Entries by Ian Skellern

Gumball Rally/Around-the-World-in-80-Days/24 Hours of Le Mans: Here’s a Proposal for a Real-Life International Chronometry Competition that Both Brands and Collectors might Enjoy

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Ian Skellern’s suggestion for an International Chronometry Competition is a group of well-heeled collectors – brands/independents are also welcome to participate, but I suspect they will wait to see how it goes – set off from, say, Geneva, but could be New York, Dubai, or Singapore, wearing one or two watches, on a two-week world tour. Here he explains how it might work.

John McGonigle Oileán H-B1 Triple Calendar Chronograph: I Don’t Know of a More Beautiful Complicated Movement Available for the Money – Reprise

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In 2021, John McGonigle launched the H-B1, the first watch under his solo brand Oileán. It’s a beautifully hand-finished triple-calendar column wheel chronograph powered by a highly modified new-old stock Valjoux 88 movement. While not cheap, Ian Skellern thinks it’s the best value-for-money, exquisitely hand-finished, complicated watch he has ever seen.

Abraham-Louis Breguet Souscription Pocket Watch No. 1836, dated 1807: Touched (perhaps) by The Hand of the Horological God Himself, I’m Jaded No Longer – Reprise

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This Breguet souscription pocket watch number 1836 was created just after the French Revolution in 1796 and was sold in 1807 for £600. A testament to the quality of the movement’s design and the skill of its watchmaker, after more than 200 years it still runs impeccably today, which makes it the perfect role model for Breguet’s modern Tradition line.

Have a Perfectly Fitting Watch Strap with this Tactile, Adjustable Strap Buckle by Roland Iten: It’s Both Useful and Relatively Affordable – That’s Win/Win! – Reprise

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Watch straps and buckles (both pin and folding) are the nearly ideal way to fit your watch to your wrist, but they have an inherent drawback: the standard holes in the strap are 8 mm apart, so unless you are very lucky you have to select a hole that either makes the strap too tight or too loose. The perfect answer is either paying for a custom strap and hoping that your wrist size doesn’t change or a Roland Iten RWC09 adjustable buckle.

Yes, You Must Declare Your Watches: Arnold Schwarzenegger held at Munich airport and Pays Taxes and Fine for Undeclared Audemars Piguet Watch for Charity

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Arnold Schwarzenegger recently flew into Munich Airport en route to his native Austria with a Audemars Piguet watch that he planned to auction at a charity gala for organized by his climate foundation. However, he didn’t declare the watch to customs officials – ouch!

Patria Brigadier Tourbillon Subscription Edition: A Beautifully Hand-Finished, Swiss Made Tourbillon for 18,000 Swiss francs is the Bargain of the Year, perhaps the Decade! – Reprise

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Love them or hate them, one thing that most collectors know is that tourbillons are very expensive. That’s all changed with Patria’s Brigadier Tourbillon Subscription Edition costing ‘just’ CHF 18,000 for a beautifully hand finished Swiss Made tourbillon.

Why I Bought It and My Horological Journey to Buying a Vincent Deprez Tourbillon Classique Souscription Edition – Reprise

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Alex has been a serious watch collector for decades, but it’s only in the last few years that he has focused his attention to independent watchmakers. Here he shares the story of his collecting journey and why he bought a Vincent Deprez Tourbillon Classique Souscription Edition