Hodinkee
Three Auction World Cautionary Tales For Watch Collectors
"Ever bought a fake picture? The more you paid for it, the less inclined you are to doubt it. Silly, but there we are." – George Smiley, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
40,861 articles · 5,786 videos found · page 1405 of 1555
Hodinkee
"Ever bought a fake picture? The more you paid for it, the less inclined you are to doubt it. Silly, but there we are." – George Smiley, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
WatchAdvice
Back in February this year, Breitling released the stunning re-edition to one of the much-loved aviation models from the past. The reference 765 AVI chronograph, born in 1953, was a popular piece among enthusiasts and is as much of a collectable now as it was back then. In 2020, Breitling decided to bring back the 765 AVI chronograph with almost the same design as the original, only this time with their modern in-house movement. Dubbed the AVI ref. 765 1953 Re-edition, this new model brings the same stylish flair as the original, but now is offered in stainless steel, 18k rose gold or 950 platinum. We at Watchadvice got our hands on the stainless steel model (reference AB0920131B1X1), as we think the black dial with steel casing is the most versatile out of the three. Before we dive into this latest re-edition, it’s good to look at the original piece’s history, to do the new one justice. Reference AB0920131B1X1 Although the Breitling AVI Ref. 765 was created in 1953, the creation of the Ref. 765 AVI started back in 1930. In 1930, Breitling released two pilot watches named the Premier ref. 765 and Ref. 734. These Ref. timepieces were more compact in design, with the tri counter layout cutting into the hour indexes. The 1930’s models were still elegant in design and would pave the future for the iconic Ref 765 Avi that would be born some 23 years later. The second world war had quite an impact on timepieces throughout the world, with many new watches coming into ...
Deployant
Panerai celebrates the reopening of the flagship boutique at ION Orchard mall in Singapore with a special edition Luminor GMT featuring customized details and available in 100 pieces starting from November. Press Release PAM01177 (Retail price: SGD13,850) LIMITED EDITION OF 100 PIECES Panerai Luminor GMT Ion Special Edition The Panerai flagship boutique located withinRead More
SJX Watches
With its auctions earlier in the year having been delayed due to the pandemic – and supplemented by weekly online sales – Sotheby’s has resumed its traditional schedule and the fall auction season in Hong Kong is now in full swing. Preceded by sales of wine, art, and jewellery, Important Watches takes place in Hong Kong in two days – at 4:00 pm on October 9. Made up of just over 180 lots, the catalogue encompasses independent watchmakers like Philippe Dufour – there are two Dufour Simplicities in the sale – who are notable and known, and also some who are less prominent today, like Antoine Preziuso and Svend Andersen. And the sale naturally the usual suspects, with the headline watch being a possibly-unique Rolex Daytona “Zenith” with a lapis lazuli dial, and perhaps the most intriguing being a quartz Rolex Beta 21 in white gold that might be one of a kind. Here’s a look at a couple of interesting lots, and the complete catalogue is available here. The lapis Daytona The white gold Rolex Beta-21 Lot 2062 – Andersen Geneve Secular Perpetual Calendar Known for his inventive complications and unique bespoke watches, Svend Andersen was a pioneer in independent watchmaking. He established his own brand in 1979 and cofounded the AHCI in 1986. Four decades on, he continues to produce watches using artisanal and traditional methods. A good example of his mechanical creativity is the secular perpetual calendar that made its debut in 1996 – the first of its...
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: As we discussed here and in Part 1 of this article, watch lug to lug is an oft misunderstood element in finding the perfect fitting watch to your wrist. Here’s why. Ressence Type 1 Slim (42mm x 46mm) While some Ressence Type references push upwards of 52mm lug to lug, if you are … ContinuedThe post Big watches for small wrists – 10 watches that wear smaller than their case diameters Part 2 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
"Eyes on the stars"
Quill & Pad
Girard-Perregaux plays cleverly off the intense blackness of the onyx dial of the Vintage 1945 Infinity by crafting the logo, hour indexes, and second hand in pink gold. To Martin Green's eye, the combination of the steel case with the pink and white metal hands creates an interesting dynamic that works very well in combination with the Vintage 1945 Infinity’s art deco design.
