Ahead of the eighth edition of the Only Watch auction taking place on November 9, 2019 in Geneva, Martin Green takes a look at ten unique-piece chronographs going under the hammer. Which is your favorite?
The most interesting aspect of the Aiguille d’Or is how the winner won’t always be the most complicated, expensive, or groundbreaking. To win the Aiguille d’Or, a watch needs to be a fantastic all-around watch and have that little something extra, that ‘je ne sais quoi.’ So which watch has our panel set its sights upon? There is much discussion, of course . . .
With his long-running issue with alarm clocks, Joshua Munchow is the perfect potential customer (his wallet not withstanding) for the RM 62-01 Tourbillon Vibrating Alarm ACJ, the most complicated Richard Mille watch to date and one that features the first purposefully silent mechanical alarm in a wristwatch.
Over the twenty-odd years that GaryG has been buying “serious” watches, he has purchased more pieces bearing the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand name than any other, by far. Within the Jaeger-LeCoultre pantheon, one watch sub-group stands out for him: the Reverso. Between his wife and he, they’ve bought a total of seven Reverso models. Given that, why add another? In this instance, the Reverso Tribute to 1931?
The retrograde indication is one of Joshua Munchow’s favorite “Because We Can” (BWC) complications. Gears are an amazing invention and have allowed watchmakers to make incredible creations. Simple gear systems leave a multitude of openings for creativity. He looks at some great examples of them here.
Martin Green still vividly remembers admiring the Minimatik in the comfort of the Nomos booth at Baselworld 2015. Other watches were presented to him during this appointment, but he kept reaching for the Minimatik. Now he has bought one for himself, and here Martin explains why.
Seems it wasn’t that long ago that GaryG wrote his first “Objects of Desire” article about the watches of Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, finishing with the sentiment that given the prices of their watches that he was unlikely to be able to buy any of the ones he truly lusted after anytime soon. Gary’s observation at the time was “go big or go home.” As you will see, he ended up going big and is now the proud owner of a Greubel Forsey Invention Piece 1.
Marketing material for the modern mechanical watch almost always includes a description of the the movement’s frequency. You may have even sensed that the higher the frequency, the more accurate a movement gets. But is this entirely true? Find out here.
The GPHG Challenge category should probably more accurately be called the “Bang For Your Buck” category because this really is where you can see just how much watch you can get for your hard-earned dollar. But our panel is quite split on which watch delivers the most for the least.