2020 FANTASY WATCH COLLECTION PART 2 – What watches would we buy with a budget of $10,000 USD?
Like we said in the previous instalment, 2020 has been so bad that fantasy is often all we’ve had left. Fantasies of leaving our houses are still being had daily in Melbourne, and fantasies of new watches and sunny days are not far behind. So, to try to make something good of the bad, we’ve set ourselves a challenge as a team today, and that is to buy as many, or as few, watches as we’d like, up to the value of $10,000 USD. There’s only one rule. They had to be released in 2020. Here’s what happened. Coming soon, the MILLION DOLLAR VERSION. Andrew McUtchen’s Picks Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Glacier Blue I got pretty excited about these watches in the Virtual Baselworld Watch & Chill Episode, and that excitement hasn’t left me. We’re all, at the end of the day, dial people. And this one sends me wild. That utterly beguiling mix of sunburst and dégradé finishings, with the perfect symmetry of the Bi-Compax chrono dial, and the quixotic personality of the numeral font. It’s superb. RRP: $8300 (P.S. With the remaining $1300, I’m going to buy a bag of GO straps to go with this model –…
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I can’t remember the last time we conducted a Fantasy Watch Collection poll at Time+Tide. But I’ve noticed something in 2020 amongst the team. With the majority of us locked down in Melbourne, Zoom meetings frequently degenerate into wistful commentaries on what we’re going to buy next. What’s where on the wish list. Fantasies aplenty. Would we buy this or that? This dreadful year has had us fleeing, as often as possible, to more positive thoughts. And, because we all love watches so much, they’ve played a very important part in being the silver-lining discussion topic. So, to try to harness this banter and distil it into content gold, we set a challenge. Three price points, unlimited choices, and a fictional wallet, stuffed with cash. To be transparent, there was no consultation between the team. That said — and in the interests of full disclosure — I chose my picks last and could snoop at the results. Andrew McUtchen’s Picks OK, I’m going with a more-is-more approach with my fantasy $5000 USD here. And I’ll tell you why. In a year as grim as 2020, I’ve needed daily dopamine hits. And there’s no dopamine hit quite like a #newwatchalert and all the…
Rolex fakes have existed for a very long time. But where it used to be pretty easy to spot an impostor – from the dull lustre of the cheap materials, to laughable aesthetic inaccuracies, to the sound of the rotor rattling from across the boardroom table like a bag of Skittles – it is now increasingly difficult. It’s something Watchfinder has demonstrated in this extraordinary comparison video. As I’m sure almost all of you will know, the meteoric rise in the popularity of steel Professional models like the Submariner, GMT-Master II and Daytona has meant that enthusiasts are paying as much as four times more than retail to get their hands on one. Such is the demand for these products. This means that now, more than ever, these illegitimate watches are really, really big business. And because only the uppermost echelon of AD cohorts can buy the real deal, fake Rolex watches are now also a mighty economy in their own right. As time goes on, the money invested into making them much higher quality is justified by the exorbitant prices, running now to the thousands, not hundreds of dollars people are prepared to pay for fakes. So, with this…
It’s a story we’ve been writing in our weekly editorial meeting for months and months: the idea that lug to lug measurement is a more important fit-telling metric than any other. In layman’s terms, that’s the distance between the outer tip of two opposing lugs on either side of the case. So much discussion. So many feelings. So finally, after whinging and whinging about it, we identified that Zach was the most passionate on the subject, and he got the gig – a story was briefed to illustrate extreme examples of why lug to lug matters to the extent that other metrics we rely on, such as case diameter, can border on redundant in comparison. What Zach filed shortly after was unpublishable. It was more than 2000 words and veered wildly from the topic to another sibling topic, which is big watches that wear small. It was actually great, to be honest. So thorough and so in the pocket – Zach has a well and truly sub 7-inch wrist, so it was clearly something he’d thought a lot about, with many, many real-life examples to bring the subject to life. To cut a long story about a slender wrist short,…
