Watch Dandy

This week, TAG Heuer hosted the 2016 Heuer Collectors Summit. Descending on La Chaux-de-Fond were 30 extremely passionate collectors wearing some of the finest vintage Heuer watches one can dream of. Those watches were obviously the stars of this event, though TAG Heuer prepared some surprises for us, including revealing the prototype of the new Autavia and the automatic caliber Heuer-03. The brand also announced its interest in the world of vintage Heuer and offered its support to the collector community in a number of ways.

Twice in my life I have been fortunate enough to hear multiple Patek Philippe minute repeaters doing their thing, and the most recent was under interesting circumstances. Patek Philippe is generally, well, you wouldn’t say uncommunicative, but they do have the natural reticence that you’d expect from a family-owned haute horlogerie firm. Let’s go with discreet. However, over the last few years, the company has also begun holding periodic educational seminars, which, though of course they focus on Patek Philippe wristwatches and history, also offer a great deal of very useful, generally-applicable information on watchmaking. The last such educational event I was part of was a full-day workshop on static and dynamic poising (which, if you’re of a similar turn of mind to mine, is pretty exciting, white-knuckle stuff, and I’m being totally serious). The most recent, however, was a workshop on minute repeaters, during which we discussed everything from manufacturing gongs, to case construction, to how repeaters are tested and validated for release at Patek – and, yes, horse urine as well; and thereby hangs a tale.

No, Watches Of Knightsbridge is not hosting a themed auction – quite the opposite really. The London auctioneer has actually put together a rather eclectic catalog for its September 17 sale, led by a classically elegant Longines 13ZN flyback chronograph. But, as I looked over the lots, I noticed a healthy dose of steel sport watches from the 1960s, in particular a few with sleek black dials. Here are four of my favorites, ranging from a classic Rolex Submariner to a funky Universal Genève diver to a Lemania chronograph used by the South African Air Force.