Editor's note: This article features a watch currently available in the HODINKEE Shop.

For a long time, I considered myself a chronograph guy. I'd time all manner of kitchen tasks, steaks on the grill, my lunch break, my commute. Only more recently, about three years ago, did I really learn to appreciate the more genteel pleasures of the GMT, a watch with the capacity to be every bit as useful as a chrono – perhaps not at this very moment, global circumstances being what they are – but that has to be enjoyed more or less passively. You might adjust on the occasion of having traveled to a new locale, or upon deciding it was time to call someone on the other side of the world. This is in contrast to the constant starting, stopping, and resetting of a chronograph.

Not all GMTs are created equal, though. Among current production GMTs, those featuring a jumping local hour connected to the date are, in my opinion, the most intuitive and easy-to-use travel watches out there. Landing in a new time-zone, one merely has to extend the crown and jump the hour however many time zones forward or backward he has traveled, and the work is done.

With the recently released Norqain Freedom 60 GMT, there is a new watch that uses this type of movement, while eschewing the rotating 24-hour bezel one finds on the watches many consider the leaders in the type – the Rolex GMT-Master II, and more recently, from Rolex's sibling brand, Tudor, the Black Bay GMT. 

Placing the 24-hour scale on the dial rather than on a rotating bezel allows for a legible and highly functional display of a second time-zone while maintaining a design that feels clean, even a bit dressy, though you do lose the ability to track a third time-zone. The Norqain Freedom 60's feature set reminds me quite a bit of my Grand Seiko SBGM221, a watch that manages to bring much of the best of the GMT to bear without ever tip-toeing around tool-watch territory. It's a dress watch; heck, I wore it to my own wedding. 

I recently spent some hands-on time with two versions of the Norqain Freedom 60 GMT – one in stainless steel, the other a limited edition in bronze. Each felt solid and well built, with a design and construction that belied the fact that Norqain is a company launched fairly recently. I learned of it for the first time only about a year ago. To say the company's ascent has been rapid feels like an understatement. 

When Norqain announced that it would begin using movements made by Kenissi, the Tudor-owned movement maker, a lot of people stood up and started paying real attention. The most salient feature of Norqain's new GMT is its NN20/2 GMT movement with 70 hours of power reserve, running rate of 28,800 vph, and jumping local hour feature. In terms of appearance and specs, this movement is similar to the Tudor cal. MT 5652, also made by Kenissi, which powers Tudor's excellent and much-written-about Black Bay GMT. The finishing, decoration, and regulation, as well as the oscillating weight, are different in the Norqain caliber. And while the hairspring in the Kenissi-made Norqain movement you see here is Nivarox, the Tudor version features a hairspring in silicium.

The Norqain's movement has nice industrial finishing and includes a branded rotor and a balance bridge traversing the balance wheel. Its more than ample power reserve means that this is a watch one can wear all week before switching to something different on the weekend and coming back to it on Monday. I've said it before, but power reserves of about three days or longer have made a difference in the way I tend to wear watches. It makes switching them out less of a chore. They can feel like a sign from a brand that they get it, you like watches, and this is not the only one you are going to be wearing. The fact that you can take the Freedom 60 GMT off for more than two days and come back to it without skipping a beat is a plus in my book.

Due to the use of the jumping hour GMT movement, one factor that Norqain had to navigate was the additional thickness of the watch. The Freedom 60 GMT measures 40mm in diameter, 14.5mm thick, and 49.2mm lug-to-lug. It's not a thin or small watch by any stretch, but given its overall sporty design, I thought it looked really nice and felt very balanced on my wrist. Whether a watch will have that coveted balanced feel comes down to more than merely strict case dimensions. Of course, it also has to do with the shape and size of one's wrist, the watch's center of mass, and what role the lugs play in providing stability. On my seven-inch wrist, the Freedom 60 GMT in both steel and bronze, on the leather straps shown here, offered a very comfortable wearing experience. As we've seen in other Norqains, there is an engravable plate on the side of the caseband that offers a nice canvas for a personal touch.

Arguably, the most important facet of a watch's design is the dial. It's the interface, what you look at, after all, and a nice watch ought to be pleasing to the eye while also being legible. Do you glance down at your wrist just for a look at the dial, even if you don't really care what time it is? With the right watch, of course you do. But is all the information right there where you need it at a glance? It should be. Striking such a balance can be a challenge, particularly when there are extra displays or complications to be factored in. 

The Freedom 60 GMT takes a page from the vintage watch playbook with large applied markers and a GMT track located toward the center of the dial, divided into two easily distinguishable daytime and nighttime hemispheres. The 24-hour hand is tipped in bright red, making reading one's home time along this track easy. The hours and the minutes come via vintage-inspired syringe hands. In the bronze limited edition, the dial is a warm brown, and the hand-applied markers in this version are actually themselves made of bronze too. In the steel version, you get markers matched with a slightly more noticeable fauxtina lume effect (owing to the greater contrast with dial and makers) set against a black dial. 

As this is a GMT, a date display makes perfect sense, and in the Freedom 60, this function is controlled easily by jumping the local hour hand forward or back. While it's pretty well integrated into the design overall, I found it personally to be less obtrusive in the steel variation, my favorite of the two Freedom 60 GMTs. I totally get the appeal of bronze, with its patination over time, and how one can forge a relationship with a bronze watch through this patination. Still, I think the steel version of the Freedom 60 GMT is simply a sharper-looking watch.

Both of the versions you see here are shown on Norlando leather straps, with twin peak "Norqain" stitches near the spring bars, which are meant to evoke mountain tops. The stitches lend the straps an artisanal look while reinforcing the Freedom 60 GMT's overall vintage-inspired design. There is also an option for a stainless steel bracelet with the stainless steel version. As best seen in the photo of the steel version (above right), the doming of the sapphire crystal drives the vintage design codes home, as does the presence of the large crown, which makes for easy gripping, winding, and setting. The presence of the engravable plate on the opposite side of the case provides a measure of balance for this large crown too.

Which brings me to the matter of price. The Freedom 60 isn't cheap at $3,590 in steel on a leather strap and $3,890 for the 300-piece bronze limited edition. That it has a high-quality jumping-local-hour GMT movement from Kenissi is a huge plus, and is something that can only be claimed, at this writing, by Norqain, by Fortis (in titanium with matching bracelet), and, of course, by Tudor (which, of the three, alone has the silicium hairspring). Each of these brands has a design that is very much its own and brings a different vibe to the GMT category. At present, Norqain offers the most affordable of these three options. 

The Norqain Freedom 60 GMT. 40 x 14.5mm stainless steel or bronze case, with bronze limited to 300 pieces. 100 meters of water resistance. Sapphire crystal caseback. Movement: NN20/2 with jumping local hour (made by Kenissi) running in 28 jewels and vibrating at 28,800 vph with 70-hour power reserve. Dials with applied markers and "Old Radium" Super-LumiNova. Norlando leather strap or, in the case of the steel version, optional stainless steel bracelet. Price: $3,590 for steel as shown; $3,890 for bronze limited edition as shown.

All photos, Tiffany Wade. 

On November 8, Antiquorum is holding its "Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces" Geneva Auction which, due to the current state of the world, will take place both in person – at the Beau-Rivage Genève hotel – and online. The sale consists of a wide array of modern, vintage, and even neo-vintage timepieces (there is even a Rolex urn and a Rolex vacuum chamber being offered). 

While there is no specific theme to this auction, I wanted to highlight a trio of (what can best be described as) true tool watches. All three of these pieces are dive watches, and each share one thing in common: None were available for purchase at retail, at any time. These were either issued watches or prototypes. Of course, without getting to see any of these pieces in the metal, it is difficult to make any qualitative determination about condition, aside from information provided in the auction catalog as well as independent research. Nonetheless, let's take a look at these battle-tested and well-worn pieces that Antiquorum is offering up this month.

Omega Ref. 166.077 Seamaster Ploprof Prototype

Cole Pennington wrote a virtual treatise on this legendary diver from Omega last week. If you have not read that, I highly suggest it. When I saw that a Ploprof was coming up in this sale, I knew I had to include it. This particular Ploprof – the ref. 166.077 Seamaster Ploprof Prototype – is a watch which belonged to Christian Bonnici, a member of the Jacques Cousteau team and one of six Conshelf II aquanauts (a mission to test if people could live underwater). According to Antiquorum, this watch was delivered in July, 1971 and dived its last dive on February 10, 1972.

Boncinni worked with Cousteau at CEMA (Centre d'Etudes Marines Avanceds) from 1968-1972, and was also a COMEX engineer. Now the watch, which is being offered by his family, is a prototype, meaning that it is hard to compare it to any existing Ploprof of its time. When it comes to prototypes, anything goes. I say this because this watch has one defining feature which separates it from its counterparts, and that is the orientation of the crown. The Ploprof is known for having the crown on the left side of the watch, although it is still technically a right-handed watch (this feature existed to aid in one-handed operation of the bezel). You could write this watch off at first glance and call it a fake due to the reversed orientation of the crown. Conversely, you could see this watch for what it is, a one-off prototype owned by a true, dyed-in-the-wool, professional diver. Like I said, with prototypes, you just never know.  

Some interesting features to note with this piece are the "Prototype" inscription on the caseback, as well as the inscribed "4 100" engraving indicating that this particular prototype was part of batch number four from Omega. Boncinni appears to have really put this watch through its paces, as it was intended. You can see a nice healthy chip on the crystal just above the one o'clock hour marker.

This prototype Ploprof comes with a dive log book which – according to the auction house – gives a complete detail of every dive the watch was a part of. While it may very well never dive again, this is a cool add-on, which allows the future owner to re-live those adventures and imagine what they must have been like. 

Lot 59 - Estimate: $20,000 – 40,000

Rolex Ref. 5514 Submariner COMEX in stainless steel

COMEX, which stands for Compagnie Maritime d'Expertise, is a professional French diving organization with a particular specialty for deep-diving operations and engineering. You may be familiar with the COMEX Submariner. For example, in June of this year, Antiquorum sold a 1680 version (matte dial Sub with a date, and the COMEX logo on the dial) for CHF 524,000. The 1680s were pretty much only available to COMEX members, and employees, which often meant that they were worn in an office environment, and not underwater. The COMEX Submariner 5514 – like this one up for auction – is one of the rare watches produced by Rolex for the diving organization which not only saw time in the water, but also on some particularly extreme dives. 

One of the distinct features of a COMEX 5514 is the helium escape valve on the side of the case, as well as the COMEX wordmark and number on the caseback. Additionally, it has been said that the 5514 reference did not have the COMEX logo on the dial from the factory. (If you want to see an example of such a watch, check out John Mayer's second episode of Talking Watches.) Due to the extreme conditions that the COMEX divers operated in, the watches were often sent back to Rolex for servicing, and as a result, some dials, and other parts, were replaced. In this case, the service resulted in a dial with the COMEX logo. This practice of servicing the watch might also explain some inconsistencies in terms of lume color (Antiquorum notes that the hands are, in fact, service hands). Needless to say, a COMEX 5514 is exceedingly rare and extremely desirable. In normal circumstances, a service dial would diminish the value of a watch, but there are always exceptions. This could be one of them.

Lot 374 - Estimate: $100,000 – 150,000

Rolex, Ref. 5513/5517, Military Submariner

Military Submariners, or MilSubs as they have come to be known, are quite coveted by collectors. You might recall the episode of Talking Watches with Reza Ali Rashidian where he noted that his MilSub – issued to the Iranian military – was his most worn watch. Last month at Christie's Dubai, a 5513 MilSub sold for $400,000, setting the record for the model. This particular watch up for auction features a dark almost custard patina, with original sword hands. As to the hands, one common issue with MilSubs is that the lume would often fall out, so it is possible that the hands on this watch have been treated to match the dial. One of the hallmark features of a MilSub, which you can see here, is the hash marks which go all the way around the bezel. 

So why is the estimate for this particular watch so low (and by low, I mean compared to nearly half a million dollars low)? Well, as best I can tell, the reason probably has to do with the caseback. Part of the allure of any military watch is the caseback engraving which is unique to any given piece. The retention of those engravings is an indication that the watches were not polished – or at the very least, over polished. In this case, it looks like the military engraving was polished off, leaving the caseback blank. You will note, however, the inclusion of the serial number on the underside of the caseback, which is typical for MilSubs. The polished caseback could explain the low estimate, and the reason why this watch likely will not come anywhere near that $400,000 number. Of course, stranger things have happened, and it will at least be interesting to see how this watch performs.  

Lot 139 - Estimate: $50,000 - 70,000

Auction previews for the "Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces" Geneva Auction will take place November 5 - 7, while the auction itself will be held on November 8. You can view the full catalog here.

Let's face it: For most of us, luxury watch auctions are little more than a spectator sport. While the metrics within which I am rendered unfit for participation may change (natural talent, hard work, money, even more money), be it pro ball, first seat on an orchestra, or bidding on some amazing lot in this fall's sales, the outcome is the same. And from slam dunks to perfectly played solos, and the occasional blockbuster multi-million dollar lot, for those of us "in the crowd," it had better be fun to experience. 

With that in mind, here are a few loosely modern oddball lots from Sotheby's "Important Watches Featuring Masterworks of Time" that stood out to me because they represent a wide range of quirky and uncommon complications or layouts. Some are unique while others are distinctive iterations of known models, but all are special and fun while representing something peripheral to the normal blue chip references common to the vintage watch collecting world. 

None of these are the banner lots for the sale, nor are they expected to break any records. I picked this list based solely upon my interests and with the hopes of finding the oddball lots that were neither true vintage nor modern "in-demand" references. For more information on the auction, which Sotheby's will be conducting live on November 11, 2020, in Geneva, please visit the lot listing here. 

