Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 24 i REVOLUTION WATCH

Yet again, Only Watch has rivaled other auctions in the record-breaking stakes, with the 2017 sale turning up a handful of eye- (and wallet-) openers. It’s understandable why the well-heeled dig deeply: while satisfying one’s watch lust and acquiring a unique piece made just for the event, one is supporting a charity that helps children. A biennial highpoint of the watch enthusiast calendar, Only Watch has taken place every two years since 2005, and 2017 is the seventh. The bar was raised when the Tudor Black Bay One sold for CHF375,000 in 2015. This year’s standouts among the 50 lots, auctioned by Christie’s and adding to the tally that raised CHF10,776,500, included another outrageous result for Tudor. The Black Bay Bronze One left-hander achieving CHF350,000 on an estimate of CHF4,500–CHF5,500.…

Watch porn — books filled with glorious, oversized photos of amazing timepieces — has been well-served by John Goldberger’s titles on Rolex, Omega and Longines, while Mondani’s gigantic single-model Rolex, Patek and Tudor tomes are almost forensic in their detail. Photographer Matt Hranek has chosen a different approach for packaging 100 huge color photos — each dial is reproduced almost to the size of a CD — by linking them to their owners. Subjects range from dead celebrities to current watch enthusiasts and rarities in company museums, adhering to the quote solicited from no less than Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City: “Great watches not only tell time — they also tell stories. Hranek has assembled a wonderful collection of stories and images representing a diverse and fascinating…

Celebrating over 150 years of rich history, TAG Heuer brought together 400 vintage pieces from collectors and its museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, for the Heuer Globetrotter Exhibition in 10 cities for 10 exhibitions, each representing a theme in the brand’s history. The exhibitions were an impressive show of heritage from a brand that always strives to be culturally in touch with modern society. The Heuer Globetrotter Exhibition was made up of different exhibitions per city, each set in a different TAG Heuer boutique around the world. Each city had its own theme: Paris showcased the classic Heuers, Geneve showed the major inventions from the brand, Munich focused on the brand’s military watches, Venice exhibited cars and timekeeping, Dubai had sailing and diving, Hong Kong featured famous cars and their…

Snorkeling in the middle of the Indian Ocean is a humbling experience, much like standing in the midst of the Alps, in awe of the magnitude of nature. I stare down through my mask into an abyss of turquoise blue water, floating on the border between worlds, waiting and looking. My mind jumps back to a conversation I once had with a diver who told me that you would feel a shark before you ever saw it. My breathing quickens and I decide to wiggle my fins in the direction of the others in our group. It isn't sharks that we are looking for on this sunny day in Hanifaru Bay in the Baa Atoll of the northern Maldives, but manta rays, who are here to feast on the mass…

CARTIER ROTONDE DE CARTIER MYSTERIOUS DAY & NIGHT MOVEMENT Manual-winding caliber 9982 MC; retrograde minutes and hours; day/night indication; 48-hour power reserve CASE 40mm; pink or white gold; water-resistant to 30m STRAP Gray alligator-leather with pink- or white-gold folding buckle One would be forgiven for thinking that, of all the complications now cluttering the watch dials of the world, “day/night” indication is the most useless. Unless you’re sporting a GMT or world-timer and have to ascertain the situation in another zone, such a function is a case of stating the obvious. After all, to know which is which, you need only look out the window. This applies everywhere, all the time, unless you’re in Scandinavia or perhaps Game of Thrones Westeros. Hand on heart, I have only needed day/night confirmation…

From the moment you first set eyes on an URWERK watch, you experience a seismic conceptual shift in the way time is interpreted. Says Felix Baumgartner, the brand’s founder: “The idea was to create a new time-telling language, something powerful, primal and expressive.” Co-founder and designer Martin Frei continues: “By removing all the hands, you relinquish the traditional way of measuring time. In that moment, you transform the idea of time from a pragmatic measurement to something where time gains a private significance for you. It causes your mind to move into an experiential and meditative state.” URWERK watches unveil the passing of time using a system of orbital hour satellites that traverse a fixed minute track on the bottom edge of the case. Because of this, the actual time-telling…

