Entries by Tim Mosso

Stainless Steel Patek Philippe Nautilus Market Madness: Thoughts On The Current Market Situation

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Since January of 2016, secondary market prices of stainless steel Patek Philippe Nautilus models have surged in a fashion rarely seen. This phenomenon – and it is that – is exceptional for reasons including the relative age of the models involved, the magnitude of the surge, and the speed with which it has struck. Here Tim Mosso takes a closer look at the current secondary market insanity of the Nautilus.

The Golden Age Of Rolex Movements Part IV: Patents And Predictions For The Future of Rolex Watchmaking

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Rolex has been described as a blue-chip brand built on blue-collar movements. That’s true no longer: recent developments at the patent office suggest that the future of Rolex watchmaking may yield dramatic breaks with its conservative past. Atomic oscillators, advanced mechanical escapements, and new complications could remodel Rolex in the image of avant-garde independent and boutique brands as Tim Mosso reports.

The Golden Age Of Rolex Movements Part III: Branding vs. Breakthroughs In Recent Years

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The last two decades have witnessed regular Rolex engineering advances, often in plain sight and in rapid succession. Despite these developments, Rolex remains a brand defined not by movements but by continuity, model families, and the Rolex image itself. Tim Mosso thinks that the root of Rolex’s soft-pedaled reputation for movement virtuosity lies in the company’s own branding strategy. That and more in this third installment of Rolex’s history of movement technology.

‘Arm’s Length Architecture’: Building Blocks To Watchmaking As Exemplified By Some Of Today’s Wristwatches Including Urwerk, Nomos, Mido And Girard-Perregaux

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SIHH 2019 provided an instructive example to Tim Mosso of architecture’s low-key role in watch design relative to well-worn tropes. For him it was the third year in a row that parts of Geneva’s Palexpo felt like a Southern California cars-and-coffee event. But there are a few watch brands that do architecture well, and Tim takes a closer look at some of them here.