"Somebody at the logistics company had stolen my watch" – or how Kelvin was reunited with his Blancpain
Generally speaking, watch collectors fear three things: brick walls, unforeseen service costs, and the vagaries of international shipping. I’m not sure about points one and two, but Kelvin has certainly come up against the whims of global logistics conglomerates. But, before you get too stressed out, it’s OK – he won! Or got very lucky, depending on how you look at it. Not to steal Kelvin’s thunder, but this Blancpain L-Evolution, from the late-oughts, was the first watch he fell in love with, and one he eventually bought, years later. Now, at this point it was well-discontinued, so he purchased from a reputable UK-based seller. At this point I’ll hand over to Kelvin, because it’s where issues of freight, alleged tax evasion and other such stressful issues come into play. Somebody at the logistics company had stolen my watch and sold it to the second-hand market — but it had the same serial number …and eventually I got my watch back. Because everyone loves a happy ending … well done, Kelvin!
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It’s fair to say at this point of 2019 that the CODE 11.59 collection from Audemars Piguet has been the most widely panned watch release of the year, if not recent years. It was in some ways a perfect storm of critical disapproval, poor PR and a pack mentality that got pretty nasty. But pictures on Instagram tell only a tiny fraction of the story, and they’re certainly not a great way to judge a watch. Which is why, when we saw this collector review over on Deployant, we were intrigued. Christian Kretschmar picked up a black-dialled time-only piece after falling in love with it in real life. I’m lucky to have a few very beautiful watches in my collection, of which some were made by Audemars Piguet. I find it hard to compete with the complexity and variety of finishes on the APs, so I mostly pick one of those to wear. Since the CODE is part of my collection, I always look for reasons to wear it. Being a rose gold dress watch, it might seem to be over the top for some occasions, but I find it quite versatile, even in a more casual setting. Regardless of…
Editor’s note: Sandra wrote this lovely piece at the start of the year, and it speaks to one of the biggest movements (if you’ll pardon the pun) in the watch industry over the last few decades – the rise of the in-house movement. I won’t steal Sandra’s thunder, but suffice to say it’s worth a read. If you’re considering buying a new watch, one of the least important questions you should ask is: “Does it have an in-house movement?” To be blunt: the mere existence of an in-house movement does not necessarily equate to a better watch. So why do we see the in-house claim being made by so many watch brands? Why do they use it like a badge of honour, a mark of prestige and exclusivity, a (strongly implied) guarantee of superior quality – and a reason for charging a higher price? Let’s start with what the term actually means. Like many words that have been hijacked by the luxury marketing community and rendered meaningless through misuse and overuse, “in-house” has been reduced to little more than jargon – and has bamboozled watch buyers in the process. In its true sense, an in-house movement’s components must all (screws,…
Editor’s note: The Longines Flagship Heritage 60th Anniversary is an oldie but a goodie. And not an oldie in the 1950-something sense, but rather in the, ‘this 2017 limited edition is probably all gone by now’. But it’s very much the definition of a modern heritage banger. The hardest thing when re-creating a vintage watch design is knowing when to stop. Some changes — swapping the plexiglass crystal for sapphire, and upgrading the movement — are logical, and others, like an increase in size to more modern dimensions, make sense. But the real art is knowing where to stop, and what to keep. By that measure, the Longines Flagship Heritage 60th Anniversary is a masterpiece in miniature — 38.5mm to be exact. This size is a perfect case in point: it’s an incremental increase that stays true to the spirit of the original in a way that a 40mm watch would not. Then there’s the dial, which would be hard to distinguish from a 1957 model, not least because there’s no unsightly date window to spoil the luminescent combination silver dial and gold tone markers. And while most people will be interested in the steel version, there are also rose and…
Presage has been something of a rising star in the Seiko firmament – a classically inspired, dressy collection that has proven to have broad appeal. These two new watches see the Seiko Presage powered by that most Seiko of technologies — the popular and silky smooth Spring Drive technology. Already the pairing of Presage and precision is an exciting prospect. But there are two other elements of these two boutique-only 40mm steel watches, and that’s the design and the dial. Seiko has evoked the spirit of Japanese design legend Riki Watanabe for the overall look and feel of these watches, working with Watanabe’s colleagues to bring this clean, legible design to life. But don’t be fooled by the apparent simplicity of the dial, it’s a work of quiet expertise. Because it’s been released in a material that’s increasingly linked to the Presage line – enamel. In particular these black or white dials are porcelain enamel made by master craftsman Mitsuru Yokosawa. The organic lines of the dial are clear in the recesses around the power reserve indicator and the date aperture. And even though the look is quite dressy, the 100 metres of water resistance and the super-hard coating of the case…
Much to the chagrin of watch brand marketing departments, the list of timepieces of genuine historical significance is pretty small. Actual moon watches, the Breguet commissioned with Marie Antoinette in mind, and, of course, the works of John Harrison. Even if you’re not an aficionado of 18th century horological science (and TBH we don’t hold that against you), there’s a decent chance you’re at least somewhat au fait with John Harrison. Heck, the guy even had a TV series made about him starring Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons — that’s not something you can say about Gérald Genta, no matter how much you gush over his eight-sided designs. Harrison matters because he solved the Longitude problem, which allowed accurate naval navigation, necessary for the exercise and expansion of British naval superiority, and — ipso facto — its massive colonial empire. So, while it’s a slight stretch to say that John Harrison’s invention of an accurate marine chronometer is responsible for British imperialism, it’s a pretty big deal. So it’s worth your while working out what it is and how it works, which is where this excellent, in-depth piece over at WatchesbySJX comes in. Well worth a read. 
