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.
If there were a watch enthusiasts’ encyclopedia, under “embarrassment of riches” the image might just be a side-by-side shot two of contemporary watchmaking’s great complicated pieces: the “mighty” A. Lange & Söhne Double Split and Patek Philippe’s Reference 5370P split-second chronograph. In this article, GaryG compares and contrasts them to come out with a winner.
For reasons GaryG still doesn’t fully understand, he has long been drawn to chronographs. One nice thing he finds about comparing the Patek Philippe Reference 5370 against the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Honeygold Homage to F.A. Lange is that it’s a fair fight between two purpose-built single rattrapante chronographs of classical construction. Here he puts them head to head.
A generous friend offered GaryG the opportunity to shoot his white gold Kari Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II so that Gary is able to share delightful photos of both his custom pink gold Chronograph II in comparison with his friend’s custom white gold version.
GaryG turns his attention and camera to three watches developed by collector and industry veteran William Massena, two of which are co-branded collaborations and the third a piece with origins in a conversation among a bunch of friends.
One of the big introductions of 2015 in the collector’s world was A. Lange & Söhne’s Zeitwerk Minute Repeater: a watch that both shows and chimes off the time using a “decimal” format of hours, tens of minutes, and minutes rather than the more traditional hours, quarters (15 minutes), and minutes. But the first decimal repeating wristwatch to reach the market wasn’t the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater. It was by independent watchmaker Kari Voutilainen.
One of the best things about dealing with independent watchmakers is the ability to request unique touches on your watch. That’s just what happened after GaryG’s new friend first saw Kari Voutilainen’s Sport28, a titanium-cased watch that itself is quite rare with only eight examples made in total.
As a collector, and a fairly visible one at that, GaryG has been paying attention to reports of muggings and thefts of watches and wondering whether it makes sense these days to wear valuable pieces in public. He polled a group of 20 watch enthusiast friends on their personal safety while wearing watches to learn what steps they take to keep safe.
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: GaryG talks watch cases.
Many of you are likely to have come across at least a few heated discussions of “finishing,” a topic that seems to fascinate, and divide, watch enthusiasts. Like many people, GaryG’s starting point for serious watches was with a well-priced brand long known for its expertise in developing movements, justly viewed as offering good value for money – but not necessarily for the refinement of its movement finishing, at least on its less expensive pieces.