Luke Benedictus, Author at Time and Tide Watches

Luke Benedictus

Posts by Luke:

19.09.2020

Money to burn: 4 crazy watch accessories for jaded billionaires (don’t even bother looking)

As Woody Allen famously said, “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.” More specifically, it can help you cultivate a magnificent watch collection. But what does the rich man do when he has scratched his horological itch until it’s red-raw? When he’s become jaded with the tedious rigmarole of snapping up grail watches and minute-repeater tourbillions? He starts to focus on his crazy watch accessories instead … The coffee table of horological dreams Pedro Costa is a Colombian designer who believes that size matters. He takes classic watch designs and scales them up into pieces of furniture.…

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19.09.2020

From Bruno Mars to Jay-Z: celebrities’ most staggering acts of watch-giving generosity

Random acts of kindness are all very well. But at Time+Tide, we prefer our gestures of mind-blowing generosity to come in a horological format. From rock stars to comedians and actors to athletes, the moral of this story is simple: work hard, amass your fortune then spread the love by upgrading the wrists of mankind, one watch at a time. Bruno Mars plays Santa In 2019, Bruno Mars revealed on Instagram that he’d given his bandmates a Christmas present to remember. “My boys continue to show the world what time it is,” he wrote in the Instagram caption. “And a…

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13.09.2020

5 watches specially made for movies, from Hamilton in Tenet, to Audemars Piguet in End of Days

Sometimes cinema prop masters get lucky. On certain rare occasions, instead of having to unearth pitch-perfect watches for a movie, brands will collaborate on brand-new timepieces that are purpose-built for the film. This often proves to be a win-win. The brands get some welcome publicity and a touch of big-screen glamour, the prop masters get watches that are tonally spot-on and unique. Here are five memorable examples. Tenet x Hamilton Tenet is Christopher Nolan’s new and, let’s face it, utterly baffling sci-fi thriller. It basically involves soldiers racing back and forth through time in a desperate bid to find a…

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12.09.2020

Sex toys, murder victims and cocaine: the dark side of the Apple Watch

Bubble wrap was originally devised as a form of three-dimensional wallpaper. The modern treadmill was invented to harness the muscle power of idle prisoners in order to mill grain. Frisbees were created by a Connecticut pie company as a dish for their wares. Fascinating facts aside, the point here is that many things are designed with noble intentions that are promptly subverted in unexpected ways. Inevitably, that’s also proved true with the Apple Watch which, according to consumer research firm Strategy Analytics, sold more than 50 million units in 2018 and 2019 combined. The smartwatch was released in 2015 to…

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30.08.2020

REVEALED: How to steal a watch clean off someone’s wrist without them even knowing …

We like to believe that we maintain basic control of our personal space. Within the limited orbit of our bodies, we think that we stand relatively secure as masters of our physical domain. As it turns out, this is a total delusion. The world’s most legendary “theatrical pickpocket” is Apollo Robbins (below), who possesses the dexterity of a supernatural ninja. The American entertainer is most famous for an encounter with former president Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service detail in which he successfully pilfered the agents’ pockets of everything from their security badges to Carter’s itinerary. Essentially, Robbins’ act involves removing objects…

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Hollywood fake prop watches

29.08.2020

Hollywood’s fake watches: from Kill Bill’s dodgy Rolex Daytona to Drive’s phoney Patek

Willing suspension of disbelief is part of the viewer’s contract with any film. But if you like watches, you still crave authenticity when it comes to a character’s timepiece. Much of the time, prop masters deliver the horological goods, too. You think of Captain Willard’s trusty Seiko 6105 in Apocalypse Now, Patrick Bateman’s Rolex Datejust in American Psycho or Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco Chronograph in Le Mans. But sometimes artistic licence is also applied to the actors’ wristwear in a case of “fake it till you make it” or at least manage to wangle a heftier wardrobe budget. Some offenders,…

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smartwatch insecure

23.08.2020

New study: your smartwatch is making you more insecure

The notion that “knowledge is power” has arguably become the guiding principle of our professional lives. Organisations are more reliant than ever on numerical evidence to gauge how they’re shaping up. Businesses study balance sheets, governments scrutinise trade figures, media networks analyse traffic growth and revenue streams. Sport, too, has become ever more data-obsessed after the so-called “Moneyball effect” saw the Oakland A’s baseball team thrive after they started basing their decisions on statistical analysis, rather than the hunches of ageing scouts. As a result, the corporate maxim, “If it’s not measurable, it’s not manageable” has become universally accepted. The…

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22.08.2020

Do you still wear a watch when there’s no one to impress? COVID reveals two camps…

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal ran a story with the provocative headline: “Should You Wear a Watch if There’s No One to Impress?” Two writers debated this pressing issue. One insisted that, even if you’re working from home in solitude, wearing a watch “can help to foster a sense of normalcy during a brutally abnormal year”. The other writer argued the opposite. He quoted a lawyer who admitted that wearing his Rolex seemed weirdly inappropriate while he was sat at home in Lululemon shorts. Whatever your personal opinion on the matter, the fact this issue was even discussed…

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09.08.2020

Hunter S. Thompson: The unlikely Rolex Man

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” Hunter S. Thompson was good like that. Always generous when it came to doling out whacked-out life advice. In his writing, he offered heartfelt tips on many things, from hotel liaisons (“Don’t have sex in the lobby – it’s usually awkward”) to optimised forms of hedonism (“Have an objective to give your bender a theme. For instance, stalking and killing a wild pig with a bowie knife”). This type of off-kilter wisdom reflects Thompson’s libertarian values and drug-addled life. Until these hard-living ways…

