Jean-Claude Biver reveals "the most beautiful watch I have ever seen"
Jean-Claude Biver is a horological superhero. The legendary watch entrepreneur brought Blancpain back to life, resuscitated Omega and turned Hublot into a super-brand for which LVMH paid almost half a billion dollars. As a result, he’s assembled a private watch collection that would do King Midas proud. Auction house Phillips understands the appeal, which is why they’ve launched a touring exhibition of Biver’s personal timepieces. After stints in Hong Kong and New York, the collection has now pitched up in London until the end of the month (details here). Speaking in a WatchAdvisor video (see below), Biver reveals some random highlights of his jaw-dropping collection. Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Reference 1518 “There are some pieces I bought for the history and then there are some pieces I bought for my eyes. For the beauty, the exceptional beauty! Like this 1518 in rose gold. When I see it now, it is just a miracle. I think it’s the most beautiful watch I have ever seen. I think that even today, now when I see it. The colour of the dial is just amazing.” Philippe Dufour Simplicity in Rose Gold “It’s important to support the independents. They’re bringing fresh air, they’re…
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A few days ago, we uploaded a photo of the Zenith Defy Classic Ref.95.9000.670/51.R790 and asked our 120,000 followers this question: “Is the Zenith Classic underrated?” The response was resoundingly confirmative, with many people opining that not only the Defy Classic but the Defy range in general was, more often than not, overlooked and it shouldn’t be, because it’s a great collection of timepieces. For example, @styleinternity wrote: “Think most of their lineup is underrated to be honest.” @modernthrills commented: “Totally underrated.” @dwwright55 concurred, writing: “So underrated.” As did @k_temae, who added: “For sure underrated! Price is very ‘soft’ regarding quality and look.” We also posited the same question on our Instagram stories with a poll asking if the Zenith Defy was “underrated” or “rated” and, once again, the sentiment was largely the same, with 64 per cent of the 2000 voters saying the collection was underrated. With all this in mind, and as fans of the Zenith Defy collection here at T+T ourselves, we thought we’d pick out three of our favourite iterations … enjoy. Zenith Defy Classic Ref.95.9000.670/51.R790 This probably should’ve been obvious to most of you, seeing as it’s the very watch that kicked off this topic. This…
The week before last, three members of the T+T team went on a national roadshow. Though, in reality, it was more of an airshow, considering we covered more than a lazy 10,000km in six days. The goal was to meet members of the Time+Tide Club in their own cities. It was a magical mystery tour — with the mysterious element being: would the venue still have a record of our booking? Would it be in any way suitable for showing watches? Would anyone turn up? What questions would they ask in the often ‘Town Hall’ style catch-up? Over the week, we met more than 200 club members, and heard probably as many stories about watches. It was great. Of course, the other big unknown was: what watches would they be wearing? Well, given the week Perth had had in the news, with a local YouTube personality being called out online for selling an inauthentic Rolex Daytona 116500LN, you could say I was on heightened alert when one appeared. But it wasn’t like any 116500LN I’d ever seen before. The ceramic bezel was unmistakeable. But so was the, uh, racing dial. To say that it was an awkward moment would be understating…
Last week, Luke Benedictus and James Robinson were engaged in a ferocious war of words at T+T HQ over whether or not wearing jewellery with watches was a crime or sublime. Benedictus didn’t see any issues with it, while Robinson believed the very notion to be simply abhorrent, despite having previously worn jewellery and a watch on the one wrist … the hypocrisy! Anyway, the two decided to settle their squabble by vigorously scribing their arguments, which you can read right here. Both parties were sure they were victorious in the field of literary battle, but there was only one way to really tell – by asking where you, the audience, stood on the matter. We posited the question “Wearing jewellery with watches: Crime or Sublime?” to you guys on Mr Zuckerberg’s two favourite social media properties, and this was the community’s critical response. On Facebook, the comments were mostly scathing: Doug wrote: “Crime. Hard enough preventing scratches on the watch as is.” Benjamin said: “When done properly it’s not a crime. However, 5 Cartier bracelets next to a Day-Date isn’t flexing, it’s just sh*t taste …” Dave simply stated: “Awful ” Beau wrote: “The only thing that touches my watch…