SJX Watches
Fifteen years after its debut in the Harry Winston Opus V, Urwerk’s ingenious satellite-cube time display is now in its fifth generation with the just-launched UR-220 ‘Falcon Project’. While the UR-220 resembles its predecessor, the UR-210, a great deal, the new watch has been refined in several substantive ways. Most notably, it is powered by a hand-wind movement, something that’s not been used for the satellite-cube display since the UR-201 from 13 years ago. Initial thoughts A three-dimensional wandering hours, the satellite-cube hour display is one of the most significant innovations in modern-day independent watchmaking. Hours are indicated on three rotating cubes, while a retrograde hand points to the minutes, travelling in sync with the cube for the current hour. The complication has, however, reached a level of maturity. Incredible when it was launched in the Opus V in 2005, the satellite-cube display still remains special, though its impact has been moderated by subsequent inventions by other watchmakers, making it seem less avant-garde. So when I first heard Urwerk was soon to unveil the successor to the UR-210, which was introduced in 2012, I was keen to see the evaluation of the complication. The new UR-220 The UR-220 is unquestionably a better watch – it is slimmer and lighter, as well as face-lifted in terms of design details, and the manual-wind movement is a plus – but it is an incremental evolution over the UR-210, rather than a radical revam...
Deployant
When it comes to dress watches, its design is somewhat always predictable: Simple, elegant, and unassuming. Due to the fact that there are only so few elements for the watch manufacturers to explore, most of the dress watches have more similarities than differences. Hence, there are quite a sizeable number of collectors that find dressRead More
Deployant
A step up from the run-off the mill skeleton rubber strap chronographs, Zenith wows with its movement as it usually does. That said, while this piece is a stunner, some may find that the watch is more LVMH than it is Zenith. As one who is biased towards a classic Zenith case, the Shadow may be a better option if one is considering a Zenith for his collection.
Deployant
Casio introduces an all-new model to its popular G-SHOCK Master of G collection of men’s tactical watches. Designed with aviation professionals in mind, the GRAVITYMASTER, GR-B200 boasts three colorways with a unique Carbon Core Guard construction, carbon-infused resin bezels and resin bands in black (GR-B200-1A), orange (GR-B200-1A9) or blue (GR-B200-1A2) to provide elevated strength and durability in lightweight cases.
Time+Tide
For a kid growing up in rural Victoria, Australia, England always seemed closer than the 16,000 or so kilometres away that it was in actuality. We had to sing God Save The Queen once a week. There was a picture of the Queen in our classrooms, and my dad had a serious penchant for English … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN: British invasion! Time+Tide, already overrun by Brits, opens UK office appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Last year, a national get-together for watch lovers was launched by a well known Sydney-based collector, Paxton Wong. He called it ‘WatchFest’. And, despite every possible obstacle, the show will go on again in COVID-stricken 2020. Because, well, community. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? There’s no doubt that both the international and Australian … ContinuedThe post WatchFest Australia 2020 is going ahead against all odds, because community matters more than ever appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Revolution
HODINKEE now offers a luxury watch insurance solution underwritten by Chubb for the 21st-century collector.
Deployant
Blancpain introduces two Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe watches - the Chronographe Flyback with a green dial, and a Day Date 1970s in a desert sand coloured dial. We had a hands-on session with the watches earlier today, and will publish our detailed findings soon. But in the meantime, here is the press release and some of our live photographs.
Time+Tide
Watchspotting on Masterchef Australia Season 11 sees that the judging team has improved considerably over time, notes this Indian article.The post RECOMMENDED READING: Watchspotting on MasterChef Australia Season 11, in India? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Having scheduled for Geneva in April and then cancelled, Watches & Wonders (W&W;) then went online, and in a last minute decision, an actual fair in Shanghai’s West Bund Art Center. The surging demand for luxury watches in China as it emerges from the pandemic meant the inevitable success of W&W; Shanghai – which our correspondent outlined earlier this week – which is why the fair is happening again in China, this time in the resort city of Sanya. Opening barely a month after the close of the Shanghai event, W&W; Sanya takes place from September 29 to October 31 in the massive CDF Mall – a full month inside the world’s largest duty-free shopping centre. Importantly, W&W; Sanya is catered to the retail consumer instead of the traditional fair audience of watch retailers and journalists. Shopping paradise A city on the southernmost tip of Hainan island, which is known for its tropical weather and beaches, Sanya is the rapidly-growing capital of duty-free shopping in China. The Chinese government has announced plans to develop duty-free shopping on Hainan, which is already has already enjoyed a massive uptick. From the start of July to mid-August 2020, the CDF Mall recorded sales of over RMB5 billion, or over US$730 million, from over 740,000 customers. Open to the public daily, W&W; Sanya was conceived to cater to this demand. Eleven brands are taking part in the event in the CDF Mall, which, at 750,000 square feet or 72,000 square metres, is the world’s largest duty...
