The appetite for vintage timepieces has grown at a rapid pace over the past few years. Collecting vintage watches can be a fantastic hobby but there are pitfalls to avoid. The pre-owned and vintage watch market is a jungle. The quality and authenticity of what you are buying are key. Many watches have endured quite […]
For those who are into watchmaking, the name Audemars Piguet might represent some of the finest watches, but also modern and bold designs. Whether it is the iconic Royal Oak, the robust Offshore or the recent Code 11.59, Audemars Piguet rarely looks to the past when it comes to its watches, or at least when […]
The Calibre 11, or Chrono-Matic (depending on the brand using it) needs no introduction anymore. It is, with its two competitors, the Seiko 6139 and Zenith El Primero, amongst the most important movements ever created. Why? Because it was part of the earliest automatic chronograph movements launched in 1969 and celebrating its 50th-anniversary last year. […]
America’s answer to restrictions on Swiss watch imports… This could be the best way to explain what the Wakmann Watch Company really is. The relationship between the large US consumer market and other countries wishing to export products is a complicated one. Wanting to be as modern a society as possible, allowing your citizens a […]
This watch, the GUB Stossgesichert, was produced behind the Iron Curtain between 1954 and 1961, by what was left of the German watch industry after World War II and war reparations had stripped them of their assets. A number of companies grouped together under the name GUB (Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe or Glashütte Watch Companies) in 1951 […]
As we explained yesterday in a more technical/historical article, this year is special, being a leap year. As such, this is the perfect time to talk perpetual calendars, watches specifically designed to take into account this specificity of the Gregorian calendar, when February lasts 29 days instead of its usual 28 days. And today’s perpetual […]
Aquastar is a very niche brand, specialized in diver’s instruments. It is also a rather young brand, in the vintage field, as it was only established in 1962. The brand started supplying watches to Jacques Cousteau’s dive team in 1965, and it seems that the brand’s founder, Frédéric Robert, working under the umbrella of the […]
If you think about the natural habitat for watchmakers, images of picturesque places in Switzerland, Germany or Japan might pop up. This is true… today! But back in the golden age of mechanical watchmaking, there was another major player on the watchmaking scene: Russia. And we’re talking millions of watches a year, produced during the […]
Last December, Martijn van der Ven published the book Time For A Change, Discovering Vintage Enicar. Although he launched his book without the help of a publisher, it has turned out to be a beautiful and well-researched endeavour. Not only does it describe the rise and fall of this remarkable watch company, but it also […]
“Poor Man’s Heuer” is a term often used in the vintage collector’s world. It refers to a sport or tool watch that was made in the 1960s and 1970s, with design or style cues from racing Heuer watches, but with another brand stamped on the dial. Whether it’s the bright colours to accent the dial […]