7 exceptional watches at the next Sotheby's Australia auction
Last time I covered a Sotheby’s Australia auction, it was my first time attending a watch auction, and while there were a number of highlights, the sale was heavily weighted towards jewellery. In December, however, Hamish Sharma, the Head of Jewels at Sotheby’s Australia, and his hardworking team have produced a sale that not only has more watches but includes a number of very rare pieces that may have never hit the public market in Australia before. A standout among the highlights is the sale of a yellow gold Omega Speedmaster Apollo XI from 1969 ref. 145.022-69, which is an exceptional watch in its own right, but made even more special by the fact it is being sold on the 50th anniversary of man landing on the moon. I spoke to Hamish Sharma about how the sale was coming together, and he was delighted with its “phenomenal” offerings. “We put the catalogue online last week, and have been inundated with condition reports ever since,” he said. “Everyone is excited, and we have received a lot of support from sellers who are offering some very nice pieces.” While discussing the gold Omega Flightmaster and Speedmaster, he was able to say that…
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The Les Cabinotiers experience in Singapore, which combined lots of quality time in the company of Vacheron Constantin’s Style and Heritage Director, Christian Selmoni, with a stunning tropical plantation style residence as a setting for the big watch reveals, really brought home one of the ‘Holy Trinity’ brand’s key points of difference. It is exclusive to the highest degree. Vacheron Constantin is not increasing production, despite wait lists and shortages for key models Vacheron Constantin embodies the notion of less watches, better watches. Even if they wanted to – and perhaps in the process reduce the wait time for those on the list for blue dial Overseas 3 models! – they are unable to meaningfully exceed their yearly quota of 30-50,000 watches. And they’re cool with that. Several conversations with the Vacheron Constantin team – the CEO and new Managing Director of South-East Asia and Australia were present — reinforced the fact that exclusivity is alive and well here. One might ruefully add, ‘whether Vacheron Constantin like it or not’. The Les Cabinotiers department reflects the essence of Vacheron Constantin On a similar note, the Les Cabinotiers department embodies the notion that haute horology is an exclusive field by its very…
NOTE: We understand that you’ve found a new watch to add to your collection (congratulations!). But rationalising this fact – coupled with the fact that it’ll cost a bucket-load of cash – may not always sit well with the less horologically minded. That’s where we come in … Use The Enabler’s advanced levels of sophistry to validate your latest acquisition. “How have men’s attitudes changed towards their watches in the last 50 years?” This was a question I asked Walter von Känel, the veteran Longines CEO, a few years back. As a hallowed fixture at the brand since 1969, his experience in the industry gave him a rare insight into the watch world’s steady evolution. “It’s simple,” Mr von Känel said. “A watch used to be about telling the time. Now it’s all about status.” Now I’ll come clean here: this wasn’t welcome news to The Enabler. Not when I’m working around the clock, racking my brains to help you justify your latest watch purchase. I wasn’t happy because non-believers already believe that splurging on a watch is decadent and vain. Frankly, they don’t need fresh ammo. That’s why I’m sharing von Känel’s answer with you in the strictest of…
Editor’s note: You know what’s really refreshing to see? A watchmaker take a timepiece that was first released 40+ years ago, grab it by its … lugs (?) and bring it into the 21st century. That’s exactly what Girard-Perregaux did when they unveiled the Laureato in black ceramic. Here is a timepiece that, for the most part, retains almost all the styling cues of the original Laureato, but thanks to material innovation, is reborn in this resolutely contemporary design. And, to Girard-Perregaux’s credit, they nailed the execution. It isn’t always easy to master the process of modernising something antiquated, but it’s been well judged, and could be one of GP’s hottest-looking watches right now. Since its surprise reveal a little over a year ago, the Laureato has become an increasingly significant player in the luxury sports category, thanks to its crowd-pleasing good looks and impressive mechanics. SIHH 2018 showed us that the Laureato is an increasingly important part of GP’s lineup too, as handsome new chronograph variants dominated their latest batch of novelties. But I was particularly taken by this black ceramic-on-rubber offering. Announced late last year, to me this Laureato really lives up to its sporty pedigree, thanks to its hard-wearing…
Editor’s note: Justin Mastine-Frost, while being full of energy as a human being, is not what I would describe as ‘excitable’. If you ever want Justin to hype something, he is — in fact — likely to go the other way. So when we brief the mighty JMF, we do not know what we’re going to get. Which is 100 per cent part of his charm, and his personal brand. Therefore, when his copy came in about the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Collection, it caught everybody’s attention. He was excited, hyped, and making no bones about it. These are words of fire, that — while landing on a positive note — take many prisoners along the way. Take the second sentence of the story: “In this era of overblown, overhyped, and over-exaggerated positioning by brands and their marketing machines filled with a youthful and often naive ‘we are the next big thing!’ mentality, words like unique are thrown around with impunity pretty much every other day.” It’s like the final scene of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Leo DiCaprio and the flame thrower! I’ll let the magic happen again in this Editor’s pick, one of our favourites from Justin, and a perfect summary of why —…