IWC Portugieser Grande Complication Reference 3774

Don't close the tab just yet, this is no standard IWC Perpetual Calendar. While it's true that IWC tends to go crazy with its very cool perpetual calendar movement, the reference 3774 is somewhat more grande. The first giveaway is the sliding button in the left-side case flank, which telegraphs the presence of a minute repeater. 

But wait, there's more. A lot more. Supported by 657 parts and a remarkable 75 jewels, the 3774 IWC Portugieser Grande Complication sports 21 functions, including a perpetual calendar and a chronograph. This 45mm platinum example dates back to 2013 and is one of just 100 examples produced that year. If you want a modern grande comp that still works as an everyday watch while simultaneously flexing oh-so-hard on all of those "basic" QPs, treat yourself to an IWC that is grande in both size and spec. 

Lot 28, estimate of CHF 55,000 – 80,000

Patek Philippe Reference 5050

For those wanting something a bit more subtle than the above IWC grande comp, check out this somewhat more under-the-radar Patek Philippe 5050 in platinum. Quite a bit younger than you might expect, this 35mm Patek reference was originally launched in 1993, and its mid-century looks wrap around a strange and wonderful calendar function that combines a perpetual calendar with a retrograde date for a unique effect. 

With an automatic movement, display caseback, and a layout that downplays the complications on offer, this quiet but undeniably charming Patek packs a lot into a mid-'90s platform. You just have to decide, platinum or yellow gold? Because they've got a yellow-gold one, too.  

Lot 41, estimate of CHF 50,000 – 70,0000

Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Carillon Reference 26015PT

Measuring 39mm in platinum with a matching bracelet, this is one of those watches that you know isn't vintage but can still be hard to date. Having launched in 2005, this exceedingly complex Jules Audemars model pre-dates the rapid expansion of the watch world via various internet platforms and thus is not a watch that is commonly mentioned. But don't let its relative anonymity cloud its capability, as the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Carillon reference 26015PT carries a big stick. 

Sporting a manually wound 57-jewel cal. 2891 movement, the Carillon 26015 boasts a grande sonnerie (chiming each quarter-hour), a petite sonnerie function (chiming every hour), and a dynamograph. Developed by AP, the dynamograph is a small indication (marked "Couple" on the dial) that shows a measure of the active mainspring torque (tension) as a way of indicating when the watch should be wound so that the movement will have the correct amount of power needed to run precisely. Too little torque (or too much, in some cases) can cause timekeeping to slow or speed up, respectively. 

Matched with a silver dial, the Jules Audemars Carillon 26015 is from a time when the watch world was somewhat less self-aware – before the snake started to consider its own tail as a meal. Furthermore, it's a great size, it's weird, it's not a Royal Oak (let alone a vintage steel Rolex or Patek), and it sports a gloriously specific and nerd-approved set of complications. What a cool thing. 

Lot 51, estimate of CHF 60,000 – 90,000 

Gérald Genta GGM1

You want weird? How about a 37mm Gérald Genta with a case made of yttrium. Yes, I managed to spell that correctly. Yttrium is a metallic material commonly used in the production of LEDs, lasers, and even the red phosphors used in old-school CRT screens. Despite being classed as a "rare-earth element," yttrium is only part of what makes this funky Genta worth a second look. 

Tucked inside that rare metallic (and possibly unique) case, this Gérald Genta GGM1 has an automatic movement that supports Westminster grande and petite sonnerie, a tourbillon, retrograde displays for both the hours and the minutes, and twin power-reserve displays (for the repeater and the tourbillon). Oh, and a blue mother-of-pearl dial. 

It's not beautiful, but it is rare, weird, and entirely interesting. 

Lot 26, estimate of CHF 100,000 – 150,000

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Grande Complication Reference 25865

Those of you who follow my HODINKEE posts know that I have developed something of a penchant for early Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars. And, while Sotheby's is offering a few such examples (see lots 36 and 38 if interested), I wanted to find something even further from the steel stoicism of the Royal Oak's original intent. As such, check out this Royal Oak Grande Complication. 

Shown in white gold over a black dial, this RO is a reference 25865BC, and it dates back to 2008. Just like with the other grand comps mentioned here, the 25865's 44mm case houses a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar with number of the week, and a split-seconds chronograph. Though I'm not sure that the world needed another way to go full beast mode with a Royal Oak, I find the charm and execution of the earlier models to be entirely noteworthy. I also think this is an interesting variation of the Royal Oak that appears to have borrowed some inspiration from the Royal Oak Offshore. 

As a huge fan (from the nosebleeds, of course) of haute horology watchmaking in increasingly sporty formats, this chunky Royal Oak has the complications and credibility to warrant plenty of zeros in the lot estimations. 

Lot 54, estimate of CHF 200,000 – 400,000

For more about "Important Watches featuring Masterworks of Time," visit Sotheby's.

We believe every vintage watch has a story to tell. That's what HODINKEE was founded on, and since 2016, we've used our knowledge to bring you a curated selection of vintage watches in the HODINKEE Shop that you won't find elsewhere, all delivered with an emphasis on education, transparency, and storytelling. And now, we're kicking things up a notch. 

You'll still find us here every Wednesday morning, and we'll still be highlighting what we love and what you should know about every vintage watch that appears in the HODINKEE Shop. You'll also see every angle, of every watch, because we shoot all the vintage watches listed in the HODINKEE Shop ourselves – and we always will. 

What's new, however, is the amount of watches you'll discover each week. We've grown our team of specialists, and we're now able to deliver a larger – and broader – selection of vintage watches than ever before. You'll also learn about the highlight pieces in each week's assortment in articles like the below, directly from the team members who are most excited about them. The comments section is also now open for discussion, because we want to hear from you – don't hesitate to let us know what you think and what you'd like to see from us going forward. 

This Week's Vintage Watches

We're back this Wednesday with a fresh selection of 15 vintage watches in the HODINKEE Shop. There is no clear-cut theme governing this week's lineup, just interesting examples of watches that we personally appreciate, and think you will, too. That means you'll find a two-tone Rolex Air-King next to an Eberhard Extra-Fort Chronograph (as seen above), a Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox "Speed Beat" alongside a Longines pocket watch from the 1920s, and so much more. You can check out all the new vintage watches for yourself in the HODINKEE Shop, or read on to discover a few of our team's personal highlights. 

A 1970s Cartier Gondole 'Jumbo' And A 1960s IWC Automatic Dress Watch

By Saori Omura

When I first saw this 1970s Cartier Gondole "Jumbo," I knew we had to include it in this week's listing. As far as your typical Cartier dress watch goes, this Gondole is massive in comparison, and it wears even larger on the wrist, thanks to its double-stepped bezel. The impactful case design is contrasted by the simplicity of the dial, which carries forward Cartier's classic aesthetic hallmarks, such as black Roman numerals, a central minute track, and blued steel sword-style hands. A common criticism of vintage Cartier Tanks is that they wear too small on the wrist – that's an issue you won't have with this Cartier Gondole.

Sport watches for diving, racing, and flying are rightfully considered the most popular category in vintage watches today, which is why I think now is the perfect time to add a vintage dress watch to your collection. I like this week's self-winding IWC from the 1960s for its simple elegance and attainable price point, both of which make it a great option for those just starting to appreciate vintage watches. The steel case also measures close to 37mm in diameter, which would have been large for the 1960s but ensures easy wearability for today's wrists. The light champagne patina that appears on the sunburst dial seals the deal on this IWC as an excellent option for under-the-radar daily wear. See for yourself in the HODINKEE Shop.

A 1971 Omega Speedmaster Professional Mark II And A 1970s Zenith El Primero Ref. A386

By Brandon Frazin

If you saw the My Watch Story I submitted a few months ago, you'll know the Speedmaster Professional is a watch I hold dear to my heart. In that video, I talk about a Speedmaster ref. 145.022 that has been in my family since the 1970s and that I grew up seeing on my grandfather's wrist. It's clear, then, why I'm such a big fan of the standard Speedmaster Professional, but what might surprise you is that the Mark II variation gives me some of the same feels that my ref. 145.022 does. To me, the Mark II is the funkier, bolder sibling to the all-time classic design that is the Speedy Pro, and I really dig how Omega was able to push the envelope with the larger case profile but retain the collection's overall DNA. Inside the Mark II is a familiar face as well – it's the manually wound caliber 861 that was introduced in the Speedmaster Professional in 1969, incidentally the same year the Mark II debuted. 

The design elements I appreciate the most on the Mark II include the thicker case and the tachymeter scale's placement under the crystal rather than on an external bezel – these two details really give the watch a unique character. While the case may appear thick at first glance, it's quite comfortable on the wrist, and the original Omega bracelet this example comes with provides it with added balance. The Mark II also offers great value when compared to Speedmaster Professional models from the same era. All in all, this is a great watch for someone who loves the Speedmaster but desires an execution that's a little off the beaten path. If that sounds like you, head over to the HODINKEE Shop for a closer look.

Similar to the Speedmaster Professional, the Zenith El Primero ref. A386 is a legendary watch with a one-of-a-kind history. Original examples like the one we have today don't come across our desks too often, but when they do, we get excited – how often do you get to see one of the first automatic chronographs? I have been fortunate enough to handle a few great examples of these over the years, and the first thing I always notice is the bold red central seconds hand and the tri-color, engine-turned sub-dials. These details give the El Primero ref. A386 a look entirely its own, so much so that it's influenced the modern Zenith El Primero Chronomaster in a way that is easily perceptible.

One of the more underrated attributes of the Zenith El Primero ref. A386 is the quick-set date indication sunken between four and five o'clock. It almost gets lost in the dial arrangement, which is something I personally appreciate as it doesn't get in the way of the dial's other beautiful little details. The rest of the dial is supremely legible, with white hands (and the red seconds hand!) offering excellent contrast. This example also comes with its original red presentation box, only adding to its appeal. Learn more about this Zenith El Primero ref. A386 in the HODINKEE Shop.

A 1960s Universal Genève Aero-Compax 'Type B,' A 1960s Junghans Bundeswehr Chronograph Ref. J88, And A 1927 Longines Pocket Watch Chronometer

By Logan Baker

My highlights for this week's selection include two chronographs from the 1960s. They were both originally marketed toward pilots but are quite different in aesthetics and execution. The Universal Genève Aero-Compax "Type B" you see below, for instance, is a rare bird that stands out through a number of small details that, taken together, form an excellent example of what makes vintage Universal Genève chronographs so popular today. 

The first things that catch my eye on this Aero-Compax are the applied Arabic numerals. The font is a simple sans-serif, but the fact that each numeral is individually applied adds a unique three-dimensional flair to the overall look. Adding further depth to the dial layout are the three recessed sub-dials, each engine-turned to achieve a concentric decoration before being stamped with radial numerals. There's also a crosshair that cuts the dial with precision into quadrants and a cleanly executed tachymeter scale that runs across the periphery of the dial. Finally, the wide, attractive blued handset that is typical of the Compax series takes you home with its recognizable design. If the dial aesthetics aren't enough to convince you (like they did me), however, there's also the highly wearable 38 × 11mm steel case with pump pushers and the Universal Genève caliber 130 (a UG-finished Valjoux 72) to consider. Head over to the HODINKEE Shop to learn more.

While Universal Genève's Aero-Compax is a beautiful specimen of mid-century Swiss watchmaking, the Junghans chronograph, shown below, is a Teutonic tool watch to its core. Junghans, based in Germany's Black Forest since 1861, received a government contract in the late 1950s to supply West Germany's Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, with a watch that military personnel could rely on as Cold War tensions rose between East and West Germany. Junghans was able to meet the demand with a new chronograph featuring a 12-sided bidirectionally rotating bezel, a glossy black dial with syringe hands and two engine-turned sub-dials, and the in-house, column wheel-equipped J88 chronograph movement. 

Now, to be completely honest, I'm far better acquainted with Junghans' Max Bill series of design-minded and MoMA-approved dress watches – which, coincidentally, started production a few years prior to this watch's release – than the company's history of chronograph production for the West German military. So you can imagine my surprise when I first saw the J88 caliber used inside today's watch, as highlighted in the lower right image – it's quite the looker, right? This gold-plated, manually wound movement was designed to be exceptionally shockproof for its era, runs in 19 jewels, and features a Breguet hairspring and a column wheel for clean, crisp actuation of the piston pushers. With an authentic military heritage (as indicated by the caseback engraving), a unique aesthetic, and an attractive, interesting movement beating inside, this Junghans chronograph would make an excellent addition to the collection of anyone interested in how military history connects to watchmaking. Oh, and it's also delivered on its original Bund strap. Make the whole package yours right now in the HODINKEE Shop.

In addition to the two chronographs I've detailed above, I would also like to briefly direct your attention to a Longines pocket watch from the 1920s that's just landed in the HODINKEE Shop. Pocket watches are often overlooked among contemporary watch collectors, and I was guilty of doing as much for years, until around this time in 2019. That's when, during a Thanksgiving visit with my grandparents, I received a pair of pocket watches – one lever-set Hamilton, one South Bend – that were originally owned by my great-grandfather. I had never previously spent any significant amount of time with a pocket watch, but over the past few months, I've kept both timepieces on my desk as I've worked from home, and part of my daily routine has involved winding and interacting with them. They've served as great reminders of family I haven't seen in nearly a year, with a physical presence that no FaceTime or Zoom call can replicate. 

As 2020 draws to a close, and many of us continue to spend more time at home, I can't endorse pocket watch ownership enough. It's rewarding in a way completely different from a wristwatch, and spending time with my pair of pocket watches every day has given me a new appreciation for the history of watchmaking and how we measure the passage of time. 

