Watch Dandy

Watch Spotting: Trevor Noah Wearing A Gem-Set Rolex GMT-Master II At The Grammys

Bling is king.

Why is this Longines Master Collection Annual Calendar so awesome?

Editor’s note: Oftentimes, it seems as though the annual calendar complication is all too easily overlooked in the horological hierarchy of complications. GMTs, Chronographs – these are the most popular sorts of watches at the moment. But the annual calendar shouldn’t be discounted … because it’s wonderful. A while ago, we went HANDS-ON with Longines’ Master Collection Annual Calendar, and these were our initial impressions: There are few things I love more than a watch that surprises me. It’s something that doesn’t happen near enough for my liking, but it happened with this Longines. It was in the Longines booth at Baselworld, the first day of the fair. Trays and trays of watches had just been laid out in front of us and we were working out what to photograph and focus on. The new Legend Divers, obviously; cool new V.H.P. variants, a really sexy blue and gold Record. Then, the brand representative thrust something from the Master Collection into my hand. Steel, 40mm case, day-date display. Sure, it was nice, but a novelty? Not so much. I made polite sounds of appreciation and handed it back. No, she said, look again. And I did. I noticed the dial text first — ‘annual calendar’…

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Sunday Rewind: Gleaning Goodwill Greatness

A $6 find that will have you digging through every bin you can find.

RECOMMENDED READING: Why double-signed Rolex and Patek Philippe dials are so interesting

double signed Rolex Double-signed dials are the perfect example of how the details of a watch are sometimes the most interesting, revealing not just where a watch might have been sold, but opening up a window into the past to expose key relationships and macroeconomic trends that affected how the business of selling watches was done. Double-signed dials that show both the name of the watch brand and the retailer who sold the watch have increased in recent popularity, with auction house Phillips curating a special sale “Double Signed” which sold both vintage and modern watches that featured double signatures (including important Zurich retailer Beyer). One of the most popular dial signatures, and a signature that is still being produced on dials, is “Tiffany & Co”. Patek Philippe continue to co-brand dials with the American retailer after their partnership was formed in 1847. Rolex also produced Tiffany & Co dials till the early 1990s, making a few of the incredibly popular professional Rolex models even more desirable. But why has their popularity increased so much in recent years? In part, it is the rarity of these pieces, as there are a very limited number of manufacturer-retailer relationships that still produce double-signed dials, and vintage…

Buying Guide – 5 Great Mechanical Watches from Established Brands… For Less Than 500 Euros

Certainly, EUR 5K or more will buy you superlative finishing, innovation, modern materials, superior precision… And status. Luxury watchmaking doesn’t come cheap – most of the time for obvious reasons – but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the desirable ticking sound of a mechanical watch with a much tighter budget. In fact, there are […]

These were the most significant Zenith watches of 2019

Zenith watch releases 2019 Zenith really wowed the global watch community last year with some truly impressive new releases that encompassed beautiful heritage pieces, new case materials and horological innovations that had everyone talking. We’d like to mention all the models that dropped last year, but, to keep it short and sweet, here were the three most important Zenith watches of 2019. ZENITH DEFY INVENTOR Before you ask, Aeronith is not a knock-off cover band honouring Steve Tyler and co. It is a futuristic aluminium foam impregnated with a stabilising polymer. The result is a cratered, ultra-light material that is as visual stunning as it is robust. The Defy Inventor uses this material for the bezel, perfectly framing the movement, which is the main draw: Caliber ZO 9100 runs at 18Hz, or, in layman’s terms, 129,600vph. That kind of frequency was once thought impossible. Ref No: 95.9001.9100/78.R584 / Case size: 44mm / Case material: Steel and Aeronith / Movement: ZO 9100 / Price: $26,200 ZENITH EP A384 REVIVAL The EP A384 Revival was one of Zenith’s most hotly anticipated drops of 2019. In a year ripe with celebrations dedicated to the El Primero’s half-century, it makes perfect sense to launch modern incarnations of the…

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Weekend Round-Up: Fluffy White Cats, Gray Mice, And The Song Of The Sausage Creature

Either these are some great stories, or it’s the CIA controlling our minds. You decide.

The Petrolhead Corner – An Ode to the McLaren F1 – And Why it Could be the Ultimate Modern Supercar

This will create a debate, no doubt about that… Every “petrolhead” will have his own opinion to the question: “What is the ultimate modern supercar?” There are multiple names that could be quoted here, such as the Ferrari F40, the Countach, the Veyron and many more of them that have a special place in the […]

My week with the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39

Since the Rolex lineup is peppered with all-stars, like the perennially popular Submariner, crowd favourite GMT-Master II and boy-racer Daytona, it would be easy to overlook the basic Oyster Perpetual as simply filler for the (nowadays usually empty) display case. After spending a week with the new-for-2018 white dial variant, I advise you not to write it off because what we have here is a time-only watch that punches well above its weight class. The formula Consumers are generally trained to think that quality increases proportionally with cost and this can be true with a lot of goods and services in our world. At its retail price, the Oyster Perpetual 39 is one of the least expensive mainstream Rolex models, yet there is no discernible difference in the way it has been constructed relative to, say, a Day-Date. Yes, the Day-Date is made of hefty gold, but aside from the materials and weight, the Oyster Perpetual 39 and Day-Date make it very clear they come from the same factory with the same manufacturing principles. As its name suggests, this watch is 39mm in size which many people now consider to be “just right” in terms of a comfortable fit and…

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