BULGARI OCTO MASERATI MOVEMENT Caliber BVL 262; hours, minutes, retrograde indicator and jumping hour; power reserve of 42 hours CASE GranSport, 41mm black DLC-treated carbon GranLusso, 41mm 18K pink gold DIAL GranSport, black dial, silvered hands and indexes GranLusso,18kt pink gold dial, hands and indexes STRAP GranSport, perforated blue leather strap GranLusso, perforated brown leather strap Recently, Bulgari announced two new Octo Maserati models, the GranSport (pictured) and the GranLusso, simultaneously in Geneva and at the Frankfurt Motor Show. “In Italy, you have many luxury brands, but few are old brands,” says Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO, Bulgari. “Maserati is the oldest Italian sports car company. It’s very special because when you think about Bulgari, it’s about beauty, tradition and craftsmanship, and Maserati has the same values. We resonate very well with…

It’s early October and I’m in the middle of the Agafay Desert, Morocco. The blistering sun beats down on my face, with its sole purpose to scald me, and the 40°C heat makes the air alarmingly heavy as it travels into my lungs. Sweat rolls from under my cap and splashes onto the dust beside my feet, and the landscape around looks more like Mars than Earth. I glance at the large 47mm Panerai Luminor Submersible on my wrist — I’ve been running for 30 minutes, yet it feels like forever. As this is a light warm-up for the inaugural IGO Adventures NW05o Moroccan Challenge, a four-day quadrathlon through the Moroccan wilderness, I’m nervous to say the least. Founded in 2015, IGO Adventures facilitates life-affirming journeys to some of the…

The Kon-Tiki expedition began with the need to make a point: Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer, was convinced that people from South America could have settled in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times, and he was going to prove it in whatever way he could. Migration in Incan times is hotly debated in anthropological circles; compared to other bouts of historical migration in the world, South American history in pre-colonial times remains largely unconfirmed — due to the fact that the Incan people didn’t keep records, but passed on their cultural values through oral storytelling. So, in 1947, Heyerdahl set out to prove that, yes, Incans could’ve settled in Polynesia and made the journey from Peru to the Polynesian islands on wooden rafts by doing the same journey himself. And…

There are several brands involved with football and players, including TAG Heuer with Tom Brady, Hublot with the Dallas Cowboys and Mido with college football. Some other NFL players get involved with watches organically, as they begin to make life-changing money and fall in love with fine timepieces. Here are some watch-and time-related musings from three famous NFL quarterbacks. TOM BRADY, NFL QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS “The right watch looks and feels good, is functional and the technology and craftsmanship behind it is interesting and something to be appreciated — I like Swiss craftsmanship and a great look. For athletes, many sports plays require timing that literally comes down to a fraction of a second. Part of being a great player is keen awareness of time, and this is also…

Zenith’s incredible rebirth over the past one year under the aegis of the adventurous Jean-Claude Biver has resulted in a timepiece that reminds those who have forgotten. This maison is a true manufacture which has never been anything but manufacture, and its inventiveness — as exemplified by the El Primero — is second to none. With the Zenith Defy Lab, the company has demonstrated its prowess through a development that can only be described as fundamental. Reviving a name from its past, “Defy” having stood for disruptiveness and boldness, Zenith has used the range to showcase a rethinking of British horologist Robert Hooke’s invention of the balance and hairspring principle (erroneously credited to Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens until the discovery of a missing manuscript in 2006). The key element of…

There are few things in this world that will never go out of style. Just to name three: the tracklist of Deep Purple’s Machine Head, a trusty mechanical watch, and the color black. And when you put them altogether, you get something cool, tough and unbreakable — an all-ceramic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar. Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak family has made a name for itself in the “sporty luxury” watch department with its classic steel and precious metal bracelets. To create one with its bezel, case and bracelet in ceramic is a pioneering feat for the brand and most of all, extremely challenging because of the unusual shape of the watch. Separate from what is known as earthenware ceramics, the ceramic used in this watch is composed of very…

In the UK, you are perhaps best known for playing the mind-reader Patrick Jane in seven seasons of The Mentalist. Did you expect the show to last that long? When you start something like that, you never really know but you are always hopeful that it will run for a while. A successful programme is a combination of so many things: the script, the execution of it and – because it involves so many people working together – the politics of the situation and how well everyone gets on. With The Mentalist, the members of the team all complemented each other and we became tight, which helped as there’s a lot of work and pressure and things can get difficult at times. Is it hard to be so strongly linked…

