Grönefeld 1941 Grönograaf: My Once Predicted Winner for the 2022 ‘Best Chronograph’ at the 2022 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève – I (kind of) Called it Right – Reprise

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When Tim and Bart Grönefeld showed Ian Skellern their prototype 1941 Grönograaf during Watches & Wonders 2022, he loved it. But he didn’t think it would win “Best Chronograph” 2022 at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève because he thought that prize would go to the then-soon-to-be-released MB&F LM Sequential EVO. Ian has since changed his mind, and here’s why.

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Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Yellow Neon Saxem: Reflections of a Laser Physicist on ‘Saxem’

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In early 2023, Hublot introduced the Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Yellow Neon Saxem, featuring a case made of a mysterious and rather impressive-looking crystal called Saxem. It looked like an addition to the brand’s extensive line of sapphire watches. But as a retired laser physicist, I wondered: what material was behind that name? Perhaps a special kind of synthetic sapphire?

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3 Indies With Eye-Catching Dials: Czapek Antarctique Passage De Drake, Ming 20.11 Mosaic, And MB&F LM FlyingT Malachite – Reprise

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Here Elizabeth Doerr highlights three new watches of 2021 by independent watchmakers with eye-catching dials that really caught her own eye.

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What was I thinking? Now-departed Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox in pink gold

Watch Collecting Regrets? I’ve Had a Few, But Not too Few to Mention: They Include Selling too Soon and Failing to Buy – Reprise

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You can like everything, but you can’t buy – or keep – everything! Inevitably, the choices involved lead at times to regrets; for GaryG, along with many of his pals, the sadness is much more often about pieces they sold too soon or failed to buy rather than pieces they were sorry about buying in the first place. Here’s a story of shoulda, woulda, coulda.

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Ming 37.05 Series 2: the Moon Plays Among the Stars at Night

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For CHF 4,950, the Ming 37.05 Series 2 is a thoroughly thought-out design, a generous dose of original character, and a fun execution on one of the industry’s oldest complications: the moon phase. Unfortunately, it quickly sold out.

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Maurice Lacroix Aikon Skeleton 39mm: Packing a Smaller Punch (in Size Only) and (Relatively) Affordable- Reprise

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Martin Green thinks that the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Skeleton 39mm is sized perfectly. And to see the skeletonized movement and (nearly) all its parts, the way they interact and work, is captivating.

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In Praise of Anglage: Exceptional Hand-Finished Anglage is Difficult, Slow, and Expensive so the Big Brands have Given Up and Few Seem to Have Noticed (or Seem to Care): Thank God for the Indies! – Reprise

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Big brands are now making beautiful, reliable, and relatively accurate “traditional” mechanical watches, but the handcrafted work many of us value is disappearing. Highly skilled watchmakers and artisans are rare and expensive: there just aren’t enough of them available to churn out the large quantity of nice watches now being sold. And why bother when nobody seems to have noticed?

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Glorious Burgundy is Experiencing an Unprecedented Golden Age of Fantastic Wine Vintages – Reprise

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“So marvelous, so delicate was the bouquet, it seemed an impertinence to go further and taste this miraculous liquid; and yet, on the palate it almost made one regret the waste of time the moments spent in taking in the perfume.” Ken Gargett didn’t write that, but he feels the same way about the fabulous wines of Burgundy. Find out here why this is the golden age for this region.

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Microbrands vs. Independent Watchmakers: The Rise of (Relatively Affordable) Microbrands

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In recent years, several factors have come together resulting in the exponential rise of microbrand watches. This new microbrand wave is one of the biggest developments in the broader watch market. I would mention here that not all microbrands are equal. There are many watches out there that, to be honest, are not worth your time. However, some microbrands are getting it right as Raman Kalra highlights here.

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Australian Chardonnay:  The Judgment of Paris Part Two (Oz Edition)

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For those not familiar with what was a monumental shift in the tectonic plates of the world of wine, the Judgement of Paris is a legendary moment when the spotlight’s glare revealed that it was entirely possible to make great wine outside France.

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