The pocket watch we now have on offer in the HODINKEE Shop is from Longines and dates to 1927. It's made of solid yellow gold, features a caseback engraving that appears to be someone's initials, and was originally certified as a chronometer (as clearly labeled on the dial). The Breguet numerals and fleur-de-lys handset are also attractive design attributes that are perfectly at home on this early 20th-century pocket watch. Whether you're new to the world of pocket watches or not, I highly recommend inspecting this Longines pocket watch a little closer.

To view the entire current selection of vintage watches available in the HODINKEE Shop, click here. 

Questions? Send us a note, or let us know in the comments. Want to sell your watch through the HODINKEE Shop? Click here. 

Welcome to another installment of "My Watch Story," a video series starring HODINKEE readers and their most prized watches. The submissions continue to stream in, and we couldn't be happier to share them with the watch community. Today, we have five new stories submitted by Paul Jones, Abdusalaam Hussein Soud, Alexander Delgado, Paul Guyot, and Stephen Damico.

Feeling inspired, or just discovering this project? Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to learn how to submit your own video. But first, we hope you enjoy this installment of My Watch Story.

Paul Jones And His Rolex GMT-Master

Paul, an attorney in Dallas, TX, was given this Rolex GMT-Master by his uncle when he graduated from law school. His uncle was a Green Beret in Vietnam, and he bought the reference 1675 in Hong Kong for $150 in 1969. It still has the original bracelet, and carries a lot of meaning for Paul.

Abdusalaam Hussein Soud And His Swatch Chronograph

Abdusalaam, from Nairobi, Kenya, got this Swatch chronograph in 2014, when he was in college. In the years since, he's lost it, found it again, and then almost lost it again during a strike at his college. He was fortunate to get it back, and today, it goes on as his daily wear.

@Salaamsoud08

Alexander Delgado And His Seiko Kinetic

Alexander's Seiko Kinetic was previously owned by his grandfather, a Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1967. The watch was gifted to his grandfather after working for 30 years as a superintendent in the Bronx. Today, when Alexander looks at the watch, he thinks of his grandfather.

Paul Guyot And His Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph

Paul is a screenwriter from St. Louis, MO. His watch is actually a picture of a Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph he used to own. He bought it after his first big television show, but had to sell it when he went through some difficult times professionally.  He says the picture serves as motivation to find the success to be able to purchase the watch again.

@fizzhogg

Stephen Damico And His Rolex Datejust Turn-O-Graph Thunderbird

Stephen, who is from League City, TX, is the proud owner of a Rolex Datejust Turn-O-Graph Thunderbird. When Stephen was a child, his father, Master Sergeant James Damico, took Stephen to airshows, where they would see the Thunderbirds. Stephen wanted a watch that reminded him of his father – and had it engraved with one of his father's favorite sayings: "Work Smarter, Never Quit."

@sdamico555

Ready To Submit Your Own Watch Story? Here's How It Works

1. Pick one watch that is very special to you, and get your camera phone ready.

2. Record a video telling us your most interesting or meaningful story about your watch. Let's say 2-3 minutes is the sweet spot – if you go longer, that's okay. (And please remember to introduce yourself: your name and where you are from.)

3. Get creative, keep it clean, and have fun! 

4. Take some photos on the wrist and a few shots of the watch so that we can proudly display them on our site. Horizontal, please.

5. To share your video and photos, you can either A) upload here; or B) upload to your preferred large file transfer service and send a link to mywatchstory@hodinkee.com.

Subscribe to the show: (Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Google Play and Spotify). Already heard it once or twice? Please leave a short review here, and tell us what topics you'd like us to chat about (or email thegreynato@gmail.com).

This week, Jason and James have attempted to fill in some blanks concerning new watch coverage on the show. As the past few episodes have been busy and in-depth, the TGN boys wanted to make sure they highlighted some of the great new watches that have come out since the summer. 

From Rolex to Breitling, Bremont, and even some microbrands, Jason and James have a long chat about some of their favorite watches from the second half of this year. Once that wraps up, stay in the mix for a Final Notes that brings you deep into the Arctic and on the search for Superman (don't skip this story, Jason and James are obsessed with it). Thanks so much for listening, just press play, and subscribe in your podcast player of choice. Don't forget a huge thank you to G-Shock for making this episode possible. 

Show Notes...

0:01
Casio Master of G Mudmaster

6:20
Rancourt Acadia Chukka

10:45
Trailer Hitch Carrier

16:50
Topper's Oris Divers Sixty-Five Limited Edition

19:29
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36 with yellow dial 

23:30
Aquastar Deepstar

23:50
Prometheus Design Werx Ti compass

29:40
Solid Gold Rolex Oyster Quartz

32:05
G-Shock Master Of G Mudmaster

34:35
Oris Aquis Date Caliber 400 

42:18
Bremont Broadsword Bronze

47:22
Breitling Chromomat 36mm

53:35
Doxa SUB 300 2020

1:05:15
Farer Pilot Automatic

1:11:05
Astor and Banks Fortitude

1:19:50
Alone Across the Arctic 

1:23:00
Searching For Superman - Jeff Long for Rock and Ice

During the run-up to the auction season, it's easy to focus on the big houses featuring superstar lots that get the lion's share of the community's attention. But for every horological heavyweight being auctioned at the big houses, there are dozens of lots at smaller houses that don't get the same sort of visibility – but maybe they should. Dr. Crott Auctioneers out of Mannheim, Germany, is one of those auction houses. On November 7, they will be holding their "103rd Auction" in Mannheim at Speicher7 Hotel. 

Back in May, I wrote about the uptick in the frequency of Stainless Steel Lange 1 examples coming to market. One watch stood out for an oddity engraved in the caseback: the name Stefan Muser on a Stainless Steel Lange 1 that was being auctioned by Sotheby's. Dr. Crott Auctioneers was a central part of that story. As I would later find out, Stefan Muser is the owner of Dr. Crott. From the story that ran in May:

"Further, there's a very interesting connection between the two watches about to hit the market. Dr. Crott's is auctioning the aforementioned watch, but it's case no. 127695, the upcoming watch at Sotheby's, that's perplexing. At 12 o'clock on the caseback there's a name engraved: Stefan Muser. It's not just a Lange 1 in stainless steel – it's a personalized Lange 1 in stainless steel. But it gets even more interesting. Mr. Muser is the author of three books on wristwatches no longer in production, including pricing guides. However, that's not even the most interesting part. Stefan Muser also owns Dr. Crott's. A watch bearing the name of the owner of Dr. Crott's auction house is being auctioned at Sotheby's. What's the backstory here? We're working on it."

Well, it turns out that Mr. Muser reached out after the story was published and cleared it up. He was one of the very first owners of the Lange 1 in yellow gold in the late '90s. He'd developed a close relationship with Günther Blümlein and Reinhard Meis, two men employed by A. Lange & Söhne largely responsible for the brand's successful revival, and upon hearing that stainless steel Lange 1 examples were being produced, he reached out and asked for one. He was given a stainless steel case with his name engraved in the back, but eventually passed it on to a collector in Germany. 

This is all to illustrate an important point: Dr. Crott is deeply entrenched in this world, and their unique positioning in Germany allows them the opportunity to procure lots that most likely wouldn't pop up elsewhere. Below, you'll find a number of lots originating in Germany, and a couple that don't, but are simply too interesting not to include.   

Breguet "200m Automatic" Dive watch

Breguet isn't typically associated with the sort of dive watches that were tied to the dive boom in the '50s to '70s, and for that, this Breguet stands out. It's a ladies' dive watch with an internal rotating bezel. Usually, it would be difficult to establish the provenance and background of a watch like this, but Dr. Crott went straight to the horse's mouth with a casual email exchange between the house and Emanuel Breguet himself. Emmanuel is a direct descendant of Abraham-Louis Breguet, the founder of Breguet, and he works as a historian for the brand currently. He confirmed that it was made in 1976 as a gift. This isn't a watch that's noteworthy for what it is – a tonneau-cased dive watch characteristic of the time – but instead for what it is not: a piece of high horology that typifies Breguet. 

Lot 129; estimate €20,000 - 25,000

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Jubilee Automatic

The Royal Oak may be experiencing a current bout of popularity, but that's not to say it hasn't been a fixture for decades. However, the latitude that AP enjoyed with the model was certainly greater back in the day. Take this Royal Oak Jumbo Jubilee for example. There were 1,000 of these made in 1992. Of those, 280 were in yellow gold. There's the typical "flex" that comes from scoring a modern stainless Royal Oak, and then there's the flex that comes from getting one that's almost 30 years old, limited, and in a precious metal emblematic of the good times of the '90s. It's a watch I'm taken by, even though I'm certainly not a fan of flexing, and I don't particularly connect with the Royal Oak. 

Lot 156; estimate €20,000 - 50,000

Sigmund Riefler Astronomical Tank Precision Regulator

In 1901, the most precise clock in the world could be found in Cleveland, Ohio, approximately 6,683 km from Geneva. But the clock was originally from Switzerland's neighbor, Germany, in Munich. It was made by Sigmund Riefler's Riefler company, known for astronomical regulator clocks that were able to run with a variance of 10 milliseconds per day. To achieve that level of accuracy, a vacuum was created by pumping air out of a glass tube that contained the clock. Small variations in atmospheric pressure could negatively affect timekeeping, and the design mitigated that situation from happening. This particular clock was a fixture at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland. The school was founded in 1880, and in 1948, it merged with neighboring Western Reserve University, forming what's known today as Case Western Reserve University. Jack spotted another Riefler on a visit to Urwek HQ in Geneva. 

Lot 88; estimate €80,000 - 150,000

Mühle Glashütte Teutonia Automatic

This was the watch that kicked off the era of Mühle Glashütte under Thilo Mühle, the fifth generation of the Mühle family and the current leader of the brand. I had the pleasure of having coffee with Mr. Mühle in New York City last year, and throughout the chat, I formed a more complete idea of what modern German watchmaking beyond A. Lange & Söhne was about. The conclusion I came to was that it isn't really any different from the values that A. Lange & Söhne champions. There are through-lines that run between all of the brands coming out of Glashütte, and they include a strong emphasis on tradition and a commitment to restrained and calculated innovation that's performed for the sake of sustainable progress and not pageantry. Look at some of the wares from Mühle Glashütte, and you'll see what I mean. They've certainly resisted the temptation to follow trends, and instead, you'll see visual ties to this very watch that's coming up for auction, as well as design cues that just don't appear on any other watches. Like the bezel design of the Rasmus 2000 collection, for instance. 

Lot 61; Estimate €1,500 - 2,000

Hanhart ADDI-STOP

Take a look at the photo essay we ran earlier this week, and you'll see what's become the standard dash chronograph set-up: A series of Heuer stopwatches affixed to a metal plate, screwed into the dash. There's a fantastic period-correct charm that this setup lends to sports cars from the '50s to '70s, but Dr. Crott has sourced something that, in my mind, might be even more interesting. This Hanhart unit allows the user to start both watches simultaneously by using a single pusher on the outside of the metal encasing. One is a stopwatch, and the other a chronograph, with different scales. According to Dr. Crott, it was originally advertised as being fit for "industry, by rallye drivers, for military purposes and in sports events." I'd say it wouldn't look too shabby on the dash of a 1955 Porsche 356 A, either. 

Lot 316; Estimate €1,600 - 3,000

The A. Lange & Söhne Datograph "Dufourgraph" Ref. 403.031

In a 2006 interview with lauded watchmaker Philippe Dufour that ran in Revolution, he was asked if the L951.1, the caliber in the Datograph, was really the best caliber in the world. His response? "Take 10 movements out of the current range of any contemporary brand, put them next to a Lange movement, and comment honestly on what you see. That is the best way to judge – by examining the truth." 

Now you can see the truth for yourself, as Dr. Crott has sourced one for the upcoming auction. 

This specific reference is known as the "Dufourgraph" because it's been on the wrist of Mr. Dufour for years now. When Ben Clymer visited Dufour's workshop in 2013, he wrote about Dufour's love of the Datograph, saying, "He paid for it himself, and he's unabashed in his praise for it. He says what makes this watch so special is the amount of extra value you see in the movement architecture, the finishing, and the design. It says a lot that one of the Vallée de Joux's greatest sons says the best chronograph in the world is German. It's an endorsement Lange doesn't take lightly, either. When I visited the Lange manufacture a few years back, one of their talking points was Dufour's appreciation for their work."

Here we went deep on the Datograph in August and examined why it's still considered one of the holy grails in high horology to this day. 

Lot 27; estimate €30,000 - 50,000

One of the first names I remember hearing when I started covering watches in 2005 was that of Oscar Waldan, who passed away in 2018. The owner and operator of the New York-based Waldan International brand, which he founded in 1979, Oscar had an amazing life story and a prolific career in watches, a good deal of it overlapping with the Quartz Crisis. In fact, his fortunes in watches were forged by that crisis in an unexpected way: He saw value in mechanical watches at a time when many others didn't. 

Now Oscar's only son, Andrew, who succeeded him as head of the family business, is paying tribute to his father with a new collection of Waldan watches called Heritage. It honors designs created by Oscar Waldan and presents them to a new generation in a line of affordable quartz watches ($299) featuring movements assembled in the United States. It marks an extension to the company's standard product portfolio of mechanical watches, which, according to the Waldan web site, are priced from $8,000 to $18,000.

Oscar Waldan's introduction to the watch business came under circumstances that were about as difficult as anyone could possibly imagine. Born in Poland in 1923, he came under the tutelage of a watchmaker named Manek, with whom he served an apprenticeship. But this was hardly your typical master-apprentice relationship. That's because it occurred during the Second World War, while both men were imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp. From Manek, Walden learned a trade that enabled him to fix watches for the guards, providing a valuable service that quite possibly saved his life. After the war, watchmaking provided an entrée into a career that spanned decades and saw Waldan work for a handful of firms, including Tissot, before launching his own line. 

