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Best Super NEWS Watches
A Week On The Wrist: The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin
We first saw the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin at the SIHH last January, and at the time, our impressions based on the brief exposure afforded by a meeting in the middle of a busy trade show were limited to "seems nice, pretty expensive, too bad it's not in steel." To a certain extent those are still the impressions I have of the watch, but after a week of wearing it, they've become (I hope) more nuanced. Let's look at what it's like to live with one of the most austere (and pricey) time-only watches in the world. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin is indeed a very flat watch, with a case thickness of 7.5...
A visit to one of Genevas exceptional horological museums is, besides one of the finest ways of spending an afternoon in the Swiss city, a healthy reminder that the history of watchmaking is long C over 500 years C and filled with leaps in technical progress. It also reveals these exhibitions are more concerned with the origins of the craft than they are about its current landscape. For many reasons C ranging from the Quartz Crisis to the advent of digital information C there is little record of what has happened between the 1980s and today in horological museums, besides brand-led exhibits that often double as marketing and sales events. So, we wondered, what timepieces, and timepiece make...
A. Lange & Sohne's short 21-year history has been one of immense success C offering truly cutting edge horological developments and design classics by the caseload. In fact, I would venture to say nobody, in Germany or Switzerland, has done as much for watchmaking over the last two decades as Lange. Still, auction results have been tepid. This will change, I'm sure of that. And what will help change things at a macro level are micro-level moments of success, likely driven by early production ?rarities. Take, for example, when the only known Double-Split in stainless steel came up at Christie's. It sold for $501,000! Okay, that was a unique piece, but other early watches like the Pour le ...
Introducing: The (Incredible) Mechanical Marvels Collection At Sotheby's New York
As you may have noticed, it's auction season. Yesterday we picked our favorite watches from the Christies Geneva sale and today I bring you a sneak peek of what Sothebys has to offer in New York on June 8th. Along with a fantastic collection of watches for sale (more on those later), the sale focuses on a group of Mechanical Marvels C a follow up to last years June sale of a similar group of pieces, including a singing bird scent bottle made by Jaquet Droz that sold for approximately $2.5 million.This sale features 20 mechanical marvels and we were able to take a sneak peek at the top three: The Fire Brigade, the Magicians Box, and the Singing Bird Coffret. ?These aren't watches, but a...
Hands-On: That Insane Patek 530 Sector Dial Coming Up At Christie's Geneva
Okay, you knew this was coming. Back in March, we announced that Christie's would be selling the earliest known steel 530, and oh, by the way, it features a sector dial, is signed by Astrua, and is in great, original condition. Well, we got to see it just this week in New York, and man, is it a beauty. Let's look a little closer. First, what is the 530? The 530 is the rarest production reference of chronograph from Patek. If you consider the 130 the basic PP chronograph, the 1579 the dressier chrono, and the 1463 the sporty, waterproof chronograph, the 530 is basically an upsized 130. But it's way up-sized, and it's spectacular.?...
Editors' Picks From The Upcoming Christie's Geneva Auction
The ongoing battle between Phillips and Christie's has produced some fascinating behind-the-scenes narratives, but to the rest of us, the result is nothing but better scholarship and increased availability of absolutely superlative watches. We've already told you about our team picks at the upcoming Phillips auctions (click here to read, and here to read about some amazing pocket watches coming from AQ), so today we're here to give you an idea of what our team is into from the Christie's May 16th Geneva sale. The theme? Mid-century complicated wristwatches. Jack's Pick: Patek Philippe Dual-Crown World-Timer Reference 2523/2 ...
Technical Perspective: Ultra Thin: What It Is, Why It Matters, And Who Does It Best (Part 2)
(Above, the Piaget 20P/Lassale Caliber 1200, the thinnest hand-wound movement ever made.) In Part One of this story, we looked at the history of ultra thin watchmaking C at why the earliest watches were so thick, and how advances in watch movement design, combined with the evolution of modern clothing styles, drove the development of thinner watches. ?We also looked at how and why ultra thin watches became, not only fashionable, but also came to be seen as a manifestation of the highest level of skill in watchmaking. ?Today we'll take a look at exactly why making an ultra thin watch is considered such a challenge C as well as at some of the ways in which modern f...
Bring a Loupe: Beautiful Vintage Chronographs From Mido, Gallet, Heuer, And More Found On EBay
This Bring A Loupe will be dedicated to chronographs; this is not the first time, but we found too many cool listings on eBay to not make it the focus of this week. The usual suspects are there, from an oversized UG to a transitional Heuer Autavia. But we also present some more under-the-radar picks, such as a Mido Multi-Centerchrono, a Gallet MultiChron Navigator, and a blue-dialed Enicar Aqua Graph. This is your Bring A Loupe for May 6, 2016. A Mido Multi-Centerchrono C A Chronograph In Disguise "Here is the only chronograph that looks like a handsome watch." The original advertising tagline for thi...
Found: Three Great Vintage Chronographs To Watch At The Upcoming Kaplans Auction
The auction season is just starting in Geneva C the team recently picked favorites from the dreamy selection at Christie's and Phillips, here and here C but there are many other exciting watches in some other locations right now C like, say, Sweden. One look at Kaplan's catalog revealed three really cool chronographs from the 1970s to be soon offered. Let's introduce you to these sweet watches C a Tudor "Home Plate," a Lemania "Viggen," and a Heuer Autavia 2446C. That might be a lot of chronographs at once but, trust me, you won't regret it. ? Tudor 'Home Plate' Reference 7031 I would love to...