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06.08.2020

RECOMMENDED READING: Apple sold nearly 10 million more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry in 2019

A few years back, I remember interviewing Jean-Claude Biver and asking how he thought smartwatches would impact the traditional watch industry. Biver insisted the innovation was positive, saying that he believed smartwatches “will bring the attention of young people back to the wrist”. In other words, they would persuade a new generation to start wearing watches once again. Well, smartwatches certainly seem to have stimulated something. This piece from Business Insider reports that Apple shipped 31 million watches last year compared with the estimated 21.1 million shipped by the entire Swiss watch industry put together. That’s an astounding feat of…

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06.08.2020

The watches, and wild watch stories, of Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson has led a truly crazy life. We don’t have time to go into it all here: the horrific childhood, the dizzying ascent, the pet tigers, the rape conviction, the coke habit, the comeback(s), the ear biting, the tragic death of his daughter, the facial tattoos … Let’s just say that Tyson hasn’t pulled any punches in the life-experience department. His watches overall have not been as wild, but several of the stories surrounding them have a familiar ring. In January 2000, for example, the Mike Tyson circus arrived in London. “Iron Mike” was there to fight the British heavyweight…

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watch collecting psychology

02.08.2020

We all have “the disease” of watch collecting, we asked a psychologist why we opted in for this…?

“Completely irrational”, “a horrible affliction”, “the disease” … that’s how Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary described his obsession with watch collecting in a Time+Tide interview (read it here). It’s easy to understand O’Leary’s ambivalence about his hobby. After all, viewed from a certain perspective, watch collecting doesn’t make an awful lot of sense. Watches are not only often wincingly expensive, they’re also functionally redundant in that you can always tell the time by glancing at your phone. The desire to collect multiple watches can therefore seem even more nonsensical. Particularly if you keep most of them stashed in a safe.…

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27.07.2020

“Is this watch over or under $15 million?” – Floyd Mayweather plays “The Ice Is Right” with Greg Yüna

Floyd Mayweather looks straight down the barrel of the camera as he waves around a watch that’s not so much dripping in diamonds as drenched to its blinding core. The watch is the Jacob & Co Billionaire watch, a one-of-a-kind piece produced with Italian businessman, fashion label owner and Formula 1 personality Flavio Briatore. The 47.5mm case and integrated bracelet are bedecked with 239 emerald-cut baguette diamond stones while a manually wound tourbillion beats within. Over the top? Yes. And then down the other side before spiralling into a high-speed blur of double loops. “Over $15 million or under $15…

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25.07.2020

From Scarface to Tony Soprano – Hollywood’s 5 best gangsters and their watches

The watches of Hollywood mobsters tend to contradict the old adage that crime doesn’t pay. For any self-respecting gangster, the wrist is valuable real estate on which to flaunt your ill-gotten gains. Sure, you may be trying to evade the long arm of the law, but your watch invariably denotes your cashed-up status as a man on the make. Preferably in gold, if available. The upshot of this trend is some fascinating watches that make a life as a career criminal look relatively appealing. (As Woody Allen said on crime: “The hours are good, you meet a lot of interesting…

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22.07.2020

A WEEK ON THE WRIST: Sex, booze and life insurance with the Tikker “death watch”

At 3am, the world can seem like a bleak place. Staring at the bedroom ceiling unable to sleep, I find myself wrestling with a familiar stampede of anxieties. All the usual suspects are present and correct: the financial headaches, the career regrets, the mounting horror that my “double crown” is, in fact, a nascent bald spot. It seems as good a time as any to properly confront my mortality by agreeing to review the Tikker “death watch”. Because while these moments of nocturnal angst have a tendency to flare up from time to time, tthey’ve become way more frequent of…

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18.07.2020

Play it cool: the rules of “stealth bling” and what they mean for your watch

“To be truly elegant one should not be noticed.” So said Beau Brummell, who despite ultimately dying as a syphilitic loon, is still regarded as the biggest single influence on contemporary men’s style. This recognition stems, in part, from Brummell creating the forerunner to the modern suit. But equally significant was his insistence that dressing well meant flying under the radar. “If people turn to look at you on the street,” he said, “you are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.” The context for this was that Brummell grew up in the late 18th…

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11.07.2020

What do Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s watch collections say about them?

“Is it East versus West/Or man against man?” That was the question memorably posed by Survivor in the smash hit from the Rocky IV soundtrack, Burning Heart. And it’s pertinent to this week’s celebrity death match, too. Representing truth, justice and the American way, in a fetching pair of shorts bedecked with stars and stripes, is President Donald Trump. Glowering with menace in the red corner, meanwhile, is Vladimir Putin, who’s still nonplussed over the fact that this showdown can’t be settled by his favoured medium ( judo and/or electoral manipulation). Instead, this clash of the superpowers will be fought…

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COVID watch infection

07.07.2020

Could your watch give you COVID? Expert reveals why your timepiece could increase your chances of infection and how to stop it

You’re washing your hands multiple times a day. You’re trying to social distance wherever possible. You’re taking such precautions in order to minimise the potential spread of COVID-19. But what are you doing about your watch? Think about it for a second. Your watch accompanies you practically everywhere, it’s in direct physical contact with your body and the outside world and you rarely wash it (if ever). It’s therefore never going to be an entirely sterile object. That was emphatically demonstrated by a February study when the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University swabbed 20 watches for germs.…

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04.07.2020

OPINION: Will COVID hammer the final nail into the coffin of the dress watch?

