In 2017, under the hammer of star auctioneer Aurel Bacs (from Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo), Paul Newman’s very own Paul Newman Rolex Daytona reference 6239 became the most expensive wristwatch ever – the world record holder is now a unique steel Patek Philippe Grand Master Chime for Only Watch. It is hard to pin down exactly what […]
At first, this might raise some questions… What can the link be between a comic character, a chronograph watch and a space agency? While the connection between the last two should be quite familiar to most of you, watch enthusiasts (obviously), the presence of Snoopy in this 3-way equation is more questionable. Sure, Snoopy is […]
Willing suspension of disbelief is part of the viewer’s contract with any film. But if you like watches, you still crave authenticity when it comes to a character’s timepiece. Much of the time, prop masters deliver the horological goods, too. You think of Captain Willard’s trusty Seiko 6105 in Apocalypse Now, Patrick Bateman’s Rolex Datejust in American Psycho or Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco Chronograph in Le Mans. But sometimes artistic licence is also applied to the actors’ wristwear in a case of “fake it till you make it” or at least manage to wangle a heftier wardrobe budget. Some offenders, listed below, do not have that excuse. Quentin, we love you, but what you did to Uma’s wrist in Kill Bill 2? Really? Ryan Gosling’s fake Patek in Drive Drive, a slick noir thriller about a taciturn getaway driver, made Ryan Gosling an overnight style icon and launched a thousand “get the look” articles. Most of the attention was centred on that satin bomber jacket with a scorpion embroidered on the back. But every element of Gosling’s get-up was deconstructed by eagle-eyed fashionistas determined to identify everything from his low-rise Acne jeans to his chocolate brown driving gloves (made by…
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During the pandemic, many have used the time at home to catch up on a recommended TV series or film they may have missed in busier times, or re-watch some comforting favourites. In my seventh or eighth run-through of The West Wing television series, I almost spilled my beer in excitement when I spotted an Omega dress watch on my favourite fictional president (Bartlet 2020?). This hobby has made watch lovers increasingly aware of what actors are wearing on their wrists. Just the other week I got a message from a buddy asking me what was on Sam Neill’s wrist in Jurassic Park III (an Oris if you were curious). The mark of a true watch enthusiast is when you find yourself rewinding and pausing, even at the risk of annoying your friends and family, to get the perfect screengrab of a watch worn by a character in film/television to post in your watch group — initiating a race among your #watchfam to name the reference spotted on your favourite character. The latest watch spot in pandemic movie night … Brad Pitt’s TAG Heuer in Moneyball. The movie Moneyball, based on the book ‘Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game’…
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Our journey through time is almost complete. Today, we bring you the fourth and final instalment of our in-depth look at the Rolex Submariner history. The key subjects of this last article will, of course, be the Ref. 114060 and the Ref. 116610 (and all its variants), which form the current Rolex Submariner line-up. Certainly, […]
We have reached the third instalment in our special four-part series on the Rolex Submariner history. If you have read Part 1 (the early references) and Part 2 (the 55XX generation and the date 1680) already, you should be pretty well versed in the early origins and surprisingly rapid evolution of the Submariner. Now we’re […]
Welcome to Part 2 of our four-part, in-depth series on the Rolex Submariner. In Part 1 we covered the origins of the Submariner, the context in which it came to market and the first generation 6XXX references. You can find all the details here. Now, we turn our attention to what can broadly be considered […]
If it’s ever possible for one watch to represent an entire industry, heck an entire cultural phenomenon, that watch would be the Rolex Submariner. Call it what you like. Iconic. Ubiquitous. Classy. Crass. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, there is no denying the long-standing influence of this inherently simple timekeeper. It has […]
Homage watches within the enthusiast community can be quite a contentious topic at times. Are they rip-offs? Cash cows? Sell-outs? Unoriginal? The reality is opinions can vary, but the true metric or equaliser of any watch to an extent is how they perform on the grey or second-hand market. While the objective of most homage watches is to supply a mass-produced low-cost alternative to widely renowned designs, the Gevril Tribeca has established itself as the textbook example of how to release an homage watch. The watch is so desirable that it now sells at practically three times or more its final retail price of $2900. The last watches sold at retail were in 2018 when Revolution sourced 67 NOS watches that had yet to be assembled from Gevril. A year later, at Christie’s (in an online auction in partnership with The Keystone), one was sold without box and papers for $9375! So, what makes this watch the king of homage? Let’s explore the curious case of the Gevril Tribeca… I know what you are thinking: Zach, it’s a Paul Newman Daytona homage … of course it’s desirable. Upon closer examination, however, this is not the full story. As an example,…
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“Completely irrational”, “a horrible affliction”, “the disease” … that’s how Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary described his obsession with watch collecting in a Time+Tide interview (read it here). It’s easy to understand O’Leary’s ambivalence about his hobby. After all, viewed from a certain perspective, watch collecting doesn’t make an awful lot of sense. Watches are not only often wincingly expensive, they’re also functionally redundant in that you can always tell the time by glancing at your phone. The desire to collect multiple watches can therefore seem even more nonsensical. Particularly if you keep most of them stashed in a safe. So why do we devote so much time, effort and resources to such an illogical pursuit? Dr Richard Moulding is a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer at Deakin University and specialises in compulsive behaviour. He believes that timepieces are particularly desirable things to collect due to their multi-faceted nature. “People collect things they’re passionate about and get enjoyment from,” Dr Moulding says. “Watches tick a lot of boxes in terms of collectibles. There’s the technological side in terms of their movements, the different finishes and the advancements in precision. But watches are also aesthetic objects – some look better than…
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