HANDS-ON: A classic in its purest form – the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 with white and black dials
One of the real hits from Rolex’s 2015 collection was the Oyster Perpetual 39 (ref. 114300), a bare bones, simple steel timepiece that was still pure Rolex. Initially offered in a range of youthful, colourful dials, this year the Oyster Perpetual family expanded to include white and black dial variants, and they are, just quietly, awesome. While the case and bracelet are unchanged, it’s worth revisiting them. Of course, the Oyster Perpetual is offered in a wide range of sizes, all the way up to this, the 39mm model, which really will suit a lot of wrists. But if you like your watches smaller, the 36mm is a solid choice, too. The case is Rolex’s classic Oyster case, which hasn’t changed too much over the decades. Made from Oystersteel, it uses Rolex’s Twinlock crown and is rated for 100m. While it might not have the same levels of deep diving capability as the professional line, it’s more than enough for everyday life. The bracelet is excellent — like all Rolex bracelets. It’s an Oyster bracelet, with brushed links. The clasp is a regular Oysterclasp, a superb (and deceptively simple) piece of mechanical engineering. While the case and bracelet are unchanged,…
The post HANDS-ON: A classic in its purest form – the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 with white and black dials appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Editor’s note: For Felix, there was once a time when anything over 40mm was too big, and like wine, he would say watches only got better with age. But the times they are a-changin’, and we’re not all the same people we once were. He makes some very good points in this little piece of opinionated writing that he first dropped on us back in 2016. While it’s not quite vintage, we thought it was worth a reissue … When I first started getting seriously into watches, I was all about vintage. In my mind this is where it was at. I lusted after the IWC Mark XI, the Omega Memomatic and the Tudor Advisor. I’d wince when a brand ‘updated’ its icon, which invariably meant making it bigger, wider and, to my eyes, uglier. With the rosy-tint of nostalgia for a life that was gone before I was born, I was sure perfection in watch design was reached in the pre-CAD times of the mid-’70s (it goes without saying that I thought the ’80s was a horological dead-zone full of quartz, Swatch and two-tone). Fast forward to today – I’ve learned a little more about watches, and have come to a…
Editor’s note: Numbers are hard, I much prefer words. If you’re like me, then you’ve been a little slow when it comes to filing your tax return. I’m sure that most of you, however, are a little more responsible when it comes to your accounting. And that sweet, sweet cash is already on its way to your bank account. Maybe it’s already there, or maybe you just happen to have a few extra dollars sitting around, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself. Well, a few months ago, Felix asked each of us in the Time+Tide office just what we’d spend our extra dough on. Here are our picks … Here in Australia the financial year ends tomorrow, which means that some of us — if we’re lucky/fiscally savvy — can expect a windfall of funds, care of the Australian Taxation Office. Now, if we were really responsible we’d be using that cash to pay down debt and knock off some of those big expenses, but that’s no fun. So earlier this week I set a challenge for the team. Assume you’re getting a return (and because I don’t know too much about my co-workers’ finances, I put an arbitrary…
If you’ve been following us, or Bulgari for that matter, you’ll already know that this year is the year of the Octo. From solid gold automatic thinness, to ultra high-tech insides, the record-breaking collection has gone from strength to strength. And one of this year’s barely-there hits sees the Octo Finissimo Skeleton – which we first saw in 2016 – made available in a titanium case and set off with surreal highlights of blue. This is going to sound cliché, but considering that the case design of the Octo is inspired by the uniquely octagonal lines of the Roman Maxentius Basilica, you’re going to have to bear with me. In its skeletonised form, the Octo Finissimo is pure architecture. The linear lines of its 40mm by 5.37mm thick case are only intensified by the geometric bends of the open-worked BVL 128SK movement inside. While manually wound, it does make this still-very-thin Octo slightly thicker than its automatic and closed-dial brethren (which measure 5.15mm), due to the addition of a dial side indicator that keeps track of its 65-hour power reserve while sitting neatly above the small seconds subdial. The big difference that sets this version apart, however, are the accents…
When someone’s watch story starts in the backstreets of Havana, you know it’s going to be good. In fact, it would be a good story, even if the watch itself didn’t match up to the tale. Luckily for all involved, Adam’s oversized mid-century Longines, double signed with famous retailer Cuervo y Sobrinos, stands up. On its own, the watch is big and attention-seeking, but it’s really the fancy dial that steals the show. Even more so when we learn that the dial is made to resemble a poker chip from the (in)famous Hotel Plaza, which was owned and operated by the Philadelphia Mob in the 1950s, up until 1959, when they were turfed out by Fidel Castro. We often talk about vintage watches having their own stories, and here the tale is twofold. There’s the story of how Adam acquired it, which is pretty great (backstreet sales trump eBay every time), and then there’s the unknown story, of who bought it and why. I don’t know about you, but I think I prefer the possibilities offered by speculation to the cold hard facts of history.