Having moved house last year, I finally got around to collecting the last remaining items from our storage facility last weekend. All that was left was a forlorn collection of those random bits and pieces that you barely use, but can’t quite stomach throwing out. There was a box of bedraggled Christmas decorations, a tennis racquet with broken strings and countless CDs (despite the fact I no longer own a CD player). But there was also a battered trunk containing all eight of my suits alongside a musty tuxedo. None of these had been worn in the past 18 months.…

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Liverpool players' watches

30.06.2020

Rolex, Patek Philippe and Richard Mille – the Liverpool players’ watches are as spectacular as their football

The 30-year wait is over. Liverpool are Premier League champions, having clinched the title with a record seven games of the season to spare. Frankly, it turned into an annihilation. Jürgen Klopp’s team won 26 of 27 league games from August to February 28 and haven’t lost at home in the league for three whole years. Right now they are English, European and World champions. But how does the team’s wrist game stack up? The Mastermind – Jürgen Klopp The Watch – IWC Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “50 Years Aquatimer” Usually when a team is this dominant, the…

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28.06.2020

LONG READ: The hidden truth behind Walter White’s TAG Heuer Monaco in Breaking Bad

There’s a scene in the fifth series of Breaking Bad where Walter White, the high school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin, is forced to roll a barrel full of money through the desert. Zooming in from a wide shot of the merciless landscape, the camera finds White bent double and panting with exertion. As he continues to wind his way through the arid terrain, he passes a pair of khaki pants lying crumpled in the dust. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but those pants weren’t dumped there coincidentally. It was subsequently confirmed by the show that they were, in fact, the…

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24.06.2020

Buying a “birth-year” watch for your kids is the excuse you need to beef up your collection

Why do we have children in the first place? To anchor our rudderless lives with a faint sense of meaning? To give and receive unconditional love? To experience the most profound and humbling experience that is available to humanity? No, no and thrice no! We have children, of course, as a half-arsed excuse to buy ourselves more new watches. Never has this justification been needed as urgently as right now. With the global economy tanking, mankind is facing the worst recession since the Great Depression. Meanwhile, as we all get increasingly lax about social distancing, a second wave of COVID…

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American psycho Rolex

20.06.2020

Why Rolex’s problem with American Psycho goes deeper than a chainsaw-wielding maniac

Patrick Bateman is an unlikely pop cultural icon. Yet that’s exactly what the anti-hero of American Psycho has become. Almost 30 years since Bret Easton Ellis’ book was published, and 20 since the movie’s release, Bateman’s Armani-clad mass murderer continues to resonate in the contemporary psyche. Type his name into Google and you’ll find a cosmetic brand named after him (Bateman Skincare), a LinkedIn post offering “American Psycho’s Top 10 Personal Branding Tips” and various first-person articles of the “I Followed Patrick Bateman’s Psychotic Skincare Routine For a Week” variety. Fascination with the film, in particular, has reached seriously nerdy…

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16.06.2020

NEWS: Study shows that a love of luxury watches is proof of superior virility

Consider the magnificent tail of the male peacock. The flamboyance of the plumage fanning out to display multiple colours makes it an arresting sight to behold. But not everyone has been similarly enamored. As Charles Darwin wrote in April 1860, the mere sight of a peacock, “makes me sick!”. The problem for Darwin was that the peacock’s tail made no evolutionary sense. The bird’s feathers can reach up to six-feet long and make up almost 60 per cent of its body length. Not only does the peacock’s tail therefore make him more visible to predators, it also makes him easier…

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06.06.2020

7 times you should never take a photo of your watch – Updated

Editor’s note: This one’s an oldie but a goodie by Luke that stuck in my, and many other reader’s heads. Whenever I see people at a wedding sneaking off for a wristshot, I think of it. And I’ve recently seen a couple of fresh examples that I’ve added here. So we’ll consider it a rolling list that we can update for the times. Let’s get this straight at the outset: you should go easy on the watch shots full-stop. As normal as it might be among your watch loving pals, standing in the middle of a casino, trying to frame…

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05.06.2020

Rent a Rolex Submariner now for $299 a month – will luxury watch rentals ever take off?

“Consumers have demonstrated an appetite to shift away from traditional ownership to newer ways in which to access product.” That was the intro of the “End of Ownership” chapter in “The State of Fashion 2019”, a detailed report by the Business of Fashion and global management consultants McKinsey. The chapter outlined one of the big trends predicted to change the way we shop. “More consumers will see a growing proportion of their wardrobes made up of pre-owned or rented products, especially for high-value items and accessories,” it said. Describing how the prices of top-end watches and jewellery have nearly doubled…

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Coronavirus shorten waiting list

04.06.2020

Will Coronavirus, and a recession, shorten that waiting list you’re still on? An economics professor and a former Swatch Group MD weigh in…

Entire nations forced under lockdown, airlines teetering on the brink of collapse, fistfights erupting over rolls of toilet paper … Coronavirus has rocked the planet and God knows what life will be like when ‘normality’ resumes. It’s unlikely to be normal as we knew it, that’s for sure. In such desperate times, it may seem crass to speculate on what COV-19 will do to the watch market. But as a website that views life through a watch-centric lens, we’re unapologetically going right there. If nothing else, a little glimmer of a silver lining may be just what you need right…

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31.05.2020

How long have YOU got left to live? The ‘death watch’ tells you and starts the countdown. Weirdly, that’s a positive thing…