In addition to making a line of watches bearing the Waldan name, Oscar supplied private-label timepieces to a handful of high-end retailers that included no less than Tiffany & Co. Ever one to swim against the tide, Oscar bet on the mechanical chronograph at a time when others considered quartz to be king, buying up a cache of Zenith El Primero movements, technical manuals, and factory-sealed parts when few others wanted them. The movements proved very useful over the years, with Waldan drawing on them to power some of his own watch designs. The supply of parts and manuals will allow the company to continue servicing its El Primero-based watches for at least the next 50 years, Andrew says.

With Waldan International, Oscar drew on reliable supplied movements, including the El Primeros he'd secured years earlier, and cased them up in heavy gold and platinum for what amounted to a reasonable value proposition, even in 1990s dollars. "In the '90s, and even into the very, very early 2000s, a Waldan with an El Primero in a yellow-gold case would probably run you around $5,000," Andrew told me. "In platinum, it might be $8,000."

Andrew grew up in New York surrounded by his father's business. "When other kids went to summer camp, I went to the office," he said. "People remember my crib being right in the watchmaking room." He studied French from a young age and is fluent, and recalls translating correspondence and documents from Switzerland, as well as shadowing his father in the business. Andrew Waldan's new Heritage line offers quite a different kind of value proposition. The idea to branch out into a more affordable watch collection arose from conversations he had with friends his age. "My college friends would see the watches I posted on Instagram, and they knew I'd grown up in the business. As we were finishing college and finding jobs, I'd hear from them asking for watch advice." 

They were looking for watches that looked good but wouldn't cost a ton of money. With Waldan Heritage, Andrew aims to offer a viable solution, honoring his dad's classic designs while reinforcing Waldan International's American roots in a way that Oscar himself would not have been able to predict.

The watches use the new Ameriquartz range of metal, jeweled quartz calibers from Arizona-based Fine Timepiece Solutions. The movements are "made in the U.S.A. from domestic and imported components," the company says. FTS stresses the "from domestic and imported components" qualifier as, they say, it allows them to maintain their made-in-U.S.A. claim despite having components from outside the United States. FTS says that while many movement components come from other countries, the electric circuit board, one of the most important components, among others, comes from the United States. Fine Timepiece Solutions produces a range of quartz calibers of varying levels of complexity, including a world timer. The Heritage range uses a fairly straightforward quartz movement with subsidiary seconds, the cal. 70200.

Drawing on components from America and abroad, Waldan's Heritage wristwatches are assembled, cased up, and tested at Fine Timepiece Solutions' Fountain Hills, Arizona, factory, where they undergo a range of quality control procedures with the goal of making a durable, reparable quartz watch.

One area where the Waldan Heritage line appears to excel is in their dials, which feature crisp, applied numerals or markers and sober, classical details that call to mind the watches that Oscar Waldan used to make. In addition to being clean, the no-date format also makes for a balanced and symmetrical design. 

Within Heritage, there are two lines, the Professional and the Sportline. The main difference between them is the use of leaf-shaped hands and applied numerals in the Professional and lume-tipped baton hands and markers on the Sportline, which also has a patterned dial. One thing I noticed about the Professional models is that, while the dials have Super-LumiNova near the numerals to mark the hours, the leaf hands are themselves not luminous. I do wonder if it might have been better to eschew the lume plots and lean more into the Professional's dress watch identity.

While Oscar Waldan prided himself on making heavy gold watches with mechanical movements, the Heritage line is steel and, of course, quartz. But when I wore one of the new Heritage models, I found that I appreciated the details of the dial and case. The handmade Italian leather straps feel like real quality, something worth pointing out, considering that the all-in purchase price for Waldan Heritage watches is $299. Waldan hasn't abandoned mechanical watches, it should be added. The Heritage line is just something new. 

The Waldan Heritage Collection. 40mm x 8.6mm stepped stainless steel cases with anti-reflective sapphire crystal, water resistant to 50 meters. Ameriquartz cal. 70200 movements with sub-seconds and five-year manufacturer's warranty. Dials in stark white, off-white, onyx black, and racing green in the Professional line, and silvered white and jet black in the Sportline. Handmade Italian leather straps. Price: $299.

For more information, visit Waldan.

Just in time to celebrate your latest hostile takeover or portfolio windfall, a new "ultimate luxury toy" package of a private jet/sports car combo also includes a special timepiece in the prospectus. But you'll have to pony up for the whole deal to strap it on your wrist.

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and performance carmaker Porsche have joined forces to create just 10 pairings of a special co-designed Phenom 300E business jet and a Porsche 911 Turbo S vehicle, elegantly dubbed Duet, for a projected sticker price of about $11 million. In their quest to create "a truly seamless experience from road to sky," the partners tasked sibling watchmaker Porsche Design (who also designed some exclusive bespoke luggage for the project) with outfitting corporate baller Duet buyers with a fine wrist instrument. I mean, you wouldn't want to fly without one. 

Of course, design and vibe overlaps abound between the business jet, automobile, and the watch itself. The 10 cockpit-inspired titanium Porsche Design 1919 Globetimer UTC Embraer Edition watches carry the special Duet project logo, feature an instrumentation-style virtual horizon across an anthracite center dial, and add a jet icon riding on the end of its central date hand. When you consider that even the cost of the 911 Turbo S is kind of a rounding error on the price of the business jet, that's a good amount of attention to pay to a watch. And, literally, the only way to acquire one is to purchase a Duet pairing. 

The COSC-certified 1919 Globetimer UTC is already regarded as an innovative travel timepiece and utilizes what at first appear to be chronograph pushers to simply and easily jump the time back and forth an hour while you are in transit (plus and minus symbols are embossed on the hardware). A dot-style day/night indicator rides at nine o'clock, while inner bezels register the numerical date (as mentioned), carry 12-hour indices, and also deliver 24-hour UTC "military" time on the outer rehaut ring.

Certainly, while winging your way across time-zones in your six-passenger, 464 ktas (about 533 mph) Phenom 300E – the fastest, longest-range single-pilot business jet in the world – such an intuitive solution to staying on time in flight will be as welcome as your next cocktail or legal vindication. And behind the wheel of your 640 hp, 2.2-second giddyup from 0 to 60 mph Porsche 911 Turbo S, the gold standard in performance automobiles? You’ll be gripping a steering wheel that picks up the timepiece's design cues and glancing at an analog/digital dash clock that also mimics the watch's special aviation details.

The Basics

Brand: Porsche Design
Model: 1919 Globetimer UTC Embraer Edition, limited to 10 executions

Diameter: 42mm
Thickness: 14.9mm
Case Material: Titanium
Dial Color: Anthracite on black
Indexes: Arabic numerals and batons
Water Resistance: 10 bars
Strap/Bracelet: Contrast-stitched Porsche interior leather

The Movement

Caliber: WERK 04.110
Functions: Hours, minutes, central seconds, date, day/night indicator
Power Reserve: 38 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 4 Hz
Jewels: 28
Chronometer Certified: Yes, COSC

Pricing & Availability

Price: Around $11 million (if you have to ask...)
Limited Edition: Yes, only 10 will be offered.

For more, click here.

For the horologically inclined, it is almost a reflex to identify the watches we see in movies or on television. For all of the "Watch Spotting" that we do, there is a Prop Master behind the choice of wrist hardware. A few months ago, I sat down with Ritchie Kremer, the Prop Master from Interstellar and Westworld. He talked about the crucial role that Prop Masters play, especially when it comes to watches on screen. Over time, I have spoken to various individuals in the film industry, from Nathan Crowley (Production Designer on Christopher Nolan's Tenet), to a key crew member in the props department on Casino Royale. 

Most recently, I had a chance to speak with Lynda Reiss, Prop Master on True Detective and Stranger Things. It was Reiss' job to conceive, source, and deliver every tangible item in those shows. It just so happens that both True Detective and Stranger Things are pseudo-period pieces, and both were outfitted with some very interesting watches. Reiss has been doing this for a long time, and over the years has built her own semi-collection (more on that later) of prop watches. What I found interesting about Reiss was her approach to the craft, and how she goes about selecting watches on each production. 

"As Prop Masters, we help establish the socioeconomic place in life of the character or their emotional level, the things that they do. There's a big difference between tell and show, and show is always much better. A watch is a perfect example of that. If we start on a character, and the camera pans up and they're wearing IWC, Rolex, or Omega, you automatically know that they're in a certain economic level in life. Now, if they have something that's held together with duct tape, then you know something else about them, so we have to layer those things in.

"Where I have an issue is if an actor has an outside product placement deal – what we might call an influencer today – which a lot of them have. You'll hear from an actor, 'I have to wear this watch,' and I will say, 'OK, but your character is supposed to be a broke, out-of-work scriptwriter, and you're walking around with a $10,000 watch on. It doesn't make sense to me. I'd rather you not wear it at all.' But sometimes – like anything in the entertainment industry – you have to know which battle to pick to win the war."

True Detective

Reiss came aboard production of True Detective early on, working closely with show creator Nick Pizzolatto. The original conceit of the series was to be a limited single-season event (it has since turned into a multi-season anthology). The first season tracks a murder in the backwater area of Louisiana. The case is investigated by Detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart (played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, respectively). As she would with any production, Reiss had to conceive backstories for her characters – stories which fit the watches they wore. 

"Very early on in pre-production, we had the show and tells [a presentation that the Prop Master makes to a director or showrunner, laying out all of the props for the production]. This was even before we had Matthew – because we didn't get Matthew, at first. We had to wait for him to finish Dallas Buyers Club when we were prepping for season one. After he was finished on that film, he had to go home and put on like 30 pounds, because he weighed like 110 pounds or something ridiculous. In the show and tell, I told the showrunner, 'OK, here are five watches that I'm going to show Matthew.' He looked at them and said, 'OK, I like four of them; don't show him that one.' After the first run-through of the show and tell, he said to me, 'You get it. You talk to the actors because really, at the end of the day, it's their choice, and I trust that whatever you're going to show them will work.'"

If you are a fan of the first season of True Detective, you might be aware of the immense interest in McConaughey's watch on the show. I recall getting pretty deep into the watch forums myself on this topic at the time the show was on (circa 2014). Some people thought it was a vintage Seiko diver, but the crown was at three 'o clock – so that was out. Others swore it was a Citizen, others still were adamant it was a Rolex. The only certainty was the strap – a black rubber diving strap with a wind velocity indication chart. Needless to say, this was one of the burning questions I had lined up for Lynda.

"Actually, the watch he wears is a Lorus Tidal, and it was from my personal kit. I picked that watch because it had a look of something he would have had for quite some time. I think part of the early backstory was that maybe he had a military background, but also maybe he had done other stuff in his past that we didn't know about. I felt the look of the watch was very simple – very classic, but very masculine. Even though it's not the most expensive watch in the world, it's also not the cheapest version of that style of watch. I mean, you can get a Timex from the same era that has almost the identical look to it with the bezel and everything else."

McConaughey's Rust Cohle wasn't the only watch-wearing detective on screen. Woody Harrelson's Marty Hart also sported a watch which, despite my best efforts to spot, left me scratching my head. As it turns out, I likely never could have figured it out.

"That was a watch that I found, and I think it was actually Russian, but it had no markings. My idea for the backstory of his watch was that it was something his dad had given him. I conceived that his dad was a veteran who served in Korea. Men in the late '50s and early '60s had those really interesting-shaped watches like the Hamilton Ventura and that kind of thing. To me, it put a period to that watch and looked like it would have come from his father."

Lynda worked on all three seasons of True Detective. While the second season was something of a departure from the anthological, multi-timeline storytelling, season three saw a return to that style. It starred Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff as – you guessed it – detectives investigating a murder. This time, however, the story was conveyed through the mind of Ali's character, an elderly ex-cop struggling with his memory. That choice resulted in the show jumping often between different periods of time, thereby triggering the use of multiple watches for his character. 

"Mahershala's character in the early period wore a big Casio (Casio AMW320R-1EV), sort of like the Lorus we used for Matthew, but bigger with a digital readout in the center. In the middle era, I just went for gold, like a metallic band, likely a Timex or a Casio or something along those lines. And then as his character got older, I imagined a backstory where that watch broke. Of course, if it's a Timex, it doesn't, but maybe he decided to buy something else, or something better. As you get older, there are certain requirements you have – maybe it was easier for him to read. This is how I think about these things."

As mentioned, both seasons one and three of True Detective track the passage of time. In the case of the first season, it was a deliberate choice to have McConaughey's character wear the same watch. "That is exactly what we discussed," said Reiss, because it fit with his overall character. Conversely, for Ali's character in season three, the choice was made to have multiple watches. Over time, you saw him change from a young detective with a sort of chunky Casio tool watch to an older man with a more simple Timex Easy Reader on a stretch bracelet. These decisions might sound trivial, but they are a big part of what makes a successful Prop Master. 

Stranger Things

While True Detective is technically a period piece, it almost feels like it takes place in its own unique universe. Stranger Things, on the other hand, goes all-in on '80s nostalgia. Full stop. You might think that such focus on that time period would make things easier, or at least provide clarity in terms of prop sourcing, but that is not necessarily the case. 

"Well, it's really interesting because Stranger Things season one was set in 1981. When I began pre-production, everybody was saying, 'Oh, well it would have been this, or it would have been a Swatch, or it would have been digital.' Actually, those things didn't come into existence until a couple of years later. There was a still a bit of a 1970s hangover in 1981." (Reiss is right; Swatch was test-marketed in Texas in the fall of 1982 and did not debut commercially until 1983.)

One of the cult-favorite characters on the show was Barb, best friend of one of the main characters, Nancy Wheeler. Her character wore a white Swatch on screen. "I gave poor Barb one of the earliest Swatches. The whole backstory with her is that she's an only child who's adored by her parents. She was a child who has 'the car,' and her parents would have bought her the latest things that came out. So, I could see her at the forefront of the Swatch craze. I did a lot of research on things like this."