The Moser Swiss Alp Watch is a thoroughly intriguing proposal, in what seems a familiar smooth shape of a rectangular pebble with re-imagined wire lugs. Your non-horologically biased mates, family and colleagues will no doubt pose the question as to why this has a crown and a hand-sewn alligator strap, only to be silenced by the mesmerising blue depth of the fumé dial. A dial with depth and detail that doesn’t distort or disappear when seen at an angle … what is this witchcraft? Yes, this was designed as a statement piece. You will understand the deeper meaning without mentioning any tree-based fruits. Take it as a call to action or a thought-inducing detail that makes you nostalgic for the days without a single beep, reminder or buzz from your wrist or phone (which was on a side table in the hall — I’m that old, folks). Wind the manual movement up and while doing so, immerse yourself in a feeling of time being precious – while swiping Data Off on your phone. But no matter the intrinsic meaning or zen-inducing ocean-like blue depths, this is a perfectly sized 38.2mm smooth piece of horology, special enough to make you think that,…
Editor’s note: Back in March we threw the watches of two of hip-hop’s biggest names – Jay-Z and Drake – in a figurative boxing ring for a four-round bout to find out which collection was best. Both of these modern-day poets had absurd timepieces that spanned a number of different disciplines, and it was more than interesting to see the nuance between the two collectors. Now, without wanting to give too much away, one of these bar-spitting celebs has got the horological chops of a bona fide aficionado, while the other is just 110% hype beast. Want to know who comes out on top? Keep reading … Today, we’re facing off two of the music industry’s biggest names – the one and only Hova, AKA Jay-Z, is going to have his watches pitted against none other than Champagne Papi himself, Drake. There’s going to be four rounds in this horological heavyweight showdown, spread across four different categories – dress watch to die for, modded and murdered out mayhem, weekend warrior, and deathblow, the ultimate flex piece. Whose watches will come out on top in this instalment of Celebrity Death Match? There’s only one way to find out … Dress watch to…
If it’s the rugged tool watch charm of the Captain Cook or the historically energised dimensions of the Golden Horse, Rado is probably best remembered in recent years for the watches inspired by the archives of the brand. But there’s a part of the Rado family that watch enthusiasts might be less familiar with, a part that leaves the vintage design cues at the door and instead celebrates space-age materials with a contemporary flair. The Rado True Square collection hails from this lineage within the family. Ceramic cases that appear to be borderline liquid in their appearance, integrated bracelets and curious dials are what you’ll find here. Not a beads-of-rice bracelet in sight. As we take a closer look at the Rado True Square collection, we’ll be focusing on two references that encapsulate the breadth of what the collection has to offer, despite how similar the specs might read on paper – the True Square Automatic Diamonds and the True Square Open Heart. Siblings in name and body, but watches that present two very different faces to the world. First focusing on the Rado True Square Open Heart, and an immediate impression is made by the skeletonised dial. While some…
Editor’s pick: This story concludes with the author, Yannick Chan, saying “I’m really excited to see where Tudor is headed with the Fifty-Eight line. We will, no doubt, see a blue, burgundy, and *fingers-crossed* a GMT version of the watch in the near future.” One out of three came to pass in 2020, with the Navy version. It’s given rise, of course to lots of comparisons between the OG, this model and the new. We thought it might be useful to hear from a pretty devoted fan. There’s no review like an owner review, after all. Being a Tudor enthusiast (or, for lack of a better word, a bit of a fanboy), the Black Bay Fifty-Eight was the watch that really caught my eye amongst the new releases from Tudor at Baselworld 2018. Yes, like everyone else, I love the look and functionality of the Black Bay GMT, but being more of a vintage watch guy, the size and retro design of the Fifty-Eight really appealed to me. I’ve been dying to get my hands on the watch ever since, and I guess I wasn’t the only one. Just like the GMT, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight has been an instant…