Found: A Gold Lemania Chronograph Formerly Owned By Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill loved his watches. We know that because we’ve seen some of his favorite pieces up close, including his beloved Breguet pocket watch which he nicknamed the Turnip. We’ve also seen correspondence between Churchill and none other than Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf, regarding wrist sizes and engravings. Mr. Winston Churchill would later receive Rolex’s 100,000th chronometer, a gold Datejust with his coat of arms on the back, as a gift from Wilsdorf himself. The watch we have here is another chapter in the story.
While one of the key trends of Basel 2017 is a move towards more wrist-friendly dive watches (see exhibits A and B), there’s no doubt that big and bold is still the name of the game. Omega’s latest PO, the “Big Blue”, delivers on both fronts, thanks to its whopping 45.5mm wide by 17.8mm high case made from bright blue ceramic. Why Big Blue? Well, asides from the obvious, it’s an homage to a super funky (and super collectable) Omega diver’s chronograph from the ’70s. This Big Blue follows on from last year’s release of the fully ceramic “Deep Black”, itself an evolution of successful ceramic Speedmasters, notably the DSOTM. From all this activity we can deduce that Omega is increasingly serious about integrating ceramic in a big way, well beyond bezels, movement components and the odd limited edition. And why not? If you’ve got the technical know-how and production capacity (like Omega does), you might as well use it. The case and dial of the Big Blue are made from pigmented zirconium oxide powder that’s sintered into an ultra-hard ceramic, then machined with diamond tools and plasma-treated to its final shape. It’s not just the case that’s impressive: the…
Editor’s Note: Andy Green has pretty much been part of the Time+Tide team since day one. But it wasn’t until 2017 that the stars aligned and he was able to attend Baselworld. And I think it’s fair to say that Andy had a quintessential first Basel. He was blown away, occasionally overwhelmed, but most of all I think he loved discovering new things and meeting the watchmakers he’s admired and the people he’s DM’d from afar IRL. Andy’s personal Top 10 list really reflects this. Sure, it’s about the watches, but the people behind the scenes are just as important. Hope to see you at Basel 2018 Andy. H. Moser & Cie Pioneer Centre Seconds in Steel I’ve always been a big fan of H. Moser & Cie, and have been especially fond of their recent marketing campaigns. So, when I turned up to their stall and was told that for the first time, they had a new release in steel, I got pretty excited. This was my pick of the fair (which will come as no surprise to my IG followers). I just love everything about this watch: the stunning fumé dial, the curvaceous crystal and the famous Moser ‘less is more’ approach. As a steel…