"I made a point of looking for the calculator watch, but that was far from easy to source in terms of being period correct. Finn [Wolfhard] and the boys hated their watches – which ranged from Casio to Timex – by the end of the season. They didn't want to wear them anymore because, well, they're kids who don't wear watches in real life. The kids would play around with all the buttons on their watches and everything else. In the middle of a shoot, an alarm would go off and ruin a whole take. We usually take the batteries out though."

Sourcing period-correct watches is a tough task in its own right. Of course, it is impossible to get things exactly correct down to the exact year, so there is a certain level of getting things close as opposed to exact. Dealing with vintage (read, old) things also comes with other particular challenges.

"Swatch was hard, not so much about clearance (clearing rights for use on-screen), but about the plastic that they made the watches out of back in the early 1980s. We're talking 1982, 1983, and we were filming this in 2014. That's 30-something years. That stuff became brittle. I mean, we had a nightmare with Barb's watch all the time. I was able to source four of them, but the straps kept breaking, and it's almost impossible to replace them. The early Swatches didn't have the interchangeable strap like the later ones did."

"So I would be super-gluing something on the back to hold all these pieces and we're trying to fill it. This sounds terrible, but those straps became such a pain, that we began hoping [SPOILER ALERT] that her character would die sooner. I remember telling someone, 'Let's just move up that whole death scene in the story because these watch straps might not make it through the season.' I will say, I loved Hopper's watch [Hopper is the name of the town sheriff on the show played by David Harbour]. It was a Timex, the Atlantis. It was one of the early navigators, but the strap had a compass that I always loved."

When I spoke to Prop Master Ritchie Kremer of Interstellar fame, I asked him about his personal affinity for watches. In his case, he did not even wear a watch. With Reiss, however, her professional endeavors have definitely sparked an intellectual interest in watches. You need only see how many watches she has amassed over the years to understand that. 

"I think I had at one point about 3,000 watches in my kit, give or take. It was a lot, but remember, I also like to have duplicates on different productions. I like watches as machines. I like the artistry of them. I have a series of watch dials from when I picked up the watch for Woody on True Detective. I had bought a bulk lot of watches out of Ukraine, and in that box were 25 watch dials, and they were all hand-painted. I mean, they were just stunning. They are currently in a box somewhere for me to do some art project at some point."

"If I'm out at a flea market or someplace like that, I will generally look for a watch that has character. I like to find things that have a story, but even if it doesn't, I will attach a story to it when I'm passing it on. That's what I have always loved about doing this."

Reiss is transitioning away from life as a Prop Master – instead moving into directing. She told me that she is also in the process of semi-liquidating her some 3,000-watch prop kit. She did note, however, that she won't be moving on from all of them. A lot of the pieces in her collection – including the Rust Cohle Lorus – have special meaning. They are products of the stories they have appeared in on-screen, and in many cases, the stories that Lynda herself dreamed up for the very characters who wore them. 

The Sky-Dweller is, relatively speaking, a youngster in Rolex's collections. While many of the company's staple models have been around, in one form or another, since the 1950s and 1960s, the Sky-Dweller only debuted in 2012 (Ben Clymer covered it that year for a relatively young HODINKEE), and it was at the time, I think, a bit of a puzzler – a highly technical piece but also very showy; as if a gold Day-Date had decided it wanted a career in aviation. It was and is a quite complex watch, with an annual calendar, GMT function, and a rotating bezel – the Ring Command bezel – which is used to select the setting function for the crown. 

The idea is to make setting and using the watch as simple as possible for the owner, but to do so requires a lot of extra work where it's not visible to the wearer – the bezel control ring alone adds about sixty additional components. The presentation of information on the dial is ingenious – the month of the year is indicated in a very economical fashion, via a switching colored disk that appears in a small window, adjacent to the dial hour marker corresponding to the month (the 12:00 marker, for instance, corresponds to December). Home time is shown on a rotating 24-hour ring, and the hour hand can be independently set, in one-hour increments, forwards or backwards.

The GMT-Master II has a long history of use as a practical traveling aid, and it's also done time on innumerable pilots' wrists and astronauts' wrists. The Sky-Dweller, on the other hand, is unabashedly a luxury watch – 42mm in diameter, exceedingly extroverted in design. It's a watch that makes no bones about announcing itself, especially in gold. There is a steel version, with a white-gold bezel, with which I spent A Week On The Wrist back in 2018, but that's about as proletariat as the Sky-Dweller gets (it is currently listed at $14,800, which seems surprisingly affordable for a Sky-Dweller, relatively speaking). I actually had an opportunity to travel with the watch (on a quick trip to London and back) and found it, despite its complexity and the somewhat unintuitive-at-first nature of the Ring Command bezel, very easy to use and fun as hell to wear, to boot. As a working travel watch, though, I thought I'd still probably just rather use a GMT-Master II, which even on a bracelet, flies a little more under the radar.

Now, I don't think a Sky-Dweller is ever going to compete head-to-head with a GMT-Master II as a pure tool watch – it's too complex mechanically and too busy visually – but with the Oysterflex bracelet, which is what's new this year for the watch, I think it becomes much more versatile, at least in terms of long-term wear comfort. At 42mm, the Sky-Dweller is 2mm larger in diameter than the GMT-Master II, and it looks and feels it, especially in yellow gold. That fluted bezel, with its diamond-sharp edges, catches the light like a cut-gem too. However, on an Oysterflex bracelet, it almost feels a different watch.

The Oysterflex bracelet is one of the most carefully thought out and elaborately constructed bracelets I've ever seen – I honestly don't know that any other company than Rolex would ever go to the trouble of coming up with such a thing. Rolex calls it a bracelet (and I bet they want you to do so too), but it feels more of a hybrid to me – a combination of the structural advantages of a bracelet with the comfort of a strap. (Of course, comfort is a relative thing; I've worn metal bracelet watches that were terrifically comfortable and watches on straps that may as well have been metal, for all they showed any inclination to make the slightest effort to make themselves conform to my wrist, instead of the other way around.) 

The Oysterflex bracelet basically consists of a thin, flexible metal blade inside a molded elastomer outer coating, but it has another interesting feature as well, which is the so-called "comfort pad" molded into the underside. Now, read about Rolex for long enough, and you can read enough hearsay and speculation in a month to last you a lifetime. One story I've heard, which may be apocryphal but which says something about the company nonetheless, was that they had six researchers with Ph.Ds in materials science working on their bracelets. (The story went on to say that after six years of working on just the bracelet links, one of them – a real go-getter, apparently – went to his boss and asked if he could work on clasps as well; the boss patted him anxiously on the shoulder and said, in shocked tones, "No, no ... you're a bracelet guy.") 

I'd never looked for a patent for this specific feature before, but of course, Rolex being Rolex, there is one. The grant in the U.S. is from 2015, and if you understandably find it hard to believe that guys with Ph.Ds do the bracelet designs at Rolex, looking over the patent might help persuade you. It begins by noting with commendably deadpan seriousness that "some prefer a loose fit, while others prefer a tighter fit," and goes on to identify a number of circumstances which may contribute to a sensation of discomfort while wearing a watch – and then modestly proposing, "In order to respond to these constraints, document JP2002262910 proposes to produce a transverse opening in the thickness of the bracelet strand around the zone where the bracelet strand is fastened to the watchcase, to result in a damping of the stresses exerted by the bracelet on the wearer's arm." The patent actually goes so far as to include a stress-strain diagram.

One of the advantages to being Rolex is that you can really take your time over these things – I've found a Rolex patent for a metal bracelet with plastic molded over it from the 1960s, but of course, taking your time also means being able to get it right. On the Oysterflex bracelet, what was an undeniably well-engineered, very well-built watch, but which felt a little hefty and complex for the rigors of travel, suddenly seems ready to go anywhere and be worn for any length of time – even for the rigors of a long-haul flight. There are always some arguments about whether or not the Oysterflex bracelet is "really" a bracelet, and whether or not Rolex is engaging in some sort of shenanigans by calling it a bracelet when (to be fair) it looks a hell of a lot like a strap, but I'm inclined to give them this one – the over-molding is what you see and feel, but the actual physical attachment of the watch head to the bracelet to the clasp is metal-to-metal all the way around. An Oysterflex bracelet seems likely to considerably outlast any single-material strap out there, certainly.

In a world where we change straps on watches with considerable frequency, if not downright promiscuity, it is nice to see this much effort being made to make the wrist a better place. Okay, this is a forty-thousand dollar watch, but at least you don't get the feeling Rolex cut corners on the bracelet. This is only the second time I've worn a watch on an Oysterflex bracelet, and they really are just deliciously comfortable. I wouldn't go so far as to say they make a solid-gold Sky-Dweller into a discreet daily-wearer, but they certainly make it a watch more likely to be your go-to for travel – albeit, if you have this guy, you're definitely traveling up front.

All photos, Tiffany Wade.

The Rolex Sky-Dweller Ref. 326238: case, 18k yellow gold, 42mm x 14.01mm, water resistant to 100 meters. Sapphire crystal with date cyclops. Movement, Rolex in-house caliber 9001 with center seconds, minutes, and hours; independently settable hour hand and home time indication by 24-hour ring; annual calendar. Setting via the crown, controlled by Ring Command bezel, with 72-hour power reserve. Bracelet, Rolex Oysterflex with Oysterlock clasp. Price, $40,000. Dream of slipping the surly bonds of Earth at Rolex.com. For more, check out Danny Milton's Introducing post from launch day.

I've always found the sunrise-sunset complication to be one of the most intellectually beautiful complications in horology – there is something about having the rhythms of celestial objects reproduced in miniature on the wrist that is irresistible. Sunrise-sunset complications have been used in clocks for centuries and can be found in pocket watches as well – the Patek Philippe Graves Supercomplication is one example, and, more recently, Vacheron Constantin's ref. 57260 is another (and it's also, lest we forget, the most complicated watch ever made, albeit at 76mm x 31mm, it pushes the notion of portability to its limit). However, it did not appear in a wristwatch until the introduction of the Jules Audemars Equation Of Time in the year 2000. That watch was closely followed, the same year, by German watchmaker Martin Braun's EOS wristwatch – both groundbreaking watches technically and aesthetically. 

The only disadvantage to the complication and, probably, at least part of the reason it took so long to appear in a wristwatch is that it is highly location-dependent; it can only show sunrise-sunset times in a single location. The sunrise-sunset complication works in basically the same way as the Equation Of Time – there are two cams, one for the time of sunrise and one for sunset, which rotate once per year. The outer edges of the cams vary in radius, depending on where in the year you are, and a feeler lever riding along the edge of the cam translates this variation into the to-and-fro movement of the sunrise and sunset indications, as the day lengthens and shortens. The first watch (actually, I believe, the first mechanical timepiece of any kind) able to display sunrise-sunset times almost anywhere in the world, without having to change cams, was the Krayon Everywhere watch, with a mechanism designed by founder Rémi Maillat. 

The Everywhere is a programmable sunrise-sunset watch. The user inputs the date, latitude and longitude of their location, and UTC (all of which can be done via the crown, remarkably enough), and the watch will show the times of sunset and sunrise, as well as the duration of day and night, for their location. It is an ingenious but also extremely complex timepiece (over 600 components), although Maillat's design allows it to be remarkably flat, at just 11.7mm. It is also very expensive, unsurprisingly enough, at about $600,000 to start, depending on the number of customizations the potential owner desires. The Anywhere watch is based on the same fundamental idea but is less complex and correspondingly less expensive, and it still has much of the charm of the original Everywhere.

Reading off information from the dial, including the sunrise-sunset times, is simplicity itself. The relative position of the Sun above or below the horizon is shown by the solar disk, which rotates once around the perimeter of the dial per day. When it's in the dark blue sector, it's nighttime; when in the light blue sector, it's daytime; when it moves across the boundary between the two, it's dusk or dawn. The number of hours of daylight or night can be read off the 24-hour scale on the rehaut. The month and the date reside in a subdial at 6:00 and, as with the Everywhere watch, all indications can be set from the crown.

Like the Everywhere watch, the Anywhere is also surprisingly flat – the sunrise-sunset complication does not necessarily have to contribute significantly to thickness, but it's still a pleasant surprise. At 39mm x 9.5mm, this is an eminently wearable watch that wears its complexity extremely lightly. Six-figure complicated watches can be rather more bombastic than not, a lot of the time, but the Anywhere watch is classic enough in its design and proportions to be a very viable daily driver.

The sunrise-sunset display consists of two moveable shutters which move back and forth in order to change the position of the horizon line as the year progresses. The position of the shutters is controlled by an adjustable cam which visually is the centerpiece of the wonderfully graceful movement.

The movement design is a sort of modified 3/4 plate. Above, you can see the mainspring barrel at the upper left and the rest of the going train – from the center of the movement and proceeding to the right, the center wheel, third and fourth wheels, and escape wheel – and balance; the escape wheel is under its own cock. The movement has a flat balance spring and freesprung, adjustable-mass balance. This part of the watch is entirely conventional in layout; however, all the components have been shifted into the upper half of the movement in order to allow room for the sunrise-sunset works.

The adjustable cam is flanked below, and to the sides, by the levers controlling the position of the shutters. The Everywhere watch used a system of planetary gears to control its sunrise-sunset complication, which function as a sort of mechanical analog computer – they take the input information and output the sunrise-sunset times. The cam system in the Anywhere watch is closer to the traditional system for this complication. However, the cam can be adjusted – albeit, it must be done by a watchmaker trained on the movement – to display sunrise-sunset times in any chosen location. Normally, in order to do this, an entirely new set of cams would have to be cut – if you bought a sunrise-sunset complication with cams for Singapore and you moved to New York, you'd need to order new cams and then send the watch back to the manufacturer to have them installed. The Anywhere watch appears to use a single screw set into the cam for this adjustment, and as long as the watchmaker knows how to use it, it looks as if the adjustment could be done at the bench in less than an hour and without having to send the watch home for surgery.

