for the British watchmaker on his Instagram account: Sheer Engineering ♠️ BREMONT rugged precision focus flow somewhere under the radar way up high… Bear Grylls – Bremont ALT1-P That’s right, the maverick, renegade, and man-with-an-iron-stomach Bear Grylls fancies a Bremont…
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The partnership between Swiss watchmaker Hublot and Italian car marque Ferrari has resulted in some very interesting watches indeed, and I think it should be ranked as one of the most genuinely interesting design partnerships in watches. And while the Classic Fusion Ferrari GT, with its dangerous curves, was one of the real highlight releases of this year (in King Gold, please!), it was far from the only one. This big fella — one of a trio celebrating Scuderia Ferrari’s 90th anniversary (and called, appropriately enough, the Big Bang Scuderia Ferrari 90th Anniversary Sapphire) — is a classic Hublot. We’re talking about 45mm of large, very much in charge, sapphire case, with a hulking great carbon bezel that looks like it might well be an actual brake disc off a Ferrari, rather than just inspired by one. On top of that, there’s a popping strap of woven Kevlar (one of the other case versions offers Nomex, which is also super cool). And that’s before we get to the case itself. Sapphire is incredibly hard, and looks incredibly cool. Though, interestingly enough, here the sapphire doesn’t dominate the show as you’d expect, but rather provides a frame and strong textural counterpoint for the…
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Editor’s note: Everybody loves a watch with a party trick, and the party trick of the two-faced Reverso is hard to beat. Especially when you add a moon into the mix, as is the case with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Moon. It’s fair to say that, for most people, Jaeger-LeCoultre in 2017 has been synonymous with the Master Control series we’ve spoken about at length. On the one hand, these watches deserve their time in the sun; on the other hand, you might have missed the truly stylish Reversos JLC released this year. For me, the star of the swivelling show is this two-faced beauty, the Reverso Tribute Moon in steel. Last year, JLC launched a Reverso subcollection – the Tribute Line – that honours the spirit of historic Reverso models, a mission the Tribute Moon well and truly delivers on, with equally beautiful night and day dials. I’m always struck by just how much watch you get with a Reverso. Of course you get one elegant watch with two distinct personalities, but on top of that you get the practicality of two time zones and, in this case, the romance of a moonphase (matched with the less-romantic but eminently practical date),…
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A daring analog pursuit aided by a lovely old-world sports watch.
After we look at the most desirable models in Rolex and Patek Philippe catalogues, and the reality of the market – understand, the premium you’ll have to pay to get your hands on these watches, without waiting for years – it is time to go full circle and to give an end to the speculation […]
A Collected Man recently interviewed Daryn Schnipper, and if you don’t know who she is … you really should. Schnipper has been working at Sotheby’s in New York since 1980, first as a watch expert, and now as Senior Vice President of the auction house and Chairman of the International Watch Division. What’s more, Schnipper has been responsible for selling some truly amazing timepieces over the years, not least the Henry Graves Supercomplication pocket watch, which she has sold not once, but twice, for $11 million and $24 million respectively. Schnipper also talks about how the horological landscape has changed so drastically in the last 40 years, and how the quartz crisis simultaneously almost killed the mechanical wristwatch industry, and in doing so, made wristwatches collectible for the first time. Anyway, it’s definitely worth a read, and you can do so by clicking this link.
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We watch enthusiasts love an excuse to come over all opinionated, don’t we? A little “controversy break” from our worship of calibres and references. So how about this: after-market customising. Would you or wouldn’t you? Is it cool to ice-up a Patek and black-out a Rolex – or is it a crime against horology? One thing is sure: it makes some very prominent watch producers quite hot under the collar. But why the controversy? When you buy a watch it becomes your own property – so shouldn’t that mean you can do whatever you want with it? Change the colour, pimp it up in whatever way makes you happy and makes the watch feel more “yours”. It’s never been an issue for cars: take your Bentley to Mansory or your BMW to the local foiling shop and you’ll be praised rather than disparaged. Weirdly, though, different rules seem to apply for watches. Modifying high-end timepieces is far from new (1980s; Hip-Hop; the early days of Jacob & Co with the iced-up Cartiers …) but even so, having a watch customised by a third-party workshop is, apparently, close to sacrilege for many. Is that because of some deep-rooted conservatism in the…
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