Omega’s continued run of notable achievements in the 21st century embraces the birth of the co-axial escapement, the increased popularity of its vintage models — especially the Speedmaster — and the success of the James Bond franchise. Beginning the next chapter in its saga, the company has opened its newest production facility at the brand’s HQ site in Bienne, Switzerland. For the new building, Omega turned to the award-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Noted for his innovative approaches, Ban was named the 37th recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious award in modern architecture. His design for Omega represents “the industry’s most cutting-edge facility for watch assembly, training and quality control”. Conceived to be eco-friendly, it was built with sustainable Swiss spruce and an ingenious indoor climate and…

If there is one brand that knows how to throw a party, it is Bulgari. So, when a boxed invitation for an event at London’s Tower Bridge arrived on the desks of the UK’s watch press in September, excitement was high. Due to security, details were scant but when the night arrived, Bulgari did not disappoint. Hosted by managing director at Bulgari UK Vincent Reynes and with Pascal Brandt (Bulgari Watches communications director), Fabrizio Buonamassa (senior director of Bulgari Watches Design Center) and Lucia Boscaini (brand heritage director) present, the Italian brand took over exhibition space within the Bridge itself. Guest of honor was friend of the brand Lady Kitty Spencer (pictured top left). Forty-two meters above the River Thames, Rome to London consisted of a showcase of key pieces…

Of all of cycling’s greatest sprinters — of which there are many true legends including Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini — Mark “Cav” Cavendish is undeniably, irrefutably and unconditionally the greatest of all time. With palmares that include 30 Tour de France stage victories, 15-stage and two team time-trial victories at the Giro d’Italia, Milan-San Remo and the World Championships, Cavendish has in the past decade been the most exciting man to watch in professional cycling. Part of that is due to the dynamic of his chosen specialization — the balls-out, near-death, brutal carnage of the sprint finish. Part of it is simply that he is supernaturally fast. When you watch Cavendish explode into action in the last 100 meters of a race, achieve critical speed, transform the potential energy…

IWC TRIBUTE TO PALLWEBER EDITION ‘150 YEARS’ REF. IW505002 MOVEMENT Manual-winding caliber 94200; large digital displays for hours and minutes; small hacking seconds; 60-hour power reserve CASE 45mm; red gold; water resistant to 30m STRAP Black alligator leather by Santoni There is no doubt that the watch industry loves to celebrate, bringing out a limited-edition anniversary timepiece at the drop of a hat — or at least the drop of a half-decade. But when a genuine milestone is reached, who can blame a brand for having a good root-around in its archive to bring us one, two or a whole host of heritage-inspired timepieces? And for its 150th celebrations next year, IWC has sent a time-inspired truffle pig into its museum to sniff out something super-special which will take center-stage…

BLANCPAIN VILLERET DATE MOON PHASE MOVEMENT Automatic Caliber 913QL movement; hours, minutes, date indicator and moon phase; power reserve of 42 hours; glucydur balance wheel featuring gold micrometric regulating screws; silicon balance spring CASE 29.20mm 18K red gold STRAP Taupe-colored alligator Men might be from Mars and women from Venus, but today’s watch aficionados universally love complications, especially moon phases. Blancpain is bucking the general watch industry by offering interesting complications for women, like the Villeret Date Moon Phase pictured here. Blancpain almost single-handedly revived the moon phase complication in the early 1980s and it has since become a signature for the brand. One of the most romantic complications, the moon phase of this timepiece is visible through a large dial aperture and is vintage-inspired, designed to evoke the link…

A man’s crown jewels connecting sharply with the pointy apex of an inflated rubber bladder is never a moment of unadulterated joy. When the triceps and biceps that spin-passed the ball into his nether regions with such ruthless precision were those of All Blacks half-back dynamo TJ Perenara, the experience can be called “excruciating” without fear of hyperbole. It’s a crisp, sunny November morning, and I’ve pitched up to a Twickenham playing field — bringing with me early-stage flu, a mild touch of Amstel’s Revenge and a foot twinge that’ll turn out to be a twanged tendon — to take part in a training session with four members of the most successful sporting franchise in history: All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Vaea Fifita and David Havili, as well as Perenara. It’s…