While the whole idea of the sunrise-sunset complication is enormously appealing to me, the fact that the cams for the complication are location-specific has always seemed a bit of a handicap. If, for instance, I wanted a Jules Audemars Equation Of Time, I would have to either find one that already has cams for New York, or buy one that does not and send it back to AP to have a new set of cams constructed. The Anywhere watch, and its more complex predecessor, represent an extremely sophisticated and very clever solution to this problem – one of the rare instances in modern horology of a genuinely major advance being made in a very traditional complication.

The Krayon Anywhere Sunrise-Sunset Complication: Case, 39mm x 9.5mm, in white or rose gold, sapphire front and back. Movement, Krayon caliber C030, 35.40mm x 5.0mm, power reserve 86 hours, running at 3 Hz in 35 jewels; hand-wound with stopwork. 432 components total. Case material, rose gold or white gold. Hours, minutes, sunset and sunrise times, simple calendar requiring adjustment 5 times annually. Prices in white and rose gold, CHF 116,000 CHF, in steel, 96,000 CHF. More at Krayon.ch.

Welcome to another installment of "My Watch Story," a video series starring HODINKEE readers and their most prized watches. The submissions continue to stream in, and we couldn't be happier to share them with the watch community. Today, we have five new stories submitted by Brandon Perry, Alexandr Lvov, Corey Wilson, Edward Shaw, and the Tsao Brothers.

Feeling inspired, or just discovering this project? Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to learn how to submit your own video. But first, we hope you enjoy this installment of My Watch Story.

Brandon Perry And His Vintage Omega Seamaster

Indianapolis, Indiana, resident Brandon Perry has always had a strong affinity for vintage watches, particularly the Omega Seamaster. He spent a lot of time scouring eBay and Craigslist trying to find the perfect example but never quite uncovering it. It was at his church's band practice where Brandon finally saw the watch he'd been dreaming of – there on the wrist of his friend, who he hadn't seen in years. The two struck up a conversation, found out they both were watch enthusiasts, and Brandon offered to buy it from him if he ever decided to part ways with it. Two months later, Brandon was finally able to procure the timepiece he'd always been looking for.

Alexandr Lvov And His Tudor Black Bay Black

Estonian-born Alexandr Lvov is an engineer living in the U.K. His Tudor Black Bay Black has been his daily wear since he bought it after graduating from university. Every nick and ding on the watch's case and bezel are beauty marks for Alexandr – he's proud that the watch accompanies him on all his adventures and is able to withstand his active lifestyle. He's also engraved the caseback himself with a simple reminder, "Work hard."

@Ploomface

Corey Wilson And His Seiko SRP 777

Corey Wilson from Medford, Oregon, was a longtime wearer of a Casio G-Shock but found himself more drawn to automatic, mechanical watches. As an enlistee in the United States Air Force, Corey wanted a watch that he could wear his whole career in the military; the Seiko SRP 777 checked all the boxes for him. He appreciates the watch for its history and its appearance in movies such as Apocalypse Now and The Abyss. He looks forward to passing on the watch to his children one day.

Edward Shaw And His Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle

London-native Edward Shaw first learned about the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle from watching an episode of Three On Three back in 2014. Edward recently turned 30 years old, and it had always been a goal of his to acquire a gold watch for himself to mark a new decade of life. The example he wears is manual-wound with a 38mm rose-gold case. Before the pandemic, he would wear a suit to work – he likes that it fits comfortably under his cuff, has an understated elegance on wrist, and blends in seamlessly with his metropolitan life. 

The Tsao Brothers And Their Rolex Explorer Ref. 214270 And Rolex Datejust Ref. 116234

For the Tsao brothers, Adam and Brian, Rolex watches have been a big part of their family tradition. Their great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations. After achieving some success, their great-grandfather marked the occasion by purchasing a Rolex; that tradition has been a part of the Tsao family ever since. For Adam, his Rolex Explorer was a gift from his parents after graduating law school. It gets the most wrist-time on his travels, but most importantly, he wore it when he proposed to his fiancée. After graduating college, his brother Brian received his Rolex Datejust from his parents to celebrate. As an avid tennis player, Brian appreciates Rolex's contribution to the sport. The Tsao brothers wear their timepieces with a sense of pride, knowing they are carrying on a family tradition. 

Ready To Submit Your Own Watch Story? Here's How It Works

1. Pick one watch that is very special to you, and get your camera phone ready.

2. Record a video telling us your most interesting or meaningful story about your watch. Let's say 2-3 minutes is the sweet spot – if you go longer, that's okay. (And please remember to introduce yourself: your name and where you are from.)

3. Get creative, keep it clean, and have fun! 

4. Take some photos on the wrist and a few shots of the watch so that we can proudly display them on our site. Horizontal, please.

5. To share your video and photos, you can either A) upload here; or B) upload to your preferred large file transfer service and send a link to mywatchstory@hodinkee.com.

I’m not going to mince words here or try to play both sides: When the newest batch of Rolex releases came out, I was gutted to see that the Oyster Perpetual 39 had been removed from the collection. It was my favorite modern Rolex, hands-down, and the watch I recommended to first time "nice watch" buyers more than any other. Come to think of it, it's one of the watches I recommended to any watch buyer more than any other. It's a Rolex through and through: It's a fantastic size that works for almost any wrist, and the white dial gave it a special something that set it apart from most of Rolex's black-dialed sport watches. And they killed it. With no notice and no fanfare. The King is dead.

What replaced the OP 39 is the new OP 41. Instead of offering Oyster Perpetuals in 28, 31, 34, 36, and 39mm, there is now a 5mm jump between the 36mm and the 41mm. I happen to love the OP 36 and think it's basically the perfect size for my wrist, but that does leave a large chasm right in prime watch-size territory for the OP.

When people started freaking out online over the Submariner gaining one millimeter on paper, we were among the commentators who pointed out that the actual size difference is less than one millimeter, but that the rounding done for the spec sheets created an illusion of a bigger change. With the Oyster Perpetuals, there's no such mathematical equivocation to look to. The OP 41 is substantially larger than the OP 39 and worth considering as a totally new watch, not a small modification to an existing one. 

With that in mind, I wanted to get an OP 39 and an OP 41 in-hand to do a proper side-by-side comparison and to see if I was maybe having a mini watch meltdown over nothing.

The Newest OP

First off, let's give this watch a fair chance on its own merits. It is still an Oyster Perpetual, which means that it's an overbuilt, over-engineered take on a basic three-hand wristwatch in the Rolex style. The case is robust like a tank but elegantly polished in just the right ways, the Oyster bracelet is both comfortable and sturdy, and you've got Rolex's distinct combination of quality and precision in everything from the top of the crystal straight through to the brushing on the caseback. So, despite my reservations, this is still a pretty fantastic watch at first glance. 

And that early impression really does hold up. The watch feels great in the hand and on the wrist, and I think Rolex did an outstanding job with the new dial configuration and updated colorways for the OP 41. The double markers at three, six, and nine are much better balanced than on previous double-marker iterations (old OP 36, I'm looking at you), and from the silver-and-gold to the bright turquoise, the color options are plentiful and on-point. One interesting note is that Rolex chose not to offer the candy pink dial in the 41mm size, presumably because they expect the pink appeals mostly to female customers, and the 41 appeals mostly to male customers. Possible market research aside, that's some pretty antiquated thinking, so I'm hoping the line gets updated at some point (but I won't be holding my breath).

The new dials are a huge part of what the OP 41 has to offer. There are two new "basic" dial options, one a new silver sunburst finish with gold hands and markers and the other a new black that also has a subtle sunburst finish to it. The silver essentially replaces the white dial found on the OP 39, but more on that in a minute. There are also brighter options, including the new turquoise, coral red, yellow, green, and sunburst blue that debuted across the OP collection this year. We'll have more coming on these bright new dial colors soon, but I think they're pretty exceptional across the board and have already talked myself into and out of buying both yellow and coral OPs over the last few weeks. We'll see where I finally end up there….

Underneath the surface, Rolex put a new-generation movement in the OP 41, the caliber 3230. This is the same movement you’ll find in the new no-date Submariner, and it's a powerhouse. It has a Chronergy escapement for better precision and longevity, it has a 70-hour power reserve, and it carries both COSC and Rolex certifications for performance. It's basically everything you want in a modern movement meant for daily wear. 

The OP 39 Effect

On its own, the Oyster Perpetual 41 represents a fantastic addition to Rolex's line-up. I don't really have anything bad to say about the watch itself. Judging from the reactions of friends and acquaintances who have bought them and shown them off on Instagram, there are already loads of happy customers in nearly every corner of the globe, too. It's tough to argue with that. 

But then we have the Oyster Perpetual 39 to consider. The OP 41 isn't just a new watch, it's a new watch that replaces a beloved watch that had a far-too-short run in the Rolex catalog. Does that color my perception of the OP 41? You bet it does. 

Quick disclaimer here: Rolex has in no way suggested that the OP 41 is a "replacement" for my dearly departed OP 39. As far as their communication is concerned, the OP 41 is a new watch and the OP 39 has been removed from the catalog. Zero explanations have been given, and the two aren't directly connected to one another at all. I say this mostly to cover my own ass here, but I also think it's a perspective worth floating. Lineups change, we draw our own conclusions.

OK, back to business. Side-by-side with the OP 39 is where I start to feel a bit conflicted about the OP 41. Yes, it's a great watch, but to my mind, it's not an improvement on the 39 so much as a totally different thing. And I don't think I prefer it. 

When it comes to the diameters of the two watches, you get what Rolex says you get – there is a 2mm difference between the two, and you can see it just by looking at the watches side-by-side. But that's not the only measurement that matters, especially when you're looking at watches with the slightly tonneau shape that Rolex utilizes. The lug-to-lug measurements are critical, too, and at 47.35mm, the OP 41 is definitely larger than the OP 39, which measures 44.06mm top to bottom. That's more than a 3mm difference in terms of how the watch sits on the wrist. Thickness, on the other hand, isn't a huge concern, as the difference is a fraction of a millimeter, with both coming in around the 12mm mark. To be clear, both of these watches are extremely wearable, and I like the proportions of both as well, but one is unequivocally larger than the other, and that's likely going to be the thing that makes or breaks your relationship with the OP 41.

Digging a little deeper, you'll notice that the dial architecture is different as well. While I do like the design and layout of the new OP 41, I can't help but prefer the OP 39 when you put the two side by side. The perfectly even parade of 11 markers around the outer edge of the dial, the understated minutes track, and the ever-so-slightly-pearlescent finish of the white dial all give the watch a cleanliness and clarity that is unmatched. To my eye, the OP 39 with the white dial is the most purely distilled form of "Rolex" that you could get. It was one perfect unit of exceptional watch. While the OP 41 is, almost inarguably, a better watch due to that new movement, it's not as pleasing a watch to me.

On The Wrist

Ultimately, what really matters though is how the watch performs on the wrist. And, in that department, the OP 41 is pretty great. Yes, it's larger than I'd like for myself, but you already know that. I'm not going to belabor that point any further. If a 41mm watch with a sporty, everyday feel is what you're after, Rolex has something really great for you here. The watch feels even slimmer than the other OP models due to the greater diameter-to-thickness ratio, and even with a tiny bit of lug overhang, it's still plenty comfortable due to the smooth connection between the case and bracelet. 

When it comes to the different color options, I think that the softer colors like the silver and the turquoise work a little better than the harsher colors. There's just so much dial with this watch that too much red or yellow (or even black) ends up being a bit overpowering. With the OP, I want to enjoy the whole package, the harmony, more than any one detail. The hints of gold on the silver dial give it a warm, almost champagne impression that reminds me of a nicely aged vintage Datejust in a great way.

In the name of horological science, I figured I'd try the OP 39 on too, immediately after taking off the OP 41. It felt like taking off a pair of new bench-made shoes and throwing on a comfy pair of sneakers. Both are great, but one just wears much easier. If you want more on the OP 39, definitely go check out this story I wrote when the white-dial version came out, but I'll say it one more time for good measure: I love this watch, and it's damn near perfect on the wrist.

Final Thoughts

I don't want anyone who's made it this far to misconstrue what I'm saying here, so I'll put it as bluntly as possible: The Oyster Perpetual 41 is a fantastic watch that puts Rolex's best assets forward in a relatively affordable package with diverse dial options to suit lots of different tastes. That's not up for debate here. The rub is that Rolex happened to phase out a very similar and beloved watch in the Oyster Perpetual 39, which casts a bit of a shadow over the new drop. 

If you were a fan of the Oyster Perpetual 39, there's no use crying over discontinued watches. You have a few choices. You could find a pre-owned OP39 (white-dialed versions are traded for north of $8,000 online these days), or you could choose between the OP 36 and OP 41. If you're dead set on a white dial, you're going to have to hunt and shell out that extra cash, but if you're not, I'd highly recommend trying on both the OP 41 and OP 36 to discover which direction suits you better.

While it might be one of the less-talked-about watches in Rolex's portfolio of indelible icons, I think the Oyster Perpetual deserves its place on the horological Mt. Rushmore. As I said earlier, it's one perfect unit of Rolex watch, paring down the brand's most essential qualities – restrained design, over-engineered details, and performance-driven movements – into an easy-to-understand watch that's perfect for nearly any setting.

No matter what size works for you, the Oyster Perpetual was, is, and will continue to be one hell of a watch. 

For more on the Oyster Perpetual 41, visit Rolex online.