If you own a Rolex Precision made in the 1950s, theres a good chance the case was made by the Dennison Watch Case Co. Lest we forget, those were the days when in-house was neither the norm nor the objective. Instead, specialists supplied parts and Dennisons cases were some of the most popular choices for Swiss watchmakers. Orders came in from Omega, Tudor, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and from fellow Brits, including Smiths Watches and J.W. Benson. But, in 1965, production came to an abrupt end. Fifty years later, the British company is back, this time as a watchmaker, and it will be importing ETA movements to power its own collection...
Montblanc has been making a name for itself over the last few years primarily through the rapid introduction of very classically oriented, but at the same time, very (relatively) affordable watches. Its ability and willingness to present even traditionally very expensive high complications, like the perpetual calendar, at very affordable prices, has done a great deal to earn the company good will, and dispel some of the skepticism many felt about what, historically, was exclusively a pen company, creating watch collections. Montblanc's entry level watches may routinely make headlines, but the company also continues to create haute horlogerie and concept timepieces, and the latest C the TimeW...
Found: A Captivating Collection Of Escapement Models At Heritage Auction's May 26th Sale
I have a particular affinity for escapement models. I remember the first time I saw one at watchmaking school C escapement engineering concepts that I had been wrestling with suddenly made sense. These scaled-up mechanisms are often employed as final projects at watchmaking schools, as they demonstrate that a student has learned how to apply escapement theory to a real mechanism that they built themselves. As intriguing as escapement models are, they are rarely seen at auction, which is why the large group of them in Heritage Auction's May 26 sale deserve a close look. Straight Line Lever Escapement Model, Parson's Horological Institute ...
Watches, Automatons, 'Soul,' And The Digesting Duck Of Jacques de Vaucanson
"Without the duck of Vaucanson, there would be nothing to remind us of the glory of France."– C Voltaire 0 0 1 110 632 Hodinkee 5 1 741 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE ...
This is a neat one from the good folks over at Analog/Shift. Some time back, they were asked by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to find a very particular timepiece C a 1962 Wittnauer Electro-Chron, given to former Major League shortstop Dick Bartell. They did, and what's more, the former Mayor then decided, after some time, to donate the watch back to Analog/Shift to auction off for charity. Oh, and what charity is most befitting? No one less than the guys at the Horological Society of New York. The watch, cu...
It was just five months ago that Vacheron Constantin revealed what is sure to become one of its most commercially successful lines to date C the new Overseas collection. We saw a whole heap of new calibers, designs, and even strap interfaces! This includes a brand new in-house base caliber with date, a brand new, in-house, self-winding chronograph, a brand new ultra thin in white gold, and a brand new ultra-thin perpetual calendar C yeah, this is a big year for Overseas. Today, we have an early look at a new model in the Overseas line, and it's one that will appeal to many of us who spend our days on jet bridges and in hotels C say hello to the Overseas World Time. ...
This Saturday's "Start-Stop-Reset" sale, hosted by Phillips, offers what is surely one of the most concentrated collections of rare and important Daytonas since the game-changing, November 2013, "Lesson One" sale (to see why it was game-changing, watch this video). There are 10 Daytonas in the sale, making up a bit over 10 percent of the 88 lots C not an insignificant percentage. Furthermore, the selection of Daytona is wide-ranging, and interesting. So we decided to poll some experts about what they thought this sale might mean for the Daytona market, if anything, and which lots they're most interested in. ?We'll kick it off with a quick run down from the man himself C the legendary John Go...
The Globemaster was originally introduced just last year, at Baselworld 2015, and back then the big news (aside from the return of a pie-pan dial, and some arguing about whether or not Omega was entitled to use a fluted bezel) was the movement, and a new type of certification for performance that came not from the usual suspects at the COSC, but from the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology METAS. The original Globemaster has an hour hand that can be set independently, and this year, Omega introduced a new version of the same watch, with the omission of the "time zone" function, and the addition of an annual calendar complication C and a font that seems even more polarizing than the fluted b...
Here at HODINKEE, we have a history of showing you the private collections of some not-so-private collectors. We are lucky to have been able to interview some of the most interesting people in the watch-collecting world, and we always love to see new watch guys emerge from the shadows. Just yesterday, our friend Will Welch of the just launched GQ Style sent this one our way C Mr. Robert Downey Jr. taking them through his personal watch collection.Downey has a surprising range of watches including (but not limited to): a Bell & Ross gifted to him by Ben Stiller; his grandfather's Baume & Mercier; a "Green Money" Rolex Sub (aka the Hulk); a Speedy; the Jaeger LeCoultre AMVOX3 Tourbillo...
Breaking News: Parmigiani Fleurier Manufacture To Cut Workforce By One Third Amid Order Reductions
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Bring a Loupe: A Grail Patek 1518, A Gold Rolex Submariner, A Rare Heuer Autavia, And More
This Bring A Loupe offers an eclectic selection of stunning watches, from the legendary Patek Philippe reference 1518 to a gold Rolex Submariner with a tropical dial. You will also find some pieces not frequently seen, such as a Breitling Top Time with a yellow-gold case (not plated!) and a Longines Conquest with an power reserve indicator. This is your Bring A Loupe for May 13, 2016. A Rolex Submariner 1680/8 With Tropical Dial Rolex Submariners in yellow gold have a definite Miami Vice feel to them (Don Johnson actually wore a Day-Date in the show, but still). This one offers a catchy bonus: a dia...