Why I Bought It: Vintage Mathey-Tissot Type 20 Big Eye Chronograph
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.
I am the resident “collector” for Quill & Pad. My enduring love affair with good watchmaking began in my formative years and has accompanied me throughout my adult life. In the fortunate position to be able to acquire luxury timepieces as an adult, I am choosy in terms of quality and meaning and do not follow the mainstream art of collecting as it is primarily understood today.
I have been an active contributor to online horological fora for about a decade as I have also become very interested in learning the art of macro photography and even take lessons with wizard photographer Ming Thein. I joined Quill & Pad as the concept of talking about what interests the contributors (and therefore the readers) rather than the act of being an amplifier for industry press releases appeals to me greatly.
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.
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.
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?
GaryG had the opportunity to borrow a Rolex GMT-Master II BLRO Meteorite from a long-time friend to photograph and wear. This watch’s main event is the dial, a thin slice of metallic meteorite whose crystalline structure reflects the slow cooling process that took place as the meteor hurtled through space. Here he tries a variety of photographic techniques to learn which works best on the dial’s unique structures. Which are your favorites?
It’s not easy to have a single product line that spans all the way from entry-level pieces to multimillion-dollar halo watches, but Jaeger-LeCoultre has achieved it with the Reverso. It’s still possible for a young collector to do exactly what GaryG did almost 30 years ago and enter the world of true high horology with a first Reverso purchase.
Can you recall the last time that you read a review of a newly introduced watch and the first few paragraphs of the article were about the case? Yeah – thought not. So here it goes: let’s talk about cases.
If cases get too little attention from watch collectors, GaryG feels that the straps and bracelets that turn a timepiece into a wristwatch seem to get even less. And of late, especially with the controversy surrounding the introduction of the “integrated” bracelet of A. Lange & Söhne’s Odysseus, he has been pondering metal watch bracelets and what makes them so special.
Do you consider yourself a collector? For years GaryG resisted the label, however, he slowly tipped over into having, for lack of a better term, a watch collection. Here Gary shares what collecting means to him.
Can you imagine buying a watch bracelet and then searching for the right watch to pair with it? Seems a bit far fetched, but that’s exactly what a good friend of GaryG’s did a few years ago. And it led to him purchasing two beautiful 1815 Chronograph models from A. Lange & Söhne.
GaryG was sitting at his breakfast table when during his morning scan of news he saw a photo of something breathtaking. It was Logical One by Romain Gauthier – a watch he immediately knew that he would own someday. He was captivated by the white gold version with frosted gold movement: this was “the one” for him.
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