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 […]
Dutch watch enthusiast Tom van Wijlick has a weak spot for vintage watches. Combine this with a keen sense of entrepreneurship, and you can expect nice things to happen. After running off with an old but still attractive Lebois & Co. model, Van Wijlick rebooted Lebois with the introduction of two new watches, the Avantgarde […]
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 […]
Today, we’ll get straight to the point and speak frankly and honestly. Frank, Founder and Managing Director of MONOCHROME, whom I’ve known for more than seven years now, is probably one of the most upfront and straightforward people I’ve ever met: Frank is a man who says what he thinks. And today we’ll talk about one of his most beloved watches, one that he’s owned for years and that I’ve always wanted to feature in our ‘Collector’s Series’, his handsome Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’ 5402ST. And because this watch is such an icon, it doesn’t really need an introduction anymore. Instead, we’ll be looking at what really matters, the collecting side of things, the market, the fuzz around the watch…
No other watch on Earth can boast the space credentials of the Speedmaster, the one and only watch worn on the Moon. The curious fact about the Speedmaster is that it wasn’t designed to go to the Moon. Nobody at Omega could have foreseen that the Speedmaster would soon be orbiting out of the Earth’s […]
No other watch on Earth can boast the space credentials of the Speedmaster, the one and only watch worn on the Moon. The curious fact about the Speedmaster is that it wasn’t designed to go to the Moon. Nobody at Omega could have foreseen that the Speedmaster would soon be orbiting out of the Earth’s […]
283 years ago, a man named Abraham Favre started making his own timepieces in Switzerland. The company expanded and shrunk again. After a temporary knock-out in 1985, Favre-Leuba has spent decades recovering to get back on its feet. And when this story comes together with quintessentially Swiss mountaineering, it teaches us a lesson about ‘Swiss […]
If you’re in the market for a vintage Rolex watch, there are countless options, from pre-WWII Bubble Back watches, early sports models from the 1950s, all-time 1960s classic steel watches or, if it’s your thing, elegant gold watches with complications. However, there’s a new trend coming named ‘youngtimer’ (an identical name is used in the […]