What Sealed The Deal – Chris' IWC 3706 Fliegerchronograph
The only thing thrown around more often than the word iconic by watch media is watch media cleverly saying how often the word iconic is being thrown around. But despite committing both sins in one paragraph, Sunday confession would be a comfortable one if you were talking about IWC pilot’s watches as iconic. With designs unchanged for decades, it is the archetype of the pilot’s watch, with large luminous hour markers and hands that contrast against a dark dial, and essentially offer everything the modern world is looking for in an everyday watch. Chris was kind enough to speak with us about his own experience of pulling the trigger on his IWC 3706 Fliegerchronograph, and how it almost ended in heartbreak. When did you first see/hear about it? I first saw my 3706 Fliegerchronograph in the window of my local vintage watch store, right in the heart of Perth, Western Australia. I’m an expat kid, and I grew up around in-flight magazines and duty free all through the ’80s and ’90s, so I know an IWC when I see one, but I’d never come across the 3706 before. It was sitting in the display right next to a beautiful Mark…
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Editor’s note: The Rolex Sky-Dweller is an amazing timepiece. No doubt about it. It’s also the epitome of what Rolex does so well — take something exceedingly complicated, like an annual calendar, and then create a simple, novel and ingenious way of not only displaying said complication but how you interact with the watch. Seriously, who else would have thought of something like utilising the fluted 18k yellow gold bezel to adjust the various different complications of the wristwatch? Anyway, in this writer’s humble opinion, it’s a stroke of genius, and I totally understand why the Sky-Dweller is today in such high demand globally. A little while ago, we reviewed the updated model line-up when it was released at Baselworld 2017, and these were our thoughts. In the months, weeks and days leading up to Baselworld the speculation around what novelties Rolex would release reached a near fever pitch. Pundits made predictions about what the new Sea-Dweller would look like, and if we’d see extensions added to the Daytona and Yacht-Master family. But no one predicted an updated Sky-Dweller … Originally released in 2012, the Sky-Dweller has always been something of a niche proposition. Highly complex and only offered in precious metals,…
There’s a pretty strong case to be made that Mr Jean-Claude Biver is one of, if not the most influential individual in the horological industry of the last half-a-century. Here is a man who cut his teeth at Audemars Piguet and witnessed first-hand the development of the now legendary Royal Oak. A man who would go on to work at Omega as their Product Manager, before leaving the Swiss watchmaking powerhouse to personally buy another legendary Swiss marque – Blancpain. Yes, Mr Biver’s career is one steeped in history and influence and the uppermost echelons of the Swiss watchmaking industry. In fact, it could be argued that had it not been for Mr Biver and his innovative and inspiring creative guidance, Hublot may very well not exist at all today, as it was Mr Biver who was the genius behind the now iconic Hublot Big Bang. As you can imagine, holding a CV such as “JCB” has enabled the doyen to amass quite the personal collection of timepieces, as evidenced in a very well-known episode of Talking Watches. More recently, however, Phillips created a video showcasing Mr Biver’s simply staggering assemblage of timepieces, which also chronicle his history in the…