Why are vampires invariably such jaded fellows? I reckon immortality has something to do with it. Sure, the wild hunger to feast on human blood must prove an inconvenient business at the best of times. And, yes, coffins make for uncomfortable beds. But I suspect the world-weary demeanour of the undead stems mainly from their immortality – a condition they preserve just as long as they avoid being skewered through the heart with a stake. By and large, death is viewed as a real bummer. It signals the end of joy, laughter, good times, not to mention any future instalments…

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27.05.2020

Mythbusting four Rolex myths, from The Great Escape, to the English Channel to British Columbia

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” That line — from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the classic western starring John Wayne and James Stewart — nails the way in which some tales become impossible to resist. Certain details might prove apocryphal. Slabs of the narrative turn out to be completely made up. But we choose to avert our eyes from these exaggerations because, well, they get in the way of a cracking yarn. What’s all this got to do with Rolex? The brand’s position as the most powerful watchmaker in the world is founded both on horological innovation…

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26.05.2020

This is the world’s most inspiring watch. It costs $150 and belongs to “the scariest Navy SEAL imaginable”

There’s a watch out there that could genuinely change your life. It could make you happier, healthier and more successful. It could help you regain a sense of control in these messed-up times and add some much-needed pep to your step. The best part? You can pick one up here for the princely sum of $150. The watch in question is a Timex Ironman T66801 and it belongs to Jocko Willink, the man that Tim Ferris famously dubbed “the scariest Navy SEAL imaginable”. Willink is certainly an intimidating customer. He’s a 104kg man-mountain with a permanently fresh buzzcut and a…

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24.05.2020

From Hemingway’s Rolex to Murakami’s vintage Heuer – the 7 best watch quotes from literature

Whether it’s the Breguet pocket watch that belongs to the dastardly Baron Danglars in The Count of Monte Cristo or the orange-dialled Doxa worn by Dirk Pitt in Clive Cussler’s novels, the literary world is full of watches. Sometimes they’re mentioned as passing details to flesh out a character’s appearance. Sometimes a character’s wristwear comes laden with semiotic depth to reveal some hidden facet of their personality. For this article, Time+Tide hastily re-read every single book ever written – OK, we skimmed a couple – to unpack our selection of horological quotes. THE QUOTE: “He could not just wear a…

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15.05.2020

From Chris Hemsworth in Extraction to American Sniper, why G-Shocks are the ultimate bad-ass watches

“The least believable part of Extraction is that at no point do any of the 183 people that Chris Hemsworth kills mention how ridiculously good looking he is…” That’s what Netflix said in a recent tweet about their new balls-to-the-wall action extravaganza that’s set to become their biggest movie ever (90 million households watched the film in the first four weeks). The pleasantly ludicrous shoot-em-up finds Hemsworth weaving through a barrage of bullets in his role as Tyler Rake, a mercenary tasked with recovering the son of an Indian drug lord. Suffice to say, he doesn’t take a softly-softly approach…

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09.05.2020

Bruce Wayne’s watches in the Dark Knight trilogy are the most pitch-perfect timepieces in cinema history. Here’s why…

From Humphrey Bogart’s wide-brimmed fedora in Casablanca to Indiana Jones’ whip in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the right prop has defined many big-screen characters. Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy of Batman films contains an object deserving similar recognition. Except you don’t notice it. The reason why is that it’s so exquisitely tuned to its owner’s personality that it’s barely perceptible as a standalone item. What I’m getting at, of course, is Bruce Wayne’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. After Joel Schumacher’s disastrous attempts at the superhero franchise (the director even publicly apologised for Batman & Robin), Nolan’s films were very different. Batman Begins…

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05.05.2020

There is a scientific reason that you ache for new watches, this is it

If you’re reading Time+Tide, then you probably already own a watch. In fact, I suspect, you’re likely to have a fair old few. There’s that slimline dress watch that nestles so comfortably beneath your shirt cuff. The rugged diver that you love in spite of the fact that you barely know how to snorkel. Perhaps you’ve got a weekend watch, too, something fun and colourful to signal to your subconscious that you’re finally off-duty. For many men (and, yes, it is usually men), that’s just the start of it. I know several guys who flatly refuse to reveal how many…

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28.04.2020

The hidden party trick that makes the Jaeger‑LeCoultre Master Control Calendar a (relatively) accessible work of art

The thing about understated magnificence is that, at first glance, it’s often overlooked. And then it happens. The “why-Miss-Jones-without-your-glasses-you’re-beautiful” moment. Suddenly noticed, the full force of its charm slaps you sharply in the face, to leave you genuflecting with slack-jawed wonder and a slightly goofy smile. This is how I feel about the just-released Jaeger‑LeCoultre Master Control Calendar. Not that there’s some drudge-to-goddess transformation going on here. The appeal of this watch is hiding in plain sight (except for one very cool once-a-month party trick, about which, more later). JLC introduced its Master Control collection in 1992, naming them after…

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28.04.2020

RECOMMENDED READING: If you own a high-value vintage watch, this story could make your day

Tragically, Covid-19 spells economic doom for many businesses. But while many industries are flat-lining or being forced into hasty reinventions, there are signs that the vintage watch industry will not just scrape through, but that some corners are in fact going from strength to strength. Cam Wolf in GQ explores how auction houses and watch dealers are currently doing record business when it comes to their vintage watch trade. Earlier this month, for example, two weeks in a row, Sothebys broke its record for most-expensive watch sold online. Wolf explores why vintage watches are booming in the face of the…