What does an F-15 supersonic flight, a visit to a nuclear missile bunker and a B-52 sortie have in common? For each of the three, I wore a trusty Bell & Ross watch. Last summer, during a U.S. Air Force event at the Pentagon called Magazine Day, I was exposed to, and became interested in, the many workings of that branch of the military. Later, I was lucky enough to be offered a rare personal glimpse into some of those workings: flights in an F-15 and B-52, venerable USAF aircraft workhorses, and a visit to a live U.S. nuclear missile bunker, 70 feet underground. The experiences themselves, of course, were amazing, but my takeaway was more in the stellar airmen and airwomen I met. They were polite, capable, efficient and,…

The Grand Tetons rise sharply out of the plain and tower over the valley as I climb up the slope of one of the smaller mountains, the setting sun shining on the Montblanc TimeWalker Manufacture Chronograph on my wrist. I’m here in Jackson Hole, WY, to discover Montblanc’s direction for 2018 and beyond as the brand prepares to celebrate its 160th anniversary. And it’s fitting that this year’s emphasis is on mountain adventuring, as Montblanc is the only watchmaking company that is named after one of Europe’s highest mountains. If anyone has the legitimacy to focus on the mountain living/exploring lifestyle, it’s Montblanc. THE MONTBLANC DIRECTION Since the beginning of the Minerva Villeret saga, professional “tool” watches have been an important part of the story. Montblanc has never stopped focusing…

I kid you not. At 100mph (or 160km/h in the metric system) the GTR version of the McLaren F1 — the 25-year-old game-changing sports car designed by iconoclast Gordon Murray — generates so much downforce that it could drive upside down across your ceiling. It is also incredibly light, due to McLaren’s pioneering use of carbon fiber, and has a race-ready central driving seat and a naturally aspirated BMW V12 nestled in an engine-bay lined with gold foil to help expel heat. All of this enabled the street-legal version to clock 240.1mph (388km/h), the highest speed ever recorded for a production car in the 1990s. A fleet of racing F1s entered the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours and set an incredible record on the car’s debut, with the McLarens claiming…

There’s no denying that the Blancpain Tribute to Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC, introduced this year at Baselworld, was one of the home runs of the show. Inspired by a military specification 50 Fathoms from 1957, issued to the French Navy (aka the MIL-SPEC 1), this timepiece has it all — a great size, a fantastic look and the performance to back it all up. The Tribute to Fifty Fathoms MIL-SPEC is updated to 40mm, with Super-LumiNova markers on the bezel, which itself is covered with a sapphire ring. Despite the overall update to modern-day technology, including the Blancpain manufacture caliber 1151 automatic movement, the water-ingress disc that was originally used to let a diver know if water had gotten inside the case is still there. The new watch is water-resistant to…

2017 is the year when the legendary 1969 chronograph icon, the Zenith El Primero, is revolutionized. The latest and the most significant evolution of the original, the Zenith Defy El Primero 21 houses a completely new movement concept built around a 1/100th-of-a-second chronograph, featuring two separate regulation systems with balance springs made of a new patented material known as Carbon-Matrix Carbon Nanotube that is both insensitive to temperature changes and magnetic fields. The timekeeping balance wheel beats at 5Hz, the same as the standard El Primero, while the second escapement that controls the 1/100th-of-a-second chronograph runs at an astounding 50Hz. The latter also has a 50-minute power reserve that is isolated from the timekeeping part of the movement. Why is this 44mm chronograph important? According to Zenith CEO Julien Tornare,…

Bulgari is no stranger to the Revolution Awards. In 2014, it picked up the Best Complication award for the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon and in 2016, it won the Revolutionary Watch award for the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater. These watches, however, have only been the start of the salvo that the brand has been launching at the watch industry, representing the apex achievements of a full-bodied collection that has stunned observers. This year’s award for Best Men’s Watch, unlike the previous winners, goes to a watch that’s a little more accessible, and it may just represent the most elegant, stunning and technically virtuosic interpretation of an everyday men’s timepiece. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic currently holds the crown as the thinnest automatic watch in the world, and is powered…

