Over the twenty-odd years I’ve been buying “serious” watches, I’ve purchased more pieces bearing the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand name than any other, by far. Within the Jaeger-LeCoultre pantheon, one watch sub-group stands out for me: the Reverso. Between my wife and I, we’ve bought a total of seven Reverso models. Given that, why add another? In this instance, the Reverso Tribute to 1931?
It seems like only yesterday, but it was all the way back in January of 2014 that I had the opportunity to sit down for the first time with Elizabeth and Ian and hear their plans for Quill & Pad. Before the year completely gets away, here are a few of my observations and reflections on the industry, my first year at Quill & Pad, and my year in watches.
Many of you are likely to have come across at least a few heated discussions of “finishing,” a topic that seems to fascinate, and divide, watch enthusiasts. Like many people, my starting point for serious watches was with a well-priced brand long known for its expertise in developing movements, justly viewed as offering good value for money – but not necessarily for the refinement of its movement finishing, at least on its less expensive pieces. What have I learned since then?
Once upon a time in a small watch shop in a (relatively) small California town before GaryG really knew much at all about Vacheron Constantin as a brand and company. there was a display case. And a watch: the Vacheron Constantin Malte Squelette.
In this edition of ‘Behind the Lens,’ GaryG pays tribute to the introduction of the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 twenty years ago 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.
If you are a watch enthusiast or know people who are, I am sure that it has not escaped your notice that watch nuts are often car nuts and vice versa. Generalities aside, I can tell you that in my specific case I have been car crazy for as long as I have been a watch fanatic.
Welcome to the second installment of “Behind the Lens.” This time, our subject is the Patek Philippe Advanced Research Ref. 5550P, a truly lovely perpetual calendar with some interesting technical twists.
Many watches hold a special significance for their owners. The watch I am chronicling here didn’t just change someone’s life, it changed MY life: the Jean Daniel Nicolas Two-Minute Tourbillon by Daniel Roth.
In the “Objects of Desire” series, I’ll be looking at pieces that fall into the latter two categories – a mix of unobtanium and timenotrightium, as my Quill & Pad colleague Joshua Munchow might say. And, where better to start on the topic of desire than with the watches of Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey?
This is the first in a planned series of “why I bought it” articles that will unfold here over time. Of course, there will be photos – and lots of them – but I hope you’ll find my commentary on a collector’s mindset and the motivations, delights, and possible misgivings behind each individual transaction interesting, too. Let’s start the series off with a bang: the Vianney Halter Deep Space Tourbillon.