Watch Dandy

The upper echelons of the investment banking world are inhabited by people who are paid large sums of money to take risks. Some working within the hallowed halls of serious finance prefer lower-risk investments, and others enjoy the thrill of having a larger appetite for risky business. If you want to know how safe your money will be, you need to know how prone your investment manager is to seeking the thrill of a dangerous deal, so what if you could do that by looking at their wrist? In a post earlier this year by WatchRant, a collection of reviews and horological monologues by the brilliant Nizam Miah (who got into watches at the age of 12 after seeing a Patek Philippe ref. 3941), is a discussion about a study by the University of Alabama on the relationship between the cars owned by fund managers and how they tolerate risk. While the study revealed some interesting things about the psychology of the people making these financial decisions, Nizam considers if there might be similar personality-based flags raised by the watches owned by these fund managers. Does the desire to own a six-figure watch suggest something about your desire to make…

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This year, Citizen got the watch world talking about quartz watches in a positive light with the release of the Caliber 0100, the wristwatch version of a piece-unique pocket watch they released in 2018. This release seemed to take some by surprise, but Citizen, just like their countrymen at Seiko, have been making very accurate quartz watches for some time. A flagship model in their collection is the Citizen Chronomaster, a watch that has just been released in new limited edition dial colours.   The Citizen Chronomaster is now available with a regular production blue dial, as well as both red and green dials in limited editions of 200 pieces. What is special about these dials is not that Citizen are only making a handful of them, but that they are made with the traditional Japanese Washi paper dials. Washi paper is the same material the Japanese have traditionally made walls and doors from, usually in panels supported by bamboo frames, chosen for being tough enough not to rip against a breeze but translucent enough to allow light into rooms. Beyond being a nice nod to traditional Japanese craftsmanship, washi paper is suitable for use on the dials of the…

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Editor’s pick: The Rolex Sky-Dweller is, along with the Yacht-Master II, the most complex offering in the brand’s current catalogue. Two time zones, an elegant calendar and a very, very cool bezel make for a serious piece of watchmaking. Add in the simplified dials and Rolesor cases of this latest batch and it’s a watch that’s stratospheric.  For years, the Sky-Dweller has been one of the most interesting and least understood modern Rolexes. It’s one of the most complicated watches in their lineup, as a luxury traveller’s watch, and is the patrician elder brother of the tool-like GMT-Master II. This niche proposition, along with its solid gold offering, always made it something of an outsider Rolex. Until now. The case In some ways the case of the Sky-Dweller remains identical to the version released in 2012, but viewed a different way, the changes to the big 42mm case represent the single biggest shift to the model, which has seen it rocket to the top of many a fan’s list. It’s all about the material. For the first five years of its life, the Sky-Dweller existed only in precious metals: white, yellow or Everose gold. Not only did this place the…

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Let me preface this by stating two things: (a) this is a slightly more philosophical discussion than usual, and (b) Franco Cologni is an important man in the watch business. After starting his career selling Must de Cartier products in the ’70s (of which I am a fan), he rose prominently within the Parisian organisation, becoming the Chairman of Cartier in 2000. Besides his developed business acumen, Franco Cologni also has a developed handle on the English language, expressing opinions eloquently in the journal of the FHH, where he is also President of the FHH Cultural Council. In one recent column, he investigates the semantic paradox of perfection within the luxury watch business. Franco Cologni begins by establishing that any “popular luxury” is in fact a fantasy produced by “luxury marketeers” (which can’t help but remind of the German philosopher Nietzsche when he asked, “How should there be a ‘common good’! The term contradicts itself: whatever can be common always has little value”). While that might be more broadly open for debate, what he believes is less open for discussion is the definition of perfection proposed by Aristotle, where something is perfect when it is “complete and contains all requisite…

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