INSIGHT: Smart money – 6 expert takes on the best value watches to buy right now
Anyone with an eye on horological news has seen their fair share of “Value Propositions” and other notes and recommendations about watches delivering varying shades of bang for your buck. Hell, we know we’ve made our own recommendations as we’ve seen fit over the years. That said, this isn’t often the kind of topic that reflects outwards — until now. I know what criteria I look for in a watch when it comes to value, but with different priorities and interests come different results, so I reached out to a network of contacts in varying facets of the industry to see what interesting answers would surface. To keep things interesting, the doors were left open to both modern and vintage watches, leading to some unique and sometimes surprising answers from our impromptu panel. The question was simple: What watches out there (vintage or modern) do you think are either currently undervalued, or simply deliver significant value for their retail price? Here’s what our experts came up with. Note, unless otherwise specified all prices referenced are in USD. William Rohr – Managing Director, TimeZone.com Managing Director of the famed TimeZone.com forums, ex-Director and COO of Antiquorum, and Fondation de la Haute…
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The story in a second: Workwear meets watchmaking in Omega’s latest colourful take on the Railmaster. One of last year’s most compelling releases from Omega was the revamped Railmaster. This new take on an old favourite offered winning combination of old-school looks, everyday wearability and a movement with some serious chops. Initially offered in more conservative silver and black brushed dials, we all knew that the day would come when Omega offered some more colourful takes on the genre. Well, that day came recently, when Omega unveiled a new, blue Railmaster that was surprisingly textural. The dial Clearly, this is the real talking point of the watch. Omega refer to it as a “blue jeans” dial, and the combination of the indigo colour and vertical brush finish really does combine to create something that looks like an old pair of Levi’s. The Railmaster text and lollipop-tipped seconds hand are in a browny-beige, inspired by the contrast stitching of classic denim. One notable change from the previous Railmasters is that this version eschews the vintage-cream colour for the hour markers, in favour of a much fresher, light grey. Omega tie the choice of denim as an inspiration into the practical, tool-like/workwear…
Editor’s note: I’ve been saying for a few years now that Chanel is one to watch on the watchmaking front. They’ve been making watches for years of course, but in more recent times they’ve stepped up the intensity, offering beautiful (and beautifully executed) in-house movements. Sandra has the story … It’s seven years since Chanel Horlogerie decided to start developing its own movements in-house and in the last three of those years it has launched three new calibres – or four, when counting Calibre 2.1 separately. Each is strikingly different from anything offered by other haute horlogerie brands – and all are noticeably different from each other. That’s due to Chanel’s singular approach to watchmaking, which does not follow the usual path of “making engines to then put into various cases”, says Nicolas Beau, the global head of watchmaking and fine jewellery. “We think of a collection or model at the same time as we think of a calibre because there is a very strong intimacy between the two. It’s one calibre per model. So the first thing we do is imagine a calibre that has the capacity to evolve. And that creates another difficulty, which is that we must…