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26.04.2020

Why Rolex, Patek and others’ decision to postpone new releases might be the move that makes you fall in love with watches all over again

Like an addict itching for a fix, I recently listened to a football podcast where one of the hosts dropped a surprising confession. He admitted that, despite Covid-19 having stopped all games being played for six weeks, he wasn’t actually missing live football. Instead he’d taken the opportunity to re-watch old World Cups, enjoy classic matches from the past and pore over documentaries on some of the greatest players ever to grace the pitch. This experience, he insisted, had served to rekindle his love for the sport. In fact, he was now enjoying his football far more than when he…

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22.04.2020

The new guard of action heroes and their watches, from Hobbs & Shaw to John Wick to Triple Frontier

It’s a hard life being the watch of an action hero. For starters, you’re forced to put up with all the endless gunfights, speedboat chases and henchmen annihilation. Worse still, you’re always getting overlooked. The viewer’s eye rarely gets to appreciate the majesty of your Swiss-made dial, because it’s invariably yanked towards whatever kung-fu carnage or helicopter hijacking that your square-jawed owner is currently involved in. Yet these cinematic timepieces deserve their moment in the spotlight. That’s why we’ve decided to take a closer look at the watches on the end of the stunts. Hobbs & Shaw – Rolex and…

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13.04.2020

NOT ON MY WATCH: The one “truly strange and unnerving” detail that ruins the Cartier Tank for this writer

Remember the moral of The Emperor’s New Clothes? When something is universally praised, you become unwilling to speak out, even if something is gravely wrong on a fundamental level. That’s how I feel about the Cartier Tank. I know this is wildly sacrilegious. The Cartier Tank is, after all, one of the most iconic watches of all time, whose classic design has withstood the fluctuating whims of fashion for more than a century. Since Louis Cartier rolled it out in 1919, the Tank has graced the wrists of a veritable Who’s Who of movers and shakers. You want names? OK,…

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07.04.2020

“Knock me out and you’ll get my Rolex” – what happened when Tyson Fury fought Anthony Joshua

It’s the clash of the titans that every boxing fan wants to see: Tyson “the Gypsy King” Fury, the WBC champion, taking on Anthony Joshua, the WBA, WBO and IBF title holder. The super-fight would be a historic decider to confirm who really is the undisputed world heavyweight champ. Will it ever happen? Unfortunately, given the tawdry machinations of the boxing world, nothing is certain. But to boost the chances of “the Battle of Britain” actually taking place, Time+Tide suggests the eventual promoter sticks some wristwear on the line for the winner. That’s because Joshua recently told Sky Sports that…

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05.04.2020

Swatch or Patek, what would you wear if you were President? USA vs Australian Presidents and PMs decide…

It’s a surprisingly vexed question. You get voted into office as a Prime Minister or President, and suddenly the public’s attention turns to your wrist. Do you continue to wear the watches you’ve worked so hard to acquire? Or do you suddenly downgrade your wrist to what you were wearing when you were in short pants … Among the current international statesmen, Vladimir Putin is very much in the “If you’ve got it flaunt it” category. His astonishing watch collection stands alone. Where others prevaricate over Patek or Pulsar, Putin puts on the Ritz. Picks of the bunch would have…

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04.04.2020

“If you don’t have a Rolex by the time you reach 50, then you have clearly failed in your life.” Remembering Sarkozy, the ‘Bling-Bling’ president

In the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election, France’s leader Nicolas Sarkozy, was preparing to deliver a campaign speech in Paris. Striding through the heaving crowd in Place de la Concorde, Sarkozy grinned and shook the hands of his cheering supporters. But halfway along, a realisation flashed through his mind. Without stopping, he whipped off his watch and surreptitiously tucked it into his pocket. The watch in question was a Patek Philippe 5140G-001 Perpetual Calendar in white gold with an opaline white dial. A gift from his wife – the former model and millionaire heiress Carla Bruni – Sarkozy’s…

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buy Patek Philippe online

30.03.2020

As of today, you can buy Patek Philippe online. Will COVID-19 force more brands into e-commerce?

A crisis can often prove the catalyst for change. Amid the chaos, we’re forced to rethink how we do things — often with positive results. The First World War, for example, had a radical impact in redefining civil liberties, race relations and women’s rights. It’s way too early to untangle the full impact of the coronavirus on the watch industry. But there are signs the pandemic could push certain brands to reconsider their stiff resistance to e-commerce. Watch brands have always maintained a heavy reliance on selling through bricks and mortar stores. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that third-party retailers account for…

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Hamilton PSR

28.03.2020

In these crazy times, Hamilton’s quirky sci-fi release makes perfect sense

When it comes to the dress code for our post-apocalyptic future, the Mad Max films wrote the rulebook. Essentially, what they prescribe is an “anything goes” approach involving heavy use of asymmetrical shoulder pads, harnesses, gratuitous cargo pockets and lots and lots of leather. The presumed rationale behind such get-ups is that, when you’re trying to survive in a dystopian wasteland, you wear whatever you can scavenge. But I reckon something else is going on here, too. When your circumstances become truly outlandish, the standard rules no longer apply. Forced to become more open-minded as life takes an unexpected turn,…

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watch robberies

27.03.2020

Strip clubs, the Pink Panther & Rafa Nadal – 5 of the most notorious watch robberies of the last decade

Have you ever bought a pre-owned watch? Do you know exactly where it came from? It’s worth asking yourself that question because luxury watches are wildly attractive to thieves. Not only do they command a strong resale value, but the fact that watches are small enough to slip into a pocket makes them easy to transport and move on to buyers who may have no idea of their stolen origin. As a result, it’s hardly surprising that watches are regularly targeted by crooks. As the following crimes show, there are unscrupulous people out there who’ll go to extreme and sometimes…

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Dustin Martin kennedy ambassador

16.03.2020

Is AFL star Dustin Martin’s hook-up with luxury watch chain Kennedy a case of retailers finally getting real?