Time+Tide
When life gave Finnish-born watchmaker of more than 10 years, Susan Galvin lemons, she made a refreshing glass of lemonade, donned a watchmakers coat, and began work on a company that is now ready to share the fruits of her labours. Galvin was made redundant due to a restructure back in March, and to make … ContinuedThe post MICRO MONDAYS: Galvin – a female-founded Australian microbrand producing classic, curved crystal designs appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Elizabeth Doerr has not seen a watch by Alexandre Beauregard’s little firm that she hasn’t immediately fallen in love with. The Dahlia with its central flying tourbillon movement and hand-carved stone petals is just perfect. And along comes the more affordable, rectangular Lili. Flowers have rarely looked so good!
Deployant
It is the time of the year again, where the moon appears to the biggest and brightest. And of course, for the Chinese, it is the period where we get to feast on delectable mooncakes once again. During this time last year, we featured six gorgeous watches that has a moonphase display to pay tributeRead More
Quill & Pad
The Hermès Arceau Petite Lune Jeté de Diamants et Saphirs adds a fanciful and whimsical slant to the Arceau Petite Lune, which is just begging for some fun. This new version utilizes a mother-of-pearl dial and date subdial adorned by 65 blue sapphires and 58 tiny diamonds. It's a Goldilocks splash of flash, not too much and not too little. Time to fall in love!
SJX Watches
The second week of September saw one of the few large-scale watch fairs of the year take place by the Huangpu River in Shanghai. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of the world’s two most important watch fairs, Baselworld and SIHH (as well as the permanent demise of Baselworld), Watches & Wonders Shanghai (W&W;) was staged at the West Bund Art Center. As a watch journalist, I used to fly to Switzerland twice a year for the fairs – SIHH in January followed by Baselworld around March – but this year the event came to my home city for the first time. Did W&W; live up to expectations? How has the event changed as it crossed the world? Green and good to go The difference between W&W; and the traditional Swiss fairs was apparent from the point of entry. Guests and journalists were no longer granted access with pass cards, the norm at the Swiss fairs since I can remember. Instead we received an invite email from the fair’s organiser Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) prior to the event, requiring us to register online for a QR entry code. Security staff at the fair’s entrance scanned every visitor’s QR code, as well as our Suishen Code, a digital pass issued by the city authorities. Both an identification and health pass, the Suishen Code has allowed the government to combat the pandemic with rigorous efficiency; every city or province in China has its own health code – the primary reason why a watch fair with hundreds of visitors can take place...
Deployant
Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer was first released in Baselworld 2009 with two versions – white and rose gold with silver dials. In Baselworld 2016, the watch was updated with a blue in-house manufactured dial. The 2020 version now comes with a new case design, noticeably the bezel and a differently finished movement.
Revolution
Richard Mille Technical Director – Movement, Salvador Arbona takes us on a deep dive into their next generaton chronograph, the RM 72-01
Quill & Pad
Often with incoming pieces GaryG resists the temptation to wear a watch until he has had the chance to photograph it in pristine condition, but in the spirit of fun he chucked out the principle of restraint and slapped his new Hajime Asaoka Kurono Anniversary Green Mori right on his wrist. When you read Gary's story and see his photos you will know why.
Significant picks and unusual objects highlight this week's round-up of vintage watches from around the web.
Time+Tide
It’s a dark, rainy afternoon in Melbourne with temperatures plunged back below 10 degrees. But it’s always sunny when you can write the Wind Down from the office with colleagues around - 1.5m away, of course, but at least around! Today is my first day back in the office for what I would guess to be … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN: A Seiko you can buy for a good cause, a Longines Tuxedo, and our GPHG winners wish list appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Quill & Pad
Glashütte celebrates 175 years of watchmaking and unveils a memorial statue of Walter Lange. Elizabeth Doerr was one of the few journalists at the COVID-19-restricted event and shares a recap of it with us here.
Deployant
Patek Philippe extends its family of pilot-style watches with the new Ref. 7234G-001 Calatrava Pilot Travel Time, rounding up the watch family which is inspired by the manufacture’s aviator's watches from the 1930s.
Quill & Pad
The 'Kingsman' feature-film series is based on comic books of the same name and stars a special breed of British secret service operatives. Stylish as they are, these Savile Row agents also obviously need watches to match their bespoke suits. In honor of the forthcoming third film in the series, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Mr. Porter launch the exceptional Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife Watch. And it is bound to wow you with its cutting-edge profile!
Question, suggestion, or just want to say hi? Drop a note.