Quill & Pad
Twelve years ago, Blancpain surprised the watch world by introducing a watch in their Villeret collection that featured a traditional Chinese calendar. For 2024, Blanpain releases a limited edition in red gold with oven-fired green enamel dial.
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The good news is that prices have fallen less in 2024 than they did in 2023 or 2022.We probably haven’t seen the secondary market represent this much value-for-money since before COVID.
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The Omega x Swatch Speedmaster MoonWatch was one of the biggest product launches of the decade. Raman Kalra eventually managed to get his hands on one and shares his thoughts here.
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When Ball Watch asked Dietmar Fuchs to test dive one of the company’s newest watches, the Engineer Master II Diver Chronometer, he hesitated at first. Ball didn’t jingle a diving bell for him, but something else from its history jangled: a brand’s “history” section is always the first thing he checks before testing a watch and he discovered Ball Watch has the credentials. So he dove in and now shares his experience and thoughts on the watch here.
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The Roger W. Smith Series 4 is a real crown jewel, both out of respect and a sense that its inherent quality is obscured by less extraordinary but more bombastic rivals. It’s austere, deliberately reserved, and quietly confident amid a world of indie watches buffed and beveled brightly enough to blind an eye.
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GaryG's first rule when it comes to collecting is to avoid setting too many exclusionary rules. With watches, he believes that it's the passion that separates collectors from investors and accumulators. Which brings him to another rule: deriving the full enjoyment from the things you own.
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GaryG's thoughts have turned to one major system that is always there, but generally hidden from sight: the movement. Here are a few of his favorites and why. And in the philosophy of putting my money where my mouth is, these movements have appeared in one or more watches that he has owned personally.
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With it's open dial and sweeping skeletonized bridges, Andreas Strehler's Papillon d’or is both a horological and visual masterpiece. Now with his new Faune et Flore collection, Strehler takes the Papillon d’or to an even high artistic level.
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The rise of the internet, and the consequent evolution of the watch-watching community, has inevitably amplified the phenomenon whereby certain objects have come to exert an extraordinary hold over the collective imagination. Here, Colin Alexander Smith debunks three watch myths circulating widely and freely online and in print concerning former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's Rolex and Patek Philippe, the Khanjar Rolex Sea-Dwellers, and what in fact Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were wearing on their wrists as they summited Mount Everest.
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Simon Brette unveils the “Rose Gold” edition of his GPHG-winning Chronomètre Artisans timepiece: it's a sensational harmony of the warm rose/red gold case and intense-black 'dragon scale' dial.
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In the real world, some complications are pretty useless. And that's not saying they aren’t cool. Here Joshua Munchow runs through his top 5 most useless complications and why they are simultaneously cool.
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Everyone loves a comeback. Except Lance Armstrong. And Mike Tyson. And probably Michael Schumacher, too. Ok… comebacks don’t always work out, but the 2023 Daniel Roth Tourbillon Souscription is a comeback candidate from a brand name with an illustrious past.
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The Patek Philippe 5101 ten-day tourbillon isn’t perfect: it’s not notably shock tolerant, there’s no lume, and one could fault its 25-meter water resistance. But most important of all for Tim Mosso is that he can’t afford it! However, since its supernova 2003 debut, the 5101 has established a towering reputation that is, if anything, insufficient to convey the eye-watering beauty and milestone status of this sinuously shaped machine.
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This is the story of GaryG's pursuit, and eventual capture, of a classic vintage watch: a Type 20 “big eye” flyback chronograph manufactured by Mathey-Tissot.
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With its white case, carved from a block of proprietary fiberglass-enhanced ceramic, the Urwerk UR-230 Polaris opens a new color horizon for the series, a polar perspective.
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With the Overall Market Index now at a two-and-a-half year low, the broad-based nature of the declines across the market continues: Rolex prices are now also at a 30-month low, while Patek Philippe has hit a 26-month low, and Audemars Piguet is at a 27-month low.
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Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, Silicon Valley’s leading timepiece salon has partnered with MB&F; to release an exclusive edition of the Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO.
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There aren’t that many rules that GaryG applies to watch collecting, but one rule that he has found critically important is that it’s crucial to handle a watch before buying it. This story however is about how Gary completely violated that rule and nonetheless came away happy with a watch that few people would have guessed he would buy: the 2020-launched Oyster Perpetual 41 from Rolex with a bright turquoise blue dial.
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When the hammer came down at the Phillips auction and GaryG became the new owner of an A. Lange & Söhne Pour Le Mérite Tourbillon, the feeling was one of complete joy, representing the culmination of a multiyear chase. What makes this particular watch so special in so many ways to him?
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A principle of art that Raman Kalra find best at capturing why some watches work so well is that of proportion. Here he explains why.
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With great sadness, the independent Swiss watch manufacture Armin Strom announces the death of its founder, Mr. Armin Strom at the age of 86.
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The Armin Strom Tribute 2 Copper Edition features a mainplate with a distinctive grattage design in an elegant copper hue. It's a limited edition of just 10 pieces.
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The South Australian Wine Guide 2025 has been launched to provide a definitive guide that throws a light on all of South Australia’s wine regions, with a singular focus on the unique wines from what is still ‘The Wine State’.
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The art and craft is so important to the Parmigiani L'Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse that there are no dial side time indications. In fact, there is no dial side dial!
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The Patek Philippe 5208R is exceptional, even by the perception-warping standards of a watch industry insider like Tim Mosso and here he explains why.
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Osama Sendi, perhaps better known as The Journe Guy (@thejourneguy on Instagram), joined George Mayer in The 1916 Company's New York office for a panel discussion where they go over collecting tips, talk about some of their favorite Journe models.
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The new Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad is titanium cased with carbon fiber composite cladding on its flanks. While the carbon is laced with subtle veins of yellow gold, the material doesn’t overpower.
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Urwerk has installed the latest evolution of its wandering satellite-hour movement on the new he UR-150 Scorpion. It delivers a sense of theatre when one hour dramatically transitions to the next.
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You may have heard of a few or more of the following historical people and events: Thomas Mudge, George Graham, John Harrison, the Longitude Prize, Captain James Cook, and the mutiny on the 'HMS Bounty.' However, you are less likely to have heard the name of a horologist who played a pivotal role in all of the above: Larcum Kendall (1719–1790). Come with me on a worldwide adventure involving timekeeping and history.
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The Two-Minute Tourbillon by Jean Daniel Nicolas/Daniel Roth is a watch that changed Ian Skellern's life. Here he explains how and why.
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