HOW TO: Buy your first good watch
Stepping into a luxury jewellers, pockets full of the hard-earned cash you’re planning to drop on your first proper timepiece, can be a daunting prospect. In fact, assuming you haven’t just stumbled into a vast fortune and you’re buying a luxury watch simply because you assume it’s the done thing, there is no doubt your first foray into watch appreciation will be something of an emotional rollercoaster. Aside from the pretty much blanket discomfort most people feel when spending large amounts of money on anything, feelings such as doubt, fear, and (truthfully) guilt at making what seems like such an extravagant purchase are quite specific to purchases of this luxury nature. And that’s because luxury is, by its nature, unnecessary. Nobody likes paying a huge electricity bill, but you don’t feel guilty about it. I’m sure we’d all like to eat for free, but you don’t fear grocery shopping on the off chance you might pick up a bad egg, or accidentally let some fruit go rotten. And as appealing as naturism may be for some, I doubt you’ve ever doubted buying pants. Our money should always go to the necessities of life first, but for many, the desire to…
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This is something we get asked a lot. And not just by newcomers to the industry. To some minds, it instantly sticks out like a sore thumb that the Swiss products are regarded as sacrosanct and that the wares of all other nations should fall in line behind the masters. But to others, it just seems like the natural order of things. So engrained it is in their minds that they never feel the need to question it. Swiss means quality. Simple. How could the truth possibly be any more complicated than that? Well, surprise, surprise, it is. The short answer to the question, ‘Why are Swiss watches considered the best?’ is, quite ironically, ‘Timing’. If you never dig beneath the surface of our industry, you could be forgiven for thinking the Swiss invented watchmaking, and all of the major advancements that still underpin our understanding of timekeeping were down to them. It might surprise you to learn that the very first chronometer made was actually the brainchild of an Englishman named John Harrison. In Harrison’s time (the late 1700s), accurate timekeeping was essential for navigating at sea. Unfortunately, the choppy conditions and ever-changing atmospheric conditions played havoc with even…
Editor’s note: Typically watch snobs (us included) love to shun quartz-powered watches, but when it’s as clever (but not smart in the smartwatch sense) as this Longines Conquest V.H.P. GMT review shows, it’s hard not to love. The story in a second: A rare case of quartz having legit enthusiast appeal, albeit in a clever, and very novel, fashion. Say “it’s quartz” and countless watch nerds cringe; however, there have been some exceptions to the rule over the years. Of course, Grand Seiko Spring Drive calibres get a pass on account of the brand’s epic design and finishing, as well as the fact that they run a quartz oscillator in the place of the balance wheel, but everything else is done mechanically (to state things as simply as we can). And then there’s the F.P. Journe Elegante 48, which is a completely different animal. Longines has also been toiling away in the battery-powered department, and their V.H.P. calibres, which were refreshed in 2017, carry with them some impressive specifications. Accurate to +/-5 seconds per year, Longines integrated a special functionality to these calibres that allows for internal correction for magnetism or shock via a “gear position sensor” that effectively can…
Editor’s note: It’s not new, but it’s oh-so-hot and nigh on impossible to get. Read on for our review of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Ref. 15202ST — and weep … When the watchfam get together, it’s only a matter of time before the hot topic of grail watches rears its curious head. It’s no surprise, either, that for many collectors, their ultimate goal is usually found at the higher end of the watchmaking spectrum. Perhaps a Patek Philippe or something of the Vacheron variety? Or maybe the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. Brought to life by Gérald Genta, when he famously sketched the design for the “unprecedented steel watch” on the eve of the 1971 Basel watch fair, it was almost a year to the day later when the luxury sports watch made its debut in 1972. Taking its inspiration from traditional diving helmets, with an octagonal case featuring exposed screw heads and an integrated bracelet, the Royal Oak is widely considered as the very first luxury sports watch and sparked the trend that has since become the much-loved norm. Forty years later, in 2012, Audemars Piguet released this version of the Royal Oak, the ref. 15202ST, their most…
Since their inception in 1990, Nomos Glashütte have had a remarkably clear visual and stylistic aesthetic. Clean and refined. Utilitarian, leaning towards the dressy. Unmistakably German. Or, to use the shorthand — Bauhaus. In the earlier years of Nomos, this distinctive styling was paired with some solid watchmaking, and a very strong value proposition. All this combined to earn Nomos a cult following. But Nomos wasn’t content to rest on these laurels, instead embarking on a quiet, and quite deliberate quest to expand their product offering and, in industry parlance, expand their key verticals. So a few years ago we started seeing new lines, like the upper-echelon Lux and Lambda, the sporty Ahoi and the modern Metro. Then came neomatik and swing system, impressive new in-house calibres that represented a significant investment and also independence. But the new offerings didn’t end there; Minimatik and Autobahn added to the family even further. All these new lines are very much Nomos, but they stretch the comfort zone of the brand’s design language. There’s more colour, more playfulness, and greater complexity in construction. Of course, the core is still that round steel watch, like the Tangente and Orion, with a pared-back design. But there’s…