A bracelet should never be an afterthought, but Wellendorff Lange is the opposite. While a First Generation Datograph is spectacular and deeply significant in its own right, it’s hard for any Wellendorff bracelet to not steal the show. This Datograph was sold by Wempe in 2001, two years after release....

Developed just after the initial World Timers by Louis Cottier, the ref. 2597 is a damn cool ‘Travel Time’ from 1956, the very start of the jet age. The reference can be thought of as a 570 Calatrava with a little je ne sais quoi complication, or a gentleman’s GMT-Master. The...

This is a 18038, but unlike most 18038 it’s a lapis dial. Absent any indices, with apertures framed in yellow gold, this is one of the ultimate yellow gold Day-Date specs. Lapis was and remains one of the most notoriously difficult materials to machine. There is a widely stated figure...

Well before the 222, Overseas, or even Nautilus, there was this. It’s called the Royal Chronometer, but better known by ref. 2215. Introduced in 1975, it was replaced by the 222 just 2 years later in 1977.  Perhaps Genta spent less time looking at portholes and more time referencing the...

This Primevère is the first act from Japanese-born, Swiss-based independent Yosuke Sekiguchi. A name most won’t be familiar with, Sekiguchi moved to France at 23 then Switzerland, studying at La Joux-Perret then Claret. In 2020, he stepped out on his own with this. He sees most Japanese watchmaking as ‘too...

Introduced in 96 and discontinued in 06, this is not a 3940—which might be its defining feature. But it is a full-on 240 Q Perpetual Calendar, nothing annual about it. It’s the ref. 5039, which one could choose to think of as a 3940 that was allowed to lean full...