Quick Take

The lore surrounding Seiko's Micro Artist Studio is well known to many who appreciate watches. It's where the company's most exacting finishing and handwork are practiced by a small number of Seiko artisans who are among the best in the world at what they do. I myself remember visiting the Studio in 2007 – still an infant in the world of watches, though around just long enough to have heard the name Philippe Dufour. I vaguely recall seeing his picture in the small Studio and learning of his interest in its activities, a discovery that I remember charmed me and caused me to ponder the cross-cultural possibilities of a craft which to that point I'd considered solely Swiss. Really, solely French-Swiss.

The best-known range to hail from the Micro Artist Studio is that of Credor's Eichi watches, simple-enough-looking designs with indication for the power reserve (on the dial in the case of Eichi, on the movement in the case of the Eichi II), produced in extremely small quantities, which evince a character of simple perfection that I've come to expect from Seiko's higher-end products. This includes Grand Seiko, of course, as we've seen in another recent release here on the site. Still, Credor is, in my mind, the highest expression of what Seiko can do in the world of watches, and the Eichi II, which is now being presented with a stunning blue dial, is the apotheosis of Credor. At present, only select Grand Seiko and Credor watches are made in the Micro Artist Studio.

We've already covered the Eichi II at length. It came out 2014, following on the original Eichi watch of 2008. The original Eichi II was designed to invite repeated close looks and stand up to examination under a loupe. Pre-COVID, there was a day when we happened to have an Eichi II in the office for photography, and Jack was editing some photos on his large desktop monitor. As he zoomed further and further in, the Eichi II's perfect mainplate simply wouldn't quit, nor would its crisp blue writing, beveled edges, or jewel sinks. It was a revelatory moment for me in terms of understanding what high-end finishing can mean in watches. The Eichi II's Spring Drive cal. 7R14 is one of the few watches in the world that can be shot in extremely high resolution with a good camera without revealing any discernible flaws.

Initial Thoughts

We've already covered the Eichi II in its original white-dial versions in depth, of course. What distinguishes the new version you see here, created to mark the 140th anniversary of Seiko's founding by Kintaro Hattori, taking place in 2021, is its hand-painted blue porcelain dial. It's been rendered in a color that Seiko and Credor are calling Ruri, the Japanese word for lapis lazuli. You'll find the familiar Credor "C" seconds hand and finely executed hour and minute hands, as well as hand-painting for the hour markers and for the Credor name. 

The Eichi II ref. GBLT997 is presented in a 950 platinum case that, like the original Eichi II, measures a wearable 39mm across and 10.3mm tall. Seiko says that Eichi means wisdom. I spoke to someone who is fluent in Japanese, and they told me that eichi is a beautiful, poetic word that denotes deep knowledge. Interestingly, there are three ways to write eichi in Japanese kanji characters, they told me. While all three mean "wisdom" or "knowledge," the kanji that Seiko uses on its Japanese-language website (叡智) is associated with wisdom so great as to be compared with that of the divine. 

Viewed from the other side, you'll find the equally stunning Spring Drive cal. 7R14. Just as with the original Eichi II, the beveled edges, mirror-polished ruby sinks, and heat-blued screws offer a compelling visual argument for what Seiko can do in the arena of finishing. The 7R14 as seen in the Eichi II eschews the boisterously baroque decoration one might find in watches made elsewhere; its relative simplicity of layout provides no hiding places for mistakes.

One of the hallmark characteristics of this movement is its torque return system. Because Spring Drive uses mechanical power from an unfurling mainspring, it operates with more torque than needed at the height of its power reserve. And it's not an insignificant amount: about 30%. The 7R14 reclaims this energy and uses it to rewind the mainspring, resulting in a more efficient movement and a power reserve of 60 hours. The mainspring is contained within a stylized, openworked Bellflower, a motif that will be familiar from both the original version of the Eichi II and, in a slightly different form, in the 9R02 movement, a similar Spring Drive caliber (but with a much longer eight-day power reserve) used in the highest-end Grand Seiko Spring Drive watches.

On a purely aesthetic level, I think this watch sings. There is something about an incredibly deep blue dial matched to the relative austerity of a white metal case that tends to get me. And this pairing really gets me.

The Basics

Brand: Credor
Model: Eichi II
Reference Number: GBLT997

Diameter: 39mm
Thickness: 10.3mm
Case Material: 950 platinum
Dial Color: Blue
Indexes: Hand-painted
Lume: No
Water Resistance: Three bar
Strap/Bracelet: Crocodile strap

The Movement

Caliber: Spring Drive 7R14
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Power Reserve: 60 hours
Winding: Manually wound
Jewels: 41
Chronometer Certified: +/- 15 sec/month

Pricing & Availability

Price: Approximately $54,000
Availability: January 2021
 

For more, click here.

Quick Take

Bucherer has long been one of the most important high-end watch retailers in Europe. It's based in Switzerland, of course, and through its 36 locations in Europe has gained a reputation for selling many of the most important watches and brands in the world, collaborating with several of these brands on its successful "Bucherer Blue" series of watches. One need only look to the acquisition of Tourneau a few years ago, a move that saw the retailer enter the United States market in a very major way, to get a sense for just how big a player Bucherer is. A family-owned Swiss company since its founding in 1888, Bucherer also owns and operates the Carl F. Bucherer line of high-end wristwatches, named for its founder and known for classic designs and, more recently, its output of peripherally winding in-house calibers, including a tourbillon. But today, we've got something a bit different.

We're taking a look at a watch collection that I'm sure many of you have seen before here on HODINKEE. It's Carl F. Bucherer's vintage-inspired chronograph, the Manero Flyback. The Manero Flyback's tasteful sector dials with tachymeter scale have made for a compelling design over the last four years, and one that CFB has continuously iterated on since launching the first stainless steel version with black dial on a strap back in 2016. Later, Carl F. Bucherer followed up with several new dial colors and the option to buy the Manero Perpetual in one's choice of gold as well as steel. Last year, a new stainless steel bracelet joined the collection, though only on a single, blue-dialed reference. 

That bracelet took the form of nine rows of links – seven fairly skinny ones flanked by two larger outer ones, closing with a triple folding clasp. When it debuted on a new version of the Manero Flyback with a cool blue dial color, it upped the sport quotient of the Manero Flyback line considerably while, I think, further reinforcing the collection's vintage-leaning vibe. Today, we've got three variations of the Manero Flyback that, while not new per se (they feature dials in black, blue-grey, and silver that already existed in the stainless steel Manero Flyback repertoire), are only now available on that sporty bracelet. In all, there are now 13 Manero Flyback references to choose from, and that's accounting for case materials, dial variations, straps, and bracelets.

Initial Thoughts

The announcement of the new Manero Flybacks caused me to think about how a bracelet can alter the character of a watch. Most obviously, the addition of a well-designed bracelet can up the sport quotient of any wristwatch, opening it up to wear in all four seasons, and in particular the warmer months, as well as all kinds of weather. 

As a watch guy, I know this, of course. And likely so do you. But the effect can sometimes be a bit unexpected, as I learned recently. Grand Seiko's SBGM221, for example, is a dress watch GMT that I've owned and loved for some time. I wore it to my wedding, and I hold it dear to my heart. To date, I've only ever worn it on straps, and fairly dressy ones at that, never really stopping to ponder what it might look like on a bracelet. When the HODINKEE Shop and Grand Seiko recently released the SBGM239, taking a case shape shared with the SBGM221, whose every angle I'd committed to memory, and paired it with a bracelet, the effect was, to me, totally unexpected. It felt like something completely new, and it actually made me think about finding a bracelet for my watch

To my eye, the effect achieved by Carl F. Bucherer in placing its Manero Flyback on a nine-row stainless steel bracelet offers a bit less of a visual surprise. Looking at these images, it makes pretty obvious sense, and I actually wonder why we're seeing the bracelet four years post-launch. It makes for a much more compelling watch. To me, it calls to mind the old-school, old-money manifestations of a classic two-register chronograph with piston pushers on a supple, many linked, beads of rice bracelet, perhaps from the likes of Gay Frères. As far as looks go, this watch is certainly of a type, and one that would not be out of place at all on your wrist while drinking a spritzy orange-hued cocktail at a resort on any number of European Alpine lakes in the summer.

And though this is not your great-grandfather's vintage, hand-wound chronograph from an august Geneva manufacture – assuming you were lucky enough to have a great-grandfather disposed to such things – it is a modern and quite serviceable automatic chronograph that uses a modified version of the ETA Valjoux 7750 that includes a column wheel in lieu of the standard cam-and-lever system, as well as, of course, a flyback function. 

But it's the design elements of the watch itself – the domed crystal, the bi-compax chronograph dials, the beveled lugs, and of course the bracelets – that caught my eye. Sure, the 43mm diameter is on the larger side for a vintage-inspired chronograph, but I have a feeling that this pairing with a bracelet as opposed to a strap may mitigate the beefy size and make for a more coherent overall package. I've not yet seen any of these watches paired with the bracelet in person, but I'd like to soon. 

The Basics

Brand: Carl F. Bucherer
Model: Manero Flyback
Reference Number: 00.10919.08.13.21, silver dial; 00.10919.08.93.21, stainless steel, blue-gray dial; 00.10919.08.33.21, stainless steel, black dial. 

Diameter: 43mm
Thickness: 14.45mm
Case Material: Stainless steel
Dial Color: Blue-grey, silver, black, or blue
Indexes: Applied
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Did you read the article?

The Movement

Caliber: CFB 1970 (derived from Valjoux 7750, with addition of column wheel and flyback)
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, 30-minute chronograph with flyback
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Diameter: 30.4mm
Thickness: 7.9mm
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 28,800 vph
Jewels: 25

Pricing & Availability

Price: $6,600 on bracelet
 

For more, visit Carl F. Bucherer.

Grab your popcorn and dim the lights because evening has come in Geneva, and tonight, the city plays host to the 2020 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. And since award shows are nothing without their surprises (along with the requisite pomp and circumstance), we highly recommend hitting the live stream below so you can follow along with the winners of each and every category. 

With 84 finalists announced across 14 categories, there is a little something for everyone. This is also the first year of a new format for the event, which now sees some 350 academy members (including Cara, Ben, Jack, and Stephen from the HODINKEE team) come together in nominating prospective finalists. From those selections, which were announced in September, a smaller jury determines the prize-winning watch for each category. 

The stream will start at 12:30PM ET, and be sure to stay tuned afterward for a look at the winners of the 2020 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. 

The marquee items of Paul Newman's Rolex "Big Red" Daytona and the Heuer Monaco chronograph worn by Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans are more than worthy of stealing a lot of thunder at the Phillips "Racing Pulse" auction in New York on December 12, and you can learn more here. But, there is even more star-power in store for auction participants that should not be overlooked.

Phillips recently announced that the auction will include Panerai and Richard Mille watches from the collection of famed jumbo watch aficionado Sylvester Stallone as well as watches donated for the auction's charity initiative by Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté.

Sylvester Stallone

Screen legend, tough guy...watch collector? As one of cinema's most recognizable faces, Sylvester Stallone's career has included Oscar nominations not only for acting, but also for screenwriting (he wrote the screenplay for Rocky and was nominated in 1976, making him one of only three actors ever nominated for Academy Awards in both acting and screenwriting). What many don't know is that before the American actor hit the big time, Stallone attended (and also worked as a gym teacher for) American College in Lysin, Switzerland. He credits that change of scenery in his youth with sparking his interest in acting and screenwriting, but did living in Switzerland also mold his interest in watch collecting?

As not only a performing artist, but a fine artist as well, Stallone's passion for design certainly runs deep. His early fandom of Panerai and his relationship with the watchmaker dating back to 1994 almost single-handedly helped burnish the brand's current global and celebrity appeal (the actor famously presented buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger with a bespoke gold Luminor in 1996). The Panerai Luminor he wore in the 1996 disaster film Daylight is among the auction lots. Stallone is also an admirer of the work of Richard Mille, and the pair famously collaborated on a kind of "ultimate survival watch" in 2018. One of Stallone's personal versions of that RM-25-01 is included in the auction items, as well. 

Lot 47: Panerai Luminor "Pre-Vendome" 5218-201A from "Daylight"

It is not an overstatement to say that Stallone, and this watch in particular, helped define the Panerai brand itself and pushed a little-known watchmaker into a more global spotlight. Stallone wore this watch in every scene of the 1996 film Daylight as he led an escape out of the collapsed Holland Tunnel. In fact, this circa 1993, 44mm stainless steel Logo timepiece on a bold sharkskin strap never left his wrist during the production and remained in Stallone's possession until now. 

Lot estimate: $40,000 – $80,000

Lot 48: Richard Mille Yohan Blake "Beast" RM 59-01 AN CA

From a lightweight limited series created in 2013 to honor Olympic sprinter Yohan Blake, this numbered 11 of 50 translucent skeletonized tourbillon-equipped timepiece is also from Stallone's personal collection. The vibrant 42mm tonneau employs advanced composite construction, including injected carbon nanotubes and titanium to reduce weight. As with all of the Stallone lots in this auction, a hand-written note from the actor accompanies the purchase. 

Lot estimate: $300,000 – $600,000

Lot 49: Richard Mille Automatic Winding Flyback Chronograph Diver RM032 AL TI from "The Expendables III"

This massive, 50mm titanium diver chronograph (which also includes an annual calendar function) just screams rugged military excitement. And while portraying elite mercenary Barney Ross, the watch rode along with Stallone as he screamed his way through the 2014 action film The Expendables III. In addition to the screen gravitas and signature Mille artistry, depth, and complexity, this timepiece is a seriously legitimate tool; meeting all ISO 6452 dive watch standards along with enhanced underwater legibility and extra-secure crown-locking mechanics. 

