One of the big surprises for me at the 2018 SIHH was Panerai’s new releases of some – I guess I would call them – small watches. I’m not talking about delicate models under 35 millimeters in diameter when I say small, but a respectable 38 millimeters for the smallest model. Yes, you read that correctly.
Here’s a prediction by Ian Skellern: the relatively nondescript AMC movement Urwerk presented at the 2018 SIHH will not only become one of the horological highlights of the year but will take its place among history’s most significant timepieces. Ever. That’s a bold statement, he knows. Especially when all we have at present from Urwerk is the slave watch movement. Here Ian explains why he thinks AMC is so significant.
There is a certain sense of irony in it: while trying on a new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore I realized during the 2018 SIHH that current trends seem to favor smaller watches. It seems that the watch world has finally returned to its senses with smaller sizes. And that is a good thing!
Many watch aficionados are likely to be familiar with Chrono24, the world’s leading watch platform for buying and selling new, vintage, and pre-owned watches. Well, it just held its first GTG in Karlsruhe, where the company is based. Elizabeth Doerr attended and now gives us a first-hand report.
Christiaan van der Klaauw presented the world’s smallest mechanical planetarium in 1999 and the first three-dimensional moon phase in a wristwatch six years later. Today, designers Daniël and Maria Reintjes run the astronomical brand, so Martin Green and Boris Pjanic visited the workshop to see how things are going.
On January 22, 2018 Richemont announced its intent to purchase the remaining shares it doesn’t already own of online luxury retailer YOOX Net-A-Porter Group (YNAP). There’s much more to this story than just a corporate acquisition. This is as much about Amazon and how fine timepieces will be sold in the future as it is about the online sales of luxury goods between two industry giants.
Friends, colleagues, and clients have posed many questions about the grey market for fine timepieces over the years. Most recently, my post ‘A Cautionary Tale on Buying New Watches Online’ was met with quite a few comments, quite possibly leaving more questions than answers. Here are a few answers.
The Limited Edition program (Edición Limitada) has been the great success story for Cuban cigars this century, and the recently released Cohiba Talismán Limited Edition 2017 is the latest in a line of superb smokes.
La Montre Hermès moved from Baselworld to Geneva for the 2018 SIHH and picked the perfect theme for its debut there: “Let’s Play.” The brand’s fun-filled booth and watches were a welcome contrast to the often overly serious business side of the fair. Check them out right here!
In this edition of ‘Behind the Lens,’ GaryG pays tribute to the introduction of the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 on October 24, 1994. He brings us stunning images of two very special variants of the classic watch: the rare Cellini limited edition, of which only 25 were made for the New York City retailer, and the even rarer stainless steel Lange 1, which was not a limited edition per se, but certainly a (very) limited sort-of production watch.