Overnight, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève dropped the list of their 84 pre-selected watches, which will be judged within an inch of their lives and presented to an adoring crowd of industry professionals. You can check the full list over at the GPHG site. There’s a lot to dive into, and quite a few of the categories are a little esoteric or academic. It’s fair to say that there are a few categories that are more popular with punters than others, and in that realm, we’re excited by the following contestants … Chronograph – the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT This category is all about start, stop and reset. It’s a strong field — as you’d expect, given the popularity for the complication — with Chronograph-focused brands like Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith all bringing something to the table. Our pick, though, has to be the Ultra-Thin Bulgari. It’s a brilliant piece of engineering, looks great and even throws a GMT into the mix. Diver’s – the Seiko Prospex LX This category doesn’t need too much in the way of explanation – it’s about watches that go deep. There are some strong niche contenders and a solid ceramic entry from Longines but,…
If you’ve ever looked to buy a watch on the internet, you will have invariably come across grey market watch websites offering a surprisingly good deal on the watch you are interested in. This leads to several questions about the broader mechanics of watch retail, and the watch grey market: Why would I buy from an Authorised Dealer if this is so much cheaper? How do these sites get the watches they are selling? Why do watch brands allow themselves to be undercut on price? All of these are fair questions; the answers of which are often challenging to find. The majority of luxury watch buyers generally consider themselves financially savvy folks, yet the majority of the bragging online is about the strength of their AD relationships, not about the bargain they picked up on www.somerandomwebsite.com. Why is it these money-focused deal makers choose to spend more at an AD, than cash in on double-digit savings from a grey market site? John Keil, a man with expertise in the watch retail business, explains that the source of these bargain watches is a surprising one, that speaks to the core of how challenging this problem is to overcome. Quite often the…
Editor’s note: Steel sports is all well and good, but there’s something very appealing about the iconic Datejust in this steel and gold livery, with a warm brown dial and diamond hour markers. Especially with that bezel and band. Primo … There are two main contenders for the title of ‘most recognisable watch in the world’, both of them made by Rolex. Naturally, the Submariner has a good shot at the title but, for me, the clear winner is the Datejust. First introduced in 1945, it includes one of the most useful and ubiquitous complications – a date window. Like many features we take for granted on a watch today, this date represented a Rolex first, in that rather than slowly transitioning over a few hours, the Datejust’s date jumped instantly at the stroke of midnight. Even though the model has been around for more than 60 years now, the fundamentals haven’t changed much. Three hands, Oyster case, automatic movement and, of course, the date (with Cyclops). We saw its first leap to the 40mm+ club in 2009, with the bulked-up, 41mm Datejust II. But it wasn’t just the diameter of this watch that had increased, it was broader all over: bezel, indices and lugs all…
The recent anniversary of the moon landing saw my Instagram feed explode with Speedmaster wrist shots, and an overwhelming number of watch brands releasing special edition watches to commemorate the event. But when the new Zodiac Astrographic Limited Edition somehow beat the algorithm and made its way onto the top of my explore feed, I was immediately intrigued. While most moon-landing-anniversary watches tend to be retrospective, celebrating the glory days of space exploration, the Astrographic Limited Edition distinguishes itself for also being future-looking. The seconds hand, designed to resemble an orbiting Mars, represents an ideological shift to the next frontier of space exploration. This is not your typical ‘moon watch’. In this observer’s humble opinion, none of the other moon watches is particularly … well … space-y. Forgive me for the potential heresy I am about to commit, but as iconic as the Speedmaster may be in the context of space exploration, it doesn’t quite take me back to my childhood days of doodling spaceships and aliens on freshly painted walls. In this respect, the Astrographic Limited Edition does a fantastic job of capturing the excitement and promise around space exploration of that era. Everything from its sleek UFO-inspired case…