Luxury brands invariably dangle a world of mahogany-panelled exclusivity. Viewed through the prism of their marketing, life is presented as a stately whirl of weekend polo, yachts and vintage convertibles. Access is restricted by a velvet rope and the relative depth of your wallet. But the chance to belong to this rarified community — the champagne always in the ice-bucket, peacocks strolling across the clipped lawn — remains an enviable prospect. Asked to pick someone who embodies this lifestyle, the AFL player Dustin Martin wouldn’t even make the draft. Sipping on a gin and juice in the Maldives, in a cabana with…

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rare custom Tudor

15.03.2020

David Beckham just wore a rare custom Tudor, we’ve tracked down three more you’ve probably not seen

David Beckham’s latest project has got off to a dodgy start. For six long years he’s worked tirelessly to establish the first Major League Soccer team in Miami. After endless wrangling over stadium sites and investment, Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami – or Inter Miami – played their first two games this month. Unfortunately, they lost both. In further bad news for the club’s part-owner, on the eve of Miami’s first-ever home game this weekend, the league has just been shut down for a month due to coronavirus. On the plus side, Beckham has already wangled a new watch out…

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tries to steal your Rolex

13.03.2020

What should you do when a knife-wielding maniac tries to steal your Rolex?

Picture the scene: it’s a dark night and you’re leaving work when suddenly a man in a balaclava accosts you, waving a 12-inch knife in your face. Give me your Rolex or I’ll “f***ing stab” you, he yells. This was the nerve-jangling scene that confronted Mark Ewart last week as he left his business, Apple Flooring Ltd, in Basildon, Essex. On his wrist was his beloved Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller – he really didn’t want to give it up. CCTV footage showed what happened next. On a whim, Ewart snatched his watch off his wrist and hurled it onto the…

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5 Times You Should Never Take a Photo Of Your Watch

08.03.2020

5 times you should never take a photo of your watch

Let’s get this straight at the outset: you should go easy on the watch shots full-stop. Unless you’re taking a pic to share with a fellow watch lover, snapping close-ups of your shiny new wrist-wear is rarely necessary or wise. But there are scenarios where it is expressly forbidden. At a wedding It’s the happy couple’s special day! A bold leap of faith that represents the symbolic union of two people standing together until the dawn of time (or at least until one of them gets caught banging the cleaning lady). What it’s not is a novel photographic backdrop for…

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Jean-Claude Biver

25.02.2020

Jean-Claude Biver reveals “the most beautiful watch I have ever seen”

Jean-Claude Biver is a horological superhero. The legendary watch entrepreneur brought Blancpain back to life, resuscitated Omega and turned Hublot into a super-brand for which LVMH paid almost half a billion dollars. As a result, he’s assembled a private watch collection that would do King Midas proud. Auction house Phillips understands the appeal, which is why they’ve launched a touring exhibition of Biver’s personal timepieces. After stints in Hong Kong and New York, the collection has now pitched up in London until the end of the month (details here). Speaking in a WatchAdvisor video (see below), Biver reveals some random…

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Rodger Corser

24.02.2020

Actor Rodger Corser brings Ch.9 travel show Postcards into the Time+Tide office!

Whether he’s playing a hard-partying surgeon in Doctor Doctor or a bewildered zombie in Glitch, Rodger Corser is a square-jawed fixture on Australian TV. But he’s also a serious watch guy. So when Channel 9 travel show Postcards asked him to pick his favourite Melbourne venues, we were humbled that he picked Time+Tide. “I’m part of the watch community Time+Tide Club,” he told host Shane Crawford. “I really liked the craftsmanship that goes into a watch and the fact they work for all budgets — you can have a great $500 watch or go all out with the big stuff.” Noting…

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17.02.2020

What Sealed The Deal: Ben’s Bulgari Diagono Scuba

Ben came into the Time+Tide offices to buy a NATO strap for his TAG Heuer Monaco. But the conversation quickly turned to the unusual Bulgari diver’s watch on his wrist. Here, Ben explains the backstory behind the purchase and why — despite it contradicting everything he normally likes in a watch — he absolutely loves it. Originally, this was my dad’s watch, but I think he only wore it twice in 10 years. Dad tends to like bigger pieces – he’s also got a Panerai Luminor and a TAG Heuer Link Calibre 5. With this watch, he’d always just say it was…

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Kyle Chalmers TAG Heuer

11.02.2020

“As swimmers, everything we do revolves around time” Olympic champ Kyle Chalmers teams up with TAG Heuer

The worst brand associations feel like they’ve been hatched in drunken brainstorms at the end of a very long day. There seems zero reason to attach the celebrity to the product, beyond a marketing budget that urgently needs to be spent. Thankfully, TAG Heuer’s decision to partner up with Kyle Chalmers isn’t like that at all. In fact, it seems less like a marketing decision than intuitive common sense. Think about it, for a second. You’ve got a watch called the Aquaracer, so it’s logical you buddy up with an Olympic gold-winning swimmer. And that’s exactly what TAG Heuer have…

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08.02.2020

The Enabler: How to justify buying another watch (#10. The end of the world is nigh)