As a watchmaker and a classic car enthusiast, there are few opportunities that unite my passions so perfectly as a good old-fashioned day at the races. The smoke, the roar of four-stroke engines and the smell of oil against a backdrop of pre-war cars make it very easy to forget which decade you’re in. Add that to a few perfectly-placed vintage chronographs and greasy race overalls and I’m a woman in my element. The relationship between watches and cars runs far deeper than co-branded collaborations and joint marketing opportunities. At its heart lies a mutual love of mechanical engineering. At its purest form, it demonstrates an appreciation of heritage skills, traditional craftsmanship, character, and style. In terms of a devout appreciation of heritage automotive engineering, there are few more passionate…

You have been CEO at Glashütte Original for a year now. What is your take on the company? Being a watchmaker and engineer myself, I take great pride in being CEO of a true manufacture, where the design and production process — from the first idea to the final assembly of the watch — takes place almost entirely in-house. The time, love and attention dedicated to the making and finishing of every single component is tremendous. This is really rare in the industry. How would you describe the brand to someone who has never encountered it? I would summarize it in two words: “original understatement”.Complicated and lavishly decorated on the inside, but very pure and easy to read on the outside — that’s the unmistakable mix of aesthetic clarity and…

You have achieved so much, but how did you first get involved with golf? My mom gave me a plastic golf club when I was very young, and I would swing it all around the house and the backyard. I was always a big fan of sports from when I was tiny and probably my biggest sacrifice to date was having to give up other sports to concentrate on golf. It was really hard as I loved playing them all growing up. But, while deciding to focus on golf was definitely a difficult decision, it was certainly the right thing for me to do at the time. In 2015 you won the US Masters and US Open — how did it feel to win two majors in a matter of…

When a brand possesses a design language that elicits instant recognition, it makes sense to use the motifs on any objects that they might suit. Chanel, known for so many monumental creations, including the Little Black Dress and No. 5 perfume, also has a design classic in its No. 2.55 bag, a must-own accessory created by Mademoiselle Chanel in February 1955. For those who love that clutch, the company has applied its signature details to a new, celebratory line of wristwatches. Quilting — for that is the decoration of note here — hardly seems a likely carry-over from bag to watch, but the new stainless-steel Code Coco, marking three decades of Chanel watchmaking, utilizes the pattern on the bracelets that enable the timepieces to recall the much-coveted purse. The geometric…

It’s been 25 years since the Italians kicked off the idea of personalizing one’s watch with a change of strap, and renewed interest couldn’t have come at a better time. As the watch world turns to the over/under, so-called “NATO” strap as a simple fix, alternate materials for proper straps are making a comeback thanks to the efforts of watch journalist Simon Cudd and British watch brand Schofield. Cudd explains that, as a watch enthusiast, he needed to get away from “the boring, normal and uninteresting offerings that nearly every brand offers to customers. Giles [Ellis of Schofield] and I have been friends since the brand’s launch in 2011. I became a Schofield watch owner, and over the past few years I have been involved behind the scenes with opinions…

Late 1960s and 1970s cinema was dominated by three all-American blond-haired, blue-eyed actors: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Robert Redford. To a man, they wore Rolex watches both on and off screen. However, when offered a yellow-gold Rolex Submariner, Redford declined saying: “I am not a gold kind of guy.” Redford’s unassuming attitude sums up the laconic, understated screen presence that occasionally frustrated film critics such as the New Yorker’s David Denby, who wrote: “Robert Redford has always been a natural, intuitive, unemphatic movie actor who draws us close with his good looks and his sweet candor and then shuts us out by never revealing much of himself.” The “stillness” approach to screen acting — feeling instead of acting — was in part a natural progression from the great Method…

Customization is really nothing new for Jaquet Droz, after all, the brand was making bespoke clocks and automata for the Qianlong Emperor of China (in the 1700s), many of which are still on display in Beijing’s Forbidden City. What is new is the program that allows anyone, not just emperors, to order bespoke pieces via the brand’s Ateliers d’Art. “Now, we can meet the demands of customers who can thus share the experience of developing a unique model that exactly corresponds to their individual expectations,” says Christian Lattmann, CEO, Jaquet Droz. “Secondly, our artists can also develop their talents to the full to meet these needs, which is extremely rewarding. For the brand, it is also a way of perpetuating what our founders did 280 years ago, preserving this know-how…

AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK OFFSHORE SELF-WINDING CHRONOGRAPH (RE-EDITION) MOVEMENT Self-winding caliber 3126/3840; hours, minutes, small seconds; date; chronograph; 50-hour power reserve CASE 42mm; stainless steel; water-resistant to 100m STRAP Stainless-steel bracelet with folding clasp When launched in 1993, Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore set an important trend for bigger, edgier watches. As explained by François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet, during the pre-SIHH press launch: “Back then, nobody, and I mean nobody, thought that people would want to wear a 42mm watch. But we forged ahead, and to great success.” In the same spirit as it did almost 25 years ago, Audemars Piguet unveiled for its pre-SIHH announcement a re-edition of the 1993 steel Royal Oak Offshore Self-winding Chronograph, as well as a limited-edition Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph in…

RICHARD MILLE RM 70-01 TOURBILLON ALAIN PROST MOVEMENT Manual-winding caliber RM 70-01; hours and minutes; mechanical odometer; tourbillon; 70-hour power reserve CASE 54.88 × 49.48 × 17.65mm; Carbon TPT®; water-resistant to 50m STRAP Performance sports strap When four-time Formula 1 champion Alain Prost and Richard Mille forged a friendship out of their shared involvement in Formula E, it was only a matter of time before Mille created yet another extreme timepiece to honor the legacy of the living racing legend. However, Mille didn’t just want to create a watch that pays homage to his past. It was his desire that he should create something for Prost that would bear relevance to his present. In 1992 Prost was experiencing problems with his knees and back and decided to take a sabbatical…

BREGUET MARINE ÉQUATION MARCHANTE 5887 MOVEMENT Cal 581DPE; hours and minutes; solar time minutes; perpetual calendar with retrograde date; 60-second tourbillon; 80-hour power reserve CASE 950 Platinum 43.9mm; sapphire-crystal case back; water-resistant to 100 meters BEZEL Blue dial in gold, engine-turned. Individually numbered and signed Breguet; Breguet facetted hands in 18k gold with luminescent material; running solar hand with facetted golden sun STRAP Alligator leather with gold folding clasp Abraham-Louis Breguet, along with his other titles, was awarded the distinction in 1815 of being chronometer maker to the French Royal Navy. To honor this, this year Breguet introduced the pictured Grand Complication, the Marine Équation Marchante 5887. This incredibly complicated timepiece, in addition to being a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon, simultaneously indicates civil time and true solar time by…

Now passed her half-century, and still the envy of most women half her age, model, businesswoman and Omega ambassador Cindy Crawford says the build-up to 50 was the only hard part of hitting the milestone. “I think that the older you get, the more confident you get, because you know yourself better,” she says. “You know if you are good at this or not good at that. I wouldn’t say it’s empowering, but you take the good with the bad. And I feel very blessed to even be getting older because not everyone has that opportunity. “In terms of work, doing a photoshoot is the same. There’s a photographer, you get your hair and makeup done, someone is handing you beautiful clothes. The only difference is social media, and that’s…

FOR THE DINNER PARTY The watch to impress. For him: BULGARI OCTO FINISSIMO AUTOMATIC Redefining elegance, this Octo is the thinnest automatic movement ever made. For her: BREGUET LADY TRADITION Exposing this timepiece’s incredible movement makes this watch even more precious. FOR THE COUNTDOWN Here is your perfect New Year’s Eve Watch. For him: FABERGE VISIONNAIRE CHRONO Movement maestro Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and Fabergé team up again to revolutionize the chronograph. For her: JAEGER-LECOULTRE RENDEZ-VOUS SONATINA This beautiful timepiece allows you to set a reminder that chimes. FOR THE FIRST TIMER The watch to give that will ignite a passion for timepieces. For him: ALPINA’S ALPINER 4 AUTOMATIC Leverages the brand’s unique history while offering an incredible value at just $1,495. For her: RAYMOND WEIL LADY FREELANCER For the first time,…

