We are in the midst of auction season and auction is a great place to buy a watch. Since I work at Christie’s, I’m going to give you the lowdown on how the process works here, but it’s probably similar at the other auction houses. You might be intimidated ... Read more
Chopard. It’s a prestigious name most commonly associated with exquisite jewelry. But, Chopard also makes some killer watches, particularly under the L.U.C. banner. The recently released L.U.C. Perpetual T (T stands for Tourbillon), Chopard’s second most complicated watch in the stable is worth taking a closer look at, but ... Read more
If you’re a watch geek you’re probably aware of the unofficial contest between Henry Graves and James Ward Packard of luxury car fame to own the most complicated watch. Graves won competition with a Patek Philippe Supercomplication with 24 functions delivered in 1933. Patek Philippe, along with Vacheron Constantin, was ... Read more
Prior to its official introduction at Baselworld, F.P. Journe took the opportunity of all the journalists flocking to Geneva in January for SIHH to debut the second perpetual calendar in the collection, the Quantieme Perpetuelle. The first was the Octa Perpetuelle Titanium produced in a limited edition of 99 in ... Read more
Prior to World War II when the Russians took over the East German watch industry, Lange & Sohne was a venerable pocket watch maker dating from 1845 in Dresden. Sitting dormant for decades, after the fall of the wall, Lange & Sohne was re-established in 1990 and launched their first ... Read more
Though Panerai is now best known for its watches, the company was founded in 1860 and made sea instruments such as the depth gauge and compass. It wasn’t until March 1936 that the Panerai Radiomir prototype got its first field test with the commandos of the Italian Navy deep under ... Read more
Collectors perk up when these two references appear on the marketplace. What’s so special about them? Let’s take a look. They are the only models ever made that show date, weekday, month and moon phases. That’s a long time considering Rolex’s history dating back to 1905. So what’s the difference ... Read more
In the 1970’s, Rolex made a series of colored dials with a multi-layered lacquer coat. Referred to as Stella dials, they can give the impression of porcelain and there is a certain translucency about them. There are many attractive Stellas coming up for sale in the Christie’s May 13th watches ... Read more
Lange & Sohne doesn’t make watches in steel. Period. They only produce in precious metals, even though collectors have been hounding them to release something in stainless steel to bring the price points down. Wait a minute. Did you notice the tense of the first sentence? Present. There was a ... Read more
Yes, people, pink gold is in on bracelets. Even the guys are getting in on the game (think Brad Pitt with the Patek World Time seen below). While steel is cool — both on the color wheel and in the “you can’t go wrong with it look”, pink gold is ... Read more