The Doomsday Clock started ticking in 1947. This was the brainchild of an international group of researchers called the Chicago Atomic Scientists who’d participated in The Manhattan Project – an R&D program that resulted in the production of the first nuclear weapons. Essentially, the Doomsday Clock was designed to calculate precisely how close we are to global catastrophe. Mankind’s proximity to annihilation was simply expressed by the number of “minutes” to midnight. The people who determine the time on the clock aren’t just a bunch of wild-eyed loons. The board is made up of scientists and other boffins with deep…

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horology house fake rolex daytona

04.02.2020

What we know so far about the alleged fake Rolex scandal engulfing popular YouTuber @horologyhouse

It’s Australia’s biggest watch scandal in living memory. Hell, if anything is going to end up with a ‘-gate’ suffix in our world, it’s this. Last weekend, Rolexforums.com broke the news that Christopher Essery — the man behind @horologyhouse, a popular YouTube Channel, website and Instagram account renowned for its macro photography — is alleged to have sold a fake Rolex Daytona for $29,000. The thread has more than a quarter of a million views and, at last count, 1452 comments. Based in Perth, Essery also sells watches and accessories through his website www.horologyhouse.com. This site, along with his social media…

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Brian May Seiko

01.02.2020

Fingerpickin’ good: Queen’s Brian May teams up with Seiko to make a watch inspired by his guitar

Poodle-haired rock god Brian May is world famous as the lead guitarist in Queen who shaped their sound with his nimble-fingered picking and razor-sharp melodies. What’s less well known is that he’s also a die-hard Seiko fan. For years, May has worn one of the brand’s iconic dive watches on his wrist. He’s regularly spotted wearing the Seiko 7548-7010, a diver he picked up while first on tour in Japan back in the 1970s. Now he’s gone one better. May has collaborated with Seiko to create a watch that echoes the design of his homemade guitar that he built with…

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28.01.2020

Stunning video footage of a (fantasy) yellow gold Rolex ‘Hulk’ Submariner emerges, prompting Basel predictions

“Forecasting future events is often like searching for a black cat in an unlit room, that may not even be there,” wrote Steve Davidson in The Crystal Ball. The art of predictions, in other words, tends to be an absolute mug’s game. When you’re trying to make forecasts about Rolex – a company that shrouds its plans with MI5 levels of secrecy – it’s even more of a challenge. But these lousy odds haven’t stopped YouTuber Jenni Elle from peering into her crystal ball to predict Rolex’s new releases for Baselworld 2020. What’s more, she’s created an impressive concept video…

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25.01.2020

The end of the road – Luke’s exit watch

You’ll be familiar with the misadventures of Spinal Tap over their 1982 album, Smell The Glove. The original cover artwork is problematic. Featuring the image of “a greased, naked woman on all fours wearing a dog collar”, the cover is knocked back by retailers who flatly refuse to display such a sexist image. Without the band’s knowledge, an alternative is secretly arranged by the record company. When the heavy metal album is eventually released, it comes with a cover that is completely black. In the film, as guitarist Nigel Tufnel evaluates the new record sleeve, he utters the legendary line:…

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2019 $20K fantasy watch collection

23.01.2020

Luke’s 2019 $20K fantasy watch collection

Sometimes you’ve got to face the bitter truth. Between small children, a house needing urgent renovation and a woeful inability to pick the winning lottery numbers, I can’t spend big on a new watch for the foreseeable future. Luckily, right now the “premium economy” end of the market is stronger than ever. Here are five watches that collectively add up to $18,740 from my $20K fantasy budget. The remaining $1260? That’s getting lumped on Powerball tickets to hopefully swell next year’s coffers. DOXA SUB 200 $1590 I’ve got a hankering for a no-nonsense diving watch that I can wear to…

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20.01.2020

WATCH DISASTERS #2: This is why you shouldn’t drown your Omega in Berocca

Wear and tear often bolsters the appeal of a vintage watch. Picture a chronograph dial aged to a warm tropical hue, or a pilot’s watch overshadowed with caramel patina. Rather than signs of decay, such well-worn details are celebrated as adding character and authenticity. Like the laughter lines on an old man’s face, they’re testimony to a life well-lived. Yet there are limits … It wasn’t an expensive watch. I’d picked up my Omega Seamaster about 20 years ago in Melbourne’s Block Arcade. Hailing from the 1950s, this was a pleasantly discreet timepiece, a steel-cased dress watch with gold hands…

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best gold watches Rolex Daytona Rainbow

18.01.2020

The Enabler: How to justify buying another watch (#9. “But it’s an investment…”)

NOTE: We understand that you’ve found a new watch to add to your collection (congratulations!). But rationalising this fact – coupled with the fact that it’ll cost a bucketload of cash – may not always sit well with the less horologically minded. That’s where we come in … Use The Enabler’s advanced levels of sophistry to validate your latest acquisition. Sadly, it’s time for The Enabler to bow out. Over the last few weeks I’ve furnished you with a stack of irrefutable reasons to justify blowing your pay-packet on yet another watch. To testify on your horological behalf we’ve called to the…

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11.01.2020

The Enabler: How to justify buying another watch (#8. The Punctuality Excuse)

NOTE: We understand that you’ve found a new watch to add to your collection (congratulations!). But rationalising this fact – coupled with the fact that it’ll cost a bucket-load of cash – may not always sit well with the less horologically minded. That’s where we come in … Use The Enabler’s advanced levels of sophistry to validate your latest acquisition. Mahatma Gandhi whittled his life down to the barest possible essentials. When he died he owned fewer than 10 possessions. Captured in an iconic photo, these included his wire-rimmed spectacles, two pairs of sandals, a metal bowl and a plate. But the…