Lot estimate: $60,000 – $120,000

Lot 50: Richard Mille Skull RM51-01 AN CA-TZP

Skull iconography, bejeweled and not, has become closely associated with Richard Mille's work after the watchmaker revivified the classic "memento mori" (or, reminder of mortality) symbolism from the annals of watchmaking history in 2012. This numbered 13 of 30 special pink-gold skull motif, from Stallone's collection, carries a decidedly clean and masculine vibe befitting an action star. Released in 2013, this 42.7mm tonneau-shaped tourbillon features a TZP ceramic and carbon nanotube case.

Lot estimate: $350,000 and $700,000

Lot 51: Richard Mille Chronograph Adventure RM20-01 CA 

Not to sound too corny, but this watch could save your life. At least, that was the intention of this limited edition collaboration from 2018 between Sylvester Stallone and Richard Mille that was sparked by the innocent question: "What watch would Rambo wear?" Taking that life-or-death premise into the stratosphere, this numbered 3 of 20 51mm carbon and titanium piece of gear marries a tourbillon for accuracy and a chronograph function from the world of horology with a removable compass tool and level, and, yes, a secret compartment to hold water purification tablets from the tactical world. 

Lot estimate: $250,000 and $500,000

Guy Laliberté

By taking the disciplines of classic circus performance and elevating them into the realm of eye-dazzling art form, Guy Laliberté, the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, has certainly come a long way from his beginnings as a Canadian street busker. Among his many laurels, Laliberté is also the founder of the One Drop water-focused charity. That charity, along with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, forms a special charity initiative called Time Counts for the Phillips "Racing Pulse" Auction.

As it turns out, Laliberté's also a keen watch fan; especially those fine time-keeping instruments created in Le Brassus. A set of four exceptional Audemars Piguet open-worked Royal Oak timepieces donated by Laliberté leads off the offerings of Time Counts.

Lots 71-74

While all of Laliberté's contributions to the charity auction are Royal Oak Grande Complications ranging from 2007 to 2009 vintages, they are being offered separately in individual 18k yellow gold, 18k white gold, 18k pink gold, and stainless steel executions. With an auction estimate of between $200,000 to $400,000 each, the timepieces are also being offered without reserve.

All executions are loaded up and share exacting complications. Expect a minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph, leap year and week indication, and moon-phase recording as well as an exquisitely skeletonized dial and unmistakeable 44mm case, regardless of the metal used. An automatic caliber 2885_SQ movement constitutes the heart of each performer in this "four-ring" circus. 

Phillips "Racing Pulse" auction will take place in New York on December 12. The auction's full catalog of 137 lots, which includes advance bid placement options, can be found here. 

The 2020 edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève has just ended, and with its close, all of the night's winners have been announced with Piaget taking home the top prize (aka. the Aiguille D'Or). With more than 80 finalists selected by the new and 350-strong cast of Academy members, there could be only one grand prize among the 14 categories (19 prizes total), and the Altiplano Ultimate Concept took home both the handy statue and the clout of watchmaking's highest honor. 

Measuring just 2mm thin, the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept is an excellent selection for the GPHG's top prize, exemplifying cutting-edge and decidedly specific watchmaking with the unwavering goal of considerable thinness. That being said, it was far from the event's only selection of note, with Bovet, Breitling, H. Moser, and Van Cleef each claiming two awards each. Also of interest, both Voutilainen and Tudor repeated their category wins from 2019 (Voutilainen for "Men's Watch Prize" and Tudor for "Challenge Watch Prize"). 

If you didn't happen to follow along with the live stream, the complete list of the 2020 GPHG winners is included below. From dive watches to avant-garde collector's pieces and everything in between, the list of winners offers a look into what the top echelons of the Swiss watch industry hold most dear when it comes to the functional execution of watchmaking – with the incredible engineering and single-minded design of the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept clearly making a connection with the competition's judges. 

The 2020 Winners

Ladies' Watch Prize: Bovet 1822, Miss Audrey

Ladies' Complication Watch Prize: Charles Girardier, Tourbillon Signature Mystérieuse « fleur de sel »

Men's Watch Prize: Voutilainen, 28SC

Men's Complication Watch Prize: Greubel Forsey, Hand Made 1

Iconic Watch Prize: Bulgari, Aluminium Chronograph

Chronometry Watch Prize: Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, FB 2RE.2

Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Vacheron Constantin, Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin Skeleton

Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Bovet 1822, Récital 26 Brainstorm Chapter 2

Chronograph Watch Prize: H. Moser & Cie, Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic

Diver's Watch Prize: Breitling, Superocean Automatic 48 Boutique Edition

Jewellery Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels, Frivole Secrète watch

Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Van Cleef & Arpels, Lady Arpels Soleil Féerique

"Petite Aiguille" Prize: Breitling, Superocean Heritage '57 Limited Edition II

Challenge Watch Prize: Tudor, Black Bay Fifty-Eight

Innovation Prize: Parmigiani Fleurier, Hijri Perpetual Calendar

Audacity Prize: H. Moser & Cie, Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon H. Moser X MB&F

"Horological Revelation" Prize: Petermann Bédat, Dead beat second

Special Jury Prize: Antoine Simonin, watchmaker, teacher, editor, and former director of the WOSTEP Foundation

Late last year, every other Monday, I would meet a small group of watch enthusiasts at a bar in lower Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood. Half-consumed glasses of scotch would be moved aside and collectors and dealers would splay out their assortment of vintage watches on the high tops right under hanging lamps, spotlighting the watches in the same way that an art piece hanging in a gallery would be lit. And if you've ever been to these sorts of gatherings, you know that enthusiasts treat the watches just like art, too – squinting eyes and saying "hmm" while observing the details of the piece. 

On one of those tables was a solid 18k gold Bulova Accutron Spaceview, a watch that I've always found fascinating not only for it's wild aesthetic, but because it's also a watch that's emblematic of an era when the realization of space travel helped shape the public's attitude and aspirations toward the widespread adoption of science and technology as the way forward. It was the first time in history that machines could make decisions more accurately and with more consistency than the people who created them. Traditional social values were challenged in the 1960s, and so was traditional watchmaking. The excitement about the prospect of tuning fork movements, like the one in the watch I had in my hands, was real. It was so real, in fact, that the very existence of the Spaceview as a production model was due to the fact that people were so excited about the concept that Bulova made it into one. Initially, it was just a model that appeared in Bulova displays at dealers to demonstrate how a tuning fork-equipped watch looked and performed. 

Like art and pop culture, watches can be an interesting lens through which to examine the era they came from. So I picked up the watch from the table, flipped it over, squinted, and said "hmm" after seeing another hallmark of a bygone era: On the caseback, there was an engraving with a few lines of text: 

A.C. Mattenheimer 

25 Years

And below that, the famous Grumman "bird" logo. Grumman was a leading aerospace engineering firm headquartered in Bethpage, New York, for most of the 20th century. The company was famous for building iconic WWII fighters, but perhaps even more so for engineering and producing the Apollo Lunar Module that safely delivered Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the moon. It's the only manned vehicle, ever, to touch down on a surface besides earth's own. In 1994, Grumman was bought by Northrop to form what is today Northrop Grumman. They're known these days for producing the B-2 Spirit Bomber, a massive flying wing that's invisible to radar. 

The Grumman logo and "25 Years" pointed to an old tradition of gifting a watch to an employee to commemorate decades of committed service. That tradition has waned, but so has the tradition of sticking with one company for an entire career. In the past, it wasn't uncommon for a company to gift a watch that was typically signed or engraved with the company logo to recognize a career of service. These days, watches with company logos on the dial can be highly collectible. The famous Domino's Rolex Air-King was gifted for hitting sales targets, but models like this one with a Circle Bar Drilling logo were ordered from Rolex and then given to mark years of service to the organization. 

There's something romantic about the notion of dedicating an entire career to one company, and knowing that the company will take great care of you with a sufficient pension, and maybe even a nice watch, at the end of your tenure. The tradition of gifting something as timeless as a proper watch simply doesn't happen anymore; the baby boomers were certainly onto something. The custom mug of today just isn't the same. In Mattenheimer's case, he was given an 18k gold Spaceview for spending 25 years with Grumman. Whoever was in charge of procuring that watch as a gift had fantastic taste; companies of today, take note. 

I had all I needed to see if I couldn't learn a little more about Mr. Mattenheimer and his time at Grumman. All 18 karats of the gold Spaceview pointed to the idea that Mr. Mattenheimer must have done something truly worthy of earning such a gift. I figured one does not simply receive a watch like that for mediocre performance; I had a hunch that Mattenheimer had an interesting story. On the last day of my job immediately before joining HODINKEE, my manager sent out an email wishing me well, and I was given a cupcake from the bakery down the street to enjoy at my desk while I finished typing instructions for the person assuming my role. I can only imagine what A.C. Mattenheimer accomplished to get a gold watch instead of a cupcake. 

Luckily, he wasn't in the accounting or legal department at Grumman. It turns out that Andy Mattenheimer was a Brooklynite and a champion boxer, but more importantly, he was a mechanic who flew with test pilots for Grumman in an era when planes broke down with more frequency than they do today. It's not that they were unreliable; instead, it's that the fuel, electrical, and hydraulic systems needed more maintenance and supervision than the systems of today. We've engineered out the need for mechanics that fly onboard the plane. Now we have computers that monitor those systems. It's both befitting and ironic that Mattenheimer was given a Bulova Spaceview. It represented the same sort of technology that would eventually make his job obsolete. 

I don't know if Mattenheimer is alive today, but when I looked into his story, something stood out. One of his most daring adventures was outlined in Anthony J. Vallone's book Air Vagabonds: Oceans, Airmen, and a Quest for Adventure. In it, Mattenheimer is a central character in an operation that saw a team of aviators ferry Grumman Albatross airframes to the Indonesian Air Force – in Indonesia, naturally – from Grumman's factory in Stuart, Florida, in 1976.

The Grumman HU-16 Albatross was a controversial airplane in the 1970s. It was originally built as a search and rescue platform for the U.S. armed forces in the '50s. It was amphibious, able to land and lake off on both land and water. Pilots loved the plane because it featured a real lavatory, a luxury at the time. The design featured a large cargo capacity and high-wing configuration boasting two massive radial engines. It was a perfectly fine aircraft design, but the dawning of the jet age had ended its useful life, at least in this part of the world, rather early. So instead of scrapping the planes, Grumman would overhaul them and sell them to developing nations for use in their armed forces. 

Indonesia had put in an order, and Andy Mattenheimer was assigned to the crew that would ferry two Albatross airframes from the United States to Southeast Asia for delivery to the Indonesian Air Force. Indonesia, led by the contentious ruler Suharto at the time, was mostly unknown to everyday Westerners like Mattenheimer and the crew of three pilots. And, as they would find out, it was nothing like anything they were accustomed to at home. 

Two airframes would leave the U.S.; one would make it to Surabaya, the plane's final delivery point. 

The duo started the journey in Florida, stopped in Texas, then San Francisco, and eventually charted a course to Hawaii. The Albatross was cumbersome and slow, with a cruising speed of just 124 mph, but it had fantastic range. At almost 2,800 miles, it had almost twice the range of other aircraft in its class. The trip got off to a rough start when a pilot accidentally jettisoned a drop tank full of 300 gallons worth of fuel from the right wing near their first stop in Texas. The drop tank fixed to the left wing was still present, and it was causing the airplane to pull to the left. The pilot had to hold the control wheel to the right to keep the plane flying level. The trouble was, they couldn't land with such a drastic weight imbalance in the wings, it would be too risky. They decided to fly back to Florida, where the journey began, to get a new drop tank, and on the way, they'd burn enough fuel from the tanks in the left wing to balance the plane out before landing. 

Later in the journey, a similar problem cropped up. The crew was en route to Morotai when they noticed a discrepancy in the rate that fuel was being burned from the left and right tanks. They were operating in a very remote part of Indonesia off of suspect charts nearly two years old, and according to the dead reckoning of the navigator on board, they knew they had to be getting close to their destination. There wasn't much time to find a solution to this problem. Nearing the airfield, the weight difference between the wings was almost 1,000 pounds, enough to make the plane hard to fly straight and impossible to land. The crew suspected it might be some bad aviation gas that they had picked up in Guam, but it didn't matter. Mattenheimer knew the only way to fix this was to switch tanks, but doing that ran the risk of an engine quitting on them. Mattenheimer called the shot and the crew began the process of switching tanks.

The engineer was operating the mixture and prop levers, and Mattenheimer was responsible for operating the feathering button in case the engine sputtered out. Switching tanks took about ten minutes total, and until the process was completed, the entire crew was preparing for the worst.

After it became clear that it had gone off without a hitch, the crew chuckled and started looking for the airstrip in the jungle to land it. At first, it appeared that the jungle had reclaimed what they thought was an airstrip, and they were about to have a serious problem, but it turns out the airstrip was below a cloud and visual could not be established before dropping down beneath the cover. 

Mattenheimer determined that there was, indeed, an internal failure in one of the engines; oil all over the cowling told him all he needed to know. After a thorough inspection on the ground, Mattenheimer closed up the cowling and said, "Well, this airplane's not going anywhere for a while." So it was left on Morotai, at a small Indonesian Air Force strip, waiting for repairs. After the other half of the pair of Albatross airframes landed, it was determined that the crew from the first one would continue their journey aboard the second one to Surabaya. Technically, they had reached Indonesia, just not their final destination.

Over the rest of 1976, Mattenheimer would help ferry two more Albatross airframes to Indonesia, totaling three trips. On the way back from ferrying the planes, he explored Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taiwan, Bali, and even once Tashkent in the Uzbek republic, then part of the USSR. 

One thing is for sure: When Mattenheimer was gifted that 18k Gold Bulova Spaceview, it wasn't just given to him – he earned it the hard way.