Watches - another OCD problem
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So what watches have caught your eye at Basel this year?
For me, it's the following:
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The De Bethune DB25 Starry Varius - with custom star field, of course
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The Breitling Navitimer 8 Unitime 43 - I really like the new direction Breitling is taking
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The Buglari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon - This is just magnificent, from a technical perspective
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The Nomos Glashutte Tangente Neomatik 41 - I really like the unique and clean date indication
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The Glasshutte Original Senator Cosmopolite - This is just beautiful
If I were stupidly wealthy, I'd buy the De Bethune first. It's really, really lovely.
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I like the Nomos too.
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@goosehd the Seamaster Anniversary strikes me as a good watch that would run the gamut from casual to formal. I prefer the Railmaster, but this is definitely an option.
@Chris I hadn't paid much attention to the De Bethune Starry Varius, but it's a cool looking watch.
As the for Finissimo tourbillon, I think that Bulgari are doing some of the coolest Haute Horlogerie pieces right now. The Patek that Hodinkee were gushing over is pedestrian in comparison.
@JDelage I was hoping that Zenith would bring out a production version of the Defy Lab, which would resemble the Defy Classic. It'll probably come later this year, and would be very much a must buy.
@browniemcghee Nomos always seem to do good stuff.
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The Patek that Hodinkee were gushing over is pedestrian in comparison.
I know, right?
Ooooh, it has a pink dial! It's just like an already existing watch they've been making for years, but it's got a salmon dial! Um, ok.
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful watch, and I'd love to own one, but it's not the kind of thing that makes me stop in my tracks. The Bulgari is just amazing. The entire watch is 3.95mm thick. A 2824 movement is 4.6mm. Just the movement. And it's a tourbillon! Damn. And even better, it's production level, not a prototype, or a one-off special product, but a full fledged, ready to sell model. Yeah, just 50 in the run, but still…
Hodinkee can be mystifying sometimes.
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Ben Clymer in particular, and the Hodinkee crew in general, have an editorial line that favours vintage and classic designs. The readership is complicit in this, take a look at the comments on the red Hublot as an example.
The Bulgari is fantastic. I've taken a look at the Finissmo, which is a lovely piece (I want the skeleton version), and the tourbillon is seriously next level in comparison.
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The Bulgari is amazing and way out of my price range. I’ve always been drawn to tourbillon watches, but always wondered about their practicality and durability.
I’ve also been reading that quite a few of the Swiss makers are worried about the current financial market expecting the bubble to pop. The quartz movement craze definitely affected the mechanical movements once, and now they are seeing the smart watches affecting sales. They are also seeing younger demographics move away from the entire luxury markets, with more of them interested in buying experiences such as exotic vacations.
I think that is what Patek is trying to do with dial colours to attract a younger audience. It’s also fun reading comments about Rolex’s new GMT with the jubilee bracelet. The older guys love the nostalgia, and the younger commenters are going on about not wearing an old man’s watch.
Who know’s what the future holds and how many brands can survive another downturn.
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I tend to think that the tourbillon is a complication whose only purpose is to impress Russian oligarchs!
The TAG Heuer tourbillon strikes me as worthwhile. It's one of the few to have COSC certification, and the Tête de Vipère edition is certified by the Besançon Observatory.
I was under the impression that the Swiss industry had banked on growth in Asia, only for this to be cut off by the Chinese changing rules on gifting. The net result is a massive oversupply, which the watch manufacturers have been quietly buying up.
This video (ignore the upside down sunglasses on the head!) suggests that millennials actually like two-tone watches. They're something that's passed through being uncool to being cool. (No, I don't get two-tone either.)
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Wow, there's a lot of dismissive condescension in those Hublot comments. In a world where I have unlimited watch funds, I still probably wouldn't buy it, because I am, admittedly, boring. But the development of really bright ceramics is interesting and has lots of potential. And it's actually kinda cool, albeit in a gaudy, over the top, way. Maybe I would buy it after all…
I feel like in the decade or so that I've paid attention to watches, prices have gotten dramatically higher, and probably as a result, the ownership has gotten more homogenous and simultaneously less open to variety. The folks at Hodinkee and their obsession with vintage "elegance" and palpable disdain for watches of unwearable proportions (40mm? Are you a clown? No one should ever wear a watch over 38mm, and tasteful gentlemen would never publicly wear anything larger than 36mm) just exacerbate the groupthink. This is why I periodically get fed up with watch-centric websites and online communities.
Anyway, some cool stuff at Baselworld this year, right?
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A whole lot of pics in this thread:
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Those Zeniths look a lot better in those shots than in the other ones I've seen. Except the pilot watches. Those do not appeal to me at all.
The Bamford Monaco is better looking, too. Still ambivalent about it, but the case is fascinating and the use of blue is well done. I like that they put the extra effort into making the date wheel match.
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More threads from the same guy - heavy pics that load slowly…
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@Chris when I bought my Breitling Avenger Seawolf in titanium in 2008 or 2009 the retail price was around £2000. The SuperOcean was a bit cheaper, somewhere around £1800, I think.
The titanium model was discontinued, but the current SuperOcean and Seawolf cost about £3500, so in a decade prices have doubled. Had prices tracked inflation, which has generally been low, these watches would be around £2200 to £2500.
You might be right about higher prices leading to more homogeneity. Certainly there are a lot of people who'll only spend money on a Rolex or Patek, which are very conservative brands, because they hold their value best.
I think that the tastes expressed by Hodinkee's readers and writers are typical of the groupthink of any online community. Compare Styleforum's streetwear section, The Fedora Lounge, and here. There's quite a bit of crossover in both tastes and posters, but some brands that are highly regarded on one will be dismissed on another.
But I agree that there were some good things at Baselworld, and also at SIHH. (I really like a few pieces in the IWC jubilee collection.) And as long as Hublot come out with red ceramic watches, and Bulgari do interesting things, it's not all lost, right?
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Longines Legend Diver in 36mm, this one has the burgundy dial. I might have found @Anesthetist a diver's watch.
More at the tiny watch lovin' Hodinkee.
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Stop helping me spend money @Graeme [emoji23]
That is a beauty but one I’d have to see in person. I think the original Longines is so perfect I am concerned the proportions would be off in a smaller case. Def interesting though.Did you guys see the new Nomos that is coming?
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The Neomatik Tangente? That one is great. The one that looks like a car speedometer? Not so great.
