Richard Mille – the man – is the FIA Endurance Commission president, so a Richard Mille Racing Team taking part in the FIA World Endurance Championships with an LMP2 Oreca 07 prototype is perhaps not surprising. What is surprising, however, is that this brand-new team is all female and preparing to take on the mythical 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Launched in 1969, the Catena/Zeno Spaceman is special thanks to its funky design as well as its its fiberglass and chrome case. The Spaceman’s blend of ovals, curves, and straight lines was just right for that groovy time in fashion, touching a nerve in a hip watch-buying public. It was a polarizing watch: people generally either hated it or loved it at first sight, and remains so today. Here is the brief history of this fun vintage watch.
In 1783, just as the queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was sitting for a portrait, an officer of the queen’s guard visited Abraham-Louis Breguet’s workshop: Queen Marie Antoinette desired a pocket watch containing all known horological complications at the time. It took 44 years to complete and is perhaps the most famous watch in history, as much for its intriguing story as its ingenious mechanics.
Here our panel members discuss the watches they’ve seen launched in the first half of 2020 thus far and pick their favorites. So sit down, grab a glass of your favorite tipple, and settle in for a rich feast of new watches.
Vintage watches are becoming more and more of a subject in our little world of ticks and tocks. So Elizabeth Doerr set out for Frankfurt very early one Saturday morning to meet up with an old acquaintance, vintage watch dealer Ron Geweniger, to attend the Dr. Crott auction and learn a bit of what goes on behind the bidding.
Following part one and two of this series of auctions, the third in this four-part series by Sotheby’s called Masterworks of Time is entitled “Abraham-Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire.” Extraordinarily, this auction comprising only pocket watches by Breguet and other masters will take place online, beginning on June 3, 2020 at 4:00 pm CET.
As a great many watch lovers know, straps and bracelets have the ability to make or break a watch. While many might find the “vintage” appearance of mesh too delicate for today’s watches, for Elizabeth Doerr, mesh remains one of the most beautiful ways to dress up a watch, whether new or old. Here she explains her attraction to mesh, and why you might like it too.
Jacky Ickx and Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele have been friends for 27 years. In 1989 Scheufele and Ickx drove the Mille Miglia together. It is such shared events in addition to the legendary racecar driver’s achievements that have inspired Chopard to continue to dedicate timepieces to Ickx, honoring a man who can certainly be called one of the world’s very best drivers. Check out 6 watches dedicated to him here.
Shinola’s Detrola collection is geared more toward color, materials, and fun than serious watchmaking. It balances style with affordability much the same way Swatch does. And the brand’s new Detrola The Champ has one more thing going for it: it has turned a setback into a strength to benefit COVID-19 relief in the Detroit area.
The auction world is in some disarray right now, but the 2020 Dr. Crott spring auction in Mannheim, Germany will take place online and/or in place with a date moved from the usual May position to June 29, 2020 at noon CET. Elizabeth Doerr shares eight of her highlights here.