Editorial: The Meaning of Quality in Vintage Watches
There are endless ways to collect in any category of art and collectibles, including watches. The easiest way is to buy whatever strikes one’s fancy, as a hobbyist’s pastime. Carried on over an extended period of time, one is bound to possess a sizeable collection, a mixed bag consisting of nice and, more likely than not, middling objects. But is this the best way? The alternative – and far more meaningful – way to collect, is the focus on quality. But just what, one may ask, is “quality”? In this day and age, it is a word thrown around a lot, by laymen, dealers, and collectors alike. To me, “quality”, first and foremost, refers to the significance of a given object. For the most serious collectors of timepieces made by Rolex and Patek Philippe – the two most important manufactures in watchmaking due to their continuous histories of producing illustrious craft – it entails the pursuit of models that are the most significant both aesthetically and technically. At the pinnacle of Rolex collecting lies the ref. 6062. Debuted at the Basel fair in 1950, the 6062 was the world’s first waterproof, self-winding wristwatch with complete calendar and moon phase (pictured at top, a steel Rolex ref. 6062 from 1953). One of only two original Rolex models with moon phase – the other being the non-waterproof ref. 8171 with snap-back case – the 6062 represented the epitome of postwar Rolex watchmaking: a complicated yet robust and accurate automatic movement s...
Time+Tide
