Watch Dandy

The RM 50-03 Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph Ultralight McLaren F1 is two things: the lightest split seconds chronograph in the world and the chronograph with the longest name. We’ll call it the RM 50-03 for short, and here’s what you need to know about it.

Three years ago, I was told that Zeitwerk was to become the family of complications. The next year we saw a minute repeating Zeitwerk and I started to understand. Just yesterday, Jack told you about the new Zeitwerk Decimal Strike which is somewhere between a minute repeater (which is a decimal repeater capable of chiming the minute) and the original and existing striking time, which chimes only on the hours and quarters. To many, it feels like a “whatever” product because it is neither here (a traditional complication like a perpetual or chrono) nor there (a true high end comp like a minute repeater), but rather right in the middle. It is a middle high complication, if that makes any sense. It might not seem like there is a big market for something like this, but in thinking about it for the last 24 hours, I think Lange might be onto something here. I’ll explain as I walk you through some live photos of this chiming watch.

Here’s something you don’t see often – an original cork box, the very one issued with the original series of Patek Philippe Nautilus reference 3700s, for sale. And what’s more? The box comes with the outer box as well (almost never seen) and the condition appears to be great. Only problem? It’s $13,000.

You might remember the Heritage Black Bay One reference 7923/001 or the stainless steel Patek Philippe reference 5016, which eventually hammered for a record $7.2 million back in November 2015. Along with 42 other unique pieces, those two watches were offered at Only Watch, a biennial charity event organized to benefit the Association Monégasque Contre Les Myopathies. In 2015, Only Watch raised just above $11,000,000 to fund the research against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a truly worthy cause. Today, Only Watch announced that it will be back in November 2017, so you can expect some unique timepieces to be unveiled shortly.

Last year, the big SIHH news from Cartier was the announcement of a totally new shape and thus collection of men’s watches, the Drive de Cartier. The soft cushion shape was definitely a new look and the first collection of watches straddled the line between dressy and sporty pretty evenly. Now in its second year, we’re getting a limited edition Drive de Cartier Extra Flat that distills the design down to its essence, giving you everything you want and nothing that you don’t.