Watch Dandy

Life moves pretty fast, but before it can get away from us, and the stunning generosity shown towards Australia is forgotten – when one crisis is replaced by the inevitable next one, which is already sadly happening – we want to pause and celebrate the moment. With a party. Buy tickets here. Because just one month ago, Australia was in dire trouble. 150 bushfires were burning, some of them ‘megafires’ covering many thousands of hectares. People all over our vast continent were displaced from their homes, thousands of which burned to the ground. Animals were dying in their millions. For wildlife and Aussies still enduring the aftermath, there is now more than $200,000 of extra funds at their disposal, thanks to the world watch industry. For a list of auction lot results, check in over here.    Today we announce the ‘Watch & Act!’ World Watch Auction Wrap Party, to be held on Saturday the 29th February at our Melbourne headquarters. This is all about recognising the donors of the watches and the enthusiastic bidders, who pushed 90 per cent of the watches above their retail value, some to the tune of 500 per cent! Tickets are $80 / $40…

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The Bulgari booth is among the most grand at the Baselworld fair. Opposite TAG Heuer at the entry to Hall 1, it is a glittering sentry to what was only a few years ago the highlight of the yearly calendar for the world watch industry. Peak glamour. Peak PR. Peak hype. As of this morning, it – like so many other brands – will no longer be there in 2020. The move will continue to literally change the face of the fair, which in 2019 had an open space where the enormous, central Omega booth used to be. Organisers will have another major void to fill in a short space of time. In a statement this morning, Bulgari has cited concerns around the spread of Coronavirus as the reason for the late move. The CEO of Bulgari, Jean-Christophe Babin, has not, however, ruled out participation in 2021. “We are obviously disappointed not to participate in 2020, but as told already in past, we remain open for 2021 onwards to continue with Baselworld and we will take our decision by June 2019 once Baselworld 2021 concept, dates and costs will be clarified. We also wish to continue to collaborate as much…

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Editor’s note: If you could wear only one watch for the rest of your days, what would it be? You’d need something legible, with a reliable movement and maybe a date. You’d need something that you can dress up or dress down, that came on a bracelet but you could also wear on a well-made leather strap. And if you were being really picky, you might want a GMT function too, just to make international travel that bit more comfortable. When you add up all of those things, you can come up with a handful of great watches, but none potentially greater than the Rolex Explorer II. Let’s take a closer look at what this polar watch is like on the wrist, and why it might be the only watch you ever need.  Back when I was shopping for my first Rolex, I was offered a ‘new old stock’ Explorer II 16570 by the local boutique at a decent discount. I brushed it off at the time due to a fixation with the Submariner (which ironically ended up as a Datejust) and also the limited knowledge that it was a past model and recently replaced by an improved 216570 in…

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