This is why the Patek Philippe Nautilus is somehow the biggest hype model of 2019 *Trigger warning, graphic images*
Editor’s note: It’s been quite a week for the Patek Philippe Nautilus. First, it had to deal with the stinging news that our very own Sandra Lane no longer desires it. Which was quickly followed by claims that it had murdered collectors, in a manner of speaking. Sandra was not alone in her views. Time+Tide’s social channels lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree, with people complaining that there were no Patek models under their tree either. Despite having great relationships with ADs, despite offering to pay over retail, and so it went. And then, in a visual today that’s doing the rounds on Instagram, somebody has helpfully put together a chart of exactly how much more each model costs on the grey market vs RRP. It caused us in the office to ask the question: Is the Nauti really that nice? Is it really THAT good a steel sports watch? We eu-Google-ised it and came across this story written by David Chalmers from a whopping four years ago. The conclusion? Yep. It’s all that. Always has been. Likely always will. Enjoy this torturously attractive, and thorough, tribute to why the Patek Philippe IS the Ultimate Steel Sports Watch. In the rarefied air of the high-end sports…
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“In terms of haute horlogerie complications we could do anything we like at Louis Vuitton – and we certainly have the means to do so. But that’s not our approach. What we do is deeply rooted in classical horology, but every piece needs to have an original twist that has real meaning for the Maison.” So says Michel Navas who, together with Enrico Barbasini, is the technical brains behind Louis Vuitton watchmaking. The Escale Time Zone perfectly illustrates this. Introduced in 2015 (with a version in tones of blue and grey last year), it looks unlike any travel time watch that preceded it. Or, more precisely, that preceded Louis Vuitton’s Escale Worldtime, released a year earlier. Time Zone is, by the way, almost a misnomer: the term usually means a second (or in rare cases third) time zone display – a GMT in other words. But this is a true world time watch. Clearly, though, it needed a different name to distinguish it from its big brother. The technical underpinnings are entirely classical – it’s essentially the same as the complication invented in 1931 by Louis Cottier (and improved by him in 1953), which made it possible to view the…
I distinctly remember the first time my interest was piqued in Bremont. Until then, I’d seen the brand around, but not been attracted to what appeared to be pretty plum conservative designs. I’d noticed the watch in Kingsman: The Secret Service and thought it was a clever, jolly appropriate spot for such a British brand, but again I hadn’t particularly warmed to the look of it – and without the ability to blow up enemies with it in real life, had no pressing urge to learn more. But then, in a meeting with an Australian distributor, a conversation took a twist. He had a swollen black eye. “What happened to your face, Leon, are you ok?” I asked. Leon launched into a story about standing on a stool to do something in his back room. About falling and landing on a tiled floor. “But the real miracle,” he said, “is that I actually landed on my wrist first and this is all that happened to my watch!” He proffered his wrist. On it was a Martin-Baker III on bracelet, and I inspected it closely – some marks on the bezel, a mini-bear claw swipe of scratches on the bracelet, but very…
So, this article is worth it for the image alone. Aside from the fact that Indy would never wear a 5711, it’s pretty perfect. The Patek Philippe hype is real. But beyond the sassy visuals, it’s a decent overview of the brand, its key models and how its watches are made, even if the why-they’re-in-for repair story isn’t forthcoming: I wanted to know funny stories of how watches get broken. Perhaps an oligarch got into a fight with his supermodel girlfriend and she hurled his prize Patek at a wall one morning. Maybe a rapper fell backwards off a yacht after too much Coconut Ciroc. But no such stories were forthcoming from the made men of Patek, who swear an oath of omerta every bit as serious and binding as Michael Corleone’s. Read the whole thing over at British GQ.