Now that the NFL season is coming down to the wire, with teams poised to make their final push to the playoffs and the Super Bowl, former NFL All-Pro Quarterback Boomer Esiason, is more sought-after than ever before. Why? Because he is a reasoned voice and expert analyst on CBS’s The NFL Today. Esiason had a spectacular 14-year career in the NFL, playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, the New York Jets and the Arizona Cardinals. For Esiason, his watch journey started when he was awarded a Rolex Datejust, a timepiece he still has and cherishes, for being the NFL MVP in 1988, and he has gone on to collect many more watches and serve as an ambassador of the Breitling brand. “I love the design, style and fashion of watches,”…

We all have our ultimate watches in mind — the pieces we’d happily consider sacrificing an arm, maybe a leg, to get. And while a lot of attention is often given to big price tags, limited editions, or one-of-a-kind pieces, just as much praise should be given to the brands that make a lot of watch for a reasonable price tag. Enter Rado’s HyperChrome Captain Cook. Many brands introduced wallet-friendly pieces this year, and many others revealed pieces that appealed to vintage fiends, but Rado’s reinterpretation of its 1960s watch collection combined incredible value with good ol’ vintage goodness. Based on its 1962 Captain Cook dive watch, Rado walked the fine line between honoring one of its classics while still modernizing it for today’s consumer. Instead of going with a…

I’ll tell you one thing for sure — it’s a good thing this is the award for Best Complication and not Best Name. In purely technical terms, the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication is the undisputed heavyweight champion of 2017. I’m obligated to mention here that this watch has 23 complications, but I will also say in my best Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson voice that it doesn’t matter. How can the number of complications not matter in a complications category, you cry. Because we’re awarding for Best and not Most, I reply with crushing logic. What, then, is the Best Complication as embodied in the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication? It is the tripartite representation of time in the form of mean solar time,…

Seldom does it happen. We saw it with the Hermès Le Temps Suspendu (and whatever the claims for “unisex,” this was definitely a woman’s watch) and again with the Patek Philippe Ladies First Chronograph but, on the whole, the occasion of a man coveting a woman’s watch is as rare as steak tartare. This year, however, we saw something unique, when the pester-power of the alphas actually forced the recreation of a woman’s watch in a version for men. But to be fair, the gold-cased Audemars Piguet Royal Oak that has received the Carolina Bucci “hammered” treatment is a piece so exquisitely beautiful that no man could be blamed for giving in to his feminine side. With a faint reminiscence of the great Andrew Grima — particularly in his Hammered…

There is a certain irony that 2017’s Revolution Watchmaker of the Year is, in fact, technically not a watchmaker. His résumé includes stints such as a military pilot, research engineer and university professor. However, few can deny that the direct impact of his technical contributions to the industry has been profound. The person in question is, of course, Guy Sémon, who’s been for almost 10 years at the very epicenter of TAG Heuer’s technical achievements, and who is now CEO of the new LVMH Science Institute and general director of TAG Heuer, expanding his sphere of influence to include Hublot and Zenith. Over the years, Sémon has primarily tackled improvements to existing challenges, such as enabling the production of TAG Heuer’s Monaco V4 belt-driven movement. The prototype had been presented…

One of the most gratifying aspects of our job at Christie’s is helping people auction these exceptional watches. Each day, we are corresponding or speaking with someone who may know little to nothing about the world of rare watches, but who owns something that is valuable and that will be exciting to the world of collectors. The owner could have received the watch any number of ways: an inheritance, a gift, purchased at a flea market, or even bought new decades ago with little expectation of future value. It is a great pleasure to see these watches achieve extraordinary results and to have the owners thrilled at the results. In some cases, the sums the watch owners receive can drastically change their lives for the better. “THE PEARL OF BAHRAIN”…

You have had quite a career. What is your secret of success? I’ve been lucky in a lot of ways. If I internalize it, I am a firm believer that hard work always beats talent. I dedicated myself every single day to grind and put in the work. I never let a setback dictate the next triumph. Did you always want to be a soccer player? Was soccer your first sport? Soccer was my first sport because my mom put me in soccer at six years old. I loved it, though. I was a very competitive basketball player, and I think it’s still my favorite sport. Now, however, I prefer rest over basketball. How did you get interested in watches? When I was young, I couldn’t afford any nice watches,…