If you have any interest in vintage watches, and specifically military-issued pieces, the terms ‘Dirty Dozen‘ and ‘WWW’ should be familiar to you. Among the twelve brands that supplied the British MoD (Ministry of Defense) with watches during WWII was Timor Watch Company… which was re-incorporated in the United Kingdom in 2019, with something pretty […]
If you look back at the watches introduced back in 2019, one clearly made some noise when presented at Baselworld… And for good reasons. Its name? The Breitling Navitimer Ref. 806 1959 Re‑Edition. The reason for its success? Being an ultra-faithful re-edition of one of Breitling’s most iconic watches. Having the ingredients for a desirable […]
When it was originally launched back in the early 1960s, the Omega Seamaster 300 was, together with the Rolex Submariner, a mass-produced specialist dive watch for the burgeoning recreational diver market. There was also Blancpain and a few others like Doxa, Eterna, Favre Leuba, but none of them was on the same production scale. Today’s […]
The 1675 Rolex GMT-Master was first produced in 1959 and is my favourite watch of all the watches I have owned. I was obsessed with it and loved it so much that it became like a romance. My first one was from 1960 but the version I was in love with was from the second […]
Who knew that being a Flight Officer in 1938 could be so exciting? This watch, the Flying Officer, was produced by Gallet for the United States Army Air Corps and worn by Harry S. Truman, Senator for Missouri, a Reserve Field Artillery Officer and the eventual 33rd President of the United States. Truman’s 34mm stainless […]
This watch, the Universal Genève Space Compax, is one of the classics of 1960s design, with all of the great elements needed to make a fairly complicated wristwatch seem practical and attractive at the same time. In the 1950s, the final DNA Chain double helix was discovered and influenced furniture designers with their coat stands […]
The Jardur Company of 874 Broadway, New York was a manufacture of “Navigation Instruments” as well as an importer of the Jardur Bezelmeter and Super FlightMaster aviation wristwatches and chronographs. In the early days of commercial flight, someone had to provide the navigational instruments, logbooks, charts, navigational aids and elapsed time recorders to make long-distance […]
In 1962, British military forces were pretty busy as post-war Britain became a post-colonial power and many of the former British colonies, previously known as the British Empire, sought independence. The Suez Crisis was followed by the Brunei Revolt, the Dhofar Rebellion and the Malaysian Confrontation regarding Indonesia, all starting in 1962. The same year […]
Have you ever bought a vintage watch and wondered what life it led before it ended up in your hands? Well, this is a partial history of one such watch, a Heuer Autavia Viceroy 1163. In 2001 I had a long conversation with a retired Iowa farmer called Jim who had a vintage Heuer Autavia […]
On 19 February 2019, legendary German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld passed away. He was best known for his time at fashion houses Chanel and Fendi, as well as producing clothing under his eponymous label. He was also known for his bold yet good taste, with a unique wardrobe and also a now-famous AP watch… But […]