Rado’s Captain Cook Automatic dive watch collection is downright impressive for anyone in the market for a fit-for-purpose dive watch on a budget. What’s more, it’s got a great amount of heritage — Rado has actually used the Captain Cook moniker since 1962. But these modern iterations aren’t resting on the laurels of their forefathers, they’re packing an aesthetic and technical blow that is hard to beat in the price bracket. For example, all of the watches feature glossy, vibrant dials that do a wonderful job of catching the light, offering wearers a charismatic, almost multifaceted personality. And the inwardly concave bezels, which adorn the svelte 42mm stainless steel cases, are capped with ceramic inserts, ensuring a superior level of scratch and fade resistance. Housed inside the svelte cases, which measure just 12.1mm thick, you’ll find another boon of the Captain Cook — its movement. All of the Rado Captain Cooks are powered by ETA’s monolithic C07 self-winding movement, which offers a staggering 80 hours of power reserve and a robustness and reliability that is only to be expected of a movement manufacturer like ETA. These timepieces are also more than capable of hanging with some much more expensive dive watches when…
The watchmaking mavericks at H. Moser & Cie. must be working overtime at their headquarters in Schaffhausen, because they keep dropping hit after hit in 2019. Their most recent creation is this — the H. Moser & Cie. Heritage Centre Seconds Funky Blue. Taking inspiration from both the horological creations of Moser’s founder, Heinrich Moser, and converted pocket watches from the early 20th century, the new Heritage Centre Seconds offers a distinctly inimitable aesthetic that seeks to seamlessly blend old-world charm with contemporary watchmaking techniques and technologies. The highly polished 42mm stainless steel case, for example, is shaped like a watch from the 1920s, with nicely rounded dimensions, slim, tapered lugs and even a period-correct fluted onion crown. However, the dial is signature 21st century Moser, featuring the Swiss marque’s celebrated electric sunburst “Funky Blue” colour scheme. The resulting creation offers a charismatic dichotomy between case and dial that shouldn’t work, but does. Similarly, the oversized appliqué numerals, sword-shaped hand set and “railway-style” chapter ring that adorn the Heritage Centre Seconds dial are all historically accurate, but they’re filled with both Super-LumiNova and, in the case of the numerals, Globolight, a pioneering ceramic-based lume that also utilises Super-LumiNova. The traditional-looking…
Science is very boring. For most people at least, and Michael Biercuk, who works as a quantum physicist, is far from most people. In fact, the phrase “Only boring people get bored” goes a long way to explaining why (if you follow the syllogism) Michael is deeply interested in a highly technical area that causes the eyes of most to glaze over, because he is also deeply interesting. I met with him at Dubai Watch Week, where he was a speaker at the event, and was fortunate enough to sit down with him and find out about his work as Professor of Quantum Physics and Quantum Technology at the University of Sydney, as well as being the CEO and founder of a quantum technology start-up called Q-CTRL. At the university, Michael is responsible for a research team who build quantum computers. “We build this next generation of computational machine that uses the physics we find inside very small things in order to process information in a totally new way,” he said patiently, clearly having explained his job more than once to people who are better with words than numbers. In a similar vein, his company Q-CTRL “specializes in making quantum…
It’s Black Friday and do we have an offer to dive for. If you’ve ever thought that just maybe the Longines Legend Diver in alluring matt black is a watch for you, then you have a couple of days to move and get a whole swag of cool Time+Tide merchandise with it at no extra cost. From now until midnight AEST Cyber Monday 2nd Dec, we are offering the following: The Longines Legend Diver Black Our super luxe Black Leather 2 Watch Slider Box A Large black Time+Tide t-shirt (printed logo) A Midnight Black NATO strap The price for this Black Friday Black Pack, valued at $4175AUD, is $3550AUD. Buy now in the Time+Tide Shop. About the Longines Legend Diver Black (RRP $3750) We’ve written a lot about this watch since it was released. For obvious reasons. It’s the first line extension of a Longines Heritage model. It’s the most successful Longines Heritage model ever. It’s 42mm, offers 300m of water resistance, PVD case, rock-solid automatic, glassbox sapphire and a sexy dual-crown super compressor style layout. Stealth perfection. About the Black Leather 2 Watch Slider Box (RRP $360) This velvet lined, French calf leather slider box handmade in Tuscany is the…
I recently had the privilege of attending an event with Seiko that focused on their Save the Ocean collection, and the work that can be done with the funds raised. While the event itself was an interesting blend of experience and information, I’ll explain exactly what the Seiko Save the Ocean collection is first. If you’ve ever been in a boutique that carries Seiko, while you were browsing the cabinets packed with their latest releases, you might have noticed a range of dive watches in the Prospex family with gradient blue dials that have an almost metallic quality. If you looked closer again at these blue-to-black fading dials, you would have seen an irregular stripe pattern, which was inspired by the lines that run along the bellies of humpback whales. It is these watches with gradient blue dials that sit within the Seiko Save the Ocean collection, and are made separate from the rest of the Prospex family, as a portion of the sales are donated to ocean conservation efforts around the globe. Aligned with this, Seiko are working with filmmaker Fabien Cousteau as an official Save the Ocean ambassador, who is also none other than the grandson of the…