Introducing – Lebois & Co.’s Venturist, an Advanced Chronometer that Gets you to the Advisory Board
Lebois & Co may sound familiar to some as it’s not a new brand from Dutch entrepreneur Tom van Wijlick, but a revived one founded in 1934. French watchmaker Raymond Dodane (third generation of watchmaking family) founded the company to produce affordable luxury Swiss timepieces. Following World War II, it was taken over by Italian importers who outsourced production to Swiss manufacturers, including Dodane. Production stopped in 1972 and the brand effectively disappeared, only to be re-registered by Tom van Wijlick in 2014 with the approval of the Dodane family. The brand has since launched multiple, limited editions of the Avantgarde Date model and is back in 2019 with the Venturist.
Editor’s note: The competition is mounting and mounting fast, but when the SRPC49K – or ‘Darth Turtle’, as it was coined by followers in a Time+Tide poll – was first released it was at the front of what would prove to be a vanguard of dark Seiko divers at still reasonable price points. The advent of the Seiko Prospex LX SNR029J at Baselworld 2019 has introduced even more contenders, but again at a much higher price. Which leaves this model as perhaps the ultimate blacked-out Seiko diver prospect for the money. Fair warning that the model is long sold out, but still can be found without too much digging. Seiko dive watches are a perennial favourite. They’re tough-as, look the business, and have a history as long and proud as any. Whether it’s the coveted SLA017, or the classic Turtle, they’ve got a strong rep, and cult following. The Seiko faithful are going to be very happy with this latest limited edition – the SRPC49K, which we’ve taken the liberty of nicknaming ‘the night diver’ (I’m really hoping this catches on). We’re going to let these stunning pictures do most of the talking, but here are the details we have so far: The SRPC49K is a blacked-out variant of the…
Editor’s note: Brian King is a man who knows his mind. When Omega released a limited run of George Daniels’ co-axial concept watches in the early 2000s, he knew immediately that he was interested in going deep. Over a couple of months, he bought all three. But that’s only the start of the story. Here he writes of the watches’ performance over time, and the living testament that they are to their creator. Quality never costs, they say; it always pays. In 2002 I set out to purchase a very unusual trio of watches. About a year or so earlier, Omega began the serial production of George Daniels’ co-axial concept, the first radical advance in mechanical timepiece movements in nearly three centuries. In 2002, I learned that Omega had issued a set of limited production Speedmaster Broad Arrow chronographs with enamel dials, with 100 each in yellow gold, rose gold and white gold. Between May and September 2002, I was incredibly fortunate to be able to acquire one of each, all with the same limited series number (68/99), making it one of the few, or perhaps the only set in the world with the same limited-edition number on all three timepieces in…
Editor’s note: The premise of the 20K Fantasy Watch Collection is simple: construct a hypothetical watch collection with as many watches as you like for as close to $20,000 AUD as possible. The only other stipulation — you can’t choose any watches that you currently own. As for whether you choose new or second hand, it’s up to you. Well, we had a lot of fun tackling it, back in the day and if the reaction on social media was anything to go by, you guys did too. To be honest, so much fun was had, we thought we’d keep the ball rolling and post a few of our favourite dream collections that you, our readers, sent us. So, without further ado, we’re revisiting the great $20K fantasy watch collection (readers only) challenge. And we’re getting ready to do it all again, so get those lists out … Jonathan from Facebook Jonathan’s collection is not only value-packed – we’re assuming he’s going with second-hand prices here and that he has some solid hook-ups – but it’s also incredibly diverse. There’s a GMT, a chronograph, a handful of divers, and something dressy for when the occasion calls for it. A collection more than…
Personally, I don’t need an excuse to buy a watch for myself. But I have, many times, used certain milestones as justification for a purchase whenever they have come under scrutiny. So whether or not you genuinely want to buy a timepiece to commemorate a special time in your life, or whether you just want a decent excuse to present to your family/partner/colleagues when you admit that the huge withdrawal from your savings account wasn’t fraud, read on. Graduation/Coming of age Stepping out into adulthood and graduating from high school and college are conveniently linked by the ages of 18 and 21. Both significant ages that occur at particularly tumultuous and stressful times in our lives — you could do with a treat to make it all worthwhile. Perhaps using a child’s first luxury watch as the carrot might be an effective route for parents to take if they are trying to encourage their progeny to study. I’m not sure bribing a child to work is an ideal way to encourage responsibility in later life, but at least it follows the notion that if you work hard you get rewarded. And given the pomp and rigamarole that can attend the purchase of a…