What a diverse bunch of tourbillons in this Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève category: two of them are beautifully transparent, while one of them is combined with a chronograph. Yet another contains a constant-force device, while one example here can be flipped around. And, finally, the sixth is involved in a space war. Oh, to choose a winner!
When the Royal Oak Offshore launched in 1993 its timing was perfect: the bolder, larger, louder sibling of the Royal Oak was one of the trailblazers of the oversized watch trend. Nearly three decades later, the line’s large sizing has mellowed down a bit. While it never comes close to becoming a dress watch, the Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph does a mighty fine job of outlining how the complicated future of this collection might evolve.
Since its launch in April 2021, the watch world has been at odds with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Marvel Black Panther Flying Tourbillon. And while it has polarized opinions, that didn’t stop it from selling out quickly. Now Christie’s has the first Black Panther up for auction at its online “The Marvelous Sale.”
Can a serious watch manufacture get away with producing such a “gimmicky” timepiece as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Black Panther? Serious and gimmicky are not mutually exclusive, but they were posed as two different questions in the same breath by Marc André Deschoux of The Watches TV in a special video taking a look at the first timepiece to emerge from the collaborative energy between Audemars Piguet and Marvel Studios. What’s your opinion?
It would be relatively easy, and pretty interesting, for GaryG to tell you the story of his two days one summer with artist Alexa Meade and her team. And he’ll get to that, but there’s more: the flood of sensations and emotions that came from considering why time and space are so important to him and from inhabiting a work of art that melded GaryG’s vision of himself with the artist’s interpretation and self-expression. And there was even a watch.
If GaryG wants to buy a watch of any significance it requires that he sells one or more other pieces. The bad news is that all of the watches he doesn’t really love were sold off a long time ago! As a result, the discipline of asking, “What watch in his current collection do I love less than this potential new purchase? has become tougher and tougher. Here he shares three watches that he feels are long term-keepers and why.
To this day, when most people think about luxury watches they picture a wizened, white-haired man in a white lab coat bent over a workbench against the backdrop of snowy Alps busily filing away at watch parts. It’s a lovely picture, but not very representative of the modern – or even necessarily traditional – watch industry as Elizabeth Doerr explains here.
Are you ready for fine high horology with a bit of glamour? Here are two of the more affordable and elegantly sporty models from two of watchmaking’s finest brands: Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe.
It would be relatively easy, and pretty interesting, for GaryG to tell you the story of his two days one summer with artist Alexa Meade and her team. And he’ll get to that, but there’s more: the flood of sensations and emotions that came from considering why time and space are so important to him and from inhabiting a work of art that melded GaryG’s vision of himself with the artist’s interpretation and self-expression. But what does any of this have to do with watches?
As Joshua Munchow looks back over 2019, he is reminded what an exciting year it has been in the world of watches – from changes to the major fairs and exhibitions to corporate acquisitions and right on down to surprising launches from brands. There was definitely enough to keep us on our toes.