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06.01.2020

Ice, ice, baby: Ronaldo just wore the most expensive Rolex ever made

Making the right choice for your left wrist is never easy. But at least your options are generally curtailed by the size of your budget. That isn’t a problem for soccer deity Cristiano Ronaldo. That’s because the Juventus superstar is satanically rich. According to Forbes magazine, Ronaldo was soccer’s highest-earning player of the last decade, pocketing a colossal 548 million pounds ($A1.033 billion) during the 2010s. How do you tackle the stern challenge of spending all this loot? Well, Ronaldo was recently spotted at the 14th Dubai International Sports Conference wearing the Rolex GMT-Master II Ice (ref. 116769TBR), a timepiece…

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Justify Buying Another Watch

02.01.2020

The Enabler: How To Justify Buying Another Watch (#7. You Can Pretend You’re Into Mindfulness)

I once knew a glamorous magazine editor who presided over one of the big fashion monthlies. On the inside of her delicate wrist, beneath an impeccably curated collection of designer bangles, resided a small tattoo. Inked in block-capital letters was the single word: “NOW”. This tattoo was a strategically placed reminder for her to stay “in the moment”. Instead of catastrophising about the future or getting hung up on the past, this tattoo was a note-to-self that emboldened her to stay anchored in the “here and now”. Focusing on the present, she explained, was a way of staving off anxiety.…

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Watches Of 2019

28.12.2019

Luke’s 5 favourite watches of 2019

I’ve certainly had less turbulent years. In 2019, I quit a stable job, hurled myself into start-up life and lived with my in-laws for 10 months (!) before moving into a house that can euphemistically be described as “a renovator’s delight”. I changed a gazillion nappies and failed miserably to persuade my two sons — aged one and two — to sleep through the night. Over the last 12 months I’ve rarely worked so hard or slept so little. That’s probably why I was particularly drawn to vintage-inspired pieces this year. Their nostalgic designs hark back to a simpler time that, we…

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Kanye West

24.12.2019

The Enabler: How To Justify Buying Another Watch (#6. The Kanye West Contention)

Kanye West is many things: hip-hop superstar, fashion designer, maverick genius, not to mention Kim Kardashian’s other half. What he is not often recognised as is a beacon of sound common sense. It turns out there’s a very good reason for this. Yeezy’s public comments suggest a man who is not only a full-blown egomaniac (“By 50% I am more influential than Stanley Kubrick, Apostle Paul, Picasso…”) but also slightly deranged (“I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.”) Oh dear. Nevertheless, there was a moment when the 42-year-old rapper uttered the most profound truth imaginable.…

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22.12.2019

LIST: Luke Benedictus’ 5 favourite stories of 2019

It’s that time of the year where we sift misty-eyed through the archives, getting nostalgic about the horological highlights from the past 12 months. From Instagram watch clichés to the “unholy shitstorm of hurt feelings” provoked by Audemars Piguet, this is my top five. Sandra Lane on why hype and high prices are killing it for watch collectors Decade-long waiting lists. Manufactured shortages. “Gentlemen dealers.” Steel sports watches being listed at 200 per cent of their RRP… The inimitable Sandra Lane takes aim at the money-chasing mania that is ruining things for genuine watch collectors. 5 Instagram watch cliches that…

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The Cost Per Wear Argument

13.12.2019

The Enabler: How To Justify Buying Another Watch. (#5: “The Cost Per Wear Argument”)

NOTE: We understand that you’ve found a new watch to add to your collection (congratulations!). But rationalising this fact – coupled with the fact that it’ll cost a bucket-load of cash – may not always sit well with the less horologically minded. That’s where we come in … Use The Enabler’s advanced levels of sophistry to validate your latest acquisition. There are times in life when you don’t want to come across as some hairy-arsed chancer. You need to bestow yourself with the veneer of credibility and moral judgement. In short, you have to present yourself as halfway convincing. How to pull…

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How To Justify Buying Another Watch. (No.4 “The Milestone Celebration”)

09.12.2019

The Enabler: How To Justify Buying Another Watch. (#4: “The Milestone Celebration”)

NOTE: We understand that you’ve found a new watch to add to your collection (congratulations!). But rationalising this fact – coupled with the fact that it’ll cost a bucket-load of cash – may not always sit well with the less horologically minded. That’s where we come in … Use The Enabler’s advanced levels of sophistry to validate your latest acquisition. Phony enthusiasm. Beleaguered smiles. Rank insincerity. No, we’re not discussing politicians’ attempts to pass themselves off as genuine sports fans. What I’m talking about is why receiving Christmas presents leaves me increasingly cold. To explain this “bah humbug” mindset, a week or…

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The Enabler No. 3

30.11.2019

The Enabler: How To Justify Buying Another Watch #3 … “It’s A Symbol Of Moral Resistance Against The Spiritual Decay Of Modern Life”

NOTE: We understand that you’ve found a new watch to add to your collection (congratulations!). But rationalising this fact – coupled with the fact that it’ll cost a bucket-load of cash – may not always sit well with the less horologically minded. That’s where we come in … Use The Enabler’s advanced levels of sophistry to validate your latest acquisition. “How have men’s attitudes changed towards their watches in the last 50 years?” This was a question I asked Walter von Känel, the veteran Longines CEO, a few years back. As a hallowed fixture at the brand since 1969, his…

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